Ironman Louisville - TriathlonFull Ironman

The swim was a time trial start. We jumped in the water one-second apart so we didn't have the mass swim start as in most IM races. I was a little disappointed because I'd played in my head all year how I was going to adapt to kicking/slapping/grabbing, etc and I didn't get that opportunity. But jumping in, there was still some of that going on and I got all the water in my mouth that I'd wanted.

Under the last bridge, I swam up next to some older guy and he kicked me in the b***s. It was a little hard to breathe for the next 50 meters and I was trying to swallow them back down to my groin.

Overall, I never really felt like I was swimming all that hard and while it didn't feel "effortless," it felt very comfortable. As though it were a good warmup. I was able to keep pretty well balanced in the water and had a good smooth pull. I was unable to get a draft as I was pretty much swimming over or around people the entire swim. Only 3 people passed me on the swim but I passed countless people. The swim overall was MUCH better than I had EVER expected I would do.

My coach, Nancy, was in the last kyack at the exit so I swam up to her sidestroke and said, "Hey there Kyack lady!" She said, "Great swim Sean, now get out of the water!" I said, "It's not like I don't have another 10 hours to go or anything!" She replied, "Sean... get out of the water now!" :) LOL! But I was having so much FUN! :)

If I'd known how far back we were from the front, I would have gotten in line a little earlier. My swim time would probably been closer to 1 hour, maybe less, if I wasn't swimming over people or trying to get around them. But I only hit someone once, and that was on accident, so I felt good that I wasn't THAT guy knocking people around.

Because I'd done several swims in the river followed by a bike, I knew that I would be sticky coming out of the water. So I decided to wear a swim suit in the river, then change into my tri shorts for the bike and run. That way, I would try to head off any potential chaffing.

I rinsed off and put on my tri shorts w/ a big handful of Chamois butter. After a hot swim, nice cool chamois butter.... ahhhhh, nice! ;) I put on all my stuff, sprayed myself down w/ sunblock and ran out in my socks..... TO A MUDDY TRANSITION AREA! Argh!

Maybe put my socks on while on the bike while riding. Wet feet for almost 6 hours on the bike wasn't the best thing I've done. If I was trying to KQ, then I'd have gone bare minimum and swam in tri shorts... but I was out there to have fun, enjoy the day and try to make it under 12 hours.

The 2nd half of the bike was much hotter than the first. I enjoyed having water stops every 10 miles or so. I was able to dump very cold water on me to keep cool and on my head as well.

Maybe have used Infinit more. The Gatorade Endurance was just too sweet and I couldn't keep it down.

I got off the bike and my hip flexors were all tight. I had trouble running!

Stood up more on the bike and spent some time out of the saddle to work some other muscles. Other than being tight, I felt GREAT!

I'd planned on running a 3:30 on a good day and a 3:45 on a very bad day. So to run a 4:37... I was somewhat disappointed, but in retrospect, it was a good run given what I had to overcome.

I started out at about 7:45 pace and my goal was to run 8:30's for the first half and if I felt ok, pick it up and run has hard as I could, comfortably. Mile 2, I had to walk the first aid station as I was getting sick to my stomach. By mile 5, I was puking in the porta-potties. I started walking shortly after and by mile 9, I saw Dayna. I could tell she was disappointed that I was walking. I explained to her that I felt strong but I knew that I needed to walk to let my body get back to equilibrium so I could get fluids and nutrition in me; otherwise, I wouldn't be able to finish the marathon. She walked w/ me for 2 miles and I said I was going to try to start running again.

From mile 7 to mile 10, I did a walk/run. Walked the aid stations and tried to get water in me... but couldn't hold it down. I started running and after about 10 minutes a guy ran up next to me and I noticed his race nubmer said, "A. Baldwin." So I said,"Hey, arent't you the bachelor dude?" He said, "Yeah, come on." So we ran together for a while and talked. I thought he'd be some pompous, arrogant guy, but he was actually pretty cool. We were running around 7:30's at the time and I said I needed to back off a bit and to have a great finish. He gave me a high five and I slowed down.

I hit the turn-around point where you split to either finish or go back out for the 2nd loop. I turned the corner and my old TNT friends were there. A couple of my friends started running next to me for a while and they said I was running strong.

I decided at that point that I would try to run the rest of the 2nd half and I would still shoot to go under 12 hours. Going out to the last turn-around was up and down. I simply ran from aid station to aid station. At the turn-around, I figured out that if I ran 9 min miles the rest of the way that I'd make it under 12.

The last the 5 miles, I dug deep and ran sub-7 min miles to the finish!!!

When I saw the finish line, I felt like I was bulletproof! I remember when my foot hit the carpet that I had this rush of emotion come over me and then I saw the finish, then the announcer. He stepped out next to me and said, "Sean Saunders... YOU!!! Are and IRONMAN!" It sent chills throughout my whole body and I remember coming under the finish banner, hearing my chip beep and the tears just came uncontrollably down my face. I went to hug my Mom over the fence and my legs buckled... and the catchers caught me! Then held me up and I just hugged my Mom as hard as I could. I then hugged Dayna and thanked them both for supporting me.

Abby, my ex girlfriend, was a nurse at the finish line and came over and hugged me as they brought a finisher medal to me. I told her I couldn't hold any nutrition down and she said, "Come on, lets get you an IV. You'll feel like a million bucks." They put me in a wheel chair and took me to medical and 10 minutes later... I was being refilled. And she was right, I felt like a million bucks afterwards!

Overall, it was a good run. I wish I could have mustered enough to run then entire time but in retrospect, if I had run the entire time, I wouldn't have finished. I would have had a severe bonk because of not having enough nutrition to carry me through.

Medical tent and got an IV.


Heat. I'm not a good runner in the heat and my digestive system had shut down. Even though I tried to eat/drink, it just sat in my stomach and I would puke it up.


Kudos too all the volunteers and to the WTC. This was the most amazing experience of my life and I am SO PROUD to have become an Ironman in my hometown. The race was absolutely the most organized of ANY race I've ever seen, even with the change in the swim course.