Ironman Arizona - Triathlon

Most enjoyable swim ever. Almost no contact and it felt super easy the whole way.

I have upped my distance per swim practice and this made a big difference (I think)

My HR for the swim (my Garmin gets that) was above normal. Not sure why because I really took it easy, but in hindsight something was going on that day.


Nothing. I am sure more effort would have gained me a minute or two but not sure what the cost would have been later in the race

The wetsuit peelers pressed my watch button which screwed u my bike splits...but nothing tragic

I took the time to dry off with a towel and put on top. I swam with my tri shorts but no top under wetsuit. I was concerned it would be chilly at 8AM and didn't want a wet top on

Maybe hustle a bit more. I took it super easy. A little jogging was probably necessary.

Biked slightly below target power, but HR was a little higher than it should have been. So I rode half way between my HR target and power target

I was a little dizzy on the bike and was afraid my glucose levels may be off. So I stopped at special needs pulled out my glucose meter but it wouldn't power on. So I continued and stopped at the med tent. By the time they got a glucose meter I had lost a few minutes but I got the number and it was fine

I know my aero was good. I was screaming past people on the tailwind/downhill portion. There are a few guys I saw on every loop. They would pass me on the headwind and I would catch them on the tail wind. I was pretty happy with my setup and thing I did to the bike.

I drank 5 bottles of UCAN (2 scoops per bottle) so 800 calories on the bike

edit : in the 10 weeks of this training period I focused on longer rides all in aero and one intensity session per week. So I slowly built the long bike week over week with my longest ride being 5h, all in aero on the computrainer. The "intensity sessions" were mostly 7min VO2max sessions doing hill climbs on the mountain. something like 6x(6 to7)min at about 107ish% FTP.



I'd say have a backup glucose meter but that is getting a little too much

I changed into my run gear, change jersey and shorts. Put on socks and off I went to the med tent to get tested again. This time their glucose meter failed and by the time they found one working I had lost a few minutes

Not much

The legs felt incredibly wobbly for the first half mile but it soon settled in. By about 1 mile I was running a decent pace, probably a bit over 8min/mile. I ran with one lady where the pace felt very comfortable alhough HR was a few beats above target. In hindsight this was a mistake and I should have backed off slightly.

First half of the course I was doing a 27min run/3min walk stratgey and it worked great. I was pretty confident I would run sub 4 without effort

Stopped at med tent at half way, all was within range

2nd half I was starting to feel I was really low on energy so decided to back off and take the occasional walk. I was afraid I was bonkng.

But the bonk was in my head. Walking should be postponed as much as possible because you end up walking more and more frequently. Never for long but I was at a point I would run 1min, walk 1min towards the end.

With about 2 miles to go a guy was cramping really bad. I stopped and offered him some "hotshot", a sample they gave us at checking and I know of by reputation for a quick fix for cramping. About 300 feet after givving it to him and being on my way, my calf started to cramp. I said to myself "Karma" will get you through it and sure enough, the twicthes went away. I believe it'a all in the mind and the mind is pretty messed up at this point.

My run training didn't really change much for this build. Most running was a bit below what I usually run at and I stuck pretty close to my typical run week. I ran 6times per week and built my longest runs to about 2h20. I have a tendency to have achilles problems but this round I think the slightly slower pace helped a lot. If I were to do it again I would probably up my weekly mileage by about 10%.



Stick to my HR plan and just slow down rather than walk.

I know I could have taken a good 10minutes off the run and if I ever do another full I'll put more time into run prep. Despite what some like to think the run is the easiest place to make up time. You don't need a big FTP you just need to pace properly with the FTP you have, optimize your use of watts and minimize the time walk and run the right pace from the start. IMO,

Went through the chute and off to the med tent for one last glucose measurement.

The whole "you are an Ironman" was cool but I would not define it as "life changing" as some have.

I am glad to have done it, and maybe will do another but only if it's with a buddy and a "fun" trip.

Halfs are more fun IMO


Lack of experience for sure. This being my first, I had no idea what to expect so I went super duper conservative.

My failing glucose meter, the med tents failing meter, stopping at med tents does take away valuable time. I would prefer to spend those 10 or so minutes elsewhere

The diabetes and assocoated nutrition is probably not as bad as the unknown of what would happen. Total nutrition 7 bottles x 160 calories = 1102 calories under 11 hours = 100 calories per hour. That and about 10 cups of water.

People eat WAY too much on a IM



I'm writing this report the day after, 100% recovered, no pain, very mild stiffness so I know a left a little too much on the table. But that's ok, it's a learning process.

I am starving however. I think I shocked my body with the low calories.