Ironman Louisville - TriathlonFull Ironman

I'm a back-of-packer swimmer. I'm not going to be fast anytime soon, so I don't try to be. I just try and be comfortable in the water, keep my heart rate low, and swim to the mantra of "smooth & steady". I found my (draft) ride a little after the turnaround and sat on his ankles all the way to water exit.

The water is murky and it makes seeing other swimmers under water difficult. I had to literally "sight" my draftee every few strokes, or risk losing my ride.

I know I probably added 5 minutes or so to my swim by drafting off this particular swimmer, but I know it saved me a lot of energy. And while I couldn't be sure at the time, the trade-off turned out to be worth it.

Not a thing...maybe just maybe look for a faster draftee.

Grabbed my bag on the way into the changing tent. Toweled off, socks on, shoes on, helmet on, apply sunsceen and bodyglide again...go!

At my bike, I clipped on my race belt and activated my MyAthlete GPS tracking device pulling a battery tab (which I was lucky enough to be one of their 40 beta testers at this race). Ran to the Bike Exit.

I immediately downed (2) GU gels, and washed it down with Gatorade and water.

Not much.

I decided long ago that the bike was where my finishing or DNF'ing the race would be decided. If I hammered too hard, the run was going to punish me even worse than it does anyway. So, going in to the race I was going to try and average 150-160 watts.

The good news is all my training in California was on very similar rolling hills terrain. Thank God! There were absolutely no surprises in terms of the amount of climbing I had to do.

But, I actually ended up calling an audible and held closer to an average of 100-120 watts as often as I could--lowering my target power expenditure bigtime (and at the last minute...just to be safe)! Sure, I often exceeded the range while climbing or making small speed adjustments, but the lower range of watts was now my goal. And, yes, I was passed a lot, but not that much as I expected, and I managed to still pace with (careful to be 4 bikes lengths back) a number of other seemingly strong riders for most of the day.

I saw more Draft Marshall action in this race more so than any of my previous 6 races. I was constantly hearing one of the 15 Draft Marshall's motorcycle teams riding up alongside us. Didn't bother me, I just found it interesting. I never saw anyone in the Penalty Tent though on my two passes by it, though after the race I heard a number of riders tell me they did (see riders in the Penalty Tent...which is good IMO!)

Knowing this was my first IM, I was advised by one of my Club coaches to ride like I was just "touring the countryside". I took this message to heart.

My nutrition plan: (3) GU/Roctane packets per hour, supplemented with lots of water and Gatorade along the way--approx. 350-375 calories/hr. Additionally, I supplemented with (1) Salt tab at the top of every hour on the bike; and ate bananas whenever they were offered at the aid station.

I was repeated advised by veteran IM racers that morning in the swim line to HYDRATE, HYDRATE, and HYDRATE some more. I took this message to heart and drank water and Gatorade like crazy.

This also meant I had to pee...ALOT! Like every 1/2 hour! I ended up (for the first time) just peeing on the bike and didn't even bother looking for a place to stop (with one or two exceptions) the whole race. And yes, the pee just runs down your leg and into your sock and shoe--gross! But, I didn't blister so I didn't care. I was careful to rinse off my thigh, leg, shoe with water after each peeing episode.

Train harder on the bike, so that my "easy pace" is faster.

T2 I took my time. I was no threat to any podium finisher, so I figured why the hell would I rush out of T2 in an Ironman? I rinsed off my whole body with water, and toweled off again. I had a second pair of clean socks in my Run Gear bag (S-C-O-R-E!) and was able to ditch my urine/sweat/water/gatorade-soaked socks, and put on clean fresh ones...to soak with urine/sweat/water/gatorade. :)

Applied BODYGLIDE bit time under my warms and on my sides above my jersey cutouts where I chafe sometimes. I applied a TON of sunscreen to my arms, back, lower back, and face.

Put on my running shoes, visor, and hat and headed out of the changing tent. Drank as much water as I could stomach on the way out.

Nothing.

It was HOT as hell in that crappy part of town. Later there were tree-lined boulevards, but you had to endure the inferno twice! Lots of racers succumbing to the heat, and having their IM dreams dashed--pros and AG'ers alike.

The aid stations every mile were a godsend. They had ice filled tubs with sponges, water, gatorade, flat Coke, gels, bananas, pretzels, etc.

My plan was to alternate a gel and salt-tab at every aid station. This worked well until Mile 17 when I somehow lost my salt-tabs.

Another audible I called during this race to "Galloway" my way through the marathon. I decided to do this literally as I ran out of the Run Exit. So, I would run for 5 minutes, then recover with a walk for 1 minute. Then, start running again. At the top of every hour, I rewarded myself with a 3 minute walk. At my pace, this dovetailed well enough with the aid stations with my breaks coinciding with the aid stations more often than not.

I believe my plan worked, because my body never denied me a restart of running after each minute of walk/recovery. I was going to extend the run periods...but the system was working and I didn't want to fix what weren't broke.

The second lap turn (with 12 miles to go) is cruelly within sight of the finishing chute and the Ironman archway. That's just plain WRONG. They couldn't turn you around like a block before you had to see that?

By mile 23 or was it 24 you hit the Ford motivational mile and know you're going to finish. That's a great feeling. I start running a little more now, and am soon hell bent for the finish line.

About 3 blocks out, I am almost at a full sprint. When I turn the corner onto Fourth Street and see the finishing chute, I am at full stride like I'm fresh up for running 400m repeats. I'm giving high-fives on the way in and just on Cloud 9.

Somewhere a block or two back from the finish line, I've even got the presence of mind to toss any/all crap (gels, sponges, whatever I've got tucked into my tri top), zipper up, and basically "primp" for a good finish photo!

Try to run longer and faster between walk/recoveries. But being this was my first IM, I didn't want to DNF.

I finished this race with alot (I think) left in the tank. I wasn't woozy or particularly tired. My finish-line attendant kept asking me if I was ok, to which I replied "yes", and he even asked me to slow down as I was walking so fast he said towards the KICC.

They gave me a cool Gatorade towel, too, instead of the aluminum blanket.

I walked over to the KICC, where the post-race athlete care center was. En the way over I admittedly broke into tears. What an unbelievable emotion that overcomes you when you set out a goal, train hard for so long, and finally accomplish it.


A possibly too conservative of a game plan. But, hey, stated goal was to "finish with a smile" and that was achieved. The next IM race will be for time.


Great race. But you need to be prepared for the heat. Highly recommended!