login
Grand Columbian Ironman
-
No new posts
Grand Columbian Ironman - TriathlonFull Ironman
View Member's Race Log View other race reports
 Swim
Comments: i played lamprey for most of the race. after about 1/2 mile i found somebody who was going just about my speed and followed the bubble path. touched his feet a few times and sometimes i sped up a little and swam side by side, just in case he wanted to draft off me (i feel a bit guilty about drafting) but no. i intentionally slowed down during the last few hundred yards to let him come in first, although i had plenty of energy left. i know it's legal to draft, but i can't help but feel like a leech about it. What would you do differently?: nothing. it was as good of a swim as i could have hoped for. many, many people finished in less than an hour. conditions were perfect.  Transition 1
Comments: i suck at transitioning. i had to do a full change. i didn't want to ride in the crisp moring air (about 45 deg) with a wet top or bottom. bad decision. transitioning is by far my worst discipline. What would you do differently?: wear the bike outfit under the wetsuit and damn the cold.  Bike
Comments: the hills were no problem at all. i guess the SF Bay prepares you well for races with 7000'+ elevation gain. i don't consider myself a strong cyclist over all - it was the hills where i passed most people. i mentioned before that i forgot one crucial item. i rinsed and washed all of my gear Wednesday, including the (ahem) inserts of my cycling shoes. guess what stayed behind? i checked several times to make sure that my cycling shoes were packed, but who thinks about the inserts? i used the inserts out of my running shoes instead, but they are a bit too big and my feet went completely numb after about 20 miles. the bike course is a bit convoluted. not to make it too complicated - there's a 4 mile out and back for the IM which you share with 1/2 IM and ITU long course people who don't go out and back but go on. i managed to add 4.5 miles to my bike segment, because i listened to a volunteer who told me to go on when i asked him if i had to turn around here. he probably thought i was doing the 1/2. my fault. racers are required to know the course. still, it hurts. those extra 4.5 miles included an extra climb of about 200' and all in all probably cost me about 15 min in total. i might have gotten a ribbon... well, nothing ever goes 100% right. also, i got pretty good at peeing while riding. but i'll spare you the details. What would you do differently?: not forget the inserts. not ride an extra 4.5 miles. Transition 2
Comments: switching the inserts from my bike shoes to my running shoes cost some time. What would you do differently?: oh, i don't know. probably not forget those DAMN INSERTS again!  Run
Comments: my left leg hurt like hell during the first 6 miles. i still suffered from the damage sustained from my last 50k. i wasn't sure at all that i would be able to run the whole marathon. i figured i could probably hold my own during the first half and the run/walk the second. miraculously, most of the pain dissappeared after about mile 9. i still swallowed some Ibuprofen (first time ever i did that during a race) at the halfway point and maybe that helped, too. in any case, i managed to run the whole thing (except for the aids station stops, of course). what probably helped is that the gravel/dirt you run on is about as easy on the feet as it can get. my feet didn't hurt one bit after - maybe because they were so glad to get out of the biking shoe hell... i'm very, very happy that my legs didn't quit. i really don't know why i felt better during the 2nd loop - maybe i thrive on pain. What would you do differently?: this is the first marathon that took me over 4h. i'd try to run 2 sec a mile faster. Post race
What limited your ability to perform faster: wrong inserts in bike shoes. peeing like a race horse during the bike segment riding an extra 4.5 miles. not being fully recovered from my last 50k Event comments: i'm not sure if i'll ever do an Ironman again. the logistics just don't appeal to me. i always forget something. but i have to say - as far as 1/2 and full IM races go - the Grand Columbian takes the cake. everybody goes out of their way to make you feel special. the whole town. the clerks at safeway ask you about the race if you buy stuff that the locals wouldn't, the race bibs have your name on it. they even go to the pain of researching your race history and announcing it when you go through the finish chute. they even return your special needs bags to you! i can't imagine a better race environment. if you read this and are not set on an IMNA event - please DO consider the GC. you'll be part of a family there. now please excuse me. i need to take a nap. Last updated: 2006-03-27 12:00 AM
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
{postbutton}
 2006-09-18 3:30 PM |
 SF Bay Area, Mountain View |  Subject: Grand Columbian Ironman |
| 2006-09-18 5:19 PM in reply to: #544903 |
Extreme Veteran  351  Seattle | Subject: RE: Grand Columbian Ironman A) WOW! Your race was great, and you did better than you expected on the run, and your swim strategy was both useful and respectful of the other swimmer. B) So sorry about Portland. I cannot tell you how many times I've gotten lost there. It must the combination of bridges and rivers and intersecting highways, to say nothing of stress and being overtired. C) Nice thorough race report. More than just facts, also the ups and downs of the day. |
| 2006-09-18 8:04 PM in reply to: #544903 |
Master 1397 Granvile, Ohio | Subject: RE: Grand Columbian Ironman Nice job! Really sorry about all the trouble leading up to the race - you didn't have enough to worry about! Great job getting through it and finishing strong! Your report caught my eye since I've been eyeing this is the race since I got my butt off the couch! Just have a few more years to build up to it!  Thanks for reminding me never to be a bike volunteer!  |
| 2006-09-18 8:29 PM in reply to: #544903 |
Elite 3488 Lakewood, CO | Subject: RE: Grand Columbian Ironman Common, details about the proficiency, I could have used it this weekend  Congrats on the event. I pray logistics improve for you as you go on! |
| 2006-09-18 8:32 PM in reply to: #544903 |
Champion 5495 Whizzzzzlandia Silver member | Subject: RE: Grand Columbian Ironman Nice. Job. You rock. And you exceeded your goal. Bike shoe inserts be damned! You are one hell of an athlete, Harry! Now, you may go take a nap..... Whizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
|
| 2006-09-18 11:12 PM in reply to: #544903 |
Master 1862 San Mateo, CA | Subject: RE: Grand Columbian Ironman Wow! Fantastic performance, Awol. |
| 2006-09-19 9:39 AM in reply to: #544903 |
Champion 6931 Bellingham, Washington | Subject: RE: Grand Columbian Ironman Awesome job. Extra miles, inserts problem, long drive. DETERMINATION. |
| 2006-09-21 1:30 PM in reply to: #544903 |
Master 2052 Colorado | Subject: RE: Grand Columbian Ironman Wow! Great race! |
| 2006-09-21 2:00 PM in reply to: #544903 |
Veteran 172 Pittsburgh, PA | Subject: RE: Grand Columbian Ironman Dude, sorry to hear the whole thing wasn't positive and fun from start to finish. You are fassssst for having to deal Good job making the best of it |
| 2006-09-22 11:56 AM in reply to: #544903 |
| Extreme Veteran 340 Cary, NC | Subject: RE: Grand Columbian Ironman Yay! Great race report! I can't believe you drove.... that's an endurance event in and of itself! Yikes! But sounds like it was a well supported race and a good experience. Glad all that biking Skyline, etc. paid off!!!! |
| General Discussion-> Race Reports! |
{postbutton}
|
|
|
View profile
Add to friends
Go to training log
Go to race log
Send a message
View album
CONNECT WITH FACEBOOK
United States
65F / 18C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 8/67
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 4/14
off to a bad start. i packed up my gear wednesday and one of the points on my list was 'check oil on car'. so i did and oh no! the dipstick was completely dry. so off i went to find somebody who'd change oil within one hour and had synthetic 5W30 Mobile one and wasn't Jiffy Lube. as a result of that confusion i forgot to pack one crucial thing - more about that later.
i didn't sleep well. thoughts about what i might have forgot kept waking me up. i started my drive up to Portland OR bleary eyed and tired at 4:45AM.
the day was a blur of junk food, traffic jams, rain showers with a big dose of "this sucks!" attitude mixed in. it got worse once i reached Portland. Martina's flight was 2h late (we had planned on picking her up at the airport and driving on the next day to the Grand Coulee Dam) so once i found the hotel i went out to find some chinese take out food, so we wouldn't have to leave the hotel again.
as i was waiting for the order she called - "i've landed. come pick me up!"
so i went to find the airport. let me tell you - being tired, driving 15h straight, rain and darkness is not conducive to good navigation in a city you don't know - i took a wrong turn. called her on the cell to tell her that it was going to be a while.
"I can't believe you're that stupid!"
of course, she had had a bad flight herself, but the tone for the rest of the evening was set. there was not much talking that evening and the alarm clock went off again at 5AM Friday. 350 miles to go. 5h of sleep.
as i was trying to find my way out of Portland i took a wrong turn again - north on 205 instead of south to get on 84 west (in case any of you have ever driven through Portland and west.) so the tone was set again.
i felt like driving her back to the airport and just giving up at that point of time. i have a very hard time with people who react to things going wrong with bitching istead of trying to find solutions. too much information, i know.
i'll skip the rest of the sordid details. we ended up staying at a motel instead of camping, as planned...
i wish there was a thing such as a pre-race 'routine'. nothing pre-race has ever been 'routine' for me.
i had a hard time getting motivated. as i waded out into the water 5 min before the start i yelled at the top of my lungs "have a great race, everybody!"
the way people answered cheered me up a bit. so much for a warmup.