The RACE REPORT PART TWO

Posted by Kevin Sypolt

November 25, 2008

PART TWO:

So now I am just swiming and it feels like i know how to swim. Reach and Glibe Reach in glide in a tube. I remember seeing Sun Devil Stadium and thinking about a half a mile to go. Out of no where this PINK CAP and it had to have been the same one comes and kicks me with a perfect roundhouse kick to the face. I took the blow well with my iron jaw however the blow knocked off my beloved nose clip. Holy Cow!!!!!!!!! this completly threw off my breathing the last half mile I did not think I would make it.

Even my Mantra and the tube no longer helped this was survival then I heard TED saying expect all the bad stuff on race day and Wellman saying PUCKER up. I knocked 9 minutes off my last Ironman time and I know the loss of the nose clip cost me 4 minutes minimum.

On to the bike. First in Arizona partly cloudy means there may be 1 cloud all day and light winds means the flags are blowing and somtimes snapping. So I was expecting light winds chicago style, any how I take off I am going faster than expected and my heart rate is a bit higher than I want. However my bike power tap is below the wattage I want. I was taught to obey the power tap.

So the first loop I felt great and I kept telling my self easy easy.On the way out heading up the hill I am pushing harder than I want but only going 12-13 mph. At the water station at the top I figure I got a couple minutes so I stop to adjust my socks and a quick potty break. Heading down the hill I realize I do not have the correct cassette on I am going 33 34 mph with only about 140 watts.

Wellman always says I am a great downhiller. The second loop I forced my self to slow down and I thought I was drinking every 10 minutes , the desert just sucks the moisture from you so I am not in the aero as much even though I hear Ted’s voice get in the aero bars. Lieto must have been leading the race at that time because he passed with with the film crew. I start thingking like Adam and Lindsay there is some bike congestion and I am saying to myself maybe I will just suck a wheel to get through these winds.

I am thinking there is no way they will penalize someone as far back as me. I kid you not within five minutes the motorcycle pulls up and tells the guy pretty much next to me he has a four minute penalty I am thnking holy cow I never saw that before. (Side Note I changed my seat height for a slightly more agressive position for the race. On the first loop I saw Renee and the kids and I asked her to get my Chamosis Butter now I am afraid to accept that from here since it is against the rules.

WELLMAN sold me the shorts blame it on DICK PONDS). So Now I know drafting is out. I stop for my special needs bag and add 3 new bottles to my bike. (2 stops so far) . Third and final loop. I need to pee. I figure I am ok lets not loose it now I stop and pee. BAD IDEA I now know what it is like to give Birth now. Only some salt crystals passed and I thought I was going to pass out. So I know I got to take in more fluids. I figure 30 miles left part down hill. If I can ride with the NUTS listed above I can do this. Plus the winds seemed like they had died down.

CONTINUE TO PART THREE

Ironman Arizona