Well after 13 hours and 38 minutes my IM event on the Isle of Lanzarote came to a close. The time says it all.......well almost.
The day started with calm 70'sF waters of the Atlantic. A usual mass start, chaos, legs flailing, arms and fists smashing at the water and anything in its path. The swim start gets the adrenaline pumping, the heart rate rises 30 beats instantly no matter how you try to relax you simply cannot. After finding my position along the lane buoy the swim was one of my best - until rounding the last buoy and turning for the final 1/4 mile swim I was kicked in the left side of my face - knocking out a temporary molar crown that I had put in just prior to leaving for LZ. The shot caused me to pop up out of the water, stunned momentarily, then getting really pissed and even more pissed when I couldn't see who did it. It's not like you can feel sorry for yourself - so back on went the goggles, head down and swam for a 1:20 swim finish -2 minutes longer than my PR in Australia - but very pleased overall.
As I entered the transition area there were very very few bikes left???? My swim wasn't that bad.....good swimmers in LZ. I quickly thought - perfect - I will have lots of positive MOJO from the bike as I pass the clydesdales and athenas that exited the water before me. Well, what I learned on the bike was that in LZ there were some very very good cyclists as well. I did pass quite a few people but not anything near my usual performance. The bike ride was a bitch. A long long day on the bike. 7, yes 7 #*$*%*$ hours! This was a first for me. I have never spent 7 hours on a bike. The course was very challenging with a ton of slow long climbs that only seemed to never end. The descents were equally as frustrating due to switch backs eliminating my ability to get aggressive and make up time. Although by local standards there was "no" wind that day, by my standards there was plenty - all day. It seemed as though I rode for hours without much interaction with any other riders - except for a crazy scotsman that thought he'd just ride the IM course that day - no bib number - just an age grouper looking to ride with the rest of us. We played cat and mouse all day. I lost him at mile 80 when I stopped at an aid station to find Will Stinson with a flat. You could say that was bad luck - but actually we had just reached the highest peak and point on the isle of Lanzarote and had a 6-7 mile descent where our speeds reached over 40MPH. If Will hadn't stopped to use the bathroom and if his tire didn't explode there - Will could've had a horrific accident - very very very lucky - funny how fate works. That descent had cliffs with little protection if you ran off of the road. As we made it back towards the other side of the isle to bike finish I got my fourth wind and finished the bike at exactly 7 hours. Cannot tell you just how happy I was to be off of the Felt B2 Pro.
My bike to run transition was about 12 minutes. Why? Because I decided that after 7 hours on the bike I wasn't going to be breaking any records today and it was time to enjoy the rest of the day. I got a 10 minute massage from two very nice ladies from Ireland and England. In case I forget, I have to say the volunteers at this race were nothing short of awesome! After working my legs over pretty good and sucking down a bottle of cold agua I was up and headed out of transition - just as Will was entering the Bike -Run transition. As I was exiting I choked down a packet of Shot Blocks, bad move, as quickly as they went down they came back up - no problem - still felt good - I thought ... I'll just grab some cookies on the run at the aid stations ........ a mistake that I paid dearly for.
The run. Well this was my revenge on all of those faster swimmers and bikers, clearly they couldn't put it all together and finish a strong run. I felt really good when I started out on the run. For the first 13 miles I ran a 1:50, perfect i thought. All I had to do was to crank out a 2 hour 2nd half run and I would accomplish one of my major goals of the day - which was to run a sub 4 hour marathon. I was passing a lot of people during the first 14 miles - boy did I feel good. At mile 14 I was on pace - but disaster laid right around the corner. At mile 15, after drinking lots of cola and eating a banana, yes a goddamn banana, which is something I have never done on the run but was forced to because there were no cookies and I couldn't keep down my shot blocks - nutrition was my downfall on the run. It's a simple mathematical calculation of energy used versus energy replaced via calories and overall hydration. Albeit hydration was an issue per se it was lack of glycogen was. After a emptying my stomach at mile 15 on the run and a nap on a very warm stone bench I was abruptly woken by the spanish red cross shouting finito at me - well as you can imagine I had just a few words of advice for them - one's that I will not document in this blog. Nevertheless I was up and back at it doing the shuffle till about mile 22 - when a young austrian 25-29 age grouper slapped me on my butt and said..."come on just a few miles left, run in with me". What is interesting in the sport of IM or endurance is trying to understand how the mind works. What motivates an individual? where do you find inspiration? Not quite certain whether it was the slap on the ass, the fact that there was just 4 miles left to go, if I wanted to show a 25-29 chick from austria that I could hang, the challenging of the male ego or I simply just wanted this day to be over with, I found my MOJO and ran about an 8min/mile pace to finish the day.
After crossing the finish line I experienced the IM high of endorphins kicking in and huge relief and sense of accomplishment. I knew that this would be short lived as the sun was just about to fall behind the mountains and the cool evening air was going to send my core temperature plummeting and I'd be in the med tent. So I just went directly to the med tent got an IV along with blankets that I wrapped up into and stayed nice and warm, watching people enter the tent that were actually in bad shape. This post race IV really helps me in my recovery and stabilizing my chemistry post race and has become actually part of my race.
I very slowly made my way to gather my gear bags down at the swim start along with my finishers t-shirt and a baguette of sorts in the meal tent. I then made my way back to the finish line at which time both Will and Kathy had just finished....yea!!
All three of us trained hard for this event and completed it safely, which was not something to be taken for granted on this course - or any IM course for that matter. The day was ending and we went back to our favorite little italian restaurant for some food. Kathy got a steak as I recall, thinking that Will and I sucked down pizzas. Life is good.
As does happen during any IM event, you question yourself....."what the hell am I doing out here? Why am I doing this?" Then shortly thereafter bad thoughts enter your mind .."I'm never doing one of these damn events again. What was I thinking in signing up for the Leadville 100 trail run???" These thoughts only occur during the race and maybe 1 hour after the race. By the time you wake up the following morning you've taken measure of your accomplishment - which very few people on the planet can lay a claim to - and the planning for the next event begins.
The post race party was a lot of fun. Lot's of cool fireworks with our new made friends from Atlanta GA. A few beers, a shot of tequila for Will and back to the Villa.
Will I ever go back to Lanzarote - the answer is simple - yes. Not certain when or with who, but I will be back. On this day the Isle of Lanzarote got the best of me. I'll be back to pay my respects that are clearly due but more importantly kick its ass!
Cheers!
