Ironman Western Australia:

Well, I'll start with a quick note that I missed Kona by 2 minutes and 2nd place in M40 category by 2.5 minutes.
I knew the challenge I faced. This is one of the most difficult places to qualify in the world with 30 slots and competition similar to Kona. I didnt come here for kona, I came to run fast. It was so refreshing to be racing an Ironman injury free. The past 3 IM events I have entered the race on or in recovery phase from injury, and yes I was hindered per my past blogs. I was getting the feeling by friends that I was perhaps exaggerating my injuries a bit as an excuse of only setting minimal personal bests, 7 minutes per IM. It was about time I was able to push an Ironman to the point of breaking down due to limits in my physiology rather than constantly holding back trying not to aggravate my pre-existing injury.

Swim 58
Bike 4:50
Run 3:17
In the results,
T1 added to bike, which was 2:40.
T2 added to the run, which was 2:00.
9:11.32 Personal Best from my 9:36 at Roth Germany in June 2007.


My mistakes? Standing in the water at the start and realizing my HR monitor is sitting in my gear bag. I looked at Ann and said, "Ann...I forgot my Fu@#ing HR monitor!" Ann looked at me dead in the eye and said, "forget about it, you've raced without it before and you know what to do!"

She has learned well. This is exactly what I would have said to her. And yes, I was upset I didnt get a hug and kiss and some sympathy. Yeah, upset for about 3 seconds. Then I realized what tough love is in this sport. Her response summed up why I dont help her as much as I probably should and why when she has a problem in a workout or prior to a race (like she forgot her disc wheel at the bike shop in portland), I try not to be too sypathetic. Approach the sport and the race objectively at times, dont let negative emotions control your preparation and impact your race.

I have picked apart my race and yes, I found two places where I lost the 2 minutes. Once on the bike as I let my watts drop to 250 for about 10 miles purely due to day dreaming for about 25 minutes and enjoying the scenery. The second place was my demise. From 30-34 K on the marathon, I ran about 8:30 per mile. I sunk down into a bonk mode with both hamstrings sore and my right achilles sore, plus running a 10k straight into a 15 mph headwind. I woke myself up at 34 K and what can I say. Yeah...It was yet the most difficult final 5 miles I have ever run. To maintain 7:40 pace was extremely difficult. Blurred vision, dizziness, complete stinging pain in my hamstrings and a numb feeling in my quads. I tried to maintain composure and form and literally was counting my steps. I figured 40 minutes to go....80 strides per minute. So every couple of minutes I would count out 80 strides in an attempt to divert the urge to walk. Yeah, the urge to walk IS there...its always there. You have got to fight it, ignore it, reason with it...yeah...I'm finished I thought. That finish line is it for me...just get through this last marathon and I can rest. Of course, you run right by the finishing shute with 2k to go then circle back. Once I saw this, I just ran as hard as I could. Not hard enough though.

Am I unhappy with a 9:11?

Well, consider the day...swim very aggressive. I started 3rd row from the front and got trampled....and I trampled many people. I got hit in the face, and hit a few guys in the face. I have never swam that aggressively. I was swimming the first 1.8k more like I was running a 5k road race...aggressive and pushing the whole way. The swim tops my IM racing as the most aggressive mass start yet. However, as I turned around the pier to head in, the water opened up and even though we had a current to swim against, I was alone and in open water. I reached out as far as I could (remembering Tomas' advice at 2006 CDA). I pulled and pushed each stroke hard and yet I had no fatigue. This is the first time a swim has felt like some of my runs...I dont know why it came together today, but it did. Thanks Olaf. The endless drills sessions and kilo's. Thanks Dennis Baker, for correcting a major flaw I developed in my recovery stroke 4 weeks prior to the race. I thought about all my drills, went through them in my mind during each stroke, pushed and pulled to a PR of 58 and change.

T1: Ran up the beach for 50 meters to the tent. Pointed someone out and yelled "here mate!" Guy was waiting for me as I threw myself on the ground and he ripped my wet suit off. Have to put helmet on in T1 so I did this, put on socks and ran to the bike. Shoes afixed to pedals, I had my best mount ever, jumped on the bike onto shoes and pedaled away. Once up to 20 mph, I placed each foot into my shoes and sinched them up.

Bike: Great conditions lap 1, 265 watts....too high. Lap 1 in about 1:37 which was my goal. 3 laps would be about 4:51 at this pace.
Lap 2, head wind begins. The course goes about 7 miles out of town, then to a "T". You then race back and forth on the "T" section for about 26 miles or so. This was the most patrolled race I have ever been in. Yeah I saw a few drafters, but very few. I am talking maybe 8-10 total in the whole race. This 26+ mile section had like 5-6 motorcycles with officials patrolling. This was the most heavily watched race I have ever done. Even less drafting then Roth Germany. I was pleasantly suprised and realized this race was legitimate, and I had an equal shot at a top 5 spot most likely. I talked to the bike course director and he said there was so much drafting in the past 2 years that they decided to stop it at all costs so the race doesnt become like an "american Ironman". I couldnt agree with him more. Minimal drafting in Germany, minimal drafting here....if you let them do it they will. As he told me, the key is a proper set up course that allows the officials to monitor the cyclists. This was the motivation of the race director this year. He didnt want to develop a Clearwater reputation.
Finished lap with about 17 of the 26 or so miles in headwind of about 15-20 mph and heavy crosswind. Pushed my watts to 270 and was able to maintain 20 mph for the final 7 miles into town toward the ocean in a straight in the face head wind. 1:39 for this lap. I circled and realized I had to pick it up. However, quads beginning to become sore.
Lap 3
Tail wind for first 7 miles at which I was able to hold 260 watts at 27 mph or so. I had 4-5 guys latch onto me legally. As I turned and saw the line, I realized they were all at least 7 meters behind me. I had no problem pulling these guys. Legal drafting....no problem. The pros came past on the long T section as I was in a headwind again, and man these guys are good. Official motorcycling right beside 10 of them...each and every one of them like 7.5 meters apart.

3 of the guys trailing me passed me on this section. I let them pass and fell back a bit to stay out of the zone. Right then an official pulled up next to me. With a few guys behind me and a few in front, he decided to ride right beside me for like 5 miles. I mean like 12 minutes this official was 1 meter to my right and staring at my front wheel and the guy in front of me. After 10 minutes I caught his attention and said "bit windy out here isnt it". He smiled and kept his eye on me and the guy in front of me. Then he pulled up the the guy directly in front of me and watched his front wheel for about 2 miles as we turned and headed back. After about 5 minutes of watching...and this cyclist knew the official was watching because the motorcyle was right beside him. Still....the cyclist pushed the boundry and let him self glide a little closer to the guy ahead of him. The offical dinged them both with 5 minute penalty's. I thought, Christ...these guys are tough (the officials). I mean...I still dont think the guys in front of me were illegal, and neither did they. However after that incident I decided not to hover at 7-8 meters. I decided to bike totally alone. Right after this, about mile 80, the 2 guys behind me passed me and yeah, they both looked pretty legal so I gave them an encouraging word. As they pedaled away, I started to go with them about 10 meters back but my watts were now over 300 for a sustained 5 minutes and my quads were getting more and more sore. I had to let them go and drop down to below 270. I dropped to 250 so I could recover a bit from my surge. Well, those 2 guys ended up being my kona slot in retrospect. I should have gone. I just daydreamed a bit here. I should have just gone. About mile 90 we turned for the heavy head wind again all the way back into town. Watts now steady back at 270 and holding but my quads continued to feel fatigued. At mile 105, 2 guys passed me in the M45 age group. These guys were wheel to wheel. The second guy as he passed about 22 mph in the headwind said, "you've worked hard mate...jump on". I let them go about a minute or so and became thoroughly pissed off as I was watching them pedal away. I passed Luke Bell somewhere around here and all I heard was "come on Dave, your strong" or something like that. All I know is as I passed and saw his fist in the air yelling for me, I got a chill right down my spine. Not a small chill either...more like a shiver. One of my idols I have followed since 2002. One of the guys who motivated me to try triathlon, was cheering for me (funny story, but some other time). That was it...I pull the trigger. I pushed my watts up to 310 and just went. I passed both drafters about 107 miles against the wind at about 23 mph and 310+ watts and never looked back. I enjoyed handing those guys their due. As I pedaled in the final 5 miles or so, I realized holding 300 watts wasnt changing the soreness in both my quads...so I maintained. I had no HR but by my breathing, I was probably in zone 4. Sweat was now dripping down my glasses as I rounded the long exposed area 4 miles from town. Every guy I passed as well as 2 women pros tried to get on my wheel and I simply rode away from them. This is when it hit me...I'm going to break 4:51. I AM a cyclist. This is the first race I felt like a cyclist. As I rounded a corner, I heard the people screaming, I turned through town, heard the announcer say "dave ceeeaverelliccie" or some distorted version of my name. He then said "dave's having a great bike today, lets get him in". The crowd roared as I stood up and circled out of town almost crashing on the final 90 degree turn that I took about 15 mph. My dismount couldnt have been more perfect. I came in standing on my shoes and straddling my bike on the left pedal. As I rolled in about 10 mph into dismount, I jumped off my bike and just kept running. I heard the bike catchers scream as my bike rolled into them. Quads still sore with each step, but I had my sub 4:51!

T2: Got shoes on, changed race belts. (you have to wear one for each segment here). As I began to stand up I realized I had to pee badly. So, I sat back down in the grass and pissed. Some people ran up to me thinking I collapsed but I said, "ok mate, just taking a piss". They laughed and walked away. Got, up and looked at my total time as I ran out of transition. I was set up to break 9:10 but I wasnt thinking that. I was thinking, ok...I can walk 20 minutes and break 9:30. My quads were suffering so I had no clue how my run would transpire.

Run: First 10k I saw very little markers although they were there. I went out at 42:45 or something like that. Realized I may have just blown my race by going out sub 7 min pace. So, I pulled it back to 7:30 pace for second 10K. Like the bike course, the run course was fast but not super fast. We had a tail wind for the 5 miles or so which caused you to overheat. The run was directly down the beach on pavement and the headwinds were now sustained 15 mph. I tried to run behind as many as I could but was passing and just couldnt get out of the headwind. 3rd 10K split was the toughest. Each hamstring progressively got worse so I ran the second 5k on the balls of my feet to take some pressure off. This enabled me to maintain just under 8 minute miles but my right achilles then got more and more sore. At 30-34 K I started to lose it. Yeah, here comes the bonk. I was running slower and slower each K. That 4 K I managed 8:30 per mile pace. This was the second place I lost my kona slot.
At 34K I thought about a small talk I had with about 10 first time IM athletes on our bus. I told them that at 20 miles or so, you're going to feel like walking. You will want to quit. You'll ration with yourself and will try to convince yourself that you had a good day and just walk it in.
I told them, this is the moment of Ironman.
Yeah, several looked at me confused.
I explained to them, this moment in the race is why we train. This is why we choose this sport. This moment when you are ready to quit, ration with yourself, call it a day. This moment when the fatigue is enormous, the heat, the wind are just too much.
THIS is why we train. To engage this moment, to stare at our own soul. To lift ourselves up out of misery and excel. This is why I do it. I told them, you all may not realize this, but this is why you're all doing it. When you get to this point, and you all will....smile and remember...this is the point of the race you've trained for. This is where you will succeed.
I thought of all this, and pulled my visor over my eyes and went. Yeah, 7:30 pace coming in the final 8k or so but I picked myself up. Again I heard Luke yelling with about 5k to go. More like hearing it in a dream though this time. Like an echo. I heard a few other voices yelling which I think were other athletes on the course. I think I saw Ann, her head down and focused. I mustered up "I love you Ann" as she ran by. She barely moved her head but I did see her head move up a bit. I knew she heard me. Thats all I remember. Final 3 k or so dont really know what happened. I just remember counting my steps, some wind, some sand blowing in my face. It was all like a dream, not really reality. Then I looked down and realized I was running on grass. I looked up and oh my God....the finishing clock said 9:11. Oh my God it said 9:11.
Everything in an instant dissappeared. No pain, no blurred vision, complete and total awareness of my moment. I thrusted my arms in the air and pumped them repeatedly as I ran the final 50 meters of the shute.
My last thought as I crossed the line...."I'm 42...and I feel sooo alive".
So much for my mid-life crisis.

As for Ann, what can I say. We both knew she would be under 10:10 on a reasonable day. I saw her at the very first turn on the run and calculated her at 9:55 if she maintained 8 min pace. Of course she amazed me again with a 3:27 marathon...OFF a 5:20 bike split? Amazing.
Breaking the course record by more than 45 minutes in F35. She has it.