Arizona, RACES, Jeff Zink

All of these things start to sound the same, but here goes.

Let me start by saying that after the 2010 Ironman Louisville debacle I was forced to stop training for about 7 months due to a heavy work schedule and some basic laziness.  Coach Cliff put me on a training plan this year with IMAZ as the goal A race.  I have to say that training with Cliff for the past 4 years has been a pleasure and he really knows when to push me and when to back off when my battered body is begging for mercy.  I came in to this race, in my mind, ready for anything this day would throw at me.  I was mostly correct in my thought process but crystal clear hindsight will prove otherwise.

The race is in Tempe, AZ, home to the ASU Sundevils. A little scheduling change this year put the annual ASU - Arizona football game on the Saturday before the race.  Our lovely hotel, given it's proximity to the stadium was a prime location for the visiting Arizona students.  Not a good recipe for getting any sleep but it was kind of fun to watch. I couldn't bitch too much because I'm sure some twenty plus years ago I would have been one of those clowns having fun.

Race morning was fine, a few nerves and anticipation but nothing unusual.  I got in two bottles of Ensure Plus and a few bites of oatmeal and a banana for breakfast.

Did the usual pre race set up took one no caffeine GU Roctane 15 min before the start said goodbye to my two lovely assistants that morning, my cousin Amy and my girlfriend Amy who I'm sure were laughing their ass off at me trying to play it cool but showing obvious nerves.

The water temp of the Tempe Town Lake was about 60 degrees but the pre race swim the day before had me ready for that.  I swam around easy for a bit, got in a few race pace pulls and felt fantastic.............ready to go.  I started right about dead center and not on the line with the main pack of speed demons, about two deep.  Given the shape of the course this looked like the most direct path to the turnaround to me. Plan was to go out hard for about 400 to 500 yds, find feet and hang on to the end. That's pretty much what happened.  Out of the water in 1:03 and feeling strong.

T1 was uneventful, no problems and out on the bike with a smile.

First goal, get HR down, settle in to an easy pace and start on some nutrition about 20 minutes in.  Nutrition consisted of one bag of Carbo-Pro Hydra C-5 and 10 scoops of Carbo-Pro in one bottle (1600 cal) and one more bottle of Hydra C-5 (600 cal).  Despite two rubber bands around the second bottle behind the seat 600 calories got ejected somewhere on the course. A minor set back but I ended up finishing the first bottle at about mile 90/95 and felt pretty good about nutrition at that point and decided to just drink water to the end and get my stomach ready to run. I also took in one salt stick tablet an hour starting about 1:15 into the bike for a total of 4 pills as well as one bottle of water at every aid station.  First of three loops was what I expected, head wind on the way out of town and a tail wind/downhill bit of fun coming back in.  It took me about an hour to get to the turn-around and about 45 minutes to get back.  Lap two and three were a bit different, two not as bad as three but the wind direction changed and we saw a pretty good headwind coming back to town and that can really tick you off at the end of the bike ride.  I rode the course very conservatively with an average HR of 142, didn't pick up the pace until mile 80 and took advantage of the tailwind out of town. HR dropped on the way back into town but I really went by feel here because I felt like I was working a bit too hard if I drove the HR up. Any extra effort here I felt would have negative results on the run. Pacing felt right, I felt pretty good at the end and I really did pass a lot of people that I saw earlier in the day pushing the pace.

In and out of T2 no problem...........here comes the fun.  All you have to do dummy is run a 4 hr marathon for a new PR.

It didn't take long to find my legs.  I came out of the tent and felt amazing. Running mid 8 minute miles with little effort.  HR was where I wanted it to be and I even had to hold back to keep it there..........exactly where I wanted to be.  A little Coca-Cola sounded good so I right away started with coke and water at every aid station. First loop was a breeze and I thought I was finally going to have the solid day that I hoped for.  About an hour into the run I took another salt stick pill and I don't know if it was just a coincidence (don't think so) but it wasn't long after that when I noticed things were starting to unravel.  I started to get a little nauseous and my feet were starting to swell which caused some pretty lovely blisters.  First time I had to stop running was because I thought I was going to hurl over the side of the bridge the first time you cross the river. No problem, you can get through this, just start back with some water and get this under control.  It wasn't too much longer when I had to stop again and loosen all the laces on my shoes to make room for some bigger feet. What the hell is going on?  I have to admit this took more of a toll mentally than anything. At this point I didn't give a damn what happened.  I just kept moving forward and just wanted to finish the damn thing. Every time I felt better and started running just a bit harder that lovely feeling of a stomach purge reminded me to back it down. Screw it......I'm done with this shit. For whatever reason somewhere around mile 23 things started to look up a bit.  I noticed I was able to pick up the pace a little. I could make it to each aid station and only walk long enough to get a drink/take a break and then run again. Some quick math told me that I could still get in under 11 hrs if I hustled. It felt good to be able to put out an effort again and run, too little too late, I got to the finish in 11:02.

Finish line is always a pretty good feeling and this time it marks the end of the season for me. I have a great group of family and friends whom I spot going down the chute.  I'm sure they were happy to see me as well and finally able to go have a drink and sit down.  What a long day for a spectator.  Second year in a row that I crossed the finish line and within 5 minutes I vomited everything that was in my gut in front of the crowd.  Nice.







LEG    DISTANCE    PACE    RANK    DIV.POS.
TOTAL SWIM    2.4 mi. (1:03:53)    1:40/100m    266    34

BIKE SPLIT 1: 37.4 mi    37.4 mi (1:46:01)    21.17 mi/h
BIKE SPLIT 2: 74.6 mi    37.2 mi (1:52:12)    19.89 mi/h
BIKE SPLIT 3: 112 mi    37.4 mi (1:49:48)    20.44 mi/h
TOTAL BIKE    112 mi (5:28:01)    20.49 mi/h    308    51

RUN SPLIT 1: 2.5 mi    2.5 mi (20:54)    8:21/mi
RUN SPLIT 2: 11.5 mi    9 mi (1:17:38)    8:37/mi
RUN SPLIT 3: 20 mi    8.5 mi (1:34:02)    11:03/mi
RUN SPLIT 4: 26.2 mi    6.2 mi (1:10:58)    11:26/mi
TOTAL RUN    26.2 mi (4:23:32)    10:03/mi    400    77
      
TRANSITION    TIME
T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE    4:46
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN    1:53

Another great season in the books and though this race didn't go exactly as planned I'm starting to narrow down the list of things I have to fix next year in Lake Placid.  See you then.