Imagine Disney World.
Now imagine Ironman.
Now imagine what would happen if Disney put on an Ironman.
THAT was Ironman Mont Tremblant. There’s a reason they stuck the North American Championship up in the Great White North. 140.6 miles of race day execution perfection, smiling volunteers, and a couple “Bravo!”s thrown in for good measure. It was unlike any triathlon I’ve ever done before, and I’m psyched that I got to be a part of it!
Swim – 2.4 miles – 49:22
The swim kicked off with a mad dash beach start into Lac Tremblant. I’m not sure if it was the cannon boom, fireworks, or wetsuit-perfect lake conditions, but SOMETHING must have distracted me at the start. We weren’t 10 strokes into the race and I was already sitting in LAST place. How did that happen? Time to make a move!
I swung over to the inside and started working my way through the pro women’s pack, eventually finding some clean water. It wasn’t long before I realized I had a nice gap on the women’s field, minus Liz Blatchford who was hanging hot on my heels. I started weighing my options:
(1) Slow down and let Liz lead, conserving energy for a possible better overall race.
(2) Drop Liz and keep things interesting.
Puh-lease! I did not come all the way to French Canada to play it safe! Option 2 wins! Away I went!
I exited the water 20-ish seconds ahead of Liz and was greeted by what felt like THOUSANDS of screaming fans lining the quarter mile RED CARPET run to transition. I felt like such a rockstar!
Quick stops at my personalized transition chair and bike rack, and I was off on the bike!
Bike – 112 Miles – 5:17
I took off out of T1 on a mission! The cameras were there, I was getting great splits back to the women behind me, and I was feeling fantastic; leading is fun, Fun, FUN!
Unfortunately, in all that excitement my brain quit working. One bonehead shift later, the cameras caught me sitting on the side of the road, trying to unravel a nasty knot in my chain while the race passed me by.
But the day was young, and even though I’d slipped from first to fourth in a matter of minutes, the stop was probably a blessing in disguise. I took the chance to laugh at myself, chill out, and ride smart and steady all the way to T2, where I started the run in a not-too-shabby 5th place.
Run – 26.2 miles – 3:17
The Ironman Mont Tremblant marathon course is two loops that start and end with some biting hills, with a flat-ish crushed gravel section in between. Lucky for me, Coach Matthew has been helping me with my hill running and I felt like I was cruising up and over those speed bumps, no problem! Unlucky for me, I had some crazy fast runners coming off the bike just behind me, and a six minute marathon PR just wasn’t going to cut it on the day.
The run course volunteers were outstanding. And in the 14-ish miles I ran with the 5th place bike escort, I couldn’t help but smile as he kept the crowd cheering for me every step of the way. I was also spurred on by cheers of “GO HALEY” which were totally unexpected and HUGELY appreciated. I’d traveled to the race solo, and my bib number read “Chura” but people still knew my first name! Unbelievable! I love triathletes and triathlon fans!
My run pace fell off a bit as I slipped from 5th to 8th, but my spirits were still high. I crossed that finish line proud of my race, knowing in the end, it was a small step in the right direction!
Total Time – 9:30:06 – 8th place pro female
Fashion Police! I couldn’t help it. I wore my green dress on the podium AGAIN!
Merci Beaucoup!
It’s no secret – I have the BEST support crew. My friends, family, coaches, and Dynamo Multisport teammates help me out EVERY day, not just race day. (Though my sister, Hannah, and friend, Ernie did an pretty incredible job with their race day twitter updates!)
The TYR Freak of Nature wetsuit is for REAL. Forget shoulder flexibility, the FON has ALL OVER flexibility, as I learned after missing the wetsuit strippers and running a quarter mile suited up! My race day nutrition was better than ever thanks to all the delicious products I picked up pre-race from all3sports.com. Despite some operator errors, I still managed one of my strongest rides ever aboard my Swift Neurogen, while looking stylish in my SOAS race kit. My Mizuno Ronins carried me to an outright marathon PR, and I can say I am recovering better than ever thanks in no small part to diligent use of my 110% Compression Wear.
I always seem to meet great people at races, especially when I travel solo. In Tremblant, my green Dynamo t-shirt was like a magnet for my fellow Atlanta triathletes racing up North. I had a great time meeting the “No Boundaries Crew,” Tripp, Kim, John, and Jen, as well as fellow Georgians, Rob and Melanie.
And a big THANK YOU to fellow pros Leslie LaMacchia and Jess Smith. Leslie was all over the course cheering and taking pictures with the kind of energy that should make 70.3 World Champs in Vegas feel easy for her! And Jess was SUPER nice and invited me to grill out with her family after the race. In a bit of post-race delirium, I jotted down directions to Jess’ condo:
Needless to say, I could NOT follow my chicken scratch, my phone wasn’t working, and after driving aimlessly around Mont Tremblant, I didn’t quite made it to dinner. BUT I appreciated the invite more than words can say!! Can’t wait to see you ladies back at the races ASAP!
Ready to race (Me!) and cheer (Leslie!) In Ironman, those are equally difficult agendas!
Jess and I, all smiles before the start!
My Mont Tremblant Roomie!
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