Ironman Germany

From Picasa Album: Ironman Germany

Overall: 10hr 53min -- 722 overall (about 2300 total), 128th in AG (about 294 total)
Swim: 1hr 12min
Bike: 5hr 28min (splits: ~2hr39min, 2hr 46min)
Run: 4hr 2min (splits: 1hr55min, 2hr8min)

Finally! Can't believe I've finished and I am incredibly pleased w/ the entire experience. I had the best support crew w/ Sandy and Caleb. My lovely wife, Sandy has been responsible for most of the success of this day, NO WAY I could enjoy this sport w/out her - Thanks so much!!

It was like a week w/ thousands of like-minded crazy triathletes talking everything triathlon from race strategy to lycra compression socks. I spent the few days before the race eating a lot and drinking a ton of water/sports drink. Did a few runs and easy bikes, but it was too busy to do anything else, other than get all the race logistics squared away. A bit more challenging than other races since the swim transition is about 10 miles from the bike/run transition.

Conditions were great, but maybe on the hot side. Sun was blazing and tempurature was anywhere from 27-30c (~85-90 degrees F) w/ some humidity. Really came into effect on the run. The race support and people are amazing. It makes this race one of the best in the world!

I just wanted to enjoy the race, but in the back of my head I had some time expectations/aspirations -- I thought I'd have an outside shot at breaking the 11 hour mark, but it depended a lot having things came together. I didn't know what to expect, so I just enjoyed myself and stuck to my plan. After the swim, I didn't think I would have a shot, but halfway through the bike I started calculating the times and thought I could get to the run w/ a chance. I just wanted to get to the run w/out having too much pressure to break a 4 hour marathon. It worked out perfectly. More detail on my time splits found when you CLICK HERE to the website

Swim (2.4 miles / 3.8km):

1hr 12min

Comments: Popped a gel about 20 min before start. Water was murky and on the border from wetsuit legal -- very warm water (~74 Degrees). Probably the toughest swim I've ever had to do. Battling 2000 other swimmers w/ 5 buoys made turns very slow. After getting kicked and pushing a number of people, I tried my best to stay focus and calm knowing that this part would be over soon. Breathing and effort weren't that bad since I stayed patient knowing that panicking wouldn't make or break my day. I'm, unfortunately, a middle of the pack swimmer, thus a majority of swimmers are about my pace, so it's a battle until the end!

T1 - 6min 25sec: Had to run to the porta pottie to pee (#1) - Jumped on my bike and was ready to go.

Bike (112 miles / 180km):

5hr 28 min

Comments: FAST bike, wow!! 2 lap course which goes through the city center, incredible fun towns, beautiful country side, and a lot of fun crowds. All closed streets and smooth roads! Great conditions for fast times!

Never thought in my wildest dreams could I have felt that good throughout the entire ride. I was expecting around 6-6.5 hours, but the course was easier than anything I had ridden during training...glad we hammered through a ton of hills during training! Great news is I didn't have to go to the toilet the entire bike ride! I discovered how important sodium is during these long efforts (~500mg/hour of activity is needed - especially when it's hot).

My legs felt strong from the beginning, but I was a bit worried I was going to hard when my quads felt a little tight and I was passing a ton of people. I didn't want to blow up on the run, so I tried to hold back. But the "evil" side of me took over and I pushed fairly hard.

Overall, I kept these things in mind on the bike:

1. Don't stop pedaling and keep your effort even -- Basically, I was able to hold a decent conversation during the entire ride. In fact, I was getting a little bored and tried to talk to some people only to find out many didn't speak English. I passed a few Koreans whom I spoke to for a bit, but just kept pedaling :). By pedaling at a constant rate, even on the downhills, I think my legs stayed fresher than taking breaks in b/t (eg: not pedaling down hill and pedaling too hard uphill).

2. Don't destroy yourself on the hills (not that steep, but be patient) -- When I got to the hills, I was patient and kept my pace down to enjoy the fun crowd. Getting the crowd going was a lot of fun and they appreciated the responsiveness. Also, I was able to keep my pace steady after going over the hill.

3. Don't stop eating / drinking -- By keeping a mental note what of my nutrition, I ticked off the hours and felt strong throughout the ride. In fact, My legs felt stronger at the end so I pedalled a bit harder than I should've (but I saw an opportunity to break 5hr 30min so I went for it). The sodium tablets made a HUGE difference on the bike and focusing on getting nutrition during the 3-5 hours really kept my energy up.

Nutrition --

hour 1: 1 bar, 1/3 bottle carbo pro, pack shot bloks, bottle of nuun (sodium) = ~90g cho

hour 2: 1 bar, 3 shot bloks, half bottle carbo pro, bottle of nuun (sodium) = 80g cho

hour 3: 1 bar, pack shot bloks, 1/4 bottle of powerbar drink, bottle of nuun (sodium) = ~65-70g cho

hour 4: 1 bar, 1/4 bottle of powerbar drink, gel, bottle nuun (sodium) = ~60g cho

hour 5 (only about a half hour): 1/2 bottle of powerbar drink, water, gel = ~30g cho

T2 - 3min 2sec - ran to porta pottie for a pee, was pleased since I didn't have to go the entire ride....fuel intake was good.

Run (26.2 miles / 42.2km):

4 hr 2 min

Comments: 4 laps (~6.2 miles / 10k each lap) of relatively flat pavement - some small ups/downs when you cross bridges. Overall a great course which goes around a lake and a lot of fans enjoying a sunny day on the grass. The heat had picked up at this point and while there were some nice shaded parts, there was a lot of exposure to the sun, thus probably around 30c/90f....I didn't feel too bad though, I think I like the heat! :)

I had a strategy to walk through each aid station (about a mile a part) and -- drink a cup of powerbar drink/water & drench myself w/ a cold water sponge.

Here is a description of each lap:

Lap 1 (mile ~1-6): When I came off the bike, my quads felt pretty tight, but strangely enough, right when I got out of transition, they felt fairy normal. I had to tell myself to calm down, calm down,

calm down...pace yourself b/c I was feeling so good -- "...just run 9 min/mile and you'll hit your goal...be patient." Felt great and kept trying to slow down. I had one gel w/ water.

Lap 2 (mile ~7-13): Same strategy b/c I was feeling good still...just stay calm and slow down. I was feeling good, then started noticing by the end of the lap that my stomach wasn't right.

I was getting knots and had to stop by the toilet to pee. I just tried to stay calm and knock out the miles. I had one gel w/ water

Half Marathon split = ~1hr 55min

Lap 3 (mile ~14-21): PROBLEMS kicked in this entire lap. My stomach was pretty bad and starting to shut down. I didn't want to drink anything during the rest stops and must've went to the toilet 5-6 times. By the end, I was trying my best to keep going to each rest stop and I noticed my body didn't want ANYMORE sweet drinks (eg: powerbar drinks). Although, I did force another gel down w/ water. I walked through the stops and finally took a cup of plain salt, downed it w/ water, and then had another half cup of salt water. My stomach seemed to have settle down. I barely made it through and got a lift seeing Sandy, her "high-five" gave me a boost to get through the last lap! I think I was at the beginning stages of Hyponatremia (click here for more info), which is a serious condition where you flood your body w/ too much water and not enough salt to absorb anything.

Lap 4 (mile ~21-26 -- The END): I still wasn't feeling that great, but my stomach was at least settled down. All I kept focused on was running to the next rest stop -- "don't stop, you'll get to walk soon, just make it to the rest stop..." At the rest stops, I would be very focused on a point where I'd start running again. For some reason, the rest stops started coming faster and faster. I'd sip on salt water and keep going through. Every stop, I'd start calculating the times w/ my watch and what seemed so easy before, seemed like very challenging -- the 4 hour marathon! I kept second guessing my times and vaguely knew I might have a 10 min cushion (thus a 4hr 10min marathon could've gotten me sub-11hour overall). By the time I hit the last rest stop, I went right passed it b/c I was so close, then I just started running hard to the end....For how I felt during the middle part, my half split of ~2hr 8 min wasn't that bad.

I learned how important salt is during a hot day on the run. If I had started w/ salt earlier, I could've definitely shaved 5-10 min on the marathon!

Half Marathon split = ~2hr 8min

Over the past years, anytime my training runs got challenging or at the end of most of my runs, I would imagine seeing the finish line gate and all the people. It was incredibly exciting and I can't describe it now b/c it happened so fast and I was so happy.