Got up this morning at 4:15am and had a couple bananas, a cereal with chocolate milk and a breads with honey. Meanwhile we enjoyed from our balcony the sight of a very calm looking ocean. At 5:45 we left the condo and headed over to the race start. Body marking was quick and easy and after checking the bikes and putting on the wetsuits we headed down to the beach with almost 2200 other racers.
At 6:50 am the pros went off and at 7 am it was our turn, but before we got to start, Tom Ziebart sang a very beautiful version of the national anthem. The first half lap was quite tough as everyone converged on the buoys and “traffic” almost came to a standstill. But after the first loop my watch showed a roughly 35 minute split, and that made quite happy as the swim is really my weakness. On the second lap I noticed several people who shortcut some of the buoys and that is really not cool. I finished the swim around 1:14 and headed to the changing room. The changing room (at least for the men) was way undersized and it was a bit of mayhem in there, there was seriously almost no space to change. So I tried to hurry up to make space for the “next guy” but as I ran with my bike to the mount line I realized that I had left my racenumber belt in that bag, and now i had to run my bike back, hang up my bike again and try to locate my bag in a huge pile of orange Gatorade bags. Yikes. I was happy that it didn’t take forever, and after this unforseen activity I was off on my bike. I felt very good on the bike and passed lots of people averaging about 21-22 miles an hour until mile 70 when my front tire popped. Oh no, s…
It only took me a little while to change it but not realizing that cartridge in my quickfill was a 25 gram one, I exploded the new tube right through the “cut” hole. As soon as it exploded, someone immediately tossed me a pack containing tube and quickfill, which was very, very considerate, but I had actually brought 2 tubes and a spare quickfill. After supporting that hole with a small piece of cardbord, I inflated the next tube with a 16g cartridge and that seemed to do the trick. Back on the bike I all of the sudden did not feel so hot and my heartrate no longer came up past 122. I started to really slow down and got passed by a bunch of people and actually a few bunches. Although i usually believe in “if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing”, i could not resist a few smartass Tour De France comments to the drafting groups that came by, and much to my surprise they all looked at me puzzled. Kind of like “me, are you talking about me” and that is funny to me, because I think they clearly know what they are doing.
i sufferd through the last 40 or so miles on the bike and ended up with roughly a 5:45 split. After a relatively smooth transition I started the run, but that only lasted a couple 100 yards before I was “forced” to walk. I was dizzy and felt aweful, and the longer I walked, the slower I got. I had not been able to eat and drink anything since about mile 90 on the bike and nothing had changed on the run. I sat down awhile, but that did not help either, and so at mile 6, I decided that I needed to a first time drop out and I turned back. This was not an easy decision as I had never quit any triathlon, but I was really concerned about my health and I thought it is better if my mind controls my ego in this case. I had actually no regrets about this decision, but felt awekard when people said “congrats” to me when they saw me later walking away with my gear. 
i went then home, took a shower, ate a Philly Cheese Steak and then watched the finishers until midnight. I unfortunately missed slowtwitchers Elund and Bad Monk, who i had met in the days leading up to the race.
Maybe I’ll see them tomorrow.
Good Night
Herbert
Litespeed/QR
Thanks for following up with your report, even though it might not have been a pleasant one. Lots of us were rooting for you guys…and we will again. At least you’re providing a recounting of your experience as a potential lesson to those of us that study it. Things like the cardboard trick…I DNF’d my first triathlon this year with a cut in the sidewall of a tire…didn’t have a rubber patch, and didn’t think of the cardboard fix…might have saved me the DNF!
Herbert,
I don’t know if this helps any, but if you race long enough, (and as much as we hate them) DNF’s can happen, and I am sure that you did what was best for you Saturday.
FWIW, I had a raging cold (picked up from the kids at the start of our new school year)in the days leading up to IMWI, no voice, throbbing head, swollen glands, the whole thing. Shouldn’t have started, but we put so many of our resources into an IM that I felt I had to at least try. Got out of the swim with a “full head” and finally had to shut it down 90 miles into the bike before I messed myself up even worse. It was hard to walk off the course, but it was also the right thing to do.
I figure that in 20 years and literally hundreds of different races, I may have DNF’ed 4 times, once from a back of an ambulance. It is rare for almost all of us. If you are out there giving it a shot…well, Teddy Roosevelt would be proud.
Good effort yesterday…we’ll be back another day!
Mark
AND…BTW I’d like folks to know that Herbert was absolutely great to work with on some questions I had about my recent Litespeed Saber purchase. GREAT customer service!
Thanks for the race report, Herbert. You did the right thing, btw. Unless there’s some absolute neccessity to finish a race (and I can’t think of many absolutes), your health and well-being should take precedence over something so amorphous and fleeting as getting yet another finisher’s medal at a race.
Better luck next time and keep up the good work!
Tony
Sorry to ear that you have a bad day out there.
here are some good news for you (just to cheer up a little). Vanessa Fernandes won another ITU world cup race in Rio de Janeiro.
As for my race I am actually happy that I have only 1 DNF out of the 4 IM races I have started. I am actually amazed that I have gone as high as 11:12 considering how bad my nutrition knowledge is, and how poor my race nutrition seems to be. People often refer to me as a Camel because I can go so long without drink or food, and obviously I am not testing this in a race, nor do I think that it is something to brag about. But I have always “kind of managed” despite, so I let it slide. But after this event I decided that I would tackle this subject. So now I am going to train and race differently for IMAZ with a different nutrition plan.
Brian at Personal Best Nutrition has already dissected my intake during the race and immediately noticed my lack of calorie intake. He already has made some interesting suggestions and I will keep you guys posted.
Thanks
Herbert
Litespeed/QR