Great job sticking with your plan and finishing your first IRONMAN!
It is never an easy day, and crossing that finish line is a great experience and a job well done!
Well done!
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I’ve been going back and forth about writing a race report for IM Arizona, but after reading Ryan’s report, and thinking about it, I decided if my experience this year can help/motivate someone, it’s definitely worth it.
So, basically when I wrote the post I am replying to, my weight and body fat were up, and my endurance and motivation had hit rock bottom.
I had decent speed and strength, but couldn’t maintain it, and was right at the point that I was very frustrated with my condition, and decided to give myself a month to see if I could move in the right direction.
That was in August.
By September 1st, I felt I had made significant progress, and decided I would actually do my best to get ready for Arizona.
Because of my issues earlier in the year, and my decision to not invest ALL of my time in training, I built a low volume plan for the full distance triathlon, and followed it well until about Oct when I started to modify it and build my own specialty phase based on what friends of mine were doing in their various Tri groups to get ready for various races (Tallinn, Vittoria, Austria…).
I also only worked out on a treadmill and TrainerRoad for all of June, July, August, and the beginning of Sept.
My main goal was to get my fitness up, but keep myself sane and happy, so most of my training was by myself, and when I went back on the road, I would ride with some friends who anyways ride outside a few times a week.
Running I did alone, swimming I built my own plans, and took advice from a friend of mine who is a lifeguard and swimming instructor (who in the past has helped me get my 50m sprint under 35s).
Either way, I was very strict with my diet, and my training, I never missed a workout, and never let myself cheat on my nutrition.
By race day I was back in my best physical condition, and felt really good about my chances of meeting my goals for the race.
This was really satisfying for me, since in July I didn’t think it was possible to get anywhere near where I had been in January before my crash.
Therefore, I decided I didn’t really care what happened during the race (ok, I DID care, but felt I had already met my goals), since anything can happen once the starting gun goes off, and all the preparation in the world can still not be enough for all the unexpected things that come up during the actual race.
Now for the race:
The backstory - 2019 results:
1:21 swim - got a nasty kick in the head during the race, had to reset my goggles, and swam a bit slower after that
15 min T1 - took a bit of time to get my bearings after getting kicked
6:36 bike - nasty stomach cramps after halfway point, couldn’t pedal well, couldn’t get into the aero position comfortably.
8 min T2 - went to bathroom and stomach was all clear and nice 
4:41 run - felt good, and was really happy with it - my first run over 32 km
Goals for 2021 -
- Better times everywhere
- Finish
My sister did point out I had my goals in the wrong order, but it is what it is.
2021 results:
1:18 swim - felt GREAT. Would have been slightly faster, but for a silly reason got stuck in the 1:20 - 1:30 group, and was passing a lot of people, and got stuck in traffic a few times, also swam 3900 meters just trying to find my path around people. Either way was REALLY happy with the swim, A great start.
just under 12 min T1 - Took it slow and easy, didn’t rush - my goal was to be on the bike in 1:30 total time, and I was.
6:11 bike - My goal going into the race was a 15-20 minute improvement, and I felt 25-30 was possible but wasn’t going to push it. Wound up 25 minutes faster and was really happy with it. The course itself has HELL! The headwind going out was just not worth fighting, and coming back with the tail wind was just not a smooth road, so I felt like I was holding a jackhammer the whole time. My shoulders did not like it, but I did hold the aero position almost the whole ride, and was doing well. Finished the first two laps in a little over 4 hours, but didn’t want to push hard on the third lap, since I was a bit worried about overworking my legs before the run.
I will say some of the best advice I got was to push higher watts on the downhill, and conserve strength on the uphill, and I did see myself flying by a lot of people who were coasting on the downhill. I was able to keep a very good avg power this way, and didn’t feel like I was working too hard.
During the third lap, I felt like eating the clif bloks wasn’t what my body wanted, so only drank calories and water.
10 minutes T2 - took it easy, forced myself to go to the bathroom although didn’t feel like I really needed it.
4:36 run - An improvement, and I finished well, but it was a VERY painful time overall. After about 500m, my stomach just HURT. Not really GI issues related to bathroom needs, but just general pain and soreness. I was able to run at a decent pace, and for the first two laps kept a 10min per mile pace which was about where I was hoping to be, but I had to slow down and stop in the aid stations a lot more than I intended. I stopped mainly to try and eat more solid things like bananas (which I had to peel sometimes) and pretzels (which I think helped me a bit more). The third lap was pretty slow, and I was just keeping myself going to finish. Which I did. I had hoped to be about ten minutes faster than this, and I am sure I got myself into the shape do it, but as I mentioned before, anything can and will happen during the race.
When the run started, and the pain hit, I wasn’t sure what would happen, but since my legs felt ok, there were some very good stretches of the run, and mentally I knew I was capable of finishing no matter what. So I did it, and even though I had already finished the same race two years ago, I still have the WOW I did it feeling.
This morning, I woke up, and my legs really wanted to run, so I went outside for an easy 5km, and I’m feeling great.
So overall a very successful race.
Final time: 12:28 - a 34 minute improvement over 2019 (13:02)
And I proved to myself, that with the right determination, and sticking to a training plan, and diet, it really is possible to whip yourself into the proper shape.
To clarify my position in June - I moved my Air B&B from Tempe (near the starting point), to Phoenix next to my sisters house. I was sure I wouldn’t do the race.
I did it, and I’m glad I made the decision.
What comes next - no Idea - registered for Israman 113 in January because it was cancelled last year, but I am not sure I will do it. I traded in my BMC TM01 for a brand new Trek Emonda, and in the meantime don’t plan on racing again, but the feeling of accomplishment is really enticing, and I can’t say whether I will be tempted to do it again.
I know, long post, but I think I covered all the important points.
The bottom line - Anything is possible
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Awesome…congrats on executing a great race!!
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Awesome! What a comeback, and great job overcoming adversity during the race itself!
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Thanks.
It really was a good feeling to actually get through this preparation and race.
I really do wonder what the future holds though…
This week it holds lots of beer and chocolate.
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What are the general feeling of this?
“Sub7 Sub8 project a big step closer after Zwift partnership - Elite News - Tri247.com” Sub7 Sub8 project a big step closer after Zwift partnership - Elite News - TRI247
How does it compared to sub2 marathon project?
I’m kinda meh on it….TBH, lopping off 20-30 min (depending on which record time you are looking at) is a massive improvement. I think it will be a huge stretch.
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It will be fun to see what is possible, although I would be surprised if there is much racing to watch. The stars will have to align and I’d be surprised if sub7 is possible.
Definitely a way bigger stretch than the sub2 marathon IMO. i do think the women’s sub8 might be a little more feasible.
Probably a more interesting process than watching a guy try to shave fractions off a road marathon though, if a little less ‘significant’ performance-wise as a result. I’m more interested in seeing how they go about attempting it- I enjoyed all the technical/planning aspects behind the Tri Battle, so I’ll probably be following no matter the outcome.
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Anyone here tried Ironman Estonia (Tallinn)?
I was meant to be racing Ironman NZ in March but won’t be able to make it into the country because of covid restrictions til end April.
Looking at European races instead and Estonia looks promising. It’s in August so think I’ll have an “off-season” over December and start a new plan from January.
A close friend of mine did it this year and was very happy with the race and venue. Fast but potentially cold swim, the bike could be fast as well, but was slowed down by constant rain. The run is not as easy as one would guess but still far form a tough course.
I’ve been to Tallinn on a few occasions for business and its a wonderful little place. Awesome old town, lovely people and reasonably priced food and lodging.
Excellent, the race reports I’ve found online have said similar things about the course and the place looks really nice from photos. I’ll give it a go
Long time no update from me. Been a bit out of Tri world as I prepped for a mid November marathon. But I just registered for IM Maryland '22 and it’s great to have an event on the calendar, even if it si a long ways out.
Question: Anyone have experience using TriDot? I got accepted into their free two-month Preseason Project and I think it’s worth trying out. Initially looks like a bit lower run and bike volume than I want but I can add on these easily. Hoping it will prescribe some good swims for me. Also like that it interfaces nicely with TR and will make the bike workouts into TR workouts.
Although it seems like there is a big learning curve and I’m not sure I’m totally on board, Anyone with experience with this?
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Welcome back to the fold I listen to their podcasts but not really bought into their approach. They had good stats on last years “pre season” thing though, tracking and contrasting athletes race day performance differences between those who stuck with the program and those who dropped out. TR would do well to replicate that. TriDot claimed some significant performance improvements, I wanna say 6%? Or was it in minutes, I forget.
I think I’ll stick with it, it’s two months of free training and I guess it’s always worth trying something new, especially with a race so far out. Probably will be adding some volume to the bike workouts but I can do that easily with TR.
TriDot seems very well marketed, has lots of great performance improvement data to show their training works. But a bit hard to learn their system and their app/website has already caused me a few headaches, but I’ll stick with it.
Listened to their Preseason Training Podcast and they claimed that athletes who did preseason training then trained on their own during the season dropped 18 min on a half IM. Those that did preseason and tridot dropped 35 min. That’s pretty significant and makes me buy in enough to try it out. But I definitely can’t afford tridot regularly, so I’ll be out after these two free months.
Podcast episode: Revisiting TriDot’s Preseason Project: How Athletes Helped Revolutionize Triathlon Training - TriDot
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Sorry for the lateness, family issues and a new job have been taking priority.
Roll call!
@Simo429
@jonathan.naim
@Michael_Tate
@cfox2008
@ashman07
@TG333
@Murph333
@steclark
@sthwaite
@WildWill