Well, I had been wondering if this race was ever going to happen. My Ironman career started on a high note back in 97 in IMC with a 7th place finish and a 9hour clocking. At that time I figured within a year or two, I would have gone sub 9 and finished on the podium. Little did I know that it would be eight years later, after numerous nutritional and pacing issues I would finally have the breakthrough I have been looking for and finish third in Subaru Ironman Canada in 8:42.
Fast forward to 2005, I have had some decent results in the last few years with a few top 10 finishes at IMC and IMNZ but never really besting my performance of 97. But this season, things had started to come together. I had posted my best ever performances in the Muskoka Chase and Peterborough Half Ironman. This gave me confidence heading into IMC, even though my training hours have been at their lowest point in years, my coaching business (NRG Performance Training) is keeping me busy and a 20 hour training week was as big as it got this summer. The training I had gotten in had been of good quality though and most importantly I had had a lot more success with my nutrition on my long hard days.
Race day morning had me feeling relaxed. Wishing good luck to the 15 NRGPT athletes who we had coached to this big day took the edge off of my own usual pre-race anxiety. I was not sure I was so keen on the separate start for the Pro’s as my swimming hasn’t really been great this summer and I thought the extra feet of some fast age group swimmers might have helped, and this was certainly the case. Within 200 m of the start, I had lost the usual pack of guys I swim with. All of a sudden, there was a big gap and I was on the wrong side of it. So I just didn’t think about it and got in a groove and swam. It was a long 3.8km. I lead the whole way, something I have never done before and never plan on doing again!
Once on land I felt much better and quickly made it through transition and onto my bike (a new P3 Carbon, half the reason I was able to ride so well!). I now do all of my training and racing with power so I had some specific power numbers that I was following to ensure my pacing was good. I took it easy out of town and to the McLean Creak hill. I had already passed 5-6 people in that time, so I knew I was moving well. Once back on the highway and heading down to Richter’s, I was into no man’s land, no one to see in front and no one to see behind! But I just stayed focused on my power numbers and keeping on top of my nutrition (including stopping twice to pick up gel flasks that had exited my pockets by mistake!). Heading up Richter’s pass, I was 18min down on Simon Lessing and still 4-5min back of the next group in front of me. On the rollers after Richter, I started to see people in front again and I passed about 7-8 athletes between the rollers and the end of the out and back section, this had me in the top 10 when I hit my one low point on the bike. I had just caught Michael McCormack, a 2-time winner of the event, when I started to feel tired. So, I made the tactical decision to keep a legal distance behind him and enjoyed a little bit of pacing for the first time all ride. By the time we hit the real climbing section on Yellow Lake I had recovered and felt better and started to ride well again and moved ahead. The descent down Yellow Lake was fast and fun and I had none of the speed wobble issues that a lot of athletes complained about. I used this section to get as much rest as I could and get in lots of calories so I was ready to run. I did see coming into town a group of 5 athletes probably a minute in front, which meant I was in 8th getting off the bike. My bike to run transition was uneventful and I was quickly on the run having posted a 4:40 bike split.
My goal coming into the race was first and foremost a sub 9hour time (as long as the conditions where reasonable) and as I hit the run I saw that I was at the 5:42 mark of the race, so I knew I had to run sub 3:18 to do it, but another goal was to break 3hours for the first time. An 8:40 finishing time was such a big jump that I couldn’t even think about it at this stage and decided to just run one step at a time. My first few miles felt a bit off and not very flowing but checking splits I was running 6:15/mile on the flats and 6:30/mile on the gradual uphill out of town. I started to feel much better as we left town and headed towards Skaha Lake, but the headwind at this stage meant my pace had dropped to close to 6:50-7/mile. I had also quickly made up time on everyone in the group in front except for Stephan Vuckovic (silver medalist at the 2000 Sydney Olympics).and I was sitting in 4th place as I hit Skaha. At this stage, I just said to myself, “don’t think about what place you are in, just keep running”. As we neared the turn around I checked my split on Simon Lessing and noticed that he was not far in front of Chris Lieto and was only 15min up on me and I had made up 3min since Richter’s pass. I also noticed that Vuckovic was moving well and slowly pulling away from me. As I made the turn I said that this is where things really get tough and it’s the second half of the marathon that will make or break you, so keep eating and drinking and moving forward! I have never been at this point in an Ironman and still feeling good, it was new territory for me and it was nice! The first few miles back to town I was still feeling good, it was a big change from the headwind on the way out. But it was hot, I could feel my shoulders burning, but I love the heat and I knew it would be hurting others a lot more than it would hurt me. It was about mile 20 that I started to struggle, my energy dropped and I just didn’t have the same snap as before. I walked a few aid stations to get my nutrition back up but told myself I had a good gap to 5th and I should be able hold on to 4th if I didn’t completely blow. It was probably mile 22 that I started to hear people say Simon was 4 min up the road and not looking good, at first I thought they had made a mistake and meant Stephan but then enough people said it I realized it must be Simon. I still couldn’t see him and I sure didn’t feel like I had anymore to give at that stage so I just keep going as well as I could. Once you make the turn onto Lakeshore, runners head 1.2 km down Lakeshore away from the finish, at which point, we turn around and head right back 1.2 km to the finish line. Yes, that was torture!! I was getting splits that he was less than 1min up the road. It was with 1mile to go I was finally able to see him (there had been athletes starting their marathons that where blocking my view) and I realized this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, to run down a 5-time World Champ in the last mile of an Ironman. So I ran as hard as I could. I said hard, but it wasn’t fast, and I was lucky that Simon was out of gas, I passed him with 1km to go, very afraid he might be able to dig something out and chase. But (thankfully!) he didn’t and I had the most painful last km of my life that ended with the most satisfying finish!
My final time of 8:42 was an 18min PB and my only regret was that my wife Chantal and my 3 week old daughter Ashley weren’t able to be at the line. But my sister Fiona and good friend Lisa Bentley where there and it was awesome to be able to celebrate it with them!
My great day didn’t end there either; we had some phenomenal performances from our athletes that we coach. To name just a few, Lianne Miller was 5th in her age group, Cam Bush was second in his and Sylvie Dansereau was first in hers and 4th overall, going sub 10hours and finishing only 9min away from the overall win, and it was the first Ironman race for all 3 athletes!
I am very lucky to have some great and long time sponsors Oakley, Nike, Brian Baker and everyone at Power Bar and Gerard and Phil and everyone at Cervelo and Dan and the Enduro Sport crew, thanks for your support over the years!
Nigel
nigel@nrgpt,com
www.nrgpt.com