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 Swim
Comments: The start is AMAZING. There are people along the coast as far as you can see. I did a couple of 360's to soak it up.The gun went off and I INITIALLY got clear after about 20 yards. A few lead groups emerged and by the third buoy they all started to merge into one. This is when I got caught up. It's been a while since I have been decked in the face so it certainly woke me up. Also got a couple of kicks to the body and some guy who felt grabbing my ankle was a good idea. I convinced him otherwise. The swim this year was much rougher than the last time I was here. We swam into the waves/swells at about 45 degrees, and this really screwed with everyones ability to swim straight. One wave we would all be together and the next wave would point us all in different directions. It made drafting very tough for me so I decided to sit at the back of the large first group and take it easy. Right after the turnaround we caught our frist couple of pro women. by the finish I would pass 4 different pack of the them. We reached the end of the pier and I let the pack in front of me gap me by about 25 yards or so. No one was behind me. I exited the water alone feeling very comfortable. I had a feeling I was a good bit slow though. What would you do differently?: No too much. Would have like to have ducked that right hook though..  Transition 1
Comments: Climbed the stairs solo which was great. Soaked up the experience. Got the bag put on my gear without a problem. Asked for sunscreen and they had this spray stuff in a pesticide pump sprayer thing. I was still wet so most of it dripped right off. Should have packed the greasy stuff. What would you do differently?: Nothing besides the sunsreen.  Bike
Comments: The bike starts with a little out and back climb before you head out to the Queen K. Felt great during the climb. Ate up the crowds before I headed out to the lava fields. Once I got past the airport the packs started passing me. I kept my pace nice and easy, like a training ride effort, and let the packs pass. Some of these guys were clearly trying to get out of it. The others were obviously there to sit in and draft. Some of the packs were huge and a bit frustrating, but I kept faith in the system and hoped the marshalls would show up. It didn't take long and sure enough they did. The first few packs headed out of sight until I got to the first penalty tent. It was so full that the cyclists were overflowing out of the tent! Tons of them. I loved it. Shortly after that tent I came up on a female pro who was get a camera on her. I figured all the big guns would be way up the road, but as I passed I noticed I was passing Lori Bowden. Pretty cool. Got a good look then kept on rolling. The winds were there but they weren't the Hawaii winds that give me nightmares. I was pretty happy. Made the turn to Hawi and really started feeling my legs under me. At mile 50 my watch showed 2:23. I was happy to be 7 minutes better than 20 miles an hour. Made the turn and grabbed my bag. Nutrition seemed to be right on the money. After the turnaround I really started feeling like I was laboring more to keep up my speed. I even looked to see if a brakepad was rubbing. Not long after Lori Bowden came back and passed me! Last I saw her was about 1.5 hours before. I ate a gel thinking I was getting a little tired. Then, on a downhill where the road had a few bumps to it, the horrible truth showed its head. I bottomed out and my rear rim hit the road. OH @#%&**!@#!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Slow leak. What a great race to get a flat. Crap. I immediately started looking for the mechanics. I kept peddling until I had to stand up and put all my weight on my front tire so I wouldn't ruin the rim. Right as I was stopping I saw the truck coming in the opposite direction. Yeah!! They pulled over and swapped my wheel with a regular spoked, training wheel. While they were by no means Tour De France style wheel swappers (they took 2 trips back to the truck), They certainly fixed me up 100X faster than I could have done it. Back on the road I made the turn back onto the Queen K and tried to get back into a rhythm. The headwind was a bit of a downer, but I am still moving so I wasn't complaining. Got a brief rain shower and then got a bit of a tailwind on the final leg. Glad that ride was over. What would you do differently?: Avoid a flat tire!! Not sure how I would have done that though... Transition 2
Comments: Legs felt very good coming off the bike. Sat down and changed shoes and got going. Felt a sunburn in certain areas and so I got more sunscreen "spray" leaving the tent. It washed right off. What would you do differently?: Nothing.  Run
Comments: Started the run just as I felt in Arizona, great. Stopped at mile one to pee and recorded just over an 8 minute mile. Since my goal was to finish with a big smile, I decided to walk through the aid stations around mile 4. A few spots I felt like I was starting to overheat, but it was only temporary. After the first 10 mile out and back I headed out to the lava. As I started approaching the Energy Lab, I started walking more so that I would feel just as good as I did at the start. My splits started slowing down but I was still within a sub 11 hour day. Turned into the energy lab and Peter Reid was working the aid station. He gave a few words of encouragement and I went down towards the turn. This is where everything started to unravel. My legs still felt good (minus a big blister forming on the ball of my foot), but my stomach and head started feeling horrible. Started getting nauseous and dizzy. More and more walking until I got to mile 19. I thought I was going to pass out. It was at this point I started praying and making some deals. If I could just feel good enough to keep walking, I wouldn't push it and try and run for the rest of the day. There were times I was so dizzy that I couldn't walk a straight line. Started going to the port-a-cans every mile for about 4 miles. Periodically things would get better but without fail I would get worse again. (To give you a rough idea on how I felt, for those who have ever had WAY to much to drink and you are not sure if you are going to pass out or throw up, that's pretty close. throw in the diahrrea and you pretty much got it.) The sun going down didn't help as the head lights made me dizzy. I finally fought my way back to town and the worst of it hit at mile 25. I put my head down and focused and the last of the sick feeling finally went away. I started thinking about the finish just ahead of me and started smiling a bit. Now everyone has day dreamed about this finish and how it would feel and I was not different. Crowds, cheering, the whole bit. As I rounded the final turn onto Alii Dr. the skies opened up. It started coming in buckets! Everyone started running for cover. A few brave souls stayed on the street to cheer. As I walked to the final 100 yards a man came up to me wearing a volunteer shirt. He said, "Come on man, we can do this together". I smelled a very heavy stench of pot smoke and looked up and couldn't believe it. The guy walking and now jogging with me was one of the half dozen or so beggers from the town, stoned out of his mind!!(How did he get ahold of that shirt?) I saw him and his boys sitting there all week! I am going to cross the line with a vagrant! and no crowds! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? THIS IS MY IRONMAN FINISH?? This is nothing like the daydreams. I crossed the line in disbelief. To top it off my wife totally missed the finish as she was looking for me at the med tent since I was 2 hours behind schedule. I found her in the pouring rain. Heading to get my medal, I told her the story. That night we started laughing hysterically over my day. I guarantee my finish is the only one of its kind. What would you do differently?: No idea. After I stopped moving for a while the sick feeling subsided. I did nutrition exactly as IMAZ, if not better. I have no idea what the hell happened. Heat related? If you have an idea I would love to hear your thoughts so I know how to prevent. Post race
Warm down: None. Walked to the massage tent in pouring down rain. Got a light massage. Legs felt pretty good. What limited your ability to perform faster: On the bike, a flat tire. On the run, I'm just not sure. I really wish I knew where to even start. Obviously it is nutritional/chemical, but I just can't figure it out. Again, if anyone has an idea, let me know. Event comments: Hawaii is a great race and I got a very unique day... Last updated: 2006-08-29 12:00 AM
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United States
World Triathlon Corporation
Sunny
Overall Rank = 1243/1793
Age Group = M30-34
Age Group Rank = 165/180
Before I jump into the race details, I feel I should provide a little history to those reading. About 14 months ago I was wandering on the fringe of this sport and had put on a few too many pounds. I have been racing triathlons since 1986, so I certainly wasn't new to this sport. I hadn't been serious about it for quite a while though until I stepped on a scale last summer and realized I needed a big challenge in my life to get my butt back in gear. Through various coincidences and discussions I ended up signing up for Ironman Arizona. That was a great motivator and I got in shape (lost 20 pounds) and mostly race ready. Arizona went very well and I ended up qualifying for Kona. Hawaii wasn't really part of the plan, but one never knows when or if you can make it back, so we canceled our vacation and some other events and I got back on the bike to train. Burnout started to creep in as the training progressed, so I changed my attitude and decided to go out there and enjoy myself.
When we arrived in Kona I was almost as excited for my wife to see the race as I was to do it. You catch the fever awful quick out there and was excited for race day. Initially I was expecting everything to be setup by the time we arrived (Wed afternoon) and was a little disappointed to see that nothing was. Then I was reminded about cruise ships, road closures, etc to make all of this happen and I cut them some slack ;). On Thurs evening the work crews came in force and began the transformation. By mid Friday you could see everything taking shape and made everything that much more exciting.
Around 3 on Friday I went to check in my bike and that was the first sign of the hype/chaos. Crowds lined the street to look at all the bikes and take photos. Most all of the bike manufacturers were there as well handing out free stuff to anyone who was riding there brand on race day. Just past the inspectors you had about 6-10 bike survey guys from QRman to Triathlete Magazine writing down every last piece of equipment on your bike. Just beyond that was the media from around the world. They had a canvas set up for the big pros to stop at so they could photo the bike from every known angle. From there a volunteer walks you to your rack and then to hang up your transition bags. It had the look and feel of a Hollywood premiere (ok maybe a watered down premiere!). As I left I saw a few pros coming in. it was fun to watch the press swarm. One of the pros was Norman Stadler. He walked around the line and tried to get in without having his helmet and bags out for inspection. When a volunteer stopped him (politely I might add), he started bitching at the guy and making a scene. What an A-Hole. Just couldn't follow the rules like everyone else. I will never cheer to that guy again. Too bad Macca couldn't run his butt down.
After that I went to the room to chill out until the morning.
We stayed right by the finish, So I got body marked etc and came back to the room to eat and use the restroom about 6 more times. Gotta love them nerves. As luck would have it, the school I went to (Clemson) was the game of the week and ESPN was hosting College Gameday from my old campus. Nice little pump up before I headed down. As soon as we were allowed I moved into the water to start warming up.
After the pros took off we all swam up to the start to jockey for position for 15 minutes. I got right up front and center so as to find a great pair feet to sit on. The pushing became too much for me as it really started getting physical with about 4-5 minutes to start. So I moved left about 20 yards and it was much calmer.