'23 XTRI Canadaman - Race Recap pre-race and swim

 

Pre Race
I was nervous. Very nervous. I was about to do a lot of things that I’ve never done before. Even though this was my 20th Ironman distance triathlon, the event felt very unfamiliar to me in many ways. But that is exactly why I signed up for XTRI Canadaman – do challenge myself and to do something that I’ve never done before.

Come race day morning, we had seen almost all of the race course. We either drove or biked every mile of the 112 mile course. We swam in the lake (twice) and we drove the run course. There were ~8 miles of the run that were on private land (and off-road) so we weren’t able to see those miles. The last ~8.7 miles were all off-road, on very technical (and hilly) trails. Karel did his “long” run up and down the mountain on Saturday so he was able to tell me all about miles 18-26.

We had to attend a mandatory pre-race briefing at 3pm at Centre sportif Mégantic (downtown, by the lake ~25 min drive from our Airbnb in Val-Racine. The meeting was not very informative as it was mostly in French and only provided a few pieces of info about gravel on the road in a few sections and wearing the live tracking device. I picked up my timing chip and the meeting was complete at 4pm.

I didn’t sleep too well the night before the race (which is to be expected). After a full day of carb-loading, I laid down around 6pm and tried to fall asleep around 7pm. When I finally fell asleep, I woke up around 11pm and then tossed and turned until my alarm went off at 2:15am.

We woke up to light rain (which I expected thanks to the Epic Weather app) and although it was a restless night of sleep, I woke up feeling less nervous. The day was finally here.

I had organized all my gear the day prior and Karel had everything loaded in our rental SUV. I also prepared all my nutrition the day prior and kept in the fridge in different bags and on race morning, Karel put everything in the SUV, along with his gear, nutrition and snacks for his day of supporting me. I put on my bib number tattoos in the morning after putting on my race kit.

Karel said all the right things to keep me positive and calm as we drove to the race. I ate my pre-race meal in the car around 2:55am (2 Belgium waffles topped with PB and syrup and a side of cherry yogurt) and then braided my hair. When we arrived to the race venue, parking was easy. Karel parked near the exit so that he could easily leave the race venue to make his way to the first aid station after I got on the bike. It was raining when we arrived, then it stopped, then it poured. I put my bike on the closest transition rack near the exit. With only ~80 athletes in the xtreme distance and ~100 in the solo point five (including relays – this was the half distance), the transition area was small and there was plenty of space (although somehow the racks still seemed crowded as everyone wanted to be near the exit). I had my bike gear in a bag as Karel was going to lay out my T1 gear as I was swimming. For the next 30 minutes, we hung out under a tent and listened to the pouring rain come down. I put on my wetsuit, inflated my buoy (with light inside) and grabbed my cap and goggles.

I walked down to the water edge around 4:15am and stepped in the water. It was the perfect temp – upper 60s. The air was also around 60 but it didn’t feel warm.

I lined up on the front line and at 4:30am, it was time to start the race.

                                         

Swim – 1:04.49, 3rd overall

• Roka Maverick X2 wetsuit
• Roka F2 goggles
• New Wave Swim Buoy
• White light (for inside buoy)
• Castelli Tri kit
• Compress Sport Calf Sleeves
• Born Primitive Sports Bra

The swim was a two loop swim with a short run on the beach between each loop. When I started the swim, I felt a bit of panic. My body was not comfortable with swimming in the dark and it was early so I needed to give myself time to settle into a rhythm. After a few minutes, I found myself feeling much better. I felt like the swim was slow and hard. Although the buoys had lights on them, there were also kayaks with lights. This required a lot of sighting to stay on course. Once I made my way around the two turn buoys and started to head back to the shore, it started to get a bit brighter out which made it easier to sight. I wasn’t sure where to exit the water so I needed to sight a lot as I was nearing the shore. I exited the water and jogged along the shore before getting back in the water. I felt a lot better on the 2nd loop but it still felt slow. And when I saw my time of 32 minutes after the first loop (I don’t wear a watch when I swim the full distance because I don’t want to see my swim time but I noticed my time on the official race clock) I knew this was a slow swim. I usually like to build my effort in the back half of the swim but I felt like I only had one speed. I thought I was behind the lead group of swimmers but when I exited the water and ran to my transition area, Karel told me that I was 3rd out of the water.

Karel had my transition area laid out perfectly with my shoes, helmet, socks and tracking device. He put the tracking device (which we were required to wear) in my left rear tri kit pocket and my nutrition (gu aminos in a baggie, Never Second bar and Power Bar chews in my right rear pocket). As I was swimming the 2nd loop he turned on my computer, turned on the navigation (bike race course) and turned on my front and rear light (both required).

Although it was raining on and off during the swim, it had stopped raining when I got on the bike. But that was short-lived as it started pouring within a mile of the bike.

If you'd like to listen to my entire race recap, you can check it out here.