Ironman World Championship 2009

Whew....what a day! Everything I've ever done in endurance sports was done with an eye on this race. Getting there took a lot of learning, training, sacrifice and support. Now that I was finally there, it was just about racing.

Pre-Race

My race morning was pretty normal. I woke up 3 hours prior to the start and ate, drank, cleared myself out, etc. I went down to body marking early so I could get back to my room to just chill out. My buddy Aaron, who came out to vacation and support my race effort, came down from where he was staying. We left my condo at 6:15 to the race start. After getting through the crowds, I entered the water about 6:50. It was at this point that the enormity of the event hit me. Treading water with the thousands of people lined up on the pier and sea wall had an energy I've never experienced. I took it all in and just went into race mode, blocking out everything.

The Swim

I started out on the right hand side. Being a weak swimmer, I was getting pummeled early and often. I was convinced my nose was bleeding after the 2nd of what I swear was a kick from a breastroke. I just fought through it trying to catch some feet that were going my pace. At about the .8 mile mark, I started to feel nautious from the swells that picked up further out. Around one mile, I actually stopped, pulled off to the side and puked. Kid on a surfboard actually said, "dude, that's nasty". Even as bad as I felt, I found the humor in that comment. This was however, extremely embarassing for someone who spent 4 years in the Navy and lived in Huntington Beach for 20+ years. Yep, my friends have been relentless with the mocking since race day. After my little episode, I eased back into the swimming to make sure I didn't get sick again. I was nervous now knowing I was behind on fluids and calories. I felt just o.k. the rest of the swim and survived in 1:15:19, over 11 minutes slower than when I qualified in Arizona. I was currently in 1180th place and not feeling very good after that trainwreck of a swim.



T1

My time in the transition tent was actually pretty quick. The problem I had is that my shoes were clipped to my bike rather than in my transition bag. I did this to speed out of T1. I went out of the tent and came up on three people who came out of T1 in their bike shoes. They were running side by side and I couldn't get around them. They weren't moving too fast so it was almost a walk. I ended up with a 3:44 transition.

The Bike

I normally don't take fluids or calories for the first 30 minutes of anything over an olympic distance race. My stomach just doesn't handle anything well if I take anything sooner. After my episode during the swim, I knew I didn't have that luxury. I started sipping water off my aero bottle for the first couple of minutes before taking a gel 5 minutes in. I absorbed it well and started to pick off a ton of people. The first 20 miles or so was either dead calm or had a significant tail wind. There were a ton of drafting marshalls. I was the guy doing the passing so I had no issues but I saw A LOT of penalties being handed out. It was funny watching the packs up ahead of me spread out as soon as that motorcycle would get near and how they would bunch up as soon as it left. I left nothing to chance and just went a little harder near these groups to get clear of any potential problems with the drafting police. Being in 1180th place left a lot of people to chase and chase I did. I had passed hundreds early on. I felt great, my rotation of gels then Accelerade were going down extremely well and I felt pretty cool despite the heat. I was in racing mode, not deferring to anyone I saw on the bike. Once the road tipped up toward Hawi, the heat took a turn. They say it went from mid 80's on that first section to mid 90's and I'm not going to argue it. It was crazy hot. I was just focusing on heat management at this point, not wanting to blow. I didn't pass as many people going up as a result but I wasn't getting passed either. After the turn, I went for my special needs bag....oops, it wasn't there. I had planned on it not being there and what I would do. It only had nutritional item in it, a 32oz bottle of Accelerade. Accelerade is great for me due to it's caloric density and how my gut takes it. Gatorade hits my gut harder but the new plan was to just deal with it. Coming down the hill was quite interesting. It was windy but my Zipp 808 combo did very well. The interesting part was the amount of people up in their bars. I hadn't seen this yet but I'd see a lot more of it the rest of the race. Seeing how I was passing people got me fired up. I had the Ricky Bobby line "Engage" go through my head and I just started hammering past people. This was really fun! Anyway, I went down the hill and back out to the Queen K. To say the conditions were different now would be an understatement. The wind was directly in my face for the final 30+ miles. Pure carnage out there with people in their $10,000 setups sitting up on their bars. I was able to stay aero the entire time so while my speed slowed considerably, I was riding well compared to those around me and that's all I had to go on. I finished the bike with pretty good legs and felt ready to run. My final bike split was 5:14:12. I had passed 677 people and was now in 503rd place.

T2

The final 5 miles of the bike had me knowing I'd need to hit the port a john for a #2 so I took care of that. It was basically a sauna in that thing. Anyway, I got my run stuff and went out after a slow transition due to the stop. T2 time 4:30.

The Run

This is the part I looked forward to the most. I felt my training improved my run discipline more than the others this year and now was the payoff. I went out feeling great. Saying that, I just kept getting passed by tons of people while not passing many. I checked my splits and I was running in the mid 7 minute range so I just stayed with my pace feeling that I was running my race. I finally started passing people after the 5.5 mile checkpoint but not a lot. The trip back through town was into a slight breeze which felt great. I was focused on the heat management piece as I'd never done anything in these kinds of conditions. I continued with water, gel, Gatorade and Salt Stick capsules. I was absorbing everything exceptionally well. Once I made the turn up Palani, I felt really hot. It was like there was some heat trap that wouldn't let it go. Add that to the hill and I stopped and walked through the aid station. After cruising in the mid 7's, this mile was a slow 9:30. I had thoughts in my head that the wheels were starting to fall off but right at that instant, all was good. The next mile was in 7:04 with similar effort which gave me a lot of confidence. After that, I just tried to maintain the same cadence while passing a lot of the folks who were passing me early on. My splits were varying more than I liked but I still felt like I was under control and not in danger of having an explosion down the road. Once inside energy lab, I really started to feel the heat. Previously, 80% of the people ahead of me were running the race. Once inside energy lab, it was down to 50%. I'm proud to say I ran the entire section and ran it well. I had hydrated so well that this section didn't affect me as badly as some. I came out of there feeling confident. I continued to clip off the miles. With 2 miles to go, there were 2 different packs of runners up the road. They looked far up the road but I was gaining quickly. I pushed pretty hard to catch them and ended up passing most of them.

At the turn back into town, Aaron was there cheering me on which was quite motivating. I asked him to call my family to let them know to be watching me as I came through the finish. The final half mile was filled with straglers and I managed to push and pass all but one that I could see. With a final mile of 6:25, I achieved my dream. Ironman World Championship Finisher!! I can't completely explain how it feels. Achievement is obviously one thing but it's something that can never be taken away from me. It's mine, I own it. It was such a priviledge to be able to compete with such a tremendous group of athletes. To finish ahead of the majority of them is just mind boggling to me based on where I came from.

My run time was 3:25:41, an Ironman PR for me. My final time was 10:03:26. I passed 194 more people during the run. I ended up 309th overall and 27th in my age group. While not a great day for me, it was solid and I wouldn't change the way I executed it.

Post Race Thoughts

While I wouldn't change anything I did on this particular day, I would change things in the future. I found I can handle the heat quite well. I held back a bit throughout the day as I had been warned by EVERYONE I know who's completed the race to respect the heat. I had great legs at the end as evidence by a 6:25 finishing mile. My body felt better, by far, after this race than after any of the other 4 iron distance races I've done. That leads me to believe that I had more to give. Don't get me wrong, I was quite tired. I raced smart which allowed me to race the World Championships almost 2 hours faster than my first Ironman in 2005. I hope I have the opportunity to do this race again in the future. What an amazing experience.

Elbert Reflections 10k Race Report 9/26/09

I decided to race this on Thursday after speaking with my friend Glenn. I was either going to swim or do a harder run on Saturday and follow that with my last long ride before Kona. Glenn encouraged me to do the Elbert Reflections 10k that he has been a part of for years. Glenn entered me into the race and I got set to go. It's a small event in rural Colorado. I saw a familiar participant at all races, Gerald Romero, at the start line. He always beats me by one minute or more. I figured I'm fitter than I have ever been so I'd try to stay with him and see what happens. The gun went off and the usual group of people took off way too fast. After 1/4 of a mile, those folks were already hurting and dropping off. The 5k and 10k start at the same time so you don't know who you are racing. There were 3 of us leading out. The first half of the race is just a long uphill section. I was not feeling good for the first 1.5 miles. One of the 3 guys then turned for the 5k so it was just Gerald and I. I was doing everything I could to hang on to Gerald. At that point, I came around and started feeling great. I took the lead and led out to the turnaround on the out and back course. Gerald passed me there but I was able to stay with him. I had not idea of time....I was just trying to race. At about 4.8 miles, he started to pull away. I would surge to pull myself back and then he'd pull away again. This happened all the way to the end. I couldn't reel him back as hard as I tried. He ended up beating me by 6 seconds. I did however get a great time for myself as a result. I ran 36:20 which is my PR at altitude. This time beat the previous course record by over 40 seconds as it's a slow course. Having completed a 3.5 hour workout the day before, I am thrilled with this performance.

Glenn and I rode for 5 hours following the race. It was very hilly which was great! I felt fantastic the entire ride. Ready for Kona!!!!!

Harvest Moon Race Report 1/2 Ironman Distance

Today was my final triathlon before Ironman World Championships in 4 weeks. It couldn't have gone better! My goal was to have a solid swim and a great run. My swimming had improved a little since my last half ironman on 8/9/09 but my running had improved dramatically. Today was the day to put it to the test.

The Swim

The weather was cold but no wind to speak of so it looked like it would be a perfect day. The gun went off and after a few minutes of the usual getting beat up, things settled. I found the feat of 2 people and stayed with them for 75% of the swim. It was a good pace. I eventually dropped off but felt my swim was pretty good while using very little energy. The swim was short, always a good thing with my swim resume, by about 150-200 yards. My swim time was 27:40.

T1

T1 went smoothly. I put on socks which took a few extra seconds but other than that, it was smooth sailing. T1 time 1:31

Bike

The bike stared off pretty cold due to being wet from the swim. After 10 minutes, I was completely warm and passing a TON of people. I was the next to last wave to start so most the participants were up the road. This proved a bit tricky as some folks weren't riding the way they were supposed to. The were riding on the left so I had to do a lot of shouting that I was coming. After about 15 miles, things started to spread out. This allowed me to just lock into my aero position and go. I never pushed real hard. I went hard enough to set a solid pace but not hard enough up and affect my run. This really paid of toward the end. The final 15 mile section of the bike is pretty tough. This is where I passed the stronger cyclists and I was able to pass them hard due to taking the earlier, faster sections at a reasonable pace. I finished the bike in 2:23:01 for the 7th fastest bike split of the day.

T2

I flew through T2. I didn't need much so just threw on the shoes, grabbed my number, visor and gel flask and took off. Looking at the results, only 2 people got out of t2 faster so I made up time here. I got out in 39 seconds.

Run

I started off easy. I wanted to build into my run. There was no one behind me but one person was ahead of me. He was setting a great pace so I planned to use him at my carrot. I came through the first mile in 6:44. I hadn't gained on the guy in front of me but hadn't lost time either. My second mile was 6:40. Mile 3 was 6:18 and I had gained enough on the guy to realize it was Gordo Byrn. This is a guy who has an 8:30 Ironman with a 2:46 Ironman Marathon on his resume. I was feeling pretty good knowing I was keeping pace with him. Well, that was short lived. I was still running a strong pace, between 6:25-6:35, yet he continued to pull away. I just went inside myself and ran my race. I felt strong the entire way. I dug deep to have a really strong finish. My last mile was 6:10 for a total run time of 1:25:47 good for the 8th fastest run of the day. This was a half ironman run PR of over 4 minutes.

Overall

My final race time was 4:18:36 which was a 5 minute PR for me. I ended up 7th overall and 2nd in my age group (behind Gordo). There isn't anything I would change about how I rode this race. It was just a good day and I accomplished exactly what I set out to do with my bike and run. I'm feeling pretty good about my buildup to Kona. Can't wait to get there!!

A good local Ironman article

There was an article published in today's Gazette that touched on a couple of small things as it relates to training. You can see it here.

How this all started part I

When I started this blog, I stated that I got into running for all the wrong reasons. Here's the story on that. I'll follow up on this with where this has taken me over the past 12 years.

I was always a racquetball player. My Dad got me into it at a young age and I just loved the competition. After moving from California to Colorado in 1995, I took up the sport again after a bit of a hiatus. I was on the court 5 days a week, 2-3 hours at a time. In 1997, my company had a group of people doing the Race For The Cure. I entered with the group with no expectations as I was not a runner. Race day came, it kicked my butt and I finished in 22:20. I was really pleased with this since my sole source of fitness was racquetball, not endurance running. Shortly after finishing the race, a guy from work who I barely knew was bragging about his time. He asked what my time was and after finding out he had ran faster than me said "what a loser" in front of a group of my co-workers. Having grown up with a parent who made a point of telling me all the things I wasn't good at, this hit me where it hurt. I started running at that point with the sole purpose of kicking this guys butt the next time around. Well, the next time around didn't come until the following years Race For The Cure. During this time, I got hooked on racing. I completed my first marathon and did a lot of trail races. When the time came for the 1998 Race For The Cure, I was ready to lay it all out there. I ended up beating this guy by a lot. I finished 4 minutes faster than the year before. When he came across the finish line, I was laying on a massage table near the finish and made a point to tell him good job. I took a lot of pride in that at the time. Now I just feel foolish. I have too much respect for every person who laces them up to race for whatever their personal goals might be. As I said, I got into this sport for all the wrong reasons. It did, however, open my eyes to a different lifestyle that gives my life balance. It's allowed me to do things I never thought I could do. I'll get into that in a later post.

5430 Long Course Triathlon Race Report

On August 9th, I raced my first "official" triathlon of the season. I did an off road triathlon in July but didn't take it too seriously and just tried not to get hurt. This was a race I was taking seriously and was using to gauge my fitness level. I did a mini taper for it only backing off my normal training regimen 6 days out. The distances are the traditional half ironman distances of 1.2 miles swimming, 56 miles biking and 13.1 miles running.

The Swim

I was really excited about this part. I'm not a good swimmer but I have been consistent in the pool of late so was hoping for a result that was better than my usual one. I felt like I was moving well through the water although I never really found a drafting partner so I raced all by myself the entire 1.2 miles. I hit the beach in 32:40 so I was fine with that. Not great but good for me. The actual swim time includes the run up the hill from the beach so my official time was 32:21.

T1

The best laid plans...all to be foiled by my wetsuit. I had everything lined up ready to go. I had mentally gone through the exact order of what was going where for the trek out on the bike to hopefully gain some precious seconds on my competitors. That all came to a halt when I couldn't get my left wetsuit leg pulled over my timing chip band. This cost me valuable time and sent me to a sub par 1:47 transition.

The Bike

Despite the sub par transition, I was very relaxed going into the bike. I know the bike is where I am most comfortable and where I pass the most people. This started immediately. On the one plus mile section leaving Boulder Reservoir to the main bike course, I was passing packs of riders. My only concern was to not get taken out by another rider that was coming outside their line to pass someone in front of them. The packs were big enough that I made the decision to just go hard and pass them all rather than settle in behind the next pack. This worked well and I must have overtaken 30+ people in this section. More importantly, I passed what would be the biggest group of people I would see all day with no crashing. Once on the main bike course, it was smooth sailing. My friend and training partner, Kevin Dessart, had given me some basic but great advice. The night before the race, he said "don't think, just go fast". That rang through my head early and that's exactly what I did. I continued to pass people. I had cleared my head of most thoughts and was just going hard. I knew I was passing a lot of men in my age group early which would bode well for my overall place. I came through the first loop in 1:09:30. It was just feeling really easy. I wanted to negative split it but at this point I was in no mans land so I was getting a bit complacent. Around mile 32, some 19 year old kid passed me like I was standing still. I was excited about that as now I had someone to chase. That didn't last long as I couldn't go that fast without going completely into the red zone. Having him pass me like that jump started me and I was riding harder now than I had at any part of the ride. I was really going well but still wasn't sure where I stood in my age group. About mile 48, I came up on someone I figured to be one of my main competitors and made a hard pass. I really gunned it for the next 8 miles to the finish so I could gain some valuable time on him. I know we are comparable runners so I wanted to make sure that he would have to run well out of his comfort zone to catch me. I finished the second loop on 1:08:08 for a total bike time of 2:17:38.

*Follow up note on that 19 year old kid. I ended up passing him back about 20 miles later. It turns out, he is Ironman legend, Dave Scott's son, Drew. He had a 2:14 bike split. Crazy fast.

T2

I came into transition feeling really good. I hadn't gone at what I felt was a real hard pace and I was really looking forward to the run. When I got in, I noticed that I had the only bike in the racks for my wave. I was thinking that I was in first in my age group unless someone had mis- racked their bike. I had a smooth transition and got out in 1:00.

Run

I started out at what felt like an easy pace with a goal of trying to build into the run. My first 3 miles average 6:55 pace. Near mile 3, there is an out and back section that runs approximately 4/10ths of a mile. It's the only place on the course you can see the competition behind you. Well, that guy I passed at mile 48 of the bike was over 3 minutes behind me at this point so I was feeling pretty good about that development. He was the only person from my age group that I even saw. I was feeling confident in holding my place as I felt like I was just starting to run well. My nutrition on the bike had gone well (Accelerade, gels, water and SaltStick capsules) and was allowing me to play with my pace. I was just having fun while going pretty fast, for me. Around the 9 mile mark, I came up on that same out and back. This time, I saw another competitor from my age group who was only 1:15 behind. He is a better runner than me so it shocked me into a different mode. Where I had been just ticking off miles in the 6:55 to 7:00 minute range, I was now sure I had to step up my game or lose my placing. I ran the quick math in my head and figured he had to run 15 seconds or so per mile faster than me to catch up. I was determined to not let that happen. I went through mile 10 in 6:45, 11 in 6:43, and 12 in 6:49. At the start of mile 13, I just went and went hard. I treated it like the track and went a half mile at the fastest pace I could go at the time knowing that if he was close behind me, I was going to put some distance on him and hopefully break his will. I settled into my regular pace that last half mile and finished that 13th mile in 6:16, my fastest of the day. My final run time was 1:29:59. My total time was 4:23:43 which was good for 1st in my age group. I only won by 1:00. The last 4 miles was the most fun I had all day because it was the first time I felt I was racing someone. I was in no mans land all day and it felt good to be challenged. He had a much better run time than me. Thanks goodness that a bike ride is involved.

My friend Kevin had told me some time ago, "don't stop on the run for anything. If you have to, pee while you're running but don't give away any time ". I came into the run having to pee REALLY bad. I thought about his words at that moment. While I didn't pee on myself, I ended up being so focused that I forgot. Good thing too because had I stopped, I would have lost my place in my age group.

I feel very fortunate to have won my age group at this great race. Looking back on the race, I didn't have any part of it where I felt great. At the same time, I never felt bad and lost time to that. I just felt consistently good for all 3 disciplines and that won out over one discipline of great. I can't wait until my next race!!!

Mt. Evans

Mike, Jim, Kevin, Me and Todd at the top

Last week, a group of five of us went to ride up Mt. Evans. Mike Hagen, Jim Webber, Kevin Dessart, Todd Murray and Ic all drove up together from the Springs for the ride. Mt. Evans is the highest paved road in North America. I was a little unsure about it because I only own a triathlon bike rather than a traditional road bike that is much better suited for climbing. My goal was to not get dropped. We started in Evergreen. This put us 18 miles away from the base of the climb up the mountain. The trek from Evergreen to Mt. Evans climbs the entire way. There were some occasional pulls by the group that spiked the old heart rate throughout that section but it was something we could all deal with. Most importantly, I was never close to getting dropped. We arrived at the base of the mountain which is 14.5 miles from the top. At this point, each mile seemed like it was taking forever. It was just a relentless climb that never ended. One of the guys got a flat on the way up so we stopped. At that time, I realized I had lost a front brake pad. Uh oh.....this was not going to be good on the way down! We kept plugging away and I was just waiting for treeline at about 12000 feet. The reason is I've always had trouble at high altitude so I expected a dropoff in performance. This time, I actually felt great so gave some good pulls and went off. I never got dropped and had a huge snap is my pedaling up high so it was a great ride. We hung out at the top a while but it was starting to get cold and extremely windy. We took a few pictures of the mountain goats and headed down.

I had moved one of my rear brakes to the front to help out. I was VERY cautious coming down with only one brake. I just let everyone take off. At the bottom, the guys were waiting for me. From that point on, we were all just bombing the downhill section into Evergreen. This was the most fun I've ever had on a bike ride and can't wait to do it again. This time with ALL my brake pads so I can bomb the top section on the way down.