Short version…was gunning for a sub-12 finish, ended up going 12:36. 5 minute PR.
Really long version: Really felt fatigued on Friday and Saturday for some reason…utterly spent. Not really sure what my deal was, or if it played any part on my performance Sunday, but I napped a lot on Friday after driving the course, and a little on Saturday as well…never did that before.
Sunday was definitely warmer than last year…last year we had absolutely perfect weather, but this year it was a lot warmer. I wouldn’t say hot, really, since it was only in the ‘80s, but after early weather forecasts said highs in the mid-60s, it was a bit cruel. Anyway, I got in the water early and hung out near the ski ramp, with my plan being to start wide and try to avoid the craziness near the course markers. But I realized soon that there were far, far too many people behind me to make any real difference. At the cannon, it turned into absolute madness. I don’t want to make any crass generalizations here, but I think that the number of newbies in this race is becoming a problem. Way too many people who were probably going to swim 1+30 or more seeded themselves too far to the front, and as a result I ended up literally stopping behind 3-4 barely moving swimmers. There were also a lot of assholes on the swim, or at least 2 that I know of. On the way to the first turn, I rolled to the right to breathe, and promptly got clubbed right in the eye, pretty damn hard. It took me by surprise, and I kind of stopped, and promptly got clubbed again, just as hard. I stopped and swore a loud “God Dammit!” purely out of shock and surprise, and the fucker who smacked me, instead of saying “sorry dude,” or something like that, gave me the finger instead. I was totally shocked…hey, I understand stuff like this going to happen in that crowded of a swim, but the last thing I expected was some fucknozzle giving me the finger over it. I seriously wanted to kick this dude’s ass right then and there. But I just gave him the finger back (OK, not the most mature thing to do, I know, but I was really pissed), and just went back to swimming. Not far from the first turn marker, I ended up pushing somebody on the back or something…I stopped due to all of the folks in front of me, and had some irate dude in my face over touching him. WTF? I barely even touched the guy (much less clubbing him in the face, twice), and here he is getting in my face. I said something to the effect of asking what his problem was (in not very polite language, I should add, still being annoyed over the previous encounter), and took off again. From there, I went as wide as I could, and just looked for open water. I went at least 20-30 feet wide at every turn after that, just to avoid the scrum, and got a fairly crappy swim split thanks to that. I exited the water in 1:19:16, about 2 minutes off my previous swims, and far slower than I had hoped. On the run to T1 up the helix, I was dodging people who were walking 2 and 3 wide, just strolling up the helix, taking their time and not even trying to stay out of the way of other folks who were trying to make every second count.
I did T1 in 9:53, which I thought was pretty decent, and hit the bike. Right off the bat, I was trying to get around slow folks on John Nolen. I came up behind two dudes slow pedaling and chatting…completely blocking everyone. I waited for a few seconds, and then shouted “on your left,” to which I got a pissed off “this is a no passing zone!” Now, I may be wrong (it won’t be the first time), but I am pretty sure that the no passing zone didn’t start until you hit the bike trail, there being plenty of room to go around people on John Nolen Drive. But even if I am wrong, WTF is up with riding 2 wide and blocking the entire lane, going maybe 16-17 mph, having a chat with your budrow??? I really don’t get it. Anyway, I finally got into the clear near the Alliant Center, and started to push the pace. My logic was that with the relative coolness of the morning, and the promise of a warm afternoon, maybe it would better to try and push the pace on the first loop and then try to cruise the second. I was so set on going sub-12 that this game plan sounded good to me, since I was feeling fairly decent at the time, but I think I paid for that effort for the rest of the day. I did the first 40 miles at a 19.56 mph avg, and then my pace steadily dropped through out the day. I could tell I was getting fatigued on the second lap as my power output was steadily dropping as well. I think I hit my nutrition fairly well, as I got nary a leg cramp on the entire bike, and never bonked either. I came off the bike in 6:03, for an 18.51 mph average. I pretty much knew that my chances at going under 12 hours were over at that point, but I decided to hit the run and try and do my best.
I got going, and felt pretty good for the first 2 miles. But then the fatigue started settling in, and I had to walk a bit at the 2 mile point. I alternated walking and running, and was trying to keep my average pace at 10:30 or below, but that wasn’t happening, either. I hooked up a with my buddy Barry, and we tried to keep each other going, but he ended up telling me to go ahead on State Street on the first lap as leg cramps were keeping him from running at all. I was nearing the turn around when I ran into my good friend Keith who was doing his first IM, and who I expected would probably go under 11 hours. Keith and I work together, and had trained a lot together over the past year, and we had also hung out together up in Madison waiting for the race. I was totally shocked to see him, and thought for a second that he was about to finish. But he was still on his first lap, and had puked numerous times on the bike and the run, and was totally dehydrated. He told me he was going to walk it in, which at the time I took to mean he was going to just walk the rest of the marathon. I told him I would hang with him…I figured if I wasn’t going to meet my original time goal, I could hang with my friend and encourage him, regardless of long we were out there. But Keith was done, and dropped out at the half-way point. I kept going, and headed out on the second lap. The middle part of the race went pretty slow, and I realized as I rounded State Street again that I was enroute to my worst IM Marathon ever, and probably wouldn’t even beat last year’s time, so I decided to just start running, no matter how slowly, and make sure that I at least beat last year’s 12:41. I ended up going almost a minute better over the last 7 miles than I did over the previous 13, and went under the banner for a 12:36. I was happy to finish, and happy to PR, even if by just 5 minutes, but a bit disappointed in my overall performance. My race day execution wasn’t very smart, and I probably had a 19 mph avg bike in me had I just been more conservative on the first loop. I think going too hard too early cost me dearly on the second loop of the bike and on the marathon. Ah well, back again next year!
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