1TIM

It has been a week since my first ironman and I have been able to gather my thoughts a little bit. If you haven’t done so allready check out my race report and http://xr4000.sweat365.com/2008/11/15/silverman-photos/. Don’t forget to stop by Brad’s page who also did the full and Dave who did the half.

So what have I learned? The first thing is that my swimming is much better than I originally thought. Swimming with the masters program has helped me a great deal. I am very slow on my bike and need to start training at higher intensity if I want to get faster. My run was pretty good for a first effort but there is also plenty of room for improvement there. And most of all I learned that if you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything. All in all it is a very hard race but if you train hard and have the right mindset you can pull it off too!

Thanks to Brad and sweat365.com I couldn’t have done it without you.

Workout:

• Type: Swim
• Date: 11/15/2008
• Time: 15:42:16
• Total Time: 00:30:48.81

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 11/15/2008
• Time: 15:41:22
• Total Time: 1:00:33.00
• Distance: 15.97 miles
• Average Speed: 15.82 mph
• Max Speed: 43.4 mph

This is going to be very long so if anyone has to go to the bathroom do it now. I don’t want to have to start again. I will try to put in some headers so that you can skip around a bit if you don’t want to read the whole thing. OK let’s get started.

The Ride Down:
I had the brilliant idea of riding my motorcycle from Salt Lake to Henderson, Nevada to go race my first ironman triathlon. Why not? It will be super cheap on gas and it shouldn’t be too cold in Utah in November right? Not sure what I was thinking cause I’ve lived in Utah since 1991 and I know that it is cold in November.

Well it wasn’t my greatest idea ever. Thursday night I took my bike over to my buddies house(The Rat) and packed the rest of my gear into my backpack. Friday morning I woke up around eight and took my dog for one last walk to get coffee. I screwed around a little and didn’t leave until just before ten.

OK this is getting too long allready so here it is in a nutshell. The ride was really cold! Stopped in Nephi to get some hand warmers and bought another jacket and that helped a lot. I was happy once I passed Cedar City and it started to get warm. Not sure how fast I was going because my speedometer doesn’t work but I had it pinned for a long time and it’s a 1200 so you do the math. Anyway I made it down without incident.

the bike that got me down there

The next day I woke up, went to go register and enjoy a pancake breakfast. After I got back to my hotel I realized that my brake-light and license plate had fallen off somewhere between Salt Lake and where I was now(shit-show?) oh well. I would have to worry about that some other time.

Race Day:
I woke up at 4:30 and looked out of my hotel window. Uh ohhh! The palm trees were pretty much blowing sideways. The swim was the part of the race I was most worried about and this wasn’t making me feel any better. I called the rat and we were out the door at 5:30. We were checking out all the blowing trees and I said “Rat, it doesn’t look good maybe we should pray to someone?” Rat: “I don’t think we have any connections up there.” Me: “What about Billy Poole(my friend who died in a skiing accident last year)? Rat: “I don’t know, he might not have any pull, he hasn’t been up there that long.” Me: “Well Billy, do what you can.”

We got to the starting area and I think the wind seemed to subside a little bit. I got body marked and picked up my timing chip. I screwed around with my gear for a bit and then got into my wetsuit. By then it was close to starting time so I went down to the water. The wind wasn’t too bad by then but I was still a little bit nervous.

The Swim:
They sang the National Anthem and then everyone got ready for the start. I found a good spot with plenty of room around me. They sounded the horn and we were off. the start was a little bit crazy. I definately ran into a bunch of people and a bunch of people ran into me. But within a couple of minutes it started to clear out and I got into a groove. Within the first ten minutes I knew I was going to be OK. I can’t put my finger on it but I was in a smooth zone and my goggles were doing great so everything was falling into place. I knew I was going to be fine.

I told my self that I wasn’t going to look at my watch until the far turn so that’s what I did. Every time I thought I was going too fast I told myself….SLOW DOWN. It was working great. There were still a lot of people around me so I knew I was doing OK. I can only breath to my left side and that was the side the buoys were on so sighting was not a problem. I would just sight a buoy, then swim to it, and then swim until I could see the next one. Before I knew it I was at the first turn.

I Made the turn and continued in the same fashion. After a while I saw the next yellow turn buoy and was feeling great. I made the turn and looked at my watch, 40 minutes……..”yesssss.” I knew I was in great shape because it is farther than halfway.

Well this is when then wind really started to pick up(thank you Billy for holding it off this long). It wasn’t making it impossible but it was far from easy. The pack started to thin and the faster swimmers were way ahead and the slower ones were far behind. I was in no mans land with not very many people around. And the ones that were seemed like they were lost too! So I just kept finding buoys and swimming to them. I made it to the turn, or what I thought was the turn and I wasn’t really sure which way to go. I mean I knew which way but I wasn’t sure if I had to go around another buoy or not. There was another dude next to me yelling “I’m lost” so that didn’t make me feel any better but I knew it was time to go home so I pointed myself at the shore.

By this time the wind was super gnarly and coming straight at us. I think they were like three foot swells. I some how manged to find a rhythm. I would swim up to the crest of the wave, sight the buoy, and then come crashing down on the other side. This was actually working quite well. At one point I swam pretty close to a kayaker. He asked if I was all right and I said I was then I said to him “a little off course eh?” to which he replied “No, you’re doing great” and I could tell from his tone that he meant it. This made me feel good and I sent it home.

I could hear the announcer and I knew I was close. I figured out where I needed to go and swam towards the dock. I started to see the bottom of the lake and figured just a few more yards. I started to hit bottom…OK time to get out. The wetsuit strippers were on it, pulled off my sleeves then told me to sit down and ripped off my legs(wetsuit). Swim time 1:30:40

I ran up onto the boat ramp and saw my buddy Jed from the masters who was only doing the half(hehe….Dave) and it was on weather hold. “Great job Rich” and then I slapped him five. Then I could hear the rat “Heeeeeeyyyyyy Rickyyyyy!” I looked at my watch 1:30……stoked!

I got my bag and made it to the tent. I started to put on my bike gear but I wasn’t sure if I should wear my leg warmers or not. I looked around me and not one person had leg or arm warmers. I figured I was going to need them so I put them on but not my gloves. A decision I would later regret. Made it out to my bike talked to the rat and I was off on the bike.

the bike I did 3/4 of my training on

The Bike:
Well the beginning of the bike was about as much fun as the last part of the swim. It was pretty much raining sideways and gusting to about 40mph. You would have to lean into the wind with all your might to stay on the road. I figure it kept up like this for at least the first 20 miles which is where I took my first bio break.

The Rat was following me for a while, he would drive ahead, jump out and take video, then jump back in and drive ahead again. Then my parents showed up. And my dad was doing the same thing but taking stills(I will add photos and video as I get it).

This bike is pretty brutal but it is far from impossible. The weather made it a lot harder than it needs to be. But I didn’t forget to enjoy the scenery. It was beautiful and reminded me of southern Utah, a place that I love more than anything. At one point I looked to my right and saw a bunch of big-horn sheep. I also saw multiple rainbows and a tarantula along the way.

On about mile 33 I saw a police motorcycle and the leader. I looked at the sign going the other way an it said 70 miles. He had gone more than twice my distance in the same amount of time!

I was going slow on the up-hills and as fast as I could on the downhills. I made it to the turn-around, my dad was there to say hello. On my way back to the feed station I saw Brad. I yelled at him but I didn’t think he heard me. I made it to the feed station and picked up my pbj sandwiches. And sure enough here comes Brad behind me. Disclaimer: I in no way think I am better or faster than Brad because I was beating him at this point. A triathlon is the full race and it doesn’t matter who you are beating or when. What counts is your finish time and Brad crushed me by almost an hour.

We chatted for a bit then I jumped back on my bike and was off again. It was starting to get fast and the weather was good at this point. About mile 60 or so Brad caught me and I tried to keep up for a bit but couldn’t.

Mile 70. Still feeling good. Mile 80 OK I’m ready for a jog. Wish I could get off my bike now. Starting to rain again this pretty much sucks. Mile 94 “the sisters” three hills that would be no problem if it were dry and wasn’t mile 94. But what can you do except hammer them out.

At this point you are on a bike path and it seems to go forever. Your legs and knees are sore and all you want to do is get off your bike. But you can’t do that until you get to the end. Finally back to main roads and barricaded roads. I got to the top of one hill and the cop said “come on its all downhill from here.” So when I got to the top I cranked with all my might. He lied though there were a few small hills but I was so close there was nothing to do but continue.

I finally made it to transition and there was the rat and his wife and my dad. I ditched my bike and headed into the tent. Bike time 7:56:29

the bike I raced on

The Run:
Switched into my run gear and off onto the course. I was so happy to be off my bike and I felt pretty strong at this point. I was walking every aid station for a while and was keeping a good pace. About 10 minute miles. There were some brutal hills but I toughed them out. I was excited for the halfway point because the rat was going to give me a beer when I saw him.

I was taking full advantage of all the aid stations keeping hydrated and fed. I found a partner for a minute but he couldn’t keep up after a while so I left him behind. I came around for the halfway but the rat was nowhere to be found. The feed people asked me if I wanted my feed bag but I was good so I said no. Big mistake. That is where the rat left my beer for me. Oh well.

I was really starting to feel it but I continued on. I setting short goals then, once I reached them, I would set new ones. I told myself if I could get to mile 18 I would walk one mile. So that’s what I did.

I knew that walking one mile would kill my time but it’s not like I was in contention or anything. I finished the walk and started to jog again. I came by an aid station just before the turn-around and saw beer. “You need anything?” the aid person asked. “How about a beer?” I said. “I’ll have it for you when you come back” his reply. I made the turn and came back. Sure enough he had a beer in a plastic cup for me. I drank it down and continued.

So this was mile 22 and I told the guy I think I have an hour left and he said “I think you are right.” Every mile after that was incentive for the next. I was so close now I could taste it. Mile 23 hurting a lot but I know I’m close, no more aid station stops. Mile 24, the silver mile, saw a guy that let me have his extra bag the day before because mine broke. Mile 25 uphill once again but close enough to start pushing, no pain now. Mile 26 send it home baby I’ve made it! Mile 26.2 cross the finish line to see Brad and the rat. Run time 5:12:16

Total race time 14:56:10. 1TIM-1st Time IronMan!

And Just so you know the ride home was about the same as the ride down but in reverse.

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 11/09/2008
• Time: 15:00:00
• Total Time: 7:56:29.00
• Distance: 112 miles
• Average Speed: 14.1 mph

Well this is it. I have been working since March to get to this point. And now in three days I will be racing my first ironman triathlon. The silverman in Henderson, Nevada on Sunday. I am not trying to win, I am not trying to break any records, I am simply trying to finish the thing to see if I am really tough enough to do it. I have some pretty big goals for 2009 but I need to get this under my belt before I can start focusing on them.

My training has gone pretty well. I did not follow a training schedule I simply did what I thought was necessary to be able to finish. I ran a marathon in June and I did follow a training schedule for it. I sort of felt like it let me down(although I did finish with a good time). So this time I took matters into my own hands. But now I feel like I should have loosely followed a schedule and modified it on my own.

I focused on the bike most of all, because all of the people I talked to said don’t skimp on the bike. I did tons of climbing because the siverman course is known for it’s elevation gain. Pretty much all I did was climb. My peak ride was 120 miles with 12k elevation gain. I managed to pull that off in a little under 9.5 hours. I feel like that ride was much harder than the silverman course and would allow me to tackle anything.

My swimming had to get a little faster so for about the last six weeks I have been trying to swim with the masters as much as possible. I think it has improved my technique a lot. I always swim in a lane above my level so I think it has also helped to make me faster. Also with my new wetsuit I think my time will be significantly faster than I think it will be. If not that’s ok.

My run training has been a little below par but I have put in enough work to get me through it. I do not think it is going to be fun or pretty but it will get the job done. By the time I get to the run I should be in auto-pilot mode anyway. It is going to hurt, and hurt lots but it wouldn’t be an ironman if it didn’t.

So here’s what I think. The swim will be ok, if I can get past the excitement in the beginning and pace myself. I should be able to make the swim in 2 hours no problem. The bike will be hard but easier than the rides I did in training. I should be able to do it in 8 hours maximum. The run is going to be horrible and I will probably be praying to Jesus for help at some point but I still should be able to pull it off in around 5 hours.
All in all, it looks like one very long day.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 11/04/2008
• Total Time: 00:39:00.00
• Distance: 4 miles
• Average Pace: 9:45.37/mile

Workout:

• Type: Swim
• Date: 11/01/2008
• Total Time: 00:30:00.00

New gear woo whoo!

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 10/30/2008
• Total Time: 1:07:53.66
• Distance: 7.5 miles
• Average Pace: 9:02.99/mile