Don't Let Your Dreams Be Dreams - My Ironman Race Report

Jack Johnson sings a song I've always liked called "Don't Let Your Dreams Be Dreams". Inspirational words that explain why I wanted to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and then run a 26.2 mile marathon. Why just dream about doing something? Why not actually go do it?!

And so I signed up for the Full Vineman, put a plan in place, surrounded myself with a supportive team (my wife and daughter, good competitive training buddies, and some qualified coaches from Endurance Nation), and trained my butt off for 6+ months. What follows is my take on how rewarding "not letting your dreams be dreams" can be.

Overall Results: 10:54:24, 3rd AG, 14th OA
Going into my first ironman distance race, this past weekend my only goal was to finish though I hoped that with a good day I could go sub-12 hours. To my surprise I somehow put all the pieces together, managed to pace myself on the bike, nailed my nutrition, and had a great day on a tough course in very hot conditions.

The Swim: 60:05, 9th AG, 37th OA
Things didn’t start so well. On my way to the swim start, I dropped my goggles on the beach somewhere, but didn’t notice them missing until I was about to cross the timing mat and enter the water. Fortunately, a fellow athlete found them and was waving at me when I turned around with a blank stare on my face as I was trying to figure out how in the hell I was going to swim 2.4 miles without goggles! Disaster #1 averted. Goggles secured, I hopped into the beautiful Russian River which winds through Sonoma wine country and joined my wave just as they started promptly at 6:45AM. After working my way through the chaos that always ensues at the start I settled into a nice comfortable pace. At just over half-way I took a peek at my watch and saw 32 minutes and change which was where I had hoped to be. The 2nd lap seemed to go faster and as I exited the swim I saw 59:XX on the clock. My actual time was a good six minutes faster than my previous best at this distance and most importantly I felt fresh and ready to getirdun!


T1: 5:37
My T1 was slow. I wasn’t prepared for the wetsuit strippers on exit, so this was a bit confusing as they instructed me to “stand still” as they pulled my sleeves off, then “sit down” as they pulled the suit off my legs. I could probably have done it faster myself, but whatever my suit was off and I was heading to find my bike. The transition area was a combination of stone and dirt so my feet were loaded with sand and dirt when I arrived at my bike. As such, it took me a couple of minutes to wipe them off and put on my cycling shoes. I then drank some Gatorade, threw down a couple of Cliff Shot Blocks, and donned my helmet and arm coolers. I then stuffed all my extra gear into my backpack and ran over to hand it to my wife who was waiting about 20 yards away with Liya our 10 month old daughter. After having my wetsuit stolen out of transition at Wildflower, I figured doing this was a small time sacrifice in the scheme of things. After a quick kiss and hug, I headed out of transition ready for the 112 mile ride…or so I thought.

The Bike: 5:49:01, 10th AG, 42nd OA

As I hopped on my bike and began peddling I quickly noticed my rear wheel was rubbing on something. I checked the rear brake…nada. Then I saw that the rear wheel was rubbing the frame. I’d heard of this happening before on P2Cs, but it’s never happened to me and it wasn’t this way when I did my final mechanical check prior to heading out for the swim?! I thought I could just move the skewer back in the dropouts and it would hold, but after several attempts at this I wasn’t having any luck. Remembering that a bike tech support station was located at the top of the hill about 30 yards away, I ran my bike up to one of the techs who quickly pulled the skewer back, jammed it shut and told me to get on my way. Praying that his fix would work, I told him I owed him a cold one and finally headed out on the bike. Disaster #2 averted.

My last bike race rehearsal didn’t go as well as I had planned, so I was hoping that “game day” would be different. Per my Endurance Nation training plan and coaching advice, my plan was to ride easy for the first 90 minutes and then settle into a steady pace I could hold for the rest of the ride. The first 90 minutes seemed like eternity as I was frequently passed by other athletes pushing bigger gears, climbing out of the saddle, and basically just working hard than they probably should have been this early in the race. I knew my time would come if I just stuck to the plan. I focused on my nutrition and religiously took in a Gu, 16 ounces of Gatorade Endurance, and 2 Salt Stick caplets every 45 minutes or as needed. I’d occasionally pick-up a bottle of water to change it up and also to douse myself with as I noticed that it was getting much hotter than the 86 degree high that was forecasted. At mile 66 I came across my friend Keith Dodson who was having a good day on the bike. We rode together and chatted for a few miles before I decided to press on. At mile 85 I started to see some of those eager beavers that passed me early on, but this time I was comfortably passing them. It looked like my bike pacing strategy was paying off.

I don’t remember much about the last 25 or so miles. I was so tired of being on that bike I was actually looking forward to running for a change. Coming into T2 I checked my watch and saw that I had done the 112 miles in less than 6 hours. Even though I exceeded my target heart rate slightly I felt good, but was still concerned that I might have committed the cardinal Endurance Nation sin of going out too fast on the bike only to blow-up on the run.

T2: 3:22
So after almost 7 hours, I put on my running shoes, sorted out my run nutrition, and headed out to run only my second marathon ever.

The Run: 3:56:17, 4th AG, 15th OA
The path exiting the transition area out of Windsor was lined with spectators and everyone was cheering loudly, “Go LA Tri” (I was wearing my club jersey) which was a big motivator and something I’d look forward to each time on the three loop run course. I didn’t have a chance to scope out the run course in advance, but had heard that it was hilly…and it was. Living and training near the beach I run almost exclusively on pancake flat so this was going to be a challenge. And the heat continued to soar with a reported heat index over 100 degrees and an actual high of 96. Fortunately, the locals along the run course were out in force blaring music and hosing us down which made a huge difference. The aid station volunteers were also simply amazing…not only were they encouraging us along, they were always ready with a smorgasbord of hydration and food options, even ice (which I continuously put down the front and back of my jersey to keep cool).

I ran the first 8.7 mile loop at about a 9 minute pace to make sure my stomach was feeling okay and to get a sense for how much my legs might have left down the stretch. After the first few miles I started taking in water and Gu every three miles or so along with 2 Salt Stick caplets. The second loop I did my best to pick up the pace to about an 8:30, but after a few miles in the intense heat with little shade, my right calf began to tighten up. I did a quick stretch on the side of the road and while the pain didn’t go away, it didn’t get worse and I just hoped it would hold out for the remainder of the run. Sometime during the second loop I went to grab my bottle of salt tabs from my jersey pocket and they were gone. Somehow they had spilled in my pocket and melted away. On such a hot day these were critical to continuing the solid pace I had established and I wasn’t sure that I could continue without them. To my relief the next aid station had a big bottle of salt tabs out for the taking. I grabbed a handful and went on my way. Disaster #3 averted.



I think one of the keys to my being able to run through the heat was seeking out other athletes who were running a similar pace or even slightly faster and running with them, chatting them up, and working off their energy. At the beginning of my third and final lap I came upon a woman who was running a very determined pace (and I later found out was the women’s overall winner). I introduced myself and we chatted for awhile. With about 4.5 miles to go I started thinking about my time for really the first time all day and realized that I had a good shot at going sub-11 hours if I could finish the race off strong. My running partner confirmed that my watch wasn’t lying to me so on I summoned all the energy I could on the next downhill and pushed it with all I had left.

Coming around the turn into the finish chute I saw the clock and knew that I was going to finish my first IM in less than 11 hours! I found my family and gave them a big hug before crossing the tape. I was an Ironman!

Final Assessment
The best thing about this entire race, even beyond finishing far better than I ever dreamed possible, was that I honestly enjoyed it from start to finish. I enjoyed it because I was prepared from a fitness perspective, but also because even though this was my first time at the distance, EN prepared me to execute on game day. I had a few things happen that could have derailed my day, but I did my best to just focus on the job at hand. Clearly my transitions need work and I’ve got lots of room to improve on the run and the bike, but for my first IM…I’ll take it!