"He congratulates me and we talk about the match over a beer. He says he hates that kind of heat and humidity. I tell him I love it. He says they have to do something about the planes flying overhead during a match. I tell him I love those planes." -Brad Gilbert
I've been reading a few books by Brad Gilbert, and this quote from Winning Ugly really spoke to me. How you approach what can be seen as a negative; headwinds, heat, rough roads, a bad start...It makes a huge difference in these long races if you can see it as an advantage. What really is interesting to me about Gilbert, a workhorse, a thinker, a grinder, who made a long and successful career in tennis, was that he became an athlete like that. It wasn't his natural predisposition. It didn't define his early game. He committed himself to becoming that athlete.
After Coeur d'Alene, I figured I'd get back to racing fairly soon. Planned to race about 3 races then Rev 3 Cedar Point. Well, an incredibly stiff neck stretched out to about 3 1/2 weeks, before I figured out something was actually wrong with me, and began getting treatment from the guru, Dr. Chris Ramsey. Got better soon after, but minus a bike/run at Rolf Prima's Tri at the Grove (that actually went really well), I was going into Cedar Point with no racing between iron distance races. Not ideal, but the prep had gone well, and I felt confident.
You have to be honest with yourself. You have to decide if you're working your way up the ladder, or if something's wrong. Well, something was wrong with the way I was approaching my bike. The workouts were designed well by my coach, Cliff, but I wasn't putting enough thought into really executing the wattage and the workouts perfectly. Cliff didn't make drastic changes to the program. I made drastic changes to how I approached those workouts. My goal was to improve my focus on my bike, and still keep the run focus the same. Probably need to rethink my mental swim focus now.
Pretty tired after the (almost) cross-country flight, and overslept through the Friday practice swim. With no pools in the area, I figured Saturday's practice swim would work. Except it was cancelled because of bad weather. So I was going 3 days without swimming leading into the race. Still, I had been swimming better in training, so I figured I'd be fine.
Like I said before, I was confident, and started the swim in great position, except that position where I got dropped like a stone about 400 meters in. Stuck swimming solo for most of the 2 lap swim, I must have gotten off course, added a bouy or something, because when I got out of the water, I was WAY slower than I've ever been, and quite I few athletes I never saw pass me were up the road on the bike. Frustrating, but it is a very long day, and I wasn't ready to throw in the towel.
Heading out to the ride, I had a very specific pacing plan. But with the slow swim, wind in my face, and riding solo, I saw the writing on the wall. Another finish farther back than I'd like, out of the money and over 9hrs. I didn't have great legs, but I was feeling "game"...up for a challenge. I had a feeling that I could ride hard, above threshold, and still manage the day. So I just put my head down, and rode hard, ignored the plan for the 1st hr, and got up a little bit. Passed some guys, and felt a bit better about my position in the race, and the pace I was holding.
Had a tough patch around 60 miles, my hip was super tight, and my power was dropping pretty quickly. So I made an interesting decision. I got off and stretched it out. In the past, I'm sure I would have figured that was it for me, I blew it. But after I stretched it, took another quick bathroom break, I got back on my bike, and got back on pace. 4:4x ride, pretty much totally solo, but not terrible.
Into transition, I felt pretty decent, you know, besides the whole riding 180k thing. My pace was hot, and had to control myself as the Garmin pace had me in the high 6:20's. But I didn't slow it down past 6:30 flat. I also made sure I was getting in calories and fluids according to plan. Am I ready yet to run 6:30 pace for the Ironman marathon? No, but like the bike, I had a feeling I was capable of going out hot, moving up some spots, and then holding on for dear life. Would it hurt? Sure, but the 2nd half of the marathon hurts anyway, so why not bank some fast miles while I can? I ran the 1st 1/2 of the marathon in 1:25. Had some rough patches in there, but had a nice battle with Zach Ruble, chasing him for pretty much the whole run. I ran 3:01, with 26.65 miles on my Garmin. He held me off by less than 2 minutes, but it was fun, "racing" an Ironman.
8:52:16. 9th Overall, and some money for the effort. It was a good day, I was happy with how I held together, and fought for the best result I had in me on the day. Still, I have a lot of confidence that I had a better race in me that day, as well as room to improve in the future. Victor Zyemtsev won this race and Ironman Coeur d'Alene, and I significantly reduced my gap to him this time. It's a gap I can work from.
Again, I was just thankful to be able to be healthy and competing. Thanks to everyone who supports me, allows me to see these improvements that keep me working. My unbelievably supportive family, my boys watched the live feed waiting for me to come in... all the texts, emails, phone calls after the race from friends. It means so much to have your support. To the whole crew at Athletes Lounge, thanks for doing such a great job and allowing me to train and race like this. To my sponsors, Blue Seventy, Rolf Prima, Rudy Project, Garmin, Quietly Fierce Media, Ameriprise.... It's been great having a real relationship with you guys. I do my best to represent you guys well, and I'll continue to do what I can to repay your support. Big thanks to my coach Cliff English, who continues to push me and oversees the whole plan. To Jesse Kropelnicki who helped me be 6 lbs lighter than CDA, as well as having an excellent (and repeatable) nutrition plan. Also a big thanks to Chris Bagg, who in addition to being a great training partner, has also been a huge help in dialing in my power plan in training and racing.
Also, special thanks to the crew at Rev 3. It was a great event, and I met a ton of cool people. I was hanging out that night at the finish line, talking, laughing, trading t-shirts (pics soon), it was just a blast. I'm definitely planning to race there again next season. You guys do a great job, and the people participating were some of the coolest and most likeable people I've hung out with at a race. Thanks for making it a great weekend.
I'll post the rest of the race season plans soon. Right now I'm enjoying the downtime with my whole family, and really looking forward to the pain in my legs subsiding.
Thanks for reading
