Race Report - Ironman Ottawa 2025

Why did I Sign Up?

I got into triathlons in 2022 and knew that I would do an ironman one day. I was planning to wait a few more years to tackle the full distance, but when I heard there was an Ironman coming to my hometown in Ottawa, I signed up. I figured I could have a competitive finish time, but as usual for me, the swim would be holding me back in the overall rankings. The goal was 1:20 for the swim, 4:30 for the bike, and 3:00 for the run. I had a few issues and niggles during run training which forced me to take a few weeks off and start building back. The realistic target for the run was maybe 3:30.

Summary

If you’re just here for the quick result, here it is. Otherwise, read on for the full story.

My swim and bike were right on track (2^nd fastest bike split), but I got very dehydrated later in the race, and had to walk half of the run.

Morning

Race start at 6AM, so breakfast was at 3:30AM, with pancakes, banana, 1/2 cup maple syrup, and about 500mL water. It’s a lot on race morning, but it has worked for long rides and 70.3s, so I stuck with it. I packed a 1L bottle with 100g carbs and 1400mg of sodium, as well as a bottle of water to sip on throughout the morning.

I got a ride down to the Cineplex, and instead of waiting for the shuttle I decided to walk 2km to T1 with a bunch of other athletes that were there. I got my tires pumped up, put all my bottles and nutrition on my bike, and got out of transition relatively quickly. I forgot to put my Garmin and SRAM battery back onto my bike until I got my wetsuit out of my bag, with about 5 mins before transition closed.

I did a few minutes of warm-up swim near the beach as the first wave started at 6am, then ate a granola bar and finished the rest of my morning carb bottle. Had to push through the swim lineup up to the front of the 1h20min group, which was my goal pace. By the start time, I had already eaten about 300g carbs.

Swim

I started the swim just before 6:20am according to the clock near the start. Compared to the rest of the people in the 1h20 wave, I was there to have a faster overall time. While others around me were walking into the water and taking their time, I ran into the water and did a couple of dolphin dives before settling into my stroke. The first section protected by the rock wall near the beach was not too choppy, but it did pick up further out.

About 2/3 of the way on the out section, there was a sandbar which surprised me when I saw people walking. I decided not to walk so I didn’t risk stepping on a rock or a shell and cutting my feet. At the turn at the far end of the course, I noticed the air started smelling like smoke from the wildfires. I didn’t notice the smoke the rest of the day though, but maybe it did affect me. There was a slight current against me on the way out and with me on the way back. I prefer it this way because once you start the way back, you feel great!

I saw under 7:40am on the clock as I got out of the water, so I knew I had a good swim and was right on track.

T1

I ran up the beach, grabbed my bag and into T1. The short run on the grass felt great, my legs didn’t feel too heavy, and I was ready to push on the bike. Had my bottle (300mL water, 40g carbs, 700mg sodium), and out onto the bike. We were not allowed to leave shoes on the bike for this race, which I never do anyways, so I wasn’t at a disadvantage this time!

Bike

Now the fun part!

In general, this went right on plan. 2nd fastest overall, 4:31:53. The one guy that beat me on the day started his bike computer late, so I got the Strava KOM for the bike course! AVG 230W, NP 236W.

My goal was 40km/h, and I was watching my buffer to this goal throughout the race as I passed the distance markers – 2hrs at 80km, 3hrs at120km, 4hrs at 160km.

Lap 1

Fueling on the bike was all liquid for me. My plan was 120g/hr carbs and 1L/hr fluids. On the front, I had a Profile Design FC35 with 1L water, 120g carbs, and 1400mg sodium. On the rear, I had 2x 1L bottles in my custom rear bottle holder (reach out on the Contact page if you want one too!), each with 240g carbs, 2800mg sodium. The sodium concentration numbers were based on a sweat test I did with Precision Hydration earlier in the year. My sweat sodium concentration is 1350mg/L. My plan was to drink from the FC35 with the straw on the front initially, then refill it with 50/50 water from the aid stations and concentrated carb drink from my rear bottles. On the frame, I had a 650mL aero bottle with lots of electrolytes (~3000mg sodium). In case I needed it, I could grab more water from aid stations and use this bottle to get enough electrolytes.

There were quite a few comments on the Facebook groups about the road quality and the expected bike traffic from so many athletes on a 3-loop course. The road quality was fine – I’ve been riding these roads in training for weeks and I know where the bad sections are where I need to watch out for potholes. On the Gatineau side, just before turning back towards Ottawa at the Portage bridge, I needed to get up out of the aero bars to navigate the rough surface. The other spot to watch out was on the Kichi Zibi Mikan parkway heading West between the Chief William Commanda Bridge and the turnaround at Island Park. The bike traffic wasn't too bad. I was passing people all day, but most of the roads are wide enough to have 3 bikes side by side.

I started a little quick out of Britannia and along Carling to get past as many people as possible (255W avg for the first 5 mins). I should have learned by now that I don’t need to push so hard right off the start, but it sure feels good to start passing people. Once I got onto the parkway, I settled into a steady pace. We had a tailwind for the first part of the lap, so I was happy with the speed right away.

Lap 2

Lap 2 felt amazing! The effort was smooth and steady, and the morale was high from seeing friends and family on the side of the road as well as keeping my average speed above 40km/h. It was almost like another training ride, with extra motivation from a few more athletes to chase and pass, and lots of spectators cheering you on. At the start of the lap, around 60km, my stomach didn't feel great, and I realized I already had about 200g of carbs at this point (135g/hr for the bike). I decided to back off the carbs for a bit, but since my carbs and fluid were mixed, that also meant that my fluid intake went down, which affected me later in the race – lesson learned for next time.

There was a no passing zone on the ramp coming from Colonel By Dr up to Major's Hill Park, which ends right at the top of the ramp. On lap 2 there was a huge group riding side by side in 2 lines all the way in front of Major’s Hill Park. People might have been passing, but they were going so slow (at least compared to me) it was hard to tell. I needed to sit up and soft pedal for a minute until we got through the next intersection. It was really annoying, and I spiked the power quite a bit as soon as it opened up to get back up to speed.

My front brake was squealing like crazy starting on the second lap. It still worked, but was really annoying, and the spectators at the U-turns were probably covering their ears… I think my hydration system straw leaks 😊.

Looking at the distance markers on the side of the course, I had the same 1m30 advantage for most of the second lap. That meant I had built up a lead to my 40km/h target on the first lap and held it steady on the second lap.

Lap 3

3rd lap was ok for my nutrition/hydration. I still managed to get a fair bit in, but I should have been taking more fluids on. My stomach was still not feeling great. I never felt like I was super hot – maybe my heat training was working better than expected, but more likely something was going in the wrong direction. At this point in the day, it was about 30C, having warmed up from about 20C in the morning. I noticed that my arms were not sweating, but usually on hot days, they sweat a lot. I was dehydrated but didn’t realize how bad it was at this point.

Looking at the distance markers, I was over my 40km/h target by 30s or so heading into the Sir George Etienne Cartier parkway on the last lap. The first section of the parkway is a tailwind heading out, which got me back under the threshold by 1 min at the 160km mark, helped by the tailwind and downhill on the way out on the parkway. but then halfway on the way back into the headwind, I was a minute over the threshold again. My legs were starting to get a little sore at this point, and I had a decision to make: do I push a little harder on the way back to downtown (uphill and into the headwind) to try to hit my 40km/h goal, or do I slow down a lot to try and help my stomach feel better? I decided to push and get a fast bike time since I could tell my stomach was not going to cooperate enough to hold any reasonable pace through the whole run.

How are you even supposed to navigate a ‘No Passing’ zone through an aid station? Do you stop when the person in front of you stops to eat a bar? If you’re not planning on grabbing anything, and the person in front of you slows down and pulls off to the side to grab a bottle and you maintain your speed, is that ok? At the end of this section on the last lap, I was fed up with going slow and hit 400W to get back up to speed.

The very small technical section on this course through Rockcliffe Park is possible to do all in the TT bars, but I would not recommend it. It’s sheltered from the wind because of the trees and has a beautiful view out over the river. The rest of this course can (should) be done in the TT bars with breaks only at the U-turns. I would recommend using Rockcliffe Park section to sit up, stretch, take in the view, and have better handling through the turns. There is a small hill and then a false flat climb back into downtown after this. On the first and third laps I got out of the TT position, and for the second lap I stayed in the aero bars.

By the end of the bike, I had finished 480g carbs (just under 100g/hr), and about 4L fluids (880mL/hr). I have measured my sweat rate in training, and it is roughly 1.1L/hr on a normal summer day, and more than 1.5L/hr on a hot summer day.

Looking at the race photos afterwards, I noticed that my suit sleeve was not rolled all the way down, and my sock was pulled up over my calf sleeve instead of under it – could have gone a few seconds faster.

The last 100m of the bike had a short, steep hill up into T2 at Major’s Hill Park. My quads did cramp a tiny bit on the first step off the bike, but the second steps were fine. The course maps for 2026 show that T2 has been moved to the National Gallery, so that hill should no longer be an issue.

T2

I took my time and sat in T2 for a while trying to drink what I could, 2 water glasses and about 20g carbs from the bottle in my bag. My quads were a little sore, and I was mentally tired. I changed my socks, grabbed my hat, soft flasks with carb mix, heart rate monitor, and watch, then took a porta-potty break, and headed out for the “run”.

Run

I’m usually a decent runner, and have done a sub-3 standalone marathon before, but that was not on the cards today. Ended up being 5:10, longer than my bike, but I finished.

After reading this run section, you may think I over-biked, but I genuinely don’t think that was the case. I've heard 280TSS is the max ironman bike effort, and Training Peaks says 284TSS (~76% of FTP) based on my FTP from the winter (before the main block of ironman training).

The start of the run wasn’t fast or pretty (above 5min/km) but I was moving forward. Just before the first aid station, I tried drinking some of my carb drink in the flasks, but it was too sweet and salty (too concentrated). I stopped and drank 2 cups of water, then ran to the next one. At the 2^nd aid station, I emptied one of my flasks and filled it with water. The gaps between aid stations felt very long and I needed some more fluids between. I still had 2 other flasks with enough carbs if I supplemented with a few on-course products as well. My stomach still wasn’t feeling too good. I was hoping it would come around after getting more fluids in, but it did not.

Through the first 10km or so, small walk breaks between, and at, the aid stations seemed to be working. The running portions felt fine from an effort perspective, my legs weren’t hurting or anything like that, but I didn’t have good form and couldn’t keep it going.

Nothing new on race day? How about everything new on race day 😊? My stomach wasn’t getting any better with more fluids yet, so I started trying different things: pretzels, chips, a Maurten bar, Mortal Hydration. They all seemed to help, and chips and pretzels taste good with the salt so I stuck with those. It was great to see some friends from CRC (Capital Runner’s Club) along the course and at the aid stations! Through the aid stations, I would grab a cup, walk until I finished it, then try to run to the next aid station. I was hesitant to try the Mortal Hydration because of so many bad experiences I heard online, so I didn’t start taking that until past the halfway point. The sodium concentration is much less than what I need based on my sweat test, but it did seem to help.

I walked about half of the marathon, pretty much the whole 2nd loop. When I tried running, I got lightheaded and my arms started tingling. I also noticed I wasn't sweating. I was pretty sure I was really dehydrated and probably shouldn't try to push too hard so I don’t end up with a DNF in the medical tent. Walking was fine, and I was going to make it to the finish – one of my friends told me I had the 2^nd fastest bike split, and I wanted to make sure it counts. I could power-walk at about 8min/km. I got through about 1.75 of my flasks (100g carbs and 1.5tsp sodium citrate each), which is enough sodium so that I can drink more than 2L of water based on the relative sodium concentration I was targeting.

Throughout the day, I seemed to be getting better (as in less dehydrated). I kept trying to run every couple kms, and could run for a little longer later in the day once I got more fluids in. I walked up the hill behind parliament, and my legs were feeling fine. I was able to run the last 2km or so through downtown to the finish line. There were tons of spectators all along the run course, especially at the finish. The finish chute was packed, and I was happy to be done!

Post-Race

I’m not doing another one of those for a while! The rest of the year would be to have some fun with the ironman fitness I had built – my first gravel race, and half ironman relay, a local Olympic distance, and some time off running. Next year’s plan would be to figure out my stomach issues and race a bunch of 70.3s, leaving my next crack at the full distance until 2027. A few months later though, I signed up for IM Ottawa 2026.