After a few pictures with my girlfriend it was time to head to the swim start. I nearly forgot to put on my chip, thats how nervous I was.
Swim:1:09:31 I liked the swim start that they had, although not having the mass start for my first ironman was a little disheartening, Ill get over it. It was really smooth and everyone was in the water in less than 20mins. I seeded myself closer to the back of the 1:01-1:10 group.
The gun went off and we began to file in. I stuck to the pacing strategy I was given. With 2,700 athletes it was hard not to bump into anyone or get bumped into. It was tough to get into a rhythm, swimming around people, into people UNDER people...I couldnt even imagine a mass swim start.
T1: 7:30 NO one told me I had to change in the tent. I put my shoes and helmet on where I found my bag, stuffed my wetsuit and cap into the bike bag ran and grabbed my bike. Im completely new at this so I had no clue what was going on. I dragged my bike through T1 and grass was caught in my back wheel and it stopped spinning. I panicked, undid the skewer, pulled the clumps of grass out and went on my way
Bike: 6:35:26 The first loop was a bit wet. When we were in the water, apparently it down poured...Everyone persona I talked to, every article and thread I read told me to take the first loop slow and so I did. First loop I let every person pass me on the uphills, flats, wherever I was riding I was getting passed. I kept my watts below 190 on the uphills and around 160-170 on the flats. I took the big decent down into keene very slowly, being that the road was wet.
The support on the bike course was outstanding, tons of aid stations and even in some areas the spectators were awesome!
As
I rolled into town, I grabbed my special needs bag, chugged flat coke,
took a few more GUs for the ride and was off on my second loop. I went a
bit faster on this loop and took the downhills much faster. The roads
dried up and the sun was shining. pretty uneventful second loop, similar
to the first loop...
T2: 3:33 This time I didnt change by the transition bags. I grabbed my run bag and trotted into the tent. Off came the helmet, bike shoes...on went my running shoes, fuel belt with 2 bottles of water, cap and shades.
Run: 3:57:09 I ducked out of the tent feeling great. I did my best to keep my HR low, cadence high and pace even for 26mi. I took each mile at a time. Before I knew it I was at the first turn around crushing 8:45min/mi pace(AVG)..I kept motoring along looking forward to the next turn around. My buddy was working at the special needs run bag, so I was looking forward to that as well. At the turn around still hovering around 8:45 or so minute/mi with my avg HR around 155bpm. I was feeling outstanding at this point. My confidence was up and the crowd at the turn around really jacked me up.
Onto the second lap,
mostly downhill, my quads began to scream. It was only for a bit then it
flattened out and continued on. At around mi 21, I hit the wall. My
pace began to slow down into the 9:30mi mark. In my defense these last
few miles were all uphill...still no excuses play like a champion. I
hammered up the final hill into lake placid and onto mirror drive with
the crowds roaring, I couldnt stop now.
Turning onto the
oval was amazing. I saw my family and friends and of course Mike Reilly
in the booth calling me out, telling everyone who I was, where I was
from, what I do and I hear him "YOU ARE AN IRONMAN"
Overall:
11:53:09 I was so pumped after I finished this grueling race. All the
sacrifices that went into this race, lack of sleep, countless training
hours, watching my caloric intake it was worth EVERY minute of it. I owe
a huge thanks to my coach, Jason Gootman from Tri-hard coaching, my
parents who came and supported me and my girlfriend Tara for all the
sacrifices she made. I had a race day execution plan, that dialed into nutrition, pacing and race strategy. I followed it to a T.
Nutrition:
Swim: Nothing
Swim: Nothing
Bike: 21 GUs. 10 bottles of water
Run: 9 GUs. Flat Coke, 3 10oz bottles of water as well as water from the aid station
IMLP:
700+ bucks, Hotel for 5 nights $650+, Transportation $150+....Hearing
Mike Reilly call you an Ironman for the first time...Priceless.Thanks for reading.
Heres my Garmin:
IMLP Swim
IMLP Bike
IMLP Run
From: Darin Armstrong #TeamLIVESTRONG
ReplyDeleteHello Michael,
Just a quick email to ask if you would be interested in a ‘mutual’ following on twitter that will benefit you. (#FYI I do RT’s ‘ANYTIME’ for all #Triathletes #Cyclists #UltraRunners #Marathoners #FitnessProfessionals who follow me on Twitter and have something important they want mentioned for support…Over 41K folks at your access...) I am currently following you now and am awaiting your follow-back...
All the very best for the rest of 2013 & beyond Michael. Look forward to hearing from you…
(PS. Michael, should you follow back, I'll be mentioning you 'including your website' in my #FollowFriday #Shoutouts this Friday...)
Darin
twitter.com/DarinArmstrong
#TeamLIVESTRONG