It's been a long long season. Leading up to IM Arizona I have been diligent in my preparation. In March 2012 I traveled up to Pittsfield, VT to compete in the Winter Death Race, after 30 hours I finished in 10th place overall.
In May, I ventured out to compete in an early season IM in St George UTAH. It was a great day of training, forcing me to start my training and development of my base endurance levels early. The weather was brutal. A high desert where altitude, heat and wind punished the athletes, causing the highest DNF in the history of Ironman racing.
The first week of June, I raced in the "Dirty 30" trail run in the Canyons of Rocky Mts in Colorado. It was a tough race with about 8,000 feet of elevation gain. Violent thunderstorms hit us in the last 5 miles of the race at about 7,500 feet of altitude. When we finished this race, we were done. A great training course for the UTMB.
A few weeks after completing IM STG and 1 week post Dirty 30, I went back to Pittsfield, VT to compete in the Summer Death Race. 300 people entered the race and about 40 or so actually finished. Once again, I was able to finish within the top 10. It was a 60 hour race and a test of physical and mental endurance. Fatigue was redefined for me during this race. I learned about hallucinations and managing through extreme conditions. Training for this race was much different than for an IM. Strength played a role, mental and physical.
In July, I traveled back to Leadville, CO for the Leadville marathon and the Silver Rush 50 mile trail run. These two events are very tough. The 50 mile run is equivalent to doing an Ironman. Running at an average altitude of 11,000 feet is tough. Another good endurance base building event leading up to UTMB.
Five weeks later I was off to Chamonix, France to compete in the UTMB. This was a race for the ages. The weather was awful and my early season training paid dividends. I was able to manage through this race with relative ease.
A month post UTMB, I ventured back to Europe, to Berlin for the Marathon, missing qualifying for Boston by 45 seconds. Having not seriously trained to go sub 3:25 my performance was good. I was beat up post race, with sore achilles. Speed hurts.
For the past 11 weeks I have tailored my training for IM Phoenix. I haven't spent a ton of time on the bike, but have been able to get in some long bike rides. My swim has come along quite nicely and getting out of the water and through T-1 in 1:30 should not be a problem. My run, well, is everything. I expect to finish the run in under 4 hours, something I have yet to do in an Ironman. The bike is the wild card....
The good news is that I am actually "racing" this event. I have never really raced a full distance IM before. I raced many 70.3's against buddies of mine, but never a full distance IM. When I "race" my mindset is much different than just "finishing". While "just finishing" should not be taken for granted in a 140.6 race, it is always the very goal of the day...to finish.
Fortunately I have completed 5-140.6's, 8-70.3's, 5-50 mile trail runs, attempted 4-100 mile trail runs and have successfully finished 2 of them (UTMB was actually only 70 Miles). I have pushed myself to the hospital twice, because of poor nutrition and simple lack of experience in these events which resulted in 2 DNF's (Both on 100 mile trail runs). I have learned the signs of dehydration, glycogen deficits and mental lapses. I know what an extreme bonk feels like and i know how to fight to get to the other side of the bonk, which you can only learn by touching the stove. I have wandered around in the darkest corners of my mind during a race, but I have found the light...that light is experience, experience that my young bull competitor lacks as he enters his very first Ironman.
So here's a tale of the tape:
1. Knowledge of the course: Timmy's home turf and he has trained on the race course. ADVANTAGE TIMMY.
2. Training: Timmy has been very disciplined and has trained specifically for this IM while I have been focused on multiple types of endurance events. ADVANTAGE TIMMY.
3. I am 45 and Timmy is 26: ADVANTAGE TIMMY.
4. Timmy is an excellent swimmer, I am not: ADVANTAGE TIMMY
5. Timmy has many more hours logged on the bike: ADVANTAGE TIMMY
6. Timmy's best and only EVER marathon run time was 3:58. ADVANTAGE PT
7. Course management: Timmy has NEVER completed a full distance IM. I have completed 5 and at least 20 other triathlons. ADVANTAGE PT
8. Mental discipline and toughness: Not even close.....ADVANTAGE PT
9. Ability to endure: ADVANTAGE PT
10. Overall Experience: HANDS DOWN....ADVANTAGE PT
My race day predictions as follows:
Young Bull Old Bull
Swim 1:00 1:25
T-1 :07 :07
Bike lap 1 1:55 2:00
Bike lap 2 1:55 2:05
Bike lap 3 1:55 2:10
Total Bike 5:45 6:15
T-2 :03 :03
Run lap 1 1:30 1:20
Run lap 2 1:45 1:15
Run lap 3 2:00 1:20
Total Run 5:15 3:55
Total Time 12:10 11:45
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