Ironman Canada 2005
Finish: 10:36; Swim 1:01:54; Bike 5:21:51; Run
4:04:59
I woke up at 3:00 AM and drank a 1100 calorie
smoothie. I bought me a two small orange smoothie drinks at the convenience
store yesterday and I added 5 scoops of Perpetuem to the mix. Each of the
drinks were 270 calories, and each scoop of Perpetuam is 130 calories. I
finished around 3:15 AM and went back to
bed.
I woke up again at 4:15 AM, Jason and I eat scrambled eggs. At 5:00 AM we walked down to the transitioin area, pumped up our bikes and made last minute changes to our transitiion bags. Then we walked up Main Street to turn in our Special Needs bags. Followed by standing in line to get our race numbers marked on us.
Afterwards we walked back to the hotel room, went to the bathroom a dozen times and changed into our race clothes. At 6:00 AM Jason and I went out for a 7 minute jog to warm up. Then back to the hotel, drank more water and used the restroom several more times. We put on our wetsuits and walked down the swim start at 6:30 AM. We saw Mitch, Brian and Chris hanging out at the entrance to the swim. Then saw Jill down on the beach.
At 6:45 the pros started. Afterwards, I got in the water and warmed up for 7 or 8 minutes then got into position at the start line and waited to go. Same old spot, center and second row back.
The gun went off at 7:00 AM and the race was on.
The lake has a long shallow entrance, so I ended up walking out 50 yards or so before actually starting to swim. The swim started easy, no sprint to keep up with the fast people in front. However, this turned out to be the most violent swim I've ever done; in the first length of the swim I got kicked in the head at least six times. I was kicked squarely in the mouth several times, as well as my nose, check, and right on my goggles. I also smacked arms and hands a lot. The sun was rising on the right so I breathed on the left most of the time. Only, occasionally breathing on the right to sneak a peak at people around me or to look for swim buoys. Approaching the boat house marking the first turn I was right on the buoy line and I could see a lot of swimmers to my left, probably out 20 to 30 yards out. I thought the turn was going to get really jammed up, but it didn't. I stayed next to the boat and never had any problems. Many of the swimmers took the turn wide and kept it from getting congested.
After the first turn we headed East, parallel with the shoreline, and right into the sun. I couldn't see anything. However, I found clear water to swim in, which was great. And I also swam a straight line, right along the swim buoys. Thank God. Visibility was so bad, I almost ran into a five foot buoy because I couldn't see it until I was right up next to it and it finally blocked the sun. At the final turn into the swim finish, I started to cramp in my left calf and tried to make big wide kicks, which helped at times. The timing chip band on my ankle was riding low and preventing me from dorsal flexing my foot, so I stopped twice in the final stretch to pull it up higher on my ankle so I could dorsal flex my foot and stretch my calf.
I exited the swim in 1:01:54, not knowing if I had a fast swim or a slow swim. I remember thinking I wouldn't be surprised if I had a sub 1 hour swim or over an 1:10 swim. I had no idea. I swam until my hands touched the bottom and got up and tried to run in. It was hard going, the exit was long and shallow for quite a ways. I had a hard time getting my legs up out of the water. It must have been a good 30 yards slog into shore.
I found a couple of wetsuit peelers, flopped down on my back, and they had my suit off in seconds and helped me off the ground. My transition bag was on a rack almost directly to my left. I ran down the rack and grabbed my bag off the the lowest set of hangers, I ran to the end of the rack and to the right, past the female change tent and into the male change tent. I dumped out the contents of my bag and put on my helmet, race belt and shoved my gel flask and Cliff bar into my back pocket, shoved my Endurocaps (salt tablets) into the leg of my shorts, grabbed my shoes and ran out to my bike. The assistant in the change tent put my arm warmers and cotton gloves (which I decided I wouldn't need today), back in my transition bag with my wetsuit, googles and swim cap.
It was a good 100 yard jog to my bike, and I was glad I waited to put my bike shoe on until I got to my bike. I never planned to run without my shoes so I'm not sure why I did it, but I was glad I did. I stopped at my bike, put on my shoes, grabbed my bike and headed off towards the mount line. The park where the transition area was all grass last year, but now it has a lot of new sidewalks and brick pathways that we have to run down to get to the mount line. After running across the timing mats we were able to mount the bike. I looked at my watch for the first time and saw it was 8:04. I figured I must have swam around 1:02.
On the bike I had two food bottles with 800 calories of Perpetuem each, and a water bottle. I started drinking water soon after getting on my bike and continued to do so for 20-25 minutes. I took four Endurocaps soon after getting on my bike and continued to take four every hour. After 20-25 minutes I started sipping on my food bottle and continued to do so every 15 minutes or during a flat section. I focused on taking on as much water as I could, finishing a water bottle per aid station. I took bites of my Cliff bar but never finished it. I never touch my Hammer gel flask I took with me,
The bike route goes down Lakeshore about two miles, makes a U-turn and returns to the park then turns right and heads South on Main. The ride out South Main went by fast and then we turned left at OK Falls onto a stretch of road I had never seen before. This is the McLean Creek Road with a noticeably steep section. I was warned to spin up this and not try to power over it. I tried to say seated but it was too steep and I had to stand on the pedals to get over it. Then there were some nice down hill sections, nice bends and a flat section before getting back onto Hwy 97 to Osyoose.
Climbing McLean Creek Road.
The bike through Oliver down to Osoyoos had a lot of cyclists traffic. There were a lot of riders being pulled over for drafting. There were so many people that when I approached a rider, I'd looked past and if there were a three or four riders too close together that I'd have to pass all of them to keep out of a draft zone, I'd choose not to pass until the riders broke up. This usually happened when another rider would try to pass and they would jump on their wheel as they passed. I remember thinking there was a little head wind but I should be enjoying this part of the bike since it was almost all downhill into Osoyoos. I spent quite a bit of time in my little chain ring even thought it was downhill.
I hit Osoyoos at 11:00 AM and started the climb up Richter Pass. By the time I hit Richter Pass nearly a quarter of all the cyclists around me had slashes through their number ( indicating they were penalized for drafting). There was an aide station at the bottom of the climb and a rider in front of my dumped water over his head and down his back. I thought that was funny, because it wasn't hot. Well, I realized the wisdom in that riders actions about 10 minutes later. With the wind at our back, and going slow uphill, it started getting hot. I kept my heart rate at 135 all the way up the climb. I saw Chris White (aka Lakerfan) he flew by me going up the hill. He looked really smooth.
At the top I saw Diana and family. It was 11:30 AM when I started the decent. I was able to pee on the decent, but only after trying for two or three minutes without pedaling. After the decent down Richter Pass are a several miles of big rollers. I'd been warned by several people that this section of the bike can really be hard. But, I found it really enjoyable. I switched to my little chain ring and sat up on the up hills then switched to an aero-postion and bombed the down hills, and repeat. The bike course in now heading North back to Penticton, and the tail wind was more noticeable now.
I never previewed this part of the bike course and anticipated the out and back section of the bike in Keremeos. For a really long time. It was a longer section than I expected. I was getting in a habit of reading every sign posted along the road and every chalk mark on the road. It was almost driving me crazy. I repeatedly told myself to stop reading all the signs and focus on what I'm doing. It was funny how the mind works, every time I saw as sign I'd read it, didn't matter where or what was on the sign. There was a sign up on a hillside that wasn't related to the race, it was more like a "No Trespassing" sign, but instead it read "Respect our Neighbors". I thought that was a very strange sign and stuck with me for quite a while.
In Keremeos the course turned right and then headed back South along a farm road. The road rises gradually but the head wind was very noticeable now. There was a bit of traffic again and I decided to stay legal distance behind the cyclist in front of me, but definitely benefiting from him cutting through the wind. My hear rate dropped to 118 bpm and stayed low all the way to the turn around. Then with a tail wind and gradual downhill I separated from the cyclists that had been ahead of me.
The tail wind was great. I felt like it was really pushing me up to Yellow Lake. I felt like I was flying. I kept my heart rate around 135 until the last mile or so of the climb when it got steep and I felt like standing up on the pedals, the the heart rate went up to 155 briefly. Then there was a long downhill section back to Hwy 97. I tried several times to pee during this downhill section but couldn't. I definitely had to pee but I just couldn't. The winds were a little scary during the decent and into town. It definitely had my attention.
I road into Penticton and into the transition area. Dismounted the bike and a volunteer took my bike. I ran in my bike shoes to the transition bag racks. Again, my bag was on the bottom rack, but it was the first bag on the rack so it was easy to find. I ran the length of the rack and turned left into the change tent. Again, I dumped the contents of my transition bag on the ground. I took off my tri-suite and changed into a Speedo and singlet. Again, I had a dedicated volunteer there with me putting everything back into my transition bag for me. He said that since I was one of the first ones in he would put everything back in my bag. He handed me cup of ice water and said to drink it. I said OK and put it on chair as I took off my cycling shoes, then another volunteer came up and handed me another cup of water. I looked at the first volunteer and chuckled, I gather I'm supposed to drink this. So, I drank the cup of water now in my hand and sat down to put on socks and my running shoes and lubed the inside of my legs with BodyGlide. Drank the other cup of water and put my gels in my back pocket. I asked where the port-a-johns were. Back out side the tent the way I came in, then down the length of the tent. I had to pee really bad and spent probably two minutes in the restroom. Relief at last!
Then, I had to run back the length of the tent again, and into and through to the otherside of the tent, around the bike racks and out on the run course. I noted my time, as being around 1:30 PM, or about a 5:30 bike. I remember thinking that I had a good bike split and yet I didn't push it on the bike – must be the course.
Like the start of the bike, the run goes down Lakeshore Drive and back again, just not as far. The run course made a U-turn at the SS Siccamouse. I saw Kristen and the girls along the beach on the right hand side about a half mile into the run. Then I saw Mitch at the SS Siccamouse turn around and he was encouraging me to calm down and relax. My heart rate was 155 and I tried to relax and calm down and get my heart rate below 150. My legs felt good but my stomach had a nasty stich. I took water at each aide station trying to get my stomach to clear. I started to sip on my gel about 3 miles into the run. A burp brought up a bit fluid from my stomach, but everything stayed down. Besides a little trouble with my stomach I felt good for the first 10K and checked my watch, 52 minutes. Cool! Sub-4 hour pace. I had rubberbanded a small bag with 6 Endurolytes to one of the gels I took on the run. I had finished the first gel and took all 6 Endurolytes one hour into the run.
A Very Dark Period on the Run Course.
The next 10 K of the run was along the Vassuex lake. It was exposed to the wind and the headwind really starting to get to me – uphill and into a headwind – aargh. My hamstrings and gluts really started to complain. Along the lake I was really exposed to the wind and it was kicking my butt. By mile 8 I was reduced to walking the up hills, my heart rate was 140 walking up one steep hill. By mille 9 I was walking a lot. I stopped several times to bend over and stretch my hamstrings and gluts. This was a very bad, dark, depressing time on the run. I felt like my race was slipping away. It didn't seem hot, but the strong head wind really dried me out. My mouth felt crusty, and I remembering my skin was dry and had goose bumps. The next 4 miles seemed to take forever. I saw Lance Hepler about mile 12, he was heading back the other way, he looked really good. I figured Lance was a good 15 to 20 minutes ahead of me.
The decent into OK Falls was depressing, knowing I was going to have to climb back out. Run split of 2:05;31, well off the pace originally set during the first 10K of the run. I don't remember the turn around, but I do remember the volunteer with the megaphone announcing my number at the run special needs area. I grabbed my bag, grabbed the two gels and put them in my pocket. I walked the climb back out of OK Falls. Then started running the following down hill section. With the wind at my back I started to get rolling again. Now it felt hot. I drank a Pepsi and glass of water at the next aide station and dropped a cup of ice water down my back. Soon I was feeling good, really good. My legs felt good, my stomach felt good, I was running down hill with the wind at my back. I continued to drink water at each aide station, dumping water over my head, and ice down my Speedo (this is important to note as the armpits and groin area are the best places for ice to cool the core body temp). The next couple miles went by very quickly. At mile 16 I saw Doug Lamott's wife, actually she saw me and yelled my name and Boise Aeros club name. I hadn't seen Doug or Mark Phillips all week and I was convinced something must have happened and they didn't make it to the race. I asked her where Doug was. She said he was behind me and for me to "run fast". And I did. By mile 18 I started doing the math in head. How long I had to run, how long would it take. Each mile down I recalculated how long it would take to finish. I continued to take Pepsi, Ice and water at the aide stations. I took the Endurolytes from my special needs bag and began sipping on my gel. Since I was drinking Pepsi at the aide stations I didn't want to change my fortune my taking too much of the gel. I walked several of the aide stations to make sure I got everything I wanted. I ran the up hills and well as the down hills now. My heart rate was 140 to 150 bpm and I was holding my pace well. I ran down main street. passing several people, one in my age group. I was keeping pace with a guy all the way down Main Street since getting of South Main, at the bottom of Main Street we took a left on Lakeshore and pulled even with him, and then passed him. I kept my pace or increased it slightly. I saw Kristen, she was cheering and yelling at me. The best I could do was make clinched fist in response. I continued to the SS Siccamouse turn around, saw Brian walking the other way and he yelled for me. I managed a smile. I caught and passed several more runners, one more in my age group. I made the turn around and headed back, just less than a mile to go. I kept my pace and started looking to make sight of the finish line. I passed two more runners, again one of which was in my age group. The last person in front of me was well over 100 yards in front of me, I now could see the finish line. There was no way I was going to catch him, and started thinking about the spacing for my finishers photo. Emily and Abby jumped out of the crowd and joined me. It caught me by surprise, as I was expecting them closer to the finish line. They grabbed my hands and started pulling me across the finish. I thought I was running fast, but now I was being dragged down the finish chute by my girls. I considered telling them to slow down, but didn't. They probably cut 15 seconds off my time and made a great finish photo. :-)
I never even noticed my finish time. My legs felt wobbly but otherwise I felt pretty good. I drank a Gatorade and a Powerbar Protein shake at the finish line. I walked back to the hotel and soaked my legs in a cold bath for 10-15 minutes. Then went outside and watched the race from my wheelchair :-)
Jason "needs no nickname" Graalum and Super Jill Fry finishing in style.
Post Race Thoughts:
I woke up again at 4:15 AM, Jason and I eat scrambled eggs. At 5:00 AM we walked down to the transitioin area, pumped up our bikes and made last minute changes to our transitiion bags. Then we walked up Main Street to turn in our Special Needs bags. Followed by standing in line to get our race numbers marked on us.
Afterwards we walked back to the hotel room, went to the bathroom a dozen times and changed into our race clothes. At 6:00 AM Jason and I went out for a 7 minute jog to warm up. Then back to the hotel, drank more water and used the restroom several more times. We put on our wetsuits and walked down the swim start at 6:30 AM. We saw Mitch, Brian and Chris hanging out at the entrance to the swim. Then saw Jill down on the beach.
At 6:45 the pros started. Afterwards, I got in the water and warmed up for 7 or 8 minutes then got into position at the start line and waited to go. Same old spot, center and second row back.
The gun went off at 7:00 AM and the race was on.
The lake has a long shallow entrance, so I ended up walking out 50 yards or so before actually starting to swim. The swim started easy, no sprint to keep up with the fast people in front. However, this turned out to be the most violent swim I've ever done; in the first length of the swim I got kicked in the head at least six times. I was kicked squarely in the mouth several times, as well as my nose, check, and right on my goggles. I also smacked arms and hands a lot. The sun was rising on the right so I breathed on the left most of the time. Only, occasionally breathing on the right to sneak a peak at people around me or to look for swim buoys. Approaching the boat house marking the first turn I was right on the buoy line and I could see a lot of swimmers to my left, probably out 20 to 30 yards out. I thought the turn was going to get really jammed up, but it didn't. I stayed next to the boat and never had any problems. Many of the swimmers took the turn wide and kept it from getting congested.
After the first turn we headed East, parallel with the shoreline, and right into the sun. I couldn't see anything. However, I found clear water to swim in, which was great. And I also swam a straight line, right along the swim buoys. Thank God. Visibility was so bad, I almost ran into a five foot buoy because I couldn't see it until I was right up next to it and it finally blocked the sun. At the final turn into the swim finish, I started to cramp in my left calf and tried to make big wide kicks, which helped at times. The timing chip band on my ankle was riding low and preventing me from dorsal flexing my foot, so I stopped twice in the final stretch to pull it up higher on my ankle so I could dorsal flex my foot and stretch my calf.
I exited the swim in 1:01:54, not knowing if I had a fast swim or a slow swim. I remember thinking I wouldn't be surprised if I had a sub 1 hour swim or over an 1:10 swim. I had no idea. I swam until my hands touched the bottom and got up and tried to run in. It was hard going, the exit was long and shallow for quite a ways. I had a hard time getting my legs up out of the water. It must have been a good 30 yards slog into shore.
I found a couple of wetsuit peelers, flopped down on my back, and they had my suit off in seconds and helped me off the ground. My transition bag was on a rack almost directly to my left. I ran down the rack and grabbed my bag off the the lowest set of hangers, I ran to the end of the rack and to the right, past the female change tent and into the male change tent. I dumped out the contents of my bag and put on my helmet, race belt and shoved my gel flask and Cliff bar into my back pocket, shoved my Endurocaps (salt tablets) into the leg of my shorts, grabbed my shoes and ran out to my bike. The assistant in the change tent put my arm warmers and cotton gloves (which I decided I wouldn't need today), back in my transition bag with my wetsuit, googles and swim cap.
It was a good 100 yard jog to my bike, and I was glad I waited to put my bike shoe on until I got to my bike. I never planned to run without my shoes so I'm not sure why I did it, but I was glad I did. I stopped at my bike, put on my shoes, grabbed my bike and headed off towards the mount line. The park where the transition area was all grass last year, but now it has a lot of new sidewalks and brick pathways that we have to run down to get to the mount line. After running across the timing mats we were able to mount the bike. I looked at my watch for the first time and saw it was 8:04. I figured I must have swam around 1:02.
On the bike I had two food bottles with 800 calories of Perpetuem each, and a water bottle. I started drinking water soon after getting on my bike and continued to do so for 20-25 minutes. I took four Endurocaps soon after getting on my bike and continued to take four every hour. After 20-25 minutes I started sipping on my food bottle and continued to do so every 15 minutes or during a flat section. I focused on taking on as much water as I could, finishing a water bottle per aid station. I took bites of my Cliff bar but never finished it. I never touch my Hammer gel flask I took with me,
The bike route goes down Lakeshore about two miles, makes a U-turn and returns to the park then turns right and heads South on Main. The ride out South Main went by fast and then we turned left at OK Falls onto a stretch of road I had never seen before. This is the McLean Creek Road with a noticeably steep section. I was warned to spin up this and not try to power over it. I tried to say seated but it was too steep and I had to stand on the pedals to get over it. Then there were some nice down hill sections, nice bends and a flat section before getting back onto Hwy 97 to Osyoose.
Climbing McLean Creek Road.
The bike through Oliver down to Osoyoos had a lot of cyclists traffic. There were a lot of riders being pulled over for drafting. There were so many people that when I approached a rider, I'd looked past and if there were a three or four riders too close together that I'd have to pass all of them to keep out of a draft zone, I'd choose not to pass until the riders broke up. This usually happened when another rider would try to pass and they would jump on their wheel as they passed. I remember thinking there was a little head wind but I should be enjoying this part of the bike since it was almost all downhill into Osoyoos. I spent quite a bit of time in my little chain ring even thought it was downhill.
I hit Osoyoos at 11:00 AM and started the climb up Richter Pass. By the time I hit Richter Pass nearly a quarter of all the cyclists around me had slashes through their number ( indicating they were penalized for drafting). There was an aide station at the bottom of the climb and a rider in front of my dumped water over his head and down his back. I thought that was funny, because it wasn't hot. Well, I realized the wisdom in that riders actions about 10 minutes later. With the wind at our back, and going slow uphill, it started getting hot. I kept my heart rate at 135 all the way up the climb. I saw Chris White (aka Lakerfan) he flew by me going up the hill. He looked really smooth.
At the top I saw Diana and family. It was 11:30 AM when I started the decent. I was able to pee on the decent, but only after trying for two or three minutes without pedaling. After the decent down Richter Pass are a several miles of big rollers. I'd been warned by several people that this section of the bike can really be hard. But, I found it really enjoyable. I switched to my little chain ring and sat up on the up hills then switched to an aero-postion and bombed the down hills, and repeat. The bike course in now heading North back to Penticton, and the tail wind was more noticeable now.
I never previewed this part of the bike course and anticipated the out and back section of the bike in Keremeos. For a really long time. It was a longer section than I expected. I was getting in a habit of reading every sign posted along the road and every chalk mark on the road. It was almost driving me crazy. I repeatedly told myself to stop reading all the signs and focus on what I'm doing. It was funny how the mind works, every time I saw as sign I'd read it, didn't matter where or what was on the sign. There was a sign up on a hillside that wasn't related to the race, it was more like a "No Trespassing" sign, but instead it read "Respect our Neighbors". I thought that was a very strange sign and stuck with me for quite a while.
In Keremeos the course turned right and then headed back South along a farm road. The road rises gradually but the head wind was very noticeable now. There was a bit of traffic again and I decided to stay legal distance behind the cyclist in front of me, but definitely benefiting from him cutting through the wind. My hear rate dropped to 118 bpm and stayed low all the way to the turn around. Then with a tail wind and gradual downhill I separated from the cyclists that had been ahead of me.
The tail wind was great. I felt like it was really pushing me up to Yellow Lake. I felt like I was flying. I kept my heart rate around 135 until the last mile or so of the climb when it got steep and I felt like standing up on the pedals, the the heart rate went up to 155 briefly. Then there was a long downhill section back to Hwy 97. I tried several times to pee during this downhill section but couldn't. I definitely had to pee but I just couldn't. The winds were a little scary during the decent and into town. It definitely had my attention.
I road into Penticton and into the transition area. Dismounted the bike and a volunteer took my bike. I ran in my bike shoes to the transition bag racks. Again, my bag was on the bottom rack, but it was the first bag on the rack so it was easy to find. I ran the length of the rack and turned left into the change tent. Again, I dumped the contents of my transition bag on the ground. I took off my tri-suite and changed into a Speedo and singlet. Again, I had a dedicated volunteer there with me putting everything back into my transition bag for me. He said that since I was one of the first ones in he would put everything back in my bag. He handed me cup of ice water and said to drink it. I said OK and put it on chair as I took off my cycling shoes, then another volunteer came up and handed me another cup of water. I looked at the first volunteer and chuckled, I gather I'm supposed to drink this. So, I drank the cup of water now in my hand and sat down to put on socks and my running shoes and lubed the inside of my legs with BodyGlide. Drank the other cup of water and put my gels in my back pocket. I asked where the port-a-johns were. Back out side the tent the way I came in, then down the length of the tent. I had to pee really bad and spent probably two minutes in the restroom. Relief at last!
Then, I had to run back the length of the tent again, and into and through to the otherside of the tent, around the bike racks and out on the run course. I noted my time, as being around 1:30 PM, or about a 5:30 bike. I remember thinking that I had a good bike split and yet I didn't push it on the bike – must be the course.
Like the start of the bike, the run goes down Lakeshore Drive and back again, just not as far. The run course made a U-turn at the SS Siccamouse. I saw Kristen and the girls along the beach on the right hand side about a half mile into the run. Then I saw Mitch at the SS Siccamouse turn around and he was encouraging me to calm down and relax. My heart rate was 155 and I tried to relax and calm down and get my heart rate below 150. My legs felt good but my stomach had a nasty stich. I took water at each aide station trying to get my stomach to clear. I started to sip on my gel about 3 miles into the run. A burp brought up a bit fluid from my stomach, but everything stayed down. Besides a little trouble with my stomach I felt good for the first 10K and checked my watch, 52 minutes. Cool! Sub-4 hour pace. I had rubberbanded a small bag with 6 Endurolytes to one of the gels I took on the run. I had finished the first gel and took all 6 Endurolytes one hour into the run.
A Very Dark Period on the Run Course.
The next 10 K of the run was along the Vassuex lake. It was exposed to the wind and the headwind really starting to get to me – uphill and into a headwind – aargh. My hamstrings and gluts really started to complain. Along the lake I was really exposed to the wind and it was kicking my butt. By mile 8 I was reduced to walking the up hills, my heart rate was 140 walking up one steep hill. By mille 9 I was walking a lot. I stopped several times to bend over and stretch my hamstrings and gluts. This was a very bad, dark, depressing time on the run. I felt like my race was slipping away. It didn't seem hot, but the strong head wind really dried me out. My mouth felt crusty, and I remembering my skin was dry and had goose bumps. The next 4 miles seemed to take forever. I saw Lance Hepler about mile 12, he was heading back the other way, he looked really good. I figured Lance was a good 15 to 20 minutes ahead of me.
The decent into OK Falls was depressing, knowing I was going to have to climb back out. Run split of 2:05;31, well off the pace originally set during the first 10K of the run. I don't remember the turn around, but I do remember the volunteer with the megaphone announcing my number at the run special needs area. I grabbed my bag, grabbed the two gels and put them in my pocket. I walked the climb back out of OK Falls. Then started running the following down hill section. With the wind at my back I started to get rolling again. Now it felt hot. I drank a Pepsi and glass of water at the next aide station and dropped a cup of ice water down my back. Soon I was feeling good, really good. My legs felt good, my stomach felt good, I was running down hill with the wind at my back. I continued to drink water at each aide station, dumping water over my head, and ice down my Speedo (this is important to note as the armpits and groin area are the best places for ice to cool the core body temp). The next couple miles went by very quickly. At mile 16 I saw Doug Lamott's wife, actually she saw me and yelled my name and Boise Aeros club name. I hadn't seen Doug or Mark Phillips all week and I was convinced something must have happened and they didn't make it to the race. I asked her where Doug was. She said he was behind me and for me to "run fast". And I did. By mile 18 I started doing the math in head. How long I had to run, how long would it take. Each mile down I recalculated how long it would take to finish. I continued to take Pepsi, Ice and water at the aide stations. I took the Endurolytes from my special needs bag and began sipping on my gel. Since I was drinking Pepsi at the aide stations I didn't want to change my fortune my taking too much of the gel. I walked several of the aide stations to make sure I got everything I wanted. I ran the up hills and well as the down hills now. My heart rate was 140 to 150 bpm and I was holding my pace well. I ran down main street. passing several people, one in my age group. I was keeping pace with a guy all the way down Main Street since getting of South Main, at the bottom of Main Street we took a left on Lakeshore and pulled even with him, and then passed him. I kept my pace or increased it slightly. I saw Kristen, she was cheering and yelling at me. The best I could do was make clinched fist in response. I continued to the SS Siccamouse turn around, saw Brian walking the other way and he yelled for me. I managed a smile. I caught and passed several more runners, one more in my age group. I made the turn around and headed back, just less than a mile to go. I kept my pace and started looking to make sight of the finish line. I passed two more runners, again one of which was in my age group. The last person in front of me was well over 100 yards in front of me, I now could see the finish line. There was no way I was going to catch him, and started thinking about the spacing for my finishers photo. Emily and Abby jumped out of the crowd and joined me. It caught me by surprise, as I was expecting them closer to the finish line. They grabbed my hands and started pulling me across the finish. I thought I was running fast, but now I was being dragged down the finish chute by my girls. I considered telling them to slow down, but didn't. They probably cut 15 seconds off my time and made a great finish photo. :-)
I never even noticed my finish time. My legs felt wobbly but otherwise I felt pretty good. I drank a Gatorade and a Powerbar Protein shake at the finish line. I walked back to the hotel and soaked my legs in a cold bath for 10-15 minutes. Then went outside and watched the race from my wheelchair :-)
Jason "needs no nickname" Graalum and Super Jill Fry finishing in style.
Post Race Thoughts:
• I think I let myself get behind too many
slower swimmers at the start causing me to get beat up more.
• My abdominal muscles just above my hips
became fatigued in the swim. Either do to poor conditioning or poor body
mechanics.
• Paced well on the bike. I probably could
have pushed up Richter pass a little more than I did as well as some of the
rollers.
• I need to build up my hamstring and
gluteus muscle strength. The back of my legs were really toast on the
run.
Posted: Mon - August 29, 2005 at 10:57 AM
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Published On: May 22, 2007 09:51 PM
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Published On: May 22, 2007 09:51 PM