Ironman Arizona - TriathlonFull Ironman

I think am a strong swimmer, so I placed myself in the front row on the far right. I was a little intimidated at the start, but this turned out to be a good plan for me. Once the gun went off, I pushed fairly hard for the first couple of minutes. The contact was minimal and I had clean water for the entire first leg. The swim was rather uneventful. I expected to swim between a 1:05 to 1:15 - so I will take a 1:08.

I wouldn't do anything different for my current swim fitness. Looking forward - I need to continue to log time in the pool and open water. If I want to see improvements in my overall time, I need to drop 5 minutes or so off of my time.

T1 went smooth. The run from the lake is a long one. I had a great volunteer helping me with everything. I probably thanked him 10 times for everything. I am fairly low maintenance for transition - no changing; helmet/shoes/race belt on; grab the bike and hit the road!

not much

Going into this IMAZ, I felt confident with the training with all 3 disciplines. However, the bike is definitely my strongest. I have put in multiple tough century rides this year. I was excited to start the bike, but very cautious to not overexert myself. After the first 2 laps I was on pace for a 5:15 bike split. The wind direction changed on the 3rd lap, and I was dealing with a strong headwind heading back into Tempe. There was quite a bit of drafting going on, but what can you do!

Overall, I felt that I balanced the bike well. I gave a good effort, but did not go all out. Through the many long rides in training, I knew what effort I could do and still have plenty left for the run.

As with the swim, this is a fair representation of my current cycling fitness - so I would not have done anything differently. Looking forward - I need to start pushing myself harder on shorter efforts. For me this means - group rides with faster cyclists.

I was 2/2 on great transition volunteers!! Again - I keep it simple: running socks/shoes/hat/glasses and out the door!!

Oh the Ironman Run!!!! After my performance on the run at IMAZ 2010, I could not wait to try it again! This was my motivation while training through all of the winter, summer, and fall.

As the end of the bike portion neared, I was licking my chops to start the run. I calculated my time and realized I needed a 4:15 marathon to go sub 11. ME go sub 11 - that still doesn't sound right to me!!! I believed I could do a 4:00 IM run on a perfect day. This gave me a little wiggle room.

I started off at a very easy effort (HR low 140's) and was happy to see my pace was in the low 8's. Mile 1 goes by - feeling great, mile 2 goes by - feeling great, mile 3 goes by - my HR starts creeping up into the high 150's - Uh Oh! I don't panic - I back off of the pace significantly, but this does not help. I realize that I am very hot, sweating quite a bit, and there is a TON of salt on my face and tri-top. I start to think that I am losing/lost quite a bit of electrolytes, so I begin taking in small amounts of chips and banana at an aid station. Not much change, so I take in a Gu - no change. I decide to gut it out and eventually I will break out of my "dark place." While I felt horrible, I was still moving forward. Things got worse around mile 10 or 11 - my right quad started to cramp! I refused to stop, but had a terrible gait! After a couple of minutes the cramping resolved but returned. I went through 4 cramping episodes, but pushed through. I continued to calculate my time and set checkpoints in my head - mile 20 at 10 hours; mile 25 at 10:45. At mile 25, I knew sub 11 was in my grasp! I arrived to the chute and saw the Team RWB cheering crew - they handed my and American Flag. It was an amazing experience running through the chute waving "Old Glory" in front of the crowd. 10:55:37

I did account for the temperature difference from NY to AZ. This almost cost me dearly. My caloric/water intake was spot on, but my electrolyte intake was lacking for this environment. Looking forward - my run is the most improved since last year, but it is still the area where I need to improve the most. More track work and keep my base this off season should pay off next year.

I was in a lot of pain when I crossed the line, but I still wanted my finishers photo! After the photo, I wen to the medical tent, my quads and abdominal muscles were still cramping badly. It took the "doctor" some time to evaluate me and she was not going to give me IV fluids until I pointed out my BP of 98/52 and my concern for rhabdomyolysis. This caught her attention and she hesitantly ok'd me to receive some fluids. Eventually, my stomach was tolerating chicken broth and my muscles stopped cramping.


I couldn't have asked for a better performance.


IMAZ 2010 - 12:50; IMAZ 2011 - 10:55; Training, Training, Training! I plan to take a break from IM racing next year, but I will continue to train. I need to set some new goals and I know a sub 10 is not in the cards for me until I have many more years of training under my belt. The demons of IMAZ 2010 have been with me since last year - with this race, those demons are no longer with me!