Hey Hey everyone, sorry for the long absence in replying about my 1st Ironman 70.3 in St George Utah.
First off St George area is amazing, loved it! Got to visit Zion National Park for 2 days, beyond amazing!
Alright so on to the race.
So my big race was the toughest I had taken yet. I certainly did not do nearly as well as I had hoped for. My overly optimistic goal of 5:30 was not going to happen, my secondary goal of 6:15-6:30 fell apart quite quickly on the bike course. My official finishing time was 7:37:26.
So the 1.2 mile swim start in Sand Hollow Reservoir with a water temp of about 64*. The water was beautiful and clear. In the initial warm up I dunked myself underwater a little too soon and sucked in a huge lung full of water about 2 minutes before the swim start. After recovering from this little mistake the race started. I got off to a strong start and started making progress through the pack. The course of counter-clockwise so I was breathing to my left as I like to look to the inside of the course. Despite my feeling comfortable in the pool during training in the open water while at race pace I was not getting in enough oxygen and basically almost hyperventilated during the first 1/3 of the course. I had to tread water for a moment to catch my breath and then restart breathing to the right. All progress was lost at this point. At the half way point a minor left shoulder pain that had happened during swim training popped up and said hello and started progressively started getting worse so I had to back off my pace even more. At this point I am now getting passed by folks that started in the swim waves after me. Trying to figure what the hell was happening as my swim, which I had thought was going to be my strongest part of the race, I realized I was not even kicking! What the hell. At this point I decide to simply get the swim done without blowing myself trying to catch up. I finish the swim in 37:38. Should have been in the low 32-34 minute range.
Get up and run into transition and start setting up on the bike, things are still looking good as I was in the first swim wave so still one of the early ones on the bike. I make a good transition and am on my way out of T1 for the 56 mile bike course. I get started and am feeling pretty good. I get into a decent pace and make a few initial passes and of course getting passed by faster folks, this would turn out to be the theme for the rest of the bike course. Mile 10 I was already feeling not so strong, by mile 20 I knew it was going to be a tough day. By mile 35 I knew I was in trouble, my arms where turning to jelly, the overall strength was quickly leaving my body. I just wanted to make it the rest stop before snow canyon, I wanted off the bike. I passed mile 40 and was all but begging for the rest stop. Finally at about mile 42 I hit the rest stop before the signature climb up snow canyon, the hardest part of the course. I was able to rest for about 5-10 minutes, ice myself down, refill water bottles, take in a energy gel and get back on the bike and finish this. Feeling rejuvenated as I started up into snow canyon. That lasted about a couple miles and then things started getting real bad, my legs where now starting to give out on me. I got about 3/4 of the way through the snow canyon climb and my legs where now in failure mode, I had to pull off to the side of the course and get off the bike before I fell off. As soon as I got off my quads when into full lock up and I could not move my legs, all I could do was stand there and try to massage them which hurt like hell. I actually started tearing up at this point as I had never had that happen and was afraid I was done that I would have to get picked up off the course.
After a few minutes of massaging and slow bending I was able to get the muscles to relax. I took off my bike shoes and walked for about a 1/2 mile and got back on the bike to finish the bike course. After a brief finish of the climb it was all down hill from here, right?? Ya, starting to head down the hill and getting hit with 20-30mph cross winds, then as the course curved these turned into headwinds. Can I just not get a break! How long must this torture endure? I finally make it into town and into T2, finally I am off the damn bike. Bike course took 3:50:43. I had hoped for a 2:45-3:00 hour finish.
Alright I am into my running shoes and on my way, yay only 13.1 mile run to go! As I am running out of transition there is a sunscreen station, I stop and hold my arms up high and hang onto the tent frame as 2 angels slathered my down in sunscreen. Alright here we go and run....I get past the initial crowds and its time to walk. The first 4 miles where so difficult, I am at this point totally fried, its hot, windy with sands blowing into my face and eyes. With aid stations every 1.5 miles I am able to start getting some recovery, gels, gatorade, water, ice water on the head, some of the residents had their hoses out and where offering water showers, I took advantage of everyone of these. Kids with water soakers spraying the runners down as they ran by, the community support during the entire race was amazing, but so much so during the run course.
About 1/2 into the course I run into Sunny, the wife of the Iron Cowboy who did 50 Ironmans in all 50 States in 50 Days! Look it up, its one of the most intense feats of human sports endurance. Anyways it was like meeting a celebrity on the run course. We talked for a few minutes and then I pulled off for my walking pit stop at the aid station and she kept on going. As I was coming up on the turn around she was coming at me and blew my a kiss, its moments like those that really pick up your spirits when your having a really tough day. That kept me running for pretty much the rest of the race. Although the last mile seemed like 5 miles, it just dragged on forever!
I did it, I found some inner strength and picked up the pace in the last 1/4 mile and ran strong all the way to the finish, the crowds where cheering, folks where reaching out to slap hands with the athletes, they called out my name, it was a epic moment coming down that final run chute. I had just finished one of the toughest undertakings in my lifetime.
Finished the run in 3:00:21
Official results located here: (Bib #788)
http://www.ironman.com/triat…/coverage/athlete-tracker.aspx…
I would like to thank the 2,600 volunteers that made this event possible, I would also like to thank the community of St. George for coming out and cheering all of the athletes. I will be returning next year to take on the challenge even stronger.
I am an Ironman!
