Ironman Arizona - TriathlonFull Ironman

Given my injured shoulder, I seeded myself wide and toward the back. That was a pretty stupid thing to do, because it just made me get stuck behind slower people. The first 500 was annoying, because it was impossible to avoid running into people. We couldn't see our surroundings at all. I got kicked pretty hard in the eye, and later in the chin, but what amazed me the most was that people would frequently dunk my head under the water. People would swim along, and their hands might accidentally find the back of my head. That's fine, no big deal. The bad part was that these people continued their stroke and sent me straight under water. Not so cool. I had to get kind of rough when people started doing that, and I don't understand why it was happening. When I was swimming and my hands hit someone, I just stopped my stroke, withdrew my hand and moved a little. But I think I was the only one that did that. Plus, I don't understand how someone is able to reach another person's head. Crazy swimmers.

After the water became less crowded, I found the swim to be really quite easy. The wetsuit makes it easier than swimming in the pool. I knew right away that I would have no problem finishing. I was happy not to draft, because some people were using the breaststroke to sight and I didn't want to be anywhere near them when they did that. Plus, people kept peeing in the water. It was pretty nasty. I didn't post a very fast time in the swim, but I blame the crowded start for that.

I finished right in the middle of the pack. The coolest part of the swim was realizing that my legs were completely paralyzed getting out of the water. I stood up, and then fell right back down. Really, it was kind of amazing. I hope there are pictures of that.

I would seed myself more toward the front. I would try to go faster, but since I have had swimmer's shoulder for the past two months, I was content with just finishing.

After my legs started working, I ran through the transition, but eventually I ran into a clump of people. There was a traffic jam and most people were walking through.

I wore my bike shorts under my wetsuit, based on the idea that Arizona heat would dry them quickly. I felt fine during the transition.

I didn't put enough sunscreen on, and I missed my calves. Those honeys are RED (I'm going to post all my disgusting post-race pics soon). So, I'll definitely make sure I get more sunscreen.

I came into this race with a serious knee injury, so I wanted to be conservative on the bike. Plus, my best sport is running, so I wanted to save some for that. So, my strategy was to go 15 mph on average, no matter how I felt. If I was faced with a headwind or a hill, I would keep the same cadence but let myself slow. I figured that on an out-and-back course it would all average out in the end. It was tough watching 70-year-olds cruise by me like I was standing still, and the third lap was pretty lonely, but I'm glad I didn't try to push. I focused on taking in enough calories to (theoretically) give me a full tank for the marathon. That part was a huge success.

My rank of 1685 after the bike looks pretty bad. Let's see if that changes...

My major mistake was carrying too much Accelerade on the bike. I had about 84 oz. loaded on my bike, but with aid stations I probably only needed 24. That would have saved me a lot of weight. I can pretty much eat anything, so I should not have shown such a preference for Accelerade. Right before the last hill, I dumped out all my fuel, so that was smart. Next time I'll bring less.

I'll probably push harder on the bike next time too. I definitely had to restrain myself the whole time and posted three 7-minute miles right after T2, so I probably could have worked harder.

My legs felt better for T2 than for T1. I hopped off and ran past lots of people. The changing tent was not private at all, so a handful of lucky spectators got the priviledge of seeing me naked. I don't really care though. Having made it to the marathon with a full 8 hours before the final cut-off meant that finishing was certain. I don't really buy into the idea of completing an Ironman in a single outfit, so I changed into full running gear. 26.2 miles is a long way to go, so I wanted to be comfortable.

Nothin'. Well, maybe I'll censor myself.

I came out of T2 like a crazy man. I didn't have any heavy leg problems (admittedly, I slowed during the end of the bike in order to prevent that), and my first three miles were down around 7:10 pace. The only problem was that my heart rate was at 180, and I decided I didn't want it to stay up there. So, I started drinking more fluid and slowed down. I walked through aid stations to help my heart rate adjust. After about 8 miles my heart rate was down to 150, which was fine. Unfortunately, at mile 15 my knee began to hurt really badly and I realized I would have to start run-walking in order to make it to the finish quickly. So, I took 30-second walk breaks every mile, and I also walked through the aid stations. It slowed my average mile pace by 2-3 minutes, but during the times that I was running I was still able to run fast. The pain just became overwhelming eventually so I had to keep stopping. After mile 15 my mile splits became very inconsistent, ranging from 9:00 to over 13:00, with most of them being near the high end of that scale. I think if my knee didn't give me trouble my marathon would have been under 4 hours, but I'm not complaining.

So, my swim place was a bit behind the middle of the pack (1264). My bike place was...just awful (1685). But wait, what happened during the run? Oh, snap, it looks like I kicked some butt...just as I planned. Being able to run (even part-time) during the marathon completely made up for being passed by everyone on the bike, both mentally and in my race time.

I thought my knee pain was coming from my IT band, so I kept stretching it and somehow that didn't work. Eventually I figured out that it was coming from a tendon from my hamstring. Once I started stretching my hammies (way after mile 20, of course) I could run 9:00 miles again.

Next time I'll pay more attention to what's hurting so I can address it better. I wouldn't change anything in the run itself though, given the circumstances. Even those fast miles at the beginning didn't come back to haunt me, which was good.

Because my run was limited by knee pain rather than my cardiovascular system, I felt fine at the end of the race. I definitely pushed it until the end, but I didn't collapse or anything at the finish. I just walked off. I should have stretched, but I suppose I'll live without doing so.


I underestimated myself on both the swim and the bike, I think, but the most significant limiter was my knee.

I had all this energy saved up for the run, but my injury prevented me from using all of it. Maybe in hindsight it would have been better to push the bike.


This was the best organized race I have ever done (I guess Ironman races HAVE to be, though!). The fans and volunteers are enthusiastic right up until the end, which is something really unique.

My only criticism is that the race officials made a huge deal about drafting before the race and then barely enforced the rules during the race. The people passing me on the bike were all in tight little pelotons, which I'm sure gave them a huge advantage. The penalty tents were always empty, so I conclude that drafting rules are just meant to scare beginners.