Ironman Canada: 3.8 km swim, 180.2 km bike, 42.2 km run, 16:06:07,

August 29^th, 2004

The journey to Ironman Canada started quite a number of years ago. Over a holiday break from undergrad, I watched Ironman Hawaii. NBC’s coverage of the everyday person battling to finish, inspired me. Add to list of goals in life: Complete an ironman.

Fast forward about 8 years… I am not a stellar athlete. I started running consistently while in graduate school – it was a great stress reliever when experiments were going wrong. Last summer, upon hearing I wanted to finish an ironman, my friend Janice said to me, ‘Lynn, you can do it; consistency in training is the key’. That summer, Mark and I ended up in Penticton, B.C. as our honeymoon to volunteer and sign up for Ironman Canada 2004. It could be considered a bit of an odd honeymoon as we headed right into the heart of the forest fires blazing through Kelowna, just north of Penticton. As well, we ended up waking up at 4 am in the morning two days in a row, one to bodymark athletes and the other to sign up for next year. Filling out the registration, handing it in and walking away from the site seemed like a fairly easy task. The training to get to the start line was a totally different story.

I started out optimistically and began training in November with Kevin MacKinnon – who coaches the UofT Triathlon Club. Well, Janice’s comment was my motto but somehow, I just couldn’t get it to stick during the first couple months. I learned fairly quickly that getting sick and going away to conferences is anything but good for training. Not to mention getting your bike tires caught in the street car tracks, launching yourself sideways from your bike and skinning your knees to the bone in May (four months away from the race) is perhaps not the best training method. I took two weeks off to try to heal, did what the family doctor told me not to do and got back on the bike, in the pool and into my running shoes. After Rideau Lakes (a 180 km ride from Ottawa to Kingston and then back the next day) the pain above my right knee become a bit too much. After consultation with the sports doctor, I was told that I had a muscle tear above my right knee. I could keep training but it would be painful. I was told to concentrate on my swimming for a while and come in for physio at least once a week. Massages during physio HURT.

Choosing to do an ironman the last year of my Ph.D. studies was perhaps not the smartest of ideas. By June, I realized that I had not quite kept on track with my experiments, reports were looming, I hadn’t gotten a word of my thesis down on computer and I still hadn’t made a decision on a postdoc position. Needless to say, having to drop out of the Half-Ironman at Peterborough was an agonizing decision – not to mention I had to finally admit that I just may have spread myself a bit too thin. My confidence was shot for Ironman Canada. Rides on the bike were still painful especially on hills and into the wind, consistency was mediocre at best (all except for swimming where I was improving but not being able to swim straight usually negated this improvement) and research experiments were piling up. Some, after seeing me struggle with everything, quietly mentioned that maybe I should let it go this year. But I couldn’t. I just had to make it to the start line. The race fee, the plane ticket and the accommodations had mostly been paid. I didn’t know at what point in my life, I’d ever have the same opportunity to do Ironman Canada.

Civic holiday weekend, I had my longest workout, about 10 hours doing a 152 km bike ride and then a 17 km run. If Cathy Ponting (a staunch believer in me) had not joined me for the run, I’m not sure I would have carried it off – I cannot tell you how important it was to have people willing to go out on long training rides with me. I sat in front of the tv the rest of the night and I’m not even sure what I watched. After hearing this, my mom said to me, ‘Lynn, I know that this running thing is really important to you; but it’s enough that you can get to the start line. It’s okay not to finish.’

I knew what she said was right and realistically, I had to face the fact, that I was not going to be fully trained for Ironman Canada and there was most definitely a possibility that I was not going to finish.

Upon arriving in Penticton, I was edgy. The bike course was making me exceptionally nervous. The hills in Penticton aren’t quite the same as the hills around Toronto. I was also stressed out. I had a fellowship due September 1^st and I needed to pass it back to my proposed supervisor by the 28^th. So I was still typing, rewording and second guessing myself until the day before ironman.

Bikes and transition gear were checked in on Saturday and I sent off my proposal later that day. I woke up Sunday and told myself I was just doing a long training day. That’s all. All the athletes (~2100 of us) were walked down to the start line with a bagpiper leading the way. What an incredible experience to see people flanking the sideline cheering us on and wishing us good luck already. I have never been more proud to hear the Canadian Anthem being sung. The gun went off and I found someone (a daddy fish) to draft right away. By the time I was done (I definitely did more than 3.8km, I barely sighted) I still felt remarkably fresh. I started off on the bike with a weird hip pain and thought it would pass. When I hit Richter’s pass, the hip needed stretching. After that, I started to actually pass people for a while. Fellow racers were simply amazing. I ended up with a flat at 100 km and three people stopped to see if I was okay. At 125km I realized I was riding on a slow leak. I thought I’d just pump it up every so often rather than risk getting a complete flat (the way I put in tires, I might just make another hole in the tube while replacing it). I was pretty wrecked going up Yellow Lake. Here I am feeling like crap, walking my bike so I can get some food down and a spectator tells me, I am his hero! I thought he must be confused with someone else, but he wasn’t. I almost cried then. Near the top of Yellow Lake, I saw Jay (Mark’s brother), telling me I look good despite what I say – it means a lot to see someone you know on the course. After the last aid station, I realized that the metal pinging sound I heard just a couple seconds ago was my pump pinging OFF of my bike! ACK! Thank goodness I did not get a full flat. Rolling into transition, I was a pretty happy but slightly wrecked girl hopping off the bike. I saw Dale (Mark’s other brother) and Jay while I was just starting off on the run – Dale is just great with encouragement! Mark met me at the halfway point of the marathon – and it was so good to see him. The volunteers on the course at each aid station (and there are plenty of them) are simply amazing. They have a smile on their face, a word of encouragement and food/drink ready in their hand. I cannot tell you how great it was to come to every aid station on the run and still have everything available to me. I must say, I got my full registration fee’s worth. I had a glow stick in hand (so cars wouldn’t run you over), got to see the candle-lit aid station, the Pink Floyd blaring into the night with the stars in full view and of course, the huge crowds at the finish line.

Well, I made it. The day was AWESOME. The experience is unlike anything else I’ve experienced. And I would do it again.

Needless to say, I would not have been able to accomplish this feat without the support of so many people: Mark – who made my pre-workout snacks and saw me through the frustration and stress; Cathy, Briana, Hetti - all training buddies; the words of encouragement from Kathryn, Ilan, Wendy, Fiona, Josette, my family (Wei, Ming, Justin, Yin, Rob, my mom and dad, mark’s parents); the lab for their witty comments about how crazy I am; and lastly but certainly not least, Jay and Dale for making the trip out to Penticton and cheering me on the whole day.

Last note: I had not realized how excited and involved my parents were on race day until Yin and Rob came to pick us up at the airport. My parents watched through the internet to see my name and Mark’s come up as we crossed each discipline and my mom phoned each of my sisters a minimum of four times to make sure they knew what was happening. I am really thrilled to hear as well that the lab got quite the kick out of ‘watching’ me and Mark as well on the internet.

Some pictures:
Swim Bike 1 Bike 2 Bike 3 Run 1 Run 2 Finish