Ironman Louisville - TriathlonFull Ironman

Wow... this was a great swim for me. Not much I'd change. I had no panic or scare at all, just like Kinetic and was super focused for 90% of the swim. My goggles fogged up once on the down river side and I had to stop and clean them. I lost probably 30-45 seconds there.

Else, this was better than I expected, especially considering the chop and how busy up-river was when I started.

Nothing, really. Train more next year for speed. I've got the distance down, just need to perfect the stroke.

Great, over 2:20 faster than last year at same course.

Nothing. Just got faster. By comparison the top AG for me had a 3:03 T time here, so there is some work I can do, but I'm not way off, and definitely above average for IMKY.

So... mixed emotions here...

1) I nailed my desired pace. This was where I wanted to be precisely as told to my biking training partner and others. My HR avg was like 142 or something, which is great for me considering temp, etc. This was it, I should be thrilled...

2) There is no such thing as a good bike and a bad run. Well, as you will read, my run was BAD. BAD. So... I screwed up here. The good news is... I'm 99.9% sure it wasn't pace, I'm pretty sure it WAS nutrition. Around mile 70 I was in BAD shaper. Pounding headache, fatigue.. my speed decreased... bad.

At the time, I was unsure the problem, thought about Advil... didn't take it. Stopped for about 90 seconds, took a potty break, stood still and regrouped. I was back on the bike and trying to finish.

I started to think, for the first time of the day, I might not finish, even though I was doing great on times.

In retrospect, I consumed about 28-30oz per hour, probably a little more towards the end and a little less in the beginning. I've currently made no assumptions on if it was too much or too little. I just know it was BAD.

I finished the bike strong with a refocused attitude and told myself I was going to try my best.

Nutrition... need to go back to the drawing board.

Again.. happy here.

Nada. Just get faster.

I died. Coming out onto the run I felt like I might have a shot. I tried to hit 10:00s and kept going faster than that by accident. I eventually settled down to 10:40s. Stopped when I saw Jordan and Lauren and told them I wasn't doing good.

Coming out of the first 5k is when I died. I literally stopped and considered sitting on the side of the road waiting for a medic. I thought I was toast. Moving at all gave my stomach the most painful side stitches ever. It was awful.

i tried every few hundred feet to run, I could not. I didn't talk to anyone for a while and kept taking in liquids, rotating, at aid stations telling myself I'd either eventually start to run or I would not finish. No in between. I would not walk the next 20-22 miles.

At this moment I felt worse than at any time last year for the same race in hotter conditions. I've never truly felt like I should bail, but around mile 11-12 I truly stopped went up to a volunteer at an aid station ready to say I was out and then decided not to at the last second and asked for an orange instead. I wasn't going to let it happen. Ultimately these few moments are what I was most proud of. I clearly shit the bed on my run time, but I still finished, overcame adversity and kept going forward. Really proud of it. That's what IM is about, to me. I'll get there on nutrition and have a good time result soon.

I saw Jordan and Brady at Mile 14 and Lauren was gone, she had to leave for the airport. It actually invigorated me to try my best, I really wanted her to be proud of my result and not checking IMlive.come seeing 15:00s and thinking I was dying. I knew my last split was terrible. I spent maybe 2 minutes with J and B and then off I went. I was actually starting to feel a little better. I gave running a try. It still didn't work.

Around Mile 20 (still on the OUT on lap 2) I started to turn it up. I was feeling better. I was running (11:30s) and walking aid stations, and then walking a bit more. But I felt MUCH better.

The last 2-3 miles I started to run better, the last .7 miles I kept a 9:00 or less pace and finished strong.

Ultimately that tells me about my day, I should not have had those legs left at the end as much as I did. I just wasn't able to use them earlier in the run due to stomach cramping issues from the bike.




Figure it out...

GF pasta.. beer... water


Nutrition


I'm happy here... I beat all my times from last year on the same course (and some of them quite well - even the run), but I wanted more and was physically trained for more. At this distance though.. its about more than training and I screwed up on sport #4: nutrition.