Anyone ever melted down in an Ironman and then gone out and had a great race on their next try?
Looking for some inspiration here. Raced at C d’A this past week. It was only my second IM, but I’ve done several half’s over the last 3 years with gradual imporvement along the way, and I felt better prepared for this race than any I’ve ever done. I trained my arsse of, I was injury free, and I was ready for a breakthrough race.
Long story short. I had 2/3 of a great day. I hit all of my goals through T2 and started the run (which is typically my strongest discipline) on pace to better my previous IM finishing time by anywhere from 30-60 minutes. Instead, I felt bad as soon as I started running. “Okay,” I said, “this happens sometimes, but keep runnning and you’ll feel better in a couple of miles.” Nope. Just kept getting worse. Started walking as early as mile 10 to fight off random attacks from leg cramps, then by mile 15 whilst already walking, both legs completely seized; quads, hams, calves, everything. Race Support crew saw this and rushed to my aid. “You okay?” the guy asked. “I think I might need help,” I said. I thought it was game over. To their credit, they talked me through it for a couple of minutes until I was feeling better and asked me if I felt good enough to try to walk to the next aid station to see if I could fuel up some more and plod on. I did just that, and plod on I did…no more, no less than a steady plod. I walked/shuffled a 5:30 marathon. My previous slowest marathon was 4 hrs @ IM Lake Placid 2 years ago. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I could be broken down to the point that it would take me 5:30 to get through a marathon. Going in, I thought I could pull off a 3:30-3:45 marathon, w/ my ‘bad day estimate’ being 4 hours. So I realize that I am still a relative IM novice, this being only my 2nd one, but I learned a valuable lesson this weekend in how bad things can go when things go bad in an IM.
In the big picture I am proud of myself for grinding it out and finishing when it would have been so easy to quit. I can’t help being frustrated, though, over what feels like such a poor race day validation of the best half year of training I’ve had since I started doing tri’s 4 years ago. I know I’ve got to take my licks and recover for awhile before training for something new, but I am hungry now after this let down.
So who has a great comeback story for me to inspire me as I recover from my temporary Ironman letdown?
I’ve been there before my friend. In brief summary, during an IM, I became quite ill, couln’t eat, passed out, came to, and walked a longer marathon then my bike time. However, since that time(2 yrs ago), every race I have done has been faster than the last. Every discipline, swimming, biking and running is better. I dropped my 1/2 time by 20 minutes to under 4:50. You should look into the race and figure out what went wrong and go from there. You will race again, and with any luck, because of lessons learned at CdA, you will race faster.
Hmmmm, if you weren’t so damn fast … If ya just woulda waited around on the course for a (probably many) few more hours … we could’ve hobbled in together.
Sometimes when we race near the edge we fall over the wrong side. No big deal. Get up and try it again. Failure occurs when you stop trying. If you never fail, then you’ve never really tried.
If you don’t cross the line covered in vomit amid convulsions then you really didn’t give it your best shot either meaning that you’ll have to do another one, and another, …
Be happy knowing that you gave it your best shot for the day. There will be other days. And, nobody (other than maybe your sponsors) will remember your finish time.
I got beat by 1400 of my closest friends on Sunday. And, I beat about 400 others including some of the worlds finest athletes. So what? I gave it shot while a few hundred million other americans watched TV.
It happens and it happened to me on my first Iron attempt at the Ultramax in MO last year. I had put my time in, and left T2 feeling like a rock star being the 3rd individual on the run course after having a blowout bike, but it went downhill from there and my symptoms were much like yours. At times I walked, at times I leaned over trying to puke, at one point I couldn’t do anything but shuffle because my calves would seize up. After two 8 mile laps of this, I started to take Ecaps that were being handed out and my legs loosened up. I started running, and I finished it stronger than I started. For me, my sodium was so low and I was dehydrated from my stomach not emptying that my marathon turned into 5:48 of hell.
That’s what I get for not having a nutrition plan. I did rebound at IMAZ but I was still scared of having another meltdown so I was cautious on the run and refueled at every aid station. 10:20 later I was finished and I had regained my confidence.
This past weekend, I tortured myself at Buffalo Springs. BS was my second triathlon ever in 2000 and then I did it again last year in prep for Ultramax. Both times, the course handed me an ass whipping of 6:08. and then 5:09, but though I almost bailed on doing it two weeks out and I didn’t expect much from my race, I was able to pull out a 4:46 with probably my best overall performance.
So, my friend, though my times are not elite, and I am getting where they need to be, and I think its a combination of learning about my body, and my body getting used to the beating. For BS, I just winged my nutrition, but I knew what I wanted and when I wanted it, and how much to take. Compared to Ultramax where I ate pop tarts and mtn dew at times, and my race times improved. Until Buffalo Springs, I was hesitant about racing and having a meltdown, but now I can’t wait to try and improve some more. There you have it, that’s my story and I am sticking to it…
14:35 first ironman - great floridian.
12:37 the second - im florida.
11:27 the third - im lake placid.
pacing, nutrition and of course, endurance all come with practice and experience. don’t get to down on yourself - you’re just one im away from a big pr.
It happens and it happened to me on my first Iron attempt at the Ultramax in MO last year. I had put my time in, and left T2 feeling like a rock star being the 3rd individual on the run course after having a blowout bike, but it went downhill from there and my symptoms were much like yours. <<
thanks JTG; i figured there were a few others out there who had been through this only to come back stronger. I’ve had some bad races before, but this was the biggest slice of humble pie I’ve eaten in this sport and on a day when I would have least expected it.
i’m going to rest up for a few weeks here and then will probably sign up for a Half IM in the fall to see if I can go back out there and find my Mojo again.
Hey, that’s very encouraging to hear, Runboo. Your times are within a range that I can identify with, too, which makes your story resonate even better for me. I think I’m knocking on the door of getting down into the 4:45 +/- range for a half from my current 4:55 +/- plateau. With any luck (and I feel like maybe I have some coming my way after this), it will be in a race later this year. Thanks for the encouragement.
I missed the swim cut-off at IMFL in 2003 by 7 minutes. I took a year off long course and signed up for CdA 2005. My swim time in Idaho was 1:35. Not quite the same as your situation but a comeback nonetheless. Never give up.
Wow, that’s impressive improvement over 3 IM’s. I hope I am only 1 IM from a big PR. I thought it was going to be this one. However, since I screwed the pooch on this one, it means the next one could be an even bigger breakthrough than what I might have done in this one on a good day (positive thinking). Thanks Herschel.
Not quite the same as your situation but a comeback nonetheless. Never give up.