Finished my first HIM on Sunday at the fabulous 5430 Long Course and although I had a good performance I now feel fat, bloated and out of shape.
Am I alone on this one?
Not yet, but between the Large DQ Blizzard to start the drive home to ABQ, the monster burrito at lunch yesterday, the super cheeseburger/onion rings/beers last night, and fast food burger meal at lunch today, I am working hard at it.
The out of shape feeling is your body trying to recover. Those tired muscles are telling you that you are fat because your regular body weight feels heavy due to fatigue.
Since your name does not appear to actually be Jack Bauer, I couldn’t look you up in the results. What were the details on your performance? Share the glory!
I had a much better day than expected. The swim was relatively pleasant (just act like a moth and swim towards the sun until you see the yellow bouy on your left), the bike was a lot of fun (I liked how fast the north end of the course felt), and the run was hot and hard but not nearly as hot as I dreaded it would be. 5:15:41 was a PR by almost 14 minutes. Part of that due to better fitness than my last HIM 2 years ago, and part of it due to a fast course with good conditions (even if the 2nd half of the run was hot.)
Jim Moss, #436, M 35-39, Final 5:04.
Swim - liked the course but was a little bugged that I had to crawl over so many people even in the last few hundred meters. The order of the waves didn’t make sense to me.
Bike - loved that north side and had a blast.
Run - Super hot but I was real impressed with the smoothness of the dirt road. I’ve raced on much worse.
A great race and a ton of fun.
This was also my first HIM and while I didn’t feel fat and bloated, I certainly felt like a gimpy old man all day yesterday. Looking around at the finish, I think most people have that experience.
Several people asked me if I want to do a full Ironman now. I figure I can’t even think about that until walking down stairs doesn’t hurt anymore.
I feel the same whenever I eat poorly, whether its before or after a race, or during training. If I eat well and lightly, I feel lean even if I am not exercising. The way I feel is actually more linked to my diet than exercise.
Same way here.
Hell… I’m up 10 pounds over race morning weight. I had a physician/IM athlete tell me that it’s cellular damage on a huge scale in the legs (embolism?) and that it’s a lot of “junk water” that your body is holding onto. Let me guess… you are also sore as hell to touch (legs) and puffy all over, right?
I’ve been taking an ice bath everday and I know this has helped recovery by getting the swelling down. As for the xtra water… no big deal. I’ll wake up one morning and piss it out over 24 hours and be back to normal.
More frequent running and being careful with adding some downhill running to your training plan can help in this department. It’ll beef you up to be able to better handle the eccentic loading.
Fun race! Barry and Jodee rock!!!
Cellular damage on a huge scale, body holding onto “junk water,” puffiness all over…that is right on and common. Don’t forget ankels and wrists that look like plump sausages. It’s a glamorous sport isn’t it? (Well worth it though.) NO wonder so many “normal people” think we are just plain stupid for doing IMs and longer.
Didn’t I tell you that you’d love that race? 
See? You had nothing to worry about.
Great job at an awesome event!!
G
Yes. That race was amazing. The organization, course, people, pro field, etc. was fabulous. I loved every minute of it - even the hotter than hell run.
Sorry, that wasn’t the “hotter than hell run”…that was at the ill-fated Lake Pleasant Challenge (or whatever it was called) in '04.
Don’t know why they thought it was a good idea to do a HIM in PHX in June…of course, I signed up, so what does that say? Was 106 when I finished the hilly, off-road run…and I was far from the slowest finisher…heard it was >110 when some people got done.
Glad to hear you had fun in Boulder!
G
I think they put the older folks and the relays out in an early wave in an attempt to get them rolling so they are not out there late in the day. I was in the wave behind you and was surprised by the number of people in white caps that I caught. I tend to stay on the outside edge because I feel like I am faster by just focusing on my smooth stroke rather than worrying about the people around me or trying to follow a specific pair of feet for a long time, so it wasn’t too bad for me. I am surprised that there are not more recommendations to stay off to the side if you are a slow swimmer because I can imagine how nutty it can get if the lead pack from a fast wave is coming right up the line and hits a batch of less aggressive swimmers.
You would need to look back at prior years to see if there is a method to the madness on wave assignment. I know some races like to rotate the order so that any one group can’t complain about always being stuck out there in the heat of the day, but I don’t know if maybe they consistently give the older folks a break or not.
Great race! If I can ever make myself do some real run training in the summer then maybe I can get my HIM run split to be much closer to my standalone 13.1 time and be down close to breaking 5 hours with you!
I had a shot at breaking 5 hours but right at the end of the 2nd Bike loop at the top of that little hill before The Rez “BAM!” my tire blew…I debated for a second or two about stopping to fix it - I could see T2 300 yards away - I chose to risk damage to my wheel and slowly ride into T2. Pretty sure I hit a sharp rock out on the highway before turning down the main road to The Rez and then I think shifting my weight by standing out of the saddle on that hill put just enough pressure on the sidewall to make it cave. On lap #2 of the Run I started melting and was content to conserve energy to be sure I didn’t DNF on my first HIM. Hindsight is 20/20 and I could have picked it up and probably finished just under 5.
A great reason to come back next year though!
There are probably at least a dozen things that kept me from breaking 5:15 by 41 seconds.
The most interesting one for public complaining is the 41+ seconds I lost sitting up on the bike trying to get the bee out of my helmet before he stung me, then stopping to make sure he was gone and to rub my head for a second AFTER he stung me, then the sitting up for a minute and spraying water in to the vents on my helmet trying to cool my head because the sting was burning.
The least interesting (probably because it was so common that day) is the slow but sure fade on the second half of the run that caused me to run the second half 7 minutes slower than the first half, and the first half was not exactly fast even thought it was reasonably pleasant.