IMAZ - Pre-Race & The Swim

Waking Up
It was 3:15 and I was lying in bed looking up at the ceiling, watching the ceiling fan spin around and around. I closed my eyes and the next thing I heard was my alarm going off; it was 4:00AM and my day was about to start. I took a deep breath, climbed out of bed, and headed to the bathroom to get dressed (my pseudo early-AM dressing room). Once dressed, I went into the kitchen and had a bowl of cereal, a banana and a bottle of Gatorade. I sat there not really thinking about anything in particular, just that I needed to make sure I ate breakfast. I did worry that I might eat too little or too much. Around 4:30AM my father came in, he would be driving me to the start, and asked me if I was ready. I didn’t really have an answer, except to say that I better be.

At 4:50AM we were on the way to Tempe and surprisingly I felt very calm and at ease. My father and I talked about what he would be doing after dropping me off and how he and the rest of my family were planning to attack the bike and run course to try and see me. The ride went far too quickly for me, I wish that I could have spend a bit more time talking with my Dad. Before I left him, he gave me a big hug and told me how proud he was of my….it meant the world to me. And with that we said goodbye and I walked into the Ironman Village, ready to begin my journey.

Pre-Race

It was 5:15AM and I still had to take care of the last minute things that come with doing a race this size. First thing was to load my bike with all of my liquid fuel and make sure my tires were pumped up. Next was to drop off my “Special Needs” bags in their respective places. I really didn’t have all that much in the bags, just some extra Gatorade, Clif Shot Bloks, arm warmers (i.e. soccer socks with the toes cut off) and emergency gear (extra CO2 cartridges in the bike bag). Once that was all done I had my body marking done which took all of 30 seconds (Note: Earlier in the week body marking was being done in the Village and participants were waiting 15 – 30 minutes to get it done…crazy). Of course there were the multiple bathroom visits that I and the rest of the athletes had to deal with, the result of constant hydrating and nerves I suppose.

Once all of that was done, I was just chilling out next to my bike soaking up the atmosphere.  I then realized that I forgot to tell my father one last thing. I quickly called him up and wished him a Happy Birthday, yes Ironman Arizona just happened to take place on his birthday this year. After the call I decided to get all Body-Glide’d up and put on my wetsuit, it was around 6:30AM and we were a mere 30 minutes away from the start.

The next 30 minutes went by in a flash. I felt like one minute I was zipping up my wetsuit and the next I was standing on the edge of Tempe Town Lake ready to drop into the water like a penguin dropping off of an ice shelf. I did manage to run into an iamtri.com friend, Rich. He probably didn’t know it at the time, but the five minute conversation we had really helped take my mind of everything, alleviating a lot of my nervousness. Then the time came to jump into the water, the frigid 61F water. I took a deep breath and in I went. Surprisingly, it felt a lot better than the day before; maybe it was the fact that I coated my arms, cheeks and face with Body Glide. I made my way to the swim start and waited patiently for the cannon to start us off. There was one slight issue…I forgot to remove my wedding band and I didn’t know what to do with it. It was too late to try and jam it into my tri shorts and I worried if I put it into my swim cap I might forget about it. I kept it on my finger and would just have to make sure I didn’t lose it.

The Swim
BOOM! The cannon sounded and we were off. Initially it was a bit crowded and I feared that I was a bit too far forward as I was getting swum over a bit. After about five minutes everything seemed to settle down a bit and I actually had some clear water to swim in. The next 1,000m or so was smooth sailing aside from the occasional bump or brush with a fellow swimmer. I was feeling confident and strong. I would occasional take my left thumb and make sure my ring was still on my finger…it was a nice reminder of my wife as I pressed forward.

The swim got bad right as we approached the Rural Avenue Bridge. There was a buoy on the other side of it and everyone was making a beeline for it, basically converging to the same spot in the lake. It was hear that the hay makers began to fly and the body slams began (and not by me). Repeatedly I was punched in the right shoulder and in the back of the head, I concentrated on not getting held under the water. Someone swam in front of me and I received a swift kick just to the right of my nose. The Ironman beatings had begun and I was the one receiving the punishment. This would last until the first turn buoy, about 300m in total. Once I made the turn, I stayed right and avoided all contact until the end of the swim. Did I swim a little farther than I should have? Probably. Did I avoid punches and kicks to the face? Oh yeah. Was my time slower than I wanted? Definitely, but I was OK with that.

Once under the Mill Avenue Bridge I could feel the adrenaline surge within me, I could hear the announcer, I could see my way out of the water. I swam for the stairs; I reached up and climbed out of Tempe Town Lake. I was on dry land and happy to be done with the first part of my Ironman.  Last thing about the swim, I opted to use wax ear plugs for the swim.  I had read that it can help you with your balance once you get out of the water....and you know what, they were right, I felt great.  A great tip for any triathlon in the future!

Total Swim Time: 1:23:15 (2:11/100m)
1,405th place overall
227th Age Group