Ironman Arizona - TriathlonFull Ironman

During pre-race preparation, I was starting to get cold so I took my sweats and long sleeve shirt off and pulled the wetsuit up which did warm me up. I made my way over to the red swim entrance and was near the front. They opened it for the pros, then for age groupers. I was one of the first age groupers through and then into the water. As luck would have it I made my way up and was at the very front of the start. I was holding onto the canoe waiting for the cannon. The neat thing was that I looked up to the bridge and was able to see my wife and we blew each other a couple kisses (ok cheesy, but just what I needed). Knowing we were just waiting for the cannon to go off to start a very long day was exilerating. The canoe's moved away and then BOOM the cannon went off and we were off. The swim was pretty good. I did run into a few packs of heavy contact. During the heaviest, I picked my head up to hear a guy next to me grunting and throwing his shoulders into everyone. At that point I realized all that effort wasn't worth it and I did not want to exhert a bunch of un-needed energy to battle for positioning. I backed off a bit and let the pack go and started up again.
I made my way to the turnaround and began heading back. During the long trip back, I would take some time to flex my calves so I wouldn't cramp coming out of the water. As I approached the swim exit, I sat on the first step, stood up and headed towards transition.

Swimming is my strongest of all 3. I was very happy with my time and my placement. It was really great to be on the front line when the cannon went off.

As I came out of the water, I pulled the top half of my wetsuite down and ran a ways. I found a couple of strippers and laied down and they ripped that thing right off me. So nice to have the help. Got my gear back and into the change tent. Took my time to dry my feet, put gear on, handed bag back to volunteer and was off to the bike.

Nothing, everything went great.

Oh Boy..this is where I hit the wall of pain.
Lap 1 - Took it very easy on the way out (this was from all of the tips) Since I had a really good swim, I was constantly getting passed. I was just fine with that. Hit the turnaround, had wind to my back and just cruised back down.
Lap 2 - A little more challenging and was feeling in in the legs.
Lap 3 - Ok...the wheels fell off. I was really dreading the turnaround to start the 3rd lap. Nutrition was good, but mentally I was ready to be done with the bike. I made it back out to the turnaround and as I started to head back in town my legs were killing me. I had sharp shooting pains from my toes up to my knees. When I hit mile 100 it was horrible. This was the point where I seriously thought if the pain continued, I could not start the run. The pain was so bad in my legs that I couldn't put much pressure, and my backside was hurting so bad from being in the saddle all day I got to the point where if I stood up I would be in pain, and if I continued to sit I would be in pain....loose loose situation. I decided to stop at mile 108 to stretch. After about 5 minutes of stretching and letting the legs relax, I started back up and the legs felt much better. I think that was the point I knew I could finish the race.

9.4 mi 9.4 mi 38:53 2:01:30 14.57 mi/h
18.8 mi 9.3 mi 40:39 2:42:09 13.74 mi/h
28.1 mi 9.3 mi 24:22 3:06:31 22.92 mi/h
37.4 mi 9.3 mi 28:41 3:35:12 19.47 mi/h
46.7 mi 9.3 mi 33:04 4:08:16 16.91 mi/h
56 mi 9.3 mi 35:51 4:44:07 15.58 mi/h
65.3 mi 9.3 mi 32:56 5:17:03 16.96 mi/h
74.6 mi 9.3 mi 31:41 5:48:44 17.65 mi/h
83.9 mi 9.3 mi 38:01 6:26:45 14.69 mi/h
93.3 mi 9.3 mi 38:35 7:05:20 14.48 mi/h
102.6 mi 9.3 mi 33:26 7:38:46 16.71 mi/h
112 mi 9.4 mi 36:32 8:15:18 15.50 mi/h
Total 112 mi 6:52:41 8:15:18 16.28 mi/h 187 1709 1360

1. I was on my road bike (only bike I own) with No aerobars. I feel like this did slow me down due to the wind.
2. I don't have any fancy tires or aero helmet. Not sure how much faster that would have been for me.

I would highly recommend to either pre-ride the course or drive it. I had done neither so did not know what to expect and that made it challenging because of the unknown.

Handed the bike off and went into the change tent. I told my bike I was filing for divorce and never wanted to see it again...ok that was a little over the top but I was in pain from that.
Was in the change tent and guy next to me was having medical attended to him, he was laying down with his feet up. I hope he made it.
Got my gear on and headed out to the run.

Nothing.

Going into this race, I was dreading the run the most. Oddly, I really enjoyed the run. I loved the 3 loops and knowing what to expect. You had a chance to know every aid station and an easy way to break the course up into chunks.
Coming off the bike, I was feeling good from a nutrition perspective. As I went into the run, I wasn't sure what was coming. I started with eating a gu or chomps with water at the odd stations, and water and a salt tab at the even. If I ever got into trouble, I would switch to cola/broth etc. I never ran into issues with my stomach so I stuck with my plan the entire way. I was very fortunate to not run into any issues.

I was able to keep a very consistent pace. I would run from aid station to about half way to the next and then walk about 100 yards, then I would finish running to the next aid station. This worked out very well throughout the entire race.

When I started the third lap I was feeling good but the legs were starting to hurt(bad). With 4 miles left, I knew the end was near but the pain continued. I made my way over Curry road, back next to Tempe Lake, over the bridge and at this point there was 1 mile left. I picked up my pace just a bit and smiled the entire last mile. As I was approaching the final turn to the finish I made sure they lady in front of me was a good couple hundred yards, and the guy behind me was a couple hundred yards to make sure I had the finish chute to myself. I entered the finish chute and started giving high fives when out of nowhere the guy behind me runs right through my arm in a full out sprint and finishes next to the lady in front of me..oh well..guess he needed to finish in an all out sprint!! I take a few more steps and I hear (voice of Mike Reily) From Westminster, Colorado, Tyler Larsen, You Are an IRONMAN. I give a bunch of shouts, raise my arms and cross the line. UNBELIEVABLE!!!!



1.5 mi 1.5 mi 18:14 8:42:56 12:19/mi
3.1 mi 1.6 mi 20:37 9:03:33 13:02/mi
4.6 mi 1.6 mi 20:54 9:24:27 13:23/mi
5.9 mi 1.3 mi 18:01 9:42:28 13:38/mi
7 mi 1.1 mi 14:37 9:57:05 13:24/mi
8.6 mi 1.6 mi 23:11 10:20:16 14:23/mi
10.1 mi 1.5 mi 20:51 10:41:07 14:05/mi
11.7 mi 1.6 mi 24:15 11:05:22 15:15/mi
13.3 mi 1.6 mi 22:44 11:28:06 14:40/mi
14.6 mi 1.3 mi 19:34 11:47:40 14:49/mi
15.7 mi 1.1 mi 15:34 12:03:14 14:16/mi
17.3 mi 1.6 mi 23:19 12:26:33 14:28/mi
18.8 mi 1.5 mi 21:57 12:48:30 14:49/mi
20.4 mi 1.6 mi 23:55 13:12:25 15:02/mi
21.9 mi 1.6 mi 23:22 13:35:47 15:04/mi
23.2 mi 1.3 mi 20:23 13:56:10 15:26/mi
24.3 mi 1.1 mi 15:42 14:11:52 14:16/mi
26.2 mi 1.9 mi 25:47 14:37:39 13:42/mi
Total 26.2 mi 6:12:57 14:37:39 14:14/mi 202 1869 1425

Loose weight. I knew that was my biggest challenge and I took on the run knowing that I had to pace myself and take my time.

Crossed the finish line and waived to the camera in hopes that my boys were still awake to see!! (Sadly they were both asleep). Got my hat, shirt, pic, medal and over to get some pizza and chocolate milk. I got very lucky that my wife had already got my bike and gear bags back to the hotel so all I needed was my morning clothes bag. I put my sweats back on and we caught a taxi back to the hotel.

Once I got back to the hotel, took a nice warm shower, put the compression gear on, pulled out the iPad and watched the last hour of finishers. Love seeing the 17 hour mark and the lady who made it in within the last minute. She was escorted by Mike Reily and Lilnsey Corbin. Very cool.


Honestly, I am 100% happy with my results. As I have read, the goal of the first Ironman is to finish. I did that, and I did it strong and without any major issues. I smiled as much as I could and enjoyed every second. It was so cool to hear Mike Reiley's voice echo throughout the course as we were running and knowing there was a party going on and as I counted down the miles, I was getting closer to that party.


I had done an WTC Ironman 70.3 before and it was fantastic, but moving to the full Ironman is a whole different animal.
1. Pre-race bike and gear check in - This was huge to have everything checked in by 3:00 PM the day before. It was so nice that evening before to know that all of the gear was there and I was not trying to figure out what else to pack.
2. Volunteer assistance - The volunteers were amazing, they would help with your bags and when you were done they took them and reorganized. When I finished the bike, they took my bike and put it back on the rack. That was so nice not to take those additional steps. During the bike I stopped for a bathroom break and they held my bike, got water loaded on. Just wonderful.
3. The pre-race meeting/dinner - This was 2 hours of pure inspiration. Lots of good laughs and food to help ease the nerves.