[pcsronbo]

<p>Ok this will be a short one. Ironman training = NO FREAKING TIME FOR ANYTHING</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Short</p>
<p>50's, windy (20-25mph sustained w/ 35-40mph gusts)</p>
<p> </p>
<table class="r0"><tbody><tr><td class="r0">9.</td>
<td class="r0">181</td>
<td class="l0">Ron Searle</td>
<td class="l0">Inverness</td>
<td class="l0">IL</td>
<td class="r0">40</td>
<td class="c0">M</td>
<td class="r0">7:58</td>
<td class="r0">2:00</td>
<td class="r0">2:44</td>
<td class="r0">-Time</td>
<td class="r0"> </td>
<td class="r0">100:0</td>
<td class="r0">34:41</td>
<td class="r0">11:11</td>
<td class="r0">1:41:59</td>
</tr></tbody></table><p>Swim - 7:45 out of pool, 7:58 to mat. PR by 12s</p>
<p>T1 2:44 - had to put on winter gear!</p>
<p>Bike - 53:xx - PW by 8min, 12 min worse than last year</p>
<p>T2 - 1? Not sure</p>
<p>Run - 33ish (11:16, 11:22, 10:46, 1:14) - PR by ~90s</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Long</p>
<p>97 mile ride NIGHT before. Not a good way to prep for a race, eh? Oh and i'm sure I didn't eat enough</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Late starting race since pool start they stagger. Faster swimmers last. I got there an hour early to find out they are running 20 minutes AHEAD. Crap! Setup, quick run warmup, get to pool, GO. No bike/swim warmup. Harumph!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Swim I was "C" swimmer in our lane. Quickly both B and I passed A. Then I was riding B's feet the entire time. Dammit. Not strong enough to pass him though. I tried. I failed.  Out sooner than I thought. Thank God someone else was counting.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Off to T1. HOLY SHEIT it was cold. The wind was whipping and it was in the 50s as it was. Got my clothes and HRM on, shoes, jacket, gloves, basically winter running gear. Opted for no tights. Would have taken me so darn long to get them on. Off I went! SLOW but uneventful.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Bike was, in a word, miserable. Legs were a tad tired, so my power was down, but the wind was absurd. Sliding all over the road, getting pushed by a gust from the right side to the middle in an instant. Riding tilted, just to stay up. With it to your back was great! I had a 2:38 mile split and also one over 5:00. Garmin was on running mode. Oops. So in a word, the bike sucked. Slow, painful the entire way.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>T2 was uneventful and pretty ok</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Run was a course I know well. Done this course in a race maybe 7x now so I know what to expect. It's mostly trails, reasonably ok, but very uneven. so even on a great day it's not a course to really go uber-fast. The most noticable event here is that my legs were ok pretty fast. I was off doing 11min pace in no time and I was able to hold it. No stopping, slowing, stretching, nothing. Just going. That's a first. This course always chews me up, but not this time. I put the hammer down and I left it there the entire run. It was awesome. I passed a few, I got passed by a few (very few- which is unusual actually because usually I'm faster than most in the pool, hold my own on the bike, and lose ground on the run).</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I was quite happy to see the end and sprinted the last .5 miles.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Walked around, very few spectators it was too cold/windy. Found some local peeps who were thinking they would get hardware! Woot! 5 of top 10 ladies were from my club, including OA winner. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Could not find my riding buddies (I had a 2.5-3.0 ride AFTER the race) so I left them voicemails and headed out. I had a feelin they were going to bail. About half way into the ride I get calls from them, yeah, they're not going back into the wind.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I went back into the wind. that was one of the longest 2.5hrs I've ridden. I was tired from the 5.5hrs last night + Sprint just now + THE FREAKIN WIND</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But I just went steady and covered a whopping 32 miles during that 2.5hrs. CRazy.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Anyway, Got r Done. Headed home and got pizza and beer with the kids.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Good day!</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>

 

[cak73]

<p>Geez!  Sounds like a challenging day out there with the wind and with training through and all of that. </p>
<p>Nice work, Ron!!!</p>
<p> </p>
<p><span><img alt="icon_salut.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/icon_salut.gif"></span></p>

 

[Alaska Mike]

<p>Good job Ron.  IM training always  leaves you feeling tired all the time, until the taper and robs you of any speed because you spend all your time training in z2.  So the besides the wind and the long ride before the race, you were probably expecting to be slower.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But I do have to call you out on one thing.  Dude, it's a sprint.  Leave the HR strap (and all the other damn toys) in the race bag.  If you're not in zone 6, you're not going hard enough!!!  You wasted valuable transition time and race time fiddling with that garbage.  Nuff said.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Mike</p>

 

[Tri-Tammy]

<p>Wow Ron... way to battle the wind.  And to go out there and do more!  Great job!!!!</p>

 

[AdCo]

<p>Well done!!! IM training will kill almost everything else especially as you approach the end. My last HIM a month before, I stopped to pick flowers to keep from going "too hard." You are well on your way! </p>

 

[MBannon]

<p>Tough day.  Good job.</p>

 

[Yo Sake]

<p>Good job, Ron.  I hope your coach gave you some recovery day since you didn't have any easy day prior to the race.  You are almost there - keep up the great work.</p>

 

[tpenn40]

<p>Great job Ron! Wow, with your training/racing, the Rev3 really is going to be a little baby kid's race for you.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Looks like real progress to have that strong of a run after a 97 mile bike ride the day before, and a tough windy course the day of the race! Congratulations!</p>

 

[pcsronbo]

<p>Mike- duh, you're right. That's funny, I have no idea WHY I wore that... huh. Ironbrain I guess.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Yosh - Monday was a massage and nothing else, thank goodness. I was pretty tired. Actually, I'm noticing massages make me tired now, whereas before I used to not even consider them as a workout. But now... yeah, it's work. I dread Mondays and Tuesdays. I'm already majorly tired from the weekend, usually have a small monday workout + massage which leaves me dead at work. Then Tuesday is usually a HARD Bike/Run brick (but short). Mentally... that's the tough day. Especially for work.</p>
<p> </p>

 

[niemsco]

<p>Nice job Ron.  Very hard to go fast sometimes when you IM train as you are constantly beat up.  LOL on Mike's comment!  If I'm not mistaken you race again this weekend in Knoxville?  You can have your toys then </p>