Monday, June 15, 2009

Ironman 70.3 Kansas

Yesterday was the big race. 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run.
I woke up around 3:15am (didn't even need an alarm-Parker made sure that I didn't sleep in) and headed out with Ryan (a friend of mine from work with whom I have been training) around 4:15 for Lawrence. We arrived at Clinton Lake around 5:15, along with the rest of the 1900+ competitors. My blood was pumping and my heart was thumping as we started setting up our transitions. It was a little nerve wrecking when they announced that we only had 3 more minutes in the transition area and I hadn't even started pumping up my bike tires, but I was able to get my bike ready and still had plenty of time to calm the nerves before the swim start.
Ryan and I were in the largest start wave because they combined the 20-24 males and the 25-29 males, so it was basically chaos for the first 400 meters. I was getting hammered by other guys, but I also did some hammering myself. :) My swim was slower than I expected-coming in around 39 min, but I think it could've been due to the fact that I just couldn't find my rhythm in the midst of all the "traffic." Happy to be finished with the swim, I hustled to my bike and tried to down some chocolate covered espresso beans while I put on my helmet and shoes. My transition was mediocre, but not terrible, so I started the bike feeling pretty strong. Going in, I was most worried about the bike section because the furthest I had ridden in training was 40 miles. Now I had to go 56, so I was expecting a tough 3 hours. I was pleasantly surprised when my legs felt like they were getting stronger as I went on, but I thought surely I would fade at some point. I don't know if I just had too much adrenaline or if the 4 GUs, 2 Nuuns, 3 Gatorades and the Clif Bocks were kicking in, but I never faded. I ended up averaging just under 20 mph for the bike (much faster than I expected).
As I came in to the run transition, I dismounted the bike and my legs felt like jelly, so I thought-uh oh, I probably pushed it too hard on the bike and won't have anything left for the run. The first mile was really tough, but when I looked down at my Garmin, I noticed that I had run a 7:48 mile-not bad, but I knew that wasn't sustainable and decided to slow it down to around an 8 to 8:15 pace. I passed quite a few people on the first half of the run, but the quads started getting tight around mile 6. Not long after I started hurting I saw MB, Parker and MB's Mom cheering for "Daddy" and my quads suddenly became an afterthought. :) Seeing my family cheering for me was all that I needed to push through the second half of the run. I continued at the ~8 min mile pace for rest of the run and finished the half-marathon in 1 hr 47 min, with a total time of 5 hr 23 min. (7 minutes below my goal time of 5:30) I feel like all the hard work in training really paid off and I am definitely stoked to have had an almost picture perfect race. Below is a shot of me coming down the homestretch to the finish. I have to thank everyone who supported me at the race-MB, Mom, Dad, Marilyn and Little-P. I especially want to thank MB & Parker for allowing me to take those 2 hour training rides and hour long runs on Saturday mornings over the past few months. I had a great time training with Ryan and getting to know him better-so thanks Ryan-having a training partner really helped keep me on track. All in all-it was a great experience even though I am really sore today. It was worth it.
I am continually amazed at what the human body is capable of accomplishing, and I thank God that I have the ability to get out there and compete. I was really amazed with some of the other athletes-I saw one man who lost a leg in Iraq and he was out there "pounding the pavement" with his prosthetic leg. I saw another man who was blind and he completed the course with minimal assistance from an escort. I even saw a 77 year old woman, who was still running at a pretty good clip midway through the run. I think my race pales in comparison to these people. They are the ones who really inspire me to want to go harder the next time. I am not sure when I will do another, but I know I can't stay away for long. I am already setting my sites on a sub-5 hr race next time. We'll see about that....Thanks for reading.
For results, check out http://www.ironmankansas.com/ and click on the results link. Bib# 1177

2 comments:

Jacob and Kalli Hiller said...

Been your a hard A! I'll be sure and get around to an Ironman... PSY
CH! No way...

Carrie Yost said...

Ben, GREAT work!! THAT is incredible...congratulations on a job well done! Great to see you at the half in KC!