DISCLAIMER - AS WITH ALL MY RACE REPORTS I FEEL THE NEED TO
TELL YOU I AM A BACK OF THE PACK OVERWEIGHT TRIATHLETE WITH THE ONE AND ONLY
GOAL TO FINISH.
IRONMAN U.S. Championship
08-11-2012
New York City, New York
Total Time = 16h 18m 24s
Overall Rank = 1961/2739 (2739 were registered)
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 375/406
Pre-race routine:
I dropped off all my bags and bike with my buddy Fred on
Wednesday night as I was taking the bus into NYC on Thursday morning because I
was picked to be in the IRONMAN Full Circle Video and my interview was Thursday
morning (Video posted in previous post). After the interview I went to expo and checked
in. Then took Ferry over to NJ where our hotel was. Meet Fred over at the hotel and then went back
to Expo with him. Stayed over at the
expo until the athlete dinner, then went back to NJ for the night. Friday dropped bike at transition and just relaxed
most of the day. Wife drove up on Friday and we checked into our room (I stayed
with Fred and his wife the night before). Went to dinner and everyone got a kick out of
the fact that I ordered Jambalaya as my last meal before an IRONMAN. Woke up at 3am day of race to get ready and
catch the ferry. Wife was volunteering so she actually had to catch an earlier
ferry than me.
Event warm-up:
Had to meet the Full Circle team off the ferry, they filmed
me getting marked, kissing my wife (didn’t make the video). And they filmed me checking out my bike race
morning. I pumped my tires up night
before and was happy I did since it was crazy race morning. With the logistics of this race there was no
race day warm-up available but that being said I don't usually do much the day
of the event to warm up. Went to stand
on line to be on one of the first ferries, I got on the second one.
Swim (55:27)
Ferry ride was good talked to a guy to ease my nerves. I ate a GU on the ride and drank a sports
drink. It took about 11 minutes for me
to get in the water. Got in and just
started swimming. Knew I was going fast
(due to the current) but didn't realize just how fast I was going. At one point I sighted and saw I was headed
straight to a buoy but it was like 20 feet in front of me. I took two strokes
and smashed right into it. Just kept swimming to T1. Put my foot down and was in some pretty
disgusting mud. I thought I would come
out of the water around 1:30:00 but finished at 55:27.
What would you do differently?
Not a thing, I will never swim that fast again. So if I am
going to do another IM I can't expect to finish that fast.
T1 (10:50)
I came out smiling from ear to ear. One of the IRONMAN Full Circle guys saw me and
said nice job, I thanked him. I ran to a wetsuit stripper who did his job. Grabbed my bike bag and went into the changing
tent. Took my time to make sure I did everything right. I knew with the swim
time I could take some extra time to just settle down. Came out of tent and got lotion-ed up from the
lotion girls. Ran to my bike and the
IRONMAN Full Circle crew was there filming me get my bike. Said a few words to them and got going.
What would you do differently?:
I could have been quicker but I was happy with my time.
Bike (7:51:54)
You get hit with a big hill right when you mount your bike. I guess after about 2 miles or so you hit the
Palisades Parkway. Hills up and down,
first loop was not that bad. I think
coming in was harder than going out. I
got a 4 minute penalty for pulling next to a guy and talking after the first
loop. No complaint I did the crime. The 2nd loop was a lot harder even though I
kept plugging away. Coming back in with
the hills and headwind had me really questioning if I was tough enough to
finish. I saw the Full Circle crew again
as they filmed me on one of the up hills, said a few words to them again. Sadly my longest training ride had only been
80 miles so I was pushing new limits after the turnaround. Having the aide stations on the course was the
best. I just kept telling myself just make it to the next aide station. Came off the Palisades and knew I had only 2 miles
of big down hills to go. I was so
excited to be done with the bike but more importantly off the bike at around
4:15 pm. To be honest as stupid as this sound’s the almost 8 hours went pretty
quick.
What would you do differently?:
Not weigh 252 pounds and train more. I should have had a 100 miler under my belt
before the race. And maybe have a 28 or
29 cassette on the rear.
T2 (16:19)
Had to serve my 4 minute penalty in T2 since the penalty box
was already shut down on the bike course. So basically just got to rest in T2. This was actually cool as I got to talk to my
wife and friends Lu and Mari while serving penalty. They took many pictures while I was
there. Served penalty grabbed my t2 bag
and took my time in changing tent.
What would you do differently?:
Nothing, just making sure I got all I needed and didn't
forget anything. Funny even with the 4 minute penalty it didn't feel like 16
minutes.
Run (7:03:54)
My training was 4 min run and 1 min walk. I actually started
doing this, after the first big hill out of transition. But it didn't last
long. I couldn't keep up with the 4 min
on the up hills. So real early I went to
mostly walking. Walking fast but still
walking. I knew early on that I could
walk the marathon and still be able to finish before midnight barring any
physical injuries. So although I could
have ran more I pretty much shut it down. I got the George Washington Bridge and did
some running again (round mile 15-16). Ran
some more after the bridge because there was a nice crowd off the bridge. Then
settled into walking fast again. I was
passing others that were walking and there were not many running at this point
(remember back of the pack). As I passed
people I tried to encourage them to just keep moving forward and if they can do
20 minute miles they would finish. For
the last 6 miles or so I walked with a lady named Irene who was happy to have
company and we both pushed each other to walk fast. We plugged along and with about 1.25 miles to
go I saw my uncle Dan walking towards us. He and a friend were coming the opposite way
hoping to catch up to me and encourage me. My uncle is a former 2:45 marathoner so I
think he was expecting to see me running. His friend was with him and is an 11 time IM
finisher and he let my uncle know not to bother trying to get me to run. He knew I was pretty much done at this point. I saw the finish line (after another hill) and
gave my fuel belt to my uncle and ran for the last .25 miles or so through the
finish line giving high 5 to the spectators still there. The IRONMAN full circle cameras followed me for
the last .10 of the run. I got to see
Mike Reilly at the finish. No sound system passed 10 pm but he did tell me I
was an IRONMAN.
What would you do differently?:
Again not weigh 252 pounds. But also not be afraid to push
it a little early on the run. I kind of
knew I would finish so I was content to walk rather than push harder and run a
little more. My run pace wouldn't have
been much more than my fast walk but I could have pushed a little harder.
Post-race
Gave last interview to IRONMAN Full Circle and meet up with
my friends and family. Gave them all hugs and thanked them for coming and
waiting all that time for me. Got some
water and pizza in me. Just took it all
in for a little bit. Then had to walk to
ferry which took forever and went back to the hotel. Next day made it back to NY for the expo and
spent some money on finishing gear.
What limited your ability to perform faster:
Myself, I didn't train hard enough and didn't watch my diet
enough. My longest ride in training was
80 miles and my longest run was only 13.1 miles. When I finished I said I would never do it
again. Well 3 weeks later I don't feel that way any longer and think I will
sign up for IRONMAN Wisconsin next year.
Event comments:
Logistically it was not a great place for a race. Would have liked to have had my kids there but
with my wife having to drag them around all day going on ferries back and forth
would have been crazy. But as my first
IRONMAN it was spectacular.
Uncle Dan, me, and Uncle Joe
Me and Fred
Waiting for me at home
