Russ
McKelvey, Ironman Arizona 2012, 18 NOV 12, First Ironman Distance Race
Swim
1:13:58
T1 9:29
Bike 7:10:38
T2 8:24
Run 4:50:16
OV 13:32:45
Dollars Raised for The
Childhood Brain Tumor Foundation: $3200.00
TRAINING:
I started training for
this race in AUG 11. WAY TOO LONG to maintain motivation. I hadn’t done any
athletic events in several years and was not in good shape. I found out I was
deploying again though and wanted this off my bucket list. After working with a
local coach through March I wanted more brain food and luckily found EN. As
life took me by the horns and I had a new baby, new job, lots of field time and
long hours work, the EN focused training methods saved me and made the race
possible even on less than 60% of my planned training. Did all but about 4
rides on the indoor trainer. Even a 6 hour session in the garage that was
probably worse than the entire race mentally.
Wasn’t super confident
because my two races prior in the season were the BOISE 70.3, bike cut short to
15 miles, so I had no idea what the running would feel like in a race situation
and the Boulder 70.3 in August in which I made every nutrition mistake known to
man and DNFd after experiencing things I should not write here. I had dropped
from 210 lbs to 190 but was short of the 185 goal I set for myself. I am only
5’10” so I need to continue to improve on body composition.
I owe unlimited thanks
to my wife and all those that supported me and made this happen. I owe you all
BIG TIME.
PRE RACE:
Stuck rigidly to the
QT2 Race Nutrition Plan during race pre-week. Flew into Pheonix on Thursday
evening. In the future will definitely fly in Wednesday. I think more time
would have helped me relax prior to race and deal with the issues that came up.
Flatted my tubular
front tire on Friday during course recon. Was afraid to glue and race in short
time frame so I used a can of Pit Stop. Still had air the next morning so I
checked the bike in to transition (MISTAKE).
Taper was weird, I had
all kinds of weird aches and pains I am not used to. Claves and lower back felt
weird. Stopped for some ART. Felt better next morning.
Got super relaxed and
motivated after having a Thanksgiving lunch with the Cuellar family who had
come out to see the race and helped me raise 3200.00 for The Childhood Brain
Tumor Foundation on behalf of their son, Alex. (Good MOJO)
Have a 6 week old and
two year old, so I slept in separate hotel room Saturday night. I owe my wife
big for this one, she is awesome.
RACE MORNING:
2 AM: QT2 Apple sauce
protocol, back to sleep
4 AM: More applesauce,
banana, and sports drink
5 AM: Went to
transition Checked front tire had maintained air pressure after Pit Stop
Repair, decided to ride it vice swap it.
6 AM: Took pre race
pictures with Alex Cuellar (friend of family fighting a brain tumor) and his
family, good MOJO seeing them here and Alex looking healthy. Kissed the girls
and headed to swim area. Ate powerbar.
6:45 AM: Gel and Water
SWIM: 1:13:58
This being my first
Ironman distance race, my mantra for the day was, “Slow Swim, Slow Bike, Run
Fresh.” In my cold water half iron experience at the Boise 70.3 I realized that
I was often breathing hard and excited and even got a right calf cramp about 1 mile
in. This I think I executed well. Water temperature was about 63 degrees so not
bad and I jumped in 10 minutes prior to the cannon. I am confident in the water
so I chose to line up in the middle and about 20 meters behind the start line
5m behind the main pack. This was my first in water mass start, so that was
exciting. Found myself getting angry at some that seemed to kick harder when
you were behind them and then reminded myself to calm down and have fun. SLOW
SWIM, EFFORTLESS SWIM! After I adopted the mind like water approach I settled
into a groove and was happy to come out at 1:13:58 feeling like I hadn’t done
anything yet.
T1 9:29
Pretty slow, but
walked the transition to stay calm and make sure I did it right. Spent too much
time messing with compression socks and nutrition. Could have been faster. SLOW
SWIM, SLOW BIKE, RUN FRESH.
Bike 7:10:38
Entire
workout (120 watts):
Duration:
6:47:21 (7:10:59)
Work:
2912 kJ
TSS:
254.4 (intensity factor
0.617)
Norm Power: 129
VI:
1.08
Pw:HR:
100%
Pa:HR:
100%
Distance:
112.44 mi
Min Max Avg
Power:
0 358 120 watts
Heart Rate:
121 149 137 bpm
Cadence:
31 141 89 rpm
Speed:
0 28.3 16.6 mph
Pace
2:07 0:00 3:37 min/mi
Hub Torque:
0 35 5 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 558 116 lb-in
The plan was to base
ride off of a very conservative 209 FTP, I lost a lot of fitness by being in
the filed with the military 14-28 SEP 12, having a newborn on 8 OCT 12, and
starting a new position after promotion. I almost decided not to race, but my
wife basically said she would kill me, so again, I owe her. My goal was to ride
below the 130 watts prescribed for the entire first lap and to the top of
Beeline HWY on lap two and see how I felt.
Lap 1: 2:20: Man, it sure did seem like
everyone was passing me, I mean everyone. I kept reminding myself to stay coll
and calm. Every time I saw my speed above 15mph and power lower than 130 I kept
telling myself MONEY in the BANK, Ride the plan. I did get scared when in the
headwind I saw a 13mph, but managed to stay calm. Took three salt stick pills
when I felt slight cramp in left tricep. Tail wind when I turned around felt
great and brought up speed significantly and I became calm again and not
worried it would take all 17 hours. Ate half a power bar at 30 minutes and 1
hour in, then went to powerbar gels every 30 minutes.
Lap 2: 2:21: Slight cramp in calf so took 3
more salt stick tabs and it went away. Had stickers on the top tube for the 14
water bottles I needed to drink on the ride and was executing pretty well. Half
a power bar at 4 and 4.5 hours and then started eating power bar gels with
caffeine every 30 minutes.
Lap 3: 2:28: Turned around to head back out
feeling really good. I picked up 10 minutes on each of the first two laps from
what I had planned to do and all below the 130 watt cap I had given myself.
Good thing because about 80 miles in POP! And all the Pit Stop go started
shooting out on my legs. Stopped and tried another Pit Stop. No dice. Started
changing tire and then support crew came by and gave me an aluminum wheel.
Darrin, thank you thank you thank you, that tubular would have taken me a while
to change. Total time lost about 18 minutes. But because I listened to Rich I
had the gas to pick up my effort and ride off about ten of that. I did start to
have slight cramp in right calf again on the uphill and all of the dropped salt
pills looked glistening white and as large as frisbies so I would be lying if I
said I didn’t stop and eat three and my cramp went away.
Might have had too
much fluid because stopped to pee 4 times on ride. Started drinking water the
last 30 minutes and thinking about the run.
T2 8:24
Again trying to stay
calm and easy. Walked transition, changed HR strap and watch, socks, etc. Drank
a little water, ate banana and gel and off I went.
Run 4:50:16
|
1.5 mi
|
9:50/mi
|
|
3.1 mi
|
10:29/mi
|
|
4.6 mi
|
10:40/mi
|
|
5.9 mi
|
10:28/mi
|
|
7 mi
|
9:43/mi
|
|
8.6 mi
|
10:09/mi
|
|
10.1 mi
|
10:06/mi
|
|
11.7 mi
|
10:26/mi
|
|
13.3 mi
|
11:13/mi
|
|
14.6 mi
|
11:12/mi
|
|
15.7 mi
|
10:27/mi
|
|
17.3 mi
|
11:53/mi
|
|
18.8 mi
|
10:44/mi
|
|
20.4 mi
|
10:44/mi
|
|
21.9 mi
|
11:40/mi
|
|
23.2 mi
|
12:47/mi
|
|
24.3 mi
|
11:41/mi
|
|
26.2 mi
|
14:08/mi
|
My Suunto T3 kicked
the bucket during the last 8 miles so I have no HR or mile splits. Above splits
pulled off the tracker. I also had no GPS watch (I was too cheap) so tried to
pace by feel. The plan was to run 11 minute miles including the walk and then
go to 10:30s after 6 miles. Nutrition plan was to eat a gel every hour and one
clif shot block every two miles drinking perform at each aid station.
First mile, a minute
to fast so walked a minute instead of 30 steps. Kept trying but really ran b/t
10:30 and 10:40s for next 5 miles. In all, I felt really strong until mile 20
then just slowly fell apart. Watch died so had no visual feedback and started
taking water, perform, and broth at aid stations. Not in the plan, not sure why
I did it. Then by mile 22 I thought it would be a great idea to drink cola, it
tasted good so did it again at 23. That one was NOT de-fizzed and my stomach
immediately revolted. At this point, I lost the mental game, body convinced
mind that we were way ahead of schedule and we should walk the ills which
turned into walking a lot the last two miles. Oh well. Easy to PR when you
haven’t done an Ironman before.
===============================
So I made my main goal
to finish my first Ironman, I exceeded the 15:30 that I publically committed to
by almost two hours, and I really enjoyed the entire vent up to mile 20. I am
now hooked on these races and I know I can get under 12 hours by doing 100% of
my training versus the 60% I managed to complete with new baby, two year old,
new job, and upcoming deployment.
Next up: Run the
Boulder Half Marathon April 1st with my wife in 1:45 (9 min PR), and
run a Marathon before I deploy in August in under 4 hours. Ride the hell out of
the indoor trainer for the 9 months I am Kuwait and really work on run speed.
When I return in 2014 as a beast, volunteer and support my wife through her
first Ironman and the take on Wisconsin.
