Is Ironman Canada a fast course?

Square peg, round hole. 

Sometimes you simply can’t know and that’s a good thing. 

I have been shrugging my shoulders a lot recently when asked how fast I will go in two weeks at Ironman Canada in Whistler.

Of course I have my own personal times from previous Ironmans as a point of reference, and those help because they have been accomplished on a range of different courses over the past decade. But each year is unique even on the same course. My two fastest times were on courses on two different continents!

Of the three disciplines, the swim seems the most predictable. Short of a weather ‘situation’, the lake will be calm and relatively warm on race morning. What we do know is that it’s going to be two laps. 

I think there’s the potential for some whirlpool momentum but as I haven’t swum in the lake yet, not to mention with 2500 others, I’ll have to find out on August 25th.

That said I expect to swim strong. I have had a great swim season and I am confident that I am now the best swimmer that I’ve ever been, both technically and in terms of speed. Executing on race day is the key.

On Saturday Volker and I spun on the course for about 100kms - easy. We talked about bike splits and both of us reached the same conclusion - there’s no definitive way to know in advance.

I think it’s fair to say the bike course is the toughest one I’ve ever prepared for. I’ve had some tough training days on it and some superb ones too. The difference between these days, I think, is a reflection of nutrition as well as the wind. (And there was that one day that I experienced hypothermia too.)

As we cycled from Pemberton back to where we parked in Whistler, we made the decision to spin, as in easy. And we flew up the hills. Ok, flew here is relative. But we completed the segment far faster than expected. A key reason: perfect weather - no wind, slightly overcast and not too hot.

Earlier we had experienced a head wind going into the Meadows and back. I’ll write more about my strategy for the bike course in the days ahead. 

In short, the bike course in my opinion will smash a lot of people. And if it’s windy - as it was at Nexen with Luka after we returned home late Saturday afternoon - it will be a smashfest. (I’d be OK with wind. It’s a fact of life here in the Sea to Sky corridor.)

Still, don’t despair. All will not be lost if the wind is howling on race day.

There are opportunities to fly on the bike course and both Volker and I have spent weekend after weekend these last three months determining where speed awaits to be found.

And yet as the first line of this post says, after several thousand kms on Highway 99 and the course itself, I still have no real idea what sort of split is a reasonable target.

A little over a month ago now, Macca was quoted in an article talking about how he thinks age group athletes are too focused on time and instead should be focused on competing on ‘challenging’ courses.

I get what he’s talking about and yet time is very important to me as it is for many other athletes. I want to go fast and I want a fast time. 

Time targets help motivate me. Whether I achieve the time I would like is less relevant the longer I race - though its importance doesn’t diminish. 

I’m not racing to go slower - though sometimes it may seem like it :) And it’s because no one can go faster race after race that I have found other reasons to want to be Iron-fit and these reasons are far more important.

In a way a fast time is like getting a great grade in high school or university. Its importance fades dramatically over time.

In that sense Macca is right, I suppose. Time isn’t relevant and we put far too much emphasis on it. Its relevancy fades far faster than we appreciate in the moment. But I still want to be as fast as I can for as long as I can and I make no apologies for that.

Back to the bike course! Is Whistler a 5 hour bike? I don’t think so. Would 5:30 be a good time? I think so. 5:45? 6? I would expect to be in T2 within six hours.

Being fast in the water and on two wheels - as long as I haven’t hammered myself - would be ideal. I’ll have banked both time and energy for the marathon. Two huge positives. That will be part of my race strategy - as it is for every triathlon. Easier said than done as I’ve found out. Race execution is an art.

For those who choose to hammer or try to hammer on the bike, into a head wind, prepare to walk a lot. That would be unfortunate in part because the run course is beautiful and is open to being fast.

All that said, I don’t have any real feel for a time target heading into the race. My focus is on being focused from start to finish. My objective is to be steady and strong and to take advantage of the weather and the course.

Ten-something always has a positive attraction. Time resists control. But one can master time - from time to time.