The Half Ironman Ottawa triathlon is the first half ironman distance race I have done. The race is located in Ottawa just minutes from my parents home where I grew up. The swim course is two 1km loops in Mooney's Bay starting just under Hog's Back Bridge. The bike course is a 6 loop out and back along the Rideau Canal with the turnaround just before Laurier Bridge for a total of 90km (56 miles). The run course is two loops once again following the canal with the turnaround point just before Clegg street for a total of 13.1 miles.

The Taper

Race Morning

Just after 7:00am I headed over to the race start on my bike while my wife, son and mother drove over with the rest of my stuff. We arrived a the transition area around 7:15. I picked up my timing chip and found a spot to rack my bike. Just down the rack from my bike my wife saw someone with a Dallas Whiterock marathon t-shirt on. We talked with them and it turned out that there were two women that had also come up for the race from Dallas. Just before 8:00 they gave an announcement that the swim would be starting soon so I got my wetsuit on and headed to the starting area. The rest of my family had arrived for the start of the race they wished me luck and I headed into the water.

The Swim

With a short blast the swim started. It wasn't very rough and I only bumped into a few people. I had not been able to do any swimming in the previous three weeks due to pool closures so I was a little rusty. It also took several minutes to feel comfortable in the wetsuit because my arms felt a little constricted. The first lap went well although there were very few people to draft off of. I seemed to stay about 50m behind a small group of swimmers.

The second lap was more of the same. Pretty easy swimming with very few people around me other than the small group that I just couldn't quite catch up to. I felt pretty good heading in to the finish, in fact I probably had not gone hard enough in the swim since I felt so good. However I knew it would still be a pretty long day so I was happy with my 39:47 time as I exited the water to the cheers of my family. So far I was right on plan for the day.

Transition 1

I took my time in the first transition. I carefully but quickly got my wetsuit off with no problems. I got my jersey, socks, cleats and some food and within 3 minutes I was headed out on the bike course.

The Bike

My plan for the bike was simple, keep it easy. I tend to push the bike a little to hard so my goal was to keep things easy and my legs fresh for the run afterwards. My nutrition plan was to eat 1 chewy granola bar each lap at the turnaround roughly 1 every 27 minutes just as I had trained with. I would also down 1 bottle of liquid every 45 minutes. The first two bottles were water, the third gatorade and the last was water again.

The first lap went according to plan. I passed a steady stream of riders, many who were doing the sprint triathlon on the same course. At the turnaround I caught up with a couple of guys doing the full 56 miles. The first lap was completed right on target in 26 minutes. The second lap was more of the same as I kept trying to keep things easy. At the turnaround another rider caught up to and passed me. He began to draft off the rider in front of me. I decided to try and pull away from this group to avoid the drafting but the stuck with me for the rest of the lap. Lap 2 finished also right on target in 26 minutes. For the first half of the third lap I cranked things up a little to see if I could drop the riders just behind me. I was able to put some distance between them but as I eased up on the return, the drafter again caught up to and passed me. I was a little annoyed but then realized that he was doing the sprint triathlon at the end of the lap as he turned and headed into the transition area. I had surged for no good reason. However I had finished the first half of the bike in 1:17 so I was still right on target.

During the second half of the bike the wind began to pick up a little and I began to tire. Laps 4 and 5 were pretty consistent just under 27 minutes. My final lap I felt that I was slowing but was still able to finish feeling pretty good with a total bike time of 2:37:37. I was pretty happy with this time and according to my Dad I was in 25 spot at this point in the race. All I knew was that after a quick 1:20 transition I was starting the run 3 hours and 21 minutes into the race. If I could do the run in my 2 hour goal I would finish right on plan.

The Run

The run started off well. I skipped the water at the first aid station just outside the transition area to let my stomach settle. I was keeping a slow but steady pace and my legs were feeling pretty good. My nutrition plan was to have two granola bars per 10km. I also had a couple of clif shots if that didn't pan out. I hit the 2.5km aid station in just under 15 minutes and grabbed a cup of water while I downed my granola bar. I hit the turnaround in 28 minutes still feeling good. On the return from the first lap I didn't feel like eating anything else. I was still able to finish the first lap in 58 minutes. As I started the second lap I figured that since it was starting to warm up that I should grab some extra water. So at the first aid station I grabbed two cups of water instead of one. I also took one of my Clif shots since I didn't feel like eating much else. By the 1km mark on the second lap I started to feel a slight stich coming on. I slowed to a walk for a little bit. This walk/run continued to the 2.5km aid stationq where again I grabbed two cups of water. This time the stitch came back just 100m past the aid station. I again slowed to a walk. The next mile I ended up doing this walk/run combo while my stitch began to ease. At this point I came upon a water fountain and since several other people were grabbing a drink I opted for one as well. The stitch came back again. At this point I realized that it seemed to be the water causing the problem. I decided that I would skip further water and see how things went. With this new plan I was able to run to the turnaround without stopping although my new pace was very slow. I hit the turnaround in 32 minutes.

As I started my return I knew that it was not likely that I would be able to finish in 5:20 but I was till on target to finish in under 5:30. With the knowledge that I would be done in just over 30 minutes I ploded on home. I was able to make it to the 4km mark without stopping. I then did the run/walk combo to the 2.5km aid station. I opted for a cup of water but just took a mouthful to clean my mouth and dumped the rest over my head. The final 2 km I seemed to just keep slowing down even as I tried to increase the pace. My stich was gone but my legs were just running out of gas. At last I climbed the final hill went through a tunnel and turned towards the finish line. There was my brother holding the finish line tape. I crossed the line to the cheers of my family and some friends with a run time of 2:08:55 for an overall time of 5:30:47. My first Half Ironman was complete and as usual, my wife was dead on with her time estimate :)

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