Sunday was Ironman Louisville, Kentucky. I competed in the race. My goal was simply to finish, which I did. My overall time was 14:07:09.
2.4 mile swim
112 mile bike
26.2 mile run
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140.6 miles, in one day. I did that.
My goal for the race starting out was to merely finish. However, when someone is doing a race, they always set some expectations besides just finishing. I had estimated what I thought I could do as follows: Swim 1:00-1:15 (I came in at 1:17), Bike average 17.5 miles/hour (I averaged 17.3 miles/hour), Run 5:00-6:00 (I came in at 6:01:31). Overall a great success!
I had great people with me, the Chief, Trent and Julie, and a few supporters via text messages with each. I especially what to thank my three supporters, they made things so much easier for me. They cheered me on (when they found me), Trent ran ahead with a camera and took pictures of me on the run. They retrieved my gear from the transition area while I was on the run section, that way I didn't have to walk an extra mile carrying my gear.
Now you know how I finished, next on to the pre-race. Packet pickup is on Friday. If you do not pick up your packet Friday, you cannot participate, no exceptions (according to the official instructions). The Chief and I go and pick up my packet on Friday. There is a welcome dinner and last minute race update after the packet pickup.
Saturday, there is a practice swim session where you can go and get into the water. Yes, the swim is in the Ohio river, and for the record, the smell/taste of the water was not that much worse than the normal water out of the tap... The goal for Saturday was to rest up and stay out of the sun for the race on Sunday.
Sunday comes along, I didn't sleep too well Saturday night, as I normally do when there is a big race or event the next day. I probably slept for 5-6 hours but in increasingly smaller chunks starting at midnight. The race started at 6:50 for the professional athletes, and at 7:00 for the age group athletes. Ironman Louisville is slightly different that other races, the swim start is a time-trial style start. Everyone lines up and you start in the order that you line up. According to some of the race volunteers, there were people starting to line up at 2:30 am. I hope that worked out for them, I was sleeping... I woke up at 4:00 and got ready to go, ate a couple bananas, then headed to the transition area to get everything ready: put the water bottles on my bike, put on sunblock, get body marked with my number and age group, and then head to the swim start.
As a result of my sleeping, I did not get into the water until 7:29. The swim goes upstream approximately 1300 meters then turns and goes downstream under a couple bridges and to the end of the swim next to Joe's Crab Shack. I did not get kicked in the face, and I don't believe that I kicked anyone in the face either. There was a fair amount of grab-ass in the water. That is very common, someone faster comes up on someone swimming slower and does not see them and tries to swim over the top of the slower swimmer. It happens. I came up on a few people and a couple of them surprised me because I don't look forward on every stroke. In fact, if there is someone going my same pace, or very close, I will watch them when I breathe and follow them. There were three places where people piled up, at the turn from going upstream to downstream, the turn from going downstream to the exit, and at the steps for the exit. It is always a little tricky after swimming for 1+ hours and then suddenly going from horizontal to upright, there is a possibility of dizziness. I was very thankful for the volunteers helping athletes out of the water. I don't think I was in any danger of falling but I didn't have to find out either.
The transition from the swim to the bike works like this, you grab your T1 bag and go to the changing tent. I put on my bike jersey, socks, shoes, headband, helmet, ate a Gu packet, drank some water and electrolyte, took a salt tab, and put my goggles, and ear plugs into the bag and give it to a volunteer. Then, I leave the changing tent, go and get my bike from the rack then proceed out of the transition area to the line I have to cross before I get on my bike. I get on my bike and I'm off. The bike course was not terribly difficult. The first 20 and last 20 are relatively flat with hills in the middle. There were some areas where I was pushing 40 miles/hour on the downhills. The course was also laid out in such a manner that the uphill sections were not terrible. There was one out and back in the beginning that was about 6 miles. There were some nice hills. Then there was a 30 mile loop that we repeated twice. The last 20 miles is said to be downhill and flat to the finish, on Sunday, it did not seem that way. There was a wind out of the South west blowing straight into my face on the ride back in. My speed for the last split dropped to 16.5 miles/hour, dropping my average to 17.3.
I did have some problems on the bike, first it was deceptively hot outside. The temperature was 92°F, and try as I might, I could not drink enough fluids. I was taking Gu every 35-40 minutes, and drinking in between. There were 10 aid stations on the bike course. I made sure to drink on bottle of fluid between each stop, the Ironman Perform is 20 ounces, and the water bottles were 24 ounces. I drank 8 bottles of Perform and 2 bottles of water and 40 of the 48 ounces of electrolyte drink I was carrying at the start. It still was not enough. I started cramping about mile 80. I didn't stop, I took a salt tablet and reduced my effort. The cramps were on both the inside and outside of my legs, not my quads. Lets do the math... 160 ounces of perform (560 calories), 48 ounces of water, 40 ounces of my electrolyte drink. Total: 248 ounces, nearly 2 gallons of fluid.
The sun block that I normally use is Coppertone Sport SPF 50. It is Ultra Sweatproof and Waterproof according to the can. I apply generously before I head to get in line for the swim start. I guess waterproof is relative, maybe it wasn't designed for an Ironman swim... while on the bike, I noticed a bit of a problem... first that I forgot to put on my cycling gloves... since I always wear cycling gloves, I don't concentrate a lot of sun block on my hands. As a result, they got a little sun burnt. It also felt like my legs and arms were starting to burn and that is not normal for my long workouts. To be safe during Transition 2, I put on some more sunblock, not really knowing that I was getting roasted, I applied sunblock everywhere I had bare skin.
The volunteers were putting sunblock on the athletes in the transition area. I didn't think I needed any but as a precaution, I had someone put some on the back of my neck. I am very thankful for that. My legs and my hands got sun burnt a little and also a small spot near the bottom of my sleeves. Overall it is not near as bad as my
Temporary Tattoo but still painful.
Next, the run... or walk/run. I walked through the transition to the official start of the run. Then ran about a half mile. At this point the course started going uphill onto the bridge for US-31. This is really the only uphill section on the course that is more that about 10 feet of elevation gain. I got to the top and ran for a bit more. Then I met the Chief, Trent and Julie a little before mile 2. The Chief jogged with me for a few yards, and Trent sprinted ahead of me with a camera to get a picture. Apparently the first two shots didn't come out too well, because he did it at least 3 times. It is kind of foggy at this point.
I averaged 13:47/mile. I was hoping to average 12:00/mile, but stuff happens, cramps again. This time my quads were cramping. I stopped at every aid station and drank at least 8 ounces, I did not eat much. I could not stomach any more Gu, I consumed 10 on the bike (1000 calories). They also had chicken broth, which I can attest is very good for leg cramps. I didn't believe it to start with. It took a little time to take effect but I started to run a little more during the last 10K and got my average for the last section back down to 13:01/mile when I had been averaging 14:00+/mile.
I am very happy just to have finished. Now I can take a couple days off from training...
Will there be another one? Who knows...
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The sun block that I normally use is Coppertone Sport SPF 50. It is Ultra Sweatproof and Waterproof according to the can. I apply generously before I head to get in line for the swim start. I guess waterproof is relative, maybe it wasn't designed for an Ironman swim... while on the bike, I noticed a bit of a problem... first that I forgot to put on my cycling gloves... since I always wear cycling gloves, I don't concentrate a lot of sun block on my hands. As a result, they got a little sun burnt. It also felt like my legs and arms were starting to burn and that is not normal for my long workouts. To be safe during Transition 2, I put on some more sunblock, not really knowing that I was getting roasted, I applied sunblock everywhere I had bare skin.
