triathlon training tales: Hawaii Ironman World Championships: the run and post-race pics

Maybe you thought I had forgotten about the run?

I hit T2 feeling pretty fresh, though the balls of my feet felt rather hot and swollen... but not to the debilitating extent that prompted the 35 minute T2 at this race in 2009! However, I did take a leisurely 6 minutes in T2 as I was anxious to apply even more sunscreen as well as find Vaseline for some chafing that my swimskin had caused and which was by now irritated by sweat! Those things should take seconds not minutes... where did the time go?

When I last raced in Hawaii in 2010, I suffered a sidestitch in the first mile that would not subside until I hit the Ali'i turnaround. I'm not sure why I had the stitch but my strategy to avoid it this time was to run the first mile slowly and not take anything to eat or drink off the bike until the second aid station. My legs felt great and I was hitting my target ~8:30 min/mi pace for the entire stretch out to the turnaround and thankfully no sidestitch! On the return trip, the legs continued to feel good and with the exception of a bathroom break at mile 7, all the mile splits were in the 8:30-40 range.

Pick your eyes up, Jordan!

As I was running up Palani, I was excited to see Mirinda Carfrae flying downhill and it dawned on me that I would be able to see the top women during their last few miles and give them my cheers, especially Meredith Kessler, Linsey Corbin, Leanda Cave and Kim Schwabenbauer.

I felt good running up Palani but my stomach was starting to rebel on me big-time. It was a repeat of Cozumel where after 10-11 miles, my stomach was just in knots. The legs continued to feel good so when I was running the pace was in the 8:30-45 range, but with visits to the porta-pottie, my mile splits started to slide above 9min/mi. I had stopped eating at this point and I started to drink coke for energy but that seemed to make my stomach feel worse. I really should learn my lesson that coke never has a positive effect on my races, even if at the time ice-cold coke seems to be a refreshing and magical elixir as I saunter through the aid stations.

By mile 18 (end of the energy lab), I had started to walk aid stations and the legs were beginning to feel rather heavy. Miles splits were now hovering either side of 10min/mi. I knew that I was still on track for a sub-11 hour finish but I was now realistic that the sub-4hr marathon had gone down the porta-pottie! Just after mile 23, my Garmin 901xt died... so I had no data for the last 3 miles but I knew that I had just had to suffer through with 10min/mi pace and I'd make sub-11. It was about this point that Kerrie Wlad came skipping by and chastised me for walking an aid station!

Just get me across the finish line...

I hit the finish line right after 10hrs and 58 minutes and Blanco was there to high five me in the finishing shoot... looking all fresh and clean as if he had not been racing for 9.5hrs! However, I did figure out that I kept him waiting for less time than any previous Ironman race as I finally got the gap between us under 90mins! A small, family victory :)

	Hawaii 2010		Hawaii 2013
	Rich	Jordan	Rich	Jordan
Swim	1:05:16	1:18:21	1:02:51	1:11:12
T1	0:03:19	0:05:05	0:03:11	0:05:27
Bike	5:02:54	5:35:21	4:47:03	5:28:19
T2	0:03:15	0:05:01	0:04:01	0:05:57
Run	3:29:58	4:15:51	3:34:54	4:07:24
Total	9:44:42	11:19:39	9:32:00	10:58:19

I was happy with my race and even happier when Rich broke the news that Luke McKenzie had taken 2nd place overall. Good day all around!

There's not much more to say about my race performance except that I will be working much more closely on my nutrition plan for my next Ironman race. Ultimately I may have taken in a few too many calories on the bike and drank too much Perform, which I am not used to drinking. I am not signed up for any more Ironman races in the near future (I decided against Chattanooga) but we are considering a late season Ironman in 2014 where we would target a KQ for 2015... possibly Cozumel.

Post-race, Rich and I spent another 5 days on the island, eating drinking, lazing, cycling, participating in a photo shoot, spa'ing, swimming and hanging out with friends.