login
 Swim
Comments: I am a plodder...and my time shows it...but I never stopped and I felt like I belonged out there. I improved my time by 20 minutes over barely making the cutoff at Wisconsin last fall. What would you do differently?: Learn to swim better...but what am I gonna do? Cry?  Transition 1
Comments: Great help in the transition from the volunteers. Took my time.  Bike
Comments: I rode very easy on the first loop. I made sure to get the planned nutrition into my body and not cramp up in the legs. I did a negative split on the second loop as I pounded the hills in the afternoon. I never crammped thus giving myself a real chance at actually running during the marathon. What would you do differently?: I need a new BIKE! When you get out coasted every time by riders you just passed on the uphill you know something is amiss. Transition 2
Comments: Being in T2 was euphoric. I knew I had made it then.  Run
Comments: I would guess that I was able to do my 11 mile pace for 20 total miles. My knees are the limiting factor at mile 18 so I thought I would mix a short walk into each mile from the beginning. The first 4 miles I just soaked it in. The crowd was great, I had a smile on my face. I kept plugging and never let myself walk to long at one stretch. I was there to run, not walk, but eventually the pain in my knees got too bad to run very fast for very long. But honestly, the knee pain was nothing to the thought of the cramping pain I had avoided through proper management. I was happy. Post race
Warm down: Massage, Pizza, Get the bike over to Tri-Bike, carry my own bags to my car, drive myself back to B&B, sleep. Event comments: I may not ever do another full Ironman and here is why... I am not sure that with my knees they way they are I would ever be able to actually run the marathon. I didn't race the Ironman...I survived it. I really like racing. So maybe I do Olympic Distance and Half Iron for a while and see how that goes. Also, I love the training but I stopped doing the other things I love doing (Racquetball, Squash, Ultimate Frisbee) during training so that I would not get injured. I don't think I want to commit to that anymore. And one other thing. According to the race stats my swim was worst compared to the field and my run was the best. In my mind, however, I felt proudest of my swim and least proud of my run/walk. I want to race at a distance where my mind matches my performance. What would I accomplish by doing another Ironman? Maybe I trim an hour off my time? I would rather, at this point, push myself to go under 5h30 for a half and be able to say that I went hard from start to finish. Does anyone have a similiar take on it? Can anyone give me a good reason to stay focused on doing Ironman? Last updated: 2007-06-27 12:00 AM
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
View profile
Add to friends
Go to training log
Go to race log
Send a message
View album
CONNECT WITH FACEBOOK
United States
Ironman North America
Sunny
Overall Rank = 1821/2196
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 288/322
I was on my own in CDA for my second attempt at Ironman after crashing my bike in the rain at Madison last year. I woke up early, was one of the first to get body marked and then went from item to item through my checklist of things to do...get 300 calories in me by 530am, pump up my tires, drop off my SN bags, etc. I was well rested, completely uninjured, and knew that the weather would be perfect all day.
I am not a fast swimmer but I had done the loop of the swim on Thursday morning and again on Friday...I was not scared at all. I was very, very shocked to hear the pre-race annoucement for a Duathlon option. I really thought that everyone would come to the same conclusion and do the swim regardless of their apprehension. I don't understand the decision to even give a choice. Is it Ironman or not? As I exited the transition tent and ran toward my bike I saw several athletes who had quit the swim after one loop in the HOT TUB! And then I saw them pass me later on the bike! Not right. I feel badly for them...if they had not had the choice they would have done just fine and not gone home with the gnawing regrets.
The gun went off and I hit the waves with the hopes of doing 1h40.