Where to start, where to start...
This season sucked. Like seriously sucked ass. But, just as anything can change at any given time, this season turned out to finish in a pretty bad ass and rewarding way - a pretty solid race in Kona.
The day started at my typical and superstitious 3:01am as the alarm went off and I was up. Fast forward to the car...
We all got in the minivan around 4:45 and were off to Kailua from the Sheraton. Nerves in the car were pretty chill. I had nothing to lose on this day - I had no idea or expectations for how I could or would perform this year. We got to town and they dropped me off at the King Kem hotel for the body marking, weigh in, and pre race reqs. Beth got out with me and we separated as I went in to get numbered. The numbers were a bit different this year - tattoos. I liked the stamps that they had used every previous year, but tattoos were cool too. I went to find my specific number and was happy to see Sammi and Kevin Curry from Boulder hanging out ready to put my # on.
I got through numbering, then went on to weigh in. I was frighteningly heavy to start the race - 158lbs fully hydrated. This is a good 10lbs over what I would normally be on any given morning. I think I did put on some weight over the taper period this year, but don't think that it came to hurt in the end. Let's just say that 3 weeks post race (as I write this) I feel fat.
I found Beth after weight check, then went to transition to drop the nutrition/bottles for the bike. This was the first year and first Iron-distance race that I had latex tubes installed so I was going to have to top off the tires too. I brought a pump that sucked and ended up finding another that would work with my valve extenders. Got one and topped the tires off at 120psi - more often than not, the highest psi makes me feel better mentally. Even if it's going to be a bit bumpy or if I have deal with chip-seal, I'll take the tires to 120. Not the smartest, but that's what I do.
I left transition, went to the port-o-crapper and had limited success. Not the kind of thing I needed. I borrowed someones phone to call Beth and found them.
Aiden has no trouble whatsoever getting up early. At home, we spend many hours together in the am. I usually get up around 4-4:30. He's up by five. Genetics.
I hung out with the family until the professionals went off. Last year, I made the mistake of being right by the entrance to the water too early. I ended up treading water for 25 or so minutes.
Aiden was actually kind of into this thing and understood a bit of what was going to take place. For whatever reason, I took a ton from a few hugs that I got from him before the start. Having a little kid has been emotional motivation for sure.
A pretty bad-ass one from my wife too and I was good to go. I waved goodbye then headed over to get ready for a little snorkeling adventure before I start the coolest day in endurance sport. I got onto the beach and walked over to the far end to see my new buddy Bruce Richter. Bruce is an awesome guy who I got to know through the internet over the past year. We had both qualified at IMFL last November and we were both a bit injured coming into this race. Read his blog
here.
The spot where my fam watched the start. The sea wall is PACKED - my dad and wife were sitting on the rocks you see below.
This is how everyone gets in. 1800 people slowly place themselves for 30 minutes.
Swim:
My experience in the water last year was nothing short of miserable. I swam horribly and was in non-stop contact for the whole 1:07 that it took me. I was hoping for a different experience.
I lined up almost all the way left and a few rows back from the front. My swimming fitness was a bit better and I felt stronger this year, thus was hoping to break an hour. I procrastinate when it comes to the swim and rely on my years of swimming as a kid to get me through this. I had 5-6 solid weeks of swimming for this race and felt good about it.
With a few minutes to go, I was cold but ready. Dude next to me gave me a good laugh (can't remember what the one-liner was) and canon went off. No warning - just go time.
Contact right away as expected, but damn I felt pretty good. Like real good. I was wearing a Garmin 910xt so I was pretty stoked to have some gauge of distance during the swim. Within 400 or so yds, I was contact free, feeling strong as an ox (a pussy ox) and ready for the bike. I still had a ways to go though.
I continued to be in control of my position and in control of my stroke, thus was able to remain contact free for a long time. I think I got stuck in a pack at some point out, but was able to get myself out quickly. I hit a mile on the watch at about 21:30 and was STOOOOKKEEEED! I don't know how accurate the GPS is on the swim, but was excited none the less.
I hit the turnaround point at 27-28 minutes and was STOOOOKKEEEED AGAIN!
The way back, I remained in control of the stroke and position. I drafted with a dude for the first time in a swim ever due to this new-found control and it was great.
I did not break an hour as there must have been a current, but feel as though I had a great swim none the less.
Time: 1:03:58 - What I learned this year was that swimming will set me up for the race.
Dear Colin,
you should train for swimming more than a month before an ironman... You will be in control and have a much better first leg if you do this in the future. Do this and it may help you accomplish your goals. Quit procrastinating and don't be a dumb-ass about races next year. Swim more.
-Yourself
Bike:
T1 went fine. I have gotten better about being quick here, but still error on the side of making sure I have everything. I finally learned to NOT pack sunglasses here. They always are unusable by the 20 mile mark on the bike. Better off leaving those till T2.
Leaving T1, I forgot sun screeners for the second year in a row. Because most everyone swims around 1:00 to 1:10, the first transition is f-ing packed. No sunscreen again has me about ready to be racing/raising money as a melanoma survivor by the age of 35.
Mounting the bike, my damn gps signal wasn't working. I had power, but no GPS! Should I re-set the thing and risk playing with it till it was right? Should I just ride with power? I had never ridden with power for a full before, but had a 200w avg goal in mind. All my long rides were done at 180-195w avg, and I knew with nutrition and caffeine that I could probably hold 200. I chose to leave the thing and rely on power, time, and mile markers to know my progress.
Heading out on the kuakini highway for the first out and back. This is a really fun and energizing first part of the bike. TONS of people, unavoidable drafting, and being out of the water makes for a perfect warmup. I was holding a bit high wattage - but was cool with it. I'll settle down soon.
Aiden watching some riders fly by on the Kuakini
Mom and Dad probably by the Kuikini portion.
This was most likely later in the day.
Reality hits when you ride up Palani and get onto the Queen K. The bike starts here. Goal here was to hit the wattage and stay to it since that's what I had to go off of. I did, and I was good to go.
I had a really good feeling about the winds this year after watching the forecasts all week. Last year was a bitch of a time on the bike. Heading out towards Kawaihae had a bit of a tailwind, but not bad like last year. It was very easy to hold 26-30mph on this section (from the splits I saw post race).
The turn at Kawaihae was fast, then up to Hawi is a trek. I think it's something like 20 miles up with some rollers. The wind was super low and it felt hot because of that. This is the portion that is cool because you get to see the professional leaders in the race on the descent.
I kept between 200 and 225ish watts here all the way up to the turnaround. Made the turn at Hawi, grabbed my special needs bag without any issue. I had a 12 oz red bull and some gels + a bottle in there. Chugged the red bull.
Heading back to the Kawaihae turn was hot and I remember something in my mouth tasting quite horrible before the turn. I had taken a peanut-butter bonk breaker (food bar) a bit back and it must have mixed with some other disgusting stuff in my gut.
I switched over to grab bottles of Coke at every aid station from here on back. The headwinds hit hard for the last 25 - 30 miles and it was a fight. I never really hit any kind of a wall here - that was super surprising. I usually want to kick my bike to the side of the road and yell at it at about mile 85 of an Ironman, but that feeling never really came. I had switched the style of my aerobars the week before in Colorado, so I think that may have kept me feeling a bit more comfortable/happy through the ride.
I rode a 5:13 in horrible conditions here last year, and had hopes of being below 5:10. With 10 or so miles to go, I actually thought that 5:05 was possible. When I made the turn towards the high school, I was like "shit, I got a chance at sub 5" I was off the bike at 4:57:40 and very happy with that. Overall, I think I took in 2000 or so calories and 15 saltstick tabs.
Run:
Here is where I was unsure. Confident, but unsure. I was still in pain when I walked at times, so I was questionable about running a marathon. I was also about to use some Hoka's for the 26.2. I bought these shoes about 6 weeks before as I started to transition out of the walking boot and into running. I am used to wearing Sacauny type A5 racing flats as my normal training shoe - so Hoka's were a complete change in weight for me. Very heavy shoes compared to the A5's. I was also scared about the Hoka's holding onto water and becoming heavy and drenched. Whatever - time to run.
In T2, I grabbed another red bull and chugged it. I also grabbed a hat, sunglasses, and my Grandfathers scapula to wear. I know that my grandparents are with me through these races so I like to bring a part of them with me. I had a pin of santa clause of my late grandmother with me on my race belt as well. Grams and Gramps are my guardian angels in these races.
I was off an running and all was good.
The marathon in an ironman is the best, BEST, BEEESSSSSTTT, part of the race. I love running. I was shooting for a conservative sub 10 hour finish after a good swim/bike, so I knew I had time. My ironman marathon pr is a 3:10, and I thought I could probably run a 3:25 to 3:30 after the broken foot.
I started at 6:45 - 6:55 miles for the start. It felt easy. It felt good. Out on Ali'i drive is all good - lots of people and ocean views. It was hot and muggy - more humid than last year. I felt great and the foot felt happy. It continued this way for a while.
I felt a blister on the back of my right foot after 8 or so miles and weighed the pros/cons of stopping to put a bandaid on. I stashed 3 bandaids in my saltstick tab bag. If I stop, I lose 30 seconds. If I keep going, I may lose the whole run and have to walk. I stopped and did the band-aid.
The Hokas were magic. I was floating and the quads were happy because of it. They were retaining minimal water and were not weighing me down. I saw dad and told him the foot was doing fine. Then, around mile 10 is the climb up Palani. Its a steeeeeeeep climb and reminds me of something like heartbreak hill in Boston (steepness wise). This is where I saw my wife and son. Here, I did something I had never done before and stopped. I gave Aiden a kiss first then Beth. That was an amazingly energizing moment. One of the coolest moments of my whole race. Seeing my 3 year old son smiling was amazing. I'll never forget this. Look at the pic below... This is right before I stopped.
I was out on the Queen K for the last 16ish miles of the run. 16 miles feels like it goes by crazy fast when you are feeling good. After all, it's only about two hours out of a 9+ hour day for me. I passed the half marathon point in a low 1:30ish. I knew that I could probably walk/jog the rest and cruise in for a 9:45 or so. If I ran a great back half, I could possibly break 9:20, but realistically was looking at a 9:2x:xx race.
Up to/in to the natural energy lab all was good. I was slowing as I usually do. Just trying to hit 7:30-7:45 per mile here. I got the special needs bag in the NEL and drank another red bull. I remember the smell of burgers on the grill here and thinking that it would be nice to chill/have a quick one.
Out of the lab and a few miles to go. I felt good, but slowed a bit more - this was all about damage control at this point with minimal run training leading up to the race. With 4 miles to go, I had my right quad start to seize up at every downhill. I wanted to keep my sub 9:30 so I really chilled out with these last few miles.
The final climb up the Queen K was there, drank my last cup of Coke and took the right turn down Palani. It is literally all downhill from there. I didn't want to have to walk, so I had to take the downhill super easy. I saw Dad and Beth there, then the left on Kuakini with a mile or so left. I was going to go sub 9:30. Sweet.
Made the turn on Ali'i drive and headed to the finish. I enjoyed it so much more this year. I took it easy as I was not in contention for anything other than a badass time and a sweet narcissistic photo. I let the three people in front of me go for it so I could have my moment in the finisher chute.
The Kona that almost wasn't just was. 9:26:23 - 22 minutes faster than last year. I was cool with that.
Done, met the family, then I was drinking beer before I knew it. That's how Ironman racing is supposed to go. An absolute shit season ended with success. Thank you Grams and Gramps - I know you were with me ever step of the way.
The top things I learned from this years race:
1. Kona is an awesome course for a full Iron distance race. More than other races I have done, Kona is amazingly easy to break up into segments. These physical segments break up the distance into so many parts, thus the mind is able to set mini-goals throughout the day.
2. Given the right conditions, Kona can be a fast course.
3. Iron-distance racing gets better with experience. I just don't get why people would do an ironman in there first few years in the sport. Experience matters.
4. Bouncing back from injury can happen. It can also give someone a much needed break.
5. I still love racing Ironman more than any other thing I could imagine doing for a hobby.
6. I am an extremely lucky individual. I am blessed with not only the physical/mental ability to race at this level, but have a family who supports me to no end. God is good.
The absolute highlights of this race and experience:
- Seeing my father on the road right before the run up Palani, then seeing my Mother, Wife, and Son about 2/3rds the way up that hill and stopping to actually give my son a kiss and see a HUGE smiling face and to turn and give/get one from Beth as well.
- My foot not breaking in the middle of the run
- The swim was enjoyable
- I WAS IN HAWAII!
- My son being old enough to really respond to what he was witnessing
- I WAS IN HAWAII!!!
The absolute low-points of this years race and experience:
- The gross taste in my mouth at the Kawaihae turn. That's it. Seriously - I felt that great for the whole 9:26.
