Montreal Esprit Ironman 9-15-07 Race Report

This race meant so much to me after having a hugely disappointing DNF at Ironman Lake Placid due to major nutrition plan mistakes (not enough calories and hydration) and poor mental prep. I was at rock bottom after LP but learned so much from the whole experience. I needed to go through all of that disappointment to learn. Everything happens for a reason.

I could not have raced at the level I did in Montreal without the support of my amazing wife Lindsay. She has been so patient and understanding of the sacrifices I made to train adequately for Ironman. I think that the significant others of Ironman athletes are the real heroes of our sport. Without them we would not race at our potential. I also want to thank my family for all their support and encouragement.

This race was on the Ile Notre-Dame in Montreal. Basically we were on an island and the swim was in the Olympic rowing basin, the bike was on the F1 race track and the run was 9 laps around the basin. This course is normally really fast but this year it was 50 degrees, rain most of the day and a headwind on each lap of the bike (41 laps). HTFU (Harden the Fu** up) was my mental toughness strategy, I had it written on both hands and my aero drink.

The race started at 6:30.The sun wasn’t even up yet and the gun was about to go off. Once we started the 2 lap swim we had the first lap all to ourselves and then we would be joined by the half iron racers. I started out nice and relaxed, long smooth strokes trying to keep my technique perfect and as relaxed as possible. I found myself swimming with the front pack with one guy off the front of it. This was really cool because I am never in the front pack but since this is a small ironman race (only 100 athletes allowed for the full) I was right in the mix. Lap one I was at 30 minutes flat---perfect I thought as I was right where I should be and feeling relaxed too. The swim was a lot like Lake Placid—there was a cable and you had to get out and run to start your next lap. As I exited with a pack of 5 or 6 guys the half iron gun goes off and we jump in the water at the back of the half iron athletes. This is where it got tough. I had to be really on it as I was trying to stay on a guy’s feet that I had swam on the first lap and didn’t want to get dropped. I stayed on his feet as he weaved through slower half iron swimmers (ironman had different swim cap so I could see him). I couldn’t believe I stayed on his feet as we went in and out of slower swimmers. This was where HTFU was really helping. It was hard to stay with this guy but I knew I would be faster if I stayed on his feet rather than try to find a straighter line. I was really happy getting out of the water in 1:01. Swim split-1:01.

The bike was very hard mentally because it was cold (50 degrees), raining pretty much non stop and we had a headwind each lap. You just couldn’t get very comfortable. Lindsay was my lifesaver and was able to give me my GMM 180s jacket and 180s gloves and a hat. Without this I don’t think I could have ridden the whole thing. I couldn’t feel my feet for the whole bike. My only goal coming into this race was to nail my nutrition and hydration plan. I was totally committed to executing my plan to the best of my ability and I have to say I really came through on this!! I had energy the whole day and no stomach problems. I want to say thanks to Jesse Kropelnicki at http://www.qt2systems.com/ for writing me up a custom fueling and hydration plan and to Tim Snow for convincing me
to recognize what I don’t know (IM nutrition) and let someone who knows what they are doing do that for me by writing me up a plan. I highly recommend QT2 for anyone struggling with nutrition in triathlon. The plan was amazingly comprehensive breaking down race week nutrition, and specific race day nutrition which included the timing of all my calories and type of carbohydrates as well as hydration (which was based on a sweat test).

About half way through the bike my family arrived. I slowed to say hi and they all were wearing t-shirts with my picture on them and it said team Spinney!!!! I about cried I was so moved by this. At this point I said to myself I have to have a great race now---no excuses just race, execute, and HTFU. I paced the bike very well keeping my heart rate around 130. I was feeling great and averaging about 21.5 mph. I can only imagine what it would have been without the wind and rain. The winner’s bike split was about 25 min slower than last year so the effects of a really fast course were negated by Mother Nature. I got off the bike in 5:12 which is a PR by about a minute over my IM Florida time. Without wind and rain this would be an extremely fast bike course. Bike split: 5:12

On to the run I was feeling great. I couldn’t believe how good I felt. The fueling plan was working really well. This was the first IM that I ran with my bottle holder. I think I will always use it now at IM. Part of the reason I’ve had problems in the past is due to having a very high sweat rate and inadequate hydration. On the bike I drank about 1 and half big bottles an hour and on the run a little more than a 20oz bottle each hour. All of sport drink no water. I was eating every half hour too (either gel or half a bar). It was pouring rain hard the first half of the marathon. My brother Brian knew HTFU was my mantra and he took it further with a Rocky 3 analogy I had been talking about. He kept saying “aint so bad!!! aint so bad!!!” Anyone who’s seen Rocky 3 more than once or 30 (like my brother and I) knows this. It’s in the second fight against Mr T (Clubber Lang) and Rocky is on fire. He’s enticing and tiring out Mr T by telling him to hit him while Rocky isn’t hitting back but just saying to Mr T “aint so bad, you aint so bad”. The analogy was that the rain and wind “aint so bad” and I needed to HTFU and beat Mr T/this race. This fired me up more than anything anyone could have said to me. Full body goose-bumps that make your hair stand on end. I was running about 7:30 pace for most of the first half and started falling off that around mile 18 or so. This is where my lack of run volume was affecting me. I had passed a few other IM racers and at about mile 20 or so I passed a guy and he said “you’re in 3rd now”. I was surprised by this and kept pushing. At about mile 23 I had a hamstring issue and needed to stretch a few times and got caught by that guy putting me in 4th. I tried hanging with this guy but my hamstring wanted no part of it and I was forced to slow. When I had one lap to go Lindsay said “you could go sub 10 !!!”. I was really surprised to hear this and asked her how long these laps were taking and did some quick calculations and realized if I ran strong I could do it. She fired me up with sort of a tough love reality check that really reminded me how bad I wanted to go under 10. That last lap was the most pain and suffering I’ve ever felt in a race because I pushed so hard and wouldn’t let myself off the hook. Somehow I dug deep enough to run hard that last lap. HTFU right to the finish. Run split: 3:35 I crossed the line ecstatically in 9:55!!!!! This was a huge PR and my first time going under 10 hours!!! I am really happy as I have been underperforming at this distance.
I’m just plain really thankful I can do this and my family is so supportive. I could not maintain this kind of lifestyle that I love so much without their support. Thanks guys.

Latest news

4th Overall at Montreal Esprit Ironman in 9:55!!!
This was one of the best races of my careeer.

Quotes and thoughts

"What we have is based upon moment-to-moment choices of what we do.In each of those moments, we choose.We either take a risk and move toward what we want, or we play it safe and choose comfort. Most of the people, most of the time, choose comfort. In the end, people either have excuses or experiences; reasons or results; buts or brilliance.They either have what they wanted or they have a detailed list of all the rational reasons why not."~ Anonymous

"A man is not old until regrets take the place of his dreams" John Barrymore "I am not only still dreaming, I am living my dreams." -Emilio De Soto II

"Fear is probably the thing that limits performance more than anything - the fear of not doing well, of what people will say. You've got to acknowledge those fears, then release them." --Mark Allen

There is advantage in the wisdom won from pain" -- Aeschylus "

In my failures, I saw the darkest part of myself, where I was weak, where expectations did not meet reality. Until you face your fears, you don't move to the other side, where you find the power." -- Mark Allen

Life, to me, is a series of false limits and my challenge as an athlete is to explore those limits."—Lance Armstrong

I was told once that the best people to judge a persons status is yourself. You are your own baromoter and any defined limits are nothing more than a form of someone elses nostalgia.

The path to our destination is not always a straight one. We go down the wrong road, we get lost, we turn back. Maybe it doesn't matter which road we embark on. Maybe what matters is that we embark.
- Barbara Hall

"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act out their dream with open eyes, to make it possible." -T.S. Eliot

Better to aspire to Greatness and fail, than to not challenge one's self at all, and succeed.

“The arrow that hits the bulls-eye is the result of the one hundred previous misses.”

A person fails to reach their potential when they fail to pay the price.

"Do not dedicate your life to your sport, but rather, dedicate your sport to your life. Dan Millman


"When a man says 'I cannot', he has made a suggestion to himself. He has weakened his power of accomplishing that which otherwise would have been accomplished." ~ Muhammad Ali

Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake"-H.D.Thoreau

"Concentrate on the process and the outcome will look after itself." Trust and execute the plan to the best you can

If you think you can, or you think you cant - Your right.

"Wasting that opportunity because 'it doesn't matter' makes me wonder if when you're old and tired and winding down will you wonder what if? What if I had let it matter? What was I afraid of? Was I afraid that if I let it matter I'd risk failing?" – Q

Apply the potential to believe to believe in your potential – SC

"All the miles of a hard road are worth a moment of true happiness" - Arnold Lobel
Apply the potential to believe to believe in your potential

"Truth is narrowed down and made a plaything for those who are weak, for those who are only momentarily disenchanted. Truth cannot be brought down. Rather, the individual must make the effort to ascend it. " -Krishnamurti


"Most people would rather be right, than effective. We should think about that as we surf the internet searching for threads to reconfirm our biases."

"I'm pretty shocked, but at the same time, I trained so hard," she said. "Some days the training was harder than the race was today." Desiree Ficker after her 2nd place at Kona 2006


The people that do "well" consistantly in really long triathlons like an IM do several things that puts them in a better position to do well: 1. They go in with some loosely defined place/time goals, but with an open mind. 2. They know when to shift from pace/time/nutrition plan A, to plan B and in some cases plan C as conditions change or fate deals them some unfortunate news. This is absolutly key! 3. They remain optimistic throughout the day. 4. They know that more often then not it's a race of attrition. It's not about hammering here or making a big move there. 5. They keep plugging away and letting the "race" come back top them. Read the tortise and hare fable, over and over and over. This is what it's about. Fleck

And digest their food really well.

"If you are good, be better. If you are better, be the best. If you are the best, find something else to be good at.""Excellence is caring more than others think wise; risking more than others think safe. Dreaming more than others think is practical and expecting more than others think is possible."

If you can't back-it-up daily then you are going too hard. - Gordo


“Technique sets the upper limit to where your fitness will take you.” – Unknown

“A life spent defensively, worried, is to me a life wasted…life, to me, is a series of false limits and my challenge as an athlete is to explore those limits.” ---Lance

“Obsessive is just a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated.” ---Unknown

Never follow the program of a champion because you never know if they are a champion because or in spite of their training program.

In order to get things you never had, you must do things you never did.

If you are good, be better. If you are better, be the best. If you are the best, find something else to be good at. Excellence is trying more than others think is smart, risking more than others think is safe, dreaming more than others think is practical, and expecting more than what others think is possible.

Be your own hero.

Some of the greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible. –doug larsenAbove all, train hard, eat right, and avoid television and people with bad attitudes. –scott tinley

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again>and expecting different results."

Endurance training is exactly like turning a Styrofoam cup inside out. So long as you take it slowly you'll be able to do it. Try to rush things and - rip - you'll tear the cup. You are the cup. -Gordo

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit" Aristotle

It's simple, but it isn't easy.

Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess and worth doing well.

Success is maintaining your enthusiasm between failures." -Winston Churchill

"they told me it was impossible, I told them it was inevitable"

"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal."

Fortitudine Vincimus (By Endurance We Conquer) -- Ernest Shackleton

Cycling is a blue-collar sport. You gotta do the miles. ~Jonas Twenty miles of hope and six miles of reality. ~Cam Brown

There is no failure, only feedback." - Mark Allen

"I once mentioned to my wife that I wish I could play the saxophone as she does. She turned to me laughing and said, "apparently not bad enough to learn how." She was absolutely correct. ~Kevin Purcell aka CoachKP.com

"Triathlon, from the outside looking in you can't understand it, and from the inside looking out you can't explain it."

I got two 1) Always Be Closing ." A.B.C" 2) Hustle and Flow

"If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?" "If the best time to have done something was yesterday, the next best time is right now!"

Going numb is Ironman foreplay"

"You have to wonder at times what you're doing out there......but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement." - Steve Prefontaine.

"Some dream of great accomplishments, others stay awake and do them."

"Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.-Og Mandino

Gordo-----
How many people in the world, know what it's like to truly achieve their potential in anything? How many people in the world have even tried? Truly dedicated themselves to it -- shed all distractions, moved into a plastic bubble, spent all day thinking about it, answering questions on it, trying to learn about it, baring their whole lives to the world so that there is no question/no doubt about what it takes. We can debate about the GI of wheat germ, on drafting, on whether 85kb of code is showing off, on whether to use 10K or 5K race pace for intervals -- or we can buckle down and train all day, every day.
So, our "potential" is a moving target. What I do is try to train myself (and my crew) to the best of our ability. Then we work on mental skills and race execution so that we are able to race to the maximum potential of our fitness. True satisfaction comes from working towards a goal and then performing to our potential given the circumstances.
In training, build race mojo.Don't spend it. -----Gordo

"Nothing in life ever just happens. Calculated progression insures your strength."


"If you are always allowed to stop training whenever you feel discomfort, you will find it too easy to give yourself permission to quit." - Attributed to Jet Li


“Dignity is when your mind doesn’t allow your body to be as soft as it would like to be.”


If it’s hurting me , it’s killing them


If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment. --Marcus Aurelius

"Don't argue with a fool. The spectators can't tell the difference." - Charles Nalin


To push the limits, and then some more...crash or crash through. One of my greatest fears is not meeting my own expectations. It's a high risk approach but as the Dalai Lama says, "Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk..."
But the intrigue and appeal of IM is that it's so hard to get right...to have a perfect race. Or to even have 90% of a 90% perfect race. There's just so many potential uncontrollables. However, it's been the quest to conquer and control these so called uncontrollables that has inspired me to do my utmost best to prepare for what race day might serve up. In doing so, it's exposed some of my soul and tested just how strong my inner will and desire actually is. IM race day does the same, except on that day it's multiplied and magnified many times for everyone to see.
Anyway, I was in Port Macquarie with some self expectations...which in itself should have been a warning sign. For me I find that expectations come when I take my eye off the ball and lose focus of what I'm actually doing. And in an IM particularly that spells danger, and I should have known it. But ignorance is bliss. My very learned swim coach always says "Concentrate on the process and the outcome will look after itself." I should have tattooed this to the inside of my eyelids.
These expectations were born out of a combination of exhaustive preparation; experience from 4 previous IM’s; and a bit of a purple patch in terms of recent race results. So despite some earlier running injury problems, I was there to race...and therein lies the key to my epiphany; treating an IM as a race is the biggest mistake of the day. And I hate not racing.For me, a race is where you can eyeball your competitors during a race and then bust your ass trying to drop them before the finish line. It's the adrenalin, power, competitiveness, testosterone and so much more that makes lactic acid like an addictive drug. I thrive on the feeling of battling on the edge of control...holding on by a thin thread. It's a sign of a successful race...to just maintain a grip on reality. But IM doesn't let you do that. It requires you to let go, with a leap of faith, and hope the cards fall the right way...or else your day will end up as a grovel.

Campbell maffett 9:38 IM aus 2007


The Huichols are a very simple people who live high in the Sierra Madre mountains in central Mexico. They have a rich spiritual tradition that has been developed over thousands of years. They never had a warrior class, so all of their efforts went into peaceful spiritual endeavors. The Huichols value a lot of things that are so synchronistic in helping a person achieve excellence in our sport. They value the ability to quiet their minds so that the big answers to life’s questions can come through, the answers we cannot come up with through a logical thinking process. This was absolutely essential to coming up with the answer of how to beat Dave Scott when he was surging well below a six minute pace halfway through the marathon in Kona. They have a saying that says “it’s not over until it’s over,” which again for anyone who has raced Ironman knows is a perspective that can give hope in even the most impossible looking moments. This one saying is a phrase that says stick with it no matter what, because even if a goal seems unattainable in this moment, in the next it just might turn around, and that was absolutely key for me to keep going in my final Ironman when Hellreigel was over 13 minutes ahead of me off the bike.

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