Ironman Arizona - TriathlonFull Ironman

Started about right in the middle of the starting line. Was looking for a few people (race numbers) to start next to so as to get a nice pair of feet to swim off of, but they were hard to find so I started in the middle. Took about 5-10 strokes to get clear of everyone, then it was time to swim solid and sort out true swimmers. after about 4-5 minutes of swimming there were 4 of us. 1 of them (the one I was originally looking for) was right against the buoys and got too much of a gap for me to get a ride on. So I slid over and sat on the feet of the one next to me and another joined behind me. Problem was, this guy was HORRIBLE at navigating. I don't think we ever swam a straight line. The guy behind me moved towards the buoys and off the snake swimmer. I figured he was better so I drifted to his feet. Turns out he wasn't much better. (my buddy Gerlach said he was watching and didn't know what the h### was going on up there!) So when they (the two of them were pushing each other) drifted over towards the buoys, I moved off the feet and started swimming straight. Funny thing though, as fast as they were swimming, I couldn't make any ground swimming in a straight line. so as they snaked back over close to me again I jumped back on the feet of one of them. My effort level was a little beyond a warmup on their feet, so if I have to swim 2.5 or 2.6 miles with no effort so be it. Stayed with them til the finish.

Not much. I needed some luck finding the feet I was looking for. Very hard to find race numbers in a sea of white caps though.

Thought I would try the wetsuits stripper people. I practiced many times over the years so as to be quick in transition and I should have stuck with my gut. I dropped down and the strippers pulled me right off the carpet and onto the concrete/dirt. Big mistake. I was picking crud off of me hours into the ride. Would have been faster doing it myself. Got the bag, threw on the helmet/shoes/glasses/race belt and made sure the sunscreen guys made me look stupid with so much sunscreen. Left the swimmers who gave me a ride in T1 and took off with 2 pro women we caught in the swim. On a side note, I am enormously disappointed with the Ironman organization with the race numbers they gave us. Glossy paper from a color printer??!! are you kidding me?! I pay $10 at a local 5k and I get a tyvek race number that's waterproof. I pay $450 for a triathlon and I get paper that I am told in multiple places in my packet that I cannot swim with it on? Total bullcrap. I had to change my transition strategy b/c IMNA decided to be cheap.

Pulled my own wetsuit off. Other than that I had a really good T1

HR a bit high on the way out. Took a while to get adjusted. (HR around 161 for the first 45 minutes)Started trading spots with a wpro. after I traded places about the 3rd or 4th time I just asked her about her goal time. Right in line with mine. Bingo. Gerlach came by around mile 5 like a steam engine. good bye. climbed to the turnaround into the wind. the return trip was great. took 58 minutes to head out, 44 minutes to get back. nice tailwind. wpro dumped me as some more fast cyclists came by. Constantly drank ensure and gatorade. took 4 packets of salt over the bike course. Second lap the wind shifted and wasn't as strong. Made the turn at the halfway mark around 2:39. Felt good about that as I had 2 downhills and only 1 uphill to go. Started hurting pretty bad on lap 2(not muscles, but lower back, neck, and IT band). got to my special needs and got another bottle of ensure and took 2 aspirin. didn't help. First aid station of the 3rd loop I decided to take a gel and poured some ice water over me. Ice water did the trick. I don't know if it was the shock value or what, but I started feeling much better. Dumped water every aid station after. Felt great last lap and started passing those who passed me earlier. Caught wpro at the turnaround and she looked rough. told me she pushed too hard in lap 2. I wished her luck and then left her. Felt great as I finished in T2.

Train more. Limited long rides this winter. Didn't have the power I would have liked. Very happy with the result considering.

Hopped off. they took my bike. got my bag and put on shoes and a hat. put some salt in my pocket and took another aspirin. Made sure I was chalk white with sunscreen by the time I left T2. very smooth

Side note: noticed again in race instructions that reflective tape was required on front and back of running top. Couldn't find any in the packet though. someone else brought this point up at the race meeting and the response was classic. "You can pick some up at any auto parts store, OR the Ironman store is selling some" (1 little strip for $2:50). WHAT???? Last time I did and Ironman, Reebok had reflective stickers all over the place in our packet. Can they not find any sponsors for these races? Oh wait, let me just look here at my Ford Ironman results provided by Janus, Powerbar, GU,Timex,HSBC, Fig Newtons, Sugoi, blueseventy, Fox Sports, Speedo, Cervelo, etc, etc, etc.

nothing

First mile I went to the bathroom and realized I needed to drink a little more. Felt good though. First mile with pee break was 8:11. Kept stride short, and HR under 155. Felt comfortable for the first 2 laps.(took down 2 packets of salt during run) (no special needs bag on run) tried not to let the hill bother me and took it easy up it. Stomach discomfort most of the way, probably b/c I was forcing so much fluid down. Last lap the legs/knees were really hurting. Most aid stations were the same: a little Gatorade, some coke, a little water to wash it down and then some sponges.The back half of the third loop I asked for chicken broth and they hadn't made it yet!!!!! AHHHHHHHH! I needed some big time. Last 3 miles I walked through the aid stations. with a little more than 1 mile to go I ran up on someone in my age group. I figured he was on lap two and so I stopped briefly to stretch. Turns out he was finishing too and ended up beating me by less than a minute. I really liked the 3 loop course, a ton more support. This would be the 1 major downside. You don't know who you are racing. If I would have known I would have toughed it out. Turns out he finished 9th and I 10th. There were 9 slots to Kona. Oops. Thank goodness for the rolldown.
Mile 1 8:11
Next 2 miles were 15:07 (didn't see all the mile markers),
Mile 4 7:54,
Miles 5&6 15:43,
miles 7&8 15:50, (First loop sub 1:10, aka sub 3:30 pace),
miles 9,10,11 24:58,
mile 12 7:59,
mile 13 8:44,
miles 14,15,16 25:00,
mile 17 8:56,
mile 18 8:58,
mile 19 9:08,
mile 20 9:41,
mile 21 8:44,
miles 22,23,24 28:07,
mile 25 10:24,
mile 26 +.2 10:55.

Not sure. pretty happy with the run. Should have toughed out the last 2 miles and stopped stretching so much.

Was escorted over to the massage. warm down done. Pizza and coke (first solid food since banana at 4:30 am. Not as stiff as in the past. Monster blister on the ball of my foot from the wet socks. A little trouble walking.


Lack of training on the bike. Will hopefully fix that.


Great Race. Well organized. A true Ironman experiance. Nice job Paul and Roch. Just a bit disappointed in the loud whooshing noise that was coming from my wallet. Excuse while I take a sip of coffee from my $95 commemorative mug.