Saturday morning after training for six months logging 167,000 yards of swimming, 2424 miles of biking and 515 miles of running, it was my turn to prove I could finish a full iron distance triathlon. The training period also included several races in which most cases were successful. My only set-back happened on July 3rd. A drunk driver coming from opposite direction, turning and stalling in my lane caused me to crash my 08 Seduza. The bike suffered a cracked top tube and I was blessed with only a partially dislocated shoulder. I was able to get a crash replacement (CD0.1 Dura Ace) by Friday of that week and raced that Sunday. My swim improvement from this point on was very limited, but oh well it could have been worse. My longest open water swim was 2.5 miles, longest bike 112, and longest run was 20 miles. Longest brick was the 112 bike followed by a 5 mile run(7.5 hours).
Races leading up to: 2010 Redman half 5:26:02
2011 Rock the Parkway half mary 1:33:52
2011 Bike source Heritage park duathlon 1:04:58(2nd overall)
2011 Ironman Kansas 70.3 5:15:29
2011 Shawnee Mission long tri 1:48:23 (5th in ag)
2011 Midwest Mayhem long 2:34:20 (2nd in ag)
2011 Jackson County long 1:49:57 (2nd ag)
Pre-race: I seemed fairly relaxed. It was nice seeing friends from last years Redman and meeting new ones. I’m sure this helped ease the stress.
Swim: We had to walk through a great deal of red clay mud before getting to the start buoy. Boom!! we were off without warning. The course was a two lap triangle(marked with small white triangle buoys) with some larger orange buoys to help sight. The only problem with this was that the orange buoys where larger than the white and they had shifted making a zig-zag. We were also all wearing white cap which made it tough finding the turns. I found my rhythm and made the turn in 39 minutes. At this point I knew things were going fairly well for me. The last few weeks I have been concerned that my shoulder would give me trouble in the swim and then hender my ability to stay in aero on the bike. This was not the case and I was happy!
Swim goal (1:20-1:30) Swim leg = 1:21:39
T1: After sloshing through he mud again we entered T1 with a 250yard run through dry lake bed to the pavement. I then get my feet washed off, put my jersey on, compresson sleeves, shoes, hit the porta potty, outta there! 5:59
Bike: (2 laps)I have been trying to convince myself for weeks that I shoud try to negative split the bike leg. But the bike has been my best sport this year and I knew this would be tough to stick to. I start the bike getting caught up on water and salt/sport legs. After about 30 minutes I start to eat a fig newton. My stomach immediatly questioned this. My other nutrition was a malto/gatorade mix. I did my best to keep the calories coming in although things didn’t feel right. My water through the first lap was good and about two hours in I stopped to pee and apply more butter. I finished the first lap 2:40ish and decided to push the first 15 miles of the 2nd lap because I knew the wind would get us coming back which it did. I missed water bottle grabs twice and I ran out of water in the podium quest twice. I didn’t think much of it at the time because I didn’t notice any changes. I would soon find out this was bad news. ( 2nd lap 2:49ish)
Bike goal(5:40-6:00) bike leg = 5:29:41
T2: After arriving at T2, I felt good until I sat down. Everything started to cramp up. No time to worry - outta there! 4:16
Run: (4 laps) All my long runs the last eight weeks or so had been in the 8:50-9:00 minute range so I started slow and hoped for the best. Before I knew it I was averaging about 9minute pace so I figured I would try to keep this up until at least mile 13. (lap one 9:06ish pace)At this point the cramps were there but not too servere. By mile 9 things had changed for the worse. I couldnt believe I was already hitting the wall. I was completely dehydrated. I was still trying to get my malto /gatorade calories, but I knew I wasnt eating enough. I was drinking lots of water taking salt, but it just felt like it was too late. (lap 2-10:16ish pace)During lap 3/4 I was walking more of the aid stations, trying every thing in my power just to keep moving ahead. Cramps in my arms, neck, ankles, quads, calfs - you name it. What a lovely dark place I had found! Survival mode was ugly, but Thankfully by mile 23.5 or so I knew I would make it. It was like all the supporters that had seen me over and over again in my dark place new I was about to finish. They were pumping me up and some how I managing to pick up the pace a bit. I came through the last aid station and I stopped to let them spray all the salt build-up off(I was caked in it). I felt great and was ready to finish. What an amazing feeling the finish was! I’m not sure I will ever feel that again. WOW!
Run goal: (4-4:30) Run leg 4:37:59
Total: 11:39:32 (6th in 35-39 AG, 24th overall men, 11th place bike leg)
It’s crazy to think you can push yourself through that kind of torture, but it can be done. 20% training 80% mental
thanks for reading!
Chris