It’s been a while and I have the usual excuses, which I won’t bore anyone with, so let’s get to it. I thoroughly enjoyed another trip to Kona this year. So much so I was actually wondering if I’d be able to ‘race’ another Ironman. I slowly but surely wrapped my head around running an IM marathon, and by race morning I was feeling more or less ready to go.
Swim
Tempe Town Lake is a pretty cold (61 degrees) and very murky body of water, with a good bit of algae around the fringes. Simply put, you wouldn’t swim there if you didn’t have to, and after an absolute minimal amount of physical contact (compared to Hawaii, at least) I was pretty happy to get out of that water. I expected to be out in 60 minutes but missed that boat by a full 4 minutes, but I wasn’t wearing a watch and didn’t see a clock, so blissfully unaware I headed off on the bike.
Bike
I really enjoyed the triple-loop format of the bike, and when my toes finally thawed out at about mile 50, I was pretty happy. My only goals on the bike were to take it easy for the first half and to go to the bathroom by mile 70. I stuck to my nutrition of a PowerBar gel every 25 minutes, which really seemed to work well, and was keeping ahead of my hydration goal, which is a mistake I’ve paid dearly for in past races.
The course was pretty crowded by the mid-point of the second lap, and although I was riding at well below my wattage plan, my speed was where I wanted it to be, and I figured I'd save the energy and apply it to the run. I also kept thinking of EN’s ‘should of vs. could of’ bike pacing advice. I ended up at 4:56:49 and set a new record for lowest average watts in an IM by almost 20 watts. A true indication of what a lack of hills does to your time, but I certainly wasn’t complaining…
Run
The first half of the run went by pretty quickly and I stuck to my nutrition and pacing plans. I really wanted to break 3:15, and was ahead of schedule through mile 15 by about 1 minute. Then the wheels began to wobble between 15-20 and then from mile 20-21 I had to stop several times and walk because of some pretty disabling cramps. It was the proverbial ‘shit hitting the fan’ moment of an Ironman. I pounded fluids at the next couple aid stations, and was able to more or less get back on track by 22, but the damage was done and I was suffering pretty badly until the finish. Although I missed my run goal by 6 minutes, I was very happy with my run.
There was a lot of concrete on the run, and now, 2 days later, I’m still hobbling around like an old man. And this is what I do for fun! Now it’s time to pack up the bike and go home and see Mary and the kids, and I miss them all like crazy. I ended up with a new PR of 9:30:33, and another trip to Kona next year, so all in all, a great race. It was made a lot more enjoyable by the time I was able to spend with my Dad, who lives just outside of Phoenix. It’s always great to see him and it proved to be a very relaxing approach to the race. My buddy Larry was also there and it was great to have his support both during and after the race.
Let the ski season begin!
