Ironman Arizona - TriathlonFull Ironman

The swim was nerve racking until the cannon went off and then it was just a lot of fun. I started about 5 rows back, about 3/4ths of the way to the side of the lake where all the spectators were standing. I figured this would be an insane place to start, which it was, but I wanted to be in a good place to not be stuck behind slower swimmers. The cannon went off and it was pure chaos, but it was controlled chaos. Pleople tried to get in position while others seemed to have no clue what they were doing. I saw people going diagnol and they were just being thrashed by people trying to get past them. After 500m or so the crowds started to disperse and it was a nice swim. I got into a nice rhythm and went at my own pace. I didn't draft off of anyone because I have never done this before and didn't feel like trying it out for the first time at an Ironman. I held my own during the thrashing and things went well until the turnaround. Here the crowd once again bunched up and there was a lot of thrashing. One person grabbed my back and pushed me under so I came back around and "accidentally" hit him on the back during my next stroke...oops... I was also kicked in the face by someone here, but it was an accident so no retaliation necessary. After this turnaround everything spread back out and I tried to maintain my navigation, which I found difficult, for the next mile or so until the final turn. Here again it was bunched up and crazy but I didn't care, all I could see were the stairs and I just went for them. Once I came out of the water the strippers stripped me in seconds and I was off to T1.

Nothing, swim went fantastic. Felt great!!

T1 was nuts in the change tent. I just threw stuff on the floor and put socks and shoes on. Then my helmet and sunglasses. I kept the same clothing on throughout the race so this saved me some time. I took my time in the tent knowning it was a long day. I left the tent, used the bathroom quickly, and got some much needed suntan lotion which would serve me well during the bike.

Nothing, good T1

Wow...the bike. Well the first lap I was going at a great pace and it seemed that the lap went by really fast. I got to the turnaround and felt great, came back down the beeline at a good pace still feeling great, came into town still feeling great, and left town still feeling great. Then the second bike lap happened. I went out on the second bike leg not realizing how much the wind had picked up. Going out the beeline, uphill, I regularly hit 25 mph without much effort and thought to myself that I was having a great bike leg and felt confident I would do much better than I had expected. WRONG THINKING. I hit the turnaround and 56 mile point in 2:50ish and thought to myself with two downhill portions and only one uphill portions left in the race, I was looking at a sub 6 hour split. Something I thought I could do. Then the winds hit me and I could barely move. Going downhill on the beeline I had trouble keeping 14mph and the gusts were knocking me around like a piece of straw. People were passing me and looking tired but for some reason I could not maintain any pace. I came off the beeline expecting the winds to be better since they would be at my side, but I think those winds were just coming from all directions since it still felt like a head wind. I finally made it back into town and I was struggling. My stomach was having problemns. I couldn't stay down in the aerobars because of it and my stomach only felt good when it was as upright and stretched out as possible...a problem when you are trying to get through strong headwinds and want to be as aero as possible. I came back through town and fed off the energy of the crowd to try for my 3rd lap. Then I saw my parents and they were screaming at me to go go go only one lap to go, and this made a huge difference. I gave them a big thumbs up, even though I wanted to give a thumbs down, but I did not want to worry them. I left on the 3rd lap not knowing if I was going to make it back. I went back out the beeline trying to hydrate and eat my nutrition plan but by this point it all had gone to crap. I couldn't eat anything that I had planned and everything felt disgusting. I struggled but managed to finally make it out to the turnaround and then headed back in which felt like it would never happen. I was hurting really bad and could only maintain 12 mph most of the way back, but finally, I came off the beeline and the end was in site. Soon I was back in town feeding off of the crowd knowing that I could walk the entire marathon and still make it in time before the cutoff. I came into T2 feeling overwhelmed because I was going to be an Ironman!

Train more in wind. Find nutrition plan that was a bit better, should have known that it would have tasted horrible.

Felt amazing to be off the bike, I sat in a chair for a second and just stared at the wall of the tent, completely dazed. Then I put on my shoes slowly and my new socks, put my hat on and headed out for the run.

Nothing

I felt good starting the run but soon realized that I was in rough shape. I ran the first 1/2 mile and then had to stop. If I tried to run to much I knew I would not make it. My plan started off running to each aid station, but my body would not let me do this and soon I was walking nearly the entire course. My legs felt unbelievably bad, my left knee started to THROB in pain, and I felt horrible. My parents were there though running from area to area so they could see me as much as possible. They would walk with me for a few minutes encouraging me telling me that I was going to finish, that I could do this. After the first lap, my friends from home and my sister started calling my parents to see how I was doing and my parents told me about all the encouragement I was receiving and how all my friends and my girlfriend were watching my progress on the athlete tracking site. This really meant a lot to me as I didn't realize that they were interested at all in what I was doing. This is not something that they are into at all. I struggled through the 2nd lap and the first half of the 3rd lap with these encouragements, walking mostly and running sparingly. Then after I came though th area where the people were cheering and the finish line was nearby during the 3rd lap, knowing I was just half a lap from finishing, I started feeling motivated. My parents left me one last time and told me they would see me when I was an Ironman. I left for the last half of the final lap, a very lonely half a lap as most spectators were now at the finish line. I came to the final aid station and ran the entire last mile despite the horrible pain in my leg. I was going at a great speed and kept hearing Mike Riley call out people as becoming an Ironman, then I rounded the corner and ran across the finish line!!!

Honestly, I don't remember a lot from the run. It was kind of hazy and I was really hurting. I think the bike really took it all out of me because I feel like I trained enough for the event, the event was just much more than I had anticipated.

I sat in a chair trying to warm up, ate some pizza and drank a lot of coke. Then I wanted to watch others finish but I was feeling pretty bad so we went back to the hotel so I could pass out.


I think I went to hard on the bike and had no energy left for the run. Better pacing would have helped a lot...something to consider for my next Ironman I suppose


Awesome race. Had a great time meeting some BTers and riding with Dave and the others on Thursday. Thanks to everyone who was there competing and volunteering.