IMAZ Race Report

[GAMCOK]

Before my account here is an article written on the day that pretty
much sums it up....

<i>Ironman is supposed to be hard. People like that it's hard.

It just shouldn't be that hard.

As forecasts of hot weather grew more alarming in the days preceding
the race, Jonathan Toker of "Salt Stick" couldn't unpack boxes of his
patented cramp-fighting product fast enough to supply the demand at
the expo. But at least the local television meteorologists were
promising calm conditions rather than a repeat of last year's
ferocious winds.

Memo to the weather department: "How'd that work out for you guys?"

Temperatures in the mid-90s and enervating winds on the outbound leg
of the three-loop bike course conspired to plant this season's opening
event firmly into the record books as having the third highest dropout
rate in Ironman history. Nearly 18% of the field failed to make it to
the finish line. Some were SAG'd in, having discovered that there were
some times when, no matter far how down you reach, there's just
nothing there. Others made it back to T2 on their own power and, in a
striking demonstration of how much of a mental game Ironman is, simply
decided to let Mother Nature win this one, and packed it in.</i>

ENTIRE ARTICLE AT IRONMAN.COM:
http://www.ironman.com/columns/gruenfeld/best-selling-author-lee-gruenfeld-recaps-the-day-of-racing-in-tempe#


OK MY ACCOUNT:

PRE-RACE:

Of course nerves were shot and it was more of the unknown versus what
was ahead. As they called for the age-groupers to the lakes edge I
hugged my kids and parents and had to empty the tears from my goggles
a couple of times as I stood and reflected on what it took just to get
to this point....by my rough training logs: Over 3,600 miles on my
bike alone (not including spin), 700 miles running, almost 200 miles
in the pool. I also heavy with thoughts of those that weren't at the
race site but in my heart...the whole day. The goal of the day was
to beat 12 hours: 1:20 in the water; 5:45 on the bike; 4:40 on the
marathon and all times I knew I could achieve...weather permitting.

SWIM:

Once in the water all of my fears went away and i started to have
*fun*. Our strategy was to hang in the back and let the "scrum" have
at it, find my own space, and swim. Well, adrenaline got the better
of me and I decided that I haven't come this far to "stay out of it"
and dog paddled my way up to the middle front. As the cannon went
off all I can say is that it was just as Jonathan described it to me:
Hand to Hand combat in a washing machine. I was having a blast
elbowing and kicking my way through the crowd and finally found a nice
pace and space. I was a little concerned as I had been battling
nausea all week and thrown up at every practice...I rounded the
halfway point at 34 minutes and felt great. As I reached the bridge
and made the turn towards the dock I discovered an anomaly with the
swim: the last 500 meters in a 2.4 mile swim can feel like a 2.4 mile
swim! Anyway, I hit the dock and glanced at my watch: 1:19:00. So
far so good and I'm feeling elated.

T1:

I will tell you that I always dog on "transition clinics" because,
well, I think they're stupid. I mean how hard is it: get your shit
and change as quickly as you can and get the heck out on the road. I
need a "clinic" to tell me the proper way to put my shoes on?!?!
Well, apparently so based on my 9:00+ transition time. I will say
that it's not the traditional T1 as all of your gear is in a
bag....you gotta fish it out...find a space to change...pack your
wetsuit and goggles back in..find a volunteer to hand it to....and
then I spent a good 4 mins just getting sunscreen on. Oh yeah, I
powered down a banana and Clif bar. Gotta eat :-)

BIKE:

So I am out of the water, through T1...the sun is shining...bike feels
great...12 hours is no sweat. And then it happened. The bike course
runs through Tempe and then takes you out to the Maricopa Indian
Preserve on the Beeline Highway. That's a nice way to say your
heading out into the freaking desert. I make the turn and it's
"hello 30-35 MPH winds in your face". I then watched my heart rate
peg in the 80% zone while my speedometer was reading a whopping
13MPH. The course continues for almost 15 miles this way up a 2%
grade and then you turn around...nice...now I'm cruising 28-31MPH and
heart rate is way down. I get back into town and make the turnaround
at about 1:50. Still on schedule.

As I head back out to the desert for Lap 2 it gets better....the sun
has come up and unleashed its fury and the wind has actually
INCREASED. At this point I am starting to see the attrition on the
side of the road: too many flats to count; competitors laying in the
median; one guy yacking his brains out. Aid station 2 comes up and I
grab another Gatorade and gel from the volunteers and glance at one of
those huge outdoor thermometers that they had put up: 97 degrees.
Nice. I get through it and make the turn in town...slowing
down...average speed has dropped to under 18MPH but I am still,
barely, on schedule.

Lap 3 and final: As I take off and enter hells furnace for the third
time the heat is now unbearable and taking its toll. Aid stations
where we normally just ride through and grab bottles and GU's on the
fly are now littered with racers laying under tents and bikes
literally thrown on the ground. I decide I'm going to go to the
turnaround and come back to my special needs bag before I
dismount....the thought of a PBJ, Chips, Coke, and Snickers bar that
awaited me was my sole motivation for moving at this point.

So I get to my special needs bag after the turn (yes, the wind had
even gotten stronger) and its laying with all the others on the black
asphalt in the desert sun. As I picked it up the Coke i was so
looking forward to had exploded and soaked the contents of the bag.
The PBJ was forced down although it was a gooey stinking mess. The
chips were the only thing that didn't get totally twice baked. And
then the most disheartening part: the snickers was liquefied and no
way was I going to try and pour it down my throat!

As I reached town I was watching my watch and doing the math over and
over again in my head: there was no way I was running a 4:15 marathon
and, thus, the 12 hour goal was history. It bummed me out for a bit
and then told myself this was to be a day of survival and my big ass
can't run that fast. Time: 6:19:46 (17.7 MPH).

T2

Nothing exciting except you REALLY have to talk yourself into getting
out of the cool shady tent back into the freaking African heat.

RUN

Wow...my strong suit...running. In 95 degree heat...direct sun and
112 wind miles in my leg. You can imagine how excited I was. I
literally *plodded* the first of three laps ... soaking myself with
cold water sponges at every stop. The second lap was a little better
and by the third lap I had finally gotten *some* kind of rhythm. I
kept my mind entertained by looking forward to the now repeating aid
stations and looking forward to the Phoenix Tri Clubs "Toga Party"
themed stop. As I hit mile 24 I now realized that not only is 12
hours a distance dream but I'm not going to make 13 hours. Oh
well...just finish dammit. RUN TIME: 5:15 (ouch).

FINISH:

The finish at IMAZ is cool...you come up from the lake and turn left
and then BAM! there's the lights, crowd and finishing chute. Yes, I
am an egomanical attention whore and I made sure NO ONE was behind me
as I neared the chute....after 18 months of training and 13+ hours on
the course I wanted my shining moment (cue "Chariots of Fire"). I
probably spent a good minute plus imploring the crowd and as my son
Eric says "borrowing the Michael Jordan double fist pump" before I
thought it best to cross the line. Hearing Mike Reilly shout his deal
was pretty damn sweet too.

Upon further review, I've read about the 18% DNF rate and one of the
highest in Ironman history so I'm really happy with my overall
results. Heck, who am I kidding, I'm happy I FINISHED...that was the
one and only goal.

Stats I can live with: 728th place out of 2027 total competitors,
123rd out of 310 in age group and even beat 13 pros! (who were all
DNFs...but go with me here ;-) )

[E. Wayne Williams]

Yea Dwight - Way to go. You did good, very, very good. Thank you for
the commentary. Wayne

[Debra]

Great report Dwight! Great race too. I've learned the following
valuable lesson from your report

1. Don't put explosives in special needs bag, also don't put anything
that could melt

Proud of you!!!!!!

Deb

.

On Apr 17, 12:16 pm, GAMCOK <gameco...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Before my account here is an article written on the day that pretty
> much sums it up....
>
> <i>Ironman is supposed to be hard. People like that it's hard.
>
> It just shouldn't be that hard.
>
> As forecasts of hot weather grew more alarming in the days preceding
> the race, Jonathan Toker of "Salt Stick" couldn't unpack boxes of his
> patented cramp-fighting product fast enough to supply the demand at
> the expo. But at least the local television meteorologists were
> promising calm conditions rather than a repeat of last year's
> ferocious winds.
>
> Memo to the weather department: "How'd that work out for you guys?"
>
> Temperatures in the mid-90s and enervating winds on the outbound leg
> of the three-loop bike course conspired to plant this season's opening
> event firmly into the record books as having the third highest dropout
> rate in Ironman history. Nearly 18% of the field failed to make it to
> the finish line. Some were SAG'd in, having discovered that there were
> some times when, no matter far how down you reach, there's just
> nothing there. Others made it back to T2 on their own power and, in a
> striking demonstration of how much of a mental game Ironman is, simply
> decided to let Mother Nature win this one, and packed it in.</i>
>

> ENTIRE ARTICLE AT IRONMAN.COM:http://www.ironman.com/columns/gruenfeld/best-selling-author-lee-grue...