Ironman Louisville - TriathlonFull Ironman

I have no idea what happened on this swim but it was terrible. I normally avg around 1:38 to 1:42 per 100 on my long swims so to be this slow was a big dissapointment. I did have some problems with my foot cramping but I think I simply took it too easy.

But on the bright side I got out of the water feeling great - I didn't feel the least bit winded or tired.

Learn how to pace a swim! I always joke with my wife that my swim has 2 speeds: fast and butt a$$ slow. For this race I obviously went with the latter...

I knew t1 would be a bit longer because I had to put on calf sleeves, jersey, and de soto cool wings.

nothing

Jumped on my bike and first thing I noticed is my garmin was not picking up power numbers. For the first 5-7 miles I tried everything to get it working but had no luck. I finally accepted the fact that I wasn't going to be able to pace via power and changed gears mentally to stay focused on RPE/heart rate.

Once I made the decision to stop trying to get my power meter to work, I started to focus on hydration/nutrition. I had my aero bottle full of regular strength infinite so the plan was to drink that and then switch over to perform with a goal of taking in about 30-33 ounces of water/perform per hour.

I was very careful to spin up the hills and take advantage of the down hills. I'm always amazed at how many people hammer up hills at these races. Do they not realize it's a really long day?? :)

Out and back section was fun - the big hill looks worse then it actually is. I saw one girl down on the side of the road at the bottom of the big hill but 3 riders were already stopped and tending to her (heard them talking to 911). Hopefully she was ok...

I followed the same routine through every aid station - right before the aid station I would take a good long drink of water, wet down my cool wings, neck, and back. Then take water/perform from the aid station. I always made sure I had 2 waters and 1 perform on my bike.

Any time I started to feel hot I would wet down my cool wings. I have no idea if they actually help cool you but man they sure felt good and if nothing else gave me a mental boost. I never felt hot during the ride which really surprised me.

Stopped at special needs and took my 5 hour energy.. ahhh that tasted good!

A few other thoughts:
- peed 3 times on the bike, so I knew I was staying hydrated
- saw a lot of folks with flats, I hear locals put tacks on the road :(
- loved the course! But I would never, ever ride it outside of a race. Narrow roads with lots of traffic!
- Benefit of starting swim late AND being slow in the water is that it felt like I was passing folks non stop for 112 miles!






nothing.

pretty uneventful. most of the time was a result of taking the time to lube up my feet...

nothing

ah the run. My nemisis. The goal was to try and avg 10:15 miles by running about 10 min miles between the aid stations, then walking the aid stations themselves.

For the first 9 miles this worked well and I was hitting my paces. During each aid station I would grab sponges, fill up my hand held water bottle with ice water, wet down my cool wings, drink some water, dump ice down my shorts, and then grab something with some calories (coke or a gel).

But by around mile 10 I started to wear down. My calves, quads and lower back were tightening up bad and really starting to get sore. From mile 10 through mile 16 my avg pace steadily dropped from around 10:15 to 12 min miles.

16-23 was just a suffer fest. I was trying to run but my legs were so sore - they were just seizing up on me. Plus i was starting to get bad stomach cramps.

Mile 24 was a dark spot. I was starting to feel really out of it. I took in 2 cups of coke at the start of mile 25 and I think that helped.

The last 2 miles were the most painful thing I've ever experienced. Every single step was just brutal. It felt like someone was stabbing my quads and calves with a knife. Every single muscle hurt. Calves, quads, hip flexors, lower back, etc.

Finish line was fun but I think I was too cooked to truly enjoy it. I just wanted to sit!


I think I was a bit too focused on trying to stay cool and didn't focus enough on actual water/perform consumption. I think the muscle soreness that set in was due, at least in part, to dehydration.

Finish line catcher was fantastic. He kept me up right, walked me through getting finishers gear, grabbed me some chocolate milk and some water. Then 2 lovely ladies escorted me to get a message - they were awesome. They were yelling at people to make way. Made me feel important :) And man did that massage good!

After the massage I grabbed some pizza and warm chicken broth. Then met up with my wife who finished about 30 minutes behind me.



Overall I'm very happy with how things went. I improved my IM time by almost 50 minutes under tougher conditions. that said, I think there were 2 things that hurt me:

1) The chest cold leading up to the race took it's toll. While I mostly recovered by race day, I know I was not 100%. I was still coughing a fair amount the days leading up to the race.

2) the heat. The 4 weeks leading up to the race were pretty cool in MN which meant I was not exactly acclimated for the heat!



I loved IM Louisville. The swim start is a bit different but not bad different. Everyone I ran into was friendly, downtown/4th street live area was nice. volunteers were fantastic, etc.

I doubt I would stay at the Galt again though. Not a bad place but some small stuff that annoyed me like: no microwaves or refridgerators in the room, issues with wi-fi, way too few (or too slow) elavators..