IM Louisville 2009 - Later + Analysis

August 30 – Later

The rest of the night was a bit of a blur. Jill and I went back to the hotel room where I took a shower and put on clean clothes. I also took a picture of my foot – close your eyes if you cant take it ugly.

Then we headed back to the race site to see if we could catch JT finishing. Apparently he was having a rough time. John is very hard headed and was refusing to walk. Finally we saw him finish. It was great to see him make the best of things.

At the finish we saw lots of our triathlete friends including Gary Ditsch who had also done a great race.

After that we went and picked up the bike. In the Transition area we saw Lisbeth Kritensen who has very gracious. She spoke of her 2^nd place finish. Then sent John and Mary on their way back to Georgetown. Jill and I went and ate Nachos and Quesadillas at the sports bar. Clearly I had come a long way with my nutrition if I felt good enough to do that.

Analysis

All in all the race went well. I was able to get the most out of my fitness by executing my race plan well. With the exception of transitions where I left 5 minutes on the table, there was no more than perhaps 5 minutes left on the course. Even better, problems that have plagued me in the past (slow swim, nausea) did not rear their ugly head. I was able to hit my nutrition plan exactly (1570 bike/2070 run)

There were numerous errors/risks

1. Changes to bike in final week (in direct violation of Jordan request)
2. Brand new once run in pair of Asics
3. Not enough practice with compression socks
4. Sunburn on back from different shape of Desoto tri top (the only thing that still hurts after 5 days)
5. Zip tie on number holder (in direct violation of Jill observation)
6. Ziplock bags for clothes inside of Walmart bag inside of transition bag
7. 
   
   Leaving EFS gel in bike bag
   
8. Rolling special needs on bike (in direct violation of Jordans request)
9. No salt tablets consumed on run
   
   

	Time	Calories	Sodium
Pre-race		1625	930 mg
Swim	01:18:04--	0	0
T1	5:45--	0	0
Bike	5:17:36--	1570	4370mg
T2	8:15--	0	0
Run	3:45:12--	2070	4945mg
Total	10:35:55--	5265	10245 mg

Before the race Jordan thought:

I think your very best race - like 100 out of 100 - is 1:15 // 5:30 //
3:45 = 10:30. That is if absolutely everything went perfectly, which
it rarely does.

I think your baseline race is 1:20 // 5:50 // 3:50 = 11:00. This is
what I hope you will do, and hopefully squeak under 11:00.

I think a still good race is 1:30 // 6:00 // 4:00 = 11:30, and I think
even if some things go awry, you can still do this time

Before the race I was thinking:

1. <12 hours satisfied
   
   
2. <11 hours ecstatic
   
   
3. Near 10:30 dancing in the streets

I thought that 10:30ish would get me a Kona slot... which it didn't 10:13 was the last slot on this very fast year.

Here is the piece of paper that I had given Jill to track my progress on the bike/run. You can see in the upper left where show wrote “9:04 am start of bike”

IM Louisville 2009 - Finish line

Finish Line

I heard the loudspeaker saying “... you are an Ironman” I continued to run. I finally got the the carpet. I was by myself. Then I heard it “Alan Hawse you are an Ironman”. I raised my arms in victory. I was there. My multi year journey had come to a close.

A catcher came up and put on a finisher medal, handed me a t-shirt/hat and wrapped a blanket around me (which I quickly gave back). I stood there at the finish line and took it all in. The crowd was going crazy and I felt briefly like a rock star. I needed to sit down. I saw a wheel chair and I sat down. It felt great. The volunteer asked if I needed to go to medical but I said “no”. She pushed me a dozen yards to the picture line, but I stopped and moved onto a folding chair. Then I saw Jill. Once again I was overcome by emotion. It felt great.

Then I saw my friend Lewis Jackson (a very very fast Ironman who missed the season to same injury as Jill). Then Avery showed up. Everyone was yelling. Then I looked at my watch. 10:35!!!! Wow. That was within 5 minutes of the best case. Now the celebration could start.

A few minutes later Rodney came up. He gave me a hug. The emotion of two people who had just finished great races was powerful.

IM Louisville 2009 - T2 + Run

T2

I got off the bike and looked at the computer. A volunteer took my bike and said something nice. I was really excited and remember saying “I gave that thing the beat down”. My original plan was to undo my shoes and leave them on the bike and to leave my helmet, but once again I blew it. I ran to the bag pile and a volunteer quickly found my bag. I then ran into the tent and sat down.

A really nice volunteer came up to help me. I pulled off my shoes, helmet, shirt, and shorts. Then got out the ziplock bag with my clothes. Unzipped it an got my shorts on, then struggled with the compression socks, then put on my running shirt, visor and race belt. I put body glide on the unmentionable spot, and my nipples (no bleeding nipple this year). I was chatting with the volunteer while I was doing this. He was from Paducah, had recently recovered from prostate cancer and was fired up to come help with the race. Great.

I ran out of the tent and decided to put on some some screen. I dipped my hand in a big bucket of it slimed it on my face and arms... then tried to figure out how to get it off my hands. Finally I figured to put it on my legs. I managed to get it on my sunglasses which was really obnoxious.

I still had to pee (like since mile 70 on the bike)... so I ran into a port-potty. I volunteer was there and asked if she could help – so I gave her my sunglasses (which she cleaned while I was in). I went in and tried to pee, but it was not liking me, finally it started and AGGHHH!!!!! wow that hurt. Finally after what seemed like an eternity I got out, got my sunglasses and ran to the start. I could hear Jill yelling for me to run!!!

Total time: 8:15

Run

My instructions were

1. Run 8:40/mile
   
   
2. Run first ½ in 1:50 – 1:55
   
   
3. Run second ½ in 1:55 – 2:00
   
   
4. Drink 1 coke and 1 Gatorade at every aid station
   
   
5. Eat 1 salt pill every 15 minutes
   
   
6. Don't think about ANY big picture time until 10K remaining
   
   
7. Don't “run” until mile 23

Equipment: Insport running shorts, Aquaman race belt, Mentos container with 20 salt pills, Kraft Kona shirt with sleeves cutoff, Garmin 310xt (screen setup with lap average pace, lap distance, lap time and autolap set to 1 mile).

I hit the lap button to move to the Garmin to running mode and started running. Within a minute or two I looked at the screen to figure out my pace, but it didn't seem to be working. This is not good because I really depend on it for pacing. I quickly figure out that I had hit “start/stop” instead of “lap”... so I hit “start” then “lap” and everything start working. Excellent.

I have a tendency to run to fast after I get off the bike. As I got onto the second street bridge (about 0.5mile) I was at 7:40/mile... WHOOOO!!!! slow the hell down. I backed it down quickly and ran through the first mile split at 8:30

At the first aid station I established the pattern that I would follow for the next 23 aid stations. I slowed to a walk grabbed Gatorade (50 calories + 200mg sodium) / Coke (40 calories + 15 mg sodium) slammed them and got running again. Then grab a sponge or two as I ran out of the aid stations and squeeze it on me. Then immediately look at my pace if it was 8:40/mile then speed up until it gets back to = 8:40/mile. In the second mile I ran under a building and my Garmin lost the sat signal. Looking back it says that I did 9:09 which must mean that I slowed a bit in that area – I dont really know why because I felt fine.

By 3ish miles into the race my left foot started to hurt. I knew that I had developed a blister – probably due to the compression socks. I thought about it for a few minutes and realized that I couldn't do anything about it. So ignored it and ran on.

After I bit I saw Lisbeth Kristensen running on the other side. I am continuously impressed with how elegant some of the pros run. Amazing. In a few miles I got to a timing mat where my friend Mike Sullivan was working as a volunteer. He said something about doing a great bike ride – which I appreciated. A few days later I spoke to him and he told me that he had been watching on the computer all day. He saw me finish the bike, but that it seemed like I never came out of T2, and he thought maybe I had ridden to hard and DNF'd. He also asked if I had eaten a pizza in T2 (another person who pointed out that I am not good at transition)

After about 6 miles I saw Rodney Wesley running on the other side of the road. He looked great, the guy is an amazing runner. I calculated that he was probably around 45 minutes in front of me. I briefly sped up... but just as quickly remembered “run your own race. Everyone and everything else is completely irrelevant”. He later told me that I had the “Alan Hawse single minded wild eyed hell bent for leather look” on my face. The only thing I can say to that is “I am all in”. Very soon I saw Gary Ditsch who was running very well.

The running was feeling very solid. I was clicking off miles in the 8:35-8:40 range. Each time I saw a few seconds less than 8:40 I smiled and thought “banked a few more seconds”. I made the turn and headed back toward the end of the first loop. I was still feeling fine. A little while later I saw Nikki again – who this time was running well.

About mile 10 I saw Rich Strauss standing on the side of the road yelling for his team. He asked how I was doing and I said “great”... and sped up a little. He yelled that I was looking good but that I should slow back down – which I did.

Finally I made it back to the finish line – which is also the start of the second loop. It is complete torture to hear people finishing knowing that you have another 12ish miles to run. The last two years I have almost broken down at this point of the race. This year my legs were feeling good, nothing was hurting (other than the bottom of my foot), the sun was still up, and I had a good attitude.

As I turned up 3^rd street for the second lap I got to the highlight of the race. I saw Jill standing on the side of the road with a big smile. I ran over and quickly gave her a kiss on the cheek. I heard all of the people in the crowd saying “ahhhhh, how sweet”... but I ran on. A tear came to my eye and for the first time I had a tough moment.

I continued to run to the turn around. Feeling very solid. Pretty soon I saw Rodney again, this time he was only about 1.5 miles in front of me. He said “Hey big Al come on up her and run with me”... I said “I'm trying”.

At the turn there is about 10K left. As I ran over the timing mat I felt my quads for the first time, they were giving that sharp/sore pain – the first signpost for the entrance to the pain cave. I continued to run but it was starting to take concentration. Each time I looked at my Garmin the pace was drifting between 8:40-8:50 and I would need to speed up to get it back down to 8:40. In the aid stations I would run out at 8:50 (and once I saw 8:59). Things were really hurting now. At mile 23 Jordan told me that if I had it that I was allowed to “run”. I had it in my mind to try to run 8:00 for the last 3 miles and to try to finish off with a 7:30. Ha.

This is when the negotiation really started. The demons of darkness start whispering into my ear. “if you only ran 10:00 it would hurt way less and you would only give away 1:20/mile or 3:60 total” By the time that I had made the mental calculation I was to the 24th mile marker. I had decided to not stop at the last aid stations so I ran right through. Then I started the calculation again... once again by the time I finished the calculation I was up to the 25 mile marker. My legs were really hurting bad now and I was fully into the pain cave. I am not aware of a more exquisite pain than the one that you feel at the end of a marathon where you have really run. It hurts so bad. Really bad. But that pain is nothing compared to the joy of the end. The way that you feel at the end of well run marathon is transformational. I cant begin to describe the ecstasy. The shooting pain, crusted sweat, blood, raw emotions, tears and soul laid bare fuel my quest.

Total = 3:45:12

2070 calories

4945 mg sodium