Ironman Arizona - TriathlonFull Ironman

I started about half way between the buoys and the south edge of the lake near the back of the pack. Swimming is not my strong suit, so my plan was to just hang near the back and try not to get mauled. My plan worked great. It was crowded for the first 20 minutes or so, but really not nearly as bad as I had expected. I think I got lucky in that it appeared that I was in the midst of a large group of women who in my experience tend to be much better at swimming in a straight line than men. One women accidentally kicked me in the chest and immediately stopped and turned around and asked if I was OK which I was and I told her no problem.

Because I'm so slow, there were not traffic issues on the return leg of the swim. My body felt great, I felt like I was navigating pretty well and my shoulders didn't hurt. When I got to the stairs and saw 1:33 I was pleased, I had hoped to be faster, but this pace was actually faster than my pace during the SOMA half, so I can't complain.

Not much during the race. More swim training and coaching would obviously help.

Everything was good, the wet suit strippers were awesome and the transition volunteers had my bag for me. The tent had already cleared somewhat, so I was able to find a chair. I think the sunscreen people got a show they might not have wanted as I was standing naked applying chamois butter when I noticed that the tent has a large door opening about 10 feet away.

I guess I could have been faster, but I wanted to make sure that I got my feet dry and had everything I would need. Saving a few minutes in transition doesn't really seem that important on a race this long.

Coming out of transition on the bike was great, all the spectators and volunteers made it a lot of fun. But as soon as I hit Rio Salado I felt this wind. WTF! I was expecting heat with calm winds, but it was apparent that we would get heat and wind. So I just settled in and tried to take it easy. I passed a lot of people on the first leg out, but I was keeping my watts low and it was tough because I had to either pass or risk drafting. I also needed to find clear space because I was constantly blowing farmer johns to clear my nose as best I could.

I was alternating Gatorade and water in my aero bottle, and was doing OK the first leg out. One guy even asked me if I was on my second lap! At that point only like 4 male pros had passed us. I assured him that I was just a slow swimmer with a fancy bike.

After the 1st turn around my stomach started to make it's self known. I was still able to eat and drink, but it was not happy. I decided to take it even easier to see if I could settle my stomach as I knew it was too early to have stomach issues. Looking back, I think I also eased up to much on the fluid intake as well.

By the time I was on my way back out on the second lap, my stomach was really hurting and I was having trouble getting much down. I found that my stomach felt a little better if I got out of the aero bars and sat upright. I think a few people were thinking why is this guy sitting straight upright into this brutal headwind, but it seemed like it was helping my stomach.

By the third lap, I couldn't really hold any fluids or food at all. I was also getting worried, because I had only had one meager pee at the bike 1/2 way turn around.

Need more training and more experimenting with nutrition. I think I should have tried more watter with a few salt tablets and risk bonking and just stopped the calories all together. The thought of orange Gatorade at this point makes me sick.

My body actually felt great. My legs, knees, shoulders and even my rear end didn't really hurt. My feet hurt a lot. I think I might splurge on some of those shoes where they heat the soles and mold them to your foot.

I knew that I needed to get some fluids down, so I figured I'd take my time in the transition tent. I sat right in front of the large fan, and slowly changed clothes.

I talked to Harry (hjmiii) in the transition tent, he said he was also having nutrition problems and was doing an extended T2 to regroup.

Not much given my situation. I might have tried to muscle down more water.

I came out of transition and figured I'd walk a little to get my legs under me. I started to run (jog) after about 1/2 mile. My legs actually felt fine, no cramps or any pain really. But my stomach was getting worse by the minute. At this point I couldn't hold anything down. I was hitting only pretzels and water at each aid station, but I don't think it was staying down long enough to get much absorption.

I was running the numbers in my head, and figured that if I could average 15 minute miles, I could finish with about 40 minutes to spare before the cut off. To do a 15 minute mile, I needed to jog about 5 minutes and walk the other 10. My plan was on the flats to try to jog the first 5 minutes after each aid station, then walk the remainder. I made one additional rule that I would walk all up-hill sections and jog all down-hill sections regardless of the time.

When I got to the "motivational mile" where your family posts things on the big screen, there was a message for me which said something like "Go Daddy Go". I cried about half way back across the mill avenue bridge.

I made it the rest of the way through the first lap following my run-walk plan. By the end of the first lap the sun was down. I was really hoping that once it cooled off things would come back around. But I just kept getting worse. I wasn't drinking or eating anything by the start of the second lap and I was finding it tougher to maintain my 5 on 10 off routine.

Shortly after the run special needs (which I only stopped to collect my spare socks), my head began to hurt really bad and I was getting very dizzy. I was having trouble keeping a clear focus on the lights of the next aid station as I headed east from the run special needs.

At that point I started to worry that I might be risking my health as I have never had such a bad headache or gotten so dizzy (without alcohol). When I got to "run aid 5" which on the second lap would equate to somewhere around 12 or 13 miles I decided that I'd had enough. The medical guy at the aid station called for a SAG wagon.

Better conditioning and better nutrition practice.

Took a ride on the Gator with Tempe EMS back to the medical tent. Had a couple of pit stops to dry heave.

They took me right back to the medical tent and gave me two liters of IV fluids. I started to feel better. The policy is that if you need more than two liters they send you to the hospital, which I really didn't want. So I went back to the in-laws with my wife.

My wife being the good nurse that she is started a new IV on me at home and got another liter of fluids in me which really seemed to do the trick.


Bad hydration/nutrition.

I don't know what this means, but as of day 3 post race, my body feels fine. My legs were a little stiff, but that's about it. No blisters, no knee pain, nothing.


Although this sounds like a miserable experience, I actually had a lot of fun. I don't remember once thinking to myself "why am I doing this?". Since prior to April 13 I had never swam 2.4 miles, biked 112 nor ran a marathon much less all at the same time, I think I learned a lot. I'm really looking forward to IMAZ November. I've got 7 months to train and do more experimenting with nutrition, etc. There's no way it's going to be this hot in November and I'll actually be able to train outside. Plus with the long summer days hopefully I can increase the training time without impacting family time.

While yes, I wish I had finished, that's not really what this whole thing is about for me. I enjoy the training, anticipation, the race experience and weirdly I think even the suffering is a net positive experience. I learned a lot about the IM distance and about myself. I was under-trained and I suffered the consequences. No regrets, in fact I think I'm more hooked on this stuff than I was before the race.

All the volunteers and people cheering were awesome. Can't wait 'til November.