Monday, June 23, 2008

Done.

I made it!

First of all I want to thank Guest Blogger Ben for giving you all the updates yesterday. Apparently his posts were very popular and well-liked and therefore he'll never be allowed to post here again. (In addition to winning the Best Road Rash at the Lake Arrowhead Tri last year, Ben did his first Ironman in Brazil last month in a stunning 11:01. Not too shabby.)

There is so much to report so rather than doing one huge race report I'll be throwing many random smaller entries over the next few days. Here's the quick summary:

The lake was 59.5 degrees when we started. A little chilly but the temperature was a complete non-issue. I had a great swim and started the bike 10 minutes ahead of where I thought I would be. I loved the first 40 miles or so of the bike ride. I had a pretty decent pace going and the scenery was beautiful. But then the winds picked up. It was pretty bad at times and it deflated me more emotionally than physically. I did a lot of mental struggling for about 30 miles or so but managed to recover. My legs felt pretty good starting the run, but I was having stomach problems caused by eating way too many Shot Bloks. My stomach pretty much destroyed the second half of the first marathon loop but I came back pretty strong for the second loop.

Here's something pretty amazing about my Ironplan:

On May 24th, I said "My best guess is I'll take the golden path and come in at 14:45."
My finishing time was 14:45:39.

Not to take anything away from my incredible supporters in Coeur d'Alene, but I DID make it pretty easy for them to see me. To simplify things, before the race I made some mental changes to the chart and told them "just remember '2-7-6'. I want to start the bike 2 hours after the swim, I want to start the run 7 hours after that, and I want to finish the race 6 hours after that."

I started the bike 1:47 after the race began (13 minutes early).
I started the run 6:58:34 later (86 seconds faster than predicted).
I finished the marathon in 5:59:40 (20 seconds faster than predicted).

If you don't mind, I'll give myself some credit for being able to make adjustments during the race to really meet those target times so closely.

You'll often hear people say "it's fun to go vacation, but after a while you just want to go home." Maybe it's the lake, or the trees, or the Spirit of Ironman still lingering in the air but I've been here 5 days and I'm not ready to leave.

11 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Congrats! Great time. Pizza and beer up next?

1:58 AM  
Blogger monica said...

damn, Wedgie, you're like way more prophetic at predictions than Nostradamus even!!!

so when's the tatt appointment? i've got to wait 'til september for mine...DOH!!!

1:59 AM  
Blogger Born To Endure said...

Huge congrats to you...and way to go on that finishing time!!!

4:47 AM  
Blogger Spokane Al said...

Congratulations on a well planned, successful race. It was also great to meet you and it helped me when I saw you periodically on the run.

7:29 AM  
Blogger S. Baboo said...

Great job Wedgie! It was good to meet you.

8:06 AM  
Blogger MtngirlinCali said...

Damn, you need to enter some of those predictive time contests....that's pretty impressive. Well, it's all impressive, so congrats on a great race! Have experienced the Shot Blok debacle and I feel you, I really do.... Safe travels home, and great job, Ironman! (And thank your guest bloggers-- they were hilarious)

8:23 AM  
Blogger Steve Stenzel said...

OH MY GOD!! The "golden path" actually worked!!!

WELL DONE!!!!

8:44 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wedgie,
It was great meeting you and cheering you and Rich onward. Matthew and Jared are having a great time telling their sister and dad about you. Congrats IRONMAN!!! -Valerie

10:10 AM  
Blogger TRI Vortex said...

You probably moonlight as one of those Carnies that guess people's weight.

6:38 PM  
Blogger Tea said...

WOO HOO!!!! What a great race! Congrats! I'm so so happy for you.

9:04 PM  
Blogger Aaron said...

Nice work Wedgie. 39 seconds off the prediction is solid.

Since you're so good at predicting the unpredictable, could you just start working on the economy?

5:20 PM  

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