-Antoine Ledoux
PRE-IRONMAN - training
for the event:
Training for an
ironman is a huge commitment, financially, physically, emotionnally, it is an
actual journey. The race is
only the harvest of all the hours of training you have put down. Staying
motivated for all those months is also quite difficult and you will find
yourself in moments where you are wondering "why the hell do I do
that?". But it is all for the best :).
Books: I followed a
book by Joe Friel "Going Long: Training for Ironman-Distance
Triathlons", which is a great source of knowledge and was my best guide
from the beginning of my training until now with my recovery. It covers
everything, for all levels, and if you want to read it, I will be more than
happy to lend you mine (it is already bookmarked and it is highlighted in many
places). I also had "Triathlete's Training Bible" by Joe Friel, which
I didn't use as much as it covers all distances in triathlons and the part
dedicated to ironman-distance is already covered in "Going Long"
(same author), but it has the advantage of having a whole section to help build
a specific and accurate training plan depending on your strength and
weaknesses, and good workout templates that go with it.
Those books are like
14$ each (new), but considering how much you are going to use them, you may as
well buy them used and save a few bucks.
Training Plan: I
followed the pan I made with "Triathlete's Training Bible" as I
said, and wrote down ALL my trainings in my training log (huge excel
spreadsheet) in order to keep track of what I was doing. I will be more than
happy to give this out to anyone interested. Basically, I swam 160 miles, biked
3200 miles, ran 480 miles and lifted a bit more than 1 million pounds at the
gym. Averaging 12 hours a week or so that ranged from 3 hours to 18 hours.
Race location: I chose Ironman Mont-Tremblant
under the advice of my cousin (who races ironman-distance
triathlons as well back in France), it was an AMAZING location. Great people.
Great scenery. Great lake (73 degrees on race day
from what i have heard). Great bike course (with brand new road), very
challenging, going along a river for part of it and with many hills
(Mont-tremblant is a ski resort in winter). Great run course going on “Le P’tit Train du Nord”, a former
railway bed that is now the longest linear park in Canada, with a few
waterfalls along the way. Most people speak French there (according to a
volunteer I talked to, 90% of the athletes spoke at least a few words in
French), but everyone is bilingual so they choose what language to speak if you
say "Hello" or "Bonjour".
Motto: Swim smart.
Ride strong. Run Tough.
IRONMAN - the race:
SWIM - 1h04m45s
(1:42/100m)
It is probably what I
am the most proud about. I started completely on the left side of the beach
(outside part of the loop), thinking I am a good enough swimmer to swim maybe
100m more but not having to fight to breathe for 2.4 miles. Well, that was a
great idea. I was middle of the pack, left side, and even though I had to fight
a bit at the beginning (not more than for a usual triathlon), after only
5-10min, I had clear water for me, nobody in my way, just 4-5 people were on my
left. I tried to sight a few times but for the first 15min, you can only see
splashes of water, with arms and blue swim caps. So I was just following the
crowd, just making sure I was keeping people on my left side to cut the waves
for me.
The whole time, I kept
telling myself "kick, big stroke, relax, draft, relax, big stroke, relax,
draft, kick, again". Only a few people were passing me, and when they
were, I was happy to see that they had a cadence of stroke roughly twice as
high as mine, thus wasting twice as much energy as me. After twenty minutes, I
was barely even fighting anymore, and i was able to see the buoys in front of
me. I was happy to see that without even realizing it, just drafting off other
people, I had swum towards the right and was now in line with the buoys, thus
adopting the perfect curve. From that point on, swimming in a triathlon had
never been such an enjoyable experience. I was in clear water, not fighting,
drafting off other people with a cadence twice as high as mine, in line with
buoys, in a water at >70 degrees, doing an ironman, and clearly already at
the front of the pack. It couldn't have been better. The rest of the swim
stayed the same: enjoyable, relaxed and drafting everyone passing me.
I started kicking
harder 100m before the end, so that I would have blood on my legs when i get up
(I had had problems at Mooseman 70.3, trouble finding my balance, blood rush,
feeling of passing out). When I got out of the water, I was
1h04 (better than 2 pros :) ) and was like "Oh my god!!",
few people were around me, I was 295th / 2300 athletes out of the water and
felt like I didn't waste any energy! Plus Mike Reilly was there and he yelled
"Antoine Ledoux getting out of the WATERRRRRRRRRR".
T1 - 5m31
There was a 800m run
to the tent, I jogged it, enjoying the crowd cheering up everyone, caught a
glimpse of my family cheering me up as well. With the crowd and my swim time, I
was PUMPED.
BIKE - 6h06m57s
(18.3mph avg)
The bike course was
two loops of 56 miles, and each loop was divided into 2 smaller loops of 37.5
miles (L1) and 18.5 miles (L2) (see bike course http://ironmanmonttremblant.com/course/bike/ ).
When I got on my bike, I had a whole strategy that i had to stick to (that I
read in Going Long), do the first 30miles upper zone 1, then zone 2 until mile
90, and finally upper zone 2 til the end. Building up your effort along the way
is DEFINITELY the best way to finish your ironman with your best time. The hard
part is to stick to this plan, and it is really a mental game, way harder than
it seems. In fact, when I got on the bike, I was among the first out of the
water, and I knew I was going to get caught by the good cyclists. To put
numbers on it I think I got past by like 50 people in the first 20min, and
another 375 for the rest of the bike leg. It is hard to see people passing you
easily, I know the bike is my weakness, and I worked hard to get better at it,
but it gets frustrating and the goal is to stick to your strategy no matter
what.
First loop: I felt
very good on L1, even on the two big climbs. L2 was much more challenging,
rolling hills coupled with one brutal hill (see second part of bike elevation).
I was getting passed uphill but was catching up everybody going downhill, I was
being agressive on the curves.
Second loop: L1 became
a nightmare as the wind decided to play along, we had to face a major wind in
our faces. Being weak on the bike, I had to slow down and let go the few people
who were going the same pace as me at the time. Again, I stuck to my race strategy, don't go above your zone
2, there is a marathon ahead. I heard two older women saying "that reminds
me of the winds in Kona" when they were passing me. That gives you an idea
of how brutal that was (at least for me).
To better run the
marathon, I wanted to slow down my pace for the last 10-15 miles of the bike.
But as it was L2 and only rolling hills, it was impossible to relax and stay in
zone 2 at this point in the race.
Climbs took some energy from me, so many of those hills, going up, then
down,... and had to take on myself not to swear everytime I would see another
one. It would never end! I don't think I did well during this part of the race.
I finished the bike
leg with a time of 6h06 which is way better than I was expecting as my PR on
70.3 was 3h11, so i was shooting for 6h30. Basically, I PR my bike time on 70.3
on both loops :) (in 2h56 and 3h10, the wind significantly slowing me down for
the second loop).
I spoke with Romain
Guillaume (prob the best French triathlete on ironman-distance and who won the race) the day after the race and he was telling the bike course
was very challenging and this is why he won. In fact he is an amazing cyclist
(his bike time is 10min faster than the 2nd!!) so it's on this type of race that he is able to make a
difference. So that made me feel even better about my bike time :).
T2 - 3m17
There were volunteers
to take your bike and rack it up for you and save you time. Pretty awesome.
Made me feel like a pro. I ran to the transition tent, picked up my bag and
quickly changed. Many people spend some time in T2, I don't think it is good.
You are better off moving to your marathon quickly (and maybe walk at the
beginning/ jog easily to get your legs going), rather than thinking "Omg,
I have to run a marathon now" and waste some time sitting in the tent.
RUN - 4h18m33
(9min53/mile)
Again, building your
effort will get best results. I started with an easy 9min25/mile pace for the
whole first half of the marathon, then speeded to a 8min55/mile pace from 13 to
20 mile, and finally pushed the last 6 miles with a 11min40s/mile pace. Which I
was surprised to see as I kept running the whole way (except at aid stations),
and I NEVER WALKED!! I guess at this point I didn't realize that I was slowing down,
i was just pushing it to finish as quickly as possible.
As soon as I started
my run, I knew I had taken way too many gels (I hadn't eaten all my gels from
the bike and had taken another load from T2), they were bouncing on my butt, so
I stopped after 1/2 mile at a temporary bathrooms (there were a few along the
way, as well as on the bike course). Once inside, I looked down and faced a
huge pile of vomit and I thought "that's right! You are about to do a
marathon in an ironman race, so
get your stomach ready!!", I peed, threw out a few gels, and left.
The marathon is really
a mental game where you have to adjust your mind and body, keep eating,
overcome the pain and keep running. This is really the crazy part of the race, what makes an ironman an IRONMAN. So I
started relatively easy and ran the first 10k in 55min and did the first half
marathon in 2h03. I walked at every aid stations for 10-15m to hydrate and eat,
but never stopped and ran the whole time between the aid stations. A bit before
the first half (around mile 12), for the first time I take a gel im my mouth
and I just don't want to swallow. I have never had any digestion problem during
a triathlon (I'm so lucky with that, my stomach can digest everything you give
it) and I don't want to experience it for the first time. It's okay, I don't
panick, I tell myself "it's been 9h14 that you eat only gels, give your
stomach a break". I decide to switch and eat CLIF BLOKS that I had brought
with me instead of taking a gel at the next aid station, and it worked! My
stomach was fine, I was feeling better. I repeated the process for the next two
aid stations, eating one CLIF BLOK each time, and even though I slowed down a
bit compared to my pace I kept running and was back on track.
At this point, I'm at
mile 14 and it's exactly 9h30. I think: if I want to do sth big and finish my
first ironman in less than 12 hours I need to run 12 miles in 2h30. All of a
sudden I get so pumped and I run the next 10k with a pace of 8:50/mile. I'm
pumped.
Here we are. Mile 20.
I have a thought for Matthieu Talpe who had emailed me the day before the race and told me "don't forget, the race does not start before mile
20". My hips, knees and ankles start hurting really bad but I can overcome
the pain. I keep running, and I get motivated when i realise that at this point
I'm now art of the minority of people who keep running. I'm passing a lot of
people overall, including 3 in my category. I walk a bit longer at each aid
station, but I keep running in between. I don't feel like I'm slowing down but
as I look at the result it looks like i ran the last 10k with a 11:40/mile,
which means the second half in 2h14.
2km before the end, it
started to rain like craaaaaaaaazy. I was SOAKED in 10sec and there was
literally a small river that I had to jump over on the last hills up to the
village. My legs hurt so bad but I push it. Going to that finish line. The last
500m are pure happiness, it is a little path going downhill in the heart of the
village of Mont-Tremblant, and even though it is raining like crazy there are
SO many people cheering. I open my arms to do high five to as many people as I
can. I'm flying. At this point I could probably run another marathon. I see the
time 11h39. I did it. I... AM... AN IRONMANNNNN!!!
I finished with a time
of 11h39m03s, 13th in my age group M18-24 and 695th overall. Very happy and way
above my expectations. Now it is time for recovery, but I'm doing ok so far (I
was able to walk "almost" normally and go down the stairs without
holding the ramp 3 days after the race).
See you soon for
training! I will probably get back to the pool soon for some recovery laps.
