My Final Result: IRONMAN Muskoka 70.3

Training and life leading up towards the race

If you’ve been reading my blogs and/or watching my Youtube shorts, I have been training all year to prepare for an IRONMAN. I knew I was going to do at least one race but I did not know when or where. It has been extremely difficult to do the training I wanted to do partly because I focused on my studies. As always, life gets in the way and my top priority was to achieve good grades and graduate faster to have a better future (the road to law school is still in the making). As soon as I graduated school, I booked a cycling and hiking trip to Colombia to cycle one of the longest climbs in the world and registered to IRONMAN Muskoka 70.3

I chose this race for several reasons. Firstly, New York Lake Placid was my original plan however it sold out (and I did not feel prepared). Secondly, Muskoka was close in proximity and cost less than $500.00 for registration. Lastly, I am limited on vacation days and I wanted to see if it was possible to do a 70.3 by just taking Monday off and being able to do an IRONMAN within a weekend and be back to work on a Tuesday. The result? It was doable (with the help of family). As always, on my mind I always asked the question, “Did I train enough?” I’ll let you decide by my results.

The morning before the race

I woke up around 5am and drank a Monster Java Energy drink to clean my system. As always I take caffeine to force myself to go to the washroom so I don’t have to go during the race. As someone who works out a lot, going to the washroom before the gym is a must. I bring this same rule to my races. As usual, I felt sick. I have come to the conclusion that when I am doing any long distance triathlon, I feel nauseous and somewhat afraid of what’s to come making me feel sick. This feeling does goes away once the race starts. I talked to an older woman during the race who has done several IRONMANs and I told her how I felt. She said that feeling never goes away when racing. I found that to be calming that I was not the only one having this same feeling. Could it be from the pressure build up becoming so insane that this is your body’s reaction? Is this some sort of ecstasy we triathletes look forward to? Comment and tell me what you think. We do like pain and suffering.

What I wore/brought:

• Castelli San Remo Tri Suit – No sleeves
• Mavic cycling Shoes
• Nike ZoomX Vaporfly for the run
• Boco Ironman Socks (prevented bleeding and blisters from the run)
• Ironman Muskoka 70.3 Visor for the run
• Ironman Muskoka x Garneau vest
• Scott Plasma Premium 3
• Speedo goggles
• Helmet
• Puncture Kit in the bottle cage
• 1 protein shake (vega one protein + almond milk)
• 2XU Wetsuit
• My race mode spirit

The Swim

Swim Completed: 39 Minutes 2:02/100m

I would like to point out that I forgot my goggles! I also forgot my phone and I also forgot to turn on my gamin for the swim. That’s how stressed I was. The panic for this race was real. The race was in one hour and I was in panic mode. I asked the bike mechanics if they had spare goggles that I could buy from them. They unfortunately had nothing (they were selling goggles the day before). I then became desperate and asked the individuals beside me if any of them had a spare. I had no way of contacting my sister since I did not have my phone. One gentleman passed me his spare goggles and told me to keep it with a huge smile. I was forever thankful. The relief was immense. Moving forward, I will always bring spare goggles with me in case anyone ever happens to be in my situation. Paying it forward.

I walked to the swim and started feeling sick. I accepted my fate. I went into the water and did a quick warmup in the warm water. As the race started, we all lined up and waited for our turn to race. I started in the third wave. It was based on age and not finishing time. It was a big swim start (I believe 200+ people) and for the first time ever I decided to start closer to the front and closer to the buoys. I was ready to swim with the washing machine and battle my way up. I got into race mode. I was here to challenge myself. This is what I trained for.

The swim started and I was passing people and several passed me, I swam as close to the buoys as possible. I got kicked, scratched, hit, but I did not care. I kept going. No one does this stuff on purpose, it’s just part of the race. I couldn’t believe what I was doing. I was swimming beside tons of people during the whole race. My fear of swimming has completely changed since I have started this sport. What other fears can I conquer from this new found knowledge? I love this sport.

The water was calm but for some reason towards the end of the swim there were some waves. I got out of the water and ran to the bike. I was just happy I finished the swim as always.

The Ride

Ride Completed: 2 Hours and 44 Minutes 32.9 kph

I was told this ride was hilly and I was ready and super excited to put my Scott plasma 3 premium to the test. My goal is to eventually do a 40 kph average ride in the future. Yes, I’m serious. I want to be a fast mad lad. I made a large mistake on this ride. I only had one drink. I could have been much faster if I drank and ate during the ride. My quads and left calve gave out around the last 10 km of the ride because of my poor nutrition. Modern bikes provide internal storage for that stuff so less stops are needed saving you time and providing a better bike time. I did not have this luxury. I felt my body giving out that I had to stop for Gatorade. That’s when many people I passed caught up to me. One of my biggest mistakes.

If I had not stopped towards the last 15km and if I had been hydrated and been full of nutrients, I would have smashed the ride and wouldn’t have been passed as much. I was in pain towards the last 10km and feared the run. This was a problem I created. I was afraid I would not be able to run.

Every time there was a hill, I focused on a much higher cadence ( I would spin faster instead of using more leg power) with a lower gear to create less resistance on my legs. I made the climbs easy that way. The hill descents were fast. I hit 75 kph speeds on one descent towards the end. Descending the mountains of Colombia allowed me to descend this fast. I was very confident on the descents and I also loved climbing the hills. This ride was fun. The flat parts of the race I was flying but I noticed that even though I wanted to go faster on the bike, it didn’t provide the speed I wanted in some areas. I love the bike but it’s a 13 year old frame and I started to see the limitations. I might throw this on the trainer and buy a super bike. This bike was originally meant for training.

Overall, this ride was beautiful. It rained at the start but the gloomy weather disappeared and it was smooth riding. The end of the ride was a mental battle since I kept thinking about the run while my legs screamed in pain as I cycled towards transition 2. The hills can be conquered as long as you go easy on them and not overdo it.

The Run

Run Completed: 2 hours 11 minutes 6:13/km

I love and I hate running. I have improved but as always I need to focus on my run. Once the run started, I did a quick warm up and ran out of transition 2. You leave the transition area and you are climbing this huge hill. There is another hill like this, prepare for it. It’s a boss battle. My quads and calves were super sore from the bike and I was definitely feeling it during the start of the run. I had to walk half way up since it hurt so much. I then pumped myself up and started to run once I reached the top.

The muscle pain eventually went away around the 4km mark. I felt relief again. At the 6km mark I rolled my ankle, this was a frightening moment. I kept running through the pain. I drank 2-3 Gatorade cups at every pit stop to make sure I did not bonk and it worked. The pain all went away and I had one of the best 20km runs. I could have done better but it’s always that mental battle if you should do more or keep the same pace and not to over do it. Lastly, there is another big hill around the 12km mark and it’s absolute hell. Although this run had two torturous hills, I loved it.

Final Result

Finished: 5 hours 42 Minutes Ranked 439 out of 1685

My goal was to hit 5 hours. This could have been achieved if I trained harder on my runs but I am still extremely proud of myself. I am proud since I took so much on and was still able to do this Ironman and accomplish so much this year. This sport helps me realize how much you can take on and how anything is possible. I found Muskoka to be boring since I love the city life but this race was spectacular and allowed me to like Muskoka. I loved IM Mont Tremblant but this felt just as special. I bet they all do.