Sunday, October 29, 2006

THE DOUBLE
Well, I'm finished. In more ways than one. Actually, I was finished about 1/2 way through the "run" today. I saw a guy lying at the side of cactus alley, part way down from the high point about 2.5 miles into the final leg of the Xterra. He was surrounded by race personnel, looking dazed and confused. Clearly a case of pure and utter exhaustion, either from overwork, or underhydration of both. I could feel my own brain fuzzing in and out, and knew I could just as easily be him if I kept pushing myself too hard at this point. My thighs were starting to feel crushed, like they do when there is no more contractility left in them and they're about to rip apart.

I tried to do the calculations during the race to see what a little niche I found myself in - out of 2300 participants in the Ironman and the Xterra, 50 were doing both - 2%. Ironman itself represented about 3% of all the participants in the qualifying races, who represent probably 25% of all participants in triathlons, who represent some very small % of the total population. The numbers grew so small as to be meaningless, even the fact that I was the oldest man to complete both. None of that uniqueness mattered to me as I was racing. The only thing that DID matter was that I did it. Or them, a week apart.

In the end, they became one event. I feel, after the Xterra, totally, completely drained, unable to even contemplate walking 400 yards down to the beach for the last sunset. I guess I wanted to find out where my limits are at the moment, and I was successful. No more. Also, quite likely, never again. I may do another Ironman at Kona, I will almost certainly do another Xterra here on Maui, but the two together? One event has to be sacrificed for the sake of the other during training, and the only logical choice is, train for the Ironman, and hope for the best in the Xterra. The best? My swim was as slow as last year, my bike was maybe five minutes slower, and my run was about 8 minutes slower (despite running in the sand on Big Beach), overall 15 minutes slower. And I felt much, MUCH worse at the end. The only thing that kept me going at the end was the absurd notion that I could finish with a combined time of 17 hours, which is the Ironman cut-off. Of course, Eneko Llanos, who did both faster than any of us, completed them combined faster than my Ironman time alone. I must remember he's half my age, and trains full time for a living.

There's a lot I'd like to cover in a proper race report, and maybe I will some day soon in an epilogue. But for now, I really, REALLY need some serious recovery time. All things considered, I'd rather be skiing.

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Epilogue: The Race Reports (coming in one week)