The man has been Ironed!

In a phrase: I am an Ironman!

In a word: Ouch!

It took me nearly 16 hours to finish the 140.6 miles, but that’s okay, because they give you 17! Here is my review, of the race and my performance.

When I got the transition area in the morning, I heard the water temperature was 77 degrees. This meant it would be a wetsuit optional swim – meaning if you opt to where one, you cannot win an award or qualify for the Ironman World Championship, in Kona. With no risk of that becoming an issue, the decision was easy! I set up my stuff, put on my wetsuit, kissed Dani goodbye for the day and walked down to the water.

This was my first triathlon with a mass start – and if I have any say in the matter, it will also be my last. That’s a bit drastic, actually. I would still probably do another mass start race, but with all else being equal, I would choose a different race over one with a mass start. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, triathlons have two types of starts: wave, or mass. In a wave start, athletes are divided into various sub-groups (most typically by age groups), and each group begins separately, usually with a 3-minute gap. In a mass start, everybody begins at the same time – and in this case, that meant 2,500 people, all in the water together, starting to swim at the same time.

For nearly the entire first lap (1.2 miles) I was getting kicked, elbowed, stuck behind slower people – and, to be honest, kicking, elbowing and slowing down others. This wasn’t as bad for the second lap, because getting out of the water to run across the timing mat (so they can be sure everybody does both laps), spread out the crowd a bit, but at the first turn of the second lap, more bunches formed.

I got out of the water after completing the 2.4 mile course, a wetsuit peeler helped me yank it off and I headed into transition. I grabbed my bike gear back and went into the changing tent. I’ve also never done a tri with a change tent before – maybe it’s just limited to full distance events – but this was quite the scene (to avoid). I grabbed my bike and ran to the bike start arch.

The bike course was amazing! I had heard a lot about the hills, but they weren’t too bad. I had done a lot of hill training, and actually competed in early June in an event that was half as long, with a few hundred feet more in total ascent than this route. With the biggest hills at the end, though, it was a challenge the second time around – after more than 100 miles, any hill is.

After completing the 112-mile, two-loop course, I pulled back into transition where a helpful volunteer grabbed my bike from me to re-rack it, saving a minute or two. I just liked the convenience of it, but I’m sure for the elite age-groupers, or people trying to hit a specific time goal, this is valuable time savings. I grabbed my run gear bag and headed back into the changing tent. I took some time to stretch and get some nutrients in. I also lathered up with a bit more sunscreen (I had stopped at a few aid stations and gotten spray-on tanning lotion, but I don’t trust that stuff).

And back to the mention of hills… I hadn’t heard much about the hills on the run course, and they were brutal! Up until just before I finished the first loop of the run course, I was close to my planned pace for everything… The swim was expected to take me 1:20, it took 1:19. The bike was expected at 7:11, it took about 7:40, I was only a few minutes off on transitions, and the first 12 miles of the run were at 10:40, with an expected 10:45… Then, the hills started to take their toll.

I made a critical mental mistake going down the steepest, longest hill, the second time around, at about mile 14. I was running down it, which was a mistake to begin with, and when I realized halfway down that this was a mistake, I decided to switch to walking – adding to the criticality (made that word up, I think). Slowing down like that, and transitioning to a walk was deadly on my quads. From that point on I was alternating running and walking… very heavily favoring walking. Even running from there on I couldn’t break 12:30/mile (and wasn’t trying to).

Adding to this issue was stomach (or lack there of) trouble. My main source of fuel during the run was supposed to be gel (90 cal/serving of a simple carb mix, in syrup form). About halfway through, I could no longer tolerate eating it, because of the way it was making me feel. I had to stick to water, sports drinks, and after the sun started to set, chicken broth.

Speaking of the sun starting to set – it got cold! I had one of the reflective heat blankets wrapped around me while I walked, and I’d crumble it up and stick it in my pocket when I jogged.

With all my blood concentrating on keeping my legs going, it was getting difficult to do math – however there was only a brief point when I questioned whether or not I’d be able to finish in time if I needed to walk at the current pace for the rest of the race. I got very concerned when my math had me finished around 2:30 am, with a midnight cutoff… however, that’s because I was using the 26.2 total miles, rather than the 8 or so miles I actually had left at that point. I realized my error pretty quickly, and other than that, never let doubt of finishing creep into my head.

I knew I would finish, and 15:55 after the gun went off, I crossed the finish line and became an Ironman!