Ironman St. George - Utah - TriathlonFull Ironman

When they say the swim starts at 7:00am, they are not shitting... There were a LOT of racers that were behind and caught in the line to get across the timing mat and into the lake. Just about when I was going to get into the water, I realized I still had my nice Crocks on! I had to quickly find a volunteer and beg them to put them in my T1 bag. If I lost them, I would be sad, but that's what I get for being absent minded (Mistake #4 - I think that's what I'm up to now!)

Anyway, got that sorted out and was JUST about to step into the water when BANG!!!! The canon! Myself, and about 400 other athletes still on the beach just stared at each other for a second like WTF!!! I just raced into the water and swam as fast as I could to the starting line which was a good 150 meters from the beach. I easily added 2-3 minutes to my swim time starting so far behind (mistake #5). BTW, never used the silicon cap - last minute decision and I didn't need it.

The swim was GREAT. The cold water didn't bother me and I felt like I was going at a pretty good clip. Felt stong, breathing was easy, navagation was spot on. BEST swim I ever had at that distance.

I really didn't draft anyone, because I started too far back and ended up having to get past a TON of people. I would guess I passed about 500-600 people, easy.

WARNING!!!! MINOR ELITIST RANT!!!! People, PLEASE learn how to sight. Sorry if this offends anyone reading. Nothing is more frustrating to finally find someone to draft and have them pull up every 30 seconds to breast stroke and sight while I swim up your back... I know this sounds cocky, but I need to be up with the better swimmers who know how to do it.

One funny little story. I was side by side with two other swimmers as we made our first turn (I was in the middle) when the outside swimmer realized they needed to turn. SO, they just cut the corner and basically just swam over my, and the inside swimmer's head. We both sort of stopped and looked at each other and were a bit shocked at the "asshole" but shrugged it off and kept on going.

I guess the water was pretty rough for a lot of the swimmers and several were pulled due to hypothermia. I personally didn't have an issue. I loved it. The swim was the best part of my race.

Here is where the ominous part comes in. I DID notice some tightning of my lower back due to the ice water. It was beginning to sieze up, but thought it would be ok after getting out of the water.

One shitty thing about being top 1/3 out of the water? Is seeing so many people pass you on the bike. It was around 600 people... Ick.

A little slow. I dressed OUTSIDE the tent since it was packed inside. I also decided NOT to use my custom made arm warmers since it felt pretty good out of the water. Then I had to make my way through an over filled tent and out to my bike...

I felt strong out of the water and hit the bike hard - Probably too hard, looking back on it. The weather was perfect. Sunny, low winds, low temps. I did the first 22 miles before the loops start with an average pace of over 16 mph. I DID notice that my HR was sky high, but my legs just felt so strong. I thought it could just be race nerves/excitement, so I ignored it thinking it would go back to normal after I settled in a bit. I was doing EXACTLY like I did in training. Following my nutrition plan and everything... I knew I trained well for the ride, and I was going to trust my training.

The first sign of something going wrong was when I hit mile 30, I realized "I'm tired". How could that be? I surely could go further than this and not feel tired. I did it dozens of times during training.

The first half of the bike was decent, I was on my pace to hit 13.5 to 14 hours for the race, so I was good. However, at mile 56, I was even MORE tired. That's the first time I EVER felt like I was going to quit a race. I had the idea that I would just finish the ride, and not go on to run. This is also when my back started to act up from the swim. I never had this issue during training, so it HAD to be the cold swim. My back was hurting SO much, I could not stay in earo for more than 30-60 seconds before I was cringing. I tried to stretch it out to no avail.

The second loop was even worse. I was more fatigued, and now the winds had picked up. I realized if I was going to have ANY chance of starting the run, I need to throttle back and get my HR into Z2. Every hill was a struggle and I was quick to get into my easy gears, which frustrated me to no end. There were two SUPER steep hills at about mile 45 and 90 that some people even had to walk up.

Also, some of the downhills were SO fast, that I had to scrub speed on four different sections, which I hated to have to do. I'm just not that brave. I looked down once and was doing 45. That, combined with a crappy road surface and cross winds, had me a bit nervous. I had to back it off a bit.

To be honest, the thought of quitting entered my mind MANY times during the second loop. What made it harder was the fact I HAVE done an IM before, so what's there to prove? I'm already an Ironman.

I just didn't know what was wrong with me. I pretty much followed my nutrition plan, legs felt strong, but I had NO energy. The thought of doing a full marathon actually almost made me nauseous. I had decided that once I finished the bike, I was at least going to get out on the run course. I could quit anytime at any aid station, but I thought I would at least give it a shot even though I didn't think I had it in me. My back was also REALLY hurting, but I hoped (and I was correct) that getting in an "upright" position and on my feet, would help. It did.

Side note: About at mile 30, I felt a "pop" on my helmet and a sharp pain in my right bicep. A kamikaze bee bounced off my lid and landed ass first into my arm. I brushed him off but the stinger was still there. Tough to get a stinger out doing 25mph on a bike...

I said it before, and I will say it again. Big guys and hills don't get along.

No excuses for the pace on this one. I did stop to pee, but other than just take a small break, I have no excuses.

Go faster?

I can't even call this a "run". It was jog/walk. It was SO frustrating to have the strength in my legs, but just NO energy. I felt no pain or cramping. I felt like I could dunk a basketball or do a set of squates if I had to. I felt STRONG, but I would run 50 yards then have nothing in the tank. When I did run, my form felt good, but just got winded after seconds.

I wasn't sure what it was. I thought maybe I didn't drink enough, so I started to try to rehydrate. Maybe it was calories, so I had some bananas and some cookies to try to get some sugar in me. Nothing. After a while, I just switched to water and barely felt like I wanted that.

This course was hilly. I played all kinds of games to get through the first half. I told myself to walk the uphills, then run the downhill side. Then I switched up to run the space between two traffic cones, then walk to the next one and repeat (they were set about 100 feet apart). WHATEVER it took to finish. I told myself, I could quit if I had to, at the half way point.

Well, got to the 13.1 miles and decided to head back out. Again, I could quit any time I wanted. Then I got to the point of no return and started thinking, "how could I quit with only a half mary to go?" Worse yet, how could I face anyone for quiting with just 10k to go? So I plugged on with my jog/walk.

I kept an eye on my watch, and thought I had a chance to break 15 hours, but made a small mistake in timing and ended up just seconds over that mark.

Medical tent and massage. I tried to eat and drink, but could barely hold anything down. I didn't vomit, but I didn't test myself either. I knew if I did eat, it wasn't going to stay down. After about an hour, I ended up getting a a couple pieces of pizza in me afterall.


Health/fluids/nutrition?


Not sure what to think about this one. I know I sound like a jerk when I say I'm disapointed with my time when it's such a good acomplishment to just finish an IM. But I trained hard and KNEW I could do better than I did but had a bad day.

It was during the run that I decided to not race IM any more. It's just to hard on me and not enjoyable.

I LOVE training for an IM. In fact, I only race because I trained for it. Sort of the MUST DO after all the time I put in. But other than the swim and first 30 miles on the bike, I didn't enjoy ONE SECOND of being out there.

Even when I heard the shouts of hundreds of spectators and Mike Reilly say "James Yancey, YOU are an IRONMAN!!!" Cool, but not worth the agony.

I think I like the exquisit pain of Oly length races. Race so hard till you puke, but at least you know it's over in less than 3 hours. 15 hours on an IM course is not fun at all. I didn't even get to enjoy the beautiful course and it IS beautiful in St. George. Great place to do some training rides, I would say.

After "officially" retiring from IM racing during the race, about 8 hours later, I decided I will race IM again if, and ONLY if, I can lose 40 lbs. 24 hours later I decided that I don't have to lose the 40 lbs as long as I just do a flat/fast course, like IMFL or IMAZ... So much for my retirement! Just call me Farvre.

I did set a PR. I was about 3 minutes faster here than Silverman a year and a half ago.

Proof that I didn't/couldn't push myself hard enough (or my training is better) is that I'm not very sore after the race. My legs feel fine. After my first IM (and my open marathon) I could barely get up and down steps or sit down in a chair. After this? It's less than 48 hours later, and I may go out for a run or ride.

I also have a cold. I felt it the morning after the race and thought that it was post race affects and would go away. Nope it's a full blown cold. I can't say it's the reason I did poorly, since I felt FINE race day and didn't have any symptoms, but maybe, just maybe, it was already in my body and stressed it enough to leave me with no energy. I know to expect pain and fatigue while racing, so I didn't think to look at if it could have been a health issue.

I'll just say it was a weird combination of nutrition/fluids/health... Swim and bike times were right on. Run times were about 2 minutes/mile slower than in training, but it WAS a harder course... Maybe I just had a bad day...

ChrisM from BT asked me a good question. One that I thought myself during the race. I have done Silverman and now this course. Which was harder? For me, it was this one. I struggled mentally and physically. More than I did at Silverman AND I was in FAR better shape for this one. I wonder if the mental challange gets tougher after you did an IM or two. What do you have to prove anymore?

As the hours and days go by, I take more joy in the fact I toed the line and finished and care less about how I felt or my finish time. It was a pure joy to be in the company of so many hard working athletes and great volunteers.

I was almost more moved by a St. George employee who help coordinate the even said that the race was, the culmination of her hard work, was probably the best day of her career and was tearing up while presenting at the awards lunch. It makes me take another look at how IM impacts everyone envolved, not just the athletes. It's a good group to be included in.