I got a lot of great advice from the Womens and dipped my toe over in the main forum as well and said I'd post the aftermath. Most of you probably wonder who all those DFL folks are and how they end up waking up one day deciding to do a HIM. Well, that would be me :)
I dunno, you do a few Olys and think, OK, I got the swim. You do a marathon, a couple 1/2 marys and think, OK, I got the run. You do a smattering of centuries and think, OK, I can do the bike. It's when you rack your bike and think OMFG, I've still got 13.1 miles to run that it sinks in.......
So here goes:
I'm upright and ambulatory (and perish the thought, a week later thinking about trying it again some day) The hubster and I headed to Yellowstone & Tetons afterwards and I kept moving, so that was good, but overall I feel just a bit that I was clearly in over my head, but I did finish, which is more than a lot of folks who were DNS and DNFs which I don't think show on the results page anymore.
I am in awe of all of you who continue to do HIM after HIM and, <gulp> IM / IM after IM. Not sure I have the HTFU gene to keep on at that level.....
I did manage to meet up with Sto, Lilpups and Centermiddy, who I appreciate did utter the words "we don't get paid to do this."
Yeah, I show up pretty much DFL for the whole thing. Lots of lessons learned. I really only started out hoping I'd finish in 7:30, *maybe* 7:00. I had these what at first were conservative time estimates of 1 hr swim, 4 hr bike, 3 hr run, thinking I'd slightly exceed that and feel OK, but that turned out to pretty much be it.
The 2:00 p.m. start time IMHO sucked. I thought it would hamper my physical ability being a morning person but all I did was spend hours and hours fretting, using up valuable energy. I was pretty much in tears just before heading into the swim corral at what I'd gotten myself into.
I followed a 20 week Beginner HIM plan, that probably wasn't as tough as it should be. It got me to the finish, but it. was. not. pretty.
I was in the first wave after the pros and ballparked the rectangle swim as each buoy turn being 500 yards and some change for the 2112, so when the next wave after mine went off and I was more than halfway to the first buoy I felt pretty good. Once I turned the first buoy, it all went to shit. The wind kicked in and I did things I'd never done before in a race, stopped to catch my breath. I'd crane my neck back at the finish (bad idea) and a couple times thought, OMG, I might have to bag it but somehow had the fortitude to carry on.
When I rounded the last buoy and was near the finish and they were still doing wave starts, I had a renewed energy. I thought, "Wow, I haven't been out here for hours!!!" The wetsuit strippers were my favorite part of the whole dern thing! (I posted a video on the Speed for Rent page of FaceBook)
As others have probably said over and over the swim was tough and maybe a tad long. The weather seemed like it'd hold at the beginning of the bike but then the downpours ensued and all I kept thinking was, hmm, I guess I really could pee on the bike and no one would know :-> I became so cold that I kept dreaming of my rain jacket, envious of the few I saw with one, and even ended up lingering in a portapotty to warm up. Yeah, pathetic.
I really felt the bike course coulda used another portapotty at an unmanned aid station. My bladder was about to burst by the 2nd station and I was almost in tears by the time I got there. Somehow I remembered at the Athlete Briefing they said the stations were 15, 30 & 45 but that was incorrect. The 2nd was more like mile 35 and trying to pedal and not pee is a Herculean task.
By the bike finish, all I thought was OMG, I still have to run 13. 1 miles. It was a 2 loop course, which actually mentally made it easier. I just thought one loop at a time. In T2, I was so cold and wet and demoralized, I truly did not care about time. My T2 time looks like I was having a friggin picnic, but I headed out and just put one foot in front of the other.
When I rounded into the 2nd loop, I decided I could really cut myself some slack and walk most of it and still make it in before the announcer shut down for the night. But somehow I hobbled along.
I'm still trying to figure out why I became so bloated. My after photos I look at least 10 lbs heavier. On the run I ended up eating things I never did before just to try to feel better, chips, pretzels, Coke. The thought of another Gu made me wretch. I don't know if I overhydrated with water during the frigid bike and underconsumed electrolytes? Again, my inexperience screaming out at me.
The people of Boise were great! Everyone I'd meet was so hospitable. The support on the course was top notch. The hub and I really like the whole city. Thanks, Sto, for all the great recommendations. The course I think is a good one. I live in one of the flattest places on earth and didn't think it was too bad hill wise, but I'm a turtle so didn't worry about speed. I did like the organization and support that an Ironman event has but again, boo hiss to 2:00 p.m. and also boo hiss to no practic swim in Lucky Peak.....
I'll be really curious to see how that plays out for next year's entries, b/c seems to me even HIM vets didn't care for it. A local run store in Boise (triple hearsay :) said that they changed the time because the city would not let Ironman shut the streets down Friday night.
So it's back to the drawing board.......................
I dunno, you do a few Olys and think, OK, I got the swim. You do a marathon, a couple 1/2 marys and think, OK, I got the run. You do a smattering of centuries and think, OK, I can do the bike. It's when you rack your bike and think OMFG, I've still got 13.1 miles to run that it sinks in.......
So here goes:
I'm upright and ambulatory (and perish the thought, a week later thinking about trying it again some day) The hubster and I headed to Yellowstone & Tetons afterwards and I kept moving, so that was good, but overall I feel just a bit that I was clearly in over my head, but I did finish, which is more than a lot of folks who were DNS and DNFs which I don't think show on the results page anymore.
I am in awe of all of you who continue to do HIM after HIM and, <gulp> IM / IM after IM. Not sure I have the HTFU gene to keep on at that level.....
I did manage to meet up with Sto, Lilpups and Centermiddy, who I appreciate did utter the words "we don't get paid to do this."
Yeah, I show up pretty much DFL for the whole thing. Lots of lessons learned. I really only started out hoping I'd finish in 7:30, *maybe* 7:00. I had these what at first were conservative time estimates of 1 hr swim, 4 hr bike, 3 hr run, thinking I'd slightly exceed that and feel OK, but that turned out to pretty much be it.
The 2:00 p.m. start time IMHO sucked. I thought it would hamper my physical ability being a morning person but all I did was spend hours and hours fretting, using up valuable energy. I was pretty much in tears just before heading into the swim corral at what I'd gotten myself into.
I followed a 20 week Beginner HIM plan, that probably wasn't as tough as it should be. It got me to the finish, but it. was. not. pretty.
I was in the first wave after the pros and ballparked the rectangle swim as each buoy turn being 500 yards and some change for the 2112, so when the next wave after mine went off and I was more than halfway to the first buoy I felt pretty good. Once I turned the first buoy, it all went to shit. The wind kicked in and I did things I'd never done before in a race, stopped to catch my breath. I'd crane my neck back at the finish (bad idea) and a couple times thought, OMG, I might have to bag it but somehow had the fortitude to carry on.
When I rounded the last buoy and was near the finish and they were still doing wave starts, I had a renewed energy. I thought, "Wow, I haven't been out here for hours!!!" The wetsuit strippers were my favorite part of the whole dern thing! (I posted a video on the Speed for Rent page of FaceBook)
As others have probably said over and over the swim was tough and maybe a tad long. The weather seemed like it'd hold at the beginning of the bike but then the downpours ensued and all I kept thinking was, hmm, I guess I really could pee on the bike and no one would know :-> I became so cold that I kept dreaming of my rain jacket, envious of the few I saw with one, and even ended up lingering in a portapotty to warm up. Yeah, pathetic.
I really felt the bike course coulda used another portapotty at an unmanned aid station. My bladder was about to burst by the 2nd station and I was almost in tears by the time I got there. Somehow I remembered at the Athlete Briefing they said the stations were 15, 30 & 45 but that was incorrect. The 2nd was more like mile 35 and trying to pedal and not pee is a Herculean task.
By the bike finish, all I thought was OMG, I still have to run 13. 1 miles. It was a 2 loop course, which actually mentally made it easier. I just thought one loop at a time. In T2, I was so cold and wet and demoralized, I truly did not care about time. My T2 time looks like I was having a friggin picnic, but I headed out and just put one foot in front of the other.
When I rounded into the 2nd loop, I decided I could really cut myself some slack and walk most of it and still make it in before the announcer shut down for the night. But somehow I hobbled along.
I'm still trying to figure out why I became so bloated. My after photos I look at least 10 lbs heavier. On the run I ended up eating things I never did before just to try to feel better, chips, pretzels, Coke. The thought of another Gu made me wretch. I don't know if I overhydrated with water during the frigid bike and underconsumed electrolytes? Again, my inexperience screaming out at me.
The people of Boise were great! Everyone I'd meet was so hospitable. The support on the course was top notch. The hub and I really like the whole city. Thanks, Sto, for all the great recommendations. The course I think is a good one. I live in one of the flattest places on earth and didn't think it was too bad hill wise, but I'm a turtle so didn't worry about speed. I did like the organization and support that an Ironman event has but again, boo hiss to 2:00 p.m. and also boo hiss to no practic swim in Lucky Peak.....
I'll be really curious to see how that plays out for next year's entries, b/c seems to me even HIM vets didn't care for it. A local run store in Boise (triple hearsay :) said that they changed the time because the city would not let Ironman shut the streets down Friday night.
So it's back to the drawing board.......................