Ironman Arizona 2016; Pre race through the swim

For a variety of personal reasons, which I will not put the reader through, my training for Ironman Arizona was not where I wanted.  As the race approached, I had to face the realization that I was undertrained and overweight; even by my own pudgy standards.

There is no cramming for the Ironman exam.  It takes months of consistent training to be properly ready.  I trained, just not to the level I would have liked. 

I left San Diego for Tempe on Thursday, and took a nice easy drive out.  Checked into my room, which was actually in Mesa, as I went cheap and stayed eight miles away to save $45 a night.

Friday I went over to the Ironman Village and picked up my packet.  Having done two full Ironman races, I knew what to expect, I strolled through the vendors, talked to one of the recovery boot vendors, and did a 10-minute demo.  They felt pretty darn good, but they are out of my budget right now. 

I picked up my bib, timing chip, and goodies, and took a stroll through the Ironman store.  I always get an M-dot shirt with the names of the participants on it.  I have one from every half and full I’ve done.  And I liked the IMAZ coffee mug, so I got one of those.  I don’t need to buy out the store anymore though, I’ve done this!

Got my stuff, time to put my feet up for a bit.  As I drove back to my motel, I passed the spring training facility for the World Champion Chicago Cubs!  What a facility, and the cool part is they got the streets around the park named Addison, Clark, Waveland, Sheffield. 

My routine for the day before a race is to get a short, 30-minute shakeout ride, then rack my bike and rest.  The shakeout ride went fine, but I thought my rear brake was soft.  I gave my bike to bike tech to check it out.  They were swamped and had a 3.5 hour wait, so I went and had some lunch.  Came back and still had to wait an hour.  Ugh.  Finally got my bike, racked it, and went into rest mode.  Social media off, calm the mind, visualize a successful race.

I slept GREAT!  Woke up 10 minutes before the alarm.  Had my breakfast as I drove in.  Got parked, made my final preparations and now nothing to do but wait.  I found a place to sit and get off my feet.  Pros start at 6:40. Age groupers start at 6:50 in a controlled self-seeded start.

About 6:20 I start putting the wetsuit on, take my morning dry bag down, and got in the queue for the Roka swim course with the 1:20 swimmers.

BOOM!  There goes the cannon and the pro men are off.

BOOM!  There goes the cannon and the pro women are off.

BOOM!  There goes the cannon and the age-groupers start!  And now, we are moving.  It didn’t take long and into the water, my race starts.  Swim, swim, I can’t see.  Roll over, rinse goggles, go.  Swim, smash, smash, goggles and cap knocked off.  Grabbed the goggles, lost the cap.  Swim, swim, can’t see.  Goggle fix.  I could not get the goggles to stay clear.  Finally got far enough as we approached a bridge, and I could sight off it, so I wasn’t worried about the limited vision.  I felt strong swimming at this point, and this continued throughout the swim.  I figured I had dropped back to the 1:30-1:35 swimmers with the goggle issues, and had some negative self -  talk, and doubt going on here.  So I gave myself a butt-chewing and got to it.  Then good positive self – talk as I got in a groove!  Here comes the final red buoy, left turn, I can here cheering, and announcing, and can see the exit stairs, and volunteers, and I’m out of the water!  In 1:23:17!  My second best swim at this distance, which is three Ironman races, and one Tiki Swim.  But it feels like a PR with the start being so bad.  I really thought it was about 1:30 so I was stoked.  Off to Transition one.

To be continued…

Ironman Arizona

Thursday November 13, 2014.  Three days until Ironman Arizona.  Today’s schedule is a 45 minute bike, easy, make sure the bike is good, and just shake out the legs a bit.  With this accomplished, I focused on quality food, and a slight uptick in hydration to compensate for the desert dryness.  Also increased carbs, but not to a stupid amount, and no over-eating.  Thursday was  a glorious day in greater Tempe.  A high of about 80, light winds.  It would be a great day to have an Ironman.   Nice of my hotel to welcome us too!

Friday November 14, 2014.  Two days until Ironman Arizona.  Another glorious day.  I do not workout two days prior, I find this is a good off day for me.  I did go to packet pick up and take care of making sure I got my packet, instructions, and all was ready to go.  Continue to get proper food and drink in me.  And relax.  Try and relax.  Stay off the feet.

Saturday November 15, 2014.  Ironman eve.  Yet again, a terrific day.  Another 40-45 minute bike ride.  This time I headed out from the bike start for 21 minutes, then turned around.  Went through a warm up, hit all the gears, and a couple of short bursts.  Felt strong and good.  Wiped the bike down, put the numbers on the bike, and racked it.  Also dropped off my bike and run bags.  Nothing to do now but eat, sleep, and wait.

Sunday November 16, 2014.  Ironman Arizona.  Greeted with a nice, cool morning.  The buzz is electric in the Ironman Village.  Nervous, chatty athletes.  Nervous quiet athletes.  Even some that looked calm, cool, and collected.  For some reason I was nervous.  More nervous than I remember being for IMCdA.  Then it was bothering me that I felt nervous.  I couldn’t seem to calm down.  I was wondering if I should have brought a second bike helmet.  The second for, well, you know, barf.

What calmed me down?  Putting on my wetsuit.  Once the wetsuit was on, it was like, oh, okay, we’ll migrate down to the lake, get in, and swim.  I’ve done this a time or two.  In we go, down some steps into Tempe Town Lake.  About 300-400 yards from the start.  Had to get in at the exit point due to low water levels.

Used the 300-400 yards as a warm up.  It seemed like an eternity, but finally BOOM!  The cannon went off.  Swim start?  More like mortal combat.  2,700 people starting to swim at the same time in no semblance of order.  Push, smash, crash.  Repeat.  Trying to find some swimming room.  Had to go Tarzan style for 400-500 yards just to not crush someone.  The visibility in the water was less than zero.  The lake water was very silty.  I found some swimming room, and got into a bit of a groove.  Now that I was swimming, I would come up on groups of other swimmers.  Getting around them was like trying to make progress in a traffic jam.  Roughly three-quarters of the way through and suddenly the water has a chop to it.  Great, it wasn’t challenging enough with 2,700 people and no visibility.  Now I’m fighting the water.  A few minutes later it hit me.  Or was that another swimmer hitting me (again)?  The chop means WIND.  Expletive, expletive, expletive.

Finally the end of the swim.  Getting out on the steps was a challenge with the low water level, and my sea legs.

Up and out, about five minutes slower than CdA, and ten minutes off my goal, but with the conditions, acceptable.  Off to transition.  Hearing lots of Go Tri Club!!!  TCSD and TCSD rooters were out in force.

Walking/trotting to the transition area, I locate my bike bag, and head toward the changing tent.  Since I am not changing my bottoms, I don’t go inside, but find a tree to lean on and get out of my wetsuit, change my top, and get my helmet, sunglasses, and cycling shoes on.  I skip the wetsuit strippers.  I found it took longer at CdA and I had to carry a heavy wetsuit to transition.  I’d prefer to have my hands free until I was ready to change.

Now that I was ready to ride, I went over to the bike racks, and headed out.  It was a short distance to the mount line and I was riding.  Once onto the road my fears were confirmed.  It was WINDY.  My least favorite element to ride in.  Wind never stops.  It is noisy, and relentless.  Okay, get your mind right.  You cannot control this.  You’ve ridden in it.  You did the 2011 Eastern Sierra DoubleCentury.  You can do this.  Positive thoughts.  The return will be a tailwind.  The course, was a three loop out and back.  Most of the way would be right into the wind and most of the way back with it.

The first out went pretty good.  Slower than I planned, but that was all wind.  My effort was right, and I felt good.  About that wind.  You really feel it, as if with every pedal stroke you take, someone is pushing you right back.  And when it gusted, wow!  Sustained winds of 20 MPH with gusts over 30.  The bike was being pushed all over.  I FLEW back into town.  My first loop was just three minutes slower than my stretch goal despite the wind.  Turn around and do it again!  Through town and out to the Beeline Highway.  The Beeline was just shy of 11 miles.  Going out right into the wind, and a bit uphill.  Just a quarter of a mile on the Beeline I shifted and my chain dropped.  Expletive.  Okay, two minute fix, right?  Not even, usually.  Get the chain on but the crank will not turn.  Flip the bike to get a good look at it.  Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!  My chain is bent.  I mean bent, like will not roll over the chain rings bent.  Is my day over?  All I can do now is wait for Bike Tech and see what, if anything can be done.

And wait.  And wait.  Finally a vehicle stops, I tell him, and he radios one of the motorcycle techs.  He shows up a couple of minutes later.  Now I realize my day might not be done, as he has chain links.  He goes to work on my bike.  It did take a few minutes, but I was back in the game!!!  I cannot thank him enough, back on the bike, and continue my second loop.

By the way what is that smell?  Ugh that is awful.  Okay its gone.  Hit the turnaround and come flying back down.  There is that smell again.  Wretched sewage, or something?  Oh, there is the sign.  Landfill turn right.

Back into town, and one more time, turn around and back out.  Here is where the mechanical hurt more than the 45-50 minutes I was idle.  I never got the same groove on the bike after the delay.  I think I stiffened up some.  And it screwed with me mentally.  I kept wondering where I would be if it hadn’t happened.  Trying to get those thoughts out of my head, and into being thankful I was still out there.

At what seemed like an eternity, I hit the far turn-around one last time, and zipped back into town with the tailwind.

Off the bike and into transition.  Now I am calculating times.  See, the run is always my weakest sport.  And I have had injury issues all year.  I broke my foot in March.  And after I started running again, I have had knee issues.  So I did not get the run build I wanted.  I went into this with a very conservative run strategy.  Walk the first four minutes.  Then run 30 seconds, and walk 1:30, repeat.  I did this the last two months of training, and it was working, and I figured a 6:00 to 6:30 marathon based on this.  No world record, but better than my CdA marathon with a strong run build.  My concern was would the knee hold up?  I’m starting the run over an hour later than I anticipated.  If this becomes a walk, I’ll be struggling to make the 17 hour time cut.

Think positive.  Start your 30-130 and FOLLOW THE PLAN.  You put this plan together, your body responded well the last two months.  The knee has been doing great the last month.  Your actual running has improved.

First run segment,  Ouch!  No, not the knee, my left hamstring.  What???  This has not been an issue at all.  Okay, diagnose.  Is it a cramp or a pull?  For the second time I was wondering if my day was over.  Feels like a cramp, which is weird.  When I cramp it is usually my quads, occasionally my calves.  And more often, after my day is over.  However, I did have pickle juice with me.  The worlds greatest cure for cramping.  I took some and about 30 seconds later I was good.  I was off, and on to my run-walk.  And I was run-walking STRONG.  My splits were great, as I was tracking a 3:00 half marathon.  The sun was going down, it was chilly, which is good for me.  Heat and running do not mix for me.  The conditions for running were ideal!  They flat out sucked for cycling with that wind, but for running, fantastic.

The run course is two loops.  The cruelest thing on earth is hitting the end of loop one.  You see the split for finish or continue.  You see faster athletes finishing.  You hear them finishing.  You’ve still got 13.1 to go.  Here it is for me.  Can I get in around six hours?  Heck, can I break six hours?  The half was 3:00:29.  I need an oh-so slight negative split.  And I feel good enough now to do it.  Will it hold?  Miles 13-18 no problem.  Then I noticed I was creeping into 14 minute miles.  The difference wasn’t the run segments, I was walking slower.  So starting with mile 20 I started running more.  I went from 30-130 to 40-120 then 45-115.

Not a single niggle from the knee all day!  No more hamstring issues, and just a bit from the calves, another gulp of pickle juice fixed that. 

Getting close to the finish, I hit a walk segment,  Walked maybe 30 seconds and I reached the barriers marking the finish chute.  No way I was walking any of this.  Too much crowd support.  I started running, and the folks watching started cheering.  They love to see folks run it in.  Around a slight bend and there it is.  The finish line.  The big timer.  Mike Reily’s voice booming, telling the person in front of me they are an IRONMAN.  I migrate to the right side, and high five a bunch of spectators, then make sure my bib is centered, I hit the final few meters, and I hear Mike bring me in.  God, I LOVE that!  Me, I am an IRONMAN!!!! (For the second time).  It is very emotional.  And then, it is over.  Just like that.  Done.  The volunteer takes you back, makes sure you don’t need medical, and gets you to the photo area.  They take a few shots, and get you to athlete food.  And you are done.  Euphoria, emotion, and hey, its over?  I want more!  Well, maybe another time.  Right now I think I want off my feet.

Oh and the run time?  My Garmin showed just over 6 hours.  Darn, missed the sub six.  Except the official time has me at 5:59:48.  Very, very happy!

So a strange Ironman for me.  The event I expected to be the best, the bike, was the poorest event of the day especially with the mechanical.  Even without it, it was about 6:45 of ride time, which is disappointing for the course.  I really expected to have a bike time faster than my run time here. 

I would be remiss not to thank all the volunteers, and especially the bike tech that saved my day.  Thank you all for your support.  And thank you to Ironman for putting on a great event.

Gear:

Swim

Blue Seventy wetsuit

Tyr Rx googles

Bike

Specialized Transition Comp

Williams 58-85 wheels (LOVE THESE)

50-34 compact crank set

11-28 cassette

X-Lab cages

Run

Saucony Kinvara 5 shoes

Fuel Belt

Total time 15:15 – Was shooting to go sub 14, but the mechanical and wind put the kibosh on that. 

On course photos courtesy of Tri Club San Diego

pre-race photos by me.

 What is next?  Well I am signed up for IM California-Oceanside 70.3 in March.  If my knee continues to behave, my plan for next year is one or two 70.3s and several shorter tris.  I also want to focus on my weight and conditioning.  For a former obese ~400 pounder I have done well.  But by triathlete standards I am heavy.  It shows in the pictures this year, I really need to get the weight down some more.  This will help with speed, but more importantly it will save the joints and muscles stress, allowing me to keep doing this stuff.

No 140.6's next year, unless, of course the Kona Lottery comes up for me!  :-)  I'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit to race at Kona.

Solana Beach Sprint Triathlon, 2014

I haven’t done a sprint triathlon since 2011.  After missing Oceanside with a broken foot, I was itching to race.  Solana holds a special place to me.  I did the duathlon back in 2009; it was my first multi-sport event.  I did the triathlon in 2011, it was my second triathlon. 

Since coming back from the broken foot, my swimming has been pretty good.  The bike, not where I want it, but training is back in full force.  Running is behind.  And since running is by far my weakest of the three, the running is not good right now.

This race isn’t about crushing it, or a PR.  I was itching to put a bib on, and use it as a test.  Test one, was an epic failure.  And I wasn’t even at transition yet.

I arrived and was in the parking area at the Solana transit station.  I saw my friend Andrea, said hi, parked, and opened the van.  When I opened the back gate, I looked at a big empty spot where my bike should be.  My mouth agape, heart in throat.  Yes, I left the house without my bike.  Really?  Are you kidding me?  The bike is my favorite part of the day.  How the heck did I forget my bike?  Luckily at o-dark thirty; traffic is light and I was home in less than 15 minutes.  Got the bike, back to Solana.  The only issue was I lost my good parking place, and was on the street in a residential area, a good deal further away.  Perhaps the next zip code.

Still got to transition with plenty of time.  Set up, got body marked, used the bathroom.  The first triathlon of the day, if you will.

The 40-49 year old men were the second to last wave of the day.  An 8:20 start.  Many would be done by the time we started.  As locals know, our water temperature is very warm for us.  70-72 degrees.  I’ve been ocean swimming without a wetsuit for the last month.  I decided for a 400 meter swim, to forgo the wetsuit here too.  One of the nice things about this race is a wide open area for swim warm up.  And something to do watching wave after wave go off. 

Finally it is time.  This race exposes my biggest swim weakness.  Not the swimming, but the entry from the beach.  It feels like my feet sink deep into the sand, and pulling them back up with 20 pound weights on them, then enter the shallow water, splash, stumble, splash, shin deep, swim time?  Forearms drag the sandy bottom, back up, three or four more strides, dive, now I can swim.  Most of the wave is ahead of me.  This means I’m catching them throughout the swim and in more traffic than I need to be.  “On your left!”  doesn’t work in the water.   I really prefer water starts.  This swim is short, and out of the water, back onto the sand for the slog to the ramp.  Up the ramp, over the hill and through the woods to T1.  Well, that is what it seems like.  T1 is a long way from the ocean.  In fact, I bet the run from the beach to T1 is longer than the swim itself.  After that marathon run, okay, a wee bit of an exaggeration, my bike.  Shoes on.  Helmet on.  Sunglasses on.  Here we go!

Treating this as a bike test.  In other words, GO!  Breathing was high, heart rate up.  Tried to get that to settle a bit, then aero, and hit it.  I love the hum of the 85 mm deep section rim as I get into a rhythm tucked into the aero position.  There were sections where I felt strong, but for the most part I felt so-so, and not as fast as I think I should be.  The result confirmed this.  Bike time was 27:00.  A 20 MPH average.  I’ve held that at Superfrog for the entire 56 miles; twice.  Well, my fitness isn’t where I want it, and my bike fit feels off.  This is why we test, now to take action.

Run time.  I had no expectations here.  Just getting my runs back up, and was hoping to run three 10:00 miles, without feeling like I killed it.  At about ¾ of a mile, I was right on with pacing, and felt good.  Then, ouch.  The back of my knee hurt.  I took a few walk steps.  Honestly the walk was worse than running, so run I did.  It was painful at times, and at times I felt okay.  But it slowed me down.  I didn’t care, I was just concerned with the level of the injury.  After all, my goal is IMAZ, not this race.

Should I pull up and DNF?  I’d probably have to walk back, so might as well finish.  And running feels better than walking, so, keep going.  The last ½ mile I actually felt much better and finished strong.  It was pretty cool as I entered the finish area a big rolling thunder hit.  Yes, I came “thundering” down the finish.  My friend Andrea was there, I did a running high five,   I crossed the line, gave up the timing chip and got my medal.  Then, I could hardly walk.  Reality time.  What is wrong?  I stopped at “medical” and got an ice bag.  Limped to the food area, and ate.  Ducked under the tent at Operation Greyhound as it started to pour, and, hey greyhounds are really cool.  Met Jake and Carter the two greyhounds they had there.  And watched an actual thunderstorm.  At the beach, in San Diego, in the summer.  A first for me in the 17 years I’ve lived here.

Overall, not a great performance by me, but accomplished a big effort training day.  Went to the orthopedic doctor on Monday.  No tears!  I have patellar arthritis, and my patella does not track properly.  Already cleared to swim, bike, and elliptical.  Just need some rest for running, and before I resume, will have my foot/gait analyzed and make any changes I need to with orthotic/shoes.

Had a bike fit on Tuesday with Nestor at Studeo DNA.  The bike feels good in the trainer.  We'll give it a good road test on Saturday and Sunday.  

Credit to the volunteers, good enthusiasm from them, and my friends Ted and SugarMagnolia who were swim buddies for those that needed them.  Andrea had a PR, so very good race for her!

Equipment:

Swim:

 race issued swim cap

 TYR Rx goggles.

Bike:

Specialized Transition

Williams 58/85 wheels

Giro Aero helmet

Mid-compact crank set 52-36 with 11-28 cassette

Run:

Nike Voomero 8 shoes

Attire:

DeSoto 400 mile bib shorts

TCSD tri top

IMAZ - Volunteer Duties

Ironman Arizona.  No, I did not race.  I volunteered.  Run Aid station six, which on a two loop course meant we were right around mile 6.5 and 19.5. 

No, I didn’t do this out of the goodness of my heart.  I did it for one reason, to get priority registration into IMAZ 2014.  However, having raced four half-iron distance races, and one full I understand how important volunteers are. 

My shift was 7:00-11:00 PM, however, I went to the Ironman village about 2:00, saw the winner cross the finish, and a whole bunch of age-groupers come off the bike and head out on the run. 

I headed over to my station about 3:30 and jumped in.  Early on was a mix of the fast kids going through mile 20 and mid-packers hitting mile 6.  As time went on, the mid-packers cycled through to mile 20, and back-packers were coming through mile 6.  Finally the groups thinned out and it was back of the packers coming through at mile 20.  

I love watching these people come through.  They are usually walking, you can see the pain and agony of 134 miles done.  They are pulling every ounce of what they have to go the final 6.6.  We call out what we have, and they are glazed over.  They want something they just don’t know what.  We try to encourage, and motivate.  And I hope they make it, hope they hear Mike Riley call their name.  Hope they have the memories of being an Ironman.  Most will make it.  Some will not.   Seeing the broom wagon creep behind runners gives the eerie feeling of the grim reaper stalking.  I hope they try again. 

Highlights from my perspective:  Seeing the challenged athletes come through with pain, anguish, and a smile.  Chasing the athlete down about 1/3 of a mile that wanted vasoline, but we didn’t have it right at the table.  She was really surprised!  Cheering on my fellow Tri Clubbers!  

Lowlights: I didn’t see one of my open water swim mates, Shawn, who went on to a great finish; and one person drop an F-bomb when he was handed coke and wanted broth.  Note- he asked for Coke, and dude, lighten up.  

Observations:  When I started this stuff, I was told when you enter an aid station, know what you want, seek the person that has it, make eye contact and point.  I do this, and get what I need 99% of the time.  I was surprised how many people come in with no idea what they want, and look like they need a menu.   Steve's suggestion, don't be shy.  Call out clearly what you want.  The volunteer that has it should respond and hold it out.  The volunteers want to get you what you need, and want to help you. 

A serious observation:  I saw several people come through that looked overwhelmed and undertrained for the event.  An Ironman is a BIG event.  I encourage all triathletes that want to reach for an Ironman to do it, but please, take the preperation seriously.  You don't have to be super lean (but leaner helps) you don't have to be fast, but you can't be slow at all three sports, and you have 17 hours.  In my humble opinion you should think you can honestly do it in 15.5 before signing up.  This gives you 1.5 hours for "bad stuff" to happen and you will still make it. 

The aid station I was at is affiliated with the Blazemanfoundation for ALS.  If you are not familiar with this story, please see it here. 

I got registered for the event next year, so Ironman number two is 363 days away.  Here we GO! 

 

By the way, working an aid station is almost as tiring as racing.  I need a nap.