After Cork I was pretty happy to call an end to the triathlon season (or triathlon full stop). I said that I wasn't going to do any tris this year and ended up doing 4. What can I say, I love races. I also keep injuring myself, so triathlon is a great sport because you can usually train one of the three sports if you've broken a toe, or sliced your leg open, or bruised your patella, or have saddle sores, or you drop a fire extinguisher on your foot. You know, normal stupid stuff.
As with so many of the IMs I've done, Jeff was the driving force behind getting me to sign up. Usually I get a little more heads up, but Jeff decided a month is enough time to go from zero to Ironman hero. (It was not)
Training
Besides for the usual group runs I'd done little else. No swimming, and very little cycling. The plan was to put in 3 weeks of interval training with one week easing into the race. On my first interval ride I fell off my bike and sliced my leg across my achilles. Missed the tendon, but I was out of cycling for a week, no running for 2 weeks and no swimming for 3. I tried to lose some weight , but being injured and not eating is next to impossible.
So plan B, try not to get too fat before race day.
Louisville
I did the race in 2016, with Jeff and Jamie, and enjoyed it. I like the city and the weather is usually pretty mild. The people are friendly, the food is good and the beers are decent.
In attendance from Cayman
Jeff - besides for being kinda bike fit was in the same shape as me - round
Patrick Harfield - looking lean and mean and aiming for a spot at Kona
Gavin - in decent shape and just another sucker for punishment
Jamie - just there for the reunion.
The lead up
As is customary we went out for some beers Friday night , maybe a few more than we needed but fun times.
Race day
Due to some green algae growing in the river the swim was cancelled. On the one hand it was a shame, as the Louisville swim is a fast one and the only respectable part of my day. I usually finish in the top 20% in the swim then spend the rest of the day getting passed by a few thousand people. On the other hand, it was 4 Celsius on race morning so I didn't mind not freezing to death on the bike (and it was nice not being passed by everyone on the bike)
The bike
We had a rolling time trial start. 2 at a time every 3 seconds. It creates a very strange race, with people of various abilities starting at random times. Usually the swim sets the order of the day and there's a little bit of shuffling but it's not drastic. This rolling start was by number so you had some super slow riders leaving with elite riders. I was number 1462, and actually passed more people than I got passed so that was refreshing, but there was a lot of shuffling all day, and a lot of crap cyclists to pass. And when I say crap I don't mean slow, just goons riding in the passing lane , moving way left to take a left turn, unclipping to make u-turns - the usual bonehead stuff. I sometimes think that some triathletes's first time on a bicycle is on a $5000 TT bike. (says the guy who fell of his bike in the driveway)
I felt surprisingly good on the bike. But there are no surprises in IM and at about 140k I started to feel it. I was feeling okay as Jeff (#2032) passed me, then at around 150k I fell apart. Right leg started to cramp, the orange Gatorade I'd been guzzling tried to make its way back up and a fierce headwind appeared to "take the wind out of my sails". That last 30km felt like 300.
180k done in 6:50. I expected 7 hrs, but after doing the first 90 just over 3hrs I got optimistic. "Slow your roll cowboy", said my legs.
Contemplating my life choices waiting to depart. It was very cold, but Canada has prepared me
The Run
My feet were on fire from the bike with hot spots boiling the balls of my feet. My legs felt like a combination of lead and jello, but after about a km of shuffling along they started to feel pretty good. Sore but good . The first 10k whizzed by in an hour, the next 32 not so much. I started coughing and then getting the most severe heartburn (I've never had heartburn ) . The cycle of coughing and burning was vicious indeed.
It wasn't a very impressive run performance, more of a mental battle; trying to keep running when everything hurts. And trying not to puke. On the plus side I didn't cramp. Quads were like rocks but never seized up. It was a pretty lonely run, 2000 + people on course and I ran it mostly solo. Its like when you're on a busy highway and you get a patch where there are no cars for 100m each way. I did spend some time running with one lady who's battled all kinds of cancer. Chatting to her put things well into perspective.
5:12 for the 42k. Slow AF but could have been worse.
Post race
Patrick smashed the course , coming in second in his Age Group and securing a spot at Kona. Jeff came in about 30 mins ahead of me ,our closest race yet: :) Gavin had a solid performance finishing somewhere in the middle of the fast and the slow guys .
We had a quick couple of beers back at the hotel then I packed up my bike for a 7am depart the next morning. Thanks Jeff for organizing, Jamie for picking up my bike from transition and congrats Patrick on qualifying. Fun times gents.
IM number 8 done and dusted. I usually end by saying I'm never doing another one, but Ive already signed up for Penticton next year. Plus, Jeff's talking about legacy slots for Kona*. 🙈
I need new friends,
Thanks for reading
*if you do 12 Ironmans you can get in the lottery to go to the world championships.
