Long Day at the Races

IM Brazil 2009 is in the record book!

It was a long day at the races, though....and I set new personal bests for slowest IM run and slowest IM race....and came pretty close to slowest IM bike, too! It's always a little sad when the highlight of your Ironman race day was a strong T1!

I truly appreciate all the well-wishes before and after the race. I told coach Justin on race night that it would take a while for my spirit to recover, but having ample encouragement from family and friends has helped.

I've shared some of the race day stories already, and any short account is an over-simplification, but here's how it went down....

The swim went reasonably well. The conditions were very rough, though (the worst I've ever tried to swim in, really). Because of the conditions, the race probably got off to a rather slow start....and this helped to avoid some of the typical fray at the beginning. I made it around the 2 loops in 1:02, thankful I didn't drown, but having spent much more energy than the swim usually takes....and much more energy than I'd like to have spent.

There was intermittent rain on the bike ride, the skies were cloudy, and the temps were in the 60's. It turned out to be a record-setting bike split for the winner, though, so conditions were pretty good. I got off to a rough start with a flat in mile #2....and it took me (and eventually, a mechanic) forever to change the tubular. I had troubles with high HR and low power output for the entire ride. The ride took 6:46 and finished with a 2nd flat. Looking back at the PT and Garmin files, it was a constantly decelerating ride, with ever-lower HR, too. I didn't have specific nutrition problems, but Justin and I were wondering now about dehydration. Who knows?

I set out on the run, determined to run to the finish, but lasted only the first hour or so before having to walk. I really wanted to finish, though, so it was a long (and eventually pretty lonely) evening on the run course. When I spotted the clock at the finish line, I had to sprint the final 50 yards to make it just under 15 hours.

Sometimes after a poor race, it's easy to point at one factor or another that was responsible. I'm not sure that's the case here, though. Training had gone well, I felt well rested at the start, conditions were good, nutrition seemed to work out OK, but somehow it didn't all come together at the race. So....I'm not sure yet what to learn from the IM Brazil experience.


We enjoyed a celebration dinner with the EST group at a Brazilian steakhouse on Monday after the race. Good food and good company....Gerd from Kona and Ron & Dina from Portland.

Looking ahead....

On Saturday, I'm doing the swim leg for a relay with Bobby S. and Lesley R. at the Heatwave Triathlon here in Ridgeland. I haven't been in town for this race the past 2 years, so it should be fun to race AND cheer for my friends as they finish the race.

And next Sunday, I'll be doing the Great Chesapeake Bay 4.4 mile swim. I'm looking forward to the weekend with family in DC/Annapolis and the chance to do a great open water swim on Sunday.

Then it's back to the training routine. I'm planning to do 3 shorter triathlons and finish the season with IM Florida in November.


Onward....