Patrick Hayden's 2014 IM AZ Race Report
Been with EN for a few years, had a really good IM CDA 3 years ago, a tough race at IM St George 2 years ago, last year I took off from tris and did a couple marathons and an 50 mile run (all in the beginning of the year) then largely missed out on training for most of the latter half of the year. This year I decided to try to get back in the groove and signed up for Boston, HIM Kansas, IM Boulder, and IM AZ.
Fast forward to November and Boston marathon done (but sick leading up and during the race), HIM Kansas, and IM Boulder done. Training was a bit hit and miss, especially on the long runs, and swims, but I felt comfortable going into it.
Race Week:
Sick, Sat-Tuesday (first thought was ugh, repeat of the Boston marathon). Tuesday night I know I have to get packed up so as I am tearing down my bike to put in the bike bag for travel I can’t get the seat clamps bolt to release (broke two hex sockets trying to get it to release). Next morning I head straight to the LBS, they end up having to drill out the bolt, through the seat clamp. So now I need a replacement seat clamp and no one in St. Louis has anything for my QR CD0.1. Called all the local stores in Phoenix no luck, contact Trisports in Tucson and they tell me they will pull the part off a bike so I commit to drive the 110 miles there once I get in. So next day after flying in and registering I head out to Tucson get the part (which it was a good thing I drove there to get because the person who pulled the part pulled the wrong one originally). Had to miss the team dinner but bike was back in business.
Race Day:
Swim: 1:22
Wasn’t expecting much here as my swim training suffered this year, with only a dozen or so sessions in the water. Focused on staying in the box, and dealt with the contact, it was a bit worse then Boulder’s rolling start, but not horrible. Start to feel the water swell, a little but nothing major.
Bike: 6:03
Made it through T1 a bit slow and was off on the bike. Felt decent on the way out on the first loop kept my watts where they needed to be, but as I hit Beeline the continued wind on the second my legs just wouldn’t spin up to hold the watts I was targeting. Then about ½ way up Beeline I found out where it got its name from as some type of bee or yellow jacket got caught on the outside of my kit and proceeded to sting me a couple time as I sat up and swatted at the thing to get it off of me (my apologies to anyone riding near me at the time because I was swerving a bit and saying unpleasant things). A bit later on the uphill I heaved up some fluid, so stopped at the aid station at the top of the hill checked out my aching welts, peed and got myself moving again.
Final loop I trudged through, still unable to get the watts where I wanted them but decided to just get through it and get myself to the run. Wind continued to make the ride unpleasant up Beeline and the sting was just in the spot where sitting in aero it was just always aggravating it. So like everyone I was quite happy to part with the bike heading into T2.
Run: 3:54
Got through T2 and headed off on the run. The first mile or so was just about finding the pace that felt decent. Garmin was saying 8:40 ish and it felt pretty smooth and comfortable. So I told myself to go no faster than about 8:30 and just went with it. First half went by without any incident and started to slow a little, but still felt good in general. Continued to push through hit mile 18 and still felt pretty decent. Around mile 20 started to drag a bit, but got passed and used that as an excuse to pick it up a bit going up the one main hill, on the way back down I passed the person and continued to hold the pace. With about 3 miles left another person passed me and I picked up the pace again holding just back behind him stalking for the next few miles, as we started to get within around a half mile of the finish we started pushing each other a bit. With just about .3 miles to go I start to talk to him and it turns out to be an EN peep in disguise (thanks Clark). I then picked it up a bit and pushed through to the finish line.
Overall Time: 11:32:36
Overall I was happy with the time and race, probably could have pushed the run a bit harder, but happy overall. This one really reinvigorated me on the tri side. Now I just need to start getting consistent again.
Comments
Patrick, thanks for sharing the Race Report.
A lot of adversity to fight through: sick, bike issues, howling winds, bee stings and some heaving.......
Crap, how did you pull out a 11:30 time with all those distractions? Seriously, you must be an Ironman!
That's quite incredible. Well done! Congratulations!
SS
Robust year for you, eh?
Fitting that two EN runners, both sub 4, found themselves pushing each other at the end - and able to pick up the effort. Great testament to the work you did in training, the steadiness of your run.
Patrick...Nice race. Well done fighting thru the many issues. I can sympathize with you on the bee sting. It has happened to be in prior races, and it is no fun. And I'm slightly allergic to them so I have to be careful once stung.
Great run...way to finish strong.