Ironman Arizona was a quick turn around from the last race, with only 5 weeks in between. After Ironman Louisville I was excited for Arizona, all I wanted was my best race and a new PR. I was ready to train some more and polish up my form for Arizona. While my coach had lots of rest scheduled for me and I would have rather liked to train more. In the last week leading up to the race the excitement for my next Ironman was somehow gone. I still wanted a new PR but I was also ready for the season to be over and to be done with IM racing.
The race plan mostly focused on nutrition and being ready to execute on the run. The goal for the bike was to ride on top of Z1 and on the run start the first mile in 7:15min/mile and then run top Z1, bottom Z2.
The biggest challenge for me was always to consume enough nutrition during the race. To follow my nutrition plan meant that I needed to be a little uncomfortable in my stomach pretty much for the whole bike ride and run.
Swim
This year Ironman Arizona changed its mass start to a self seeding start because of the swim smart initiative to make the swim safer. Unfortunately, that meant that we did not get a change to warm up in the water. Also the start was set up such that we had to run down several steps, jump in the water, and then immediately do a 90 degree turn to the right. I wasn’t too worried about this swim since we practiced swim start a lot in the QT2 elite age group training camp. However, all that training did not prepare me for what happened at the start.
Swim exit
I have done 10 Ironmans now and 8 of them were mass start. This start was the toughest swim start I have done. There was more body contact then in any other of the mass starts. (So much for the swim smart initiative. To me it felt like the opposite!) Most mass starts everyone would swim straight and there is a little bit of bumping to the left and right. Not this start, thanks to the 90 turn at the start people were all swimming in different direction and there was no space to get out of it. There was constant body contact and people swimming over each other. After a few minutes of struggling with it, I saw open area and moved to the right and took a little bit of a breather and decided to swim by myself until I calmed down.
My right arm (triceps and lats) started hurting 1/3 into the swim. It was a familiar pain since I experienced that in the training leading up to this IM. I knew in training I was still able to swim fast splits despite the pain so I tried to ignore it.
The first turn buoy was fine, not too crowded and only a little contact. The pain in my arm had gotten worse and I changed my stroke from high elbow to straight arm swimming which reduced the pain. Unfortunately, that stroke was probably not as fast. That was the first time of the day I thought that this would not be my best day if I had trouble swimming already. I reminded myself that the goal was to get a new PR and the only way to achieve this was to hang in there and do the best I could. I also reminded myself that in the grand picture a few minutes slower swim time wouldn’t matter all that much.
I finished the swim in 1:07:52 which is a few minutes slower than my previous Ironmans. I wasn’t too concerned about that time. According to the race results I was 44th in my age group after the swim.
Note: I still beat Amy, even though only by 1 second. I really have to watch out for her swim these days 🙂
T1
The biggest drawback of the slower swim was the crowded tent. I actually had to look for a free spot to sit down and the transition took a little longer than normal.
Time: 3:43
Bike
I jumped on the bike and felt pretty good. A few people went past me early on, but I was mostly overtaking people. Initially my HR was a little high, so I didn’t push too hard and let it come down. The race was on a flat course; a simple out and back with only a handful turns. There was a headwind going out. It was nice to see the pro men and women battling it out on the same course when they were going the other direction past me. It was also nice to have so many TN Multisport people out on the course.
A 5h time meant about a 1h40min loop which breaks down into 50min one way. I reached the first turn around after about 54 minutes. Considering that it was uphill with a head wind I figured I was making good progress.
After the turn around I started thinking about Amy. I was worried about the rough swim and knew that Amy didn’t start much behind me. I was hoping she had a better swim and was looking forward to see her on the bike knowing that everything was fine. So I payed a little more attention to the oncoming bikers. I was glad to see her and we both yelled encouraging words to each other.
I didn’t have to pee on the downhill and then later on tried on the flat section where I still had a tail wind. But I could not make it happen. I finished the first loop in (1:40) which would result in a 5h bike time. I was excited about it and I figured I should just keep doing the same. However the wind picked up which made it much harder to ride into the wind and impossible to pee on the bike (at least for me).
head down getting it done…
Eventually after the beginning of 2nd loop I decided to stop and pee in a porter potty since I figured it would make me feel better and therefore I could bike better again. I stopped and started counting, it seemed like it took forever. I counted to over 50, according to my watch it was almost 2minutes from slowing down until I was moving again. All in all it was worth it since I felt better afterwards and the HR was lower. Around this time is where it started raining. It was around 60f and therefore not too cold. We were joking about rain leading up to the race since it rarely rains at IMAZ. Pre race I said I’m not even going to think about that since it doesn’t matter to me. Rain won’t affect my race, and right I was. Aside from the few turns I took a little more careful, the rain did not make a difference to me. The next time I reached the turn around the bike clock read 2:42. This time it almost took me 60min (including pee break). Since the wind had picked up I figured I would also be faster on the way back. On the downhill I managed to pee while riding. In the remainder of the race I peed a total of 5 times on the bike which is probably more than enough and meant that I was fueling really well. On that topic, in the first 4 hours I stayed completely on top of my fueling needs. I had 4.5 bottles, had all my gels. In fact was even a little a head of the schedule since I took one gel a little early and just stuck with it taking the next one 10min early too.
Seeing the pros come the other direction I was hoping to finish loop 2 without them laping me, which I did. I finished the 2nd loop in 3:30min, which was a total of 3min slower than the first loop. The course was pretty crowded but much better than IM Louisville! Most people were riding to the right and with a few exceptions it was easy to pass people. I noticed that my HR was lower than before, it had dropped slightly during the 2nd loop and I just went with it. I was uncomfortable in my stomach and the lower HR probably helped to absorb the nutrition. Also my quads were already burning. In hindsight, I probably lacked a little of confidence that I should push harder on the bike. At the same time my back was getting tight and riding aero bars was becoming uncomfortable. Unfortunately, I spent a good part of the 3rd loop riding not in the aero bars. I had been riding with some other riders and just stuck with them, I took that as an indicator that I wasn’t slowing down too much. But it never occurred to me that they also might be slowing down.
I reached the turn around at 4:24 which was a 54min split and slightly faster than during the 2nd loop. I don’t recall much on the ride back except that I wanted to be done biking. I finished the bike in 5:16:34 which put me into 23rd place in my age group.
I did a good job on fueling and drank 6.5 bottles of Gatorade endurance, and consumed half a power bar and 10 gels with a total of 250mg of caffeine (mostly in 2nd half).
T2
The transition area was very dirty because of the cut grass and dirt from the rain. For once I took the time to clean my feet with a towel before putting on the socks and shoes. Again the transition took longer than it should have. Thanks to the volunteer who helped me speed it up at least a little. After 2min 28 second I was out on the run course.
Run
Right after transition chewing on my banana
Started running strong. I ate my banana on the first mile and for once didn’t have a problem to finish it. The first mile as planned in 7:15min/mile and after that I pretty much just ran by feeling. I checked my watch once in a while to make sure that my HR is in the right ball park, but I decided to rely on my feeling. I focused on drinking a cup (which means about 1/2 cup, since they are only half full) of Gatorade and take a lick of my base salt tube. For a change I also remembered to eat a shot blox every 2 miles.
I felt I had to pee early on and decided that I didn’t want to run the whole marathon with wet shoes and decided to use the porter potties at around 3 miles of the run. At that time the sun had just peaked out a little and it looked like it would stop raining. Obviously, I was wrong about that. After that I just focused on execution. Ticking off the miles and getting the fuel in I needed. My stomach was a little upset the whole time but otherwise, I felt good.
Around mile 10 a boombox was playing a song which reminded me of silly comments Amy made about that song. I got a little emotional and knew that this was a sign that my body/mind was getting tired.
At the beginning of the 2nd loop was the special needs bag which contained another blox shot (double caffeine) stick. I was able to make the whole exchange without having to slow down. The course was now much busier and I had to wave around people. I saw Amy just finishing the out and back, which made me happy. At this point it also started raining harder again. The dirt path was now really muddy from all the people who had ran on it. I had to pee for the 2nd time around mile 15. I wasn’t worried about my shoes anymore since they were already wet and taking care of business was easy and just “happened” without slowing down. I certainly knew now that I was hydrated enough.
However, shortly after I hit a rough patch just after mile 16. I walked for a while (apparently 2min according to my watch) and once I made it to the next aid station I took a coke and some more salt. I started running again and felt much better and after a short while it was all back. I felt in control again and started moving. It was hard but I felt it control, I knew that the only way I could have my best race was if I kept pushing. I figured I wasn’t in the running for a Kona slot, but that didn’t bother me, all I wanted was a new PR. I also knew that I had keep pushing if I wanted it.
I kept doing quick walks at the aid stations to drink a coke and get some base salt in. I really focused on power walking and only walking for a few second. On the little out and back around mile 20 I saw Marlyce (on the first lap) and I took it as my next motivation to catch her. I caught her right before the hill going into the next aid station. I took another coke and some more salt and after only a few steps of walking I started pushing hard up that hill. That hill was very tough, but I wanted to run it not to lose too much time. Once I made it past the top, I came past the 23 mile marker. I checked my watch to see how I’m doing with the overall time and it said 9h 26min. I knew I had 24min for a sub 9:50 which would be a “decent” new PR. That is when the Swiss Assassin came out 🙂 I started to push harder. I mean it was only a 5k left and I finally started believing in my abilities to just push to the finish. Things became a little blurry and I was just focusing on staying strong, relaxed and in control. I knew it would be rough but once I was on the bridge it would go slightly downhill and from there it was only 1 mile to the finish.
Well, maybe next time I’ll try to look nice for the camera instead of screaming my lungs out of sheer joy (and some pain)
Once I was on the bridge, a TN guy told me that my wife was just a little further up. I was even more excited to see Amy again before I would finish the race. I kept pushing. Overtook Amy and gave her a thumps up, all I could muster at this point. Shortly after passing her my adductor buckled when I was getting onto the sidewalk for the turn. I wasn’t sure if I would cramp but it loosened up right away again. I knew from the first lap that there was a long straight before the turn off to the finish. With 1 mile to go I really started hurting. I just didn’t know how much farther the finish was after the split off. I was hoping it wouldn’t be that far, but I didn’t know for sure. Once I reached the turn off point there was a last little “hill”, it probably is mostly flat but it felt like a hill. There was one guy in front of me which also was running towards the finish. I tried to close in but he was running a decent pace. I started hearing the noise from the finish line and to my relief it was right there much closer than expected. I didn’t slow down and just finished.
I ran the Marathon in 3:20:04 with a total time of 9:50:41 which was 12 place in my age group.
After math
At the finish line I was totally spent because of my effort. I had a hard time to stand and just wanted to sit down. They sat me down outside the medic tent and shortly after convinced me to come inside the medic tent. I probably didn’t look too good.
proud and happy finishers
They laid me down on a bed and gave me a blanked. A medic took my vitals I was a little dizzy and my finger were tingling. And obviously my muscles were hurting, but figured that was just because of my hard effort. After a while I felt better. To my surprise they gave me the good morning bag which they retrieved for me while I was laying down. I changed into a new shirt and after getting some help to get up I left the medic tent. Based on the finisher clock I must have been in there for 20+minutes.
Got a little rub down at the massage tent and some finisher food and started feeling better. I went back to the car to change into warm clothes and went back to the finisher area and talked with all the friends who finished. I also waited for Amy and saw her finish with a new PR which was very exciting!
While I missed the sub 9:50 by almost a minute, I’m super proud how I was able to push hard at the end of the run. According to my coach there aren’t many people who are able to stimulate and raise their HR on the last 3miles, which clearly shoes how hard I was pushing.
I went to awards ceremony and roll down as every Ironman and there again I obviously got a little sad that I didn’t qualify. I also realized it isn’t so much about racing in Kona. It is more about being good enough to qualify. But I also realized that I’m not enjoying racing as much anymore as I used to. While I had a PR in this race, I feel like that I’m capable of going even faster than this. The biggest challenge for me in long distance races is still nutrition.
Going forward I’ll be taking a break from long distance racing. For now, I will take several weeks off and eventually start training again if I feel like it 😉
Amy and I are both in the official post Ironman video.
I’m am running around mile 24 at 5:30 in the video and Amy is finishing at 8:51.
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