Post Leadville race I took the first flight out on Monday morning back to LA for work. Surprisingly I felt pretty good. I was a little stiff but overall was doing fine. Carla, Daley, Joleen and I got up at the crack to drive back down the mountain out to Denver airport. Everyone was a little tired, but pleased that both Daley and I were able to get a finish and a buckle in Leadville.
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| Race Start with Carlita |
When I landed in LA I called up Massage Envy to get a 90 minute massage and pounded down the amino acids, vitamins and joint supplements. Rest, a massage and eating healthy post are is critical to a speedy recovery, which is what I'd need to do in order to finish Ironman Louisville. The race was in 6 days and I had only been in the pool twice and bike three times. The longest bike distance was 34 miles. I couldn't be accused of over training. On Thursday I took a flight back to Nashville and on Friday drove 2.5 hours north to Louisville to register, grab my gear and head back home.
On Saturday, late morning, Carla, Jack and I hopped back into the Denali and drove up to Louisville. We'd have to check in the bike and hand in our drop bags for the swim, bike and run. We got to Louisville around 4:00PM an hour before the 5PM cutoff. The weather was warm, overcast with rain threatening. We dropped off the gear and then figured out where we'd be meeting/seeing each other on race day. The Marriott hotel was just a few blocks from the swim finish/bike out. The race start however was about 1 mile up the Ohio River. We went and checked in at the hotel and were able to meet some old friends from Bardstown KY that were in Louisville for a girls weekend.
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| Jack and I at Race Start - Looking Good |
This was my 8th Ironman so I was pretty relaxed pre race. Carl, Jack and I went out to get a bite to eat and suck down a couple of beers. We then went back to the hotel and rented a movie and got to bed around 10PM, knowing that we'd have to be up at 5AM and out the door by 5:30AM for a 7AM race start. It's interesting how uptight athletes are at an Ironman event. At an Ultra Marathon runners are pretty chill, very different than IM. I guess having just completed the LT100 I wasn't feeling like this race was going to be difficult, however, I was wrong. Albeit the LT100 is more than twice as long an Ironman, the IM is a higher intensity race.
So it rained the night before the race and the ever inaccurate unreliable weathermen were calling for more rain on race day. As usual they were absolutely right about being wrong. There was no rain. The morning of the race we stopped at Starbucks and grabbed a banana and some lemon cake, it was perfect. I avoided the coffee. IM Louisville is a wave start, meaning that you are grouped in corrals and enter when your group is called. Due to water temps being in the low 80's, wetsuits were not legal, however you could wear them but just couldn't be considered for "placing" for Kona. I had zero chance of qualifying for Kona so I suited up to get the added advantage of the flotation that a wetsuit brings. Having not trained for the swim, the wetsuit made sense to me. Due to a last minute trip to the bathroom, I ended up being the very last athlete to jump into the Ohio River. It was a pretty cool experience and a first for me.
The first 1/3 of the swim is up river against the current. It took me about 45 minutes to swim to the end of the island at which point you swim out into the main channel of the river and begin the remaining 2/3 of the swim downstream. When I looked at my watch and it read 45 minutes I couldn't believe that I was only 1/3 of the way through the swim. Quick math in my head said that I was on a 2:15 swim pace…when the cut off is 2:20. At that time I didn't appreciate how the current was going to help me so I put my head down and just swam….doing a really good job sighting and swimming pretty straight..buoy to buoy. Before I knew it I had the swim exit in site by Joes Crabshack restaurant. It actually finished in 1:24, swimming the last 2/3's in 39 minutes…BAM! I was pretty pleased coming out of the water with that time as I entered the T1 transition tent, preparing to ride 112 miles…ugh!
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| LaGrange, KY 38/80 Mile Mark with Carlita & Jackson |
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| Bike to Run Transition |
Carla was at the bike OUT exit, while Jack had gone down to the river looking for me. A quick kiss and off I went onto the bike course. The first 10 miles were pretty flat, making a mental note that this would be a nice way to finish the bike. My approach to the bike was to take it easy and try to maintain a steady pace, taking advantage of the down hills and flats and just grinding out the ups. As I made my way to mile 38 the course led us through LaGrange, a small town filled with IM spectators. It was a Lollipop design and we'd come back through LaGrange around mile 80. Jack and Carla were there to greet me at both mile 38 and mile 80. By mile 80 I was feeling the impact of no bike training. My ass, back, quads and calfs were aching. I kept everything in check, taking in water, gatorade as well as my hammer gels, shot blocks, protein bars and bananas at the aid stations. At the drop bag station I was able to grab and suck down a gatorade and cheese sandwich and stuffed the extra cheese sandwich in my bike shorts. My focus then was to get to mile 90, then 100 and so on. Just grinding out the miles. It was incredibly hot on the bike…it felt like a hair dryer blowing in your face, so hydration was really important to stay on top of. As I approached mile 100 I was pretty psyched because I knew that the last 10-12 miles were flat and I could spin and get the lactic acid out of my legs and prepare for the run. I managed to suck down my last cheese sandwich at about mile 95 under the shade of a tree and guzzle down my last gatorade…getting prepared for the run.
Getting off the bike was a great relief. Now I was actually to run, which was the only part of the IM that I was actually trained up for. The temps at this point were at above the 100F heat index level. I drank a gatorade in the bike transition and carried two out with me…hydration and electrolytes were important. Carla and Jack were there at the transition. She snapped a few pics and off I went onto the two lap run course. I decided to try and maintain a 10-11 minute mile for the first lap, given the extreme heats and desire to have some gas left in the tank for lap 2. I actually felt pretty good running the flats and downs and walking the ups. By the time I made it through lap 1 I saw Carla and Jack. They greeted me and Carla was nice enough to tell me that my pace was too slow…nice…exactly what I needed to hear. It pissed me off and I started out on lap 2, grabbing another gatorade from my drop bag. Between the gatorade, soup broth, cookies and chips I was able maintain a good energy level and keep a good pace. In fact my last 13 was a negative split. As the sun began to set we gained some relief from the heat, although the humidity was still a challenge. Many runners had been reduced to a walk. As I was about 1-2 miles out there were a lot of runners just starting their first lap…which I couldn't imagine doing. I knew that there was no way that 99% of them would have enough time to finish. As I came down the final stretch I could see the finish line in all of the lights, with the crowds cheering loudly. I let a few runners pass me so that I could come down the finishing chute by myself, slowly to take it all in and enjoy the moment. Instead the moment got me amped up as I began to wave to the crowd to get them excited. I jumped around and let out a ton of energy and relief as I crossed the finish line holding up 8 fingers for my 8th finish.
I lowered my head and a nice lady put the finisher medal around my neck, asked me if I was ok and then ushered me over to get my picture taken and hand me my finishers shirt. Having Carla and Jack there to experience this with me was pretty special. It's a very very hard race. I started in dead last place of 2,388 athletes. As the race progressed I was able to climb up to 935th place or in the top 37% of all competitors. Post race we drove back to Nashville getting in at 12:15AM and had to take a 6:30AM flight to LA for work. Morning came early, but I was very very happy to log another Ironman finish. Cheers!!
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