2008 Toyota Challenge (Formerly Pineman) - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I raced in the Clydesdale division for the first time ever, so I had no one I knew in my start group. My wife, Alice raced the oly distance and my racing buddy Jeremy raced in the AG division so they had gone out in waves before me. When I hit the water I sprinted out the first 300 yards to the first turn buoy. Then I settled in and just cruised. It was an uneventful swim. The chop was higher than I’ve ever swam in but that was actually kind of fun. On the second loop one of the turn buoys had come loose and drifted…somewhere. At first I thought that I had missed a buoy but I came out of the water and looked for it, didn’t see it and decided to go on. I exited the water and saw Jeremy’s son, Joseph. He told me that his dad had not come out of the water yet. Cool, he went in before me and I’m out of the water before him, a good sign for me.


Nothing

I'm estimating the times for transitions, bike and run from here on out. Though the timing company got my swim time and overall time only the time for the swim was recorded. I think the times are accurate to the minute only.
It was a good T1. I was excited to try out my new Cervelo P2C that my wife bought for me a few weeks ago. On my way out of transition I saw Jeremy come in, so I knew he was not that far behind me.


Nothing

I didn't want to go out too hard on the bike. I was hoping for a 3:12 split. I had planed to give myself a bit of business to do on each lap. Lap one was to get my bike gloves on, get my HR down, eat a GU and drink 2 bottles of fluids. Check. I completed lap one in almost exactly one hour. During lap 2 I wanted to eat my Cliff bar, take two Aleve, and again drink 2 bottles of fluid. Check. Lap 2 took me 1:05. My lap three business consisted of 2 GU’s, 2 bottles of fluid and more sunscreen. Check. My tummy was beginning to bother me so I took two tums that I had packed in my binto box. Lap three was the hardest. The wind had really picked up on this lap and going into the headwind I was only able to hit about a 12mph average. Thankfully the headwind only lasted 2.5 miles or so at the beginning and then another mile at the end. It was brutal. There was only about 2 miles where there was not some kind of strong wind or hills and this section was over too quickly. Loop three took me about 1:11. I passed Jeremy on each loop at a 180 degree turnaround. Each time he seemed farther behind me. I learned after the race he had a flat on the first loop and spent 9 minutes fixing it.

I LOVE my new Cervelo P2C. Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU to my wonderful wife of 10 years who bought it for me for our 10 year anniversry (I got her a new race belt, seems even :)).


I dunno, pick a race that was not so windy?

Again this time is estimated. Contrary to my last HIM 3 weeks ago I felt really good coming off the bike. Joseph and Alice (who had finished her oly by this time) were there to cheer me on. I jogged into transition and racked up. Alice said at the last loop Jeremy was 11 minutes behind me. I got my shoes and hat on, sprayed some more sunscreen on, met Alice at the transition exit and gave her a big kiss. Then, off to run.


Nothing

The run was the most difficult part of the day for me. I jogged the first 8 minutes and walked for about 90 seconds, then I hit the mile one marker at 9:45. Whoa, that’s too fast. The course goes over a grassy area then over a dam. The grassy area was the hardest running. When I got to the dam I decided I needed to stretch out. I stretched my calves and tried to stretch my quads but each time I did my hamstrings would cramp up. I pressed on. I used a walk/run to get me to the first turn around 3.25 miles away. There I found a veritable smorgasbord of treats! Water! 2 cups, Heed! 1 cup, salt tabs! 2, a banana! yes please, a hammer jell! of course, Ice! that went really well in the hat, and one more cup of water. Refreshed and bummed that there was no after dinner mint I started running again. I checked my watch so I could calculate how much ground Jeremy had made up. I passed him 7:30 later, doubled it and came up with a 15 minute lead. What’s going on here? He’s a much better runner than me.
During this section I had a tail wind and used it. I made it to the halfway point in about 1:10. 6.55 miles to go. I walked a bit here and took an opportunity to rehydrate at an aid station. Again I had a tail wind and decided to use it to make up some time. When I passed Jeremy again I had opened up a 17-18 minute lead.
The wind had gotten so strong by now it was blowing the porta-johns over at the aid stations as well as the cups and jells. I made it back to the turn around in about 40 minutes. I ate more bananas, Jells, water and salt tabs and knew the last 3.25 miles were not going to be fun. I was hurting.
When I passed Jeremy the last time he was walking, he said he’d finish but couldn’t run anymore. I was at least 22 minutes ahead. As I turned right to go over the dam the wind was brutal. This was wind from hurricane Ike. I was leaning into it and taking small steps. At one point, while going over the dam, a gust blew me into the side rail. I decided I’d get to the finish by jogging 100 steps and walking for one minute. Joseph met me with about a quarter mile to go and ran in with me. The last 100 yards my calves were really cramping up. I’d try to jog but couldn’t. At one point I had to stop and massage them. I finally made it across the finish line in 6:31:08. A PR by almost 15 minutes.
As I crossed the finish line I threw my arms in the air and yelled “for the first time EVER, I beat my training partner, WHO-HOO!”


Run more. The wind was really bad though. Alot of people dropped out.

Ate some food, changed clothes and waited for Jeremy to cross the finish line. Alice massaged my calves a little. One of the HFP workers came up to see if I was alright. He said this was the most brutal HIM I’d ever race, due to the wind.
When Jeremy crossed the announcer said “here comes Jeremy crossing the finish line, for the first time behind David!” Then I had to explain to Jeremy that I really didn’t put him up to that.



The wind, not being completely recovered from my last HIM 3 weeks ago.


HFP did the best they could with what the day brought them. The volunteers were great. They could have more post race food though.