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 Swim
Comments: The course was one loop and was well set up. There were turn buoys and site buoys, which was nice. At the first turn buoy I took a wide turn and just headed out towards the second turn buoy. At this point I started to warm up and knew I could go much quicker than I was swimming. I made a decision to just take the whole swim easy. I wanted to get out of the water feeling fresh and ready to go. I backed off of the throttle and just swam, focusing on my form. I am a bilateral breather and noticed how much that helped with sighting as I could keep an eye on swimmers on both sides of me. I never felt taxed and just kept swimming. I stayed outside of the main pack and kept a lookout for the women’s caps – they were fluorescent yellow. I never found a pair of feet to draft off – I would find a pair at it seemed they were all kicking violently. At the finish I did notice that I had a pack of about five people on my feet. I think it is because I don’t kick at all when I am in a race. I let the wetsuit make me buoyant and keep my legs up. The third turn buoy is next to an island and we hit that and started heading for home. Man I felt fresh. I thought I could hit the gas and cruise home, but I was feeling so good, I decided I would just relax. Even at this pace I thought I would come in a 1:10 or so, but I guess when I let off the gas at the start, I really let off the gas. It was either that or I took such wide lines that I really added some distance to my swim. My bet after the fact is that it was a little of both. Lesson learned for next time. I really should wear a watch during the swim to check my pace. What would you do differently?: Other than keeping a better eye on my pace, there isn’t much I would do differently for the swim but pick up the speed a little more. I am a consistent 1:40/100 swimmer in practice and can hold that pace forever. My form was good during the race, and I didn’t ever get tired. I think the keeping the outside line and slowing down on purpose.  Transition 1
Comments: This may have been too long. I came out of the water feeling all good and stuff, so I walked through the bags and grabbed mine. The wetsuit strippers were great and helped me pull the suit right off without any challenges. I walked up to the change tent and looked at the chairs set up outside for what I assumed was overflow and took a seat. It was really nice to have that much space and no stinky bodies. I threw my HRM chest strap on, my cycling jersey, socks, shoes, and helmet. I double checked everything to make sure I was all put together and turned my bag into a nice volunteer. It was cold, but I decided to forego the jackets, legs warmers, and everything else. In the end it was a good decision. My assigned rack was at the end of T1, so I walked over and grabbed my bike. I started the Garmin and away I went.  Bike
Comments: This may be my favorite result of the entire race. You will notice I started the bike in 880th place overall and ended up in 518th place overall. That made me smile. Real. Big. I rode hard this winter and monitored my progress closely to make sure I was at my peak fitness. I lost weight to make sure I wasn’t carrying unnecessary weight up the hills. According to a book I read, my ideal race weight is at 172 lbs. at 10.5% body fat. All the sacrifices I made in diet and the time spent working out were worth it on race day. I broke the ride up into three sections – the lead out 22 miles, the first loop, and finally the second loop. I wanted to ride the bike measuring everything by power and not by speed or heart rate. I knew this was the most accurate way to pace. I wanted to spin but keep the watts low at about 160 for that section. There are a couple of climbs that needed to be respected, and the downhills I didn’t want to go too hard on. I was running a 12-28 on my rear cassette to help me spin on the hills. The first loop of the canyon I knew would be the time I could fry my legs because of enthusiasm. There is about 3,000 ft. of climbing during the loop, which really means you need to pace yourself carefully. I wanted to keep my heart rate lower, so I planned to really take it easy on the flats and downhills but work hard on the steep climbs. There are some real serious downhills too, and I wanted to put in a hard effort to keep my times down. I wanted to average about 160 watts on this loop. The second loop I wanted to take it easy and keep my legs solid for the run. I wanted to slow down and drop my power to about 150 watts because I was going to take it easy on the downhills going back into town. I knew it would cost me some time, but resting the legs for about 30 minutes while I cruised down was the plan. I wanted to have somewhat of fresh legs for the run. I started out of the state park by the lake and just started to spin. As I entered the highway I saw my buddy Bruce at the corner. It was a great lift to see him there and enjoying his day. I kept an eye on my PowerMeter and started on my nutrition bottles. I had three 250 calorie bottles of Infinit on my bike along with some Enduralytes. I started passing people at the very beginning. It is really tough to not draft on the bike on an Ironman bike course. There was more drafting that I see in other races, but under the circumstances I think everyone made a real solid effort to not draft. There was drafting, but not on purpose. I think everyone I saw wanted to be compliant, but with the course it was harder than normal. I didn’t participate in some of the groups that I would see. For this section I averaged 154 watts and 142 bpm, a little lower than I wanted to be. The normative power was at 195 watts. My average speed for this section was 17.29 mph. I thought I would be a little faster as I am easily a 21.0 mph guy on most of my rides. There was a 2,500 ft. climb and 2,700 ft. drop on this section, so it was a net elevation loss. The climbs did drop my average speed a little. It took me 1:16 and I felt great. It was at the end of this section that I saw my family and friends at the elementary school. The first loop was actually fun. I put in a solid effort in on this portion of the ride. I wanted to average 160 watts and I ended up at 161 watts, with my normative power at 196 watts. My heart rate was at 145 bpm for this loop. The climbs that they talk about on this loop are everything people talk about and more. There is 5,750 ft. of climbing on the loop according to my Garmin. Of course you have the same amount of descending, so it evens out. But you still have to climb the mountains. My average speed ended up at about 17.60 mph on this loop. The total time on this loop was 2:30:01. I continued to drink my Infinit right on schedule and never felt tired on this loop. I was worked on some of the climbs, but I never bonked. The climb up the spillway at Gunlock Reservoir is short and steep. Then there is the nice steep climb at the Eagle Mountain Ranch. You are coming off some real uphills when you then hit what the locals call The Wall, which is long and really steep. I have trained on the course lots, so I knew what to expect and was mentally prepared for the challenge. The first two climbs were tough but manageable. The Wall was a good challenge and I passed a lot of people on the way up. One guy called me a “showoff” on the last third of the climb, and I apologized profusely to him. I don’t want anyone to feel bad during a race, and this wasn’t my attention. He laughed it off as a joke, but I still felt bad. A couple of miles after some manageable rollers, we hit the volcano outside of Veyo. It was not tough, just a solid sustained effort. Then I pounded the downhills down the canyon. I tried to keep my speed up and cruise while staying within my power ranges. I felt worked when I came to the bottom of the canyon. Looking back at the numbers, I did hit a max speed of 48.7 mph which was really fun. I had stopped at bike special needs and picked up two more bottles of Infinit and a couple of bottles of water too. I felt strong and solid. Right at the end of the loop I saw my family and friends again and they got some fantastic photos of me on the bike. It was such a lift to see them there. The second loop was planned to be at a much easier effort. The ride up the canyon was supposed to be at about the same effort and it was. The hills were rougher on the second time around. I was all alone on a lot of this ride except on the hills where it seemed that people would bunch up. I wanted to average 150 watts on this section and fell a little short of that goal. I ended up at 143 watts with normative power dropping to 178 watts. My heart rate was at 146 bpm, which was a little higher than the first loop with lower power. I am sure my body was starting to feel the toll of the day. I did not pedal so much on the downhills for the second loop and it shows. My total time on this loop was 2:49:34 with an average of 16.29 mph. This was a difference of 19:23, which is more than likely due more to slowing on the uphills than on the lack of pedaling on the downhills. I did let my effort slide as I climbed the last hill about two miles out of T2. I downshifted and spun for the last couple of miles. I felt pretty good, but like I had just ridden 112 miles. I was ready to run, but not because I wanted to get off of the bike. My nutrition had gone according to plan and I felt well hydrated. I was excited rolling into T2. Transition 2
Comments: This really did take too long. I took my time – I changed my shirt and socks but that was about it. I did not use my volunteer to pack my bag back up, which in hindsight was a mistake. I should have save the minute I used to pack up and shaved that off of my time. I did stop by the potty and took the first pee of the day since the lake. Still, no excuses. It was too long. I did spend a couple of minutes talking to a guy who was having a tough day. I tried to talk him into continuing, but he had bonked twice on the bike. I could have skipped that, but to me it was part of the experience. I like the camaraderie that exists in races, and I would spend twice that time if I could get someone to continue. Overall the couple of minutes didn’t matter.  Run
Comments: Oh my the run. My plan for the run was to go sub 5:00. My PR for a marathon is 3:58, which isn’t really fast. If I would have had just a little more in me I could have used the run to get my sub 13:00 for the whole race. I did give what I had for the run, and I feel like I did the best that I could. There are huge rollers on this course. There is a total of 2,747 ft. of climbing for the entire course, which isn’t the worst, but it is a real challenge for a run at the end of the Ironman. You can tell in my mile splits that the uphills really would take their toll. I started out really strong. I kept a close eye on my Garmin to make sure my pace stayed right around 10:00/mile. My long runs in training were at a 9:00/mile pace and my tempo runs were at a 8:00/mile pace, so I thought I was capable of that speed, especially with the smart pacing on my bike. My goal was to hold the 10:00/mile pace for as long as I could and then walk the uphills and walk the downs. The course is a two loop our and back. I carried two bottles of Infinit with 400 calories each on a Fuel Belt. When I run, I only like to down 200 calories per hour, so I had four hours of nutrition with me. I also had 20 Enduralyte tablets with me. I felt good about my nutrition strategy for the run. The course is timed in four sections. The first ends at 6.9 miles, which I completed in 1:08, a 9:58/mile pace. I was right on schedule at the turn around. The best part was my family was waiting at the turn around and I got to stop and talk with my son for a couple of minutes. That was a lift for sure. It was great to be able to interact with him. During this section I walked every aid station and took in two glasses of water during this section. I started to get that twinge in both hamstrings like they wanted to cramp up, so I bit into two Enduralytes at the first aid station and that stopped the cramps in their tracks. I started to alternate between a swallow of Infinit and two Enduralytes and I was keeping it together. My quads started to really start to burn because of the downhills. The pain was manageable. The cramps stayed at bay, but there isn’t much you can do about tired quads during an Ironman. The trip back was hard and I started to have to really focus.. This section is 6.22 miles and I completed it in 1:08. That made my 13.1 mile time at about 2:16. At that point I started to compute that I could finish the marathon in 4:45 if I added 10 minutes or so to my half split. That would bring me in under 13:00. At this point I knew I would have to put together a serious effort to get in on time. During this section, I followed the same nutritional strategy. I passed my special needs bag because I wanted to get more Enduralytes out as I was almost out of the ones that I was carrying. I opened my bag and couldn’t find there anywhere. I was really concerned at this point that I was going to have some problems with cramping, so I had to switch my nutritional strategy a little at this point. I started on my last loop. My quads were burning, but my stomach felt solid and I was processing food really well. Because of the super hydration strategy that I was using, I had to stop every other aid station to pee. That cost me some time, but I don’t like to run with that kind of pressure. All I wanted to do was to get to the turnaround, because I knew at that point I could really start to enjoy the rest of my run. I started to take in two cups of chicken broth and water at every aid station. I was taking my Infinit in at every other aid station until I finished all of it. I reached the turnaround in 1:18, which was a full 10 minutes slower that the first loop. I had to walk every uphill and was running the downhills a little slower. But at this point, I was headed home. Looking into the eyes of the people coming the other way, you could almost tell who was on their first lap. I saw a couple of my friends and people that I knew. It was such a lift to see them and get their encouragement. But I could tell my body was getting really tired. I didn’t want to walk the rest of the way, so I started on the Coke. It was heaven. I was out of Infinit and had to do something else. At every aid station I was now drinking two cups of water, two cups of chicken broth, and two cups of Coke. It was unreal how quickly that high fructose corn syrup hits your blood. I was still walking the uphills and running as fast as I could on the downhills. This new nutrition strategy almost required me to stop at all of the aid stations. I was tired and my quads were burning like they were on fire, but there were no cramps and my stomach felt good. I really pushed it as much as I could and I finished that final loop in 1:19, again 10 minutes slower than the first. In total, the second loop took 20 minutes longer than the first. That is too much, but oh well. Perhaps next time. Man the last .2 miles were unbelievable. Somehow I got my pace down to about 9:00/mile for this section. I could hear the cheers calling me home and just pushed it hard. I didn’t think of anything – I just took everything in. I listen and looked at the crowd. I tried to just enjoy where I was at instead of losing myself somewhere else. I started down the finisher’s chute and could feel the energy of that place. I missed my family, but they were there. I looked up at the clock and saw 13:06, which was fantastic. I missed that 12:55 I thought I could get with the perfect day, but man I was close. Post race
Event comments: Yes, I am now an Ironman. I loved the experience and the day. I put together a realistic plan and followed it all the way in. I never felt horrible or sick. I was stressed on the run, but nothing that ever made me think I wanted to quit. My attitude was always positive. I really thought I would hit a low point sometime, but it never came. I think my training just helped me know where my limits were and to be able to plan to stay within those. I love that I got out of the lake in 880th place, got off the bike in 548th place, and finished in 561st place. My pacing strategy worked. So could I go faster? I think I can. I would actually push the second loop of the bike harder and try and push the second loop of the run a little more. I would spend a little less time in T1 and T2 to pull my times down. Overall, I am ecstatic with my results. The winner came in at 8:40, which is much slower than other Ironman races. It was tough, but I loved it. I thought it was a great test of my fitness and mental strength. The journey was fantastic, and the destination wasn’t half bad. Last updated: 2009-04-14 12:00 AM
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United States
WTC
Sunny
Overall Rank = 561/1634
Age Group = M 35-39
Age Group Rank = 109/297
This is a long one. I sit here tonight a grateful man. I am so pumped – my race went extremely well. I never had any issues with my stomach, was able to overcome the small issues I had with cramping, and kept my attitude super positive the entire day. While I missed my published goal by about 11:00, it was still a fantastic day where I executed my plan well. I was super surprised that I was able to feel as good as I did for the majority of the day. I had lots of friends and family who stayed throughout the entire day to watch me and knowing I had that support on the course was such a lift for me. I never imagined how much it would mean to me to have them all there.
This race fell on May 1st, which is super early in the year for an Ironman. I have to admit to not loving to train through the winter. We live in the mountains, and there is snow on the ground for much of the season. I am not hardcore, so I won’t ride when there is snow on the road or sidewalks. A lot of my training happened indoors this winter. This made most of my training extremely boring. I love training outdoors. Running or biking outside is just fun and super stimulating.
I have competed in tri’s since 2005 and have always felt like I did well, but this was an Ironman and I knew I had to elevate my game to hit my goals. I bought a PowerMeter to train with for my bike as well as a training cycle from Saris – the 300 Pro Cycle – because it also has PowerMeter. I purchased the WKO+ software from Training Peaks to try and take a more scientific approach to my training. I educated myself on training with power, weight loss and maintenance for sports performance, and periodization. All of those decision helped me stay motivated and understand how my body was adapting to the stress I was putting it under. I think it helped me peak at the right time, an issue I have had with my races in the past.
Since January 1, 2010 I have really put forth a good effort. I have swam 74,700 yards, biked 1,996.83 miles, and ran 169.01 miles. My TSS for the period was 10,351.10. I did miss a total of 10 days of training because of illness or injury, but I don’t think that the missed days hurt my fitness levels. I would workout twice a day four days a week, have a lite day, and then have my long workout day followed by a total rest day. Looking back at my workout schedule, I could have increased my bike miles, but that is the only change I would have made.
I took the family and we headed down to St. George on Wednesday. Registration was on Thursday, and it was nice to get there a little early to relax. We spent the time just hanging out. We have been down to the course twice specifically to scout it out, so I wasn’t worried about getting my bearings. It was nice to have one thing out of the way before we left.
Thursday we got up and I went to registration with my buddy Marion who also was competing. This was a first year event, so the organization was a little off, but I think that was due to the volunteers and not the Ironman North America. There was a box of athlete number stencils that were lost, and mine was in that box, so at athlete marking later that day they had to improvise. Outside of that, the registration went fine.
Marion and I then headed out to Sand Hollow Reservoir for our practice swim. The water temps we supposedly right at 60 degrees, but man it felt cooler than that. The ambient temps were about 60 degrees and the wind was blowing sustained at about 25 mph with gusts higher than that. There were whitecaps out on the lake, which really made swimming a joy. I threw on my now illegal T1 wetsuit from DeSoto Sports and man it was warm. I had a neoprene hat and booties on too, which made me very happy. That water was cold enough that I think you really needed them. We swam out from the start to a small island off of shore, which was probably about 500 yards away. I then spent the rest of the day relaxing with the family. Thursday night I slept really well. Two nights before the race is the most important night for me, even more so that the night before the race.
Friday was gear drop off day. I was at a HOA Board Meeting last week and made all of my lists while I was supposed to be listening. It was very helpful to be able to work off of a list to keep myself from double guessing my packing. That would have kept me up at night, so I wanted to eliminate this variable too. I dropped off my T1 and T2 bags and my bike. It was nice to be able to not have to worry about that on race day.
My nutrition strategy for Friday was simple – I had a heavy breakfast and lunch and a very lite dinner. I wanted my stomach to clear on race morning before I started so I didn’t have that pressure sitting in my gut. I read about this strategy somewhere and hoped it would work for me. I had signed up for the shuttle from the hotel to the area we needed to congregate the morning of the race to catch another shuttle down to the race site as all of the roads to the lake were closed.
3:00 a.m. my alarm goes off. I jumped up and showered (I know, it is a weird habit, but I always shower before a race), shaved, and got dressed. I really took my time as on race morning I do not like to rush because when I am pressured, it seems that I start to make mistakes. I packed my morning bags with my wetsuit and realized I had forgotten to pack my goggles. It took me 10 minutes to find them, but I finally did. Crisis averted.
I went to the lobby where the Marriott Courtyard had prepared a breakfast for all the athletes. It was fantastic. I had oatmeal, a banana, and some apple juice to get everything started. The shuttle left the hotel right on time at 4:15 and the driver dropped us off at the site where we needed to drop off our special needs bags and catch the shuttle up to the swim. I had made plans to meet Marion there and ride up with him. Lo and behold, he was right where he said he would be and we rode up to the lake. The energy on the bus was palpitable.
I think it was about 5:15 by the time we got to the lake. I had to pump up my tires, put my Garmin and nutrition on my bike, and give everything the once over to make sure everything still worked. I had arranged to meet my business partner Bruce at 6:30, so I wanted to make sure I was ready before then. I hit the port-a-potties and was glad I had downed the apple juice – one more thing off of the check list. I started to hit my 250 calorie bottle of Infinit about 6:00 a.m. They had water out at the lake, so I drank a 20 ounce bottle of that too. I really was feeling calm, cool, and collected at this point.
I started to think of all of the training and how early I would get up and how tired I would go to bed. I think I am sometimes really self-centered and started to think of everything my family and friends had also sacrificed to get me to this point. While this race was important to me, it was also important to them because of the time they had sacrificed as well. I was hopeful I could repay their sacrifices through a fun day out on the course.
I carefully put on my wetsuit, my neoprene cap, goggles, ear plugs (to add a little more warmth), and booties. I started to look for Bruce and he wasn’t anywhere to be found. He told me later they wouldn’t let him on the road to the lake because of the closure. It would have been fun to have him at the swim – he and I went to Maui in 2010 for business and went to Kona for the Ironman World Championships. There is nothing like a swim start at an Ironman.
I gave up on trying to find him and in the meantime lost my pal Marion too. I really wanted to wish him luck before the start, but the pro gun went off and it was time to head towards the water. The start at Ironman St. George is open water, which is an adventure all in itself. Lots of people have given me great advice that because of my times in my swim workouts I should start at the front and just go. Race day I took a look at the large mass of bodies at the start and decided I would start at the back and just relax. I decided I would take an outside line an take the extra time and distance it would require to finish. I had time goals, but they were not as important as getting out of the water without getting pummeled.
I was walking towards the water when the national anthem started. I was surprised how many athletes kept walking towards the water and talking when it was being sung. I really enjoy the national anthem before a race because it helps remind me that we really do live in a great country where I can do foolish things like participate in triathlons.
I then waded out and got towards the back and outside of the pack. The cannon went off and the washing machine started. From where I was, there really wasn’t too much contact. It seemed that everyone knew that when they made contact that they should not follow through. I really have had more contact in local Olympic distance races. I was far enough back that it took me about two minutes to cross the start line.