IRONMAN MONT TREMBLANT
August 18, 2013
STEVE ROULIER – RACE REPORT
“You were out of my league
Got my heartbeat racing
If I die don’t wake me
‘Cause you are more than just a dream.”
–From the song, “Out of my League,” by FITZ AND THE TANTRUMS
Is this real? Did this really happen? WTF! I’m going to Kona.
How do I even write this race report? Where do I begin? What deep inspirational messages do I have for others? Shoot. IDK. I’m just going to tell my story. Those of you who know me know that this is going to take a while, so pull up a chair, get your protein shake, and possibly a caffeine tablet.
HISTORY AND OTHER B.S.
Two years ago I decided to enter Ironman Mont Tremblant. My Dad used to ski there back in the 50s and took me up there in the 1990s once on a family summer vacation. While he was showing us his ole stomping grounds, I saw these people wearing bathing suits (speedos, really) riding by on their bikes obviously in some kind of race. I took some pictures and surmised they were taking part in this sport I had heard of called triathlon. That moment was the beginning of my curiosity of the sport. It took another 10 years of beating up my knees through ultrarunning, to finally begin the sport in 2003.
My friend Jamie Podworski, my fellow sports reporter and partner in crime at WWLP-TV22, had been racing triathlon for years. I was in awe of his training and perseverance and learned a lot from him about the sport. He did races I had never heard of before such as Ludlow and FirmMan. Then, one day driving home from work, I spotted my friend and fellow runner Dawn Roberts, frantically riding her bike with a group of people down Shoemaker Ave. in Agawam on a Wednesday evening. I was intrigued. The next time I saw Dawn, I asked her about it. She told me she had joined this club called the Cyclonauts and they ride out of Millenium Press in Agawam. She said the owner of MP and his wife were also cyclist and nice people who hosted the weekly ride at there shop. Another friend, Mike Netta, who served on the board of the American Heart Association with me at the time, also invited me to come ride with the Cyclonauts. And so it was. I became hooked on the sport thanks to the constant support of members of that club including Dawn, Mike, Jim and Kelly Sullivan, Tom DeLuca, Steve Lombardo, and Bill Terry. They took me under their wings and freely and willingly taught me everything they know as they would with anyone who asked them.
Then, I convinced my co-worker Sarah Kelly to join the team and she and I quickly became training partners for this new sport in both of our lives. Over the years, she has been an inspiration and a rock to me with my training and it has been very gratifying, and humbling, to see her surpass me (read: kick my ass) and become one of the top women triathletes in New England. My first triathlon was in 2003, the Greenfield Sprint, where I overslept and barely made the start only to find the swim was cancelled. So officially the Chicopee triathlon that August would be my first. On to more sprints, Olympics, Halves and now my fifth Ironman.
Fast forward to 2012. I signed up and competed in the Inaugural Ironman Mont Tremblant in Aug. 2012. At age 49, there was a thought that if I competed in 2012, I would know the course and try to compete there again in 2013 in a new age group and maybe I would have a shot at qualifying for Kona. It was a thought I truly didn’t believe, and would actually laugh at my even thinking that such a dream could ever come true. I thought I wasn’t talented enough to even come close to competing along side elite athletes. Even the stats painted a dire picture. Before this year, in my previous four Ironman finishes, my age group finishing places (AGE GROUP, not overall) were 146, 170, 107, and 58. Yes, that’s right. Even last year at IMMT, I was 58th in my age group.
Yet, from some reason, even though the facts and my own self doubts were overwhelming, a piece of me still kept an infinitesimal bit of hope that maybe I could qualify in 2013. Several of my teammates and friends echoed that positive hope to me and I’m forever grateful.
Last year’s time of 11:00:24 was both a positive and a negative for me. Positive in that I broke 23 minutes off my previous personal best, but disappointing in that I did so many things wrong during the race including not being able to shave off just 24 seconds to be able to get under 11 hours into the coveted 10s. Let’s just say I’ll never where a singlet in an Ironman again. There are many of you who get what I mean by that!
Even though I used a free, online training plan for IMMT 2012, my diet was horrible, and I came into the race overweight. After seeing several of my Cyclonaut Multisport teammates, such as Jim, Kelly, and Paul McCloskey, and my good friend Nancy Thompson, succeed using the QT2 training philosophy, I quickly realized that nutrition was the difference.
While it was an awesome experience to have my longtime teammate and friend Brian Donoghue (we both did our first ironman together in 2006) and new friend Linda Fijol race with me in Mont Tremblant last year, I was hoping to have a few more Cyclonauts join me for 2013. Thank you and apologies go to Elena and Matt Musiak, Joe Giannetti, and Sarah Hope who I begged and pleaded with last fall to sign up! Unfortunately, Matt and Sarah were unable to race, but it was an incredible experience and memory to have Joe and Elena out on the course with me. And, to have Matt up there and on the sidelines, too, was terrific.
Of course, the constant love and support of my daughters, Stephanie and Sarah, who sincerely get what I do and why I do it, are an inspiration to me. I’m so grateful that they actually look forward to traveling with me to my Ironman races and truly enjoy the experience.
PRE-RACE WHINING
So, the first thing I did in the off-season this winter was call my friend and Cyclonaut teammate Matt Dufresne, who has been an inspiration to me for a while, and asked him for nutrition advice. He, like many other Cyclonauts, always patiently take the time to answer my stupid, naive questions. I’ll never forget, he made me meet him at Mrs. Murphy’s Donuts, my ultimate weakness, to put together a food plan for me as I train for IMMT 2013.
The lessons I learned from him were invaluable. While it is a royal pain to buy all that food and prepare it and MEASURE it, it has changed my life in more ways than just triathlon training. My co-workers laugh at the giant bag of food I bring into work each day. My daughters and friends laugh when I’m eating a salad and chicken at dinner while they are wolfing down cheeseburgers and fries. But, it has not been difficult at all and I enjoy eating this way. Life changing. Matt, thank you. Nuff said about that.
I decided to use the same online ironman training plan that I used the year prior as I felt it worked. I paid more attention to the heart rate zones dictated in the plan and was much more serious this year about hitting every workout. The results started to pay off with a phenomenal half ironman race at HITS in Hague, NY in June where I finished 9th overall and 2nd in my AG. A few doubts crept in when I placed fifth in my age group at the Pat Griskas Sprint in July in CT, but I had a killer Ironman training week and the race was a quick sprint.
I looked at the times for the 50-54 age group at Mont Tremblant last year and fifth place, the last qualifying slot, was a 10:03. Ouch. That’s 57 minutes faster than my time last year. I started to realize I had a shot at possibly getting down around 10:30 for IMMT, a 30-minute P.R., but knew I had to work hard. I also thought possibly the field may not be as stacked as last year, the first year of the race. I thought that a 10:30 might give me around a 10th place finish in my AG and then would just keep my fingers crossed knowing only five slots are usually allocated for my 50-54 age group. But, part of me thought it would be a tough goal just to break 11 hours.
So, I stuck to the plan like glue, got regular massages, got my bike tuned up frequently by the amazing Brian at New England Bike, and bought a new aero helmet. I rented 808 wheels from Seth at New England Bike, who’s always helpful, and felt I was doing everything possible I could do to fully prepare me for my best race. That’s all I could do. Let the chips fall as they may from there as long as I had no doubts there was nothing thing else I could’ve done.
I mostly trained alone all year, which was odd but necessary. One person I am forever indebted to is Julie Kadamas for getting in some great long runs together as well as emotional support. Julie is what you call a true friend.
One of the other changes in my training was incorporating regular core workouts. I started taking boot camps, first at CPC in East Longmeadow, which truly showed me the importance of this stuff, then at my dear friend Jackie Evans’ garage. Jackie has motivated me in so many ways for many years so I owe her a very special thanks. Seeing her rock it as an elite pro marathoner inspires me.
I also have to recognize people who gave me motivation through their negative hurtful actions and/or feedback. I will not name them out of courtesy. But their failing to recognize my strengths as a person, and an athlete, only strengthened my determination. I had long ago learned to turn a negative into a positive. So I thank these people as crazy is it may sound.
RACE WEEK
Mont Tremblant is a special place. It is a beautiful setting for an Ironman, nestled in the mountains are these little French-speaking adorable villages. I enjoy the time with my daughters and Steph’s friend Lexi, up there before the race – hiking, shopping in the village, discovering hole-in-the-wall French bakeries – great family time. Even bumping into Mike Reilly for a photo.
I stuck to my race week routine. Got in a few swims in the lake, rode the gondola to the summit of Mont Tremblant, and enjoyed time with Matt, Elena, and Joe as well.
RACE DAY
After going horizontal at 8 pm and then finally falling asleep around 11 the night before, I woke up at 4:30 ready to go. I recommend staying in one of the hotels at the village. Stephanie walked me down the short 100 yard walk to transition. Glad she was there because I made the ole mistake of forgetting…yes, you guessed it…my water bottles! So she ran back up and got them for me as I began pre-race prep. I remained relaxed and ready to start the big day.
SWIM (3.8 kilometers, 2.4 miles)
Lake Tremblant is a beautiful lake. Very clear, clean water. The course is one big rectangle. We start on a beach about 1/2 mile from transition so the march over in the morning is pretty surreal. The wave start was a little odd for me. It was mentally difficult watching seven waves of athletes go off in front of me. I felt like I was already going to be behind and I wasn’t looking forward to trying to get past hundreds of slower bikers on the course. The swim start is less bumpy and chaotic, but what happens is everyone then clogs up with about 3/4ths of the way in. It was terrible. A very long tough section reminiscent of the mass start but now it’s happening when you’re really tired. Not good.
I hope they go back to the mass start.
Other than that, my swim went well. Felt good. But even with my focus on getting faster in the water this season, I only bested last year’s swim time by 50 seconds. 1:09:23. Oh well, I’ll take it. I’m out of the water and on my bike where I like to be!
2.4 mile swim: 1:09:23. Age group rank: 39, Overall rank: 521
T1
Uneventful. The long run from the swim exit to the tent sucks, but got my stuff and off I went.
T1: 5:40
BIKE (180 kilometers, 112 miles)
Time to fly! I get an immediate rush to be on the bike and out on the course. I’m passing flocks of people right off the bat. Heading out of the village I see Elena and we wish each other well. The Montee Ryan road out to the highway was pretty clogged this year and lots of drafting and jockeying going on. One guy got a penalty and started screaming and arguing with the official on the motorcycle causing about 20 of us to slow down. Very unsafe, but I made it through and out to the long highway of Rt. 117. I love this section. It’s like the MassPike from say Westfield to Ludlow. Long rolling stretches, only one major hill. I really was flying through here, passing over a hundred bikes. I had to laugh at one guy, who, when I zipped past him, yelled to me: “you’re going to blow up!” Sure, buddy. Whatever you say! Kept my heartrate in check and really hammered the first loop. At about the 45 mile mark, I had found myself finally up with some very talented riders and things were good from that point. Back up Montee Ryan and then onto the toughest section, out and back on Chemin Duplessis, which is uphill for about four miles to the turnaround, then a screaming downhill to transition. I felt strong on the uphills. There’s one section that reminds me of the bears at Placid. Again, being with strong riders here gave me such an emotional lift to press on.
I finished the first loop strong and ahead of pace with about a 2:35. The second loop was a little tougher as always, the heat was picking up, but I felt good in my ability to keep the pace with the riders around me. I would see the same half dozen or so riders from time to time and we gave each other words of encouragement. The ride through the small European-looking village of Saint Jovite is always a treat. The crowds are large and wild and noisy. And everyone’s screaming “Ca va bien” or others words of encouragement in French. Very cool.
I was amazed how strong I continued to feel. I noticed I wasn’t drinking enough as I hadn’t peed since the swim so I increased my liquid intake. The second climb on Chemin Duplessis still was not bad and I was starting to get excited that I was ripping up the course and about to have an incredible day. I flew into transition with a bike time of 5:18:18. Wow. I never thought I could have raced that course so fast. The stats below will show that I passed 367 athletes on the bike course. Yup, 367. And I moved up 32 spots in my age group to 7th. But I didn’t know it at the time. The best thing is, I was still feeling good and ready to run.
112-mile bike: 5:18:18. Average: 21.1 mph. Age group rank: 7, Overall rank: 154.
T2
One of the most memorable moments of the race occurred here. As I handed off my bike I looked over at the bike racks and saw just a sprinkling of racked bikes in between tons of open metal bars. Wow. In an area that had nearly 2600 bikes packed together now had about 150. That’s one sight that will live in my memory forever! I smiled and really started to get pumped. In the tent, a volunteer came right up to me, dumped my things out and helped me get ready, splattering sunscreen on me as well. While this is normal volunteer behavior at an ironman, for some reason, this time, I felt like a rock star. Off I went to tackle my marathon.
T2: 2:57
RUN (42.2 kilometers, 26.2 miles)
The run starts off fast with thousands of spectators cheering you on. Then there’s one quick energy sucking hill before heading out of the village. The course gets quiet for a bit but believe it or not there are spectators throughout most of the road sections of the run course. The dirt bike path is monotonous (and a bit narrow once the throngs are all on it) but peaceful. I went out at 8 minute miles and felt strong. My heart rate was still in check, but I knew my friends and teammates who were following me at home were screaming at me on their computers to slow down. It was actually fun to know my teammates were monitoring my progress. And, since I was racing so well, I contemplated what they were thinking. Did they think I was going to blow up as I am sometimes know to do on the run, or am I having the race of my life. This was a nice inner battle playing in my head which helped pass the time and prevented me from picking up the pass even more.
I ended up running and talking with some nice people throughout the run, they encouraged me that I was on pace to break 10:30 and that helped. My goal of a 10:30 and possibly getting a top ten finish and a small chance of a roll down slot for Kona encouraged me to stay smart, and continue to run like the wind.
I would see Elena at the out and back sections and she looked strong. Joe looked great too. It was nice to see teammates out on the course. It’s also tough to get used to the kilometer markings as everything is metric. But my Garmin watch was beeping out my mile splits so that was a nice backup. I did about 1:49 first loop. Couldn’t be happier. Saw the girls in the village and the cheers from the crowds were deafening. Damn, this race is going well. I am having the race of my life, aren’t I?
Second loop was tough. It was hot now and I was starting to feel signs of cramping so I sucked down endurolyte tablets as much as possible. But then I ran out. At about mile 20. I panicked a little about that. My heartrate was increasing but I knew I was still on a great pace to be near 10:30. I just kept moving.
Finally, I’m about to climb the last hill up the ski resort at mile 25. I see Joe coming out for his second loop and I am so excited to see him! I high five him and he screams back words of encouragement. Again, I feel like a rock star. Now I ‘ve heard too many stories of people missing out on age group slots by seconds and I was going to do my best to not let that happen to me. I was pretty sure I was top 10 but other that that, I had no clue. Many athletes were wearing compression socks, which covered up their age on their calf. I wasn’t going to take any chances so I just ran as hard as I could up that hill. I passed three guys in my age group, but I’m pretty sure they were on their first loop (but you never know). Then down the shoot I go to the finish. A spectacle that is indescribable. Running down the cobblestone village streets I just kept running as fast as I could. No one was going to pass me now! I see the finish! I smile the biggest smile! What an incredible feeling to have just completed the race of your life. I hear Mike Reilly. The crowd is screaming. I try to pump them up by waving my hands and they respond. Mike calls my name and says “Steve Roller (close enough!! lol), you are an Ironman!” I look at the finish clock but it still had the pro’s start time on it and I was too delirious to figure out my time. I cross the line. I throw my hands up in the air. Two volunteers come up to me. I collapse into their arms.
They take me right to medical as I couldn’t walk. I looked at my watch and saw 10:24, and I remember smiling again and having this sense of astonishment come through me like I’ve never felt before. I had just clipped off another 36 minutes off my Ironman PR. I just competed the race of my life.
26.2 mile run: 3:48:03 (8:43 average)
POST RACE
So the next hour or so I’m in the medical room getting treated for slight dehydration. I felt very hot and sick. I was overheated and they covered me in ice. I mean I had ice EVERYWHERE! Talk about shrinkage. I couldn’t control my breathing either for the longest time. Finally, they convinced me to take deep breaths, kind of like blowing into a paper bag, and I eventually calmed down and was released.
When I got out, Steph was waiting for me and said that Matt couldn’t find Elena so she went with him to look for her. We were concerned because she should have finished by now. I went down to the athlete’s area at the finish to get some food when I bump into…Elena. She’s upset about her race but she’s safe. I call Steph to tell her I found her and she said her boyfriend Joey, who had been following me online from Boston, told her that I came in third in my age group. I teared up, but didn’t believe it. Now, I only believe people who truly know and understand triathlon so I wasn’t taking any changes. Steph agreed. She said she’d go on the official website and check and call me back. Sure enough, five minutes later, I get a text from Steph saying: “Yup. You’re third in the 50-54 age group!” I showed the text to Elena and she looked at me and said: “Steve, you are going to Kona!” I literally teared up as my emotions got the best of me. Now you never can be sure that you’ve qualified until the slots are announced the next morning at the morning meeting, but odds were in my favorite that with over 330 men in my age group, there would likely be at east five slots available. Whatever the case, I was hopeful, but wasn’t going to believe it until I saw my name on the wall the next morning.
FINAL STATS:
50-54 AG Rank: 3
Overall Rank: 167
Swim: 1:09:23
Bike: 5:18:18
Run: 3:48:03
Overall: 10:24:21
We just missed Joe finishing, which we were upset about, but we enjoyed the rest of the evening eating, ranking on snotty French waitresses, and watching the late night finishers get called in off the mountain by the echoing voice of Mike Reilly.
The next morning was surreal – walking to the race headquarters. I see groups of people bunched around pieces of paper stuck to the wall near the door. I walk up closer. Yup, it’s the qualifying sheets. I nervously look at the names in the 50-54 AG. And…yes…there’s my name with a highlighter across it meaning I am in. I have qualified for the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii just 8 weeks away. Words cannot describe the joy of the next several hours. So I won’t begin to try or the tears will well up again. Deep breath. Wow.
The icing on the cake was not only did I qualify, but by placing third, I podiumed and got to be honored and called up at the awards banquet that afternoon. Hearing Mike Reilly call me up on stage as the third place finisher in my age group (and first American as first place went to a Canadian and second to a Frenchman) was a dream I never even had before! Too unreal!
So I’m off to Hawaii. Livin’ the dream. Heck, why not? All the cool kids are doin’ it. My heartbeat’s racing. This is more than just a dream.
Thanks for reading.
Steve
P.S. Time for Poutine!