News
Taralyn's IMC 2006 Race Report
Posted September 3, 2006 11:10 AM
The following race report was written by Taralyn Day
It may sound crazy but the cheesecake worked again! I had cheesecake before races last year knowing it was a bad idea but unable to resist. Soon I noticed that all races where cheesecake was eaten the night before had gone extremely well, more so than those when I hadn't eaten cheesecake. It had to be more than coincidence. This year I had cheesecake before the Sooke Spring Triathlon, New Balance Half-Ironman and Desert Half-Ironman. Once again, all races went well so I thought I better not mess with a good thing. The night before Ironman Canada I made a last minute dash to Tim Horton's and bought their last cheesecake. Do other triathletes know about this, why was there only one left?
I woke at 4am on race morning, had pancakes and coffee then proceeded to put on my trisuit. Not only was I getting up in the middle of the night but I was up at this hour to exercise for an entire day. It sounded ridiculous but this was the day I had been waiting for. Along with 2300 other triathletes, a year's worth of training and preparation would be shown off for all to see.
The swim went surprisingly well. After experiencing swim start trauma at two other races this year I promised myself I would go easy and not reach my maximum heart rate within the first five minutes. I started way off to the right but still relatively close to the front. My massage therapist compared the swim start to salmon spawning and as I found myself jumping from one set of feet to another trying to find a good draft, I understood exactly what he meant. Nevertheless, the first houseboat came quickly, then the second and we were on our way back to shore. I was busy sighting a huge tower crane the whole way in and came out of the water feeling relaxed in 1:07:19.
Cycling down Main Street was surreal. I kept an eye open for my family and friends and soon spotted them amid the masses of other spectators. I thought it would be easier for me to see them at prearranged spots than the other way around with hundreds of cyclists going by at 30k an hour. I had my watch set to beep every 5 minutes so I would remember to drink and then eat every 15. This worked well in training and I followed the plan during the whole bike even though my 5 Clif bars and 5 gels were most unappealing. I knew I'd be paying for it on the run if I didn't eat enough on the bike though.
During the first climb up McLean Creek, a rider who had flatted was being helped back on his bike by the tech guys and despite two of them holding his bike, he fell off within a foot of me. I let out a little yelp as this was a bit too close for comfort, a few more inches and he would have taken me down with him.
I was well aware that pushing too hard in the first 60k was a common mistake and even though I was gobbled up by packs of riders, I still averaged 33km/hr by the time I reached Richter Pass. This was faster than I had planned to ride but I felt good and strong so I went with it. Pretty soon I was up the hill, over the rollers and onto a flat section of highway before the out-and-back turnoff. This was the toughest part of the ride as I found myself riding alone and my neck starting to hurt. I knew it wouldn't last long so I just put my head down and gutted it out. I got off my bike for a few minutes at the turn around to stretch and retrieve some salt n' vinegar chips from my special needs bag. It was thoroughly disappointing when they didn't taste as good as they had in training. Oh well, what can you do?
With one more climb to go, I got back on my bike and kept an eye open for people I knew coming the other way. The temperature was starting to rise so I chose an easy gear and spun up to Yellow Lake. During the climb, two riders asked if I was the Taralyn on the signs. Apparently my friend Shannon had made signs saying "Go Taralyn, Ride It Like You Stole It" but I rode past them without even noticing.
The descent back into Penticton was fast. The hard part was over and I felt like I was flying back into town. I didn't have a goal time for the bike because the weather could be so unpredictable and I wanted to go by feel. I was happy with my 6:15:37 bike split mainly because I still felt good heading out on the run.
Leaving transition I passed a clock that read 2:32pm. A quick calculation told me that a 4:27 marathon would get me a sub-12 hour finishing time. This dream was shortlived, however, as my first few mile splits were 10 minutes but holding this pace for the entire marathon would probably kill me. I slowed down to 11 minute miles, walked the hills and aid stations and still felt pretty good heading into OK falls. All of a sudden I got an immobilizing side stitch and "the race doesn't start until the last half of the marathon" began repeating in my head. I retrieved a bottle of e-load out of my special needs bag, took an electrolyte tablet and proceeded to walk off the stitch.
Heading for the finish, I noticed I wasn't losing ground on the few people who were still running. I saw several people getting sick and limping along, a few were even lying on the side of the road getting medical attention. I didn't want to be one of them so I ran the downhills, continued to power-walk the flats and realized I would come in well before the 13 hour mark if I stuck to this routine. My side stitch resurfaced with 4 miles to go but I managed to walk it off again and ran most of the last 2 miles to bring it home. I crossed the finish line in a time of 12:48:35.
My volunteer catcher seemed surprised that I was so coherent. Apparently some of his previous charges didn't fare so well and I later found out that 400+ athletes were treated in the medical tent. Yikes! After refueling on fruit and chicken soup I collected my bike and went home to celebrate with a glass of much deserved champagne!
Looking back I feel incredibly lucky to have had such a good race. Many thanks to Carolyn who put together an awesome training plan for me. Her first hand knowledge of this race and countless tips had me better prepared than I could have imagined. Will I be signing up again for next year? I'm not sure - I still have a week to decide!
