IMMOO was my second ironman and I went into it with mixed feelings on how I expected the day to go. Here is a guick RR and what I learned last Sunday. I hope my lessons learned can help any first timers in the future:
Swim: Stayed wide on the way out and close to the bouys on the way in. some bumping going on but nothing too bad. felt confident considering I am still new to swimming. 1:12
Bike: First loop went well, felt good and not too tired. Dropped my chain twice and had major cramping issues on the second loop. lost a lot of time because of this and had the same issue with my first IM which was very frustrating to me. around 6:18.
Run. first 6miles felt good. around an 8:30/mile and then the wheels fell off. ran/walked the rest of the marathon. if i had one goal for the day it would have been to not walk the marathon but as in my lessons learned, i doomed myself with my bike training and nutrition. around 4:40
Lessons learned.
- first of all, the volunteers were great. Thank you for your support.
- the weather is great. maybe a little warm at times but not bad. hot is when the medical sector can’t keep up with the number of athletes dropping and the race could be cancelled. like the chicago marathon in 2007
- I need to be smarter with my bike training next time. if I race on hills then I need to train on hills. more time was needed on the bike. i think i am starting to believe this more now.
- my run training was good and I wouldn’t change anything for the next one. my goal next time would be to come of the bike looking forward to the run and not dreading it. PACE YOURSELF. I thought I did but not enough i guess.
- nutrition can’t be taken lightly. no matter the weather you get for the day. it really is the 4th discipline. things will be different for my next IM
- Don’t Knock your wife up during the year prior to racing. Newborns and Ironman training don’t go well together.
- Finished around 12:25 which I am not to thrilled about but was glad what happened to me happened. I suffered because of my own actions and learned alot. I think I am starting to get it more now and now just need to put it together. learn something from every race and it will all come together in time.
- Your attitude that day is huge. whether things are good or bad, a positive attitude will help you through the day and let you enjoy what you are getting to do.
