Kyle's IronMan Canada Race Report

IMC 2009 race report
Going into the race I truly felt ready and strong. Felt confident and relaxed before the race and had a great week with my family before the race. Lots of beach time and Finn started swimming with his life jacket (25 years earlier then his father!).
The swim started great. I was relaxed, got my breathing under control and hooked on a steady draft for 25 min. A little rough at the turns but overall quite smooth. Finished in my goal time of 1:10.
Had a great transition and got out of there in 3 min- Goal #2 met.
Played my usual game of catchup on the bike and was steadily moving up the field. Staying in low zone 2, I was approaching 40 km/h average and was surprised to see you on the side of the road getting your flat taken care of. Nutrition was on track and was drinking over 2 bottles/hour of fluids. Climbed great up Richters and made lots of movement in my age group. The rollers were much easier then last year and I pushed hard through the out and back at Keremeos after realizing I was in the top 30 in my age group. It started getting hotter on the way to Yellow and I found this climb tougher then previous attempts. Stuck within the same group of riders until the end and punched it to the top trying to move further up my age group standings. Finished the ride hard into town for a time of 5:16. Goal #3 met.
Transition was quick in 2 minutes but I was feeling a little lightheaded and hot.
I left transition at 6h:30 total race time and paced a 3:25 marathon to get a sub 10 hour time. I started feeling rough at 2 km mark but was able to hold a 4:30 min/km pace for 7 km. Then the heat started to win. I was feeling worse and worse despite drinking more and more, eating more and more and slowing the pace. I dumped sponge after sponge and tons of water on me but couldn't cool down. By half way I had slowed to a 5:30 min/km pace with a time of 1:50 at the turn around. The second half got worse and I was forced to walk many stations and my pace continued to slow despite a heart rate in low zone 2. Finished with my family cheering at the 41 km mark in 3h:57. Fell asleep on the grass after dousing myself with tons of water- managed to stay out of the med tent this year.
I gave everything I had in a very tough year that saw lots of people quit including many pros. I suffered more then I ever had before finishing in 10:31 (45 min faster then last year) Ended up 30 min slower then my goal for the run and 20 min out of Kona spot. Despite this, I learned alot about "racing" an Ironman and was proud of my preparation.
Have since read a bunch of articles on heat acclimatization and am working on a plan. So if you see someone running around town in a parka, tuque and 4 pairs of sweat pants next week... Say "Hi" - It's me getting ready for the next 35 degree race I run.
Congrats to everyone who raced- I am so proud of our team! A sincere thank you to everyone who cheered and didn't get a response from me--- I apologize, I was in a bad place.
Thanks for the year Todd, anticlimactic end to an amazing journey.