First Ironman: Mistakes and Lessons

After my first Ironman in the Woodlands of Texas this past weekend, I have begun to reflect on all that could have been improved upon during the race, as well as what went right. Luckily for me, the most important parts all went near perfect, however there were several mistakes made.

Mistakes:

• Not coating bike shoe hot spot(s) in Vaseline (not sure how I forgot this one...)
• Using the bathroom in T1. Took a very long time to get my one-piece suit down when soaking wet and then spent even longer loosing all the morning beverages.
• Not going over the new transition routine thoroughly enough beforehand. I not only left my speedsuit on when putting on my bike shoes and had to take them off and put them on again, but I also spent about 5 seconds staring at my bike trying to remember how to get on it with another 5-10 trying to clip my first shoe in (the flying mount has become second nature but take that away and I'm as clueless as everyone else in the post-swim race fog).
• Forgetting important things like all of the electrolyte capsules, taping some emergency gels to the bike, and a hat/visor to hold in ice and cold water while providing shade for the run.
• Not doing any riding in the backup tri shoes that actually vent air to cool the feet and have a drain hole so that the shoe doesn't just fill up with the fluids occasionally running down your leg. (Note: this required that these shoes, though better suited for the conditions, not be used)
• Putting sweet peach tea in the bottle that you would later decided needs to be used to douse the head and body in an effort to keep cool.
• Not having enough bottle cages (I had one plus my aero drink bottle). Without anywhere to actually hold a bottle, I almost wrecked when I tried to grab two bottles at an aid station.
• Not replacing the seriously worn grips and pads on the bike. When wet, it made it very difficult to grab the bike with one hand that is also holding a bottle at the same time (see previous mistake about almost wrecking).
• Wearing big heavy shoes (Hokas) that hold water on the run. With the heat index close to 100 or over on the run, I was actually making squishing noises from the first aid station on.
• And the most important, stop trying to taper by feel. A week before the race, my legs were trashed, and though I was good to go by raceday and my fitness was phenomenal, I was not nearly rested enough to peak.

Things that just hurt:

• The pain of swimming with tightly suctioned goggles for over an hour.
• The pain of swimming for over an hour.
• Wearing a speedsuit that is so tight it actually cuts into your chest.
• Biking alone for hours into a headwind.
• Running barefoot on pavement in transition that is so hot, it literally burns your feet.
• Running 26.2 miles on burned feet in wet, heavy, soggy socks and shoes.
• Running 26.2 miles on legs with a bit too much pre-race fatigue.

Things that went right:

• Swim position: I lined up on the far left, about 5 rows deep and had clean water the entire way.
• Bike setup: Flo wheels with disc cover, an Evo Corsa rear tire, GP4000S front tire, latex tubes, TriRig Omega brake and Wingspan helmet worked beautifully! With the majority of the roads being smooth, 184W average yielded 22.5mph on a windy day.
• Mental Toughness: Running from aid station to aid station, just barely making it before you collapse is no way to run for 20+ miles, but it can be done!
• Gameplan: After a slow swim, I decided to relax and enjoy the day as much as possible (and I did really enjoy the first half of the bike!).

And finally my Hydration/Nutrition Strategy, the single most important reason for my success. I went completely by feel, listened to my body, and never stopped drinking. It was near perfect. I started the bike and ended the bike with the first and last 10 miles or so being almost exclusively water with one gel tossed in. In between, I drank a progressively stronger mix of the on-course perform, with a gel tossed in occasionally when I felt it necessary. When my stomach felt in need of solid food, I ate a piece of the Lara Bar I cut into thirds. Of course, I had to pee about 4 times in the first 2/3 of the bike, however, this was absolutely necessary for staying hydrated. On the run, I went with mostly water until my stomach distress from all the Perform on the bike blew out. I listened to my body, and if I still had some discomfort from taking a gel a couple miles back, I took Perform and Coke instead. If I felt discomfort from those, I took a gel and water. It was almost too easy. Coming into each aid station, I grabbed what was most appetizing along with ice and additional water to keep cool and kept moving. My heart rate never budged until the last few miles. I stayed cool, hydrated and fueled and it paved the way to success on what would otherwise have been a bad day.

Ironman: The Toughest and Most Rewarding Event I've Done

It all started with the Friday before the race. Not immediately before, but a week before. I hit a wall. I couldn't make it through a simple recovery workout. I could barely hold 8:30/mi pace. Even fatigued, I still had no problem running sub 7:30 pace with ease until this point. I had gone too hard. In my quest for every last bit of fitness, I had upped the intensity with my decreased volume during taper. Only, I upped it too much and did not included enough rest. I was in serious trouble for my first Ironman.

Come raceday though, I was ready to rock. The day before I had felt good for the first time. Fitness was excellent, and I had enough rest to race. I would need another week of rest to actually hit form. However, with good fitness, racing fast with a good bit of fatigue is possible. It just hurts a lot more. And boy did it ever hurt...

The morning of raceday started just fine with a breakfast of oatmeal, a banana, chocolate muffin, yogurt, green tea, some electrolyte drink, and a Lara bar. I was getting transition ready, however, and realized they were closing it 15' before what I thought I had seen posted. Uh oh. A mad rush ensued, and I barely got the tires aired up and everything together in time. Upon getting back to the car to drive to swim start, I realized I still had my run visor and my electrolyte pills. This was not good. There was nothing I could do to add them now.

For the start I decided the inside (left) was the best position. It required treading water for 10 minutes before hand, but it was perfect. I started about 5 rows back (at the true swim start line) and had clean water for the entire swim. Occasionally of course someone tried (or did) swim over or across me or two people converged to sandwhich me, but all of that is part of open water swimming (what makes it fun). None of the turns were all that crowded where I was and several times large gaps opened in front of me making it difficult to keep a decent draft. However, because of the seemingly lack of people around me, I though I might be swimming well enough to post a decent time. Unfortunately, this was not the case and I should have known as I struggled to keep my cadence high for most of it and I could tell that I was having trouble keeping my body position as well.

Even with the swim being slower for most than normal, I was slow for me. Very slow. I posted a 1:10, 5' off my slowest estimate from my swim training in Florida. However, a week off swimming during travel had devastated my swim speed and I should have known that it would not magically reappear.

This turned out to be a good thing though, as I threw out my Kona aspirations, and changed the game plan to simply finishing and enjoying the experience. After spending seemingly forever in transition trying to figure out how to quickly put on bike shoes and then having to take them off because I still had my speedsuit on, I was on the bike and ready to roll.

 

Immediately, the power was there, but it wasn't easy. And the heart rate was too high. It was at half-Ironman HR and not dropping. So I backed it off 20W or so with the idea to just enjoy the ride. However, this was still much more uncomfortable than it should have been, though the legs had no problem making it with ease. It was actually quite fun passing people for the first 50 or 60 miles, but that's when I ran out of people to pass and found myself stuck going back into the wind with hardly a soul in sight. Things got tough. Very tough. However, the legs still made power easily (it was simply very uncomfortable to ride, possibly more due to the heat than anything else) so I upped it to target watts around mile 70 and held for the remainder.

Magically, after I hit the century mark in the fastest time ever for me (4:26!), I started feeling really really good. Until I got really hungry and realized the last gel that I thought I had was not there! With 5 miles left to ride, I got desperate and started hitting up the riders that I was now passing again for anything they could spare. I lucked out when a woman with a foreign accent understood me enough to pass off a gel containing writing I could not read. Soon I was back on the power blazing toward the run that I was certain that I was going to decimate. For an incredibly windy day (more so on the way back in of course...), I was surprised and exhilarated with the time, especially for the conservative wattage I held. I hit 4:58 which was what I had estimated for target wattage (about 10w higher than my normalized wattage for the ride). The new setup with the Flo wheels, disc cover, conti gp4000s front, Evo corsa rear, latex tubes, Rudy Project helmet, TriRig Omega brake, and my normal slammed position worked out very well!

In transition, the pavement was hot. Some I heard got up to 2nd degree burns. All I know is my feet still hurt from it days later. I shrugged it off and coated the feet in Vaseline though because I had a marathon to run! But I didn't feel good like I thought I should have. It was more of a struggle than I expected and I felt like I was running quite slow (though it turns out I split sub 7 for that first mile). After a long bathroom break (the 6th I think after the one in T1 and the 4ish times on the bike), I was feeling better. For about a quarter mile and then the legs decided they just didn't want to work properly. Not to mention the bloated feeling and gas from all the Perform on the bike. I was soon struggling just to make it to the next aid station and forced to a quick shuffle in order to simply keep moving. I knew right here it was going to be an even longer day than I had thought, but I was determined to finish and holding out hope that if I kept moving I might catch a resurgence somewhere down the line.

While I did finally blow out (literally...) all of the indigestion problems I was having, I was able to pick up the pace slightly for a few miles, but I never did get that resurgence. It was a struggle the entire way. It was just like my first half-Ironman I did, except when I got to 13.1 miles, I still had another 13.1 to go. But I do not give up. I do not quit. I do not stop moving. Tough races where I can outlast, out suffer, and shuffle past the faster athletes who stop moving is where I shine. And suffer I did. More than ever before by a factor too high to estimate. Only a few really know where the body's limits are (Julie Moss to name one) and most are not prepared to push them there, especially when things are not going perfectly to plan. But I am. Though I thankfully didn't hit them today, it was not for lack of trying. For the last six miles, every other step, a muscle in my upper calf, lower calf, or hamstring threatened to buckle me if my core was not strong enough to keep my balance. The cramps were so severe, I wasn't sure if I could finish until a half mile to go. But the body will keep moving if you will it to.

In the last few miles I tried electrolyte capsules I bummed off another competitor. Unfortunately for me, the cramps were from overuse. They weren't going to stop until I did. With my 3 long runs this year at 15-16 miles (why I was able to come into this race uninjured), it was no surprise that these muscles were rebelling particularly when, mistake #onetoomany, I thought it a good idea to wear my Hokas to run in. While they were, in fact, fantastic in many aspects, with the temperature in the 90's and humidity bringing the heat index up much higher, they were also soaked and making loud squishing noises from mile 2 on. It must have been comical to all that I passed!


Now as an engineer, I normally prep for races much better than this, but this time, I let myself get distracted and completely dropped the ball! However, a tough as nails mentality and a near perfect nutrition/hydration strategy got me through the day in what was to be the most unbelievable result I could have imagined. I was beyond ecstatic to post a sub-10 time at my first Ironman when I crossed the line in 9:53:15 with a brutal 3:35 run. Even more so when I realized that because of the tough conditions, this year it was good enough for 5th in AG and 24th amateur! This race will definitely be a race that I will always remember and cherish, not just for the time and placement, but for the wonderful suffering it took to get there. The greatest accomplishments always involve the most sacrifice, the most work, and the most pain. For me, this was one of them.