Windy days

With my warm-up done (the swim) it was time to start this Ironman by sticking to my plan. My goal for the bike was to keep my heart rate in check, drink 2 large bottles of fluid an hour and take in some calories every 15 minutes. Before the race I set up my Garmin alarm to go off every 15 minutes to keep me on track. Unfortunately, being that my Garmin fried on the swim, my back-up bike computer was on the fritz and I did not fashion a sun dial prior to the race, I had to boycott technology for the day and rely on my zen master like intuition to hit these goals. I felt confident being able to judge my pace so that I did not blow up for the run.

As for nutrition, I knew the aid stations were about every 6 miles so I broke it into sections. I was planed on drinking one bottle of water and one bottle of Gatorade by every third aid station (about 18 miles or about an hour at my easy pace) and to eat ether a gel or half a power bar at the other aid stations while taking 2 salt tabs somewhere in that 3 station span. This seemed simple enough to remember and in the ballpark of my caloric needs.

Starting out on the bike I finished my first bottle of water before even hitting the second aid station. It was hot outside and I was thirsty. I quickly amended my plan on the fly and upped my goal to two bottles of water and one bottle of Gatorade by every third aid station. This was three bottles of fluid an hour and seemed to be just right for the conditions. Now the bottles were not the big bottles that I normally use in training. The water bottles were normal sized smaller bike water bottles and the Gatorade bottles were small sports bottles that did not fit tight in a water bottle cage. Using the cage on my down tube the bottle stayed but rattled around a little. I did get a few bottles with the safety top still on under the cap. Not the end of the world as I am a ninja at opening things on the bike, especially if there are delicious calories inside.

Along the bike the first section left chankanaab park and headed south on the island. There were a few resorts along the way with nice cheering sections positioned out front. The road was completely closed to traffic so there were no problems with passing or blocking. As the road turned to the east we could start to feel the wind pick up and once we rounded the corner to the east side of the island the wind was strong. I felt bad for some of those people with their deep section front wheels. They really looked like they struggled to hold a line. Being 175 lb with a modest rim depth, I could feel the wind blow me around a little but it was nothing too difficult to handle. The views on the east side of the island were spectacular. From the road the white sandy beaches were on the right and the ocean was crashing on either the beach or rock walls for the entire section. Pictures truly do not do this justice. There were about 4 bars/restaurants along this section which was about 10 miles (I think).

I could ride here all day

At the end of the “windy section” we took a left at the Mexican K-Mart and headed back towards town. The start of this road had a nice tail wind that weakened the further inland the road traveled. It was about 9 miles to town and the end of the first loop. I was making mental pictures of the landscape for the other two loops. Along the road there was the tequila factory (I would be stopping there one of the days after the race) and some Mayan ruins.

Mexican K-mart

As I got closer to town, all the locals lined the street and were cheering for the athletes. This was great, it was a little hard to keep my pace under control as so many people are yelling for you to vamos but I did my best. Once in town there were a few turns and we were on the road heading back to chankanaab park where it all started. The first loop was a little shorter than the next two as chankanaab park is about 6 miles south of town. This part of the road was a little narrow as there was traffic along the road, but I did not feel that it hurt the race much. As I made my way to the east side of the island I started getting some hot spots on my feet. I have had this problem in the past but thought it was fixed after I adjusted my cleats. I popped my feet out of the shoes and rode with my feet on top of my shoes for a few miles as I ate a power bar. This seemed to help but I had to take my shoes off about every half hour. Not a big deal as I am pretty good at getting in and out of my shoes. Needless to say the new bike shoes are ready to go for the next race.

By the time I hit the east side of the island for the second time the winds had picked up. As I had no bike computer I asked someone what our pace was as I passed and he told me he was doing 12-14 along this stretch. Wow, I wish I didn’t know that. I think heading into a strong headwind can be harder than hills because there are no downhill sections and you waste energy trying to hold a line. Regardless I held an easy pace and kept the cranks spinning. I saw a few people that were blatantly drafting on this section (although not doing a great job as I was easily passing them). There were a few groups of 3-5 people that seemed to be working as a team, but nothing like the packs I have heard about in Florida. About halfway done with the windy section numero duo a couple of the top pro males passed me as they were finishing up their third lap. Those guys were really moving, it was pretty amazing to see how much faster they can move into the headwinds. Soon I came up on the special needs bags and decided I did not need anything in there so I just kept cranking away. Once passing the Mexican K-mart it was nice to feel a little bit of a tail wind again. The excitement in town was picking up and there were even more spectators cheering us on along the course.

After leaving town it was one more loop to finish up this bike. Other than the hot spots on my feet I was feeling pretty good and did not want to start pushing anything so that I could save the legs for that marathon. Hitting the windy side of the island for the third time was tough. This was a mental challenge as it took some effort to keep moving without just wanting to hammer through this section to get it over with. By this time of the day the wind had really picked up and just holding a straight line was no easy task.

Tasty snack

About halfway through the windy section I was ready to get off the bike and my stomach no longer wanted anymore powerbars. No big deal I just took an extra gel instead of the half of a powerbar I had planed, same calories easier to digest. Once making the turn back to town I knew it was smooth sailing from hear. I kept my pace under control and stretched out the legs knowing that I wanted to feel fresh and loose for the run. The road back to town seemed to have gotten longer on the third loop. I am not sure how that happened but I am guessing that all that wind stretched out the island. At one point someone said that we had already hit 112 miles but were still a few miles from town. I got a few confirmations that the actual bike length was 115.x miles, so it may have been a little long. With no bike computer and a fried Garmin I had no idea what the distance was but was glad to get back into town.

Before the race I had planed on biking somewhere between 6:30 and 6:45, my actual time was around 6:51 which was okay, those winds were much more treacherous than I had anticipated and I felt like I kept my pace under control. Of course during the race I had no idea how long that bike took, I didn’t even know the time of day. Once at T2 (which was in a different place than T1) I hopped of my bike and did a full change into running gear in the tent, dumped some water on my salty head and off I went for the marathon.

Hopefully I left enough in the tank to finish the day strong.

Dolphins, stingrays and sharks oh my!

About 4 am the wake-up call goes off and I immediately eat a pre-race breakfast. Even though I stayed at a “host hotel” they did not have breakfast set up or anything out so I was on my own for breakfast. This amounted to a power bar, 2 granola bars and a piece of chocolate cake, this truly is the stuff champions are made of. I mixed up a Gatorade endurance and took that with me for the bus ride to transition.

In transition I found Mrs. Scott and she was ready to go once the pump guy with a huge fro made sure my tires were pumped up. It seemed like he put a lot of air in those tires and I was a little concerned that he might have over inflated them being that it took about 50 pumps but everything seemed fine so we ventured over to the beach to get away from the mosquitoes. I took two bites on my neck and JB told me it looked like I was attacked by a vampire, maybe I will be in the next twilight movie. On second thought being a vampire would be tough today with that bright sun about to burn us up.

As we waited for the race to get started we chatted it up with a few athletes to pass the time and met a nice couple from lake placid.

The Swim:

The swim took place at chankanaab park, which is normally off limits to swimming. It was a real treat to be able to swim in a normally secluded area. The ocean floor was about 75 feet below us and everything was very visible. The visibility of the ocean in this area is about 200 feet!

The park

As we walked onto the pier for the swim start the dolphins were jumping out of the water in the “swim with the dolphin area” which was enclosed within the pier. I had the opportunity to swim with these dolphins the day before and tried to convince them to help me on the swim today but my dolphin is about on par with my Spanish and I think something was lost in translation. One athlete was about to jump into the dolphin cage thinking it would get him to the swim start. That was before he saw them swimming around, that would have been a shocker.

The pier

I gave JB a high five as he jumped off the pier and I positioned myself under the pier a little bit away from the main pack. Although I tried to start near the back I found myself right in the middle of a large swim pack. No big deal I had enough space and figured after a few hundred yards the spacing should be okay. As they started the countdown I noticed that my Garmin fried when I hit the water. This threw a little wrinkle in my plan for the day as I planed on going strictly by heart rate data on the bike and run. Deep breath and it’s time for plan B. I would have to take it easy and just listen to my body to judge if I am pushing too hard. I relaxed and I had my plan, today I am the zen master. Not knowing my heart rate, pace, or time could actually be a benefit if I can keep myself under control and not worry about what kind of pace I was holding. I took a few more deep breaths and at the sound of the gun we were off!

As I suspected the first part of the swim was a little rough. Being under the dock not only did I have to avoid the mass of bodies fighting for position, but also the concrete pillars supporting the dock. I set myself up between a few people just kept swimming out to the first turn buoy. I kept my elbows high on my recovery to avoid any blows to the head and all things considered the start went pretty well. There was some rubbing and I took a few feet and fist shots but nothing bad enough to force me to break stroke. The first turn buoy was about 300 meters from the start and the swim was into the current. As I approached the first turn there was a large gap to the inside and the group was taking the turn wide. Must be that everyone took the advice of the day before and decided to take the turn wide. I adjusted my course and made a tight turn around the buoy with no contact. The next turn bout was about 100 meters away and directly out from shore. The spacing of swimmers had spaced out by this point and the swim was pretty easy going. However due to the current I kept getting shifted to the inside of the buoy. I had to adjust course a few times to make the turn. During the turn the current actually pushed me into the buoy as I rounded for the long stretch.

This next part of the swim was great. We were swimming with the current so I was taking long easy strokes and covering a lot of ground at a nice pace. For this part of the swim I found some feet and just enjoyed the scenery. I saw a few star fish, two stingrays and countless other fish. I even heard the dolphins talking as we passed back by the docks, I think they were apologizing for not being able to escape to help me out. About halfway to the turn I swam into a few jellyfish and took a few nasty stings on my head, arms and legs. They were not anything to slow me down, but they did sting. (On the bike I noticed one that was a little deep and had a little blood oozing). A little hydrocortisone the next day cleared up the rashes and remaining stings. At the next turn we rounded a submarine that normally gives tours of the area and headed back towards shore and then one more turn towards the docks. This final stretch of the swim was against the current. I drafted some feet of an athlete that was kicking a nice stream of bubbles and cruised back to the exit.

About 100 meters from shore there was a rush of cold water. I thought to myself that I think sharks like cold water and low and behold there he was, a 7’ reef shark hanging out near the ocean floor. He did not seem interested in the swimmers which was a good thing because I have been perfecting my eye gouge and gill punch.

The eye gouge

Soon after the shark sighting I saw the stairs and climbed out and back onto the pier.

The exit

Running into transition there were tons of spectators lining the way cheering. Being that this was a non-wetsuit race I planed on swimming somewhere between 1:30-1:40. As I ran past the clock I saw, wait for it … 1:19! Holly cow or holly shark!

With a big smile on my face I ran threw the showers, grabbed my bag, got a little sunscreen and hopped on Mrs. Scott for the second leg of the day.