Does my Ironman Tremblant T-shirt make me look fat?

Yes it does. Let's blame it on a bulky belt on the jean shorts. What the hell. This is no time for vanity. I couldn't help striking a yoga pose in from of the big red M in the Tremblant Ironman village today.

I call it the Ironman village, because the massive white tents and stages for the event are already set up at the base of the Tremblant resort village. You can already feel the Ironman mania and high energy building in town. Parking further and further away, and taking longer and longer to find a parking lot with space is your first clue! August is a busy month up here!

The full Ironman Triathlon in Tremblant, Quebec, Canada on August 17 is fast approaching. It's what I call the totally insane Ironman. The full Ironman - not the half. How this is humanly possible in one day is beyond comprehension. Yet some 2600 athletes from over 50 countries, including Quebec's elite racers, will give it a go. Preparing for a full Ironman takes several years of hard training and burns a lot of calories.

Full Ironman
  •  2.4 mile swim (3.86 km), athletes have 2 hours, 20 minutes to complete it
  • 112 mile cycle (180.25 km), athletes have 8 hours to complete it
  • 26.2 mile marathon run (42.2 km), athletes have 6 hours, 30 minutes to complete it.
Everything is raced in that order with no breaks. Athletes need a lot of support along the way to accomplish this and help insure their safety.

Tremblant is stunningly beautiful, but it is no picnic for distance cycling and running. We have mountain grades here! The swim in Lake Tremblant is the best deal unless the wind is up. The water is cool and refreshing, not cold in August and the views are awesome year round.

I'm one of the many volunteers that will help support the event and the athletes.

Today I was on one of the volunteer teams to sort and organize the T-shirts for the captains of the volunteer teams for swim, bike, run, and other athlete services. That's a lot of red T-shirts!  Close to 2500 volunteers are required to make the event a success and ensure security at the 2014 Subaru IRONMAN North American Championship Mont-Tremblant on August 17.     

On event day, I'll be on the water (beautiful Lake Tremblant) as a swim support volunteer with my 17-foot long, bright yellow Baffin sea kayak.
We have to be there at 5:00 a.m.! The Baffin is always ready to go. I'm going to need coffee and a rooster crowing to get me out of bed way earlier than that.

The first wave of athletes run to the water at 6:36 a.m. An oddly precise time. I'll peek at the exact time on my white, waterproof Ironman watch when the first feet hit the water. The watch was a Mother's Day gift many years ago, and is the only watch I've ever had that has survived all my outdoor activities and has never gotten lost or destroyed.

We have to be on the water during the event for 4-hours without a break. Now I'm really kicking myself for not bothering to learn how to roll (again this year I ignored all training camps). It would be a great way to cool off, keep myself awake, and stretch out some muscles that are sure to get cramped after sitting around for so long.

This Ironman event will be a first for me and my Baffin sea kayak. It will be an amazing experience.What an awesome thing to share with your kayak. The list can always grow. Your kayak is always there for you.

I'll try to grab a few stunning shots of the Ironman experience and the Ironman village at Trembant as the event descends and takes over the resort and the surrounding area for miles!

Many roads along the path of the event or in the path of the event will be closed or will be blocked off at 6:00 a.m. on event day and won't reopen until well after the event.

I'll have to spend the day in the Ironman village at the Tremblant resort, and will probably be found on a bench somewhere later in the afternoon sound asleep with my camera in hand, unless the sheer adrenalin of the event keeps me going all day.

My red volunteer T-shirt may be very weary and wet by day's end. I may jump into the lake or practice a Cowboy Scramble or two after my shift is over.

So far, the weather report for this Sunday looks perfect. Let's hope it stays that way.

Happy trails!
The BaffinPaddler

Comments

  1. PenobscotPaddlesAugust 13, 2014 at 9:43 AM

    Wow! I'm looking forward to cover coverage of the Triathalon and your upcoming stint as a guest blogger! Hopefully you'll show us many pictures of the resort!

    ReplyDelete
  2. BaffinPaddlerAugust 13, 2014 at 1:49 PM

    Hi, I'll do my best and bring an extra battery for the camera :)

    ReplyDelete

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