The gun went off and I started swimming. It was so effortless. All I focused on was to find feet to draft and to keep my elbows high. I did not worry about my swim time. I am not a good swimmer so wasting a lot of energy on a 4 minute faster swim I deemed to be pointless. The goal for the swim was to simply take it easy, feel good and to conserve energy. I felt that I followed the plan just as we (Coach K and I) had set it up.

Nothing.

Once on the bike I felt the adrenaline starting to pump. Riding through town with the streets lined with people was very inspiring. I probably went out a bit too hard but I felt awesome. About 5 miles into the ride I relaxed a bit and let my heart rate settle in upper Z2/lower Z3. The first 40 miles are easy and fast without any major hills. The challenge starts with Richter Pass. According to my Garmin it’s about a 1200ft climb. I decided to take it fairly easy up Richter. No point wasting energy here because the next 80 miles consists of long rollers and the finale is a climb up to Yellow Lake. Around mile 70-75 I was tired of all the rollers. I felt pretty beat up but at the same time I knew that the climb up to Yellow Lake was just a round the corner so all I had to do was to focus on the last climb to then reap the rewards of the long fast stretch back into town.

Nutrition wise I gambled big time. I switched from Sustained Energy to InfinIT without having a chance to really test it in training. The stakes were high but it paid off. I had no GI issues and I felt it supported all my body’s needs.

Once I got back into town I realized that I was about to put up (for me) a pretty good bike split. I had hopped to do a 5:30 but more realistically a 5:40. 5:19 had never crossed my mind…


Nothing. I am not sure how to repeat this ride...

The run. Here is where I got into trouble. I felt great coming off the bike and my first mile was about a 7:30 and the second mile was around 7:45. My goal was to run at about 8:15 but faster if everything felt good. My 3rd mile took 8:05 and shortly thereafter my right hamstring started knotting up. I tried to relax and ignore it but once the cramping starts it will rarely go away. It got worse by the mile and I had to resort to the “shuffle”. By mile 10 I could no longer run/shuffle up the hills. I had to swallow my pride and walk. It felt terrible but I knew it was the right thing to do. Mile 10-16 is a bunch of rolling hills and that completely destroyed my hamstrings and now also my calves started to cramp. I was now in survival mode. When I looked at the watch at mile 13 I had been out for 8 hours and 36 minutes. I told myself that all I need to do now is run 9 minute miles and I would have a finish time of 10:37. 9 minute miles sounded so easy as I ran through the math but in reality it was impossible. With all the walking I had to do I did not stand a chance. I was not even sure if I would go under 11 hours. Around mile 16 I told myself that all I need is to get through this and I would never do this to myself again. Although I am signed up for IMCDA in 2009 I am not going to start. This is so stupid. Well, it is not called Ironman because it is easy. Once I got to mile 23 my attitude changed. In a strange way I was enjoying this painful experience. I was hurting really bad. By now, both my legs were completely knotted up and I have no idea how I made it to the finish line. The last mile was so unbelievably long but I also knew that I was going to make it. I was so full of joy when I crossed the finish line that I was not quite sure what to do with myself. All I could do was to smile and as I am typing this, I am still smiling.

Monday morning I signed up for IMC 09…


I need to stretch more and get a massage regularly.

Smiling!!!


I will most likely be back next year...!!