Complete disaster. 1:02/5:34/7:05. IMWI 2003. Overbiked a bit, but more importantly, completely pooched nutrition/hydration. By mile 75 on the bike I was in deep shit - not sweating, and I remember that my black shorts were gray due to all the salt. Pulled into T2, threw my helmet in the corner and laid down for a few min trying to decide if I was really going to put my body trough the run. Decided that if this was going to be my only IM, it wasn't going to be a DNF and headed out. Shuffled through the first mile or so out of town and then it was an agonizing walk/shuffle/dry heave through the rest of the "run". I think I "ran" the last 20 m or so through the chute but felt no sense of accomplishment. I might have busted out crying if there was any moisture left in my body at the time. I think I was down 12 pounds the next day. Good times.

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"The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare" - Juma Ikangaa

http://www.litespeed.com

Oct ‘82 Kona, there were no other Ironman race. $100. Entry fee
Remember, this was andventure, not a race for most of us.
I had a descent swim for a guy that trained in the small pool at our apartment. 1:2_
The bike ride was fun until about mile 80 and the headwind kicked in. I was feeling pretty tired riding along Ali’i Dr to the Old Kona Surf. 6:3_
Tough run up the hill, but at least there was some breeze. At the bottom of the hill, back on Ali’i, very hot and humid. Sat for a while, then jogged and walked out past the Airport and back to the finish, swearing never to do another Ironman. But the last 1/4 Mile I ran and smiled and cried and smiled and hurt. Finished in 14:56
A couple Bud Lights Later and a message and I hobbled off to the for a Big Mac.
16 Iron distance races later and dozens of 70.3 I have never qualified to make it back, but will try again when I age up to 65 in 2020. Yup, I have entered every lottery since- no luck!
I did do Honu this year and confirmed that the Big Island is a STUPID place to have the greatest race ever ;)

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Team Zoot So Cal

Brutal, humbling and painful. Made every newbie mistake in the book. Decided halfway through the bike that 1/2 a banana every 20 miles was just perfect nutrition. Needless to say that didn't work out well. Cried on the bike hoping i would be pulled off the course so the pain would stop. Cried on the bike because i didn't want to be pulled off. Stopped eating at mile 7 of the 'run'. Finished in 15:09 after being warned once on the bike and 3 times on the run to pick it up. Finished inside the time limit by the skin of my teeth. Seeing 13 family members/friends out there with team shirts was great. Great memories. Signed up for another one 6 weeks afterwards and signed up for 2019 already.

My first was in some ways my best. I probably performed closer to my potential in that one than any other, I think because I had no expectations about pace and just went out and did it. As I got faster, I became more ambitious, and failed in a variety of ways. Those later races were faster than the first, but less well executed.

If I do another, I'll try to remember that lesson.

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Michael

Loved it! After 6 months of training primarily indoors in Iraq, I loved being in open water, having fresh air for the bike, and running someplace other than around a parking lot. Plus, my time was much better than I thought it would be. ETA: blog posts

https://jmsenger.blogspot.com/...part-i-pre-race.html
https://jmsenger.blogspot.com/...art-ii-race-day.html
https://jmsenger.blogspot.com/...-final-thoughts.html

It was hard. As hard as the first marathon after doing halves.
Swim was good, under hour, but it was IMLOU, so downstream, so overall as good as I expected.

On bike I faded on mile 90, dropping 20-25 watt.

The run started good and I surprised that I was able to keep my target pace of about 7min/mile. May be because I rested on the bike. It was good till mile 19, then I faded again. May be it was nutritional, I think I consumed only about 1600 calories during the whole race. It was very painful. I was even considered walking breaks, but managed to jog to the finish line. 10:15 total time.

.... well it began by realizing I forgot my wetsuit at the hotel when I arrived at t1 by bus....

Here you go, grab a beer or other adult beverage, sit back and enjoy the ride into Kona, day 1!!!!!



https://www.slowtwitch.com/...blog_Part_I__64.html

https://www.slowtwitch.com/...log_Part_II__71.html

https://www.slowtwitch.com/...og_Part_III__72.html

Good and bad.

IM Switz in 2008, and it went from 30c on Friday to 15c on Sunday morning with cold rain. I did not have any cold weather gear so the bike was spent shivering and dropping my nutrition at what seemed every turn. I got through the bike, and once running, I found that I had ok legs but was so underfueled that I nearly fell apart and took on more Red Bull than in my college days. I kept it together and finished 5min from a Kona slot, which made me so angry as I was given a 6min penalty for some BS drafting call, as a whole peloton was passing me!

I did love the race, the course and the city, so I did my second IM there a year later!

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"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." T.S. Elliot | Cycle2Tri.com
Sponsors: SciCon | | Every Man Jack

1984, Iowa, McBride St. Park. The race was somehow connected to John Howard, of early IM fame. Lake was glass, but cold. Wetsuits weren't a thing yet, and we slathered with vaseline to keep from hypothermia. It was only my 2nd OWS, but went ok in 1:21. I don't remember my bike or run splits, but I finished in 8th place overall with a 12:38:42. My hand written logs and scrap books have been lost to time, moves, marriages. I rode a steel 12 speed Centurion, before Dave Scott made them famous. Aero bars weren't a thing yet either. I fueled with gatorade and fig newtons. I ran in Nike Pegasus, (originals before they started numbering them). We got a finishers coffee mug, with our name/time/place fired into it in gold lettering. I used that mug at work, for over 25 years, and still don't know what finally happened to it. I don't remember it being too hard, but I was young, and had a number of marathons and centuries under my belt. The best memory was run-walking with several folks... all in the same condition, and all trying to beat the setting sun to the finish line.

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Athlinks / Strava

Well... This is a bit of an extended story as there is a long build up to for the full Ironman story...

After following a mate that raced IM I thought what a way to see what kind of endurance athlete I can be. Coming from a cycling background I thought two years learning how to swim and run, do an IM before 40 and say bucket list ticked off. So it was just an idea when my mate entered Melbourne IM for it's inaugural year. I was away for work but I let him stay at my place for the race as he lived in another state. I got home a few days later all excited and decided to enter Melbourne the following year. I found a coach and started learning how to swim and run...

Having no idea I thought I will race Auckland 70.3 two months before and Geelong 70.3 a month before and I will be set. I was doing this what seemed an insane amount of training and always seemed tired. Five weeks before Auckland a car turned in front of me while I was out riding in the aero position doing close to 50km/h at the time and I had two thoughts. 'I don't want to put me head into the passengers window or I'll break my neck' so I pulled hard left and 'this isn't going to end well.' I flew across the hood and almost went through the shield. Next thing I know I am on the ground with a guy standing over me telling me not to move as an ambulance is coming. I thought I'm ok, I might be sore tomorrow but I'm fine. The guy kept insisting don't move and I kept insisting I'm fine let me get off the road. After the ensuing argument and him trying to hold me down I took a swing at him. He backed off and came into hold me down again so I took another swing and he backed away. I got up and went and sat down on the edge of the road realising it looked like I had been part of an axe murder and I was covered in blood. I laid down and then it felt like grenade went off inside me adrenaline running out and the pain kicked in. I realised this was serious and I cried 'there goes my Ironman, Ive worked so hard.'

Fast forward to the hospital I was found to have severe bleeding on the brain, two broken transverse process off my spine and a broken scapula. My neck had been slashed open and I had a severed nerve. The bones would heal naturally and I had surgery to reattach the nerve and stitch me up. I got out of hospital three days later. I went through a bout of depression as I had constant headaches, was in severe pain, couldn't sleep and it was degrading having to sit on a seat in my shower and was myself with a bucket as I couldn't get my wounds wet.

As the headaches started to wear off and I got more mobility I decided the only way to get out of my depression was don't give up and aim for the Ironman. So two and a half weeks later I got on my road bike and rode easy to Mordialloc a standard ride here in Melbourne some 55km. I was shitting myself when a car came within a suburb of me but by the time I got home I was fucked. It felt like a had just completed an IM but it felt good to be training again. The following day I rode to Frankston 85km and the next Mt Eliza 100km each time being a shattered mess when I got home. So the next day at three weeks after the accident I decided to go for a run and think I ran about 7km easy and then sent for a OW swim, swimming almost with one arm as my scapula screamed with each stroke. I emailed my coach and said start giving me a program we're racing Auckland still in two weeks.

I raced Auckland and Geelong my first two triathlons and was all set for Melbourne IM. I had no idea with so many things including my pre race meal. I need some carbs I though so ate two baked sweet potatoes with chicken topping pretty much. I got up for the race and drove to the start to find the wind was howling and the race start was delayed as they didn't know what to do as the water was so rough. They were moving buoys left right and centre eventually working out that we would swim 1.5km. Don't dumb it down for the weaker swimmers I thought. After 1.5km in the water as rough as it was hoping not to drown I thought thank fuck for that making it to the bike.

Finally out on the bike I had the idea having read about calculating IM power based on FTP and the like that I would aim to average 260W (big overestimate). So once I got a clear space I looked down at my Garmin trying to gauge what 260W felt like, the guy in front of me moved across and all of a sudden there was another wheel in my view looking down. FUCK!!! I hit the poor guy and down we both went taking out the guy behind. Are you ok? Are you ok? Questions were asked and I thought maybe selfishly after all I have been through my day isn't supposed to end like this and nothing is going to be solved now working this out, so I jumped on my bike and took off. Not my proudest moment... My head was all over the place but eventually I found my 260W. Tailwind out, head back, two laps and by the return of the last lap I was fucked with 40km still to ride. I guy came past and I jumped on his wheel drafting hard not so much to cheat but just to survive... Sure enough I got done for drafting so I spent a penalty at the end of the bike but I was shattered starting the run.

I pushed as hard as I could was running ok but at about 20km my stomach started to get cramps and had me worried. Eventually I farted, no more pain and thought thank god for that, a few minutes later it did it again and again until the space between it happening was getting shorter. All of a sudden I thought 'if I don't shit soon it will be in my tri suit.' Lucky for me I rounded the corner and there was an aid station with porta loo. I opened the door while desperately ripping down my tri suit and it was a horrible site inside. I kind of aimed my rear towards the hole not wanting to sit and unleashed armageddon being two baked potatoes (lesson to self no fibre the day before and IM). I looked back and the toilet looked a far worse state than when I went in there (sorry those behind me) but I had a race to finish so I was off. From here it was just suffer like a dog I can't tell you how I happy I was for the suffering to have ended. What a fucking stupid sport!

That was 2013 and I have now completed 9 Ironmans still not content with how good of athlete I can be...

My first was, lets call it an attempt to enter. It was in late 1990s, pre internet era, IMC in Penticton. I called the race organizer in June asking if it is too early to inquire about signing up for that years race at the end of August. This was the time when IMC sold out within hours the year before. They never called back, probably thinking what a dickhead.

So I entered next year. I trained a bit of everything, did a half iron, entered my first marathon and finished in 3:25, so I figured I'll be OK, my longest bike was 90km or so, I figured that should do it. The swim went well, under an hour but I was always a good swimmer. The disaster hit some 90 or so km into the ride. I had Powergels only figuring one every 30 min should be fine. After a while I got sick of the bloody gels and couldn't eat them any more, the rest you all know...Cramps in every muscle, pain, pain, pain, the ambulance guys asked me if I want a ride back. I finished the bike in 6hrs or so and the rest was a death march of some 6.5 hrs. I got 3 IV bags at the medical tent. Later that night I had a sudden thought that, as strange as it may sound, during this entire ordeal not once I thought of quitting.

Probably the single most satisfying thing I have done in terms of sport. I raced almost exactly to my potential, saved myself from a huge bonk on the run with sound race management, and made good on six months of focussed training and effort (plus the years getting to the stage where I could do that training). It was a better feeling than finishing my first 50 mile ultra as I knew I had rung just about every ounce out of what I had. I was 10:58 and I think at best I could have gone 10:45 but I could have been a whole lot slower and enjoyed it much less.

IM Wales in 2017.

12hrs 52mins of freezing cold, pissing with rain, stormy, windy horribleness. It wasn't that hard from a physical perspective as i'd trained pretty consistently and took it steady (hence the time). tbh the bike course was so hilly and wet that trying to go fast would have been suicidal so it was more of a mental game of trying to smile through endless rain and wind and not die of cold. A horrible, horrible day.

I can't wait to do another one.

Pretty good all things considered, and bearing in mind that I realised as I was at the start line that I'd never actually swum, biked or run any of the distances solo before and was about to attempt them consecutively. The ugly was, as usual, my swim but was happy to just get out of the water in reasonable shape. The bad was the second half of the bike when I realised that sticking a set of clip-on aerobars on my road bike the week before the race without riding more than ~20 miles on them probably wasn't a great idea. And neither was wearing a new pair of tri shoes which also hadn't been used on any long, hot rides and turned out to be ever so slightly tight when my feet swelled up in the heat. So last 20 miles of the bike were pretty agonising with my lower back seizing up and my feet in agony. The good was the run - putting trainers on was such a relief that I genuinely enjoyed the first few miles. Then realised I was feeling pretty decent and was actually able to run the whole thing with pretty much even splits which was certainly a pleasant surprise given that I'd never run a marathon and everybody had told me that most people walked at some point on the run.

Finished overall with a time of 12:37 with a 1:30ish swim, 6:40ish bike and 4:11 run. Had only done a handful of tris beforehand, had no swimming coaching and an ill-fitting wetsuit, had done a fair bit of cycling but was on a road bike with box rims and aforementioned clip-ons with a lousy position. I wasn't very good at keeping training logs but I'd be surprised if my biggest training week was much more than 10 hours, and many were much less than that. The one thing I was pretty good at was religiously getting in a long run every week and I'd done maybe 10 runs in the 15-20 mile range which I think is what set me up well for the marathon. And I genuinely loved every minute of the day - I was high fiving spectators, chatting to people on the run, one of the most fun races I've done and probably more so going in with no expectations on time and just a hope that I could get round.\

I made a mistake on the run course and had to run an extra 5 miles

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

Like most I guess good and bad. Mont Tremblant.

Good...no, great, in that my goal was to finish, and I did, somewhere around 12.5 hours. I've never been a distance runner and always end up doing some walking in the full IM's (working on it...).
The bad in that I was so destroyed at the end, I walked into the hotel room about 45 minutes after finishing and told my wife I was never doing another race of any kind again. lol. Next morning I signed up for the 70,3 the following June. :)
That was 2012, I've since done every 70.3 they've held there, and 5 of the full IM's. Next year will be both again. :)

My first ironman was IMWI in 2014. Definitely an experience I will keep with me for the rest of my life. Watching the sunrise over lake Monona was absolutely beautiful and definitely helped calm my nerves before the start as I'm not a very good swimmer. I remembered someone telling me once that, surprisingly, the day and race go by quickly. I was so happy finally getting out of the water; was a bit worried that if my day were to end early it would be there. All in all, the swim wasn't too bad -- got kicked a couple time early but after the first 15 minutes or so, people started to spread out. The bike was really enjoyable and, unlike my training rides on the same course, I felt pretty good at the end. Normally my legs are toast after about 90 miles. Having the spectators, often dressed up in costumes, cheer you on by the tough hills was a blast. Actually made me look forward to the hills. The first 16 miles of the run were surprisingly easy. Again, the spectators were great. Running along state street in madison with the crowds and running through camp randall stadium made things at least feel easy. Mile 17 is where it hit me though. It's amazing how quickly that 'wall' comes about. I swear I went from feeling great to feeling as though my legs were full of lead in about 5 minutes time. But you know what, I didn't care -- only ten miles left. When you're at the point when you know you absolutely will finish, it doesn't matter what your legs feel like; you still feel great. What I remember most though is the last 200 yards -- the crowds cheering you on and you knowing that you've accomplished something that you couldn't have imagined doing years earlier.

IMLOU in 2016, IMAZ will be my second here in a couple months

Swim went great, swam farther out from the shore to take advantage of current, worked as I was 8th in AG out of the water.
Bike was pretty good but I must have drank too much of that Ohio river because I just had to stop at a port-a-potty and that seem like the longest whizz of my life. Cool having volunteers there to hold your bike. Almost went down when dude in front of my took a turn too fast hitting a speed bump ejecting both of his set mounted water bottles.
Run, well I was undertrained due to injury so just wasn't sure how that would go. First 13 went fine, was on goal pace still. I biked fairly conservatively but leg cramps in both legs hit me at mile 16. Tried to run for the next 8 miles which meant mostly walking. I took in salt during those slow miles and as I started mile 25 my legs came back. Mile 26 was my fastest mile of the day so I finished strong. That finish line is HIGH energy.

I got quite a nice surprise at the finish from my 16 y/o daughter. I gave her my gear ticket that morning and told her she might have to collect my gear and take it to the hotel in the event I was in the med. tent. After the race I said "well kid, let's go gather up the gear and take it back to the hotel." "She said, the gear's already there dad, got that done during your slow ass run!"

The weather that year was perfect.

First and only ironman = 2007 Ironman UK

Went fine. Swam 1 hour, biked 6 hours, ran 3 hours 40.

The bike course had something like 2000m of elevation and the run course was short, so those splits are kind of in proportion I think. Finished in about 100th place out of about 1500.

Felt like no big deal, moved house the next day lifting tables and chairs into a truck, body felt good as new. - Oh to be 34 again.

I trained really well for 6 months, did the homework, executed the plan.

Kona 1996- qualified at Mrs T's (Olympic Race!!!) and had 6 weeks to get ready -- trained about 18 hours a week and managed to get 11 hours - LOVED every minute except for projective vomiting for 50 miles - that was not fun. I remember getting a flat on the Queen K highway that took me about 10 mins to realized I had one - thought the road was a bit rough LOL and about 15 mins to change and I could not remember the actual sequence of how to change a tire.... But over all a fantastic experience and no real lows at all, and tons of Highs all day

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Graham Wilson
USAT Level III Elite Coach
http://www.thewilsongroup.biz

The Good was a better swim than expected and an 11:20 finish time. The bad...felt like shit on the bike and crashed around mile 95, picked my bottles up, put my chain back on and started crying like a my 6 y/o, lol. Found out I couldn't shift with right arm because it was fractured in two places, bent rear derailleur and rode in on a front flat tire (almost sliding out again). The ugly.... was afraid I would be pulled because if all the road rash so hurried through T2 and walked during the run when the throbbing in my right arm got too bad.

2nd Ironman got sick 2 weeks before and it lasted 4 weeks after that miserable experience. Still hopeful I will have a good race some day now that I have paid some dues.

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

IMLOU 2012, my mom passed away from complications due to Huntington's Disease and my niece and I had been steadily increasing race distances to test our bodies. Finally she told me we should do an Ironman. As a way to pay tribute to my mom, I entered the race. I'm a solid MOP so finishing as strong as possible was my goal. It was a hot day and I finished with my son running with my until I had to head to the chute yelling for me and cheering the whole time, he was pretty hammered sitting at the bar waiting for me. Anyway, I crossed the finish line and broke down thinking of my mom. My niece came across next and we just hugged and talked about the day. I will never forget that day, ever. A month later my oldest sister passed away from complications due to Huntington's Disease.

Funniest part of the event was the drive home. I live in PA and there were a lot of people from Northeastern Ohio and Northwestern PA being at the race. Driving home on Monday, the same group of us stopped at every rest stop to get out and stretch because our legs were cooked. Took me 2 hours longer to get home than ever before.

2012 was one of the best and worst years of my life.

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TEAM HD
Each day is what you make of it so make it the best day possible.

It was '95 or '96 (can't remember--but it cost $150 or $195 for entry), KQ at Chicago Sun Times (back when you could get in on an OLY distance race). It was magical. It was about one of the happiest moments I've ever had racing in crossing that finish line, because I had built it up to be such a "daunting-beyond me" task. I am not even sure I had done a half Ironman at that point (I may have but I'd have to look way back in my training logs to see--if so, it was likely Springfield Ironhorse where pro Rob Wood beat out the eldest DeBoom brother (Todd--who was not a pro, but could have been...he is actually a doctor).

The good, the bad, the ugly? I don't recall much of it other than it was freaking HOT. I don't really like Hawaii much aside from this compelling force to race it due to being the W.C. race. Aside from that, yeah, it's pretty there, cool variety of landscape, but personally, I don't care for it, or the racing aspect in all that heat. But being the first time there, it was everything magical everyone said it would be and then some. Second time was really cool too, but then each time the magic faded a bit more until it became an annoying draft fest and overpriced race.

Ultimately, due to the huge build up in my mind, on how hard it was likely going to be, I finished it in around a time of 10:30. My thoughts at the finish line were, "Hmm...that's it? It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be." The other 12 times I've raced there after (not including the half one summer), were infinitely and progressively more miserable, to the point of implosion after implosion, disliking it there even more. Now, I have no desire to race there in the near future (just have a really bad thermostat & have passed my last few KQ slots, because it is just so freaking hot, expensive and more of a circus than anything. But--you have to try to do it just once if you can swing it!