Peter Carroll's IMAZ Race Report
Ironman Arizona race report:
Ironman Arizona
12:30 total time
Swin 1:14
Bike 5:51
Run 5:15
Overall 800/3202
Age group 153/502
Swim: 115 age group/673 overall
4am was really early to get up. But I got up and had the usual nervous stomach. I had a plan and all I had to do that day was stick to it. We got to Tempe after a 15-20 min drive, found parking easily and got to transition. It was chilly. I got my special needs bags dropped off and checked on my bike. Everything checked out ok. Got my wetsuit on and talked to Christie and got one last hug and kiss and went to go get in line to get to the swim start. They had us in a line and we all had to funnel into the water. The start was an open water start. So, you had to swim a bit to the start after getting into the water. Then I just floated there thanks to my wetsuit. There were around 2800+ people lined up there and ready to start. I lined up right in the middle close to the front. The sides both tend to be crowded according to EN team reports. The cannon went off and everyone started swimming. It got crowded fairly fast. People all around you. And the water was cloudy enough that you couldn’t see the person’s feet in front of you. You could feel them, but not see them so it was difficult to draft. The first half of the swim was ok. Got swam over, kicked in the face, hit on the back of the head etc. Nothing out of the usual. No one kept doing it so you could tell it was just because there were so many people. I just kept counting my strokes and trying to swim towards the open spots. The turn actually surprised me. It came fairly quickly (this was a 1 loop 2.4 mile swim). On the way back it was a lot less crowded and I was able to get into a rhythm. I actually got to watch planes land at PHX when I breathed. It was a nice distraction to try to figure out what kind of plane it was…. United… United…. Southwest… Military… To get out of the water, you had to hop up on the bottom step of a staircase that was just at water level. It was kind of like hopping out of a pool in the deep end. I was worried about it because I didn’t do the practice swim. But I actually got out very quickly with no help. There were wetsuit strippers, so I ran over to them and woosh, my wetsuit was off. Love them wetsuit strippers!
T1
T1 had a long run to my bike gear. I think I saw Christie at some point. I got my bag and think I got my stuff on fairly quickly. I ran to get my bike and I was off. The best part of Ironman’s are the wet suit strippers. You run over, and its an acceptable mugging. They rip it off your arms, tell you to get on your butt and stick your legs in the air and rip your wetsuit off you. Then hand it to you and you are on your way. Its just really cool and fast
Bike:
111 Age Group/533 overall
So, my goal power was 157. I ended up at 150. I felt good getting on the bike. The overtraining that I had felt 3 weeks before seemed to be gone. The first hour I take it easy (per the race plan). Lots of people pass me because they feel good and think they can ride a 5 hr bike. The first 8 miles or so are winding out of town to get you to the beeline highway where you ride out into the dessert for 9-10 miles up a 1-2% incline. Then you turn around and come back. It’s a 3 loop bike course. On the way out of town, my friend Pat passed me. I tried to speed up for a second to say hey, but I realized I had a flat front tire. Argh. Really? So, I had to stop and fix it. One of the race officials stopped and helped hold my bike. I think I got it changed fairly fast. But there seemed to be a lot of people getting flats on this day. I’m told this is a really fast bike course. But not today. Today we had 20 mph headwinds on the way out. It was slow and go and VERY crowded. If the race officials had wanted to call drafting penalties, I think everyone would have had to stop at the penalty tent. (just talked to a guy while I was picking up my bike and he said they were giving out penalties. So I guess I was just lucky, But I’ll call the flat tire an equivalent of a penalty)
My first lap was interesting because I didn’t have time to ride the course beforhand. So, it was all new to me. I was able to stay fairly steady and aero the whole race. It was interesting because it wasn’t up hill that much on the way out, but there was so much wind, that it seemed like it was steeper. So it was slow steady on the way out into the wind and fast on the way back. Once to the top, it was really nice to get up to 35-40 mph and then coast, pee, rest. Yep, that’s what happens. You pee while going fast downhill. Each bathroom I passed had bunches of people waiting for it. I just couldn’t justify an extra 20-30 min on the bike. After each pee there was a nice water bottle waiting for me at the next aid station to rinse off. So, basically the above happened times 3 laps. At the end of the 3rd lap I actually felt good. In past Ironman’s I’ve gone close to my limit and my legs felt really tired, but today they actually felt tired, but not overly tired. I was looking forward to a good run. Or so I thought.
Run
The run started off well. I got through T2 really quickly and got on my way. I was anxious to see my family at mile 1 and 3. The best part of this race was seeing my family. I know its REALLY hard on them when I train and am gone (although I do get up early and do stuff at work as much as a I can, I’m still gone a lot). But having them at these longer races makes a huge difference. Its almost as if they are pulling me towards them before I get to where they are. It helps immensely to see some happy faces who want you to do well, even if its only for a few seconds.
So, during the first mile, I could tell my stomach was not right. I felt full and I hadn’t eaten or drank much over the last 30 min. I kept plugging along. I met one of my Endurance Nation teammates and ran several miles with him. That was fun. Then my stomach really started feeling bad. So, I walked a bit and drank water/coke at the aid stations to try to help it get settled. No luck. I was able to run walk about 10 min miles for the first 9 miles or so. Then my back tightened up and miles 10-15 were very difficult. Every step hurt my back. At the 15 mile aid station I had some broth and that helped my stomach and my back cramping. I got to see my family again at mile 14 and 17 and that helped a lot. Its funny because late in these races, when I have been looking forward to seeing my family for so long, I finally see them and it makes me choke up when I finally see them. It’s the best feeling in the world. At mile 17 or 18 a lady passed me while I was walking and said, lets go. So I said may as well. We talked for a bit and kept running. Before I knew it, we had run 4 miles at about 11 min pace. I thanked her for helping me get running again as we got to the aid station. I figured I’d lose her at the aid station. But sure enough, she was running out the same time I was. So we kept running. She didn’t know it, but she was dragging me along. I think we ran 7 or 8 miles before I just couldn’t keep up any more. My fingers had been tingling all day and it was getting worse. I have a hereditary potassium deficiency and it seems to rear its ugly head at the end of Ironmans. Also during those 7-8 miles where I was running well, my family (now including Tony and Melanie and kids) showed up in an unexpected place. It was a great surprise. But I had to keep up with this lady who was dragging me along, so I kept going.
Mile 22/23 was rough. I started feeling really bad again and my fingers and arms were tingling now. But I plugged on. Getting broth/coke as much as I can. The broth was only at every other aid station after dark. It would have really helped to have it at every aid station. By mile 24, I was negotiating to run to the corner. Run to the light post. Walk, but only walk 20 steps. Screw the finger/arm tingling. I just had to get there. The faster/more I ran the quicker I would get there. This is the part of the Ironman that I think is why I do Ironmans. It’s the point where everything says ‘you’ve had enough, you should just stop, look a bench’ and you have to tell it to kiss off. I’m going to keep going. I can do this. My family is waiting for me. Its just knowing that you’ve gone further than most people would go and you are fighing through all the pain as well as your brain telling you to stop. Its very empowering to know that when things get tough, that you’ve pushed through before in worse situations so you can push through this time also. I managed to keep walk jogging to the end. The funniest part of the race is the last ¼ mile. You reach the finishing chute and there are all the lights and people cheering and suddenly you can run again. Where the heck was all this energy 10 min ago? Why can’t everyone be at mile 24 and cheer? I’d have finished a lot faster But coming down the finishing line I saw my family again. That was great. I got to high five my wife and kids. And then I got to stop I honestly didn’t look at the clock. I knew the time wasn’t the sub 12 hr time that I had in my grasp after the bike and even still on the first half of the run. But it was the journey that mattered. I persevered and finished.
And of course while running I swore, nope never doing another one. But a day later I started thinking about next time. Its not going to be for a few years. But at some point before I die, I’ll do another full Ironman. Until then hopefully I can do a few half Ironman’s and sprints and spend a lot of time with my family!
So, what went wrong? Since I’ve had some time to think, I’d guess that the concentration of the Powerbar Perform on the course is stronger than the mix that I make (per the instructions). I think that for some reason I need more water on the course to dilute things. 2 IM’s ago I got too much sodium and needed to dilute things also. I just didn’t do that this time. My first Ironman I used a concentrated bottle of infinite and got water at the aid stations to drink. I think that worked out better. The problem with that is that I have to carry more things with me on the bike. But IM is also switching back to Gatorade next year, so that could help also.
Thanks for reading!
Comments
Peter, glad I was able to meet you. Running with you at the beginning of the run was a bright spot for me and helped me get my head on straight.
I think you are spot on with your assessment of the Course Perform strength and Powerbar combo......I ran into the same issue earlier this year at IMTX and had to back off of the bike handups of Perform and go to straight water around mile 60 of the IMTX bike.....the decision helped me get my stomach back under control a bit..... For IMAZ, I elected to avoid the handups and mixed my own formula concentrated in two frozen bottles and added 1/3 of a bottle for each water hand up to my front Speedfill........that solved my GI problems.
Well done out there my friend. Way to "Find a Way" to push through the GI issues and Get it Done!! Very hard to manage with the distraction of painful annoying GI problems in a long race like this on top of the wind fiasco but, then again, You are an Ironman!!
Sincere congratulations! Hope your recovery time with the family is going well!
SS
Peter, didn;t you tell me that was a PR even with the difficulties on the bike (wind) and run (back, stomach, etc.)? Yeah, the Perform is just crap to deal with, I gave up last year, and switched to Infinit for most of the bike, and diluting the Perform on the run with water every aid station.
" The funniest part of the race is the last ¼ mile. You reach the finishing chute and there are all the lights and people cheering and suddenly you can run again. Where the heck was all this energy 10 min ago? Why can’t everyone be at mile 24 and cheer?" That;s a GREAT idea. Some courses actually do something like that, like the long run down Sherman @ CDA, the old Canada course in Penticton, where you run past the finish line then out and back along the motel row on the lake, where there are lots of people, and meandering thru town in the last 1.5 miles in Hawaii, again with a lot of folks lining the way. Arizona sucks that way, cause they make you go along a deserted road and then into a dark parking lot and up a freaking hill with no people, then BAMM, all the lights and cheering. And the whole way, of course, you hear Mike Reilly as a little tiny voice for 10-15 minutes, making it all worse cause you're not there yet.
How much do you think the potassium deficiency contributes to your GI issues?
It's known to affect smooth muscle function(i.e., intestinal muscle).
It was great meeting you and racing with you!