I drove the bike course and the run course the day before the race. I don’t often get around to doing this, but I wanted to see this course for myself. I don’t know if that was a good idea or not. The first hill up from transition would be a tough hill in many other races. In this race it just gets things started. Thinking about the hills that my eyes were taking in on the run course actually made me swallow hard as I imagined running them in the 100 degree heat. Driving this course scared me and made me very humble quick fast and in a hurry. I knew I would continually pray throughout the next day for the strength to finish this course.
This race is put on by Mike and Marti Greer. They are quite the couple of characters, and it was entertaining to watch them at the meetings.
I am glad I drove the course the day before, or I might have had trouble finding the race in the morning. I woke up at 2:30 a.m. to start getting ready. I was the second car there in the parking lot. I set up my transition and went to see the swim in. In the dark I accidently stepped into the lake wetting my shoe and sock. Great I thought. I figured out a way to remedy the situation however. They had these gas powered generators powering these giant portable lights in transition. I put my sock on the exhaust pipe to dry my sock and it worked.
This race is one of the few Ironman races that has a Clydesdale division. And better yet a 40+ Clydesdale division. I looked at the numbers from years past and thought I might even have a shot at placing. Since it is the only Clydesdale division I know of in Ironman races it is well represented and competitive, but still I am a fast Clydesdale. I had asked the Greers to put in the division when I learned of it. I was racked with all the other Clydesdales in transition. Man these guys were not fat like me, they were just big and ripped. After driving the course and seeing my competition, I gave up on the idea of placing.
Swim
Somehow I miscalculated time and thought I had more time until my swim heat. The only other time this has happened to me was the last time I was in Texas in Austin. My heat went off and I still didn’t have my wetsuit on completely on. I quickly pulled on my cap and goggles and ran into the already departing fray. I realized I still had my headlamp on which I tossed. I spent the entire swim Swimming trough the obstacle course of slower bodies. Even though the water was 75.9 degrees (barely wetsuit legal) I did not overheat. I also took it easy and made sure I didn’t over exert, I knew it was going to be a long hot day. My swim actually fell within my normal range which was surprising to me given that I felt like I was taking it easy.
I ate more calories pre-race and also tried to consume more this entire race given the experience I had 12 miles into Hawaii. After analysis I have come to the conclusion that I bonked in Hawaii. I ate a gel in T1 and headed out to the bike course. That first hill out of transition is no joke. It had me redlining right out of the T1.
Bike
Although the surfaces of the roads looked rough to me the day before, they weren’t bad. This course has some crushing hills, but it also has a lot of great flats where I made up time that I lost climbing. Surprisingly I must say I actually enjoyed this bike course. I ate, hydrated and took my salt supplements religiously on this ride, trying to consume as much as possible. The hills were difficult, but not as bad as I had anticipated. They are evenly spaced with lots of flat in between them. The Staircase is the most difficult climb, but I was up it before I knew it. The hill in ITU San Diego is far more difficult. I finished the bike course feeling good. Don’t get me wrong, it was difficult and I was tired, but I was not burnt. I was ready to run and I had saved some gas in the tank for what I knew would not be and easy run. While on the bike I took note of the horses. They would always stop by the fence and take great interest in the cyclists. They seemed intrigued. It was not something they saw everyday and you could tell. I whistled at a few of them and tried to get them to run with us. Another intrigued native population was the prairie dogs. They would stand erect and watch us go by with great interest. I almost hit a tarantula that was crawling across the course just after I came back down the staircase.
Run
Despite some crushing hills, I liked the run course. It is a fun course. I headed out and felt good for the first few miles. I was passing lost of athletes who had obviously pushed the bike too hard. It felt good to run so many people down. I was taking on ice and water and staying on top of my temperature as well as nutrition. I wasn’t very hot yet and the first few miles actually have some shaded portions. After driving the course the day before I had made the decision to walk the long steep hills. There was no question in my mind about it. In that heat those hills would be race enders. You really don’t lose that much time by walking these hills and reserving the ability to run after the hill is invaluable. Sure I could have run that first hill, but it would have cost me the ability to run strong the rest of the race. There were plenty of people who found that out. Tons of people were walking the energy lab which is a beautiful flat stretch for anyone who hasn’t blown their engine. Some of the hills had aid stations relatively close to the beginning of the assent. I loaded up on water and ice and instead of stressing my body on the climb I used the hill to hydrate and cool down. Once at the top of the hill I would then blow past everyone who ran up the hill. This strategy is particularly important for a big heavy guy like me who already runs with a heart rate of 150+. This becomes even more important in a hot run like this one. Once your temperature reaches critical, your body will start to slow you in an act of self preservation. One thing training in the heat has taught me is that heat is more damaging than distance or even extreme effort. I recover faster from both distance and a hard effort much faster than I do a training session where I became overheated. Now I am not going to give myself license to walk every hill in a race. In fact there were plenty of smaller shorter hills on this run that I ran. I am now a believer in the wisdom of walking those long steep extended, heart rate spiking, blood pressure raising, critical temperature driving monster hills. There is no wisdom in running up one of these hills only to explode and destroy your ability to run strong for the rest of the race. The course is an out and back and I think there were only three, maybe four hills that I walked. They were all monsters. One review I read described them as “soul crushing” They are defiantly the biggest hills I have ever faced in 70.3 and with the exception of maybe the Mountain man triathlon, I have never faced hills like these in any triathlon.
I had an issue in the section of this race that they call the energy lab. This forced some unscheduled walking. Speaking of the energy lab, many people seem to struggle greatly with this section of the run. It is a straight stretch of out and back that literally goes as far as the eye can see into the heat rising off the road. I think it is mentally challenging for some. Perhaps it discouraging for them to see the seemingly endless distance for which they must run.
The stretch gets its name from the more famous and original energy lab segment of the run in the Ironman Hawaii championship race in Kona Hawaii. Christian and I drove the Hawaii energy lab this year while we were in Hawaii to see what all the fuss is about. After driving it, I can see how it would be a mentally difficult stretch, especially given the point in time that it hits you during that marathon. That stretch of the Hawaii run course tends to break a lot of people on the big island. The stretch on the big island is named energy lab because of the actual natural energy lab that exist there and the road takes you down into the lab several miles before you eventually just turn around and head out.
The buffalo Springs energy lab is not only similar in its effect, but it actually goes out and past a energy plant. What are the chances of that? I think Buffalo Springs energy lab has something to do with oil as opposed to the natural energy of Hawaii, but still that is a pretty good coincidence.
As I started to say, I had some issues in the beginning of the lab. I started struggling with stomach cramps. It is a long flat open exposed stretch where the sun and wind can have its way with you. I was actually looking forward to this stretch. I had driven it, and despite its appearance, I knew that it would eventually end. There was no mental challenge for me. I wanted to run this section strong, but side cramps continued to plaque me. I couldn’t figure out why. I have seldom encountered this problem. The most noteable experience happened last time I was in Texas in the ironman 70.3 in Austin. In that instance I attributed the cramps to drinking too much water. Here in Buffalo Springs that was not the case, so I was puzzled. In Austin I became dehydrated on the bike and by the time I realized that on the run, every time I attempted to drink to address my dehydration I would end up with side cramps due to the water intake.
In buffalo Springs I was drinking water sparingly according to plan and what has worked for me in many races including Hawaii. Frustrated, I prayed for the cramps to end. They did not. Then I prayed for guidance to figure out what was wrong so I could correct it. I immediately got the strong feeling that I needed to drink more water. Prior to the cramps beginning I had been eating a high Sodium chomp every mile. Just before entering the energy lab I had downed two salt pills and a gel. I had not taken in much water with it. Water consumption was usually the cause of stomach cramping and now I felt like I just needed to drink more water. I decided it couldn’t get any worse. I remembered the chomps, the gel and the salt pills. Maybe they were sitting in my stomach like a rock. I needed to flush them into my system with water. So the next aid station I visualized this mass in my stomach being diluted and flushed away by the water I was drinking. Soon the cramps stopped and I was running strong again passing lots of people. At the Energy lab turn around they were handing out something that was a first for me in triathlons. I will never forget when they offered beer at the first Marquee Triathlon, but this was a unique stand out as well. In this race, they were offering pickle juice. They had bottles of drinkable pickle juice. I did not know they even made such a product. Lots of people drank it too. I had heard about pickle juice in conversations as a home remedy, but I was still shocked to actually see it offered. Apparently a lot of people were struggling with cramps at this section of the race also. I did see a great number of people doing the run/walk/run/walk during my bout of cramps. They must have been pretty cramped and desperate to be drinking pickle juice. My cramps had passed and I passed on the pickle juice also. I hate pickles and the thought of drinking that juice made my stomach turn.
I headed out of the energy lab running strong, thanks to some help from above. The only real challenge I was facing at this point was staying cool. I did my best to stay on top of that. I was running pretty good still when I got to about 2 miles to go. I was starting to tire and my pace was slowing in the heat. It was at this point that I came upon a fellow Clydesdale. It was a guy I had talked to in transition before the whole thing started. I had no idea where I was in relation with the other Clydesdales. I knew that I came off the bike in good standing because I think there was only a few other Clydesdale bikes on the rack when I put mine there and headed out to the run. I did not recall being passed by any obvious Clydesdales that I recognized from transition, but there were painful moments in the energy lab where someone could have passed me without my noticing. I had also actually stopped at a few aid stations to load up on ice and water where a pass could have easily taken place.
All I knew when I came upon this guy is that it was still remotely possible that I could place and I would not be able to live with myself if I missed a trophy by one place. I may not have been in the running for a trophy at this point, but if this guy stood between me and bringing home a trophy to Christian, I was going to do everything I could to put this guy behind me. It took some doing to catch him and I was hurting. I knew I had to appear strong and dash any ideas he had of running with me to the finish. I did not want a dual. I knew I was nearing my limit. So I ran up next to him and then pushed hard to give the impression that I was too strong to even think about staying with. That hurt and I was now committed to a place of deep suffering. I thought about how I had been careful to stay fed, how I had forced down nutrition in the past half hour despite not wanting to. I thought about how I had spent extra time at aid stations to stay cool. I convinced myself that I was in better shape than this guy in this race on this day. I was more prepared to fight through these last 2 miles than he was, I just knew it. I told myself I could suffer for 2 miles. I don’t think most people can appreciate what it takes to push into a sprint after 6 hours of pain and effort. You are already exhausted and have been exhausted for some time. Your blood stream is depleted of energy and running thick due to dehydration. Your heart is already working too hard because of overheating and dehydration. Then you ask your body to sprint and it rebels with pain. I ran and prayed I did not completely melt down. I was afraid to look back. I was too tired to look back. Was he coming? Was he waiting until the end to pass me? As I neared the finish I began to slow. My body was shutting down. I was overheating and my body was beginning to try to save my life by shutting down. I tried to argue with it and pushed hard once I saw the actual finish arch. No one passed me. I had beaten him. I would find out later that I had put 3 minutes between us by the end.
I went to the awards dinner that night which was free and collected my Ironman 70.3 Buffalo Springs trophy for 2nd place! It is still hard to believe.
Special Note:
My son Christian always asks me if I think an age grouper could have an exceptional day and win an Ironman race. Today that question was answered by 21 year old Drew Scott who finished this race a full 2 seconds faster than any other athlete including all of the pros. He may not have received the prize money or the trophy because he is not a registered pro, but he became an instant legend and age group hero.
