Ruth Henshaw Race Report – Ironman Mont Tremblant

12:20:40…Ironman Mont Tremblant…WHAT A DAY! The journey began on Aug 26,2016 when I submitted my registration with Blair Henshaw sitting next to me on the couch saying “Just Do It, Just Press Submit”! The 100% support of him by my side has been amazing and the dream of becoming an Ironman would not have been possible without it. The 30 week competitive training plan I followed began on January 23, 2017. The training was 6 days/week with most days being double workouts. I felt totally confident in the plan and it got me to the start line without having to battle any injuries!!! PreRace: I loaded up on food and liquids the day b4 then was awake a lot thru the night and had food beside my bed and ate thru the night. Got up at 4:45 and headed leisurely down to body marking with a cup of coffee in my left handed Ironman mug…Nathan Brooks! Body marking went smoothly (except hubby had to ask my age) thanks to a bunch of Baydogs being there!! Hubby did my body marking and gave me a good luck kiss before I headed to put nutrition on my bike and head back to the condo for some breakfast. Left the condo at 6am to head to swim start along with 2000 other athletes. They played the Canadian National anthem then an F18 from Bagotville flew overhead before the pros headed out for the swim start.  Swim 3.8k: The swim was a rolling start which made it much more enjoyable as we were able to seed ourselves into the expected swim finish time and were swimming with people of the same speed. My goal swim time was 1:30 and I was out of the water in 1:28! As I headed back at the 2000m turn around I caught site of Deborah Bass and I swam the final 1800m into T1 with her. Several Baydogs were there for wetsuit stripping and caught sight of Blair Henshaw and Nicole van Beurden as we ran into the change tent.  T1: I opted for a full change into dry bike clothes as I figured that would be more comfortable having to bike 180k. Had no issues and was headed out on the bike pretty fast! Bike 180k: first 90k of the bike was great, including the big climb up Duplessis which everyone had warned me about. It was challenging, but I had expected it to be much worse. Had 3 exciting Baydogs Mike Meschino, Michelle Rumney, and Emma Paulson ready and waiting for me at bike special needs and quickly restocked my nutrition and was on my way for the second loop in a matter of a few seconds. Lap 2 was a lot more challenging as the wind had really picked up and with race wheels on you could really feel the pull as most of the highway section had a strong crosswind. The second climb up Duplessis was more challenging, but went smoothly til I dropped my chain about 5k from the finish! My goal for the bike was 7hrs, but I finished the 180k in 6:15! T2: I opted again to do full change into run clothes, but didn’t waste any time in transition….so much so I forgot to grab my sunglasses b4 heading out onto the run course. Run 42.2k: I had driven the run course with Frederic Nolin a cpl days before so was fully aware that the first few kms were a bit hilly and I would be dealing with that 4 times throughout the run as it was a 2 loop course of 21kms. I had decided ahead of time I would walk up each of the hills and through each aid station and would keep my heartrate in a mid zone 2 at a comfortable pace. I wanted to make sure I didn’t go out to strong, too fast then fade the second half of the run. I opted not to use my run special needs nor carry any liquids or nutrition with me as there was plenty of support along the course. I stopped at every aid station and put ice in a ziploc bag that I carried with me then I could have cold ice anytime I wanted as well as due to the hot conditions it kept me much cooler. I came into the village at the end of my first loop and instantly spotted Blair Henshaw, got a kiss, before I headed back out for another 21km. He knew what I wanted for a run time and all he said was “You are well ahead of what you are after…love you!” My goal for my run was under 5 hrs, but I came well under that at 4:22 (only 8 mins slower than my stand alone marathon PB). The other goal I had was to finish before dark and I did. The final 2kms of the run is absolutely amazing. Coming into the athlete village with thousands of people cheering you in…indescribable!  THE FINISH LINE!!!!!! With about 400m to go the adrenaline kicked in and I flew down the finish chute…..straight into hubby’s arms as he put my finisher medal around my neck with Andrew Henshaw beside him!!! To have both of my boys there on the red carpet to give me hugs and kisses and to hear Mike Reilly say “Ruth Henshaw…YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!” I compared the finish chute to walking down the aisle when we got married…so amazing! 2 days later I am still on cloud 9 and surprisingly not very sore at all! Guess the hard work and training paid off!  This was my first, but won’t be my last….