Ironman Arizona - TriathlonFull Ironman

During the pre-rce dinner, they had mentioned that there would be a table near the water entry for those who wear glasses, well, I kept looking and couldnt find it. I finally gave my glasses to a volunteer and asked her to find the table and put them on the table (more about that later).
Got into the water with everyone else and headed up towards the Mill Ave bridge. I knew that I wasnt a really fast swimmer so I didnt want to go up near the front so I positioned myself about 1/2 back in the pack in about the middle. Water was a little cold but not bad so I treaded water for about 5-10 minutes. The cannon went off and I tried to find a lane to swim in. The "beating of the bodies" wasnt as bad as I had expected it to be. I found a small area fairly quickly and was able to establish a stroke. I found myself looking up every other stroke though to make sure I was still in "clear" water. I didnt have a difficult time finding clear water but it was pretty obvious to me that there was one crtain guy who wanted the same space of water that I was in on several occassions (even though there was clear space on either side of me). After the second or third time of the guy attempting to swim over me (I am sure it was the same guy, he had a very unusual type of goggles and sun screen smeared on his face), I just wanted to look at him and say "Am I carrying a sign that says "Mount Here"? I eventually just stopped and let him have that space and I moved over to the right some. Overall, the swim was ok, not quite as fast as I would have liked. I tried getting into a more comfortable breathing pattern but found myself breathing every stroke which I think may have been the cause of some stomach issues later on the bike.

No problems coming out of the water, found a wetsuit stripper and ran into T-1. Pretty hectic in the tent and couldnt find a place to sit so did most of it standing up. Spent a couple of minutes in T-1 waiting for a porta-potty, otherwise, pretty smooth.

3 loops out to the Beeline and back into town. I had a goal of wanting to be on the Beeline before I saw the first Pro coming down off the Beeline and I just barely managed to get that to happen. First lap was uneventful, not much wind at all. 2nd lap was a little windier with the wind to our backs going up the Beeline and a headwind coming back down into town. 3rd lap was even more windy but not horrible by any stretch. 1st lap, coming back down the Beeline I hit over 30mph, 2nd lap was probably around 24 or 25mph and third lap was only 21 or 22mph. Nutrition felt pretty good all day, with gels, propel, water, Fig Newtons and PBJ sandwiches. At one point on the 2nd lap, a guy was passing me as I was eating a couple of figs and a piece of the PBJ and he asked "what did you do, pack a lunch for the ride". Overall, I was pretty happy with the ride, the plan was to be solid but not overdo it and save a little of the legs for the run. I got to see CindyK each return leg into town since she had found a place on Rio Salado to sit and take pictures. I was looking forwared to seeing her on each pass by her sitting spot.

Transition felt fine. Pretty easy getting into the running clothes and out onto the run.

Came out of transition and felt ok, legs were willing to run and the stomach felt fine. According to the split times, I was running sub-8:30 min miles for the first split and a little over 9:30 for the following split but I felt like I was a lot slower than that. At some point during the bike, I realized that I had forgotten to grab my glasses off the table exiting the swim (I never saw the table) and I had been using my prescription sunglasses during the bike and run. I saw Cindy at the end of the first lap and asked her to try and find my glasses because I didnt want them to get lost. My plan had been to run the first 13 miles and then walk the aide stations after that and run between them and I was feeling really tired and slow by mile 13. The only negative was feeling the need for a couple of porta-potting breaks during the middle miles that ended up not really being a necessity I think, but that only added time to the run. I started walking the aide stations near the 14th mile. It was also about that time, that the aide stations starting offering the chicken broth. Eureka!! Literally as soon as I started drinking the chicken broth, my legs felt like they had a little extra life to them. From the 14th mile on, I was walking the aide stations but taking two waters, one propel, one orange wedge and one chicken broth and I was actually able to run and felt good between the aide stations. I had thoughts of actually altering the plan some and running through the aide stations but I didnt want to mess up what appeared to be working well, bottom line, my legs were really feeling good after mile 20 and I didnt want to chance messing with a strong finish. It had gotten dark by now and there were several parts of the course that were very dark, at about mile 23, I saw Cindy. She had found my glasses and had ran all the way over to the far side of the course to try and find me and give me my glasses so I wouldnt have to run in the dark with my sungalsses (she's the awesomest sherpa :) !! I passed the mile 25 marker near the Rural St bridge and really got a burst of energy and ran in the rest of the way strong to the finish.

Ate some pizza and tried to find Cindy. I actually felt pretty good.


Great race location, vounteer support and fan support. It was awesome having so many people so close to the course all day. Right after the finish, I thought "I'm one and done" with this. 12 hours later, Cindy and I are talking about doing IMFL 2013 together.