Ironman Part 3 – Tempe, Arizona

After finishing Ironman St. George in a miserable 15:30, doing a third Ironman was less a question and more a case for redemption.  Two Ironman races completed, but I had yet to run in one.  St. George was a grueling experience that left me injured for 4 weeks.  I knew going in to St. George that it could be a bad day.  In hindsight, it should have been a rest day.

Everyone competing in Ironman has to deal with family, work and training.  This journey was my toughest as I helped start an exciting new company while Joy and I bought a fixer-upper and began preparing for a new addition to our family.  I had to juggle a lot of balls to put the time in necessary to complete this race.  If it wasn’t for my family, friends & colleagues supporting me through this effort, completing my third Ironman would not have been a reality.

My coach told me that professionals “find a race” once they are fit.  Amateurs have to train for a race and hope everything works out.  The good news was that by late August I was running again after finding a new chiropractor (Dr. Ben) who practices ART.

Ironman Arizona is a flat race (topography, not tires).   It is probably the 2^nd fastest Ironman besides Florida.  I followed my coaches program as best I could.  My last two Ironman races I was able to get in roughly 95% of what he put down.  For Ironman Arizona, I probably fit in 80% of the schedule.  I hoped my fitness would carry through.  The good news was this was going to be the first race where I was not injured.  I was excited to get in the water and see what I could do.

After the usual pre-race jitters, we woke up early, ate our obligatory 800 calories and walked down to the water.  Tempe had been beautiful all week, but they were forecasting rain for race day.  It was overcast and cold, but not miserable.  There were 2,700+ entrants of which over 1,000 were first timers.  Tempe is a swim start, so we got in the water and swam towards the start line.  The water was cold but the adrenaline was flowing.  Once the cannon went off at 7am, the swimmers started in a mad frenzy.   All I could see for hundreds of feet is white water.  Bodies start slamming into one another and I pray to not get kicked in the face.  Inevitably, some swimmers are strong than other and I ended up climbing over people in front of me while people are climbing were climbing over me from behind.  I imagine this is what it feels like to be in a washing machine.  Eventually I began to move forward, but only because this massive body of people gathered its own inertia.

I am not sure if it was the cold, but my right leg kept cramping up during the swim.  I worked through each cramp, but found myself compensating to avoid a repeat.  Because the swim was one loop, I eventually settle in to a group of swimmers that are about my speed.  I never got a good pace going, but finished the swim in 1:21 (my worst swim in an Ironman so far).  The volunteers helped me out of the water with one last cramp and I ran into transition.

My transition has no hiccups.  The volunteers helped me with the wetsuit and I ran into a tent to change.  I found a space outside the tent and methodically put on all my gear.  I got on the bike and headed out for the 3 loops course.

Riding 112 miles is not a party, but my bike fitness is finally to a point where I am confident.  Each lap follows the same route; ~18 miles, slightly uphill, ~18 miles back slightly downhill.  I knew the wind was supposed to start around 11mph and pick up to 14 mph by midday.   I knew the faster I was done the better my time would be.

I made great time heading uphill on the first half of my first lap and it was time to head downhill.  The second I made the turn, the wind hit me in the face like a brick.  I found myself dropping gears and spinning to save energy for the rest of the race.  I maintained my heart rate and cadence while and watched my speed drop from 20+ to less than 14.  As I left the aid station, the rain and hail began to pelt me as I pushed my bike down the hill.  I began to lose feeling in my toes but the legs kept turning.  I knew it would be a long race, so I followed the plan.  My hope for a sub-six hour bike quickly failed as lap 2 had more wind than the first.  By lap three, I was still feeling good, so I pushed a bit harder and finished in 6:20 which is an average speed of 17.7 mph.  I watched a lot of racers pass me on the bike, but also passed a few myself moving up 200 places in the race.

Bummed but not broken, I entered transition in good shape.  I had managed my nutrition well on the bike and was ready to run.  It took a little longer with no feeling in my toes, but I had a decent transition to the run.  As I exited transition, I saw the clock said 8:04.   I knew a 12 hour Ironman was still possible, but my fastest Ironman run to date had been a 4:51.  I was determined to try.

Starting the run felt like lifting a weight of my shoulders.  My legs felt good and I had energy.  The three laps loop around Lake Tempe and follow the same route.  I blasted through the first 3 miles averaging a 7:43 pace.  I ran by a lot of people.  Half the people were jogging, the other half were walking and I was running.  Nobody passed me except a couple pros (who were likely on their last lap).  It felt good to finally run in an Ironman.  The next 8 miles were strong.  I averaged 8:44 but started to feel the pain in my left knee and the legs were starting to tire out.   I made a couple mental mistakes after this point.  I stopped at special needs, grabbed my advil, and had to run back a hundred yards to get water.  Also, stopping at special needs lost me some of my momentum.  By the time I took the advil and rubbed some topical ointment on my knee, I was really feeling the pain in my legs.

The final 13 miles were all mind over body.  I kept telling my legs to turn over and would not let my body walk, ever.  I knew I was getting slower.  Of the hundreds of people that I passed, I definitely saw a few pass me.  The next 8 miles were 10:51 pace; more of a gentle jog than a run.  I pushed on but the body wasn’t letting me.  Each step shot pain through my legs and turning my legs over hurt more and more.  I knew I had to pick up the pace to get in sub 12 hours but my run fitness wasn’t there.  Mentally, I know I was running, but looking at 12:41 per mile pace, I am sure it wasn’t pretty.  At mile 24, I tried to push myself but couldn’t find anything.  At mile 25, I finally saw the bright lights of the finish line down the waterfront ahead.  My body started to wake up and I felt like I would have something for the finish.  As I approached the last bridge, my legs turned on and I started into a mad run for the finish.  The last quarter mile was a full sprint as I crossed the finish line in 12:07:51.

I ended up passing 320 more people on the run putting me in the top 25% of the race.  I am happy with the result.  I finally had a chance to run and know my lack of run fitness left something on the table.  I can do better on the bike and swim to go sub-12 and beyond.

Ironman is a great experience and I recommend it for anyone looking to see what the human body can do.  I couldn’t be luckier to find a great group of buddies to train and race with.  If I didn’t have the support from these training buddies and my wonderful wife, Ironman would be a dream and not a reality.

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