When Race Day plans don’t always go as “planned”

I did my first full triathlon in June of 2010. Fifty some triathlon races later, I’ve learned to expect the unexpected.

Last month, I raced IM 70.3 Mont Tremblant - Canada. It is a beautiful mountain resort, very European (Canadian-French) just 90 minutes northwest of Montreal. This had been a bucket list race for me for some time. The race has been voted by past IM 70.3 participants as #1 favorite swim course and #1 favorite run course.

A week prior to the race, as I normally do, I started to look at the weather forecast. Partly sunny/cloudy on Monday, then cloudy through the week with rain likely on the weekend.  I told myself not to worry, the race was a week away and weather in the mountains is unpredictable. But with each passing day, the chance of precipitation for my Sunday race only increased.

2 Days till race day: I packed my bike in my SCICON soft travel case, and my husband and I traveled to Montreal. Travel went smoother than usual – good start. We drove to Mont Tremblant and got in just in time to make our dinner reservation. After dinner and tired from our travels, I decided to wait until the morning to unpack and rebuild my bike.  

1 Day till race day:  I woke up to a nice day, partly cloudy but great temps. After breakfast, I unpacked my bike and set to putting it back together. I’ve never had a problem or worry traveling with my mountain bike for races, as all I have to do is remove the handle bars, pedals, wheels, and rear derailer.  But with my Tri bike, I have to disassemble the Headset then reassemble it. If done wrong and the headset is loose, it would be very dangerous. So as planned, I semi assembled it then walked it to the race bike mechanics. I was told it would be ready in “about” an hour. An hour later, I walked back and saw them working on it. Another hour passed by and they were still working on it. What was taking so long?  They finally texted me that it was ready, and charged me $380 Canadian dollars…that’s about $277 US dollars. I’m stunned but I paid and hurried my bike to the mandatory bike check it. The rain forecast for the night and next day was now 100% chance. I pulled an extra plastic bag over my gears and hoped that the forecast was wrong.

Race Day: My phone alarm woke me up at 4am.  I looked out the window. Yep, it was raining, hard rain, and windy.  I told myself, “It is what it is”.  At 5:15am I left the hotel in my rain jacket, with tri gear all in an interior plastic bag.  I got to the transition area and the bikes were whipping in the wind and rain. There was a large pond of water where I normally would place my race gear under my bike. I decided to leave it all in the plastic bag. By 6am I had put on my wetsuit and started making my way to the swim start. I guess I missed the part at the pre-race meeting that said the swim start was ½ mile walk from the transition area. So I walked barefoot on the rough road all the way there (the rain water actually helped my feet). Once at the swim start, we positioned ourselves based on our “estimated swim time”. I placed myself in the “39-43 minutes” group. We stood together shivering until they started the Age Group race at 7:30am, starting with the fastest swimmers, and sending 6 participants in at a time. We slowly moved up, but close to 8am I noticed that they had stopped sending participants in the water. An announcement was made that due to dangerous swim conditions, the swim portion was cancelled for the rest of us. Not only was the water super choppy, but there was a strong current dragging the buoys off course. Approximately 98 swimmers were pulled from the water. So for the rest of us, we were told that we would be in a “2nd Bike/Run Race”.  The Swim course ends near the transition area, but since our swim leg was cancelled, we had to walk back the ½ mile to the transition area.  We were told not to rush, as our race would not start until we left the transition area on the Bike leg.  I made my way back carefully, choosing deep puddles and grassy patches to walk on.

At T1, I made the mistake of deciding not to wear my sunglasses, as I figured with the rain, I couldn’t see through them anyway. Big mistake. This was a hilly course, now a bit sketchy with the wet roads. Without my glasses, the rain kept pelting my eyeballs. But I wouldn’t dare close them for long for risk of not seeing other participants around me. My bike also seemed to be making noises, as if my brakes were rubbing. Which I found later to be the case. Nevertheless, I got through the bike leg.

At T2, I took more time than usual to prepare for the long run ahead. I had to fish through my plastic bag for my running gear and find an area away from my racked bike and the pond beneath it to put on a fresh set of socks and my running shoes. Finally, I began my run. It wasn’t long before my shoes started to get squishy, but the temps had warmed up and I actually enjoyed it. One of the reasons participants love the Mont Tremblant venue is because of the support they receive from the locals. Even in the rainy conditions, there were still many villagers out cheering us on to the finish.

The race experience was not what I had hoped it to be. But somehow, I still had a big smile on my face when I crossed the finish line. How could I not?  I was in a beautiful location, doing what I love, in a community of fellow like-minded triathletes. My husband was there, proud as ever, my biggest fan. 

The next time you race, think about all the things that “could” happen, and come up with a plan for how you will deal with them. If the unexpected happens, take a deep breath and say to yourself “it is what it is”. Then do what you need to do to continue. Remember, if conditions aren’t perfect for you, then they aren’t ideal for anyone. Those who are able to relax, accept the situation, and persevere will cross the finish line with a smile, bragging rights, and great tales to share with friends and family.