This was my first Ironman. Preparing for my race I spent countless hours, searching, reading race reports, training tips and all things aero. Although I’m not a frequent poster, I am a daily reader. I was so grateful for the information I gained in reading ST I thought I would file my first race report.
I used Don Finks, Be Iron Fit competitive program and pretty much followed it…by the book. The only exceptions include: I didn’t always keep on the HR and would use my perceived effort on keeping to the plan. Additionally, I wasn’t able, due to time, to continue the weight program when the longer training kicked in.
Race Day:
Set the alarm for 4 but I woke at 3 and couldn’t go back to sleep but stayed in bed until 4. I ate most of a dry bagel, a pack of pop tarts, banana, yogurt, Ensure and water. Headed down to transition from Galt House about 5 and was lucky to find someone with a disk pump right away (thanks to him, also this worry was partially what kept me up from 3-4). Got my bike ready to go with 2 concentrated Infinit Bottles, checked on my bike/run bags and walked the route to my bike taking note of the end numbers on the racks. Off to Tumbleweeds.
Got to the swim start, got body markings and headed for the end of the line. I laid down to try and relax for the 1.5 hours till the gun went off. About 6:30 I started to Body Glide up and put on my race gear. When the line started moving my blood started pumping. I was in the water in less than 15 minutes.
The swim was very crowded and I had to do a lot of jockeying behind the island. I got the buoys mixed up and went off course a bit, but it didn’t cost me too much time. I felt pretty good, had some toe cramps that I don’t generally get while swimming but I just ignored it. The swim went well. Saw my wife, and 2 daughters running to T1, that gave me a boost!
Swim Time: 1:01:21
T1 went smooth: 3:33, shoes, helmet, glasses, arm coolers done
Got on the bike and headed out. I did the Cardinal Half earlier in July so I had raced on a good portion of the course, if you can do this race you should, great prep for IMLOU. My plan was 1 bottle of Infinit per hour with more water if I felt I needed it, mixing the concentrate with water from the aid stations in aerodrink. I expected this race to be hot and humid, so I trained accordingly and had my watch alert go off every 5 minutes to drink. We had great weather, even had some clouds for an hour or 2 on the bike, but I stuck to the same plan. I stayed pretty consistent averaging about 20 mph on the entire ride and didn’t try to hammer too hard. I coasted down the longer hills and tried to pedal down the rollers to carry me up the other side. Thanks to the Devil and Grim Reaper for chasing me (TDF stye) up some hills on the out and back and LaGrange was exciting to roll through. I broke the course down in my mind and tried not to think about riding 112 miles. I broke it down this way: T1 to LaGrange (38 miles, no problem), LaGrange to LaGrange (only 30 miles); LaGrange to 42 turn (that’s really short) and the ride to T2. I got a cramp in one of my left quads around 90 miles. I unclipped the left leg, shook it out and thankfully it didn’t come back. The most difficult part of the bike for me was the last 12 miles. You have the opportunity to get a break in the earlier rollers, but the last 12 miles are flat so you get no break. Stayed on nutrition, felt good but really wanted off the bike.
Bike Time: 5:30:44
T2 went smooth: 3:09, socks, shoes, hat, small body glide and sunscreen stick (to carry).
Headed out feeling strong and told myself not to go too fast. My family took the bike portion off and headed back to the hotel, but they were waiting at the base of the bridge and I saw them going nuts. I read a post on ST where he wrote a note to his family and I thought it was a great idea. I handed my wife the note and headed up the bridge. I was feeling good running 7:30ish miles and knew it was too fast, but I made a decision. I was going to run the marathon hard, but not push it. I still knew I need to slow down and settled in at a 7:45ish pace thru the halfway point. My run nutrition/aid station plan was to drink the Perform, water, coke…whatever just keep drinking and eat a gel with water every 30 minutes. I took sponges and stuffed them in my jersey and dumped ice down my shirt/pants every chance I got. Saw the family on the first loop, another boost. At the halfway point I got a hamstring cramp, hobbled along and it eventually it went away. This continued in both legs off and on the rest of the race. This slowed me down and the pace dropped off some. I didn’t really stress about what I got at the aid stations, just get something and drink it. The only real food I ate the entire race was a bite of 1 orange slice. I kept going as hard as I could. My Dad and some friends were waiting at the final turn and cheered to the line, my girls and more friends were in the chute. What a finish chute, it was amazing. In the end I had a good run and was very satisfied.
Run Time: 3:35:05
Total 10:13:52
The race was great, I really can’t complain about anything. It was well organized, aid stations were supplied, the volunteers were amazing (I thanked as many as I could). The note to my family really touched my wife and 2 girls. She even said all the women around them were in tears. I hope made it a special day for them as well. I don’t pretend to know everything and I probably made many mistakes on Sunday, but it worked out ok for me. Hopefully someone can take something from my race report as I did from so may others. Thanks ST, I couldn’t have done it without you!