At 7 am sharp the cannon went off signaling the start of the inaugural Ironman Arizona Triathlon. 12 hours 56 minutes and 21 seconds later I crossed the finish line of my 2nd Ironman.
I woke up at 3 am Saturday morning to drink my breakfast. Three scoops of Sustained Energy and 2 Apple Cinnamon Carbooms mixed with 10 oz. of water. Can we say gourmet breakfast or what? I went back to sleep for 45 minutes till my alarm went off telling me it was time to start another epic journey. At 4:45 I grabbed my wetsuit, special needs bags, bike pump and my drinks bag and headed down to the lobby of the hotel to meet friends and head over to the race start.
The weather was brisk at 5 am while the sun was still below the horizon. We got to the transition site after watching a guy in a pickup truck come within feet of broad siding the taxi in front of us. A little too close for comfort. After getting body marked we headed over to drop off our bike and run special needs bags. We then headed into the bike transition area and got our bikes ready: water bottles in place, computers zeroed out, tires topped off and gears set. It was now time to head over to the T1 and T2 bags and double check those one last time.
The sun was finally starting to peak at us from over the horizon and it was warming up nicely. One final stop at the porta potties and it was time to put on the sunscreen, apply liberal amounts of body glide and slide into our wetsuits. Ok there was a lot of wiggling and tugging while putting on the wetsuits but that is how it should be. We dropped off our dry clothes bag and waited until it was time to start heading for the water.
Hugs and handshakes and then it was time to get in the water. This would be my first deep water start and I was a little concerned how I would handle it with having to tread water for 10 minutes prior to the start. Did I mention that the water temp was a balmy 63 degrees. The first step off the dock and into the water was probably the hardest one for me to take all day. I knew how cold the water was going to be and I was ready for that feeling of having my breath ripped out of me. Luckily the dive into Lake Minnetonka on New Years day for the past 5 years has helped to prepare me for that kind off feeling.
Once in the water I was able to get comfortable pretty quickly and get to my place on the starting line. After the cannon went off it was a free for all. I got kicked in the nose, punched in the goggles and hit in the back of the head too many times to remember. This is not what I remembered the swim to be like from Ironman Florida. Apparently I had put myself a little bit further forward at the start than I had originally planned. The swim was very congested until the turn around and then people finally spread out. Whew no more getting beat up. Apparently after the start of the swim the wind had started to pick up blowing in at our backs. When I finally got to the turn around I was greeted by lots of choppy water. I didn't have to worry about getting dehydrated on the swim as I drank plenty of water from all the choppy waves. Through the whole swim I battled with cramps in my legs. The cold water caused my calves and then my hamstrings and finally my quads to cramp. Now these were not full blown stop you dead in you tracks cramps but they were on the verge of becoming those kinds at any second. It was a great mental challenge to stay relaxed and not focus on the cramps and to get the legs to calm down.
It was a welcome relief to finally climb the stairs out of the lake and get out of my wetsuit. All I can say is thank god for the wetsuit strippers. I was so cold I don't think I could have gotten out of my wetsuit on my own. We had a long run from the lake to T1 and I don't think I felt one step my feet were so numb. The guys in the changing tents were a big help I was shivering so much I could barely get changed and ready for the bike leg myself. I left the change tent and got rubbed down with sunscreen. They changed brands and went to an alcohol based sunscreen, boy did that burn when they put it on my neck and hit the spots where I had chafed from my wetsuit. That'll wake you up in a hurry.
The bike leg was awesome and I really enjoyed the course. It was 3 identical loops of 36 miles with a short piece at the end. It had some very nice streches of long stay in your aero bars for miles and then a section that was more technical with some climbing mixed in. It took me 10 miles of riding to finally stop shivering and get my core temperature back up to normal and another 25 for my feet to finally thaw out. Mother nature decide to make this awesome bike course a little bit tougher for us and threw 25-30 mile per hour winds our way. The tailwinds were awesome. The headwinds were a.... I think you know where I'm going. They were very challenging. I did an awesome job of monitoring my hydration and nutrition I had planned on using eGel and eFuel throughout the bike and stuck to plan and felt great through the whole bike.
I felt like I flew through T2. I was feeling good, both mentally and physically.
I ran the first 5 miles no problem and then my left knee started to bother me. I could only run about a mile at a time and then I would have to stop stretch and massage my quads just above my knee cap. I would also power walk for a while and managed to make pretty good time. I had planned on using my eGel and eFuel on the run but only managed to go through a bottle and third of my eFuel and couldn't think about stomaching the gel so I went to pretzels, chicken broth and coke. Yummy, I felt great. I managed to pass 4 or 5 people in the final mile and was definitely running on pure adrenaline at that time. What a day!
I can hardly wait for number three... I am thinking Madison in 2006.