The Numbers Are In...Again

After the half Ironman last year I posted my total training miles and calories burned. This year I intended to do the same thing.

Training for this race start in the first week of December and ran all the way through to race day on May 1st. So all this was done in what was, more or less, a 5 month period.

Swim
113,132 yards
64.28 miles
34:53:40

Bike
2,353.29 miles (I could have ridden to the race and then back home)
141:32:17

Run
428.77 miles (I could have run the length of Utah and then some)
102:37:50

Calories Burned
143,470
41 pounds (That a little over the average weight of a 4 year old male)

Total Training Time
279:03:47

The Run & The Finish

I found a video of the swim start today here. The cannon doesn't go off until about 3:20

The run course was a 2 loop out-and-back course that is being considered the most difficult run course of any Ironman. It definitely chewed up a lot of racers that day.

I gave my bike to a volunteer, grabbed my T2 bag and headed into the changing tent to get my shoes on. When I entered the tent who did I see sitting there? Fat Cyclist. He was almost done changing and would definitely get out before me so now I had a rabbit. Heading out of the tent and onto the course met the runners with a steady climb for almost 3 miles. The climbing was steep enough to hurt but not steep enough to justify walking it. The first few miles I was really starting to worry that I might have over cooked myself on the bike. My quads were super tired and I thought that this might be a long run. I saw Kati at mile 2 and I think I told her that I was pretty tired but I don't completely remember.

After three miles the course turned and headed up a steep hill that I'm told was 8%. I had determined before race day that I knew I would be doing some walking on this difficult run course so that I didn't burn out on the first lap. This hill was the first time I walked but it was walking with purpose, I wasn't out for a stroll but when I did walk it was still at good pace. Once I reached the top of that climb there was a little flat another short climb and then it was downhill until the 6.5 mile turn around to face a harder path back. The downhill portions were where I felt that I got my legs back underneath me and got a lot of confidence back. As I was about to reach the turn around I spotted Fat Cyclist heading back towards me meaning that he was about 1 mile ahead. This meant that either he was over cooking himself early on or he was a much stronger runner than I anticipated.

After the turn around I already knew that the way back was going to involve some walking as most of the way back to the left turn into town was all up hill. I ran as often as I thought was not going to overly jeopardize my next loop and as I reached the highest point of the run and was getting ready to start the long descent into town I saw Fat Cyclist as I approached mile 10, turns out he did set out too fast. Heading downhill and back into town to finish my first lap I really felt great and started to toy with the idea that I might actually be able to come in under 13 hours if I could run my second lap as fast as the first.

As I started the second lap and headed out on the long steady climb my calves really started to burn like I had never felt before. At this point my goal was to not walk anymore than I did on the first lap but unfortunately that didn't work out quite like I wanted to because my calf started cramping up and I had to take salt tablets at two consecutive aid stations which helped prevent the cramps but didn't put a dent in the pain.

While physically I was starting to hurt, mentally I was still holding very strong and the way out on my second lap was over before I knew it and I was on my way home. I knew that I wanted to finish this race strong, have no regrets and I also knew at this point that unless I completely collapsed and had to crawl in I was going to come in way below my goal time. I knew where the mile 23 mark was and so once I hit it I told myself that was it and there was no more walking until I crossed that finish line. So I pushed the discomfort to the back of my mind and tried to keep some semblance of a running pace. When I came into 1 mile left I started looking around to see who else around me might be coming into the finishers shoot at the same time as me so I knew whether to speed up or slow down a bit so that I had my moment alone at the end.

Crossing that finish line was one of the greatest experiences of my life. About 100 yards before the end the emotions started to well up. I crossed the line and immediately got snagged by one of the volunteers known as "catchers", these fine people have the responsibility to grab people as they finish to make sure that their legs don't give out and they don't hit the ground. I was the given my medal, finishers hat and shirt and ushered over to the Ironman backdrop to get my picture taken and from there was taken over to my patiently waiting family to get hugs from everyone.

I can't imagine there is anything on this earth as great as hearing the words "Patrick Stoddard, you are an Ironman" announced over the loud speakers. I've watched so many Ironman races on TV and I always get emotional when I see the age groupers come across the line and hear that. Now it was my turn and it was exactly what I thought it would be and more.

So how bad did I really look during the race you ask? Take a look at the pictures. Just type in my bib number (921) and judge for yourself. The race number that went on my helmet flew off the day before the race so I had to go searching for my bike pictures. To take a look at those type in the following number in the photo ID field.

60045-075-012
60045-123-029

60045-459-011

The Bike

The bike course obviously started from the reservoir and made it's way 22 miles into St. George before the 45 mile loop started that we would do twice that day. 112 miles is a long way to ride but this course was set up so great that it was easy to break the whole thing up into more manageable bites. All you had to think about was either 22 or 45, what you had already done or what you still had left to do didn't matter.

The weather trend over the previous few days had been calm in the morning, really windy in the afternoon and then the winds would die down again into the evening. Knowing this I had debated about pushing a little harder on the first loop to get as far into the bike as possible before the winds started up. Kati suggested that this was not a good idea since then I would only be more tired and have a head wind. She was probably right. So I took the first 22 miles relatively easy to save myself for the difficult climbing that lay ahead and I got passed like no one's business. This is also when I realized that I had forgotten to put sunscreen on in T1. That mistake was either going to be inconsequential or absolutely disastrous as there was no shade or cover of any kind on the entire ride. For the first 22 miles I was averaging 16.6mph (All these average speeds I didn't know until after the race) and felt really strong.

For the first couple of miles of the loop there weren't really any hills to speak of until it turned northwest onto highway 91. From here the road conditions deteriorated and got a little rough. Then the turn onto Cr-3184 met us with less patches and tar but worse chip seal road surface, this was our lot all the way up to highway 18. There were three significant hills on the Cr-3184 section of the course. One race report that I read called it the Three Bears because there was a baby bear hill, a momma bear hill and a daddy bear hill all within about 10 miles of each other and each one significantly worse than the last. Baby hill was a longer climb of about three quarters of a mile at a steady 9% grade with a little 13% bump up, momma bear hill was shorter but way steeper. It went about a half mile but was hitting around a 13% grade at it's steepest. When I got to the top of that hill I actually pulled off to the side of the road and got off my bike to make sure that I had my full range of gears because for thinking that I was in granny gear I was grinding on those pedals pretty hard. Unfortunately I was in granny gear and that hill was really just that steep. Then there was Daddy hill. This climb isn't called "The Veyo Wall" for nothin'. This sucker went for 1 mile, the first half mile was steady around 8-9% with a bump up for the last half mile that peaked somewhere around 11-12% and then got even steeper right at the top, this thing was long and the first time that I started to break a sweat all day. Luckily there were crowds at the top that were cheering us on and keeping the motivation going. After I topped out there was a right turn onto highway 18, one more long 5-6% climb and then it was all downhill from there to the start of the second loop. The descending was uber fast. At one point I topped out at 44mph without pedaling. Even at this speed there were still racers that were putting their all into it and passing me at what had to be around 55mph. One of them learned that this was not a good idea because at the last aid station before the second loop started there was someone laid out on the concrete with an ambulance next to them. I can't even imagine the road rash on that guy.

With the start of the second loop I still felt great but noticed that there was a crosswind that was coming in that I would soon be turning into. I started talking to myself and saying that the next 15 miles were going to suck until I got back onto highway 18 so I needed to get ready for that. It was also at this point that Fat Cyclist passed me. I paced him for a little while until my heart rate got too high and I had to tell myself that this was stupid. Beating Fat Cyclist was not my ultimate goal for the day, finishing the race and having a enjoyable time doing it was, so I let him go.

The second 45 mile loop, in my eyes, went just about as well as the first except for the three bears. They were much tougher this time. Not only for me but obviously for others as well since there were people walking up some of them. I had determined along time ago that there was no way I was getting off the bike and walking any hills on this course so I clamped down, steadied my cadence and went griding up the hills. On momma hill I had to get out of the saddle to get some weight on my legs to push down the pedals and on daddy hill I had to alternate between sitting and standing to give different muscles a chance to pull their own weight up. Topping out on Veyo Wall for the second time was such a great feeling. I knew from here I was at about 90 miles and that most of the rest of the way to the end was down hill. But the race coordinators had one more surprise up their sleeve for us.

I bombed down the descents again reaching 44mph and spun my legs so that they wouldn't lock up on me before the run. At the end of the second loop we didn't get to continue on into town but had to add on an extra little loop on a bike trail through a neighborhood. We also had to do this loop at the start of our first loop and I hated it. The loop was less then a half mile, had some steep descents into sharp turns that were just asking for someone to crash on. The difference on the second loop was that we had to ride down a good descent, do the loop and then climb right back up that descent that was about a half mile long and went about 9%. Remember this was after we already had 110 miles on our legs. After this final climb I made my last turn and had a slight descent into T2.

Dismounting my bike at T2 was really the only snag that I had on the bike and I do mean a "snag" literally. When I went to kick my leg over the seat I caught my tri shorts on my seat mounted bottle cages, ripped my shorts and ended up getting caught by one of the volunteers before I went all the way over.

The bike leg went far better than I could have expected. Being from Texas there was really no way to train for the hills that I would be faced with on race day. The race reported to have 4,500ft of climbing but on my long rides where I purposely climbed as much as I find I was only able to fit in about 2,800ft. This was obviously a concern going into the day. I also thought that there would have been a number of times where my mental strength would start wain and that I would have to pull myself up by the boot straps and be my own drill sargent. It never really happened. I can only guess that it had to do with the fact that I was never really alone on the ride, there were always other people around that were still pedaling so why couldn't I keep going?

Race Morning & The Swim

By the time the alarm went off at 3:50am on Saturday morning I hadn't had a good night sleep in 3 days. Once we arrived in St. George on Wednesday the gravity of this entire event really sank in. If my mind was occupied with something like the expo or driving the course or even just sitting and talking to family or watching TV I was just fine but once the lights went out and I was left to my thoughts my mind would race over everything that was about to happen. I was nervous, anxious and worried that the preparations I had made over the last 5 months were not going to be sufficient on this difficult Ironman course. So when the alarm went off it was really no problem to get up because I was already awake.

The athlete shuttles from the finish line to the reservoir ran from 4:30-5:30 so Kati dropped me off and I hopped on the bus. This is one of only two races I've done alone so that shuttle down to the swim start was a long lonely ride. Once I got there I got my bike set up and sat down next to it to eat breakfast which consisted of a bagel (270 calories) and peanut butter (approx. 500 calories), 1 Ensure (250 calories) and 1 Gu gel about 15 minutes before the swim start (100 calories).

My sweet bike spot right at the end of the row, easy to find running out of the changing tent

Luckily Kati and I were able to find each other at the race start, especially since she had to take a different shuttle that morning. It was great to have some company until the swim started. We were also perfectly placed while I was putting on my wetsuit because one of the last spectator shuttles unloaded right next to us which had my mom, brother-in-law and cousin on it. It was great to see them and be able to get their well wishes.

Right after I got my wetsuit on I heard the cannon that started the pros race, this meant that I only had about 10 minutes before I was suppose to start swimming.

The swim start was the main thing that I was most nervous about. I've only had a few races where there were mass swim starts and some of them went great, others went horrible. Mentally I had to realize that I wasn't surrounded by 2,000 other athletes but only 6 or 7, which in actuality is really what's going on. I figured that the pecking order of the swim start would sort itself out by those that were anxious to get a sweet spot near the starting line getting in the water first and those that were a little more reserved getting in a little later. Apparently this doesn't work when the water is 59 degrees and no one wants to get in. I eventually just had to get in and made my way to the starting line while more than half the field remained on the beach. I had predetermined that I would start farther away from the buoy line and let those more anxious to take the straight shot to the first turn battle it out however they wanted. In my spot I was only about 5 people back from the starting line which made me a little nervous as I didn't know the intentions of those behind me. When the gun went off was I going to get completely steam rolled or were the people behind me more nervous then I was?

The announcer called out 7 more minutes, then 2 minutes later he called out 3 more minutes and I wanted those two extra minutes that he stole from me back. Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" started blaring over the speakers, getting the adrenalin going and then the cannon went off. I must say that it was very chaotic in the water but not nearly as physical as I was prepared for. I occasionally got an elbow to the head or someone trying to swim up over me but in those times I would just kick harder to either get away from flying elbows or to kick the person behind to dissuade them from their current path.

The swim course is a 1 loop swim which is pretty unusual for an Ironman race, usually they split it up into 2 loops. In the athlete's meeting on Thursday night the race director announced the distances between the swims. From the start to the first turn was 1,000 meters, first turn to second turn 600 meters, second turn to third turn 1,600 meters (1 mile), and from the third turn to the exit was 600 meters. I was a little concerned about that 1 mile stretch of swim with no turns or anything else to break it up and thought that I would lose focus.

Somehow after the first turn I made my way all the way across the the hordes and ended up about 30 yards inside the buoy line. I still have no idea how this happened. From there I had to angle myself south so that I was pointed towards the second turn because you can swim inside the buoy line but you still have to turn outside of the turn buoys. The long 1 mile stretch was far less daunting then I imagined it would be and before I knew it I was passing the rock island that is just before the final turn.

I obviously had not looked at my watch up to this point but I was pretty sure that I just had a stellar swim. When I got out of the water I looked at my watch and it said 00:13. What? something had definitely gone wrong. I knew that I started my watch as the canon went off but I must have hit it upon exiting the water. So I just pressed on, grabbed my transition bag and made my way into the changing tent. This tent was a zoo. There were chairs set up everywhere and almost every single one was taken. I grabbed the first empty seat that I saw and started throwing on my sock and arm warmers (it was 45 degrees when the race started so by this time it was still in the 50's). Transition took far longer than I thought it would and I think that most of that time was spent trying to get arm warmers on wet arms, they don't slide on as easy then.

I finally got everything on, stuffed my wetsuit in the bag, gave it to a volunteer and ran out to my bike which is when I heard the announcer say that we were 1:17 into the race. From there I knew that I had swam the 2.4 miles somewhere around a 1:10 which was far better than my goal. I wanted to have the swim done and be out of transition in under 1:30. Great start to the day. It wasn't until I had finished the race that I found out that I had actually beat 14 professional triathletes out of the water!

I believe that I had a pretty big advantage over a lot of the field in the swim. Not that I'm some fantastic swimmer but being in Texas I had been swimming in the lake in cold temperatures for the previous 5 or 6 weeks whereas those that were from further north didn't have that opportunity to get any open water swims in until a few days before the race.

The race was off to a good start.