Can you believe that this race has been going on for twenty consecutive years? It’s one of the longest running Ironmans on the North American circuit!
In 2012, I completed my first Ironman, rounding the Olympic Skating Oval in over twelve hours. Then in 2014, I completed it again to qualify for my first Ironman World Championship. Fast forward four years later, here I am again…this time as a recent Californian!
Race morning and pre-race preparations had a little more excitement than expected. Long story short, I had to “jumpstart” my fully charged Di2 – thank you to the bike mechanics for the assistance and charging cable! The jumpstart worked and I re-racked my bike just in time to finalize the bike and run transition bags. Pretty sure I was the last athlete out of transition!
The 2.4-mile swim:
Since I was running behind schedule, getting lined up for the swim start was frustrating, as there was no way to “sneak” into the self-seeded line. Luckily, we about 10 minutes to the start of the amateur race, I wasn’t the only one trying to get closer to the front of the line. A handful of other athletes led the way and we were able to snake our way through to the 1:10 area of the line, which is where I wanted to be.
The seeded and staggered start meant that everyone had plenty of space when getting into the water. My swimming leading up to the race had been at a bare minimum (2-3 times a week) so I wanted to ease into the swim and find plenty of feet to draft off of.
The first loop of the swim went very well, as I exited the water in just over 33 minutes. The effort on the second loop was almost a carbon copy of the first, but I had lost some time following some slower atheltes and having to swim around athletes on their first loop. Ultimately, I came out of the water comfortably in the time of 1:08:44.
The Zoot WikiWiki wetsuit (pictured above) that I wore was extremely buoyant. But the best part of the suit was the 0.5mm neoprene around the arms and shoulders that minimized/eliminated any restrictions to my stroke. I absolutely loved the wetsuit!
Cycle 112-miles featuring rain & crosswinds!
As if the bike course with over 6,000 feet of climbing wasn’t challenging enough, Mother Nature added some extra wind and heavy rain! For the majority of the ride, we had to overcome boatloads of rain. The crosswinds during the climb up to Drapers Acres was a memorable one – holding onto my bike sideways while pushing through in aero is definitely something that I didn’t expect to do on this course.
It wasn’t all that bad though – since I was 38th place in the Mens 25-29 age group as I embarked on the bike. After 5 hours and 20 minutes, I finally reached the Olympic oval and had improved to 8th place!
“Just Keep Running”
The most notable thing I do in an Ironman-distance race is changing out of my tri-kit and into a full set of running clothes. 26.2 miles is a long way to run, and I prefer to run in a breezy singlet and 1-inch split shorts; it takes an extra minute, but it’s totally worth it!
Historically, I tend to overhydrate during the running portion of the race. With lots and lots of practice with my Gatorade Endurance formula leading up to the race, I had finally dialed in a comfortable range of hydration intake, which helped avoid overhydrating (and the painful side-stitch that would follow).
The first loop of the run was exciting! I ran based on feel and kept the heart rate under 170 beats per minute, covering the first 13.1 miles in just under 90 minutes. As a strong believer in the Law of Diminishing Returns, I already knew that my legs would start to fade in the second loop. It wasn’t a matter of if it’ll happen, but rather WHEN it’ll happen.
Once back on River Road for the last time, I started feeling the accumulated fatigue in my front quads. My brain really wanted to stop and walk but I knew I could keep my legs moving so I did just that! Before hitting the turnaround on River Road, I was JUST about to pass a fellow competitor – he started to slow to a walk and I gave him a tap on the back and made a comment that he should keep running, lol! Little did I know, Andrew Deak would be my running buddy for the remainder of the marathon! If it weren’t for him, I would have walked. I probably would have let my brain justify taking ANOTHER walk break. But instead, with a little comradery, I ended up walking only the 10-15 seconds during the aid stations.
My springy running stride on the first loop had deteriorated to what felt like a shuffle. As I entered the Olympic Skating Oval and rounded it, I emptied whatever I had left in my legs and crossed the finishing line, setting an IRONMAN marathon personal best of 3 hours and 15 minutes!
I ended up improving to 3rd in Mens 25-29, and also set a personal best of 9:54 for total IRONMAN time.
