2013 Ironman Canada Whistler Race Report

Pre-Race
People talk about feeling ‘different’ for tapering, and my taper was bad. While I was cutting training volume (but not raising intensity), my hamstrings were tight and sore. Mentally, I was burnt out after months of training; I was so ready to race and get it over with!! Somebody mentioned that I may have peaked too early. Whatever the case was, that was going on for about 2 weeks before the race.
I am the type that would get super nervous and excited about races, so I tried to minimize the time being at the race venue before the race. We drove up on Friday, had a packed schedule, which helped me to keep my mind busy. Checked in, meet up with friends and cycle U, then attended the welcome ceremony and the mandatory meeting, fun and busy day!
While I was packing, I decided to put my heart rate monitor in T1 bag, instead of wearing it to the start, which I normally do. I am not sure if it has any significant to my race, but something ‘new’ that I did for the race. More about this in T1 below.
Also, lesson learned from last year. Last year, I was so nervous the day before the race, I also told myself I couldn’t go sleep in the afternoon because I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. Big mistake! I ended up not getting any sleep at all.
This year, I took a nap here and there, stayed relax on Saturday and I actually had a good couple hours of sleep. I woke up around 1am, went back to sleep and had another 2~3 ok hours of sleep.

Race Morning
Again, I tried to minimize idle time but I woke up a bit too early. However, it was relatively uneventful that everything went pretty smoothly. Checked in the specialty bags, took the shuttle bus to the lake, pumped tires, wiped the bikes, unwrapped all the food, eat, drink, switched to low gear, checked brakes, put on my wet suit and ready to go. Was going to take a look at my T1 bag, but I figured it was ready and I was running out of time, so didn’t do that. Managed to get a short ~5 min warm up and I was ready to go.

Swim
The swim was a floating start; I planned to start at the beach, or somewhere I didn’t have to tread water. But thanks to Moses, we swam out and started by the start-line. It was a good decision because treading water wasn’t that bad at all, and there was a lot more space than expected, a lot of people did start on the beach. I was relatively calm and not nervous before the start.
My main goal for all swims is to stay calm, get into a pace and just keep on moving forward, which I did. I used to swim all over the place due to bad sighting, looking at the GPS data, seems like I did good this time, but I still ended up swimming ~2.6 miles I swam the whole thing relatively on course, I didn’t get punched or kicked or anything, I had a good swim! I am happy with my swim.
Note: The only bad thing was foggy goggle; I did stop couple times at the beginning and tried to clear it up. But then I gave up, it just kept on happening. I still yet to find a solution for this problem.

Garmin: 1:31:13 http://connect.garmin.com/activity/366331198
Official: 1:31:12
Last year CDA: 1:38:49

T1  
I got out of water quickly, I was running to the wetsuit stripper and they were amazing! Saw Mandy and Elly, thanks for the cheering and volunteering, I got too excited and ran pass my T1 bag, probably lost some time there. Went in the tent, stayed calm (my memory from last year was ‘war zone’ and ‘panic’). It was busy, packed; I just keep moving forward and found a chair. Tried to stay relaxed and do my own stuff. Out of the tent and went to the rack, and my bike is lonely there, it was the ONLY BIKE at the rack! Depressing…Oh well… Not a great transition, but it’s ok.
I decided not to put on my heart rate monitor strap, I knew that I won’t be looking at HR during the race, and it would be too much work (time) to put it on in T1, so I decided not to use it.
Note: Practice transition! Don’t sit, there’s no need to sit. And practice to use your watch. At one point I looked at my watch and I thought I stopped it but it wasn’t, so I was wasting time worrying about the watch instead of the race. Again, practice everything for transition.

Garmin: 5:53 (probably I paused it for a bit) http://connect.garmin.com/activity/366331201
Official: 6:14
Last year CDA: 8:15

Bike
With last year’s experience, and also everything I read and heard about the bike course, or just ironman bike leg in general, I was going to be patient and held back most of the bike if not all of the bike leg so that I can run afterwards. My strategy was to find a comfortable pace, then just stick to it, or even switch to one lower gear. However, when it came with all the spectator, flats, down hills, it was tempting to go faster.
I brought two bottles of carbo-pro (8 scopes) + 2 nuun, one more bottle at specialty bag. Eating jelly bean and honey stinger waffles throughout the course, have no issue at all. Saw Mabel and Moses’ family heading back to Whistler; it is always great to have that!
Everything was working well until mile ~90, that’s when I rode back from Permerton to Whistler, got hit with the heat and the wall! ALL my legs muscle started to cramp up, I had the dilemma because I was having so much pain that I couldn’t pedal any harder (I was at my lowest gear for the last ~20 miles), at the same time I couldn’t stop moving neither, I basically had to find my ‘sweet spot’ so that cramping/pain is kept at its minimal, at the same time I could keep moving forward. GPS data shows that my speed basically average ~20mph for the first 90 miles then it drop to like 10mph. At one point I rode 35 minutes for 5 miles!!! (painful! Mostly mental and disappointed) And I had to stop twice with so much pain, with the intention to stretch my muscle but getting stuck with the bike standing by the side of the road because my quads and hamstrings were all cramping at the same time, so I just couldn’t bend my legs and stuck for a while. I drank lots of water, carbo-pro with nuun, salt pills, aleve, nothing seemed to work, and I pretty much had to deal with that for the rest of the race.
Tough bike course to say the least, could’ve been better, but it is what it is and I kept moving forward.
Note: started having minor cramps at mile 10. Still a mystery why this is happening, I only have had this 3 times, once during CDA last year, second time during Victoria HIM this year, and this was the third time. I think a high intensity swim before the bike is causing it. Never happen in training.
Should find out what is causing it.

Garmin: 6:31:07 http://connect.garmin.com/activity/366331202
Official: 6:31:13
Last year CDA: 6:51:43

T2
Got off the bike, limping through transition. T2 was uneventful. There was a lot of space when I got there. Everything went smoothly as expected.
Note: again, practice transition. Don’t need to sit just because there are chairs lying around. I should just keep moving.

Run
Right out of transition I was taking in all the energy from all the cheering, people were yelling “go Bruce!”, “Good job Bruce!”, I started to look around thinking maybe Mable, cycle U people, or friends are there, then I kept on hearing people cheering for me but I don’t see anybody!?!? Then I realized that my name was on the bib, lol… silly me.

Run was painful to start. I had to walk a lot so that I could keep moving; I made agreement with myself that I can only walk for a certain ratio, like .05 miles, then run for the rest of each mile. My cramping/pain would build up when I run, and I was basically finding my redline and tried to find that sweet spot where I could keep moving/running without stopping. Basically do that for the rest of the race but then the ratio kept getting bigger. I knew that stopping wasn’t an option, and I was consistently monitoring my watch to check my progress. I had a goal to finish before sun set, but my mistake was, I didn’t check what time is sun set! Haha..
I kept moving forward and used all the cheering as my energy that pushed me forward. Heading back to village and I asked one of the volunteers how far am I? he said 500 meter!!!! So I picked my pace way up and after couple turns I realized that he lied to me! Haha… but it’s all good, that helped me quite a bit at that moment. 
I love the final stretch which is down hill, and the set up let many people to cheer. Love the finish, love the energy and there’s still day light!

Garmin: 5:09:33 http://connect.garmin.com/activity/366331213
Official: 5:09:29
Last year CDA: 5:41:49

I wonder if the crazy cramping didn’t happen, or wasn’t as bad, how would I do. I am happy with my time, great venue, great energy, great course. Did better across the board in all legs, I am happy with my race.

2013 Whistler 13:23:40
2012 CDA 15:09:56

Marathon Training day #2

Off, cross-train (XT), or easy run of 30 to 45 minutes.

today will be the rest/easy day, as of now, I think I am going to run the 30 to 45 minutes, will see.
Run last night was good, felt good, feet were kinna sore first thing this morning, but that wasn't a surprise.

Day #1

Update 23:39
Success!
Although I stayed at work late, went home late, ate late and played diablo late, I still managed to run at 24 hour fitness.
Per the plan, today is 5 x 800, with warm up and cool down. The interval went well, it wasn't easy, but its not suppose to be easy, and also my recovery were probably longer than suggested, oh well, it's a start, I consider a good start!

Success #2, no Ben n Jerry tonight!

I'm proud of myself


I am so efficient in gaining weigh, I can gain weigh so fast that it's unbelievable.

After ironman at the end of June, and a a month of racing in July, i think I started being lazy and gaining weigh at the end of July. As of last night, 9/17/2012, I was 192.x lbs, and 18.6 body fat %. (was about 185 in the 'summer', just 2 months ago)

Anyway, i need to change that, and I am going to train for the Seattle marathon which happens in 10 weeks, and today is training day #1! I am going to follow this training plan from runners' world <http://www.runnersworld.com/charts/hallchart.html>

 today is warm up, 5X800, cool down. doesn't sound too bad.

hopefully it goes smoothly, wish me luck!

Ironman ink

Once again, again and again, I'm gonna start by saying that I haven't written anything for a while!

Anyway, I did it, ironman coeur d'alene 2012 in idalo, was it hard? Heck yeah!! It was long, hard and painful. And was it worth all the pain? Absolutely!

So one of the reasons I wanted to do the ironman is to get the tattoo, and finally, yes finally I got it! I was debating if I want to get it plain or design, red or black, sizes, and all the other good stuff, so I was thinking. I know, you think that I usually don't think right?!

Then after ironman, I was racing for the whole month of july, before heading to Europe for Olympics and vacation, that means more procrastination on the tattoo!

Finally I'm back, and I still didn't do it, yet!

And finally, I got it, last Sunday. It's even a spontaneous decision, too. I bet I would've pushed it off even more if it didn't happen that day.

There you go, plain, red with black outline, normal sized IM logo on the back of my right calf.

Now what's next?

I AM AN IRONMAN!!!!

I AM AN IRONMAN!!!!

I noticed that I haven't updated for... forever, oh well, who cares, here I am again. So yeah, I just finished my first ever Ironman triathlon race in my life, and I am an Ironman!!!
After months of training, preparation, all the hard work, pain, sweat, and sacrifices and tons of money spent.
I need to thank everyone that believes in me, everyone that supports me, everyone from cycle U that trained with me, and all the coaches for all the training, all the tips. Most important, big big thank you goes to Mabel for making this happen! without her, I wouldn't be an Ironman! She's making it so much more easier for me, with all her support, all the planning she put into this adventure, she's making it happen!

Pre-Race:
10 days before the race, I was going to ride with Cycle U for the Wednesday night ride, and I found the most terrible thing that could've happened! My aero bar was moved!!! We were heading out from Leshi Starbucks, warming up and was about to get into my aero position, and blam, my elbow touched nothing when I was getting to my aero position and it was a nightmare came to live! I freaked out, panicked and didn't know what I could do. I finished that training session anyway.

Right after, I called Speedy Reedy that I will bring the bike in the next day, emailed all the coaches, emailed everyone asking for help! I was told by Jessi that 3 things will go wrong for my race, just expect it, it will happen, just deal with it, and move on.

On Saturday, I was joining Saturday morning group ride, and blam! Second thing happened, one of the spoke from my back wheel came off during my ride, omg, really? really 3 bad things will happen?? This time didn't freak me out as much as I am renting wheels for the race, so it's relatively a small problem, but I have to cut my session short.

Tom helped me fixed my aero bar issue that afternoon, and I got my spoke fixed on Sunday.
Well, i am not sure if it's going to be 3 things that can go work, or more, but as Tom said, everything would just amplify before the race, I just need to calm down, deal with the issue and move on. And always remember that it's better now than race day, I totally agree!

Lesson learn #1: Everything could go bad will go bad! Expect the unexpected, have backup plans, learn how to deal with your issues, stay calm, deal with the issues and move on!

I was renting some sweet sexy aero wheels for the race, got them last Thursday at Cycle U and had a quick ride just to make sure I know how to ride them =)


Also did some last minute shopping with Mabel at REI and packing, oh, I just want to say, packing could be the next hardest thing to do besides the Ironman itself, I am just saying.





We were going to leave Seattle on Thursday, but decided not go. It was a good decision. We got there on Friday, it was all fun and everything to check out the expo, talk to people, check out the course and everything; however, I think I would just get way too nervous, so I decided I would want to be there as short as possible before the race.

Friday was relatively relaxing, after I checked in, checked out the ironman village, expo, we just walked around town and waited for the Welcome banquet. I thought the dinner was awful because it wasn't too organized, the wait on the line was long, 45 minutes just to get in, and the food was awful! And I mean, really, they charge $30 bucks for non-racer that much for all these?




Not only the food was not good, there wasn't enough space for people to sit! That's just very bad, maybe they shouldn't sell that many people, or they could've rent a bigger place?

Anyhow, enough of the bad stuff. The good part is, the presentations was good! it got everyone inspired and motivated, until the crazy thunder storm hit and crazy rain poured!! it's nothing like what we have in Seattle, it was kinna scary actually, esp I was really hoping and praying nothing of those on race day! Again, it's better now than race day, right?

Saturday was very relaxing, i just checked in the bike and the transition bags. I wasn't planning to do any work out before the race, not sure if that was good or bad, that's just how I am.
We met up with Emma and Mark for lunch, then Mabel and I just head back to the hotel, get ready mentally for the race, and just relax and chill in the hotel room.

Big lesson learn #2: try to get as much sleep as possible two days before the big race. Or three, or four, or whenever you can. Because you will NOT sleep the night before the race.

I  went to bed early,  it didn't work. I felt like I didn't fall asleep at all Saturday night, it was just that crazy. I felt that I was laying on bed and did a mental marathon. After what felt like a long long time, i woke up and went to the bathroom and look at the phone, it was just only 2am. I just went back and try to get some more sleep, and of course that wasn't too successful neither.

Race Morning:
We got up earlier than expected since I couldn't really get any sleep. I was also worrying about parking too, with ~3000 people racing, friends, family, and volunteering, I was worrying about parking all night long, call me silly, but that's what happened.
So we got up, got my usual breakfast from Macdonald



That's like my ritual or something, I always eat Mcdonal breakfast before my long bike ride, race, or events. I guess don't try something new on race day, so I am getting my usual breakfast.

Surprisingly, there was no problem at all finding parking, I parked at the same parking as the day before, enjoyed my breakfast and headed toward the park. Here I come, there's no turning back.

Again, i was there too early, got ready too early and started to get nervous. I checked my bike, checked my T1 and T2 bag, checked out the swim start area, dropped my specialty bags, and there's nothing else to do and I still had 2 hours to spare! I guess that's a good problem to have.

Finally i put on the wet suit, rush to the beach and I found all Emma, Michelle and Debbie. I knew that there's no way we could've swam together for any extended distance, but it's always comforting knowing you were starting with somebody you know.

here you go the crazy Ironman mass start

Swim 1:39



You see, that's me in the green swimming cap! LOL...

it's all fun for the spectator, but not so much for us trying to survive =P In fact, somebody practically died from this swim, somebody from Seattle area too. Condolences to Sean Murphy, Ironman athlete from Seattle:



Water was very cold, I think I was having a headache the first 400 to 800 meter, but that was the least concern I had. I just need to do my own thing, one stroke at a time, stay calm and keep moving forward.
I was feeling relatively ok the first lap until I get out from the water and saw the clock, 1:20!!!! I was like huh??? i started to panick and ask myself, i thought i swam ok and there were still tons of people around me, are we all not going to make the cut off time?? Of course I kept on running through the arch, got back into the water and kept swimming, but I kept on questioning and wondering what's going on. I guessed that was the Pro clock, and that was such a bad bad bad idea!

The swim leg was relatively uneventful, except the couple times that I got sandwiched and had nowhere to go besides slowed down, and also my swim cap was slowly getting off my head. I finally got back on the beach and I was done!

One down, two more to go!
Swim: <http://connect.garmin.com/activity/193206490>

The route out of the water was well marked, the volunteers were awesome, I got my wet suit stripped (Yes, they have wetsuit stripper), got my T1 bag and headed to the tent.

Oh man, it was such a scheme getting into the tent. I was disoriented, the tent was huge, dark and filled with tons of people. It looked like some war zone, it wasn't present at all!  People looked like they are running around doing something, It was a chaos! Finally I found a relatively empty spot to stand, but it was right next to the urinal, great!

Finally, a volunteer came to me and asked if I needed help and I finally settled in. He was great, he helped me packed my swim stuff and I just slowly put on my bike stuff, got ready for the bike leg, my strongest out of the three, yeah!!! So i got out of the tent, got some water from the volunteer, saw the sky was overcast and decided not to look for sunscreen, it turned out to be a bad idea. Oh well, it was what it was and I kept going to the bike rack area, trying to look for my numbers and apparently i went way too far. Then, I heard a voice that's very familiar, and it was Mabel!!

It was somewhat discouraging to see most of the bikes were gone, but it was so nice to see Mabel waiting for me by the bike rack. Quickly, i grabbed my bike and head out T1

T1: <http://connect.garmin.com/activity/193206492>

I enjoyed so much biking in the central area where there were tons of spectator, so much energy, people were so loud and it just made you feel like a superman and go fast! Apparently that was a bad idea.

Lesson learn #3: the swim and the bike are suppose to be a warm up for the run, even the first part of the bike, don't push!

My left hamstring started to cramp within the first 10 miles, that has never happend before. But I guess the 2.4 miles had something to do with it. Well, it was what is it, i just kept spinning and I knew that it will go away, but I just had one more thing to haunt me for the rest of the time and hoped that it didn't come back again.

Anyway, the bike course was beautiful! starting from the transition area we headed east and rode along the lake, it was so beautiful. there were some hills but it didn't bother me too much as I was fresh and I was feeling strong. Then after the turn around point we headed back to town for the transition area, again I Love all the energy, I loved how they block out the road and we were riding the whole road to ourselves, love it love it love it!

Heading west, it was blue sky, white clouds and green mountains, it was so beautiful! I was having fun, the uphill didn't bother me too much, and the down hill was so much fun, especially with the aero wheels, I felt that I could fly! not until the later part of the bike course, my energy level started to go down, and my back started to hurt (not sure if it's mental, because of the aero bar incidence), then I started to struggle through those hills. As I get to the last quarter of the bike course, I needed to stop more frequent at the water station to take a break, also to release all the water!

Finally, i got back into town and I am glad that I can finally get off the bike, I am sure my butt was thinking about the same!



Two down, one more to go!
Bike 7:14:00: <http://connect.garmin.com/activity/193206493>
I stopped ~25 minutes total for bathroom, water and food, that's way too much!


T2 was shorter, less crowded and simplier. The fact that there were less people made me less nervous, but also means that I have fallen behind more. Oh well, who cares, I wasn't there to break the world record or anythign, I just focus and do my own thing. Transition was relatively uneventful, the guy there helped me was very nice and helpful as usual. Out of the tent, I asked, and made a point to get some sunscree! It was probably too late by that time, but it's better late than never. After sunscreen, I got some water and out for the run. I was 2/3 done, just one more marathon.

T2 6:10: <http://connect.garmin.com/activity/193206497>


Run start

The first quarter of the run was ok. I thought I was going a steady pace, what felt like my usual pace was actually a lot slower. It's ok, I just needed to keep on moving forward and get closer to the finish line!

Very quickly, my energy level was getting way low, all my muscle was complaining and hurting, and just walking seems like a heavy load for me. I remembered seeing ~130+ bpm just for walking. I walked almost all of the hills, and i started using the walk/run strategy, I started counting steps. I would run 100 steps, then walk 50, over and over and over again. I also started having stomach issue, it's like a tornado in my stomach, so I started to think and debate if I want to keep on drinking stuff from the water station. I also needed to pee very frequently, but at the same time my mouth got very dry, I wasn't sure if I was drinking too much or not enough. Regardless, I just kept moving forward.

Besides finishing, I also wanted to finish before the sun goes again. However, by the time I finished the first half marathon, I knew that that's almost impossible, that was kinna discouraging. However, see Mabel, Dom, and Peggy in town gave me some instant energy, I picked up my pace a little bit, I probably ran 200 steps instead of a 100, LOL...

I just keep moving forward, one step at a time, and keep needed to pee, one water station at a time, I think i probably went like 20 times that day!
Anyway, the sun was going away, it was getting dark, I was tire, I was in pain, but I knew that I was getting closer, and closer. Finally, getting back into town, it was all dark, the cheering and party were long gone, except the couple people who stayed behind to cheer for us, that was just super awesome.

Finally, i made a turn and some volunteer told me there was only couple more blocks, and I recognize those buildings and I am actually getting really really close, and I started hearing all the noise and the lights, I picked up my pace and actually started running, I actually starting sprinting!

Then I slowed down, I slowed down so that I can enjoy my moment, I put my arms up for all the high fives from everybody, from all the people that's left behind dark to cheer for us, I saw the finish line, even though there were like 50 lights at the finish line blinding me, but I saw the FINISH LINE! And then i also heard "Bruce Lam from Seattle, Washington, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!"

This was a dream come true, after all these hard work, I can now call myself an Ironman!

Run 6 hours <http://connect.garmin.com/activity/193206498>

Saturday morning

It's dark and early, anyone up for a swim?

Iron heart

http://www.heartofironbook.com/

currently reading this, almost finish.
As i am only beginning my journey, i need as much motivation and training for both my physical body, and my mind.
This guy, Kyle Garlett, his stories are very motivational and inspirational. I enjoy reading it and i would recommend this book.
Again, I truthfully believe that if you want something bad enough, you can do it.
So don't complain and tell me you can't run a mile with your healthy body while somebody else had gone through cancer battles and heart transplant can do the Ironman!