IMLOU race report John Sakelaris
Ironman Louisville Race Report.
I arrived in Louisville on Friday afternoon. After picking up my packet I headed back to the hotel and chilled out. The temperature was significantly hotter and it was more humid that I had felt all summer. I live in Northwest Indiana and our summer this year was unusually cool and wet. I don’t think I did a single run in temps warmer than 85 degrees. I think this was my first clue that the run was going to be tough. It poured rain on Friday night.
On Saturday my friend and I went down for the practice swim. Upon our arrival, we came across a woman who had just finished her swim. She was in tears saying that she did not know how on earth she would finish the swim with the strength of the current. I reassured her that on race day it will not be so bad because of the protection that Townsend Island provides and possibly the Army Core raising locks. We did our swim and I remember thinking I’m not getting anywhere. It seemed like it took 10 minutes to get to the buoy and only a couple to get back. We watched other swimmers literally swimming in place and I thought this could be tough tomorrow.
The rest of Saturday was spent having a quality lunch and early dinner. It poured rain Saturday afternoon. Got to bed around 8pm and slept pretty well.
Got up around 4am race day and had my usual breakfast of a Cliff bar, coffee and banana. Walked down to transition and filled my tires (I let most of the air out after racking because of the high temps on Saturday) loaded up my bottles and walked to the start. My position in the line got me in the water at 7:15. The swim started off a little crowded. I was sighting land marks so I could judge if I was making good progress given the potential current. After passing the island I was really paying attention to my progress to the turn around buoy. I was making progress so my fears went away. Turned around and began the long straight swim to the finish. I remember sighting the buoys and thinking man these are coming up fast. Got out of the water and saw 1:01 on my watch and thought this could be a good day.
On the bike I remember coach P saying watch your water bottles on the tracks. So I reached back and held the bottle that normally falls out and of course the other popped out. Down one bottle of my EFS mix. No worries, no need to panic. I really focused on JRA and held my wattage to the mid 170’s vs a target closer to 200. I did this for the first two hours. I Drank 5 bottles of Sports drink and ate about 200 calories an hour of food. I began to work a little harder after that and when I finished the second loop and was about 30 miles from the finish I remember coach P saying this was the time to bring it home so I did. The bike began in overcast and not too hot. It ended up sunny with the heat climbing. Bike 5:51.
I spent awhile in T2 mostly in the porta potty peeing. I was going to stop and use the pots on the course but there were always lines. So I thought I’ll either hold it or if it was so bad I would try pee on the bike (that does not come naturally for me J) It was sunny, hot, humid and no breeze. I was targeting taking the first 6 miles easy. The heat index calculator suggest at 10:30 pace. I did the first mile at 9 and thought I really need to put the breaks on. Just after one mile my right knee started to hurt like it never had before. I would say it was runner’s knee pain. I thought if I don’t take some advil I would not make it. So I took 3 advil and the pain subsided in 30 minutes. However, by then my pace had already slowed and it was clear to me it was going to be a tough run. I ran aid station to aid station. I poured a lot of ice water on my body and head, took in nuturition, took my enduralites and moved on. No issues with cramping or pain but I just could not generate any power. It was really frustrating. Usually you can push the last mile because of the adrenaline but not this time. Run 5:07
Finish time 12:17. 25th in 50-55 age group. Two minutes slower than 2012 but hey I’m two years older and only 2 minutes slower. I’d like to think statistically insignificant.
I plan on focusing on functional strength training between now and the out season in hopes of building the leg strength necessary to maximize my run off the bike.
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