Mont-Tremblant 70.3

Two weeks ago I did the Mont-Tremblant Ironman 70.3 triathlon. Let me sum up this way: I loved the town, really liked the course, and that was the best organized and supported triathlon I've ever done. It was a long but fun day.

After Victoria last year I had researched some options for another race and settled pretty quickly on Mont-Tremblant. I registered the day it opened, which was fortunate since it sold out that same day. Turns out there's a reason people jump on this race.

Pre-race

We flew into Montreal the Thursday before the race and drove the 90ish miles to Mont-Tremblant that evening, just in time to pick my assembled tri bike up from a local bike shop up there (because it's apparently not my destiny to have an easy pre-race week ahead of an international event, getting the bike there and home was quite an ordeal, but more on that later). Kevin and the kids drove on to the hotel while I put on my bike shoes and helmet and rode my bike to the hotel, traveling most of the way on the trail I'd run on for the race on Sunday. As I rode I enjoyed the beautiful scenery (including a deer and several squirrels, which apparently are not at all afraid of bikes or of darting perilously close to their wheels) and crisp pleasantly cool temperature. I was looking forward to returning to this path again on Sunday knowing that by then, I'd be on the last leg of my race.

Mont-Tremblant is a small town in the Laurentian mountains, the tourist-focused part of which is a ski village area. The race is based in the ski village and if there's a long course triathlon with a more convenient setup than this one I don't know what it is. Ironman village, transition, and the finisher chute are all located at the foot of the ski village with the swim a short walk away in Lac Tremblant. Our hotel was less than a 5-minute walk from that. 

Moreover, once we arrived in the village we didn't need our car. The village was full of restaurants, shops, and activities along cobblestone streets. We would just walk out the hotel front door and head up the hill. It was an easy place to vacation with young kids and a relaxing one too. It also made it easy to incorporate them into my race experience more than usual. They had fun exploring Ironman village but especially loved the big carnival slides set up there. They spent hours there and never tired of it. They each picked out a new shirt from the Ironman store too. Rebecca's was purple, of course!

In Victoria last summer Ironman village had been a 20ish minute drive from downtown so when I went to packet pickup I had to navigate finding the exit and parking and walking over and I felt bad for taking so much time from the family so I didn't spend too long there or do any pre-race swims or rides (also had an injured rib I was trying not to aggravate then too). In Mont-Tremblant, by contrast, packet pickup was right there in the village and Kevin watched the kids play on the slide while I checked in; they had fun, he had an easy job watching them. The next day I listened to the athlete briefing (interesting and somewhat hard to follow because the speakers alternated from French to English and back a lot) while watching Daniel on the slide 10 feet away after he helped me check my bike in. It was a much easier set-up.

One cool thing about this race was that not only was the lake open for practice swims ahead of race day, but a practice course was marked with cones and there were lifeguards out watching us, for no entry fee. Apparently it's available year-round or nearly so as the area is determined to establish itself as a triathlon training destination. I would love to have a marked and supported open water swim course like that in the Metroplex, even if only spring-fall and reduced hours. The folks up there are lucky.

I was nervous that the lake would feel too cold for me. At 64 it was a good 5 degrees colder than the coldest OWS I can recall doing before and when I first walked into the water it was freezing. But I remembered the routine I'd read about and practiced before-slowly submerge the full body in the water, then splash water in the face a few times, then stick my face in the water a few times till I overcame the reflex to immediately pull it back out, then swim. It worked. Within a few minutes I adjusted and it felt great. The water was calm and clear--if you've never swam in a lake outside Texas, apparently they're not all murky. This was like a pool without lane markers and walls. The practice swim was a nice confidence boost and I got out of the lake feeling ready for the race day swim.

I had planned to ride some of the bike course before the race but a suddenly-ending and restarting bike lane on my ride to the hotel from the bike shop led to my somehow braking too hard on the front wheel and doing a nice fall. It left me a bit scratched and bruised but most notably with a very sore thumb where I'd caught myself. I woke up that night and could barely squeeze my thumb--not reassuring ahead of a 56 mile bike ride on hills. I decided to give it some rest and drive part of the bike course instead. The thumb healed up fine by race day, thankfully. 

I knew the bike course was hilly but driving down some of the long descents made me nervous. They looked really steep, what if I rode too fast and lost control? What if I lost control on a bridge and flew off the side and died a terrible yet exciting death plunging into the river below? Yes, I have a vivid imagination when it comes to imagining biking mishaps. Rational brain told me that was a silly worry but rational brain doesn't always get to drive this car.

I drove a little bit of Chemin Duplessis too and didn't see what all the fuss was about--these were the hills that everyone says are hard? Well, as I would discover on race day, I had turned around before the real hilly part started.

On balance I returned from the drive feeling reasonably confident about the bike course. I consider myself a decent climber but cautious descender and not fond of technical courses with lots of turns and I felt like this was a course where it paid to know your strengths and weaknesses and plan accordingly. Given that, I decided the aspect that scared me most was the descents so I'd make them less scary but getting out of aero for those portions and shifting into the big chainring before the descents so I'd know I could pedal through them as needed. Better to sacrifice a little speed and maintain control than get going too fast and at best get my confidence rattled and at worst have a crash.

I went for a short run the day before the race but since I'd already seen the P'tit Train du Nord portion of the course on my bike ride I ran over to watch the 5150 (Olympic distance) athletes coming out of the swim and cheered them on. Now I knew where swim-out was and what the path back to transition looked like.

Maybe it was that it was my second 70.3 and destination race, maybe it was that the hassle of getting the bike there was so much work that everything else seemed easy, maybe it was just that Mont-Tremblant is such a laid back, relaxing place. Whatever the reason, I didn't have any pre-race jitters or Type-A overthinking of things. I was ready, the location made logistics easy, and with no ambitious sightseeing schedule, I just enjoyed exploring the town with my family.

I've found that for any big race the right time to prep everything presents itself. Too early and I'd feel like I was missing something, too late I'd be panicked, but that Goldilocks sweet spot this time was the afternoon before while Rebecca napped. I got everything ready, including preparing water bottles. We had a kitchenette in our room so I stuck most of the bottles in the freezer and set everything else in the fridge or in bags. After that Daniel and I checked in my bike and we all walked over to Pizzateria restaurant for some carb-loading on the patio looking out at the town then walked the 5 minutes back to our hotel. One last check of my bags and nutrition then I was in bed with alarm set for 5:20.

Race morning

Our hotel opened its continental breakfast at 5:30 on race morning to accommodate the athletes. Usually pre-race breakfast is eaten quickly downstairs or in the car driving to the site so it was a fun change of pace to eat with a group even if we were mostly alone with our thoughts. I went with a sugar-free Red Bull, yogurt, and an almond butter and jelly sandwich on toasted English muffins (I actually brought the English muffins with us from Dallas because what if I couldn't find any there? Turns out they had some right there on the buffet so I needn't have worried but I didn't want to waste my Dallas muffins so I ate them anyway ;)) and I snagged a banana to eat later just before the swim.

I carried my gear bags the five minute walk to transition and got everything set up. For the second year in a row I got an end spot so I took advantage of that to not have to set everything up right under my bike (for a second year in a row, space was tight). 

One thing I'd never had at a race before but was nice was that the bike support group had gone around that morning and checked and topped off the air on everyone's tires. Does that happen at most M-dot races and Victoria just didn't? Did I get a half-ass M-dot last year and didn't know it? Is Mont-Tremblant just an overachiever that's ruining me for any other race? Either way, it was reassuring.

The first wave didn't start till 8 but transition closed at 7:15 so we walked the 10 minutes to the beach parking lot to wait. As 8am drew closer there was a fighter jet flyover, fireworks, and the Canadian national anthem. In Victoria it was sung in English; this being Quebec though it was sung in French and only in French. (And yes Canada, I'm impressed your anthem is dual language. Also doesn't have those tricky high notes of the Star-Spangled Banner. Up there with La Marseillaise on the good national anthems.). 

One funny thing was that we had to put all our morning gear in labeled bags and throw them in the back of what looked like a garbage truck (being Mont-Tremblant it was all shiny and new-looking of course but it felt weird to throw my stuff in a garbage truck) for transport back to the finish. I ate the banana I'd saved from breakfast, went a few rounds through the porta-potties, wished I'd brought water and Chapstick and tried not to think about being thirsty or having dry lips. Somehow when you don't have water or Chapstick you're convinced you need it right then, right, or is that just me? 

Eventually I headed to the beach itself, put on my wetsuit, and went into the warm-up area to acclimate to the water and get a few practice strokes. I didn't want to go stand on the beach and get hot waiting so I just hung out in the water.

Swim

As 8:48 drew closer I joined the rest of the women 35-39 in our blue caps and after the wave ahead of us left we entered the start area and awaited our start. Apparently we weren't the most competitive bunch since a small group went right to the front and the rest of us left a nice gap and filled in the back! It was like no one wanted to sit in the front of the classroom.

The gun went off, into the water we ran, and I went on to what felt like the best open water swim I've ever done. The conditions were perfect-calm, clear water, sun but no glare that tinted lenses couldn't handle, and I found a swim lane pretty easily. Almost right from the get-go it felt like swimming in a big pool without lane markers. It was just swimming, holding my target pace pretty well without feeling like it took great effort. Before long I had reached the buoy that signaled the first turn, swam the short leg to the next turn buoy, and headed back toward shore.

The swim got a little more interesting about halfway back to shore exit as the fastest swimmers from the male wave behind us caught up and aggressively elbowed and manhandled their way through. I could tell pretty quickly if I was getting touched by a female swimmer or a man from the wave behind us. If it was a woman, she'd hit or kick once then find another lane (remember, we were all back of the classroom-ers not gunning for contact). If it was a man, I braced for a few more elbows as he barrelled through. It wasn't a particularly congested area so I'm not sure going around me was so much work than going over me. It was annoying but fortunately the gunners moved on soon enough and then it was back to just swimming. Soon the beach got closer and the water got too shallow to swim so it was time to run out, unzipping my wetsuit as I went.

I had hoped to finish around 40 minutes but the jostling set me back a bit. Still, I felt good running out onto the beach at 42 minutes and, after enlisting the help of a wetsuit stripper, ran the quarter mile back to transition on a literal red carpet (because this is Mont-Tremblant, what else would they have for us to run on?). I was looking through the crowds hoping to see my family-turns out, they just missed me, but I figured they were having fun and I'd catch them later in the day. I had just completed as good an open water swim as I'd ever done and was feeling great and excited for the bike leg.

T1

Quick porta-potty stop (because like any road trip, you should always go before you get on the road, right?), another layer of sunscreen, socks, bike shoes, stood up, saw my compression sleeves on the ground, took off the shoes to put the sleeves on, now back on with the shoes, took some sport leg pills and salt tab, put on gloves, helmet, glasses, grab the bike, off to the bike out. I had brought arm and leg warmers with memories of cold Victoria in mind but it was sunny and 70s so I figured the calf sleeves were enough; in hindsight, I'd have been fine skipping those too but I wasn't about to risk another cold bike.

Crossed the mount line, hopped on, and I was off. Then quickly realized my tool bag was loose under the saddle (velcro had come off on one side) and my cadence monitor for my Cateye bike computer wasn't working. I pulled over, fixed the saddle bag, couldn't figure out why the cadence monitor wasn't working but decided the Garmin sensor for my watch would do, and off I went.

Bike

Between driving the course a bit the day before and riding on my trainer watching a GoPro video of the course, I felt comfortable that I knew reasonably well what to expect. The first stretch was on Montee Ryan through a pretty, wooded area. This is where the descents I'd worried about on the drive were but oddly, they looked less scary on the bike than they had in the car. You'd think it would have been the other way around, and maybe it was just that I was prepared and got out of aero accordingly, but it was fine. The only part that felt a little scary was where a descent led to a bridge over a river, but they had signs up telling us to ride single file there, so that was fine too. 

The rolling hills felt good and my plan of climbing patiently and descending cautiously worked well. Whenever I saw a sign warning of reduced speed ahead I knew another descent was coming and I'd make sure I was in the big chainring so I'd have control. I just tried to take in some of the Skratch mix in my handlebar-mounted water bottle at least every 10 minutes; 70 degrees didn't feel hot to me but I knew I didn't want to get behind on hydration.

After what felt like a pretty easy first leg it was time to turn onto Highway 117 for an out and back. Because this is Mont-Tremblant, the race got an entire side of a major highway and not only were we not relegated to the shoulders, we were actually told to use the traffic lanes instead and leave the shoulders for emergencies. I'd read that the area had repaved their roads for the race and that they were glassy-smooth. Sure enough, the roads were great, a vast improvement over the chipseal I'd ridden 40 miles on at Texasman. 

Come to think of it, I didn't see but a handful of people with flats or bike issues the whole time. Oh, and if I had had a bike issue, not only was there the typical on-course support, but the bike sponsor was driving around with spare wheels to loan out just in case someone needed one. Yeah, they go all out with this race. Reminds me of a line from another race report I'd read on Mont-Tremblant: if they'd had a swim-up bar in the lake with lattes and GUs, it wouldn't have been surprising. They bring their A game, that's for sure.

117 had a few flat areas but was mostly rolling hills. I ate my first almond butter and jelly sandwich about an hour in. The out leg was net downhill and my pace reflected that as I was averaging around 18mph until the turnaround at Labelle. The way back was more uphill but didn't feel hard. There was one long hill but I felt good on it and was patient. After we reached the top the cyclist next to me remarked about the heat. It was probably mid-70s; felt great to this Texan.

I stopped off at the aid station just past the hill for a pit stop and water bottle refresh and, since my neck was a little sore from aero position, I asked at the medical tent if they had any Advil. They didn't, but wanted to take my blood pressure to make sure I was okay. I assured them I was but thought, well, may as well sit down to eat my second sandwich. Unfortunately that stop added a fair bit to my time; oh well, I was feeling good and back on the road.

Before we headed back on Montee Ryan there was a quick loop through downtown Mont-Tremblant (not the ski village, the town). This part was nice, lots of crowd support, fun chance to see the town. One guy on the sidewalk tried to be helpful and point out a manhole cover on the road in front of me. Unfortunately I misunderstood him (speaking French) and went right where he pointed. Oops. Quick bump, no big deal, but it was funny to me that in trying to warn he inadvertently guided me right to the bump! 

Then, back to 117 and a turn off to Montee Ryan. Again, hills, some long, none too steep. Never got out of the saddle or felt like I was having to work too hard on them. I wasn't passing many people on the descents, by design, but did a fair bit of passing up the hills. 

Now back to the turnaround and off to Chemin Duplessis for the final out and back. Knowing I had about 8 miles of hills ahead of me I pulled over to refill my aero water bottle from my saddle-mounted bottles and ate a few Perpetuem tabs. Now it was time to see what the hard part of this ride was about.

The first few miles had some climbs but nothing too intimidating or that I had to get out of saddle for. Then the real climbs came. It wasn't really that any given one was so steep or long, but you'd do one, plateau a bit, then do another, without much in the way of descent or flats in between. I saw people walking their bikes pretty early into the hills; I finally ended up walking two climbs myself when my legs needed a quick break. I felt like I could have ridden them but, not knowing how much more of this we had, didn't want to risk using up all the matches and having none left to burn later.

All in all, this section was hard but I felt reasonably good on it. I tend to do my climbing in the saddle but think it would have benefitted me to be a more confident out-of-saddle climber here so I could spread the work over different muscle groups; something to work on for next time. It was a relief when I reached the turnaround point and got to experience the net descent on the return, knowing I only had a few more climbs left and could largely coast and rest the legs for the run.

At one point on the way out I saw a cyclist on the other side of the road on the ground with medics tending to her. I didn't know what had happened but they were still there when I passed later on my return. I later learned through a thread on the race's Facebook page that there had been an accident of several bikes there on the descent. Just reaffirmed for me that my cautious descent strategy was right for me. Some people are comfortable bombing down the hills and hitting 40+ mph; low 30s was plenty fast for me.

By the end of the Victoria bike last year I couldn't wait to get off the bike. This year, I was feeling strong and happy with my bike performance as I turned to head back into transition and, as with the swim, felt like I had it in me to go longer. I'd taken about 3:50 with the stop but my moving time was around 3:30 with ~16mph average. I'd want to get the stopped time reduced a lot for future races but the moving time was right on goal.

I dismounted and ran my bike in, smiling as I realized I'd finished a solid bike leg feeling good. The smile got bigger when I saw my family cheering for me, the kids holding signs they'd made and wearing their new Ironman tee shirts.

So far the swim and bike had gone very well. My times weren't fast but I had felt good out there, which was my goal. Now just a half marathon left...easy for this runner, right?

T2

Racked the bike, took off bike gear in the opposite of the order I'd put it on, put another layer of Bodyglide on my feet, changed into new socks (old ones weren't that sweaty but starting the run in fresh socks sounded nice), running shoes, visor, sunglasses, race belt, fuel belt, and off I went.

Run

The run course took us past the swim start area, up and down a few tall hills, a turn to head toward town, then an out and back on the P'tit Train du Nord, a paved trail where a rail line used to run. I was feeling pretty good in the first few miles, despite the heat, and holding around a 9 minute pace. But the combination of heat (approaching the 90s, full sun) and hills and the 56 miles I'd already logged caught up to me and my pace slowed, first to a slower run, then walking the aid stations, then run-walk intervals.

This was Mont-Tremblant so of course they were prepared for the heat pretty well. Sprinklers, ice at every aid station (to go with all the water, Gatorade, Red Bull, Pepsi, pretzels, orange slices, bananas, and gels at every single aid station because of course this race was a rolling buffet), volunteers pouring water on us. And as a Texan in a field of Canadians the heat should have been easier for me-I'd done plenty of runs in hotter conditions. I had even brought pickle juice in my fuel belt to get in electrolytes (sits better in my stomach than the sweetness of Gatorade). But I struggled with it and the last 10 miles of the run were tough. And I was slowed with some hyperventilation too. It never happens on practice runs but sometimes in races I'll do too much shallow breathing and have to slow down and breathe deep. It seemed like I'd start to get a little momentum then have to slow down again and do some deep breaths.

Finally I approached the village where the course had one last big hill for me-I had to climb the hill up to the top of the village. But this climb was worth it because it sets up a great finish running down the cobblestone streets of the village with spectators lined up along the sides to cheer. As I came up to our hotel I saw my family cheering, ringing cowbells, and holding signs. I gave Daniel and Rebecca kisses and continued on toward the finisher chute. I bet I had my fastest run split of the day on that descent down the hill. It was a great finish set-up.

I crossed the finish line around 7:35, about 16 minutes faster than last year. One thing that was funny but kind of annoying was that the announcer announced that the finisher ahead of me was "all the way from New Brunswick" then for me it was just "Ellen Williamson from Irving." Really? New Brunswick is right next door, if you're going to make a point of how far someone came how about the Texan?! ;)

Post-race

After I got my medal and finisher cap I headed over to the finisher tent to see about food. Last year in Victoria they were all out of finisher food by the time I got there but of course because this is Mont-Tremblant they still had a smorgasbord even for the slowpokes. Poutine (not normally a big fan but it tasted pretty good then) and a buffet with couscous, quinoa salad, fruit, chips and cookies, and sausage.  And they had lots of picnic tables in the shade for us to sit at to eat. I gobbled up my finisher feast and headed out to reunite with my family.

Then it was time for a shower, a nap, and a celebration dinner with the family. The next day we drove to Montreal for a few days of sightseeing before heading back to Texas. Another 70.3 in the books.

Looking back on the race, I feel like good about the swim. Sure, I'd love to get faster but I'm satisfied with my performance and looking forward to building on it. The bike was pretty good too. Again, room for improvement but I felt strong out there. My primary goal after Victoria was to train well enough my next race to feel strong out there and thrive instead of just surviving and through the swim and bike legs I feel like I did that. The run though...it bugs me that two years in a row the run has been my undoing. I need to work on that for next year-not just being better conditioned but also doing a better job starting conservatively.

Return trip 2017...

So what's on tap now? Well, this fall brings Dallas Marathon training. It'll be my 3rd full marathon but my first since 2014. I'm kind of looking forward to getting to focus on running again after spreading my efforts over swim, bike, and run. I'll enjoy the next few weeks of not being in training but I'm not feeling burned out-if anything, I kind of miss being so busy and working out "only" 3-5 times a week feels lazy ;) I'm excited to get to do my next marathon and improve on my run endurance. That'll come in handy next triathlon season.

Next year I'm thinking to do Vineman 70.3 in Napa Valley in July. It would be a fun place to visit and looks like a good course. A friend has done it several times and talked it up. But that won't be my A race. 

I plan to return to Mont-Tremblant, but not for the 70.3. This time I'll go in August for the full enchilada, 140.6. I can't think of a better place to do my first full than a course I'm already familiar with, with easy logistics and top notch direction. I'm nervous but feel like I'm ready. I can do this. I won't be fast but I'll finish. My hope was that this year's race would help me feel ready and I do.

My bike's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad journey

The full Ironman features one key benefit the half didn't that will fix the one aspect of this race that was frustrating: getting the bike to/from the race. Tri Bike Transport didn't cover the 70.3 so I had to coordinate for a local bike shop to box up my bike, FedEx to ship it to a bike shop in Mont-Tremblant to reassemble, then to do it all again in reverse to get it home. Even if all went to plan that was a lot of moving parts. 

It didn't go to plan. 

It must have been Fedex's very first time shipping a person's personal bike internationally for a race, given that they seemed to be learning on the fly how to do it. I spent far more time than I hope to for the rest of my life on the phone with Fedex and Canadian customs sorting everything out and it took a dedicated FedEx employee making this her personal cause to get the bike out of Canadian customs and to the bike shop on time-4 days past the originally projected date, but luckily I built in a large time cushion. 

I've decided if I ever do another race not supported by TBT I'll just learn how to disassemble and assemble my bike myself and take it with me on the plane because that can't possibly be more work or frustration than shipping it. It was a bonus 4th leg of the race which made the other 3 seem easy by comparison.

But the full race is covered by TBT so all I'll have to do is drop off my fully-assembled bike and gear bag to a local bike shop and then meet it by the transition area in Mont-Tremblant. I think that's about the only detail I could want improved over my experience this year though, as in every other way it was everything I could have expected.

Great swim, solid bike, tough run...well, 2 out of 3 isn't bad, and most of the day I was really enjoying the race. I'm glad I did this race and can't wait to go back!