Ironman After thoughts.

Let's break the race down and do some self analysis.

Here are my numbers;

Overall place 1559
Time 14:21:39
Division place: 93/113

Swim Division place: 110/113
Overall place: 2011
Swim Time: 1:31:57
Swim 100m pace: 2:26

T1: 10:49 (didn't realize I took so long in the change room :) )

Bike Division place: 107/113
Bike Overall: 1963
Bike Time: 7:49:00
Bike pace: 14.3 miles/hr

T2: 5:17
Run Division place: 61/113
Run Overall Place: 898
Run Time: 4:44:37
Run Pace: 10:52 min/mile

I asked myself a few question after the race:

- If it wasn't for my shoulder, can I swim better? My average swim pace is 2:00 min/100m. 2:26 is a long time.
- If I had no bike problems, can I ride better? My avg bike pace on training is closer to 16 miles/hr. I was expecting myself to finish the bike ride closer to 7 hours. Not 8.
- more importantly, if I ride 'easier', can I run faster? (this is a big one for me)

Looking at the numbers, I passed about 400 people on the run. That made me happy :) I finished strong!

With all these questions, there is only one way to find the answer. Do another Ironman and find out :)

IMLP is sold out already. I am leaning towards IM Wisconsin. Why? B/c it is another tough Ironman out there. The weather is always horrible. I am thinking doing it in 2009. Instead of doing IM Wisconsin next year, I can use that money to get a tri-bike and pay off my student loans.

I am also pretty excited about next season. This year I rode through Hockly Valley three times. Well why not 5 times? Ride until my legs fall off ;)...what can I say..I have a talent to think of different ways to tortue have fun. :)

Tasty Iron!

What I did well on during the race:

i) Run

I did the marathon in 4:44. I am pretty sure I negative split the run b/c I ran the first half in 2 and half hours. I was surprised at how my body can handle the stress.

My race strategy was to keep myself relax until the last half of the run. Then drop the hammer. I was placed 898 out of 2500 on the run. Not too bad.

I am thinking if I run a marathon on its own how fast I can go? I would guess I will run somewhere between 3:45 to 4 hrs.

ii) Nutrition/hydration

That was spot on. To keep my hydration in check, I was peeing every hour. That's good. Nutrition wise, I was eating enough on the bike to prevent me from bonking on the run. I was burping a lot and had a lot of heart burn on the run. Perhaps, I need something to settle my stomach.

iii) Mental/Emotional concentration

Through out this season, I never dug deep. I had some doubts whether mentally and emotionally I can handle the race. Ironman after all is a LONG race. Lake Placid is also the toughest one out there.

I wasn't conscious to be mental and emotionally alert. When my front deraileur broke, my mind was 'oh ok. If you can fix it. Great. Thanks.' I actually stop and took a leak while the mechanic looked over my bike. I figured since I am stopping anyways, I might as well do something :)

I did not freak out. I just took it as it is. On the run when I had heartburn and I made the decision to drop the Infinit and start taking gel, I was confident b/c I tried gel before and it worked. Even though I never had coke or grapes before, I took small samples and the stomach worked well.

I believe part of staying calm was due to the confidence I gained from my training. Through the past two years, I rode and ran on the toughest hills around my area. Having that in my belt helped me a lot even though I never trained on the actual race course.

80% of the race, I was focus on keeping myself relax. This seemed counter-intuitive b/c if you are focus, how can you be relax?

This makes perfect sense on training and race day. This is where a heart rate monitor helps. On the bike, I never went higher than Zone 3 (highest HR 154). On the run, my heart rate reached mid Zone 3 (HR 160s) only in the last few km when I went all out.

Whenever I climb a hill, I made sure I breathe slowly, keep my shoulder loose and focus on keeping it easy.

......

Before I end this post, I will like to say how the race change the way I view about life. I still remember the last few kms before on the run before the finish line. That's where I soaked in the past few years....from when I got my road bike. To I did my first marathon. To swimming open water in the first time. It is the little things that made me happy.

I am very thankful for the little encouragement along the way. In return, I gave my Finisher medal to a friend. I hope I can encourage her as I was encouraged.

Jesus said "You are the salf of the earth and light of the world." I don't want to talk about it. I don't wanna preach it. I just want to do it b/c there are many people out there who needs our help. I ain't here to change the universe. At the very least I want to do my part.

....I haven't done much training for the past few weeks and I am itching to go for a ride. I got my bike front deraileur replaced over the weekend. So my bike is good as new. I am leaning to do the Toronto Marathon in Oct. I miss the adrenaline from training :)

I gained FIVE lbs :)....hmm..I am fattening up. That's for sure.