IMAZ Race Report
The Ask.
A year ago, while I was in the Middle East on a business trip, a friend sent me a text asking to join him in training for an ironman. He was heading to IMAZ to volunteer in a few weeks and then would sign up. It has always been a bucket list item for me and so my interest was piqued. I called a friend who has a done a few and was being sponsored to run Olympic Triathlons. I filled him in on my fitness level and asked if a year was enough time to train. With his encouragement, I said yes to this crazy year long journey.
Fitness Level.
I had run ½ marathons consistently for 2-3 years at this point. I had not been on a bike since I was 12 or 13 but was doing spin class pretty regularly. I was raised in water and was a commercial diver for a few years. I would say I was comfortable in water but not a swimmer by any means. I had never done a Triathlon but decided to sign up for a Full Ironman to get started. I can be a bit obsessive and crazy at times J
Getting started.
I was blessed by two things as I got started. First was I joined the local Tri-club and got to know the president well. We had regular coffees and he helped with all the questions I had early on. He helped connect me to someone who was selling a used bike and introduced me to Tom. Tom was the second blessing as he is an Endurance nation athlete who has completed 12 Ironman races. He sat down with me and walked me through EN and how it worked and I signed up. It has been one of the main reasons I have been successful.
Beginning Training
Early on I got a few swimming lessons through Swim Labs and this made a huge difference. I will never swim a record time but I wanted to have a base proficiency in the water and this helped me understand the swim stroke and be able to hold my own in the water. Around this time, I also got a bike fit and this relationship with my LBS has been incredible. There is so much to learn in ridding and my “bike guy” has been helpful and a great resource for the last year.
Out season Training
This was a fun time of starting to build a base of fitness. I started riding my bike 3 times a week and because I didn’t have a trainer, I got used to riding in wind and rain storms for the first 4 months of riding. My swimming was coming along and it was time to sign up for a few short distance triathlons.
My first one was an Olympic distance called the onion man. I got swam over in the mass start (not once but twice) and had a mild panic attack in the water. I barely finished the swim but I crushed the bike and found that my training was starting to pay off. My second Tri was a better experience and I was becoming better at all three disciplines. Through this process, I was finding some joy in the training. My bi-weekly swims at the reservoir were some great solitude time. My bike was improving and even running was starting to get better and become fun.
Ironman Training
This is a load of time-management and an all-consuming couple of months for me. My biggest fear during this time is the training load would become more than my body could bear. The great news is my body responded well. I think one of the secrets to keeping injuries at bay was my weekly stretch therapy sessions. (Think massage but with stretching instead of rubbing). The long bikes always seemed crazy long but I was surprised at how well my body responded to each Race rehearsal. I was starting to get my nutrition dialed in and the workouts were more enjoyable than ever. One of the best things was doing the training with a very close friend. Although he was in Seattle and I am in Salem we would text regularly and got together for a few major workouts.
The last 2 weeks I was forced to purchase a trainer due to weather. To do a 6-hr. indoor ride was a crazy mental discipline that would come in handy during the race. The other thing that really helped was doing regular coffees with 4 guys who were EN athletes and doing IMAZ as well.
Taper and Race week.
I had read all about people going stir crazy during taper and self-doubt creeping in. The first half of taper was not this for me. I was enjoying the family time and the winding down of workouts. I spent time putting together checklists. I had one for each bag. One for what to do in the morning of the race, and one that was a consolidated “master” list. I had 3-4 people give me input on the list and by the time I was packing I was confident in what I had and that I wasn’t forgetting anything. This was one of the best tools for calming my nerves during race week. My wife and I drove down to AZ. I enjoyed the drive down. We did the drive in 2 days and it was an easy fun pace. We arrived in AZ 8 days early and stayed with family during our time in AZ. Being in AZ so early gave me a chance to do a 2-hr. ride on Sunday. This was a game changer as I realized quickly that my nutrition plan needed some tweaking due to the heat. Then on Tuesday I did my final 1-hr. ride followed by a 30-min. run. This felt better and I was able to dial in a final plan for liquid intake and nutrition.
During race week, my wife told me more than once that I was wound tighter than a piano wire…Ha-ha. This is a shift since I’m pretty laid back normally. Doubt and worry was starting to creep in. I did my best to focus on what I could control and forget everything else. During the last week, I uploaded my race plan to EN and got some great advice as I tweaked a few things on my plan trusting the expertise and advice of the veterans. Friday night everyone was out of the house and it gave me a few quiet hours to load my bags and get mentally prepared for the race. The checklists were so helpful because I didn’t need to think too hard. I laid everything out on each bag and took a pic. That way if I woke up in the middle of the night worried I had forgotten anything I could look at the pic. That never happened, in part, because I was at ease with my checklists and I had already thought of everything.
The day before I did the practice swim and that helped a lot. My nerves were calm. I checked my bike and bags and tried to get out ASAP. I went and had a big lunch knowing it was my last solid meal. Following some solid advice, I had Jamba juice for dinner. I grabbed 2 med chocolate protein drinks (1300liquid calories). This was great advice as I didn’t have any GI issues the next day.
My daughter flew in on Friday to join us for the race. I had picked up a drawstring backpack at the ironman Tent and filled it with goodies. The main thing I wanted to do on race day was smile, stop, and honor my cheering section. I couldn’t have trained without their support for the whole year and the race day was going to be long for them as well.
Race.
I woke up around 3 am and grabbed some coffee and tried to relax. I put everything together and double checked my morning checklist. We were staying 45 min. from the race. I dropped by the Hotel and picked up my friend and ate small amount of oatmeal just to have something in my stomach. We got to the race at 5. I dropped off my bags and put nutrition in my bike bag then went to check my bike. I had a hard time running down an extra pump but finally borrowed a pump. It was worn out and I couldn’t get my back tire to hold air. I started to panic but found a better pump and got the tire filled and was more relaxed. I started my Garmin, made sure I was in the right gear and then left the bike. My tire would worry me and I would come back to my bike 2 more times and make sure I didn’t have a flat before the race started. After that I went in and changed and then dropped off my morning bag. I grabbed my friend and we seeded our self at 1:20 for the swim.
Swim.
I high fived and gave a hug to my best friend just before we entered the water. Jumped in and the water was a perfect 68 degrees. I started swimming easy and kept telling myself to slowdown. Just after the second bridge (1/4 mile) I took a hard elbow to the nose. I had to stop and put my googles back on but I didn’t panic, in fact, it just pissed me off. I would spend the rest of the race defending my space and passing people left and right. It amazes me how people don’t seed themselves correctly. The second half was quicker and easier although a bit choppier at the turn around. The crowd had thinned and I was able to swim next to the buoys without much trouble. Coming out of the water was a great feeling
Goal 1:20 Time 1:18
T1
I ran to the biggest stripper I could find and yelled “get it off me boys”. They did great and I ran to the tent. I had chosen to go for full comfort for my first Ironman so I changed into ridding shorts. I dumped my bag out and got changed. I handed my wetsuit to a volunteer to pack and handed him a gift card I had in my bag and thanked him. As I headed out to get my bike my wife was waiting by my bike (long story but she got access to the transition area). I gave her a teary kiss and headed out on the course.
Goal 7 min. Time 9 min
Bike
The bike was a great ride. I loved the dessert air and even the wind was a bit strong but I had been training all year outside and Salem can be pretty windy. I tried to keep my watts under 190 on the way up. I kept telling myself to back off and take it easy. I wanted the first loop to be the easiest of the day. I remembered Coach Patrick telling me “don’t chase speed” and Coach Rich saying “Don’t be an idiot on the Beeline”. Coming back down was nice as I sustained 30+ MPH. I got done with the first lap and saw my wife. I stopped and gave her a kiss. One of the things I wanted to do was honor my cheering section, this may be my favorite memory and video of the day. I had trained to pee on the bike but with so many people around me I decided to not splash everyone and stop to pee. I peed 3 times on the bike and stopped one more time to relube. I was doing 1 bottle of Gatorade and a bottle of water every 45-50 min. The water really helped the sweetness of the Gatorade. I also ate a Uncrustable and a salt pill every hr. The last loop was good but as I reached the top the wind had shifted and I had a head wind coming back down. I chased speed a bit on the final return because I couldn’t figure out the wind was a headwind and I was trying to maintain the speed of my first two laps. I had been fighting a foot issue for the last 3 months of training that flared up on lap 3. My toes start to burn and usually makes it hard to run afterword. It is caused because I mash the pedals to much instead of spin them. Luckily my foot felt better on the way back down the third lap and never bothered me from that point on.
Goal 6 hr. Time 6:19
T2
This transition took me longer. The tent was pretty empty and felt like an old civil war movie. People were moaning and laying around with volunteers attending to the wounded. I dumped my bag and grabbed a wet washcloth I had packed. Wiped down and reapplied trislide for the run. I threw on my run shorts and handed the volunteer the gift card and was out of the tent. I turned on my Garmin watch and got lubed with sunscreen gave my wife a kiss and my daughter a high five and headed out on the course.
Goal 7min. Time 10 min.
Run.
The run was flat but hot. I was starting in the heat of the day and the 85-degree day was having its way with me. The first hr. went well and I kept my heart rate down. After that it started to climb a bit faster than I wanted. I was only walking through the aid stations but had to slow down to keep my hr. in check. Seeing my family on the course kept my spirits high and I stopped and smiled every time I saw them. When I got to my special needs bag I put some band aids on a few hot spots and grabbed my long sleeve shirt in anticipation of the sun going down. I also had a toothbrush and toothpaste in there. I brushed my teeth and it was amazing. It felt so good to cleanse my teeth from all that sugar I had ingested all day. Mile 13-14 was a long mile. It was getting dark and I was tired. I walked more than I wanted to until I hit the aid station. I grabbed my first cup of chicken broth and it was magical. From there I decided I would just run to each aid station and to each mile markers. I would only walk for 30 seconds at each spot. This helped me pick up the pace and the rest of the race was more of a mental game than a physical one. My hr. was steady at 150 the rest of the night. The last 2 miles I was pushing myself because I knew if I could break a 6hr. marathon I would be under 14 hrs. I remember getting to the finish shoot and the tears started to fall. The last year of commitment and all the discipline was worth it. The missed family moments and the difficulty of getting up early and training late. All the craziness of training because I heard my name and the glorious words YOU.ARE.AN.IRONMAN.
Goal 5:15 Time 5:58
Big Goal under 14hrs. Time 13:52
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