Sunday, October 21, 2006
SUNDAY: THE RACE
Brief race report. Finished in 12 hours 13 minutes. LOOOONG swim; current, wind, other complained of “chop” but I didn’t notice it. Bike:as advertised – there was a headwind BOTH coming and going between Kawaihae and the top of the hill before the airport. Coolest part was flying by the men’s leaders at (their) miles 23. Chris McCormack, though 3+ minutes behind Nromann Stadler, was clearly running very strong, while Normann looked – choppy, Macca just ran out of real estate, gaining about 2 minutes in the last 3 miles, and 12 over all with fast run split of day @ 2:46. His 8:13 was a winning time most years, but – Stadler set a race record with a 4:18 bike split. My bike time was OK – about 6:18. Just as I’d anticipated, when I was coming around on Kuikini in the first half mile of the run, I got my picture taken about 100 times, as NORMANN was running me down on his way to victory. Then, just as I made the turn left onto Ali’i, Chris McCormack comes running up to me to turn right for home. Watching the race like this from my bird’s eye view was clearly fun, and charged me up. My first two miles on the run were under 9 minutes (I averaged 10 minutes a mile overall), file:///Users/Al/and my last 24 miles on the bike I averaged 19.6, with 17.75 overall.
My BIGGEST fear for this race was that I would blow up and finish in 13:30 or something. But in the event, I got a marathon PR by a few seconds for an Ironman. My previous best was over 5 years ago on a perfectly flat course in 61F overcast/foggy conditions along the coast at IM California in Oceanside – a far different environment than here. But three things were similar. I arrived at the race venue 12 days in advance, compared to 2 weeks here. I stayed at my sister’s house; here, I had my own home away from home. I did the race in my Adidas Cubato racing flats. And I “loafed” the bike in 6:06, 20 minutes slower than the other 2 IMs I did 2000-2002. Here, I made a great effort (until the last 17 miles or so) to rein in my bike, concentrating on keeping my heart rate low, my fluid and calorie intake up. My primary concern in this race was to have a respectable run, and to beat my overall time from Wisconsin, where I qualified. The weather in Madison was equally hot and humid, with a hilly, windy bike.
The weather today was remarkable for several things. Temperatures were nominal, averaging 87 (91 max on the lava) in the day and 82 after 6 PM. The swim was in a brisk wind, with increased currents. The sky was mainly overcast, which helped reduced radiational heating, but increased the humidity. And, just after I finished, there was a deluge, a gully washer, a rain of biblical proportions. A half hour after me, people were running down Ali’i 600 meters from the finish in SHIN DEEP water (pictures soon). I took a shower just by standing out for a few minutes before getting my medal. While walking thru the transition area, I swear I felt wetter than I did during the swim.
Final star vignette: at the aid station coming out of the energy lab, I started looking for my usual chicken broth and/or coke (I’d switched over from Gatorade by this point). A volunteer very insistently yelled “Water” over and over at me, and I finally looked at him. Peter Reid. He looked me right in the eye, and said, “Water!”. Of course I took it, and said, with as much sincerity and warmth as I could muster, “Thank you very much, Peter!” I mean, the guy just retired after winning here 3 times, and more IM wins than any other male. And he decided he wanted to give back to this race by coming out and volunteering at an aid station – this was the one he wanted, as it comes at a time when you need a boost the most. What a guy.
Overall, I was satisfied with my result, and, more important, with my performance and focus during the race. Of course, I was thrilled just to be here, but I think I also represented myself well at what, for me at least, is the toughest Ironman course and conditions I’ve ever encountered. How the pros can go as fast as they do is beyond me, e.g., Chris McCormack has 3 8 hour IM results to his credit in the last few years, and goes 8:13 here. So I feel pretty good about a time which is only 16 minutes slower than my most recent Coeur d’ Alene result, and 32 minutes off my PR. AND, which include a marathon PR for me. IM IS all about the run, unless you’re Normann Stadler, I guess.