Hey, thats me!.
I found my Giant and ran to the mount line, jumped on and started peddling.
My plan was to maintain a cadence between 75-90. I also had to start refueling. I knew that my decisions at this early stage would have long term effects on my day. I ignored all of the bikes passing me by and settled into my groove.
The course was 3 loops. Out of T1 we began a steady easy climb. This was a good place to start holding back. Following the early climb, we had a moderate flat for 15 miles. Just before Cerne Abbas we had a relatively short but tough climb following the aid station. Next was another flat down to Dorchester before we turned back.
At Dorchester we began climbing the giant(biggest hill on course). The climb was long, and I found it to be a good time to eat. The climb was well protected from the wind due to the hedges along the roadside. I mostly sat back on my saddle and placed my hands on my arm rests. When we hit an opening in the hedges the wind would push me hard. The views were amazing atop the Giant, and I passed many while climbing.
Following the decent we finished the loop into a very stiff headwind.
During the second loop I really had to work hard as the winds were really strong. My final loop was my strongest despite a light rain. My early conservative approach really seemed to benifit me late in the bike section.
I stopped to pee, and ate alot. No flats. I felt strong and my confidence and mood remained positive as I rode into T2.
In Ironman they grab your bike and return it to the rack for you. After mine was taken, I stopped the volunteer, patted my bike on the seat and thanked my steed for getting me as far as it did. I was headed into T2 of the Ironman. I was getting ready to run my IM marathon, and I was stoked.....
6 comments:
Good pacing strategy. I love that the biggest hill climb was a chance for you to eat... ha! I would have been standing up in my granniest gear, and the only thing in my mouth would've been curse words directed at the hill!
How is it that you people make an ironman sound so, well, EASY in these race reports?! Is it really that fun?
Not exactly the conditions you trained in, eh??
looking foreward to reading about that neg. split mary....
Congrats on your Ironman finish.
It was nice meeting you at the GCT, hope to see you around.
Jen,
The IM is Not easy. At this point in the race, my training, taper, nutition,race plan, and lack of mechanical issues were really paying off.
Assuming all of these things are working for you, it is fun.
But like HCT said Ironman is hard.
Charlie, of course I know that it wasn't actually easy. In my clumsy way I was just wanting to know more about it -- what was going through your head? What kind of limits did you feel yourself up against? How did you keep going? Sorry if I implied that I thought the race was easy; it wasn't what I meant.
I thought what you said was accurate. We do sometimes make it sound easy and fun. I wanted to reiterate how hard IM is. Not just for you, but for me. It is so hard to remember the tough times right now.
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