Post by Aussie Rob on Sept 4, 2009 22:01:18 GMT -5
January in the metroparks standing around with Reddy. It's cold, snow is on the ground, neither of us want to be there, and we agree that Ironman is the dumbest thing in the world; then we laugh and run some hills. That, more or less, is how this race started for me.
Fast forward to last weekend though and I'm in Louisville still not all that confident. I'm of the opinion that no one is ever really ready for one of these things, because as was decided, they're dumb (some of you who have done one may disagree, but since you're dumb too it doesn't matter, hehe). It was cool to have so many locals down there (three teammates, in addition to what seemed like half of CTC, and a number of FF people) and made it feel a bit like a local race. We all had dinner on Friday night where Reddy was dubbed "Bono's Dad" for wearing sunnies inside, at night. I did miss not having Marty Mason there to battle (chase) though. Nothing eventful in the day prior, except my two room mates (Durno and AJ) were not racing, but drinking, so that kept the atmosphere loose and fun. I got some sweet wheels too, 1080 rear and an 808 front, shame they were rentals.
Barely slept the night before, Durno and AJ stumble in at 12:30 and think like all good drunks they're being *really* quiet (LOL), alarm went off too early, you know the drill. Got to the swim start and found some CTC peeps to jump in line with who had gotten there early (suckers, bless them though) and got in the water at about 7:10 because of the time trial start (of which I'm not a fan). Plan for the swim was to take it easy, but still swim fast.....yeah, I know. Suffice to say the last bit of the swim plan didn't go so well and I split a 1:19.
On to the bike which I really liked most of the time. The course is scenic and fun, with relentless rollers. I mean it, really, there is no flat the middle 90 miles of this bike ride. It suited me pretty well and I got to pass lots of swimmers (the actual fast guys were already gone never to be seen again, no illusions of grandeur here guys), plus my wheels sounded super sweet....what's not to enjoy? The bike plan was to build a nuclear arsenal for the bike all year, then bring a handgun. I executed this pretty well (restraint is a novel concept to me in this sport) and it let me open it up a bit at mile 90 on the net downhill back to town where I got to see some Wednesday night numbers without the Wednesday lactic acid dose; which is always fun. Got off the bike feeling good in 5:26, and after a brief talk with my legs, we agreed we were going to go running now.
Run started great (wonder how many race reports have that line in them?) and I felt really good. Garmin wouldn't sync for a while when I started so I ran what I thought was my IM pace.....I was way off (on the good side though). When it started working I managed to sit on 7:50 miles and walking some aid stations for about 15 miles. After that I started to slow, and by mile 19 I was running closer to 9's than 8's....but still feeling OK. Then suddenly, like a kick in the nuts by a ninja, I was in immense pain.....the proverbial wall I suppose. This is the part of the race where I basically stopped talking, looking around, or anything else for that matter except running (slowly) in as straight a line as possible. People would see me, smile, and yell encouragement. I would see them and accidentally scowl in an attempt to smile back. If you got within grunting distance I would give you one of those. Was mildly concerned a drunken Durno would do something to me that i couldn't defend. Marathons are far, and while I thought I had a shot at a 3:30, I only managed a 3:46.
Crossed the line, pretended to seem happy through the hurt, and wondered what my actual time was because I forgot to start my watch (the clock started with the pros). Turns out it was a 10:41, which was close enough to my 10:30 goal considering I really didn't have anything left to give. Trip to the med tent, a cookie and an IV, and I felt much better. After cleaning up went back down to see some friends finish and demolished a giant burger (although it took me over an hour to get one tall-boy of pale ale down).
I have many congrats for all the people that did the race, and so many words of thanks to so many more who have helped me in some way or another this season; you know who you are, and I hope you know I appreciate everything. Special shout out to Reddy though. Took me as a fat out of shape guy and really helped me more than perhaps anyone get better at this whole triathlon thing. It was ultra cool to get to do an IM with you finally mate, and I look forward to more....even if Ironman is the dumbest thing in the world...
Fast forward to last weekend though and I'm in Louisville still not all that confident. I'm of the opinion that no one is ever really ready for one of these things, because as was decided, they're dumb (some of you who have done one may disagree, but since you're dumb too it doesn't matter, hehe). It was cool to have so many locals down there (three teammates, in addition to what seemed like half of CTC, and a number of FF people) and made it feel a bit like a local race. We all had dinner on Friday night where Reddy was dubbed "Bono's Dad" for wearing sunnies inside, at night. I did miss not having Marty Mason there to battle (chase) though. Nothing eventful in the day prior, except my two room mates (Durno and AJ) were not racing, but drinking, so that kept the atmosphere loose and fun. I got some sweet wheels too, 1080 rear and an 808 front, shame they were rentals.
Barely slept the night before, Durno and AJ stumble in at 12:30 and think like all good drunks they're being *really* quiet (LOL), alarm went off too early, you know the drill. Got to the swim start and found some CTC peeps to jump in line with who had gotten there early (suckers, bless them though) and got in the water at about 7:10 because of the time trial start (of which I'm not a fan). Plan for the swim was to take it easy, but still swim fast.....yeah, I know. Suffice to say the last bit of the swim plan didn't go so well and I split a 1:19.
On to the bike which I really liked most of the time. The course is scenic and fun, with relentless rollers. I mean it, really, there is no flat the middle 90 miles of this bike ride. It suited me pretty well and I got to pass lots of swimmers (the actual fast guys were already gone never to be seen again, no illusions of grandeur here guys), plus my wheels sounded super sweet....what's not to enjoy? The bike plan was to build a nuclear arsenal for the bike all year, then bring a handgun. I executed this pretty well (restraint is a novel concept to me in this sport) and it let me open it up a bit at mile 90 on the net downhill back to town where I got to see some Wednesday night numbers without the Wednesday lactic acid dose; which is always fun. Got off the bike feeling good in 5:26, and after a brief talk with my legs, we agreed we were going to go running now.
Run started great (wonder how many race reports have that line in them?) and I felt really good. Garmin wouldn't sync for a while when I started so I ran what I thought was my IM pace.....I was way off (on the good side though). When it started working I managed to sit on 7:50 miles and walking some aid stations for about 15 miles. After that I started to slow, and by mile 19 I was running closer to 9's than 8's....but still feeling OK. Then suddenly, like a kick in the nuts by a ninja, I was in immense pain.....the proverbial wall I suppose. This is the part of the race where I basically stopped talking, looking around, or anything else for that matter except running (slowly) in as straight a line as possible. People would see me, smile, and yell encouragement. I would see them and accidentally scowl in an attempt to smile back. If you got within grunting distance I would give you one of those. Was mildly concerned a drunken Durno would do something to me that i couldn't defend. Marathons are far, and while I thought I had a shot at a 3:30, I only managed a 3:46.
Crossed the line, pretended to seem happy through the hurt, and wondered what my actual time was because I forgot to start my watch (the clock started with the pros). Turns out it was a 10:41, which was close enough to my 10:30 goal considering I really didn't have anything left to give. Trip to the med tent, a cookie and an IV, and I felt much better. After cleaning up went back down to see some friends finish and demolished a giant burger (although it took me over an hour to get one tall-boy of pale ale down).
I have many congrats for all the people that did the race, and so many words of thanks to so many more who have helped me in some way or another this season; you know who you are, and I hope you know I appreciate everything. Special shout out to Reddy though. Took me as a fat out of shape guy and really helped me more than perhaps anyone get better at this whole triathlon thing. It was ultra cool to get to do an IM with you finally mate, and I look forward to more....even if Ironman is the dumbest thing in the world...