Ironman Arizona - TriathlonFull Ironman


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Tempe, Arizona
United States
Ironman North America
72F / 22C
Sunny
Total Time = 10h 56m 33s
Overall Rank = 279/
Age Group = M40-44
Age Group Rank = 69/
Pre-race routine:

Woke up at 3:30 and had a bagel with peanut butter and honey. Left the house at 4:30 and headed down to the race.
Event warmup:

No warmup other than walk back and forth between my bike and gear bags. I must have checked my tire pressures 4-5 times
Swim
  • 1h 06m 52s
  • 3862 meters
  • 01m 44s / 100 meters
Comments:

Not sure what happened here. I made good time at the half way point (29:00)

I think I was too conservative on the way back. The water seemed choppy coming back.
What would you do differently?:

Push hard through the entire distance
Transition 1
  • 05m 17s
Comments:

I was a bit dizzy..I think the was because I had lost an earplug during the swim.
What would you do differently?:

Pick bigger wetsuit strippers. The ladies who helped me had a tough time getting my suit off
Bike
  • 5h 26m 38s
  • 112 miles
  • 20.57 mile/hr
Comments:

I felt I had trained well for this leg of the event. My main concern was getting a flat but luckily that didn't happen. However the strangest thing did happen. (warning TMI below)

I settled into a rhythm and headed out to Shea. Had to pee so I grabbed a water bottle at the next aid station, so I could wash. Then I sped up to have enough momentum so I could coast while relieving myself, man did I have to go....basically ended up filling my shoe, yuck. Surprisingly, the water bottle worked well in washing up and now feeling relieved, I pressed on. After turning at Shea, I had to go again. I just repeated the process above. This happened four more times throughout the ride for a total of SIX times!!! WTF? The last IM I did I only had to go once, and never during the past five 1/2 IMs did I ever had to go. Needless to say I became an expert at it. I just made sure to hydrate and take in plenty of sodium.
I didn't hit any serious wind until the final leg back into town.
What would you do differently?:

Get a bike fit, my left knee and hamstring were nagging me throughout the ride.
Transition 2
  • 02m 4s
Comments:

First time I ever tried taking my feet out of my shoes and dismounting on the fly. It went great and made me wonder why I didn't try this sooner.
What would you do differently?:

Not really sure. I went a llittle harder than planned
Run
  • 4h 15m 32s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 09m 45s  min/mile
Comments:

After getting through T2, my legs felt pretty good. My plan was to start out with an 8:30 pace and try to hold on....I started out pretty good but the it seemed that with every little hill, my pace would slow down. After the half way point, all I wanted to do was walk. I fought this urge by focussing only on the next mile and allowing myself a short 10 sec walk though the aid station. My plan of going under 4 hours in the marathon was falling apart so my new focus was to try and finish with a total time of under 11 hours. This meant I couldn't walk, and I would have to speed up a little on the flats to make up for the couple of hills that were on the course. I experimented with increasing my stride by bringing my leg further up my inseam, this seemed to work but took a toll on the bottom of my feet as well as my quads. With 6 miles to go my legs were hurting, but I knew if I stopped I wouldn't be able to start back up so I just kept running. With two miles to go, I saw my coach and he encouraged me to push hard for the last stretch.



RUN SPLIT 1: 2.5 mi 2.5 mi (20:34) 8:13/mi
RUN SPLIT 2: 11.5 mi 9 mi (1:22:19) 9:08/mi
RUN SPLIT 3: 20 mi 8.5 mi (1:29:12) 10:29/mi
RUN SPLIT 4: 26.2 mi 6.2 mi (1:03:37) 10:15/mi
TOTAL RUN 26.2 mi (4:15:42) 9:45/mi 368
What would you do differently?:

Maybe hold back a bit on the bike.
Post race
What limited your ability to perform faster:

Racing at 188lbs

Event comments:

Sub 11! Yes! However, once I finished I couldn't put one foot in front of the other. In fact, I still can't lift my own leg up to get in my car. My quads are dead. But man was it worth it! Being able to shut out the pain during the run and hang tough....This was a big mental toughness breakthrough for me!




Last updated: 2011-02-28 12:00 AM
Swimming
01:06:52 | 3862 meters | 01m 44s / 100meters
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Below average
Suit: Full
Course: 1 loop
Start type: Deep Water Plus:
Water temp: 61F / 16C Current: Low
200M Perf. Remainder:
Breathing: Drafting: Average
Waves: Navigation:
Rounding:
T1
Time: 05:17
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Average Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike:
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed:
Biking
05:26:38 | 112 miles | 20.57 mile/hr
Age Group: 61/
Overall: 341/
Performance: Good
BIKE SPLIT 1: 37.4 mi 37.4 mi (1:46:20) 21.10 mi/h BIKE SPLIT 2: 74.6 mi 37.2 mi (1:50:08) 20.27 mi/h BIKE SPLIT 3: 112 mi 37.4 mi (1:50:10) 20.37 mi/h TOTAL BIKE 112 mi (5:26:38) 20.57 mi/h 341 61
Wind: Some with gusts
Course: 3 loops
Road:   Cadence: 81
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Too much
T2
Time: 02:04
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Good
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
04:15:32 | 26.2 miles | 09m 45s  min/mile
Age Group: 69/
Overall: 368/
Performance: Good
3 loops around Tempeblake
Course:
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5] 5