Ironman Arizona 2011Race Report - Abbreviated

First let me say thank you to my amazing wife for all her love and support today. This Ironman thing is IMPOSSIBLE without it. This year I had 2 other family members come out. Son #2 (22 years old) was a fantastic sherpa who did it with fine humor and focus. My mom also came out for a 2nd straight year with huge amounts of enthusiasm and love.

11:46 and 9th place was way slower than I'd hoped for. I can honestly that I'm proud of this anyway because I had NOTHING left in the end. It was an amazing and painful day. Here's a quick race report. Of course I'll write a long, ridiculously detailed one later and post on the blog.
If I could advise anyone on training it would be this: While training on the elliptical machine due to an injury is an effective substitute, having only 3 weeks of running on solid ground (longest training run of 5 miles) is NOT the best way to prep for an Ironman!

The swim went well and was at a comfortable effort to be honest. Very happy with that split since I held back and had a steady effort, remembering it would be a long day and to leave my "swimmer ego" at home. Most disappointing part? They did NOT play "Ironman" by Black Sabbath before the start!

I froze and shivered for the first 10 miles on the bike, leading me to push too hard and hurt my quads. When I finally realized it I knew I'd pay for this. It showed on the 2nd loop. I searched for any way I could to take the pressure off, especially the left one. 1/2 way thru loop 2 it was at least less noticeable. The 3rd loop had a pretty good headwind coming down the "hill" that is the Beeline Hwy. Biggest negative besides the quads? Many of the uber bikers with their fast and fancy rigs would get into packs and have a draft fest, making little to no attempt to stop except when the refs appeared. Very disappointing to have people do this intentionally. Yes, a 3 loop flat-ish course gets crowded but I'm just saying.
Had hamstring cramps twice on the first 2 mi. but was patient and held it together. Likely this was a consequence of compensating on the bike for smashing the quads and trying to adjust. Thanks to this being a 3 loop figure 8 course, I had access to special needs after a mere 4ish miles. I learned from IMTX to stash ace bandages and wrapped my left hammie. Carried the 2nd one just in case and probably should have wrapped one of my calves. Plantar F-ing-itis heal pain arrived at mile 6 and was a constant companion. Quads hurt the entire time but I suspect that's true for everyone pretty much. Didn't cramp any more but walk a tightrope with that. I knew my mile pace was crashing but I could do nothing about it. It had nothing to do with cardio conditioning. It was all about lack of specific training and muscles unable to do more. Most disappointing part? I didn't have more to give than I did.

Oh, one more thing. As a result of severe Ulcerative Colitis back in my late 20's I had to have my colon removed. This makes nutrition and bathroom "management" a challenge sometimes, especially in an Ironman. I know this may be Too Much Information but I'll put it delicately. Around mile 8 of the run I began to get gas and umm, waste, build up. Due to my "altered plumbing", gas cannot be released by itself without "other" consequences. The only way is to have a seat in the portapotty or the gas, etc. backs up in the small intestine. Not very comfortable. I weighed my options and chose this discomfort because I wasn't sure I'd be able to stand back up if I went into the one of the orange huts on the course!

So, to conclude this, the other thing I am pleased with is that I managed to once again have fun out there, making quick jokes with spectators and volunteers, expressing gratitude, and embracing what the day brought. I can also report that, unlike IMTX, I did very well at being emotionally even throughout the day, thanks in a huge way going to Kirsten and her guidance at AOY. Thanks in part to fellow 50+er Cari's success, I decided to change training up this time around and use the basically supported markallenonline.com. It was a good change for me but probably isn't for everyone.