Ironman Arizona - TriathlonFull Ironman

I dove in a bit after the pros went off and swam the 200 yards to the start. I was very calm and just watching all the spectators watching us get ready to go. I swam right up to the front and held on to a kayak. I just decided I would rather have people run me over than have to run them over so that is why I started up front. Turns out I didn't run anyone over and they didn't run me over either. Just swam! Cited every so often. Not really very much jsut swam. Only pulled up a few times due to bunching. Rounded the bouys wide and missed all the congestion. Never stopped on the turns. Looked at my watch at the half way point and it said 30 minutes! I was very excited. Not pushing it hard I just kept going strong and focused only on form and nothing else. Exited the water and looked at my watch, holy shate! 1:10, nice! Just awesome, I wanted to be in at 1:15

Nothing.

I just felt like this was faster than the time showed. I don't quite understand. I guess putting everything back in the bag and running to and from the TZ was long. It was pitch black in the tent and you couldn't see a thing. No chairs so I just stood and put on my bike stuff. Hot and smelly in there too.

?????

I think after reading all the other Race reports you should all know by now that the wind sucked! Or is that blows!
So I get on the bike and start out pretty easy, I look at the HR monitor and it say 150! Too hard, but I am very comfortable and my breathing is normal, so I back it off and get it back to 140. First lap was great, right on my goal pace of 1 horu and 45 minutes per lap to get 5:20-5:30 range. I am taking in my nutrition at 20 minutes into the ride. get on the second lap and it is fine until the turn around and then the 30 mph wind drives you back. I was going 11.9 mph, downhill at one point. I was like,ok, everyone else has the same wind so just keep going. At mile 50 I start having problems. All of my gatorade and water are coming back up. I ride, then spew it right back up, I kept taking in the fluids to get something in me. The food I was eating was fine, gels, banana all were staying down. So I knew at this point I was going to be in trouble. My stomach didn't want anything so I just forced some nutrition in. Took e-caps and all. I knew I was getting dehydrated but could do nothing about it but slow down even more. Mylegs started to cramp coming into town on the final lap. I was less than 5 miles from being off the bike and my quads and hamstrings on both legs seized up. I could not make a pedal stroke at mile 110! I was self massaging them and they were all knotted up, I was actually sreaming on the bike while coasting in to the bike to run transition. I was able to get my leg over and get off the bike.
That was a very demoralizing ride! I felt bad for all the people who were blown off their bikes. The road conditions were horrible, we road right down the middle of the road 3 times through the sand and gravel that had acculated in the center and one section was so bad by the casino that my tire almost got stuck in a crack and threw me off. Boy was I glad to be off the bike, well I thought anyway.
Never needed my special needs bag because I had a whole bottle of it still on my bike.
I am happy that I stayed focused and didn't quit, I was so ready to call it a day but I knew there were a lot of people pulling for me. At this point I knew my Kona dream was gone and I was now in survival mode.

??? Don't know what happened. My HR was well below my aerobic threshold and I have practiced with the nutrition I raced with, I just think it happened!

So I jump off the bike and the volunteers grabbed it and I thought oh shit my legs are cramping and I have 26.2 miles to go. I hobble, tring to fight the tears and grab my bag. I get to the change tent and both legs seize up again and I fall to my stomach. A volunteer starts to massage the right leg and says ok, I say the other one too! She says how was your hydration, I say ok, as I am trying to fight the pain I am feeling from her jsut rubbing my quads. She says the best thing for you to do is get up and walk, I say my hamstrings are locked up too, I roll over and she says oh my god they are like rocks! I am yelling at this point, I then get up change into my shoes and hat right there and she says I will take your bag for you and off I go. With all that this tranistion was faster than my T1.

Not scream so much.

I leave transition and there is an aid station I grab gatorade and water. 2 more steps and the legs seize up, I can't move again. I walk, I tell myself, you are going to have to run walk this thing and you are going to be in pain the whole time. I did the walk run thing for a while. Taking in as much salt and food that I can and my stomach is feeling better. My legs are not. I was expecting my legs to hurt, but not at mile 1! So I tried to stretch every so often and I would lift my leg to stretch my quad and my hamstring would cramp, it was like this for the first loop or 8.8 miles. But now I just try and run as long as I can and walk as little as possible. It seemed to get a bit better. It was funny, someone could type in a motivational saying for their athlete and you would see it on this overhead monitor right before you turn onto the bridge to head back for another loop. So any way, my wife types in "Keep the Dream Alive" You know, getting to Kona. Well I come up to it the first lap and it says M.Dillard-"GO BOB GO". I started busting out laughing, so each time I came around that made me laugh! So I just hobbled along and talked to a few people, saw lots of people blow by me, and I went by a few people, but this was a test of my will today and i was going to win. Got to the last mile marker and was like, wow I am almost finished. My goals at this time were 2 things. 1. beat my previous IM time and 2. Beat the sun! I did both! I crushed my old IM time by a whooping, are you ready for this? 1 SECOND. That's right, how the hell do you do that? I just had to laugh when I rounded the corner. I got my you are an Ironman call and I was happy to be done.

Not cramp up and laugh even more!

Sat my ass on the ground with a space blanket and tried to eat pizza and cold fries. Was happenin. My stomach didn't like much right now. Saw Chippy and Chris and told them I am going back to the hotel. Drank 1 Guiness that my wife brought me and that wasn't even very enjoyable.


?? I guess it was a combination of things. Wind, not enough long rides, and just a bad day for the stomach.


It was a great event put on by NA sports! A few complaints but nothing terrible. My special needs run bag was no where to be found and I needed a bandaid for a blister I got. the drink on the bike were hot, not warm, hot. THe aid stations on the run were awesome and the volunteers were just super!

So my wife thinks we should do this one togther or Lake Placid in 3 years! Hummmmm!
Great to meet all the BT folks. I did get to see Aaron(Jeepfleeb,and chippy on the run course once. I think chippy said something about it being windy out there?
Thanks to everyone who has supported me through this race, I didn't qualify for Kona but it was a great experience!