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Writer's pictureErwin Edillon

IM 70.3 YYC Race Report

Warning: Long read with too many details. Good if you need help falling asleep : )

Race Date: 7/29/24

Location: Calgary, Canada (Harmony Lake)

Distance: Half Ironman - 1.2 Mile Swim, 56 Mile Bike, 13.1 Mile Run


What an amazing support crew to see during the run! Thank you Canada family.


Executive Summary (if you just want the numbers and no commentary):

Got behind schedule when I started the run but made it up with a sub 2 hour run split.

Training before the race (last ~2 months):

Finishing my recent 70.3 Chattanooga race in May better than planned (5h:56m vs 6h:00m) gave me a good amount of confidence coming into the race.


I've also been putting in quite a bit of time at the gym doing HIIT workouts at Work Irvine, and also spent a lot of time mountain biking. I don’t go too hard with intensity or weights, since I think im strong enough for a triathlete. Overall, my body feels great and that my body is back to handling 10+ hours of workouts during the week.

Fitness with Friends @ Work Irvine


Most workouts are Zone 2 with a bit of Zone 3. I rarely do zone 4 unless I need to chase Larry on the MTB when he wants to race or I need to do intervals in the pool. Even the HIIT workouts aren't really that high intensity, I just go since it forces me to wake up and also gives me a chance to meet some new people.


My fitness/training load over the last 6 months. Slow and steady increases with the volume.

Like every other triathlon post COVID, I neglected the swimming and running training. I did manage to get in the pool several times a week for the last two weeks, which gave me some swim confidence. I also tried a little bit of structure with my swimming and stuck with this "standard" 1500 yards routine that I completed six times:


  • 500 yards moderate (for time)

  • 400 yards pull buoy

  • 300 yards with fins

  • 200 yards pull buoy

  • 100 yards fast (for time)


On the first day I did the yard set in a bit over 10 minutes. After the 6th day, I was swimming the 500 yards in a bit under 9 minutes. Every day I would see a 10-15 second improvement from the day before. Lots of improvement can happen if you just get in the pool 5 days a week.


Note: 1500 yards is more of a warm up for a triathlete that's training properly for a full ironman, which is 2.4 miles of swimming. I plan to ramp up my volume significantly starting in August when I get back from Canada. Hope I can get to 2500-3000 yards. OMG that’s so many yards.


Race Week:

Regarding training, I did everything you're supposed to do, shorter workouts at higher intensity. The only issue was my 6 mile "long run" on Monday:


View the whole training log here on Strava


I wrote about my trip to Calgary with Salina in my last post. Everything went well the day before, except the minor battle the night before to not eat too much pizza. The goal was only 2 slices and I finished at 3.5. Could have been worse. There was lots of leftovers, not sure why the kids didn't eat it all? It was tempting to finish the last few slices but thankfully I didn't. I didn't eat anything else that day so all good.

Bravo Pizza before a race = excellent choice

It was nice to have a relaxing Saturday and not stress about all the usual stuff I end up stressing about the day before a race.


Race Morning:


I slept late (11:30pm) because I caught an error on the bike course I loaded on my Garmin. That would have been a mess doing the race with my Garmin telling me to go a different way.


So instead of waking up at 4:30am, I planned for 5:00am so I can get some extra sleep. I did not wake up before the alarm like I usually do. If I didn't set the alarm I would have missed the race for sure. I had no issues getting ready in the morning, doing a few bowel movements, and then had an uneventful drive to the race (~20 min away). Here's me at transition:


Nice weather for racing! And nice t-shirt, thanks Praise for printing them.


The issue that threw off my schedule was having to jog ~1/3 of a mile to the washroom and then having to still wait ~10 minutes, then having to run back. All the washrooms close to transition had a really long line. I had to do a warm up run so it wasn't a complete waste of time, but I ended up missing the warm up swim which looking back, was a huge mistake. Everything else was fine.


Swim (1.2 miles in 46m:30s)

Biggest mistake of the race: I chose to wear my Synergy sleeveless wetsuit, which I haven't even tried on in nearly a decade. My Roka sleeveless wetsuit was with my friend Bryan in Chino Hills and I had no time to get it. I left my full sleeve Roma wetsuit at home. I figured that the time savings with my old wetsuit and new wetsuit was negligble, and it should have been if they fit same way.


So unfortunately, the wetsuit felt extremely tight, causing a suffocating sensation. I was out of time to do anything about the problem. It was time to get in line. I should have tested it beforehand to ensure a proper fit. This discomfort led to a very difficult start, and I struggled to get my breathing under control throughout the swim. I should have swam without the wetsuit. By the second lap, I was contemplating removing the wetsuit, but I didn’t want to confuse the volunteers and myself with taking it off. Where would I even put it? My breathing improved slightly during the last 500 yards, but it was a tough segment overall. Glad I made it.


There were thoughts during that first lap about giving up or just taking a long break with one of the kayakers. What kept me going was thinking of 3 people:


  • Teri: Her perseverance during her final days here on earth in the hospital

  • Julia and Jonathan’s family: Their child Boaz has been experiencing many seizures lately

  • Phoebe and Dan: Complications arose with their dog Figgy after getting spayed (Figgy is good now)


Figgy and Mayo - The two cutest dogs I know

It’s key for me to have a plan on what to think about when the race starts to suck. They all suck at one point or another. Especially at the end of the run when you haven't properly trained for the run.


T1 (5m:18s)

The relief of finishing the swim was huge. I took my time through T1, and had zero issues executing the flying mount (rubber bands to hold my shoes in place). Not sure why the time recorded was over 5 minutes; it didn’t seem like it took that long to get out of the water and jump on the bike. Oh well. Swim + T1 had me on schedule for the most part.


Bike (56 miles in 2h:52m:19s)

The bike portion started well, and I felt strong initially. I had a target of 155-160W and had no issues doing 175-180W at 145bpm. Time to make up some lost time on the swim and ride a 2:40! How exciting…


I used Maruten for bike nutrition since I didn’t have my usual Gu Roctane. I didn't like it. It felt like drinking a gel.


The hills were not as bad as I thought. I mentally prepared for the worst because of what I read on Reddit from the 2023 race. There was a few steep climbs, but not as hard as the climb at 70.3 Oceanside. I took my time on all the climbs and did my best to not put out too much power.


Most of my riding was in my aero bars, including the downhills. The scenery was nice and the winds didn’t ever bother me. Overall I felt safe the whole time and enjoyed the course.


However, I encountered an unusual problem: My chain came off four times, requiring me to stop and fix it each time. This issue cost me approximately 2-3 minutes, hard to calculate.


I got lots of compliments about the bike. It’s not even the latest Trek model.

Additionally, I experimented with placing a second water bottle behind the seat for better aerodynamics and had no issues with it during my test rides. Unfortunately, the bottle must have ejected somewhere along the course, disrupting my nutrition plan. Not good during a half Ironman when you literally calculate your calorie consumption to ensure you don’t bonk at the end of the race. I had to grab a random bottle at an aid station to make up for the lost fluids and calories.


Despite these setbacks, I felt strong when the bike was functioning properly and managed to pass many competitors. That’s also because I swam poorly so it’s mostly slower people to pass. Oh well.


Note: This was the first time in my entire racing career that my chain has come off—quite an unexpected issue! Still better than a flat tire like I had at IM 70.3 Santa Rosa and a tire blowout that resulted in a DNF at the Big Bear Triathlon.


Another issue worth noting was how my 2:43 Best Bike Split plan (even after updating it the night before) was really off when I compare my actual data:



There's a lot of data here. I biked a lot harder than planned, but also took a lot longer than planned. Why??


  • My chain came off 4x and that slows everyone down when you have to stop to put it back on.

  • My Coefficient of aerodynamic drag (CdA) calculation of .257 plan vs. .353 actual is way off. This means the simulator thinks I am way more aerodynamic than I really am.

  • The effective elevation is way off by ~1000ft (unfavorable variance). This means that BBS thinks the course is less hilly than it really is which made me think I could have finished the course a lot faster than reality. I don't get how this is possible when I uploaded the course from the Ironman website and everything else was correct (distance, route).


I'm also not convinced if I really rode 179 Normalized Power for almost 3 hours. Seems a bit high, especially If I didn't cramp on the run. I calibrated my power meter pedals several times. I don't get it. Maybe I didn't tighten the pedals enough or something, or my FTP is actually higher than 210W. Oh well.


All this stuff matters because I'm thinking the whole time, what's wrong with me when my average MPH / estimated finish time doesn't tie off with my NP. In other words, I was putting out more power than planned but riding slower. That can make anyone feel discouraged when they have a time goal in mind.


Did any of this make sense to you? Sorry if it didn't. It's the most important part of today's analysis since the bike portion is half the race.


Key takeaway: It's good to have a race plan, but I still need to validate the plan and use common sense during the race. Especially for a full Ironman.


T2 (2m:13s)

Besides being a frustrated and disappointed about the bike split, T2 was rather uneventful. I did miss my rack and that cost me a few seconds. Legs felt good. Took a bit over 2 minutes, good enough for me and ahead of budget (3 minutes).


Run (13.1 miles in 1h:59m:57s)


The run segment went better than expected, especially for being so hot and almost no shade. I felt fine for the most part, though mental and physical fatigue definitely set in towards the end. Thankfully, I avoided cramping, which had been a problem at the end of Chattanooga 70.3. However, I did experience another issue: two out of my three GU gels fell off my race belt. I had to rely on random hammer gels from the aid stations, which wasn't ideal but not catastrophic.


Why did the gels fall off?? It’s because I used a really old race belt with gel loops that are all stretched out. I bought another belt but forgot to bring it. Another silly mistake that I could have prevented.


My pacing was good enough. I knew running sub 9 minute pace was a bit fast, but my heart rate wasn’t out of control and I was already planning on taking some risks on the run.


Pacing - Gradual slowdown every mile. Heart rate - Gradual increase.


Doing a two loop run course is definitely a mental battle, especially when you see the finish line and people finishing while you still have a whole lap to go. I’ve done a 3 loop course during Silverman 70.3 so I’ve been through worse.


I also learned from Chattanooga 70.3 to not drink the coke too early in the race. I took it at around mile 10 I think, and I thought it did its job, making me feel better with picking up the pace (or at least prevent me from walking).


Seeing my Calgary family at mile 12 made all the difference, as that’s a great time to give up and start walking.

Who wants to come to IMCA?? It's only going to be a 11 hour race...


Speaking of walking, the only time I did was at the last aid station around mile 12.5. I got some coke, dumped a bunch of water on my head, and said to myself, “it’s go time.” I picked up the pace and had a nice sprint at the end, expecting I would cramp or something.


So much fun running at the end of the race...


Finish Line and Post-Race:

Upon crossing the finish line, I unexpectedly threw up and ended up spending some time in the medical tent. I didn’t really need to go but figured why not, just in case. Good place to also meet someone in the medical field. It was an unusual experience for me, as I've never had such a reaction of throwing up after a race. I suspect it was due to the mix of random nutrition I consumed throughout the event and sprinting too hard at the end.



After 10 mins of hanging out with the volunteers, I left the med tent. Took some photos with the family, then packed up my stuff and headed home with Lee Jay. I picked up some ice from the grocery store and took a much needed ice bath before dinner. Here’s a video I made with some of the details I covered here in case you want to hear me talk about the race:



Overall Reflection & More Photos:

FinisherPix Photos (too expensive to buy)


I'm glad the race is over. I don't think I'll do this race again, at least In the near future. I still feel disappointed with the number of rookie mistakes I made, especially considering my experience. I’ve done too many of these. Triathlon is a fun but complicated sport with all the logistics. I need to be more organized and not rely on checklists in my head. I should have finished well under 5:45. Okay maybe like 5:42-5:44? Still a fantastic improvement since Chattanooga 70.3 and puts me in a good position to hopefully do sub 11 at IMCA:


  • Plenty of time till then

  • Downstream swim

  • Flat bike and run

What could possibly go wrong?


I am most thankful for all the support I’ve been given before the race and during the race and the many people back at home praying for me and tracking me on the app. When I got my phone back, I saw lots of messages from my small group with screenshots from the app while they were following along. They’re such a great group!


I'm also a bit happy that I threw up at the end, it means I put it all out there on the course. Not good to have regrets / anything left in the tank.


This race was a good reminder of the importance of thorough preparation and attention to detail. If this was IMCA, I would have been really suffering with these same mistakes.


Summary of Action Items for IMCA:


  • Order all my nutrition needed ahead of time (Completed, thank you Amazon for finally having the stuff in stock)

  • Verify bike course details and race plan before loading on the Garmin bike computer

  • Don't experiment with water bottles, wetsuit, other equipment during race week

  • Get your bike fixed so the chain problem goes away for good

  • Get your swimming to ~10K yards/week and 20 miles of running a week (my base fitness won't get me through a full ironman, big difference vs. half ironman)


Thanks for reading! Hope you’re asleep by now.


Erwin

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Sucheta Pai
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