Ironstar 2008

William Ritter

My first thoughts before the race was at 5am when my cell phone rings and I am like who the **** is calling at this time and it was triathlon advisor/sponsor Steve Farris.

Once I got to the start, I realized I had forgot to put my orthotics in my race shoes, we got to transition late that morning and they were already trying to rush everybody out, I ran back and caught a ride on a golf cart and the officials let me in but they weren't too happy. I told them they could watch me put them in if they wish. I got back to the swim start the wave prior to mine.

We got in the water but it wasn't as cold as I thought it would be. I got off to a good start I thought. We were swimming directly into the sun. for the first part. It was hard to see. I was following everyone that I could see on my right. Even when weren't with the sun the bouys were far a part and weren't that big as. At the start of the race I kicked in the shoulder pretty hard but other than the start wasn't too bad. I thought I was swimming good but I came out of ther water in one of my slowest times (34.08). My shoulders were tiring near the end stretch. I actually used the wetsuit strippers at this race. I am glad I did. They pulled my wetsuit off faster than clothes at Teaser's.

In transition I had my homemade gels (honey, molasses, and salt) and cliff bars to stuff in my back pockets and side short pockets. I tried to eat as soon as I got on the bike, but I couldn't do it. I started off in the small ring but I was getting passed left and right. I realized this wasn't going to cut it so I had to do the whole 56 miles in the big ring. There were times that on the big hills I switched to the small ring. I tried to eat and take gels every 30 minutes, but I could only manage a small bit or two from my cliff bars, but I was still satisfied from the breakfast I had. I did enjoy the bike course, except for the first 20 miles it was pretty cold and I was shivering, the faster I went the worse it was. I think I did smart bike tactics. Everytime someone passed me I would tuck in (3 bike lengths) and go with them and weave in & out of the traffic as long as I passed the zone in 15 seconds of each rider I was good. Eventually, I would end up dropping everyone that I went with and near the end of the bike ride I was pushing by myself. I think if I had been with the 30-39 age groups or swam faster I could have gotten in with the even faster riders. I got off the bike in 2.43ish. On my dismount I did that thing where you swing your right leg over and rest it on the other foot as I was about to jump off I hit the brakes and the disc wheel started to skid and I jumped off just in time before I fell. I heard someone yell "Nice save."

In T2 I passed my rack spot right up and to go back. I emptied my cliff bars and put on my running shoes.

The first 8 miles of the run seemed to go by fairly fast. A guy (Stephen) in my age group was still ahead of me (approx 3-4 min.) early in the run. It seemed as if we were running the same pace as I couldn't gain any ground on him. Early in the race I was clicking off around 6 minute miles and feeling decent. But after mile 8 it was getting pretty freakin' hard and the course wasn't easy and wasn't shaded. At mile 9 I didn't see Stephen at one of the turn a rounds, I figured he either dropped out or had bathroom difficulties then I finally saw him and asked where he went he said he made a wrong turn. After that with 3-4 miles to go I did my best to hold him off but around mile 10 it felt like I had hit a brick wall. The "run" I had slowly came into a "trot." My head was started to feel "light." The last mile was very hilly and I had to walk for like 5 seconds, it felt much better than running then. Then I started up again and tried to get throught. I did manage to run a little more at the very end.

At the end of the race I was cramping in my calves, stomach, and neck and I was shivering pretty bad for awhile after the race. Stephen finished 4 minutes back. We figured if he didn't have navigational problems chances were pretty good it was going to come down to a sprint. I am glad it didn't I don't know if I could sprint on demand after all of that.

If wasn't for the last 3 miles I probably could have placed a lot better. Bob Hepler was also there had a strong race in 4:48.00. I stayed with Mike Benes from the Brian Loncar racing team also from the Czech Republic finished in 5:4.36 he is also doing IMAZ in two weeks. Brent Poulsen a professional from Canada residing in Fort Worth also stayed with him and he was super fast in 4:14.55 he says he was lucky he didn't have any one to push him. He didn't have a wetsuit and was shivering during the whole bike ride.

I think that's about it. This is not a "Kami" report because my details and grammer are not as good. Once I get all the pictures and the blog will be uploaded on http://www.myspace.com/nikerunner72 in several days.

Cheers!

William