Ironman Louisville: Race Report

There is a lot to unpack here, so I’ll try* to be brief.

Overall, it was a tough day for me as a lot of things did not fall into place. There was the cancelled swim, forgetting my bike nutrition, a headwind in both directions and having an unknown mechanical issue on the bike. I burned out my legs trying to hit the right speed and had nothing left physically or mentally for the run. Once I knew my chance at Kona was gone, I decided to slow up and take some time to thank my family during the marathon.

Love my family: Thanks for sticking with me

Swim: CANCELLED due to algae bloom.

Going into the race, this was a negative for me. As a more well-rounded athlete, not being able to swim puts me at a disadvantage against the stronger cyclist/runners. In most races, I typically build a 5-10 minute gap on the swim that they need to earn back. That aside, I did my best to stay focused on the plan.

Bike: 

If you don’t know how a cancelled swim works, you basically start in T1 with your bike gear on and wait for your rack number to be called. Ours was based on bib number, and I was 1292.

The morning started out at 40 degrees, so I kept my sweats on as long as I possibly could before heading to the start line. It was around this time that I realized I left ALL my bike nutrition at the hotel. There was nothing I could do at that point except plan on getting fuel at every transition. As I was tracking my watt output on the bike, I knew something was very wrong.

Time to get a little technical… In training I average right at 200 watts, and that typically gives me an average speed of 20-21mph. For this race, I held 230 WATTS and only averaged 20mph. Lesson learned? Have a bike mechanic look it over before major races! I promise I will not make this mistake again.

T2: Getting off the bike, I was pretty much ready to walk the marathon. I was in 24^th age group, and had nothing left in my legs from pushing too many watts (should’ve been closer to 210). I couldn’t even do my flying dismount and walked my bike to the volunteer with my cleats still on. I pulled on my shoes and slowly jogged to get my bag. A volunteer handed me the wrong bag, so I needed to go back and get the right one. I took my time and started to jog once I hit the timing mat.

Run: 

My plan for the run was simple. Run 30 minutes before I take my first walk. I was expecting to take 4-4.5 hours to get through it and just didn’t care at that point. I had a rough first lap but was still holding around an 8 min/mi. Walking past my family was probably the hardest part of the day. I stopped to give my dad a hug and just walked for a bit. Once I got going again, I must have caught my 2^nd wind. Lap 2 was actually faster than my first, and I kept skipping my “walk breaks” at each aid station. With a shot at still hitting a 3:30 marathon, I used that as motivation to push it home.

I can’t thank my family and Ty enough for being there and sticking out a rough day with me. Without them there, I would have been much more miserable and out on course a lot longer.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" - Philippians 4:13

Except for a half marathon this fall, my race season is at an end. My posts may be less frequent/shorter, but I will continue to write updates on how my training is progressing. I will be finalizing my race calendar for next year to determine where I will make my next qualifying attempt. As always, thank you for your support and following me on the Road to Kona.