IMLT - Race Report
This is my first IM
Height: 6’3
Weight: 250
Race Morning:
Woke up at 2 am and drank 1.5 naked juices then back to sleep until 4 am. 4:15 am finished the rest of the Naked and had a Bagel with cream cheese. This is my go to breakfast for long days. My stomach can handle this 99.99% of the time. Get dropped off at the start at 5am to find ice on my tires and frozen top tube. When I racked my bike on Saturday, I covered my seat, handlers, and rear derailleur with garbage bags to protect from the rain. Lubed up derailleur, chain and pumped up tires. Everything looked ready to rock. I milled around transition and found some teammates to shoot the shit and chill for a little while. I put my wetsuit on and went into the North Tahoe Events Center to warm up before venturing out to the water. The wife to arrive at 6:20, took my shoes and sock off and within 30 seconds my toes froze as I was crunching through the frozen sand to test the water and hopefully thaw out the toes.
Swim: 1:15:41 Div: 91
Seeded myself at the back middle of the 1 – 1:10 group. From all of my training that is where I expected it to finish albeit my first IM swim. Once the cannon went off it took 2 mins before I got in the water and it felt great. Toes were frozen and the water immediately started to thaw them out. 300 yards into the swim I got a mouthful of water and started to panic. I realized I was on the inside and tons of people around. I almost had a panic attack but saw a kayak flagged them down and swam over to them. Told the lady I swallowed a mouthful of water and needed 30 seconds to catch my breath. After that I had a come to Jesus with myself just kept telling my self that I had trained for this. After, my 30 seconds with the kayak I found my own water and did the rest of the swim, no problems, just a little slower than expected and beautiful although the storm churned up the water so it wasn’t as clear as it could have been.
T1: 9:51
Grabbed my bag, got my wetsuit stripped and went to the changing tent. WTF is going on in here. Naked men, men bitching like little girls, total sausage fest. Walked in about 20ft dropped my stuff since the line had stopped (bad idea) as I could barely get stuff out of the bag. Dried my arms off, stuffed my packing envelope between my jersey and body, socks and shoes on, vest on, helmet on….Peace out sausage fest!
Bike: 7:00:27 Div: 93
Kings beach to Truckee was chilly and uneventful, but I like the cold better than the heat due to me being a big guy. Kept the power down for 30 mins and started to hydrate and eat to replenish the lost calories. Truckee to Martis Camp was boring and then comes the unknown, Martis Camp, 8 miles approx 1,600 ft of climbing, the last 1.5 miles being around 7.5%. This was beautiful if you could look around and stop focusing on the pain. The downhill from the Ritz to Brockway was fun and deserved after the climbing but it wasn’t over. Brockway is 2.5 miles of straight climbing at approx 7-12% and it bakes in the sun, which was nice due to the frigid temps. .5 mile from the summit the incline kicked up to about 10-12% and then the spectators started to appear and boy was it nice to see them and cheer you on to the top. Shout out to the old guy in the Speedo all day, you’re a real man. Once at the top you get 3.5 miles of downhill, where I excel. Topped out at 55 mph blowing by people, sorry if I passed you and scared you. Then you get to repeat all over again 1.5 more times, which was basically the same. If you want to know reread the above.
T2: 5:45
Finally get to T2 and I have never been happier to get off the bike. 7 hrs is a long time on your taint, I don’t care if you’re a lightweight or a big boy/girl it feels good to get off. Got in the changing tent, WTF nobody in here! Grabbed a seat, put my Hokas on, Visor, snacked a little bit and walked out of the tent to get lubed up. I think the sun screeners were bored, as 4 flocked to me instantly like flies on shit, I was okay with that.
Run: 4:58:23 Div: 99
This is my first marathon so I just went with what my coach said (tried to at least). First 6 miles I jogged than walked the aid stations taking in coke/perform and whatever else my stomach could handle which wasn’t much as it was already churning from the fluid from the bike. The run was up-down and flat till the turn around then flat-down and up…….I don’t remember much of the run but it was beautiful, cold in the shade and toasty in the sun which was welcomed by all. At special needs I put my gloves on and kept chugging along. Running through Squaw Village was awesome, everyone pumping you up, couldn’t help but push the pace a little through there. Miles 18 and on were a struggle. Kept it to a race walker pace when walking up the hills and as fast as I could run down the hills. At the turn around on the 2nd loop you start to realized only a 5k back to town but a majority of it is uphill so it’s going to hurt. Clicked off more miles, until mile 24, that’s when it really set it WTF I was doing. I could here Mike Reilly’s voice in the background and every step closer my smile got a little bigger. Reached the parking lot and I couldn’t help smile ear to ear and everyone spectator realized and started cheering. Got to the village and started sprinting it felt like (8:45 pace). Passed a couple people, made the turn and heard the ultimate (Chris you are and Ironman).
Finish: 13:30:07
IMLT was everything I wanted it to be, HARD, EPIC and BEAUTIFUL. I wouldn’t have changed anything about the course or the day. Thanks for reading.
Chris
Comments
Great read! Nice meeting you and Abby. Hope to meet up with you guys in the future.
Take care,
Ken and Audrey
What's next? Thinking about doing more IMs in the future? How'd recovery treat you?
@Trevor as of now no IM plans or 1/2 IM's in the next year, the Boss (Wife) wants to travel which is good with me. I am not ruling them out as I really did enjoy the distance but most likely will stick to the 1/2 IM's. Next year is going to be local Olympics. Recovery is good but I am itching to get back to work for some reason. I always need some sort of plan.