Ironman

I did it. The Ironman, that is. I swam 2.4 miles. I cycled 112 miles. And then I ran a marathon, 26.2 miles. I finished in 12 hours, 48 minutes and 57 seconds.

What an experience. I have learned so much through this experience. The thought of trying to put it all in to words has deterred me from starting this post, but I'll do my best to give you my take on everything.

Cliff Notes version:

1) I trained a long time for the Ironman.
2) I sacrificed A LOT in training for the Ironman.
3) I completed the Ironman.
4) I was completely humbled by the Ironman.
5) I am grateful for the experience of Ironman.


Now for the dedicated readers...here is a play-by-play:


Nikki and I showed up to transition to drop my bike off the day before the race. Here we stopped to take a pic at the entrance to Ironman village



Here's a pic of me obsessing over how I want to rack my bike

more obsessing...


It was so great when Nikki finally arrived in Tempe. Sometimes I wonder how I got as far as I did in life without her... She is an angel. My own little angel.

Here are some pics in transition about 45 minutes before the swim start on race day


Soon after this picture, we said our goodbyes and Nikki went up to the bridge to watch the swim start with Andrew and my mom



It didn't hit me that I was doing an Ironman until I was standing on the dock about to jump in to the water. Now this is weird...Nikki took a picture of a group of people having no idea if I was in it or not. I don't know how she knows this but if you look at the purple circle, apparently that's me with the sun shining in my face. I was about to jump in to the lake and swim to the start line...







the swim start


yes, the swim start was this crazy...



THE SWIM

When I first started triathlon, the discipline I was the worst at was swimming. So it just blows my mind that I had such a great swim...1 hour, 5 minutes and 16 seconds. Good enough for 352 overall (out of ~2100 people). But there's more to it than that...

My goal was to get the good water and sprint for a bit at the beginning and then merge in with a pack and draft the entire way. Well...I think I got a little too excited when the cannon when off. I sprinted out and started to back off, but there were some folks behind me that weren't done sprinting just yet! Goggle kicked into my eyeball and then other goggle leaking....can't stop to fix it to risk being drowned by several hundred animals wanting to climb over me and get on down the road. Result? I think I had me-self a little panic attack. Mind you, this has NEVER happened to me in a race before. Never. I've been kicked and scraped and swam over many times, but never like this. I literally couldn't breathe. I would come up for a breath and it felt like I couldn't inhale. It was strange and frightening. I tried to settle down but it was hard. I estimate that with the panic attack my heart rate was near the 190s, and I have no idea how long it stayed there... Translation = not good.

In my mind, I had screwed up the swim royally. The rest of the way I felt like I was just trying to salvage my mistakes from the very beginning. Looking back I think I was just caught up in all the Ironman hype. It was too big of a deal in my head to just relax. I guess that's just part of being a first-timer, I don't know.

I drafted most of the way and was happy to get out of the water...not too bad. The first time I knew that I'd had a great swim was after I crossed the finish line.


T1
I ran to get my T1 bag and headed for the tent. What the hell?!! Not what I had expected. This tent was MADNESS. People everywhere, chaotic. I had envisioned much less people and more space to move around. Oh well, put the bike stuff on and get the heck outta there. Hopped on my bike and off I went.


running out of T1



here i am getting on my bike after the mount line (back left, blue shirt)


THE BIKE
As soon as I got clipped in, I looked down at my heart rate = 170. too high. I had been sitting down in transition for 5 minutes and it was 170. That spoke to how rattled I got in the swim. I knew I needed to relax and my goal was to get my heart rate down to 130 before I began to go after it on the bike.

While I was waiting for my HR to come down, 500 people must have passed me. It was hard to be patient and I tried to listen to Ahmed's words stuck in my head saying "Stick to the plan!" So I let them all pass while my HR came down slowly but it never settled until 45minutes in.

On the bike I was met with a stiff headwind a few miles outside the transition and it lasted about 1hr and 20minutes until I got to the turn-around. Then I came back in 40minutes. Repeat 2 times. The winds started to wear me down a little bit on the 2nd loop but on the 3rd loop I felt really good and was hopeful to continue feeling good.



At some point during the 3rd bike loop the temperature started to creep in to the 90s. Hot. I was drinking over 50oz of water an hour and felt pretty good about my nutrition. However there just came a point later on to where I just physically couldn't take in as much water as I was losing. I passed 100-200 people on the last loop and while it wasn't 500 people I passed, I still felt good that I was finished stronger than anyone around me...

The winds were tough and I was definitely ready to get off the bike, my time = 6:10:46. With the 30mph gusts and temperatures in the 90s, I later heard that to break 6 hours was a big deal that day. I was close...

T2

As soon as I dismounted my bike, I tried to run to get my T2 bag. Let me just tell you, I felt like the most un-coordinated person in the world trying to run after 6 hrs on the bike. My body just didn't want to, but I did anyways.

I could really feel the heat now, I knew it would be a tough run. I ran out of T2 after a long transition (even though I went as fast as I could) and had high hopes for a good run. I mean, I had hit my nutrition perfect on the bike, so why wouldn't I?

THE RUN

Mother Nature laughs!

I ran 10miles before I was forced to walk. And when I started to walk, it was really hard to get running again. I set little goals for myself, jog 5minutes, walk 5minutes, stuff like that. The heat was brutal. It really was. It got to the point that I was making mile goals for myself. Then at the next mile marker, I would set a goal for the next mile. That was the longest 16 miles of my life. I felt pretty bad until the sun went down and as soon as my body cooled off I could function better but the damage was done.

a picture speaks 1000 words...

Many times during the run I would glance down at my arm and be reminded that I wasn't alone. I got this decal from the IronPrayer service the night before where I was encouraged by other believers, including Heather Gollnick...I highly recommend this service to anyone doing Ironman

It also didn't hurt to know that this lovely young lady was waiting for me at the finish line. That kept me putting one foot in front of the other...

After walking so much I promised myself I would run the last two miles, no matter how much it hurt. I don't know how fast those last two miles were, but I didn't feel them I can tell you that. It was almost easy to suffer knowing that it would soon be over. I could hear the crowds now. Running faster. I can see the finish line. And honestly I couldn't tell you much past that. Before I knew it I was hugging Nikki and just so glad to be done. run 5:22:27

Anti-climatic finish. Please read Kathi Werden's blog, she explains it much better than me!

In Kathi's words:

"Well, not to spoil things for you… but… My Ironman FINISH LINE really… not that AMAZING… not that AWESOME… nothing LIFE CHANGING… however IT WAS.... painful, it was dusty, it was sweaty, it was very quick and it was half blurry (one of my contacts had to come out)….and IT WAS loud, crazy, even energetic..borderline chaotic… but not so much AMAZING."

I think the start line feeling was amazing. Finishing my first sprint distance triathlon was amazing too. But finishing the Ironman...

I do remember not being able to stand up straight. Or maybe I didn't want to stand up straight. I was just straight up tired.

The real heroes of this thing are all the people that came out to support me and spectated in 96 degree heat all day. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart to Nikki, I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you, to Mom, thank you for all the sacrifices you made to get there - I love you, to Dad, for always being there for me no matter what, to Andrew, you have been my friend longer than anybody else on this earth and I respect you to no end, to Eric and Lauren, what a special new friendship and how I have enjoyed getting to know you guys and can't wait to get to know you better.

Eric and Lauren got engaged the previous day!!!!


Post-Ironman Thoughts
I think it was good for me to be humbled. I definitely have a greater respect for that distance now. I am looking forward to doing some shorter distance stuff for now and taking a mental and physical break from everything!

I am glad the Ironman didn't live up to my expectations. It reminded me of how I have put others things up on a pedastool in the past, only to be let down over and over again. Maybe one day I'll learn. Until then, I still love triathlon...it is a great way to stay healthy and it's fun. And slowly I am realizing that the more seriousness I bring to triathlon, the less fun I have. But I am still competitive by nature and probably always will be...I'll keep searching for that balance :)

Thanks for keeping track of the journey. I'll never forget it.

As for now, I can walk away from Ironman and be proud of what I accomplished. I learned a lot on april 13th, not so much about triathlon, but about life and myself.