Ironman Arizona Race Report

Before

Let's "do" each other on the lawn. That's not gay.

Woke up at 3:50, 10 minutes before the alarm. I actually slept REALLY well, which helps the nerves. Somehow between home and the race site I lost my Garmin 405. Luckily I had an old Timex "Ironman" watch with heart rate monitor. How fitting! That worked out perfect, since I needed heart rate information while on the bike. More on that later. *I'm such a tease!
I hung out with some friends, and cracked jokes. Catie and Leah met me at the water's edge, and that was SO NICE. I was remarkably calm, pre-race. Last year I almost puked from anxiety, and I wasn't even racing.

Swim

Numb feet!!!

I jumped in the water and immediately cut my foot open.  The top of my foot hit some underwater wall, that was obscured by the darkness, and it was bleeding all over the place. Luckily, the water was COLD AS SHIT and that killed the pain. I swam a quick warm-up to get the blood moving (not the foot blood). I swam a bit far, because I almost hit a kayak at the starting line. Oops, I started at the VERY front with the fishies. The announcer was talking blah-blah-blah, queue Black Sabbath music, and BOOM goes the gun. I was startled, because I wasn't paying attention. 
I've never been in a bar fight, but this is probably what it's like. I got kicked in the kidney HARD, elbowed in the goggles, twice, and I'm pretty sure someone put a finger in my butt. One tense moment: I quickly reacted to a foot that emerged from the murky depth and narrowly dodged a heel to my surgically-repaired jaw. That would have been a day-ender.
At the end of it, I was 5 minutes faster than I anticipated. If you can handle the scrum, you'll benefit from the draft of the fast fishies flailing fists.
Goal: 1:13:12
Actual -1:09:22 (1:49/100m)

Bike

Aero-chad

Three windy and rainy loops on the Beeline Highway with sprinkles of HAIL!!!  This was an epic bike ride. I've never ridden with this much driving wind, but I settled in and stayed in my heart rate zone. It's hard because triathletes have a tendency to push too hard when riding into the wind. My splits got slower with each lap, and by mile 109 I decided I was not going to break 12 hours. I was okay with it, because my neck and back hurt so much, and I was SO HAPPY to get off that damn bike. I'm not even kidding.
Goal - 6:03:14
Actual - 6:14:47 (17.9 mph)

Run
Thrilled to be off the bike, I was cracking jokes and high-fiving anyone at arm's length. I got to the "Mile 1" marker, and I almost crapped myself. "What did I get myself into?"  I'm not sure what I expected, but I was shocked that they expected me to run 25 more miles.
I settled into a pace, that I thought I could hold forever. This course, is amazing, because you pass friendly faces all the time, and the aid stations are irreverent and fun. This run flew by, and I know that's not true. I must be repressing the memory of some miles.

Breaking 12 hours

This is me trying to look good for the camera

While on the the last loop, I overheard someone tell the guy behind me, "You have 30 minutes and 3 miles to break 12 hours."  That was all I needed to hear. I shot like a cannon, and my splits show it. I averaged 8:59/mile over the last 6 miles. I'm fairly certain all of that was on the last 3. The last half-mile was fist pumping and high fives. I tried to do some low fives, but I almost ate it. I danced around the finish line (photo below), and got the crowd pumped up. They really know how to throw a party.

Goal - 4:22:00
Actual - 4:16:21 (9:47/mile)

Overall
I made a decision a month pre-race to not dread this race. It's definitely my "A race", and I really wanted to kill it, but it's so easy to fall into an anxiety trap. By letting go of any dread I felt (cold water, flat tires, bonkery...), I was free to have a fun race. And, that's what I did; I had a BLAST all day out there. It went by so fast (mainly because I am really fast). If you've got a race coming up, please take this advice. Remember to have fun out there. Otherwise, why do this?

Goal 11:53:27
Actual 11:56:43   - Nailed it

Bring on the beer!

For more pictures for the day click right here.

The cost of Ironman

What does Ironman cost? It's bullet list time!

Pre race:

• $577.50 registration fee
• 1000 miles run
• 4 pair of tennis shoes
• 3000 miles on the bike
• 6 inner tubes, 4 CO2 cartridges
• 70 hours in the pool
• 8,000 flip turns 
• 1 Garmin 405: lost on race morning 

It's totally worth it all, though. I finished the race in 11:56:43. Coming into this, I didn't think I could break 12 hours. After 25 mph winds and a hailstorm during the bike segment, I REALLY didn't think I'd break 12 hours. At mile 23 someone told me "you've got 3 miles and 30 minutes to break 12 hours."  That's when the race got fun.

I don't remember it hurting that much

Now I need to catch up at work, and get back to real life. Thanks everyone for your support and kind messages!

It's beginning to look a lot like Piglet

I died for your cents

[Pork-related pun goes here]
I'm sure you're all working hard on your Christmas list, and you're probably wondering what I want. If you still don't know what to get me, please consider this sweet little item. It's a real piglet piggy bank! The Humane Society is pretty pissed, but those hippies get mad all the time. Anyway, pick one up, and send it to your nearest dearest iron-est friend named Chad.


GPS watch contest (not mine)
One of my favorite blogs, DC Rainmaker, is giving away a free Garmin GPS watch. This guy is legit. Just leave a comment on his site, and you're entered to win. I'm not sure what truck these watches fall off, but he's definitely got a hookup.

Race gear

She's got her dancing shoes on

It's 6 days until Ironman Arizona, and I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Friday night I swapped out my regular (heavy) wheels and put on my fancy, aerodynamic wheels. I spent too much money on these carbon fiber wheels (don't tell my wife), and I only use them a few times a year. It's quite silly, but the entire sport is silly.


Race goals
This is the last bit I'll write before the race. Some people don't like to discuss race goals; it can be a personal topic, very touchy. I need to publish my goals so I can be held accountable. When I'm struggling at mile 20, I want to know that all 3 of my readers are expecting me to perform as promised.  So here are my race goals for Ironman Arizona on Sunday. Hold me to this:

Does this make you queasy? It does for me.

Windows 7 Phone > iPhone?

Pay no attention to my messy desk

New pocket toy: Windows Phone
After 18 months of dutiful service, my iPhone has died it's final death. It actually died a few times, but this last one was a terminal knell. This morning I replaced it with a brand new model of phone and OS, Windows Phone 7. I'm with AT&T, so I had three handsets to choose from; I snagged a Samsung Focus.
My first impressions are good. It's a pretty slick interface, fast and responsive. I connected to my work and personal email accounts, and everyone transferred over. This isn't a gadget blog (or is it?) so I won't go much more into this. I am planning to write an application or two for Windows Phone devices, so we'll see if I can get some motivations for that.

In even geekier news...
I am the proud winner of a gmail haiku contest. Gmail asked for haikus about their mail service, and gave away 140 t-shirts. I was a winner, and here's my entry:

Multiple sign on 

You make my life easier 

I think I love you

As you can see their standards for this "contest" were quite low. Here is a picture of the shirt they sent me. They threw in a free pug dog, too. I think I'll keep him.
 

"It's after 6. What am I, a farmer?"

Haters gonna hate

Pubic enemy

Nice woody, hater

I think I found my mortal enemy. Why not just confront me? Instead, he declared war on my through a personalized license plate. That's just wrong. Well, I'm officially call you out, Mr. Station Wagon. Let's either fight now or hug it out, because I've got shit to do.





 Coasting to the finish line

Taper, not tapir

My Ironman training has moved into the finally (sexiest) phase, Taper. Peak is over, and it was brutal. Now the workouts are getting shorter and easier. My body SHOULD recover a bit from the 27 weeks of hard work. This restful 3 weeks should leave me ready to rock on Nov 21.