Ironman World Championship Race Report

Swim
Good: I got really lucky on the swim. I put myself in the middle pretty far back and I didn’t get too caught up in the thrashing. I took a few elbows but I felt like I was able to get some room pretty quick. I took both of the right turns as tight as I could right around the buoy and very strangely everyone else was taking the turns wide so I gained some time and missed the trashing scrum. On the way back in I got on a guys feet and just hung with him for a long time. Then a girl came whizzing by me and I wondered if I should jump on her feet, I decided to jump and hung on her slipstream for dear life till about 100 meters to go when the arch of my left foot cramped and seized up. I just thought I was very lucky it did not seize up earlier. Time 1:10. I’m happy with it.

Bad: Despite my lucky swim it still put me way, way behind.

Ugly: My torque swimskin helped me swim faster. Unfortunately it tore the skin of my arms and lats up pretty good as well. I would recommend anyone thinking of getting a torque to get the pro version not the elite like I had. The elite’s Fabric is closer to sandpaper and the Pro is closer to neoprene.

Bike
Good: I felt in control and under my limit the whole Bike. I think I rode the right pace. The last 2/3rds of the bike were very windy. A lot of people were really struggling to keep their bikes upright. I was bombing down a hill about to pass a guy when we got hit by a huge gust of cross wind. The guy in front of me came very close to biffing it on the bike but pulled out some evasive maneuvers to keep himself up right. If he had gone down I would have nailed him and we both would have been really jacked up. I biked a 4:51 slower that what I thought I could do but considering the wind I am ok with it.

Bad: It felt very hot and I got stung by a bee. The bee got stuck in my race bracelet and stung me. It hurt…Bad.

Ugly: I normally POUND the calories on the bike and I did that in this race also but it was hard. My stomach did not want anything in it. I had to force down the Gu and Ironman’s new drink called perform. My stomach bothered me a lot and kept telling me to stop putting things in it but it was so hot that I thought I really needed to drink a lot in order to keep from dehydrating. I ended up taking in too much and paid for it on the run:

Run
Good: I felt great I was able to run fast and my heart rate was lower than what I expected. I was able to cruise a majority of the time (other than the steeper hills) at between 6:30 and 7:30 miles. The Heat didn’t bother me too much. My time was just under 3:27

Bad: I had some major Gastro Intestinal distress. At mile 3 I stopped at a Porta potty. After that I was ok until around mile 12-14 I suddenly had to go again. I was between aid stations and I slowed way down to see if I could keep myself from going but then it just came. I diarrhea’d myself right there on the Queen K. I walked for a little bit and thought about what I should do and then I thought “Duh stupid” I better just keep running. A few miles later it happened again. I was close to a porta potty but didn’t make it. I got about half in my shorts and half in the porta potty. I kept running and I think it happened one more time… maybe not...I can’t remember for sure. Looking back I could have pushed myself harder on the run. I had gas left in the tank at the end and I guess I paced myself too conservatively. I would like to have changed two things on the run. First I would have liked to push myself to my limit and held a faster pace. Second I would have been wiser with my calorie intake on the bike thus avoiding the GI problems on the run. I think with these two changes I could have had a better run time.

Ugly: My shorts and Socks. I started the run with white socks and ended it with brown socks.

Overall My time was just under 9:35. It was an awesome experience. Racing against the best in the world was really cool. It was neat to be here with my friends. Keena, Jay, B.J. and Doug all had great races. Sean and Michelle also came to support us. It was great to have the support from all my friends at Power Tri. My final overall feeling when it was done is that I need to improve. I hope that I can get better at this whole thing.