Ironman Cozumel
It's always great to end the year on a high note and racing Ironman Cozumel was certainly the right race for me. This year has been the year of experimenting with training/racing and I feel like I finally nailed that combination at the last race of the year. In beginning of the year I feel like I took a step back but it was really important because I learned a ton and was able to finally able to take two steps forward.
Leading up to this race for about 6 weeks I was training solo for 100% of my workout in Northern NY. Waking up 3 days a week at 4:50am to swim and then the other days I would wake up at 6:30-7 to get in my morning swim. All of my cycling was done on the trainer and half of my runs were done on the treadmill/outside.
I did (most of) Ironman AZ two weeks ago. I had a decent swim in 56 minutes. A decent bike in 4:21 and ran the first 13 miles at 6:20 pace. Then came the cold wind/rain and my HR dropped 15 beats and my pace dropped to 7:20. I was in the top 10 but at mile 16.9 I decided to DNF and save some for Ironman Cozumel. I do not race well in cold weather and Arizona was COLD! I was told the top 6 guys all went to the medical tent after the race. A few days after the race I flew from AZ to Cozumel.
RACE DAY
The swim: 49 minutes. I felt like I got out well and had a good start in my BlueSeventy swim skin. However my goggle wasn't sealing well in my left eye. I've never had this problem with my goggles so maybe the swim cap was in the way. I decided to stop and let the salt water out and then reseal my goggle. I did this a total of 3 times and finally the last time it sealed! I was still able to swim with a large group of 10 people. When I got out of the water I slipped and hit my left goggle on the stairs and now have a slightly bruised eye. While running to my bike in T1, I could tell I had lost a contact. Thankfully I kept spare contact lenses in my spare tire kit. I decided to not put in the new contact and ride out with the group on my Falco V.
The Bike: 4:32. I was half blind on the bike which was a little irritating. Thankfully I felt good on the bike and no one was able to hang on my wheel for too long. 20-25 minutes later I was riding solo. At around mile 65 I had enough with being half blind so I stopped, took off my helmet, dug for my contact lens and struggled to put in the lens. I'm not sure how much time I lost but it must have been at least a minute. From then on I had clear vision through my Rudy Project Wing57 visor on my helmet. I felt pretty good the rest of the way into T2 as I got off the bike in 4th place. In transition when I was changing into my American flag shorts, a number of Mexican kids/volunteers were laughing so hard they almost fell to the ground. I guess they have never seen a full nude man before!
The Run: 2:47. Right away I felt good while running in my Compressport socks and Skechers GoRun 4 shoes. I started closing the gap on 3rd place who was Michael Weiss. Around mile 13, I passed Michael. With 7 miles to go the leader dropped back which bumped me up to 2nd and I believe he eventually dropped out. I was 2:10 down and I thought it was possible to chase him down if he couldn't hold his pace. I maintained my pace without going over my head so I didn't blow up like the leader had. Unfortunately the new leader Stefan Schmid was able to hold his pace and finished 1:44 in front of me.
My fastest mile was a 6:15 and my slowest mile was a 6:42. My average was 6:24. The sun was intense all day with no relief. The temperature was right around 80 with 90% humidity. I know it's really tough for most to run in sunny hot humid places but my body always seems to do well in these type of conditions. I was really happy with my run and race with what I could control. It was great to finally put together a great race and finish with a new PR of 8:14:10, 43 seconds faster than Ironman Texas in 2014. I was 1:55 behind the course record. But I'm happy with the 2:47 PR for the run!
A special thanks to my fiancé Gillian as she deserves a TON of credit throughout this year. Thank you to all of my great sponsors and Xendurance for helping me recover so quick. Thank you everyone else for the support throughout the year and if you ever have questions, feel free to ask. Happy Holidays! Stay save and have fun!
Leading up to this race for about 6 weeks I was training solo for 100% of my workout in Northern NY. Waking up 3 days a week at 4:50am to swim and then the other days I would wake up at 6:30-7 to get in my morning swim. All of my cycling was done on the trainer and half of my runs were done on the treadmill/outside.
I did (most of) Ironman AZ two weeks ago. I had a decent swim in 56 minutes. A decent bike in 4:21 and ran the first 13 miles at 6:20 pace. Then came the cold wind/rain and my HR dropped 15 beats and my pace dropped to 7:20. I was in the top 10 but at mile 16.9 I decided to DNF and save some for Ironman Cozumel. I do not race well in cold weather and Arizona was COLD! I was told the top 6 guys all went to the medical tent after the race. A few days after the race I flew from AZ to Cozumel.
RACE DAY
The swim: 49 minutes. I felt like I got out well and had a good start in my BlueSeventy swim skin. However my goggle wasn't sealing well in my left eye. I've never had this problem with my goggles so maybe the swim cap was in the way. I decided to stop and let the salt water out and then reseal my goggle. I did this a total of 3 times and finally the last time it sealed! I was still able to swim with a large group of 10 people. When I got out of the water I slipped and hit my left goggle on the stairs and now have a slightly bruised eye. While running to my bike in T1, I could tell I had lost a contact. Thankfully I kept spare contact lenses in my spare tire kit. I decided to not put in the new contact and ride out with the group on my Falco V.
The Bike: 4:32. I was half blind on the bike which was a little irritating. Thankfully I felt good on the bike and no one was able to hang on my wheel for too long. 20-25 minutes later I was riding solo. At around mile 65 I had enough with being half blind so I stopped, took off my helmet, dug for my contact lens and struggled to put in the lens. I'm not sure how much time I lost but it must have been at least a minute. From then on I had clear vision through my Rudy Project Wing57 visor on my helmet. I felt pretty good the rest of the way into T2 as I got off the bike in 4th place. In transition when I was changing into my American flag shorts, a number of Mexican kids/volunteers were laughing so hard they almost fell to the ground. I guess they have never seen a full nude man before!
The Run: 2:47. Right away I felt good while running in my Compressport socks and Skechers GoRun 4 shoes. I started closing the gap on 3rd place who was Michael Weiss. Around mile 13, I passed Michael. With 7 miles to go the leader dropped back which bumped me up to 2nd and I believe he eventually dropped out. I was 2:10 down and I thought it was possible to chase him down if he couldn't hold his pace. I maintained my pace without going over my head so I didn't blow up like the leader had. Unfortunately the new leader Stefan Schmid was able to hold his pace and finished 1:44 in front of me.
My fastest mile was a 6:15 and my slowest mile was a 6:42. My average was 6:24. The sun was intense all day with no relief. The temperature was right around 80 with 90% humidity. I know it's really tough for most to run in sunny hot humid places but my body always seems to do well in these type of conditions. I was really happy with my run and race with what I could control. It was great to finally put together a great race and finish with a new PR of 8:14:10, 43 seconds faster than Ironman Texas in 2014. I was 1:55 behind the course record. But I'm happy with the 2:47 PR for the run!
A special thanks to my fiancé Gillian as she deserves a TON of credit throughout this year. Thank you to all of my great sponsors and Xendurance for helping me recover so quick. Thank you everyone else for the support throughout the year and if you ever have questions, feel free to ask. Happy Holidays! Stay save and have fun!