Race Report!

Pictures and "lessons learned" to come later...here is what I sent out to the CSU tri team:

I drove up on Thursday with Leigh, which took all day but we did manage to complete the drive in daylight. We stayed at a house about an hour from the race in Harrison, ID. On Friday I went to packet pickup and the expo for a bit, then rode the middle 30 miles of the bike course where most of the hills are, which was definitely worthwhile just to learn which turns I would have to brake for, and how to pace the hills.

On Saturday I swam a loop of the swim course. I had been worried about the cold water for a few weeks, but even though it was 58 degrees that morning it felt pretty comfortable in my sleeveless wetsuit, although I did get a new neoprene cap for this race which kept my head a bit warmer. I followed that up with a 20 minute run which felt super easy for the pace I was going, a good sign that my taper had been effective.

Saturday night I stayed with Wendy at her client Fred's house, which meant that instead of an hour drive I was only a 10 minute boat ride away from the race site Sunday morning. Unfortunately, I forgot my tri shorts so I had to wait around for my parents and Leigh to arrive 30 minutes before the start to get my uniform on and in the wetsuit. Because of the long, slow line to get to the beach, I only had a few minutes to get used to the water.

Since there are no separate waves in Ironman (besides the pros who went off at 6:25), all 2060 competitors began the race at the same time from a standing start on the beach, which was quite a sight to see from a spectator's point of view. As one of the those athletes, it actually wasn't all that bad either. I've dealt with more punching and kicking at collegiate nationals and the boulder stroke & strides. Anyway, the crowd became pretty thin after about 5 minutes and on the way back in the first loop, I actually lost contact with anyone to draft off, so on the 2nd loop I sprinted to catch a couple guys and sat on them for the rest of the swim. I came out of the water in 1:02:23, which is a few minutes slower than I thought I'd do, but significantly faster than my practice swim the day before, so I was pretty happy with that.

The transitions in Ironman are also different from your typical triathlon. Once I got out of the water, some volunteers took my wetsuit off and I was asssisted in changing for the bike (putting helmet on, power bars/gel flask in back pocket) by another volunteer in the changing tent, and ran off to my bike, clipped in and began the 112 mile bike course.

The bike course was 2 loops of basically 20 miles flat, 25 miles hilly, 10 miles flat.
First 10 miles - ate a powerbar right away, dropped chain going up hill but quick to fix and no other mechanicals.
10-20 kept it easy, let dozens of guys pass me, tried to stay w/ women bc they pace better, and look better too. I was worried when a 21 year old dude blew by me around mile 20, so fast that I couldn't have stayed with him even if I wanted to, so I figured this kid was either the next Lance and there's no way I would beat him anyway, or he would blow up and I'd get him on the run.
20-30 hills begin, keep getting passed, but kept reminding myself that patience was key, and that I was on pace for a pretty good bike split if I didn't slow down, regardless of what everyone else was doing. For nutrition I was only using on course stuff to keep things simple and was shooting for 1 pwerbar, 1 gel, and 1 gatorade/water an hour.
30-40 passed Wendy, she was on the roadside w/ a broken chain but got a fix and came back w/ a ridiculous run to get 4th in her age group and a Kona slot, great job! I still was patient and kept a moderate intensity.
40-56 - back into town, slight downhill but headwind, so just tried to keep a steady effort, 1st loop in 2:40
56-70 - began to pass people back, found myself alone for about 10 miles and was starting to get tired, but that was because I had gotten off my nutitrition plan. Once a got another powerbar felt a lot more energy just in time for the hills.
70-90 - 2nd loop of hills, definitely pushed harder than 1st time and began to move up in the field for the first time on the bike.
90-112 - continued to push hills, settled in to place. Came up to a group of 4 guys whow were clearly less than the legal distance from each other, that would pass and slow, then I would pass, only to get caught by them again. This happened a few times, finally one of them got busted around mile 105. At this point I decided to sit back and stay out of this nonsense, and keep an easier effort than if I were alone. I figured that the minute or 2 I'd lose on the bike would be made up for in the run, as I was starting to feel pretty cooked and was wondering if I'd pushed too hard on the bike, so I came in with a 5 minute fade for a total of 5:25, although some of this may have been the headwind picking up on the 2nd loop.

T2 - similar to T1, volunteer grabbed my bike at the line and I grabbed my run gear bag, put shoes, watch, and hat on in tent, and began the marathon! I was still wondering if I'd biked too hard, but when I hit the first mile in 6:43 that question was answered. I had to reign myself, but settled into a 7:20ish pace by the third mile. On the first loop, spectators kept encouraging me by saying how strong I looked - to which I replied, 'It's easy to look strong at mile 3'. Around mile 4 I passed the one guy in my age group who I knew was ahead of me, the same dude who blew by on the bike. I think I returned the favor. By the 1st turnaround in the 7th mile I was beginning to feel the fatigue, but kept taking in plenty of water, gatorade, coke, and a gel every 3 miles. I knew I was pretty far up in the amatuer field, but didn't know for sure that I was first in my age group, which is what I thought I would need for the Kona slot. Oddly though, since I knew I was on pace for a sub 10 hour finish I didn't feel any huge urgency, and would be happy with that time no matter what place it got me. I came through the half marathon in around 1:35, saw my cheering section around mile 15 and headed out for the 2nd loop. At this point I was still keeping pace in the 7:20s, but it was getting harder every mile and moments of doubt became more and more common. There were times when I didn't know if I'd be able to run for another 5 minutes let alone 10 miles, but usually a power gel would fix this in a few minutes. Still, miles 18-24 were a very dark place mentally as there wasn't much of a crowd for support besides the aid stations, and my pace began to slip to the 7:40s and 7:50s. Somehow I made it through and things began to get better in the last 2-3 miles, knowing I was so close to the finish. At this point I'd been on my feet longer, in terms of time, than I had ever run before, but as I made the final turn to the finish I wanted the moment to last much longer than it actually would. I felt like a pro for a few seconds as I was giving high fives to the crowd on the way to the finish line which I reached in a total time of 9:48:10, finshing the race with a 3:15 marathon. I was so excited that I don't think I can remember the announcer saying "You are an Ironman!". Right then I found out from my parents and Leigh that I'd won my age group and was going to Hawaii!! I don't think I could have better fans and supporters than them, and in strange constrast to my immediate response from my first marathon ("Never let me do this again"), I couldn't wait to sign up the next morning. So I'll be taking it easy for the next few weeks before gearing up for a few late summer/fall races, culminating in the world championships in Kona!