Ironman Mont Tremblant - by Matt Doucette

On June 15th, 2011 registration opened for the first ever Ironman Mont Tremblant. Ryan Blake, Ross Fenton, Matt Doucette, Dean Beaudry, Mike Sprayson, Doug Austin, and Scott McEdwards signed up and committed themselves to a year of training their mind, body, and spirit as they attempted the Ironman distance.

Fastforward to August 19th, 2012 in the Mont Tremblant village where 2000+ like-minded athletes got themselves ready for a day of pain filled with nerves, adrenaline, excitement, and questions. 6 Baydogs made the start line, and many more came over to cheer. I spent the few minutes before the race chatting with Ross and Doug to erase my mind, as I like to do before these types of 'what's going to happen to me?' type of races. The canon was loaded with a dud, but the F-18 from Bagotville soared above letting us know that all of our hardwork would pay off, and it was time to go prove it.

Swim: my biggest fear was the first 500m because it was a mass start. I put myself middle back and just walked into the water. This worked out in the sense that I didn't get beaten up or swam on, but I'd like to apologize to the people that I beat up and swam on. I guess I should have been more in the middle with people my speed, although I'd rather do the beating than get beaten, so it was a win for me. I wasn't sure if we had to keep the buoys on our right, and since there were boats clogging the left of the buoys, I just stayed in the middle and swam straight to the first turning buoy. I did this on the way back in. I had swimmers on both sides of me the whole time, and no kayak told me to move over, so it couldn't have been that bad. Time - 1:20:01 (my pool time for 3800m is 1:18 and change, so it wasn't too far off and my garmin read 4.4km, same as another guy's watch in the changing tent)

Transition: The tent is about 700+m from the water, so it was a bit of a jog. I quickly got my bag and threw on my shoes and helmet, then quickly exited. Still, it was about 6:00 (mostly due to the long run).

Bike: the course is BEAUTIFUL! Freshly paved roads, nice rolling terrain, some decent climbs to break up the packs, and a tough/technical section from 70km to 80km. And, it's fully catered! Unfortunately I had a full bladder that I couldn't empty while swimming, so at the 30km aid station, I stood in line for the port-a-potty. This killed the momentum and speed I had gained, and I spent the next 30km trying to get my average pace back up, but unfortunately the bladder filled again and I had to stop at the 80km aid station. In total, I lost about 6 minutes standing in line/peeing. On the second loop I decided to skip the special needs station because there was nothing I really needed and I didn't want to lose more time (wish I had...needed those salt tablets...more on that later). I rode the second loop continuous despite my bladder filling up again, and becoming nauseous (cue the salt tabs) prohibiting me from taking full advantage of the nutrition I had planned.  I started sucking back a lot of water to flush out my stomach pains, thus making me have to pee more. I rode mostly big gear on the front, but for the sake of saving my legs to run, I took it easy up the 70 - 80km hilly section. The descents were amazing (max speed 74km/h!), and I rolled into transition with a respectable 5:54 despite losing 6:00 in pee breaks, and never really leaving my comfort zone/putting in a hard effort on the bike (yup, backdoor bragging right there!)

Transition: I did a full change and took my time doing it. I've been battling some bad ankle pain the last month, so I wanted to make sure that my legs had a chance to recover/adjust to running. I threw on the running shorts/t-shirt, compression calf sleeves, fuel belt that I didn't need but was there for emergencies, and took off. T2: 6:00

Run: I felt really good running. My ankle wasn't bothering me, and I just ran by how I was currently feeling, which was a fast temp. My approach was to walk the aid stations, and I started right away. I still had to pee, but there were line ups and I didn't want to lose more time. Luckily I saw a port-a-potty that was open with no line so I quickly sprinted into it. I guess it wasn't for the race because people were telling me to stop and exit it, and I heard them saying not to let anyone else in. Whatever. You can't put a toilet on an Ironman course and expect it to not be used. The run had some nice rolling terrain heading into a small village before it got onto the rail trail section. I LOVE running on crushed gravel. Once I got to this part my pace quickened and I was able to pass a lot of people. I was feeling really good and found myself running a few sub 5:00/km (frontdoor brag!!). As I exited the rail trail and got to the rolling terrain on pavement I started developing some knee pain from my quads. I checked my pockets for the salt tabs that I "thought" I had stashed in there, but no dice. Luckily I had some in my special needs bag. Pretzels at the aid station would have to suffice for the time being. When I got to the special needs I grabbed some more gels and my salt tabs and threw them in my pocket just as it started to rain. I finished the first loop in 1:55 (faster than my first stand alone 1/2 marathon!). A few km into the second loop the pain returned while running up a little hill, so I went to pop some salt tabs, but alas, the rain had dissolved most of them! The two I was able to ingest helped a lot, but still upset me that I hadn't planned properly for this. It would have really helped my stomach on the bike, and would have helped alleviate my knee pain on the second loop. At this point, the nausea returned. I tried chicken broth, but almost threw up. I tried a gel, but almost threw up. I tried a chew, but almost threw up. The only things that I could ingest were water, coke (that wasn't defizzled), and pretzels. Not bad I guess, but after each aid station it took about 500m for my stomach to settle.  I've never done anything until I puked, but it felt like I was about to (thankfully, my perfect record still stands!). With 12km to go, I finally studied my watch closely and did the math. It looked like I was easily going to beat my goal of sub 12hr Ironman! With knee pain setting in, stomach rolling with each step, and rain starting, I decided that it would be in my best interest to start walking the 3 uphills leading back to Mt Tremblant and the finish line (I know Mary, soft). I made it up to the top of the village, with about 750m left in the race, when the skies opened up. Torrential downpour! Didn't matter though, I was about to become an Ironman! I raced down the cobblestones winding through the village. Saw Genevieve and Greg who were going crazy and gave me a big slap on the back, saw the finish line and started doing the pump up the crowd arm swing, and crossed the finish line with two big fist pumps! It was so euphoric, I don't even remember hearing Mike Reilly say "Matt Doucette. YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!". It was honestly such an amazing feeling. Any pain is absolutely erased as the medal is put over your head and you head to the food tent (which was quite the spread! beer, coke, chocolate milk, chicken soup broth, fruit, subway subs, bagels/pastries, poutine, pizza slices!). The rain was coming down really hard, but it didn't matter anymore. My day was done.Run time - 4:09 and Finish Time - 11:35:39

Post Race: Tanya quickly found me and we headed back to the room to dry off and eat. My body was feeling remarkably good, except for some light stiffness and my knee bugging me a little. My stomach had settled after getting some real food in it. At around 10:00, we headed back out to cheer on the other finishers. Ryan, Ross, and Dean had already finished, so we were just waiting for Mike (Unfortunately, Doug couldn't finish the run due to an ankle injury, and Scott couldn't make the race to spend time with his family). We found Genevieve and Greg, and then watched the clock. We knew the time splits Mike had been running and were expecting him any minute. When the worrying became over bearing, a joyful Mike bounded around the corner, smiling ear to ear, jumping up and down, slapping hands everywhere. He gave us all a high five and sprinted down the slope, and triumphantly leapt across the finish line!

Barrie Cheering Section: a very special thank you to Genevieve Blais, Greg Cormack, Kellie McNabb, Joanne Merkley, Shawn Patton, and Jon Dow for making the trek to Tremblant and cheer us on.  It was awesome sporadically seeing people from Kellie marking me in the morning, Jon walking to the swim, Joanne at the swim start, Shawn at the transition tent, and Genevieve and Greg on the cobblestones in the village. If there were more that made the trip to spectate and cheer, I apologize for not mentioning you. It was a pretty hectic weekend!

The Next Day: I was worried about how I would feel physically, but remarkably I didn't hurt at all! (backdoor brag). Tanya and I spent the day walking the village, enjoying the weather, headed up the gondola to enjoy the view and coming to terms of what I had just accomplished.  I did it. I am an Ironman! 

new blog, same dog

A few months ago, we started the barrietriathlonclub.blogspot.com blog so that when people researched our club, they would be able to find it easier. Also, it made sense to have the blog url match the club name. But have no fear! All those posts on the old blog are still there! (it is the internet afterall...nothing gets completely erased). You can find all the entries dating back to the inaugural Kempenfelt Triathlon Club at http://kempenfelttriathlonclub.blogspot.ca/ 

Racine 70.3

Jamie Nielsen competed in the Racine 70.3 in July. The following is his entry from his blog: http://trikinggator.blogspot.ca/ 

My best swim to date, a great bike split, but my run time something i've already forgotten about. The beaches of Lake Michigan are beautiful. Clean and very much spectator friendly is the entire event. I'd rate Racine right at the top of one of the best 70.3 events I've attended. The only down fall were road conditions were mediocre to poor. Many racers were troubled by the continual roughness unlike Mont Tremblant where the road conditions were practically flawless. Racine 80,000 people is located right on Lake Michigan between Milwaukee and Chicago. A pretty friendly community. The downtown has many unique artistic boutique shops along with the Racine Art Museum. For followers of Frank Lloyd Wright there are buildings to be explored. In addition, Racine is about 3 hours from Green Bay and about 2.5 hrs from Madison which is also home to Trek. My bike of choice. One thing about being in the 45 -49 age category is you usually get to start the race in one of the later waves. At 70.3 Racine we started in the 18th Wave of 23. That means the Pros go off at 7 am and my age category starts about 7:53 AM just that much later in the day when the sun will be that much warmer. Most athletes were struggling with the heat and perhaps the bumpiness of the bike course, when it came to run. I remember going into T2 already feeling zapped. I knew my legs were gone (a first for me). Regardless, push on finish strong. I began walking a lot. I thought to myself give it a little time and the leg strength will return. The end result was a 2 hr 16 min half marathon run. Ouch! On the bright side I did run a negative split. 70.3 Racine is a race I will do again. In summary, to the State of Wisconsin, invest in repaving the bike course and 70.3 Racine will be one of the most beautiful events Ironman has.

Ironman Lake Placid - A volunteer's perspective

In July, Ken Scott travelled to Lake Placid to volunteer for the annual Ironman. Here is his story:

Double Duty at IMLP

In a moment of weakness, I signed up for a morning shift at bike aid station 6 and an evening of “catching” at the IMLP finish line.  Bike aid station 6 was well chosen, perhaps 5 miles down the road from the KOA campground.  The finish chute, not so much.  More on that later.

Lake Placid is 7 or 8 hours from Alliston, depending on how heavy your right foot is.  Mine’s lost weight as I’ve “matured”, so, leaving at 9:00 I arrived at the KOA around 4:30.  The return trip took a full 8 hours, the additional time chewed up by a senseless traffic snarl on the 401 between Shannonville and Belleville and the ludicrous mess of an interchange from 401W to 400N.  Missed the exit and had to take the scenic tour of Weston.  I crossed at Ogdensburg (bridge toll $2.75, either currency) and used routes 68, 56, 3 and 86.  With two short bridge construction projects on 56, this route was excellent.  I’d love to do it in a fast car with enough money to pay the speeding tickets.

The KOA is a KOA.  What can you say.  The RVs were tightly packed, while the most basic tent sites had a decent amount of room on the fringes, where it was quiet, with enough trees that the rain on Saturday night barely got through.  Just outside the campground, cliffs and a tightrope across a deep pool in a whitewater section of the Ausable river provided adventure for those bold enough to drop the roughly 25 feet into the river and entertainment for chicken like me to watch.  It is a good place to stay if you’re at bike station 6.  Nearby Wilmington features an A&W that is a throwback to the 1950s.  The layout is the same as the first A&W I ever encountered, at Lake Pepin, Wisconsin, in 1956.  The girls on skates were no longer there, nor were the trays that hung from the car window (refer American Graffitti).  Nothing else much was changed.  Hours of business:  11:00am to 7:00 pm!

Bike station 6 was run the way bike station should be run.  Pairs of widely separated tables for Gatorade Perform, water, food, water, Gatorade Perform.  A cryer up the road calling the order, and a bank of porta-potties and the exit end.  There was a pair of canopies sheltering refreshments for the crew.  Most of the time there was an ambulance on site.  When one was called away, another replaced it.  We had a full time ham radio volunteer, so communication was constant.  All in all, well done.

With #86 closed for the tri, getting to LP for the finish line gig was not so easy.  North to Wilmington, west to St. Armand, south to Saranac Lake and east to LP.  57 km of twisty back roads, the sort that gets clogged by drivers who have nowhere to go and all day to get there.  It took well over an hour.

Parking was not the problem I expected, as 4 lots had been set up, with shuttle busses every 15 min to within 5 min walk of the finish line.  The finish line was on the back stretch of the Olympic speed skating oval, which in turn enclosed the transition and the M.A.S.H. tent.  Good security kept it clear of anyone who did not have business there.  Compared to IMC, the only deficiency I could see was that with the space constraints the oval presented, refreshments for staff and volunteers were outside the secured area at the top of a set of stairs.  It worked, but took longer than the on-site pizza at IMC.  Transition being a couple of 100 metres from the lake meant that finishers couldn’t go for a cool-down soaking either, as they can at IMC.  On the other hand, no kids got into the finish chute as always happens at IMC, often to the detriment of other competitors.

Leaving at 11:30 was easy.  I crashed a couple of barricades before finding one that was in the process of being taken down.  The barricades blocked Main Street which was already well populated with athletes and spectators returning to cars and hotels.  Back at the KOA, it was so dark that I had to leave the car lights on to find my flashlight in my tent.

Huronia Triathlon - Club Championships

This year's Club Championships were moved our own backyard: the Huronia Triathlon. This race became a Multisport Canada event (having been independent for years), and became the Triathlon Ontario Club Championships. There were a variety of races held: Kids of Steel, Olympic Distance, Sprint Distance, and Try-a-Tri. The Baydogs did extremely well, showing a lot of spirit and many accomplished their first longer triathlon.

Special mention goes to Kellie McNabb for completing her very first Sprint Triathlon! Way to go Kellie! Kellie made the jump from Try-a-Tri to Sprint, and did extremely well by overcoming her fear of the clipless pedal!

Muskoka 5150 and Toronto Triathlon Festival

July saw two new/re-invented races join the summer circuit. Muskoka replaced their popular long course with a new 5150 event, which is the same distance as a traditional Olympic distance triathlon, while also offering a Sprint distance race. Toronto introduced the inaugural Toronto Triathlon Festival (TTF). Promoted by the great Simon Whitfield, the TTF offered an Olympic distance and a Sprint distance race.

5150: Brad Momberg, Mark Deslaurier, Kevin O'Neill, Taylor Pieprzak, and Keith Hodgson tackled the heat and the hills of Muskoka and threw down some great performances!

Toronto Triathlon Festival: Jeff Moyle rode up and down the Don Valley Parkway in the Olympic race. Being the first year for this event, glitches were expected, but many did enjoy the ability to race in downtown Toronto on what could potentially be the course used for the 2015 Pan-Am Games triathlon. Also, Marc Rodaro competed in the Sprint race against Canadian Olympians Simon Whitfield and Paula Findlay!! He gave them a run for their money as they got ready for London 2012.

Mont Tremblant 70.3

In June, a pack of dogs invaded the quiet resort of Mont Tremblant for the inaugural Mont Tremblant 70.3. These dogs swam, biked, and ran through the Laurentians, putting everything on the line, and showing what Baydogs from Barrie are made of! Bradley Momberg, Jamie Nielsen, Kevin O'Neill, Greg Cormack, and Genevieve Blais brought their experience and speed to this rookie race and did not disappoint!

Special High Paw to Bradley Momberg for his amazing results. Brad finished 5th in his Age Group with a time of 4:46:30.

July 31st TT Results

July 24th TT Results

July 17th TT Results

July 10th TT Results