I’m happy that I did it. It was the toughest race I have ever done in my life, physically and mentally. For me it was a very big learining experience in many ways, mostly for my tri life and life in general. Ironman seems to have that quality for many.

Here is my story…

On race day I woke at 3 a.m. The whole night I just couldn’t get to sleep. The anxiety was too much. It was sleep 20min. and wake, toss turn, go over race plan sleep a bit and repeat. Luckily the night before I got >10hrs. so I felt real good. Woke naturally and called a cab to pick me up and take me to the IHOP down the road as planned. The breakfast was the regular IM pre race meal. Like at IMC in 2005, 4 pancakes, juice, hasbrowns, and scrambled eggs w toast. The best part of the meal was the coffee!! Wow, after a month of no caffeine I was peakin’!! Drank, 3 cups hehe. So after the meal I grabbed my special needs bags and took a slow walk through the streets of Tempe to transition. What a beautiful morning. I could tell it was gonna be a good day. It was still then. No wind and the stars were real pretty. That kind of morning is just so pleasant and tranquil. It was nice to walk for 30min to transition.

Arrived at 4:50 a.m. and immediately dropped off the special needs bags and sat by the water to just be alone and stare off into the night. Slowly people were coming to the area. As the body markers came I entered and met up with a lovely couple from England. They came just to volunteer for the event after doing it last year. It was a pleasure to speak with them. So, after that I pumped the tires and went to sit and watch everyone and think. At about 6AM I met pro Scott Curry from Calgary very quickly just to say hi and went to the bike to put on the wetsuit. The clock was ticking and I was getting excited. Much excitment in the air from all. Went through the timing check and waited on the dock for the pros to go then I got in.

Swim
Set up in the front past the bridge by a bouy about 1/2 out. I feel like I had a decent swim 1:11hrs. is a happy swim for me. I did get punched and lost the goggles once and kicked in the head but no biggie. It’s the swim. I was happy with that. Gave up trying to be better in the swim last year and am just swimming to finish at a decent time. So all well there. Satisfied.

T1
As IMC. Came on deck and had someone lay me down, before I knew it the wetsuit was off me. Awesome fast. All in all, no changes. Came to T1 bag, ran to tent, stood by the door to change. Slam dunk. Only regret is that I would have wanted more sunblock. Got sunburned. Life! Went out well and strted hydration immediately with drinking basically every 10-15min. Had the stop watch set for this.

Bike

Many new lessons here. Wind was brutal. 30-50mph winds. I dunno how guys do the sub 5:30 honestly. Even with all the riding I do. Could it be the bike fit and overall RB vs tri geometry???? (Trek 2100)?? I dunno. I basically started the bike in Z3-4 for the first 2 laps cause I felt great. That’s whay I did it at that HR. Yes, a little high cause I should have stayed in High Z2 but the winds coming in were pretty bad and they had picked up in the second loop with 80mph gusts. Some dust storms along the way. Freaky! I think I should have been lower though but I felt very strong.

Hydration and food were great, no probs there until the last loop comining in. About 30-35miles from T2 I was crankin’ about Z3 (low) by this point into the wind and I hit a rock that sliced the tire (front) this sent me into a recovery steer but it was too late cause one of those stong wind gusts hit me head on, kinda from the side (left side). This pushed me into an orange pylon. It went under the pedals and under the back tire as the air went out of the front tire (fast). It ended up being a slice rather than a puncture I found in it. I lost control and fell on the right hip. Sucked and it hurt. No worries, just move on, forget the past, think future I thought. I changed the tire among some grunting and swearing, thank God I had the CO2 with me and was off. The hip hurt. When I fell I ripped the shorts a bit too. I looked at the watch as I got on and saw that I was behind the 5:30 goal. By now the winds were even faster. They picked up more as the day went on. People were in pain too I could see as I passed by them coming into T2. At this point I was really hammering to Z4 up and feeling very bad on the legs cause I wanted the bike split if I was to be on the goal time. In addition the balls of my feet were very numb, could not feel the bottoms. Seriously. No feel there. Bad shoes??? I think so cause they have >2yrs on them. One mistake for gear. In addition, the Tri gel seat at this point was really hurting. Apart from the numbness there was pain. I do not like the nose this year. It’s too thick. Gonna get another. It worked well for IMC but for some reason this race was bad with it. I dunno why. Anyways, the crotch was bleeding I found out after in T2 from this also very chaffed.

So basically the remainder of the bike I just gutted it out to T2 after the fal and with a very high HR in Z4. I think I blew the legs up just to get as close to the 5:30hr. split I wanted. With the tire change it came to basically 5:40hrs. I also missed the last water aid station thinking that I had enough in me till T2 where I would get some water and be good. All I had was the endurance gatorade (3/4 bottle) left and guzzled this down. It only made me thirstier. So got to T2 totally drained from parchment and hammering for the time I wanted. Drank too much at T2 to compensate for the water station I missed.

T2

All went well here, I guzzeled the water, tok 3 IBs and basically took off. I could feel that the hip hurt by running though.

Run

For the first 2 aid stations I was averaging an 8:20 pace in Z2 (high), was ok. I was happy with this but drank too much at aids 1 and 2 again. All the sloshing was bad for me and I threw up just before aid stn 3. Took some time to recover and kept pounding away. I was now slower than 8:20. Still ok though. The plan was to be in low Z2 to mid Z2 for the first half and then kick it up after half to Z3 low. Sipped a bit of water and gator after that to sooth the throat and get the water/liquid back into me. At the 13mi point I was mentally drained though. The hip hurt, the pains in the quads in the anterior were comining on strong too and I was at this point having GI probs from before. If I throw up it ALWAYS stays bad with me till I sleep it off. Has been like that since I was a kid. I guess that’s my body. Anyways, I was basically drained physicaly and mentally by this point and stopped to regroup at special needs, sat and thought. Sat down took 4 IBs from the special needs bag I put them into and recalculated the rest of the race based on how I felt. Mentally I was down and thought I’ll try for 11 to 11:30. It just got worse from there cause the hip an quad pains got on more. The last 5mi were just a torture of walk and jog. It hurt so bad in the front of the quads and the hip of the right leg that I could not take the pain. HR zone was fine I felt strong inside except for the pains. See, the legs were not there but the aerobic system was basically saying “let’s go damn it, you can do this go!” Just did as best I could and said even if I have to crawl I am gonna break 12hrs. At this point it bacame a mental fight. Set the goal of beating the sun down. Kept thinking, “I am NOT gonna be out here after the sun sets. No way!” I just walked a bit and then took the pain of a jog till the quad pain was so bad I could not do anymore. Then walked, fast. I was actually passing some people by walking fast too. The action was like a speed walker, you know the kind where they look like they are dislocating their hips as they walk? I just pushed on and on like this. Stopped thinking of the pains (it was hard) and thought I have to make it before 12hrs. That’s ALL the focus was on. Took a grunt basically 500m from the finish, mustered all I could and got very angry at myself at that point. Man, alot goes through your head at this stage of the race, I forgot 2005. Thought I remembered, heh. Crossed in 11:56hrs. Sucks for me I think, but what the hell I finished. DNF is a phrase I do not do.

Life sucks sometimes, but I learned alot from this:

1) Pace on bike no matter what, no mater how good you feel and if it’s not at the speed you want for the goal so be it;

2) Need to do more weights for the quads (lunges) to imporve/strengthen the anterior quads for both the bike and run. Seems that long bikes and THEN long runs make the quads (anterior) really ache for me. Still have to figure out how to solve this. Anyone help, please?

3) Definitely, rest more for full recovery during training to get the full benefit from the workout. I do not need these 20+ weeks some do. I can do with much less and look for quality workouts for each run and long bike. Basically rest more. I think that all the training I had done in the past year since 2005 on…might have added to too much fatigue for my body come taper for IMAZ. It would have been better with a longer taper to recover for the microtears….dunno;

4) Get new bike shoes. I could not feel the balls of my feet till about 3hrs after the race;

5) Get a new saddle for the bike, ouch! Bloody crotch with chaffing is bad;

6) Even if dehydrated do not pour too much into yourself too fast. Just deal with it. Never miss a water/aid station even if it means a loss in some time;

7) Get more sun tan lotion on after swim and in T2; and

8) Pace, pace, pace, pace and remember, pace no matter what in the HR Zones. Give up time on the bike if you have to. You can always make up the time on the run. Last 10km can be the win for the AG. I talked to a few guys in the top of my AG and all of them passed everyone in the last 5mi they said. That’s my strategy for IMC come hell or high water.

I am thinking of a few more too as days go by but if you have any suggestions please let me know. Thanks for the interest of reading. Live and learn. At least I finished. It was the toughest tri I have ever done in my tri life. Those winds were very bad.

PS: thanks red and Josh. It was great to meet up with both of you as you both are an inspiration for me, Bryan with Kona Qualifying and Josh with the >70lbs loss for the race. Bravo to both of you.