Ironman Arizona - Triathlon

Could've done a better job of navigating @ times. Had worse swims. Went into this thinking 132/135hr but, everytime I checked my hr, it was 125/127 and thought I would be thanking myself later in the day for it...Was wanting it closer to 1hr 30min, but hay, this was my 1st. Didn't want to struggle the rest of the day just to meet a "time goal" in the water....Saw Selena, my mom and the kids then ran another 50yds and saw Jared and Mercedes ! Was great having family support for this long of an event...

Navigate better......

Eh, I didn't lollygag but I didn't think my T1 was THIS slow....

Try harder to keep it closer to 3-5min.

Had my nutrition dialed in to the nut. Was drinking 1 bottle of Ultra the 1st 2hrs. with 2 shot bloks every 20min and a salt tab every hr. Used my 2 concentrated bottles of Amino and used the waters on the course to get thru the last 4hrs. Also, took a digestive enzyme capsule @ 1st fuel up and @ the 1/2 way mark of the bike ride. Had sunscreen taped to my stem and hit that up @ the 1/2 way mark. Felt my bike was good. NOT doing the distance in training did mentally help me. When I got to the 100 mile mark I was still feeling strong and by the time I got back into town, I was getting more excited about starting the run. Starting the bike, saw my partner, Rick, from work, taking pix and soaking up the whole IM experience! I really wanted the "build as the day goes on" theme and really felt I was doing a good job of doing that.

Still slow, had another great volunteer helping me!

Really hit some dark spots on the 1st loop. Was mentally struggling in patches. Told myself I would not do any breathe counts til the 2nd loop. Wasn't even considering it on the 1st loop. Just took a long time to adjust mentally. Then I realized the sun was coming down soon. I kept telling myself "Once the sun goes down, I've got it!!". I run ALL the time in the dark. I'm comfortable doing it and I was using it as a motivator! Ran into Jared and Mercedes early. Thru the whole run, Jared probably ran 3 or 4 miles with me! He was coaching me up and pumping me up. He was as excited as I was!!! He had talked to someone and new about where I would be and when and he was freaking me out on the 1st loop! His motivation was priceless!!!!! I stopped 4x to fill my bottle @ the tables and peed 1x during 1 of those stops. But, I ran the whole marathon...slow, but walking without injury just isn't an option with me....My 2nd loop, I felt strong and once I got to 20mile mark I was waiting to get the hammer dropped on me and it just wasn't happening! When I got to 23 mile mark and saw Jared I told him to meet me at the finsih line!!! I got this!!! The last 3 miles, the excitement was building and the energy was amazing!!!! I listened to everyone saying "enjoy the chute"!! Plenty of high 5's and fist pumps, I slowed down to let the guy ahead of me get his moment and so I could have mine! Then I heard Mike Reilly say"Todd Slaten, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!! Oh yeah!!! Then he said "Todd lost 109lbs!!!" I was wobbly but so effin' excited!!! Everyone in my family was teary eyed and smiling and smiling at me because I was........teary eyed and smiling!!! Man, whatta feeling!!!

Just ate some fries and went back to the room, only slept about 4hrs. Got up, ate some toast @ the hotel.


Best race ever!!! The course support from spectators/volunteers was like no other race I've done! This race just lit my fire even more!!! I couldn't wait to get back @ it this week! Just made me wanna dig deeper,work harder to get more fit and faster! Learned a lot today and the last 30 weeks of training! Can't wait to do another!!!