Thanks for asking, Ian.
My first Ironman (after three 70.3s) was Ironman Santa Rosa 2018, which I finished in 16:09. My bike then was a basic 2012 Cervelo P2. Poor pacing and climbing skills, combined with mediocre fitness, burned too many matches on the bike, thus nuking my run.
Arizona (Goal time of 15:30)
I was much better on sticking to my training plan (Be Iron Fit - Intermediate). I’m still a shitty swimmer and slow runner, but I had a race plan in my mind. Overall I’m not a very good triathlete, but went into this race with much better bike fitness, and a way better and faster bike.
Swim: Water wasn’t too cold. I double-cap and wear ear plugs, so I was fine temp-wise. I couldn’t get clear of crowded water, so occasionally swallowed some nasty Tempe Town Lake water. Swim time 1:37, which was 3 minutes faster than in the nicer water at IMSR. I was ok with this time.
T1: I chose to forgo the wetsuit strippers at swim exit due to the air temp being ~50 deg. Ran the .4 miles to changing tent. Ended up being quite cold as I dried off and tried to put my cycling kit on. I was shivering so bad I was shaking like a research monkey. A volunteer took pity on my and helped me get on my arm warmers, vest, helmet, and shoes. Another volunteer brought me some hot chicken broth to help warm my core. Once I was able to warm up, I finally got on my bike and hit the course. T1 time was 27 minutes. Ugh! I should have been MUCH closer to 15 minutes.
Bike: Out on the bike course I settled into a comfortable pace going through town. Shortly after hitting the Beeline, I noticed my heart rate was about 12-15 bpm higher than optimal. Probably within the first 10 miles I began feeling a side-stitch like pain below my right rib cage. I figured perhaps I was pushing the outbound incline on the Beeline too hard, and if I backed off to a more conservative pace, it would go away. It didn’t. My heart rate settled down and now I was rolling a good pace. 15-16 mph outbound Beeline had me comfortably passing a lot of athletes, and OBVIOUSLY being passed by some way better cyclists than me. My side stitch progressed to full-on abdominal cramps by the time I got to the turn around. I found I was able to stay longer in the aero bars on my QR PR Four than I did when I rode my Cervelo P2.
On the return leg of the Beeline, I was hauling ass (for me it was lol), holding 29-32 mph almost the entire way back. I was feeling like a rock star. At least a front-of-the-back-of-the-pack Ironman. On the second outbound of the Beeline I began to feel pain in my left knee. Over the course of my training for this race, I failed to strength train and seldom stretched. About 2 months prior to the race I noticed my IT band was frequently tender. Did I address this issue with rehab exercises and stretching. Of course not, don’t be ridiculous. I continued at a comfortable pace up the Beeline to the turn around, but my stomach was cramping quite bad by now. I had considered backing off my fuel / hydration plan to see if it would go away, but thought that if they didn’t, I would be behind and risk dehydration / bonk. I stopped at the aid station at the turn around and stood upright to walk around for a few minutes to see if my cramping would subside. No luck. Clock still ticking. I rode to the bike special needs pick up, and got off the bike again. Now I was on the side of the road with a volunteer holding my bike, while I was doubled over at the waist moaning and grunting loudly. At this point (~56 miles) I was seriously considering abandoning the race. Another volunteer eventually came over and asked if I wanted medical. I said no, and rode away before medical could pull me from the course (not sure if they would, but I didn’t want to risk it.).
Now I changed my perspective; small victories. Get to the next aid station…then the next. Last loop. My knee is killing me and I am miserable with my abdominal cramps. Soldier on. Same, if not faster, outbound leg, and slightly slower return leg. The cramps are really starting to fatigue me now. I finally got back into town and rolled into T2. I saw my wife and daughter as I got off my bike. Got sugars and started breaking down crying. It hurt that bad. My wife encouraged me to keep moving forward…so I did. My knee was also hurting pretty noticeably at this point, so the marathon should be delightful
Bike time: 6:40. I was NOT OK with this time. I figured I lost at least 25 minutes at the side of the road at aid stations / special needs, just dealing with the stomach cramps. Without the cramps, I truly believe I would have been quite close to 6 hrs flat. The bike performed BEAUTIFULLY. In the many 5-6 hr training rides I did on the PR Four, I never felt knee pain, so I can only speculate that my doing my own fit, based on my prior fit specs and Ian’s recommendation, were done incorrectly and exacerbated my wonky IT band.
Bottom line with reference to the bike. I FRIGGIN’ LOVE THIS BIKE. It is a rocket ship. I was fairly comfortable throughout the 112 miles, and can only assume the comfort will be better with a more dialed in fit (done by someone who is not me), and better strength and core fitness.
Run: I began the run and settled into a Run 4 min / Walk 1 min. interval. My abdomen and knee still hurt a lot, but I was tolerating it. I was getting kinda bummed out by now. A bike leg that should have been fun, was not due to my pain. Now I’m on a spectator saturated run course and feeling quite miserable. Yeah Ironman is hard, and painful, and fatiguing, but it’s also fun. I wanted to have fun. Rule #5, bro. Keep forward progress. My 4 min run was around a 10 min / mi. pace, and I kept my walk brisk…until around mile 19 of the marathon, and the wheels fell off. The left knee was now so painful I couldn’t run anymore. I think the concrete surrounding Tempe Town Lake is the hardest on the planet. I finished the race walking.
Final time: 15:30. I hit my goal time exactly down to the minute, but felt I could have been much closer to 14 hrs even, were it not for the cramping / knee pain. It is what it is, but I came away from this race massively disappointed. Alas…what could have been.