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 Swim
Comments: My first IM so I was a little nervous about the start. My swimming has been solid for the last year so I wasn't very worried about the actual swim but more the wash machine at the start. I moved over to the right but toward the front. The cannon goes off and here we go. I was probably a little wider than what I needed to be. I was almost to the first turn and I had very little contact. I rubbed up next to a few people but nothing like I thought was coming. I took the first turn very wide to avoid the craziness at the bouy. I rounded the second turn bouy and was headed to the beach for the first time. And then comes my first real contact. About 1/2 back to the beach, I got drilled. Not sure when he came from but he hit me right in the eye. If it had been a boxing match, the ref would have given me a standing 8 count. He stopped to check on me but everything was good. The rest of the way in was uneventful. Getting out and making the loop back into the water was different. The spectators were down in the edge of the water. SOme of them were almost thigh deep. I thought the turn was a lot of fun. I was back in the water and on the way to finsh the swim. Very uneventful second loop until about the spot where I got hit on the first loop. At almost the same spot, I got kicked very hard. After that, it was back to the beach. I felt great coming out of the swim. I knew that I had gone to easy but I knew it was going to be a long day. I could have easily made the swim again. I enjoyed the swells during the swim as well. My time was at least 5 - 10 minutes slower than what it should have been. What would you do differently?: I could have pushed a little harder without really burning much more energy. I was a lot more conservative than what I should have been. I also should have swam a lot closer to the bouys.  Transition 1
Comments: I wasn't real sure about how this was going to go. I wanted both of my transitions to under 10 minutes each and they were so not much to complain about. My time was a little slow in the swim so it wasn't as crazy as I thought it would be in there. What would you do differently?: Nothing. A long day ahead so running and pushing for an extra 2 minutes really wouldn't matter.  Bike
Comments: I was very dissappointed with my bike. It started out ok. I was going about 19 down the beach and out to the bridge. Started up the bridge and got a nice laugh out of the guys in speedos cheering everyone up the bridge. It seemed like I was getting passed by everyone but 19 mph but I wasn't trying to keep up with anyone else. I made the turn on 20 and everything still felt ok. About 35 miles in the race, the leader came back by me. He was so far ahead of everyone else, I thought something had to be wrong with all the rest of the pros. Turns out he was putting on a biking clinic for everyone else. It was probably 10 - 15 minutes before we some the rest of the pros. Things started to go downhill from here. By the time I reached the first out and back my legs were leaving me and I was having some serious stomach issues. The first out and back is absolutely terrible. Not sure why they can't find a better rode than these few miles. The rode was littered with cages, bottles, tubes and lots of people changing tubes. Things got real bad when I got back on 20. It was a sufferfest from here on in. The headwind and the rollers almost did me in. My legs started to cramp at about mile 80 and didn't let off until I was almost back. I hadn't had any problem with cramps throughout my training. What would you do differently?: Not sure exactly where it went bad but I need to figure it out before IMTX. Transition 2
Comments: I was just very happy to be off the bike. I didn't think T2 was very bad. I could have cut off a minute or two but I was fine with how it went. What would you do differently?: Nothing  Run
Comments: My run has never been very good for me but this was terrible. Everthing was going fine for the first few miles. I was keeping pace right with the plan. I was running around 11 minute miles and walking the aide stations to make sure I got in plenty of fluids. About mile 5 things started back downhill again. I was run/walking for about the next 5 miles. My watch quit about 2 miles in the run so I wasn't sure how I was doing after if got started getting dark. I was surprised on how confused I got out there. Then the fear of not finishing started to creep in. I kept trying to do the calculations to make sure I was going to make it back in time. But apparently 130 miles into a 140.6 mile race, math is almost impossible. By this point I was down to a death march. I had one of the biggest blisters I have ever seen on the ball of my left foot and one starting on my right heel. By this point it didn't matter if both of my feet fell off. I was going to cross that line if I had to drag myself. I started down the shoot and everthing just kind of went numb. I was in the shoot by myself. I saw my family and then heard those wonderul words; "You are an Ironman!" It was great. I was almost to the line and I stopped to give thanks to God! I got up off my knee and crossed the line. I was still slightly confused but I finished. What would you do differently?: Everything Post race
Warm down: We sat around on the sidewalk and took some pictures. After a few minutes I got up and limped toward the food. We were on the way way back to the room with the food when I felt sick. I layed on the sidewalk for a minute and started to feel better. My wife and sister went and picked up my bike and bags. I got a shower and laid in the bed and heard the last few finihers come in. What limited your ability to perform faster: I'm still a little heavier than what I need to be. The cramps really ruined most of my day. Still have a lot of work to do on mt run. Event comments: I learned a lot that I'm going to take to IMTX for a much better time Last updated: 2012-01-01 12:00 AM
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United States
World Triathlon Corporation
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = M35 -39
Age Group Rank = 0/
This was my first full IM, so I made every effort to take in the whole experience. I woke up and left home for PCB about 5AM Wednesday morning. It was about a 6 hour and 45 minute drive. The drive down alone gave me time to reflect back on the last year of training. I learned a lot of good things and bad about training over the past year. I have a lot of things that I will be taking foward to IMTX and leaving some other things behind.
After making to PCB, I checked into the hotel and went down to athlete check-in. Athlete check-in was very smooth. There were pretty much no lines. Walked around the expo and spent too much on merchandise. I thought the expo would be a little bigger. Augusta had a good expo and I thought IMFL would have been a little bigger. That being said, I still enjoyed it.
Walked down to pineapple willy's and got something to eat and walked back to the room. Got a good nights' sleep and woke up for a BT group swim. The water was pretty ruff. I enjoyed the swim. Got back from the swim and took the bike for a little spin. I rode the run course and down the front beach. After the ride, it was just napping and relaxing before the athlete dinner. The athlete dinner was a bit larger than what I was expecting. Not exactly sure what I was expecting but there were a lot of people there.
My wife and girls (7 and 9)flew in after the dinner. I went to the airport and picked them up and then back to the hotel. I was really happy for all of my girls to be there. My mom and sister also came down which ended up being a huge help for my wife on race day.
Woke up Friday morning and went for another BT swim. Water was a little calmer than it was Thursday morning. Everyone kept telling me the water is always smoother on eace morning. We went to an early afternoon movie. Here Comes the Boom with Kevin James was a pretty good little movie. After the movie it was back to the room and off my feet. Sent the family to go shopping. My nerves weren't terrible but I could feel them building.
I was in the bed by 9:00 and got a good night sleep.
I planned on sleeping until about 5:30 and walking down to get marked. Transition was just below my room so it was a great set up for me and my family. Woke up about 4:15 and couldn't go back to sleep. Got in the shower and walked down and got marked. Came back upstairs and laid back down for about another hour. Never feel back to sleep but i was able to relax. Got out of bed about 6:00 and sat on the balcony and just watched everybody moving around on the beach. Called my coach, prayed and down to the beach I went.