Ironman Arizona (Nov 2008)

My first Iron man, wow! Where do I start? For a change, I’ll start at the end and then work back. I’m still reeling with fact that not only did I finish my first Iron man, but even enjoyed it with relatively modest pain and suffering! I know, I still can’t believe it myself. Ok, now that you know how it ends, let’s fill in the gaps.

My main purpose for this race report is to not only recount my experience but also impart valuable lessons I learned along the way. In so doing, I can balance my unabashed bragging with some altruistic gifts :-)

I first have to emphasize that without proper training and coaching this race would not have gone so well or even at all for that matter. I can’t emphasize this enough. Get a good coach and train with discipline. This may mean training early or late, pushing yourself when you can, but also cutting a training day short or skipping it when your body’s not cooperating. Believe me, I’ve screwed up on both accounts, mostly the latter.

I also have to stress being smart about training and nutrition. It took me months to years investigating and trying different nutrition products and schedules before I found what worked for me.

OK, enough pontificating, let’s get to the juicy details.

We arrived a few days early to acclimate to the weather and familiarize myself with the course. A really good idea. You give yourself time to get comfortable with your new surroundings (hotel, city, etc…), acclimate to the weather. Also important is to check out the courses to evaluate road conditions and strategize your race plan on different parts of the course. This course is not super hilly, but there are some hills. The most important part of the bike course is the hill on the Beeline Highway. Once you turn onto the highway it becomes progressively steeper, and the last mile or so before the turn around is the steepest. I rode the first ½ of the course one day, and the second ½ the next day. It was really interesting to see how to manage my power targets at different parts of the course, especially the steepest section. I discovered that I had to conserve speed (i.e. go slower) up hill on the Beeline Highway, but on the way back I could really fly down the hill, so that it all evened out nicely, but it was hard to be patient on the uphill. The run course was not too complicated, but there is a small hill on Curry Rd, where the same hill strategy applied; slow up, fast down. It was also important to stay hydrated with plenty of mineral intake the days before the race. This translated to a lot of pee breaks.

The night before, I get everything ready and bagged up. I keep a checklist on my iPhone that I update when I identify things that are useful. Some things are obvious, and others aren’t (i.e. car with full tank of gas, go ahead and laugh :-) I did run out of gas on the way back from a race once a couple of years ago). For this race I also took an anti-histamine to help me sleep (they may me really sleepy, and I figure it can’t hurt with staving off last minute allergy issues). I also start ibuprofen at 200 mg every 4 hours the day before the race and 24-48 hours after. It’s a preventative anti-inflammatory that has shown to be useful with all the muscle damage about to happen J Early dinner (5-6pm), something full of easily digestible carbs and a little protein (i.e. potatoes, rice, pasta, chicken), but not acidic, fibery or spicy. I also have a small snack around 8-9pm. Got about 5-6 h of sleep.

On race day, we got up at 3:30, ate breakfast at 4 so that it gave me 3 hours of digestion before race start. Typical pre race breakfast for me: pancakes, eggs, English muffin, banana, some hash browns, and coffee. I try to stay away from acidic foods/drink (orange juice), and eat easily digestible foods (not bran or whole wheat stuff this am). I eat as much as I can without feeling uncomfortably full since this is a critical fuel topping for the day’s race. From there on it’s water.

Arrived at the race around 4:45. Transition opened at 5 am. I like to get there early to reduce the amount of stress associated with rushing around at the last minute and avoid the rush. It’s also good to give yourself some buffer time in case something goes wrong. I had plenty of time to rack up the bike, drop off transition bags, and do a little stretching: nothing hard core, just a little hip loosening and shoulder loosening. By the way, be sure to double check that you’re dropping off the right bag at the right place. They are color-coded and well labeled but early in the morning when it’s dark and you’re still not quite awake, it’s easy to make a mistake. That also brings up the point of light. I added a headlamp to my checklist. Put on my swimsuit about 6:30 and headed to swim start.

Jumped in the water about 6:40, and swam over the inside part of the start line, and treaded water until the start. Before you know it we’re off! The swim was bit crazy, but not too bad. Some bumping and hitting, but managed to avoid a major hit. I concentrated on staying loose and smooth, and taking it easy at first. Tried to draft, but could never seem to keep it going for long. Sighted well, and stayed on course well for the first ½. Once at the turn around, I seemed to have a harder time staying in a nice tight line on the inside of the course, but kept correcting so that I wasn’t off by much. Kept concentrating on form and keeping breathing and heart rate reasonably low. The last ¼ of the race my left triceps were burning a bit, but nothing serious. Finished strong, and out of the water. Got the top ½ of the suit down, and let the suit strippers do the rest. You just sit down and they yank it off. Awesome! Off to the bike transition to get bag. I had my tri suit underneath, so all I had to do was put on shoes, race belt, helmet and glasses, then off to get the bike.

My bike plan was to keep power output between 165-175 for the first 2 laps, then 175-195 (200 max) for the last lap, except on the hill where I would push it a little on the steep part (up to 230), and push it a bit on the down hill (no coasting). Unfortunately, my PT wasn’t cooperating for the 1^st ½ of loop 1, so I had to rely on HR and perceived exertion. A lot of people passed me on loop 1, but I forced myself to ignore them and stick with the plan. My nutrition consisted of carbo-Pro and thermolytes. I loaded 3 bottles on the bike (240, 360 and 480 cal), and replaced my bottles with same formula at the bike special needs station on loop 2. I also ate 3 chocolate chip cookies then too. Thermolytes: 1 capsule (400mg sodium) every 20 min. I also took a water bottle at every aid station, and drank as much as I could while dumping the rest on my neck and thighs before tossing it at the end of the aid station. The bike felt good. My pedal stroke felt nice and smooth and easy. The hill was a bit more of a struggle, but it sure was fun flying down at the turn around. I peed twice right off the bike, which was the first time I did that, and soon found out that it’s impossible for me to pee and pedal at the same time J, but could manage it while coasting. It sure was funny seeing streams of pee flying off the back of my thighs. Now you know why I sprayed my thighs down with water at the aid stations J During the last loop, my hamstrings were getting a bit tight and my butt was a bit achy, but I would stand up every so often, and stretch things out, and that seemed to help for a while. I pushed things a bit harder on the last loop, but tried to stay below 200. It did hit me at mile marker 97 that “Gee, I’m almost done with the bike, but I still have a marathon to run!! Other than that I focus mentally in the moment, and approach the race by stages: get to the turn around buoy, then swim to the bridge. Or, done with one loop, just get loop 2 done, get to the top of the hill, then fly back down. I find that if I take it a bite at a time, it really seems less daunting.

Transitioned to the run, where I’m still in my tri suit, so all I have to do is change shoes and hats, switch the race belt to the front, and get going. By the way, I’m not sure they do this for every IM, but they issued both a race number with your first or last name. I’d recommend using the one with your first name on the run, so that people cheering you on can use your name, and say things like “Go Steve” or “You’re doing great, Steve”. Much harder for them when you’re using your last name! A few tried, bless them, but it sure is uplifting to have people encouraging you personally by name. I started off the run with the plan to take it easy at a 9:00 min/mi pace, and soon realized that I was going too fast. I was feeling good, but I forced myself to slow down, but still not enough. I really did feel like I was going slow, but I wasn’t. At mile 5 I decided to stop for a pee break to force myself to get back on race plan pace (Jill’s pre-race instructions). From then on I just got into a nice comfortable pace for the duration. My nutrition consisted of carrying a small bike bottle that I would fill up with a couple of cups of coke at every station, and take a thermolyte (400 mg sodium) every 15 min. I had trained with the bottle on my long runs, and prefer it to race belts. This worked well for me, although I was getting really tired of syrupy coke by the end of the race. In the second half of the marathon, my stomach was getting a bit queasy, so I’d lay off the coke and drink water instead until my stomach settled. My run went extremely well. My pace and leg turn over felt comfortable. My breathing was a bit shallow but not labored. I was certainly tired, but just kept taking it bit by bit. The hardest parts were the small inclines. I hesitate to call them all-out hills, but they make slow down a bit. My pace strategy on hills is to take smaller steps and increase turnover a little. On the down hills, I would lengthen my stride and pick up the pace. I was extremely pleased that my legs never cramped up or bonked, which happened on all 3 of my ½ IMs. I was religious about taking a thermolyte every 15 min. and drinking coke, and together with an overall good nutrition plan, I really credit this most for fueling my race correctly. After the 2^nd loop, I knew I was doing well and figured I was on pace for breaking 12hours. In loop 3, I passed a couple of Pros, who were obviously bonking, and thought “wow, even pros bonk!”, not to mention that it felt so good to pass them. Since I was feeling good, I decided to push the pace a little on the last loop, especially in the last 5-6 miles. By that point, I figured the faster I went, the sooner I’d be finished! What an amazing feeling to realize that I had persevered and was really finish this race and become an Iron man. With only 1-2 miles left, I took a last swig of coke, ditched the bottle and powered it in to the finish. Once I turned the corner, and saw the race clock at 11:02, I could not believe it! Crossed the line, and became an Iron man! Unbelievable!! What a lifetime experience!! When is the next one :-) OK, maybe I’ll take the rest of the year off, before I start all this over again. After all, recovery is equally important.