Ironman CDA 2006
Final result: 10:23:30. 67th overall and 20th in
my age group. The final Kona slot in my age group (35-39) went to the 17th
placed person who finish at 10:20:57. Oh, so close!
Friday:
Biked 2 hours at or below IM pace, then spent the day at Silverwood with the
family
Saturday:
Biked with Mitch, Hack, Chris and Dan for about 40 minutes, then ran 20 minutes
off the bike easy (HR
~135)
Sunday:
Even though I know enough not to have time goals for an Ironman, I did have in
my head the following time targets that I felt would indicate if I was on pace
for a 10 hour finish. Based upon my abilities I felt the following times
were realistic:
Swim and T1:
1:10:00
Bike and T2:
5:15:00
Run:
3:35:00
Woke up at 4:30 AM. Drank
a Yoplait Nouriche and mixed a 1000 calories of Sustained Energy with fruit
juice. Drank the smoothie by 5:00 AM, while mixing up my 2 Perpetum bike
bottles (800 cals each).
My nutrition
plan was the following: 4 packs of 5 Endurolytes for the bike taken 1 pack
per hour. 1 bike bottle of Perpetum and 1 bottle of water to start the
bike with. Put the other bottle of Perpetum in special needs. I had
a fuel belt for the run with 3 packs of 5 Endurolytes and 2 Hammer gel
flasks.
Headed down to the start around
5:30 AM. Did the usual set up: pump up tires, put on bike computer, put
bike bottles on bike. Turned in special needs bags and then stretched and
listened to music. At 6:35 AM, the volunteers started yelling at people to
get to the beach. So, I put on my wetsuit, put my warm up clothes in my
Dry Clothes bag and dropped it into the designated
area.
Race summary: I
started my swim in the center of the pack and right behind Scott Davis, a very
fast swimmer I met at Epic Camp NZ. The swim start was great, I got out
good and was able to swim a pretty clean race. About half way back on the
first loop, my left calf started to cramp. I had to flutter kick and swim
on my right side to deal with the cramps. On the second loop my right calf
started to cramp. I struggled in the swim to keep the cramps in
check. Whenever I tried to get back to swimming fast, I'd
cramp.
I exited the water, had a quick
transition. I was on my bike and outside of town before looking at
my watch, 1:08:00 into the race. I figured I'd been on my bike for at
least 5 minutes already, so I was ahead of schedule for the swim and T1.
I kept my HR in check and was having a good start of the bike.
About halfway up the first big climb in the hills, this guy rides up to me and
stares at me with his big mug. It was Liby! I was so shocked to see
him it took me a couple seconds to register who he was. It was a
hoot! Tom slowly pulled away from me as we rode through the
hills.
After the big climb
up Spokane hill, and into the descents I was moving fast and closed in on a
Support motorcycle. I closed in on him gradually and I yelled that I was
behind him when I got close. But then, on the next left turn he
completely surprised me by braking hard into the corner, I had to hit my
brakes and my back wheel slid out from under me. I recovered and
braked again, and again my back wheel slid out. My momentum took me off
the road onto the narrowest of shoulders before the hill side dropped
away. I was still moving fast and bouncing all over the bike. I
barely got back on the road again before hitting a rock the size of a
football. I yelled and screamed at the idiot on the motorcycle about how
he almost killed me. He kind of waved apologetically and then slipped
back behind me. I was furious and had the shakes for probably 20 minutes
afterward!
The out and back section in
Liberty Lake was nice, there was a stiff tail wind going out and then we were
fairly well protected on the way back on the Centennial Trail. The
head wind was tough coming back into town, but I stayed low and felt really good
when I got back into town. My first loop split was around 2:30.
Ahead of schedule I thought. I took it easy, keeping well within my
IM pace, through town and out and back along the lake. I felt so good in
fact, that when we crossed over the freeway, I picked up the pace and pushed it
a little too hard up into the mountains. I felt great and the section in
the mountains went by really quickly. Once I was out in the flats again,
the winds had changed direction and perhaps strength as well. I was
starting to feel a little fatigued from my earlier efforts and I was glad
the head winds I experienced on the first loop were no longer
there.
I got back into town and
approached the transition area and tried to figure out my bike split in my
head. I wasn't sure exactly what my first loop split was, but I knew the
second lap was at least 15 minutes slower as my final bike time was 5:23.
But, I rationalized that I was probably still on pace, as my swim was about as
fast as my bike was slow. In T2 had had to switch heart rate straps, so I
stripped down top of my one-piece tri-suite as I grabbed my transition bag
and entered the change tent. I had my old HR strap off by the time I sat
down on an open chair, pulled off my helmet and cycling shoes and began putting
on my running shoes. I put on my new HR strap and visor, then
grabbed my fuel belt and jogged out of T2. With my fuel belt in hand
I jogged out through the crowds, lining the dike road, trying to put my
top back on. All the while people were yelling at me to move my race
number to the front, this is because the photographers were setup here. I
can't wait to see this photo! :-)
I
jogged along the dike road, to the college turn around, and I
could definitely feel some serious fatigue in my legs. I was running
on stumps and kept trying to relax, settle in and run with light feet.
But, I was pounding the ground! I was glad for uphill section heading
through town, as I felt I'd be able to smooth out my pounding going up
hill. But, it didn't come around. By the 4 mile marker I was
struggling. I had to stop and pee, and decided this may be a good thing as
it will give me a chance to maybe reset, and restart, my run again. I ran
along the rich neighborhood of Lakeshore Dr. still trying to shake out my
legs. I struggled out on Coeur d'Alene Lake Dr. and started to get
depressed that my running form, which I had put so much time into training for,
wasn't coming together. Then I saw Mitch around mile 8. This alone
picked me up and reminded me that there were other people I was racing for other
than just myself. He said the typical coaching words of encouragement and
I continued on to the turnaround. I really focused on getting my running
form back and when I saw Mitch again he said something that resonated with me
more then the previous words of encouragement. He said not to be
disillusioned, there was a lot of attrition happening in the race, and I was
having a great race to this point, so don't loose focus and screw it up
now.
He was right. I
was having a good race, other than my painfully slow and cumbersome running, I
had been on my targeted race pace, I wasn't suffering in the heat, and my
nutrition was good. I didn't stop at another aide station until the 22 and
the 24 mile markers. I started to feel like I was cruising, though I was
running around 8:45 to 8:50 per mile
pace.
When I finished I was
actually very pleasantly surprised at my finish time. I didn't really know
where I was. I had been taking mile splits where I could, but
the inconsistent mile markers made it difficult. There were a lot of
people walking and it made it a little hard to run though the crowds of people
who were walking 3 and 4
abreast.
As I ran into town
and could see straight down the road to the finish line, the crowds of people on
the first loop turned off and I was shocked to find myself alone. For the
1/4 to 1/2 mile of road down to the finish I could see one person way ahead and
no one behind. I ran down the center of the road, with people lining the
road on both sides. It was great! I found my daughters waiting near
the finish line and they ran with me across the finish line. I thought I was
well over a 10:40:00 finish, so seeing 10:23 was a pleasant
surprise.
T2 to
Turn 1: 6:46
Turn 1 to 2:
1:03:12
Turn 2 to 3:
57:57
Turn 3 to 4:
59:58
Turn 4 to finish:
46:02
Overall Run:
3:53:53
Final result: 10:23:30.
67th overall and 20th in my age group. The final Kona slot in my age group
(35-39) went to the 17th placed person who finish at 10:20:57. Oh, so
close!
Posted: Thu - June 29, 2006 at 11:42 AM