Race Coverage

Finding the "Joy" in the Journey...

Tuesday, 18 September 2018 23:10

By Erin Klegstad (sweetsweatlife.com)

IRONMAN MONT-TREMBLANT RACE REPORT - I told myself a pretty shitty story last year, one that manifested into a pretty subpar season. So this year, I reframed my mindset: I *get* to this (even the hard stuff!).

And it made all the difference. I found the joy in the journey again – and that’s a bigger win than punching a ticket to the Big Island. (Though I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed because I wanted to so damn bad. Mostly because there were so many friends I wanted to see!) ...

With that, a quick look at my day racing the incredible IRONMAN Mont-Tremblant.

Swim // 1:03:27 (a two-minute swim PR!)
Never thought I’d say this, but swimming has almost become one of my favorite parts of racing. (During training is usually another story, however. It’s such a production!) And in Lac Tremblant?! Incredible. After an hour delay because of fog – that didn’t clear until the last 300m or so – we were off. Most of it was disorienting since you couldn’t see the next buoy until you were about halfway to it. But that also made it kinda magical – the pine tree-lined shore barely visible every time you looked up from the clearest green water. And for only the second time ever in a race, I found feet(!), which made the last 500m even more fun. 

Bike // 5:35:09
After I raced IRONMAN Wisconsin 2014, I wrote three times on a blue post-it – and ever since, it’s been stuck to a mirror I look at every day. Four years and lots of hard work later, I finally hit my hard + hilly bike course goal time. (And hit the swim time last year at Canada!)
There’s not much else to say about the bike. Like any 112-mile ride, there were meh moments: specifically, 50+ year old men who hate being passed by a woman, riding aero for long stretches during the second loop, and the Chemin Duplessis section (holy hell, that’s some serious climbing!). But overall, I loved the bike course – my Argon is a dream to ride – and smiled for nearly all of the 5,500+ of climbing. I tried to eat like a champ (~240 cals/hr) and was almost spot on my target watts for my AG’s fastest bike split. Still pretty stoked about that one.  READ MORE

Cool Photos by Nick Weiler