I am not one to really give a race report but let me tell you the highs and some lows of my amazing race on Sunday !
So after a real shit sleep of tossing and turning and freaking out the 4 am alarm finally went off . Andrew turns to me looks me in the eyes and says “GO TIME” .
The mission for the morning was to eat as much as possible , shit as much as possible and then quickly make our way to the Transition area to fill up our tires and give our bikes a little pep talk and a final kiss .After transition we needed to get to the swim start which was half a mile away .
Now because this was a time trial swim start it was important for us to get as close to the front of the line so we wouldn’t have to swim over thousands of muppets and also try to be ahead of the field . The line by the start is over a mile long and takes about 40 minutes to get everyone in the water . Of course your time doesn’t start until you have crossed the mat but i don’t need to start my day behind people that I will just end up passing . So the plan was to take a bike and get down to the line and get a good start time .
The plan worked well as it only took 1 minute to get into the water and go .
Ok so about the water … easily the most disgusting thing ever ! people in Louisville were more amazed that we would swim in the river than undertake such an endeavor as an Ironman . The water was so gross and murky that you could not see your hand in front of you while swimming .
So I jump in the water and just swim . Now for me and probably 98 % of all triathletes the swim is horrible and never enjoyable . The only thing you are trying to do is swim fast to get the fuck outta there asap . With the water as gross as it was it was impossible to see people in front or to the side of you until you were either kicking or getting kicked . So swim swim swim … I am not sure what happened in the hour and 1 minute but I drank more of the Ohio river than
is good for you and I got some water in my goggles that burned my eyes for probably the last 30 minutes of the swim .
When I got out of the water (finally )I looked at the clock and it was reading 01:12 which is not what I was hoping for . A perfect swim for me would have been 1 hour and I would not have complained about an hour and 5 minute swim . But 1:12 is pretty bad for me . Its then that I looked at my watch and saw the 1:01 and realized that they had not set back the time from when the pro’s started . So in the blink of an eye I went from having a shit swim to a great swim ( with out using up extra energy ) .
Transition 1 and 2 were easy, simple and fast so there’s no need to talk about it . So on to the bike I jump on and start barreling . My plan was to drink a bit and eat a bit right when I got on the bike as I probably sweat a lot in that shit hot water . So right when I got on the bike I realized that drinking all that Ohio river was a super bad idea. I started getting pretty nauseous and that nausea quickly turned to me throwing up for about a half hour or so . I kept my composer and even stayed in aero while vomiting which in hind sight is pretty amazing !! I kept cool as I knew the day was just beginning I had a lot of time to get things working again . After about an hour I began feeling normal and started my nutrition plan for the day which was 2 gels and 1 bottle of perform and 1 water every hour ( oh and 2 salt tabs hourly as well) .
Now I know I was biking fast , but I also knew that I as comfortable and it would have taken more energy to cycle slower as I was just moving and everything felt amazing . I got to the 90 k mark in 2:33 which to me was a bit fast but again I was feeling amazing . I should say that i went into the Bike hoping to ride 5:15 I am not just saying this but that was what I thought i could do .
Right when I hit the second loop my bike computer conked out leaving me to ride the second half blind and solely on feeling . I guess this paid off as I killed that second part of the bike . I cycled the second half 7 minutes faster. I do need to credit a beautiful tail wind as well as a nice down hill but I was the one riding the bike so I get most of he credit !!!
I ran into transition with no idea how fast my bike time was and with a change of shoes, shorts and a drink of Gatorade I was off to begin 3 hours and 37 minutes of shit mixed with hell !!
As I leave transition I am feeling great ! I know I rode well but am yet to know exactly how amazing of a ride it was . On my way out I saw my support/cheering crew made up of Karen and her amazing Signs of Top Gun farting a “Go Phil “!! .(again thanks Jesse)
So I stop for a quick second give a kiss show off how good I feel and then get back to the task at hand . As I am running away I ask Karen to find out what my bike split was as I had no clue .
So the next time I run by her she has the craziest grin on her face and she yells to me that I biked 4:59 and that I was currently in 13th place over all ! Armed with the knowledge of my bike ride time I told my self that I cant screw this run up as I didn’t want to turn my bike ride into a clown show Far to many times you hear of people who kill it on the bike only to leave nothing for the run . I was not going to be that dude !! ( well actually I was I just hid it very well ) .
The run was a horrible experience !! There was nothing enjoyable about it at all ! I had a job to do and that was it ! I knew I just needed to make it to mile 12 and then just take it 1 mile at a time and just go go go and not stop.
At around mile 15 My body stopped wanting to take in any liquid or nutrition and also to top it off didn’t want what ever i had been giving it for the last hour or so . I guess this resulted in about 4 or 5 miles of some pretty good puking .
I will say that its a ton more fun to vomit and ride than it is to vomit and run . My concern was that I needed everything that was leaving my body as the last 10 miles were where it was going to come in handy . So regardless of the constant barfing I kept with the nutrition plan for the most part maybe skipping a gel and a couple salt tabs . Oh if your wondering what an assortment of gel flavors , Gatorade and salt tabs taste like on the way back up ? Basically it tastes like grapefruit and foam.
So I new I was slowing down but I also new that I was still on track. I was no longer in 13th place at all but I was still pretty far up in the placing and sitting on a Kona spot . I don’t remember much more of the run except that I hated it and it was the worst !! I remember in the last few miles that I couldn’t believe that I was trying to do this so i can do it again in 6 weeks !! It just didn’t makes sense!!!
Ok so I finally finished in an uneventful fashion, which was pretty much how i ran that whole run , with my head down and just taking care of the task at hand .
So I was done ! 9:44: 03 34th overall and 6th in my age group !
Now that I have had a week to think about the day , I am happy . I am sure I could have run a lot faster if I biked slower but I was having fun on the bike and really thats what its all about right ?
Thanks to all friends and family and volunteers on the course. It was a very special day !!
See ya in Hawaii in 5 weeks !!!
Swim 1:01 :43
T 1: 2:52 Glasses, Helmut. Shoes , race belt
Bike : 4:59:15
T2 : socks , shorts , quick drink , shoes
Run : 3:37:14
Overall 9:44:09