Goals Before Swim T1 Bike T2 Run After Thanks Results Conclusion


Results
Swim: 1:14:23 (1:58/100m)
T1: 9:17
Bike: 7:25:29 (15.1mph)
T2: 6:41
Run: 4:31:43 (10:23/mile)
Total: 13:27:32

(Results with splits as provided by ironmanlive.com here.)

With the exception of T2, which was 25 seconds slower, I PRed at every discipline over CdA2007. (My CdA results, for reference.)

My total time to do CdA was 14:51:41. My total time to do Lake Placid was 13:27:32. Almost an hour and a half faster!

My swim was faster than even my stand-alone 2.4 mile open water swim earlier this year. My run was the second fastest marathon I've ever done, faster than the stand-alone Austin Marathon from 2007 by several minutes.

I felt I corrected a lot of the rookie mistakes I complained about making at CdA, especially in transitions and special needs, and in general I just felt like a stronger athlete. Actually, I felt like an athlete. I felt like strong athlete out on the run, and I normally feel like a complete poser. So that was a big breakthrough for me.

Aside from the last 10 miles of the bike, I really had no low points. I felt strong and upbeat almost the entire time. I'm not sure if Ironman distance is the right distance for me, or if I just happen to have had two good races in a row, but I imagine I'll find out eventually! I think the rain really helped me, too. It lent such an air of surreality and ridiculousness to the whole thing that it was hard to take it too seriously, and so I just had fun. If you're going to do something crazy like an Ironman, why not do it in the pouring rain? Matt looked it up afterwards, and Lake Placid got 5 inches of rain that day.

We didn't sign up for Lake Placid next year, though apparently everyone else in the world did. We learned later that online registration never opened, because it filled up on site. Despite the conditions this year. But we'd already planned to take 2009 off full-distance events, anyway. 2009 will be for having fun and gaining speed with shorter distances. 2010 may be our triumphant return to the Ironman..


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