Ironman St. George

Signing up for Ironman St. George probably wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done, but in retrospect, I'm glad I did it!  I've had my eye on this race since its first year (2010) when the cold water and brutal bike and run courses resulted in a very high attrition rate.  Since then, it's been considered one of the toughest races on the Ironman circuit - certainly the toughest in North America.  If I'm not mistaken, IMSG sold out in that first year - mostly due to the fact that the actual race course had not been released by the time registration opened.  Most people, I assume, associated St. George with the net-downhill, notoriously fast marathon that is one of the more popular qualifiers for the Boston Marathon.  Last year, it was the heat late in the day that caused a lot of the participants to drop out on the run course.  So, the swim can be cold, the bike is very hilly with the potential for wind, and the run can be hot and hilly.  Great.  Actually, we caught a "break" this year and the run course had to be changed due to road construction on Red Hills Parkway, the tough, exposed section from the run course of the previous two years.  Given that this race has been scheduled for the first weekend in May - just three weeks after the Boston Marathon - I've never really felt that I could successfully race both events.  After participating in both races this year, I think I confirmed that.

I signed up this year for two reasons.  The first reason was that I knew 3 or 4 people from San Diego that were racing, but the main reason was the new "Legacy" program introduced by World Triathlon Corporation, the owner of the Ironman brand.  Basically, athletes who have completed 12 full-Iron-distance, "M-Dot"-branded events will get a chance to race Kona.  I've always felt that it's conceivable that I could qualify for the race in Hawaii, given enough chances and experience in the sport, but this is kind of an insurance policy.  If I keep entering races in the hopes of qualifying for Kona and keep missing, at least I'm working towards the goal along the way.  So, long story short:  I finished.  3 down, 9 to go.  The End.  Okay, well maybe there's a bit more to the story.

Ended up with a pretty sweet place for the weekend!

After signing up for the race, I did a bit of research on local vacation rentals and ended up renting a condo to share with my friends Conrad and Eric.  It turned out to be a pretty nice place - perfect location, close to the expo and T2/finish area and plenty of space for us to spread out, considering all of our bikes and gear.  Conrad and I drove up together on Wednesday and made it to town with just enough time to unload our bikes and gear and cruise through registration / packet-pickup at the Dixie Center.

Nice swag - event backpacks!

 After registration - and a quick trip through the Ironman store for the standard visor and water bottle purchase ($40), we headed out to Sand Hollow to check out the water.  I was a little worried about the water temp - not to mention the fact that I had done exactly one 2-mile swim this year - but it wasn't bad at all.  The water was calm and warmer than the ocean we'd been swimming in - definitely warmer than it was in Oceanside for the 70.3 at the end of March.  We paddled around for a bit, swam from buoy to buoy for a while and then called it a day.  We grabbed a bite at a local Mexican restaurant before heading back to the condo. Jen and Eric arrived sometime late at night.

Not much going on at Sand Hollow at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday

We went back out to Sand Hollow on Thurs for another swim.  I finally started to feel competent in the water and we went out and around the small island in the middle of the swim course.  On the way back, I decided to finish with a continuous effort at race pace to get a feel for what I was in for.  I probably pushed a little harder than IM pace for me, but it was a good confidence builder.  When I hit the shore, I took of my wetsuit and went back in with just tri shorts.  Brr.  Cold, but not horrible.  I lasted about 5-10 minutes and that was it.

After the swim, we drove the bike course, stopping in Veyo for lunch and to ride some of the more notorious hills out on the "loop".  It was windy!  So much so, that I decided to swap out the front wheel from a 9.0 to a 5.0 - until we later saw a forecast that called for much milder winds on race day (hah!).  Thankfully, I had left the disc (and the 11-23 rear cassette) at home, so I settled on the 9.0 front and rear. 53/39 and 11-28.

The view from our condo - out towards the "loop" portion of the bike course.

Back out to Sand Hollow for a third time on Friday for a quick 20/20/20 workout before bike check. I ended up skipping the swim since I had just swam 3 of the last 4 days and put in a pretty good effort on Thurs.  I figured the rest would do me good and I liked where I was at, mentally, after feeling fast in the water in the last swim.  The wind was picking up I just didn't like the idea of jumping in the cold, choppy water and having to deal with the whole wetsuit thing again.  So I just rode out-and-back and then ran along the reservoir.  The wind was blowing pretty hard on the way out, which would be the direction of the first, shorter leg of the swim course.  If the wind picked up, at least it seemed like we would have it at our backs for the long leg.

Me and Eric heading to bike check.

After shoveling the last of the hay into the barn (which made a grand total of not much hay), we checked our bikes and gear, drove back to town to check run gear and then hunkered down at the condo for the eve, munching on chips and salsa before an early pasta dinner.  Tried to get to sleep as early as possible, but there wasn't much sleep to be had.

Was up before the 3:30 alarm and had a quick cup of coffee.  Made a big bowl of oatmeal, but didn't have much appetite (still full from night before, I guess).  Headed out at 4 to drop special needs bags and catch the shuttle.  We were loaded up and on our way to Sand Hollow a little after 4:30.  Pumped up tires, stocked bike and made multiple trips to the porta-potty.  Around 6:15 we got suited up, dropped Morning Clothes and headed to the swim start.

Waiting for the swim start.

The swim started out fine.  With "only" 1,400 starters, I think it made for less contact than most IM swims.  We had a pretty good current helping us (and a good pack draft) for the first short leg out to the first turn buoy and I felt pretty good.  It started getting choppier near the turn and, like many others, I thought it was the water safety crafts churning up the water.  I hit the red turn buoy and it became apparent that the chop was not due to boat traffic.  I breathe every stroke left and I had to time my breathing so as not to swallow water.  I just really tried to focus on swimming straight and sighting at crests to spot the next buoy - no way did I want to start swimming off course!

The water looked a little different on race day

Plan on 3 things to go wrong in Ironman, right? Well, here was the first. Unexpected wind chop. When discussing the possibility for wind with locals prior to the race, it seemed we might have to fight wind on the first short leg and then it would be helping us for the entire long leg back towards the finish.  Of course, here on race day, the winds picked up from the opposite direction and we would have to fight the chop for the bulk of the swim.  Fortunately for me, this played right into my swimming "strengths".  While by no means am I a fast swimmer, I do most (if not all) of my swimming in the open ocean and actually enjoy rough water.  For me, swimming is pretty boring, mostly, and find it much more interesting when the water has some texture.  Couple that with my short, choppy stroke and, while I'm still slow, I'm not penalized as much as "gliders" when the waves pick up.

I just focused on punching through the waves and figured I should try to power through the swim with as much energy as possible or it could be a long day out there.

Even though I was enjoying the swim, I was a bit worried about missing the cutoff.  I had a stopwatch, but I never stopped to check.  I just figured that any time I spent NOT swimming would be time going backwards.  Checking the time wasn't going to get me there any faster anyway.  I just tried to stay as streamlined as possible, crest, breath, sight, repeat.  The buoys were getting blown all over the place, so I kept an eye on the island, knowing we had to go around it.  I hit some buoys right on with my left shoulder, while some were way over to the right - it didn't make sense.  When I rounded the last turn buoy I could see why, the line to the anchor was angling off to the right.  The buoys were definitely on the move.  Fortunately, there were still a few water safety kayakers and paddlers lining the course on the left, directing traffic, so I just picked out a line to the finish.  The current was now almost helping with a cross-tailwind.  It wasn't long before I could hear the announcer and see the bottom.  I kept swimming until I touched the bottom with my stroke.



Out of the water and checked the watch - 1:18!  I'll take it.  Had no idea where the swim finish timing mat was, so I just hit my split running up the boat ramp.  There were wetsuit strippers right around the corner.  I made eye contact with one of them and he helped me get my suit off and around my waist.  I dropped down to the ground and a couple other volunteers joined in and the three of them got my suit off, helped me up and sent me on my way.  Running through T1 to pick up my bike gear bag, I realized how hard the wind was blowing.  It was howling!  And it was cold.  Grabbed my bag (good thing about my 1150 number was I was at the end of a section of bags - very easy to find) and into the change tent.

Swim - 1:19:06

Pretty quick change in the tent.  Not much to do. Empty out gear bag and stuff it with wetsuit, cap and goggles.  Bike shoes (couldn't leave them on the pedals at this race) and helmet on - run out with sunglasses and race belt.  Got them on by the time I got to my rack.  Skipped sunscreen on the way out (bad call), grabbed my bike and ran out.

T1 - 3:45

The bike.  Oh man.  By far, the most difficult ride I have ever done.  Mostly due to the wind.  So much for the forecast of 9 mph with gusts to 15.  Rumor has it we had 25-30 mile winds with gusts up to 40.  It was brutal.  Riding out of Sand Hollow, I quickly spun through my gears and I thought something was wrong.  I was going down a moderate hill, sure, but no way I should be out of gears.  I thought I had thrown my chain.  I checked my Garmin and I saw I was going 38 mph.  Okay - the wind is at our back.  Right turn out of the park and bam!  Crosswind.  Downhill, going 18 mph, leaning into the wind.  It was about here, a mile into the ride that I realized it was going to be a long day.
I stuck with my plan to ride with power and tried to keep it between 190-200 watts.  I ended up with 196 - probably a little over 200 through the first loop and then somewhat under 190 for the second.  The wind was actually pretty ridiculous - especially on the first loop (2nd thing that went wrong?).  My mantra for the first loop was supposed to be "patience", but after a while it became "hang on!"  Just before climbing the Veyo "wall" for the first time, I threw my chain (for the second time).  This time, it wedged between the frame and the small ring and I couldn't get it back without getting off the bike.  Grrr.  Messed around with that for a while - it was pretty jammed up.  Finally got it out and had a few fingers completely black. That's what I get for making changes right before checking the bike.  Anyway, back on the bike and up the hill.  3rd thing that can go wrong?  Hopefully, that would be all.

I stuck with my nutrition plan - Carbo-Pro mix in rear bottles, water from aid stations in a downtube bottle.  Shot Blocks and salt in my bento.  Two more Carbo-Pro bottles and a coke at Special Needs.

The smooth pavement and tailwind on the way back from the first loop were very much welcomed.  I stopped at special needs to replace bottles.  Also made a brief stop in the porta-potty.  I started to push on the downhill and noticed when one (5-mile) lap clicked through at 7:55 - almost 38 mph!  I think this is where I finally blew myself up.  The first loop was tough, and we all had to expend more energy than normal just to keep the bikes upright.  I was dreading the second loop through the canyon, but by the time I got back out through Santa Clara, the winds had eased.  Who knows how slow I would have been if it would have been blowing as hard on the second loop.

Despite the lack of wind, the second loop was noticeably tougher and I started to become concerned a bit about my heart rate.  Normally, I'm in the 135-145 beats-per-minute range for an Iron-distance effort, with some efforts pushing me up into the 150s.  I used to stand a lot on hills and sometimes the additional effort would result in a spike to up around 160.  For this race, I really tried to limit those efforts (patience, right?), and sat on every hill through the first loop.  My HR came down considerably after stopping at special needs and the long tailwind descent, and after that, I couldn't get it back up again.  I thought my legs might just be too tired to push the heart, but my power was still pretty much in line with the first loop.  I kept an eye on it and there was definitely something wrong - either with my equipment or my body.

My first thought was that maybe I had done a good job of tempering the effort so my HR never spiked and it was easy to maintain an steady effort.  But I had to stand on the 2nd loop climbs and I really felt like I do when I'm at 160, and I wasn't even at 140, I thought something must be wrong with the HR strap.  Battery, maybe?

All I know is that from the bottom of the first descent, all of the way through the second loop, my average HR was under 120 and maxed out a few times around 140.  This is about 20 beats low.  Then on the descent, I was under 100 beats and there was one 5-mile stretch where I averaged 89 bpm.  By this point, my neck was really sore, I was sick of sweet, syrupy, chewy stuff and I couldn't wait to get off my bike.  I did a lot of coasting on the downhill and I couldn't stay down on the bars for more than a few minutes at a time, so it's conceivable I was just resting.  Didn't feel all that great, though.

Since the HR numbers were so out-of-line, I just figured something was wrong with the battery in the strap and I just focused on getting down the hill.

I was surprised when someone said "just one more hill" after completing the second loop, but it wasn't all that bad.  Up, out of the saddle.  Where my HR would normally be up in the 150-160 range, it was 118.  Riding down Diagonal Street towards town, seeing other runners on the course was a wake-up call.  Still a marathon left to run.


Bike - 6:51:45

Garmin Connect - Bike Course

I got out of my shoes a little too early, but it didn't really matter.  I hopped off the bike and handed it off to a volunteer.  My feet hurt on the run through the T2 parking lot to pick up my gear bag and I had to hop over a few rows of bags before getting to mine.  I was definitely not looking forward to running.  Into the tent and sat down.  Socks, shoes.  Garmin on.  A volunteer came up and said "let's get you out of here."  He helped me pack up my stuff and pointed me towards the exit.  I stopped quickly for some sunscreen (too late), and trotted out of T2, not feeling particularly spry.


T2 - 2:55

The "run" - ugh.  Running out of T2, my left shoe came untied.  I felt like crap.  I stopped to tie my shoe and walked while I used the excuse of making sure my Garmin was on correctly.  Soon, I came up on the first aid station and I stopped to walk, not that I needed anything, but just because I wanted to walk.  I took sponges, some water and some Coke (first race I have ever used Coke - was hoping it would be the magic elixir I've heard about).  Started running again, but gave up after less than a mile.  Just then, a friend, Ryan, ran up on me and stopped to walk with me a bit.  I was surprised that I was ahead of him at this point in the race.  He had been training pretty consistently and I knew that he had ridden the bike course in 6 hours about a month prior.  He's also a better swimmer and I expected him to be way up the road.  Maybe he was on his second loop?  Nope.  It was just a tough day for everyone.  He said he had a miserable swim.  At least he still felt good, though, so he said he would keep running while he did.  We wished each other luck and he went on his way.  The run for me was more like a long march through St. George - very similar to the last 12 miles of Boston, just without the heat.  And my HR was about 40 beats lower.  I'd "max out" at around 130, then walk.

I spent the next few miles / laps / hours run-walking, but mostly walking.  I was cooked, but cool.  My HR was still suspiciously low and I was wondering if I should stop and ask someone about it.  I figured they would just pull me off the course, and while I didn't feel great, I thought that as long as I kept moving forward I would get through it.  I'm surprised that I'm actually running in all of my race photos.  I kept eating and drinking from my handheld.  I swapped out my bottle at Special Needs on the 2nd loop.  Everything was going to plan - except for that whole running thing.  It was a bit disconcerting that I was feeling cold and avoiding all of the misters and sponges - especially when the sun was still shining and everyone else was looking for anything to cool them off.  I tried to do a few reality checks on HR by taking my pulse for 30 seconds and multiplying by 2.  That math was too difficult, so I gave up.  I thought something must be wrong with the device (4th thing going wrong?), so I switched back to my normal display and gave up on worrying about it.

I caught up to Conrad when I was on my last loop.  I had about 6 miles to go and we walked together for a while, running in spurts.  At some point, I started to feel better and was running for longer periods of time, albeit slowly.  Back up through town and the roundabouts I was running consistently.  For some reason, the uphills felt better than the downhills and I actually ran most of the last 3 or 4 miles (go figure).  Looking back at my HR data, my bpm started to pick up with the effort.  From the last turnaround back to the finish I was "racing" at an 8-minute clip.  The last mile (mostly downhill) felt manageable and the finishing chute was awesome as always.  As others have said, it's great to be able to finally make that right turn to the finish after passing straight past it 3 times.


Run - 4:59:26

I was cold at the end and was thankful for the space blanket.  My finish line catcher was nice.  Held my finisher hat and tee while I took a picture and walked me towards the Athlete recovery area.  I found Ryan who had finished about 20 minutes before me.  We were both a little shell-shocked, I think.  I don't think we expected to be out on the course for 13 hours.  After a while, Ryan left with his girlfriend, Mel, and I wandered over to pick up my gear.  I bundled up and waited around for my friends to finish.  Conrad and I had traded bike claim checks, so I loaded up both of our bikes and went to go hang out at the finish line and eat some food.

I really liked St. George.  The volunteers were great and the race was very well organized.  It's a bummer that they have to cancel the IM (due to low participation), but I'm seriously considering coming back for the 70.3.  It's drivable from San Diego, so you don't have to worry about shipping or flying with your bike and it should make for a fun, but challenging half-Iron course.

Finish - 13:16:57

When I got back to San Diego, I tested out the HRM to see if anything was wrong with the battery.  Nope.  Whatever happened out there was probably a result of leg fatigue.  At some point - probably around mile 70 of the bike, I was no longer strong enough to provide enough power to push the heart.  Thankfully, the winds eased up out there on that second loop.  It was probably a good thing that the run course was easier this year - having to tackle that hilly out-and-back twice up Red Hills Parkway would have been a nightmare.  Fortunately, that part of the race will be back next year.  It will be a much easier bike ride, but that run will be a killer - at least for the first 10 miles or so.  Where do I sign up?

Oh yeah, and as for Kona.  Hah!  Not this time.  In my last two Ironman races, I've been a little more than an hour (Coeur d'Alene) and a little less than an hour (Louisville) away from a spot.  This time?  Well, I know the winner of my age group was 3 hours up the road.  I'd guess the last spot went at about 10:45, so I was about 2-1/2 hours back.  In the previous two races, I felt like I came off the bike with an outside shot at qualifying.  Realistically, I can only really hope to run a 3:25-3:30 on a flat course (like Ironman Arizona, where I'll be racing in November).  I'll need to go under 10 hours at IMAZ, so I'll need to be off the bike before 6:30 has ticked off the clock.  With my typical 1:15 swim, that means I'll need a 5:15 bike.  On a course like Arizona, that's definitely possible, considering I was 5:28 on a hillier course in Louisville.  I just have to run well which means I can't use everything up on the bike to get the time I need.  At least I won't be out on the bike for 7 hours like I was in St. George.  And I won't be running a marathon 3 weeks prior, either.  Like I said, not the smartest thing I've ever done.

This is a pretty good recap of the event from the awards banquet:


Ans an indication of how quickly the swim conditions deteriorated: