Ironman St. George - Utah : Official Thread (Page 41)

sportyj - 2010-05-02 11:40 PM Anyone have race reports up yet?

gcirongirl - 2010-05-02 11:53 PM Yup. Just got back from the ER. I guess the NSAIDS upset my stomach which compounded the dehydration and sent me into a spiral that I needed a little medical attention to come back from. I had no idea that NSAIDS were so bad. Now I know. Next year. . . vindication is mine!

furiousferret - 2010-05-02 9:42 PM 1 more to DNF...

I woke up just fine, didn't really have any nerves for it being my first IM event; well I did days before but race morning I was fine.  I even slept on the bus to the swim.

Finished the swim just fine, a little slower than I wanted (1:49), I had to stop behind a buoy and use my inhaler (no biggie), stopped and sighted too much but the water wasn't too cold for me and I exited fresh.

Started the bike, immediately ate a Clif Bar, 2 GU's, and some Gatorade.  At about mile 22 I felt a tad bit off, half the food I ate would come up.  At the second loop I stopped eating and drinking which seemed to fix it.  The hills killed me, but I think they killed everyone else.  At about 4:30 and the winds started.  On the descent into St George I almost went down from a gust while going 45 mph.  That was sketchy.  My goal was to get off the bike fresh and my legs did feel good, not great, but ready to run.

I got off the bike and started the run.  I started cramping really bad and my lower back would just tighten up in pain; like someone put it in a vise grip.  When I tried to run it would get worse.  The plan then was to walk it off until it went away.  I tried everything at the aid stations, chicken broth, gatorade, coke, chips, it wouldn't go away.  Finally after 10 miles I saw an EMT, they told me I was dehydrated and I was sent to the med tent.  Being carted off the course was pretty humiliating, the driver didn't say a word to me, just asked for my bib and chip, and the racers were waving at me on the course.  I really don't wish it upon anyone.

When I got to the med tent tent, the volunteer told me they weren't seeing anyone.  I really didn't know what to do after that because at that point I really wasn't feeling good at all.  People were congratulating me on the race but telling them I did not finish put me in tears; good thing I had my sunglasses on.  I tried to walk back to my hotel, realized I wasn't going to make it, and laid down on a bench in front of a store, still in the same clothes I was running in.  I didn't want to talk to anyone, see anyone, I just wanted to be alone.  

I have no idea how long I was there but finally a nice local family asked if I was okay and I asked them to contact my wife on their cell.  She picked me up, got my bike and wetsuit and we left.  When I got to the room the cramps kept me up all night, they went away around 10 am today.  I still haven't slept.

That was probably the most humiliating day of my life.

I wasn't going to post this but decided that reading this may help another finish.  This forum usually posts the positives but its good to know how bad the negatives really are.  




 

Sully_Joe - 2010-05-03 8:11 AM Just sat on a plain with one of the officials and a pro from Asia, and both stated that as of Sunday morning they are figuring this race has the highest percentage of DNF in recent history, and possibly the highest since the M-Dot series started.  Both used the word Epic when talking about the course.  I agree.

bctri21 - 2010-05-03 10:31 AM



Will do, Mike.  Thanks for keeping me inline bud.  Being young tends to have me putting my foot in my mouth a lot.

bctri21 - 2010-05-03 9:25 AM I don't want to sounds cynical, but I do have a thought or two about the course. It is unfortunate that there were so many that DNF; however, I think that this is not a result of a brutal course or epic hills.  The bike wasn't any worse than Silverman IMO.  I talked to a couple of people who came into the course with 8 weeks training, and there were those that signed up because "it was in my back yard and I have always wanted to do one". Those same people said they have never done a triathlon let alone an ironman.  I think that we are seeing the popularity of the sport coming about. 

rbalazs - 2010-05-03 11:06 AM Congratulations to everyone who finished what may be the toughest IronMan course there is. For those that didn't finish, congratulations on getting to the starting line. You will perservere and you WILL get the next one. At the awards banquet they said there were 272 DNF's, 2nd most in any IronMan. 1st was Wisconsin a few years ago when they had record heat. EVERY athlete that was on the podium in my age group had done Kona before and they ALL said this race is tougher than Kona. 10:51 and 4th in my age group. I've got one more IronMan this year October 9 in Kona, Hawaii. Full race report will be posted soon.

tcovert - 2010-05-03 10:05 AM



You do sound a bit cynical, IMO.  And also a little disrespectful of some hard-working people who DNFed not because they weren't tough enough, but because they didn't want to end up hospitalized.

I don't think "the popularity" of triathlon had anything to do with the fact that there was a higher percentage of DNFs than at almost any other NA Ironman ever.  I guarantee you there were more "impulse" entrants at a race like IMAZ than there were at this one.  IMSG took forever to sell out...I'm pretty sure people approached with caution, between the course profile and the need to do winter training.  Only 700 athletes out of over 2000 supposedly were first-timers.  Personally, I trained harder and more specifically for this course than for my first IM and still finished a whole lot slower.

About Silverman:  People played the "Silverman" card a couple times over the weekend and I found that a little annoying, frankly.  I don't think anyone questions that Silverman's bike course is harder...but so what?  The swim there isn't as cold--which was a major source of DNFs and general struggles on Saturday--and the run has significantly less climbing compared to IMSG.  My Garmin showed about 3000' of total climbing (and almost no flats) on the IMSG run, but even discounting that for likely inaccuracy, there's an absolute minimum net altitude gain on each of the two loops of 500' from Town Square to the top of the course and 250' from the turnaround to the top, so there's unquestionably over 1500' of gain (not to say actual total climbing, which is more)...Silverman says their run course has less than 1300' of gain.

The bike course isn't the real challenge at IMSG and I didn't think it would be going in, honestly--people were mostly making the cutoff there from what I saw and heard.  But people were really struggling with the run.  In that respect, I think IMSG plays out like Wildflower:  Reputation for a tough ride, but really a tougher run.

tcovert - 2010-05-03 10:05 AM

About Silverman:  People played the "Silverman" card a couple times over the weekend and I found that a little annoying, frankly.  I don't think anyone questions that Silverman's bike course is harder...but so what?  The swim there isn't as cold--which was a major source of DNFs and general struggles on Saturday--and the run has significantly less climbing compared to IMSG.  My Garmin showed about 3000' of total climbing (and almost no flats) on the IMSG run, but even discounting that for likely inaccuracy, there's an absolute minimum net altitude gain on each of the two loops of 500' from Town Square to the top of the course and 250' from the turnaround to the top, so there's unquestionably over 1500' of gain (not to say actual total climbing, which is more)...Silverman says their run course has less than 1300' of gain.

The bike course isn't the real challenge at IMSG and I didn't think it would be going in, honestly--people were mostly making the cutoff there from what I saw and heard.  But people were really struggling with the run.  In that respect, I think IMSG plays out like Wildflower:  Reputation for a tough ride, but really a tougher run.