28th Annual Mountain Man 1/2 Ironman
I did my first 1/2 Ironman, the Mountain Man 1/2 Ironman, this past Sunday. It is billed as "the toughest race you'll ever love", and takes place near Flagstaff, AZ at an elevation of about 7000'. The bike has a couple of kinda big climbs, and several smaller climbs for a total gain of about 1700', and the run has one big climb of about 400' in a little over a mile, and several smaller rolling type hills. I live in Flagstaff, so I am used to the elevation. A fellow EN'er and friend, Rian Bogle (Rironman), did the race with me.
I feel the need for full disclosure at this point. I have been doing triathlons for a little over a year now, completing my first sprint in 6/11, and three olympics since then. I had used a free online training plan to train for a 1/2 that took place in 12/11, but in one of my most unpleasant experiences, I did not participate in the race that I signed up for. It was a total mental breakdown. I felt underprepared and stressed. To top it off, the day before my scheduled 1/2 I watched my wife do the sprint put on by the same people as my race on part of the same course as my race, and several people have bad panic attacks on the swim in cold (mid 50's) water, and the support was poor. This rattled me further, and I went to a really bad place in my head. I never want to be there again, and never will.
I joined Endurance Nation about 90 days ago. I was not sure about spending money on coaching, and really mulled over the decision. A few things convinced me to commit to EN. My friend Rian had been a member for several weeks and I was impressed with his progress. I signed up for IMAZ '12, which will be my first, and felt that if it ended up being my only, it would be worth it to have a good training program, strong support, and more accountability than what I would get if I used a book or free plan as my coach. Finally, as a trial member, I was again impressed by the people of EN, the amount of resources, and the overall philosophy sounded great to me.
Anyway, back to the race. I did not sleep that well the night before, I kept dreaming that I was racing. I woke up and ate some cereal, a banana, and some coffee. I drove to the race with Rian, and met a couple of friends that were also racing at the transition area. Transition area set up was pretty uneventful. I sipped on Gu sports drink and talked with fellow racers discussing nutrition, the course, etc.
The swim started at 6:10, so I headed to the swim start a little early, got in the water, and warmed up for a few minutes. A good friend of mine that is not into triathlon at all showed up for support, so that felt really good. By the time the swim started, I felt really comfortable in the water. I picked a place sort of on the outside-middle to start the swim, and when the race started everything went pretty smoothly. There was a little crowding in the first few hundred meters, but once we got around the first buoy, things spread out. I felt like my pace was good, and besides having to slow down to pee, I was able to keep it up and sight buoys or follow the other swimmers pretty well. I came out of the swim in 42:21. I was expecting around 40-45 minutes, so I was happy. My wife and children had shown up to see me come out of the swim, so I gave them a quick hug and kiss, got ready for the bike and headed out. My transition was slow at 5:31, but I felt calm and prepared, so I did not worry about it.
I really enjoyed the bike. I took in the scenery and joked while leap frogging with a few other racers. It was really nice to be on a home course. There is a part of the course that you loop through twice that is really bumpy, but I knew where to ride on the road to minimze the bumps. I had my nutrition plan pretty well figured out. I had a Hammer bar at about 15 miles, and another half at about 40 miles. I drank at constant rate and ended up taking in about 27 ounces of diluted Gu drink mix, and another 20 ounces of water. I took the hills at as steady a pace as I could, and generally kept my heart rate in z3. I really didn't want to push too hard, as I knew that I wanted to have plenty of energy for the run. I was passed by some people, but really wasn't too concerned. They looked like they were in a way more competitive mode than me. I just wanted to do as well as I could and finish since this was my first 1/2. I did a good job at staying "in the box", and whenever I felt my mind wandering later into the race, or to my future IM, I thought about what was happening at that moment, checked my heart rate, did a check on how my body was feeling, and every time felt like everything was good. I finished in 3:07 including two restroom breaks and a stop to fill up on water. This was actually a bit faster (8 minutes) than I thought it would be, but in my rehearsals I had a harder time keeping my heart rate constant as a result of what I think might have been less than consistent effort. I got to see my wife, kids, Rian's family, and some other friends at T2 which was a little faster at 3:55. Again, I was all about making sure I was comfortable, so I put on some sunscreen, drank a little and made sure that I had everything I needed.
Most of the run was brutal, yet fun. It was sunny and starting to warm up, and the ~400' climb was from mile 1.5-3. As per my race execution plan I tried to take it a little easy for the first three miles, but it was difficult with the climb. My pace was good on the flatter part, but on the climb my pace decreased, and my heart rate inevitably climbed into z4. I drank water at the aid stations (every 1.5 miles), and poured some on my head and body also. I also had a gel with caffiene at the top of the climb. Maybe I should have had it sooner, but I felt pretty good, and I like to use gels sparingly because I have had some stomach cramping issues in the past which I believe were related to too much gel. I was able to book it down the hill, but once I got to the bottom, the heat started to get to me, and I was starting to feel the miles. I tried to keep my pace at 8:17/mile as per the plan, but it just wasn't happening. My heart rate was high for my pace too, a lot of z4, so I figured that I had to just keep going and not worry too much about my pace, but to try to keep my heart rate from skyrocketing. I almost felt like I was drinking too much water, as I was feeling a little nauseous at times, but I was hot and thirsty, so I kept drinking ~3-6 ounces at the aid stations. Finally, at about mile 10, a Monsoon thunderhead covered the sun, and the shade and breeze were amazing. I tried to kick it up for the last three miles, but at that point I could only pull off a couple of 9:00/miles. As bad as this might sound, I felt really good mentally. I knew that my expectations on the run had to be adjusted as I had an injury about a month before that kept me from running for two weeks. During the run I had a time or two when I started to go negative, but I checked myself and wasn't in any real pain, just tired, so I just kept going. I knew I was good to go, and even if I didn't make it as fast as I wanted to, I would make it. I also saw Rian and a couple of my other friends on the run, and it was fun to cheer each other on. My final run time was 2:17.
My final race time was 6:16:02. I had set up a happiness gradient before the race, which was that I would be happy to finish, really hapy if I made it under 7:00, and ecstatic with under 6:00, so that no mater what, I would be happy. I turned out that I was closer to ecstatic than to really happy. I did a 1/2 Ironman! I feel redeemed for, and totally over my DNS. I had fun, and leading up to and through the race, I kept my stress relatively low. I know that I have room for improvement, and I am totally excited for that and other challenges that I will face in the future.
Comments
It was a great race for you bruddah! You looked smooth, relaxed and you executed perfectly! Cant wait for IMAZ!