Race Result

Racer:	Steve Smith
Race:	Silverman Iron Distance
Date:	Sunday, November 8, 2009
Location:	Henderson, NV
Race Type:	Triathlon - Ironman
Age Group:	Male 40 - 44
Time:	11:39:12
Overall Place:	16 / 201
Age Group Place:	4 / 41
Comment:	0:54 / 6:17 / 4:08 - Solid effort on wicked hard course

Race Report:

Ouch.

To be completed later, but quick thoughts:

1) WTF? Where did that swim come from? The course had to be a bit short, but even still, I was top-10 out of the water and 6th in the non-relay department. And I started back a bit & had to slowly pick my way some really slow swimmers.

2) WTF! This is one tough bike course. Only five guys broke 6hr on the bike. Of those, only the winner had a reasonable race (0:51/5:49/3:33). Of the remaining four run splits were 3:58, 4:04, 4:36 and 4:58.

Pretty spectacular bike though: stunning scenery on quiet roads on mostly A- pavement (with a five-ish miles of C- near the turnaround and a mile of D under construction).

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Preview the bike course and, if at all possible, ride the last 20 miles or so.

3) I had some server foot pain in the last 15 miles of the bike. I was pretty sure I wasn't gonna be able to run, but I figured I'd start the run since mile 3 or 4 went right by T2 (and the first mile is all down hill). I literally limped out of transition. By the first mile, however, I was feeling much better. This is a HILLY run. There is very little flat. I would guess a work-a-day 3hr-flat marathon runner would lay down a 3:15 or so on this course (in the morning on fresh legs).

I recently started some strength training and, this could just be in my head, I think it made a difference. This was one of my better IM runs.

I can highly recommend strip burger for a post-race meal. It's a fair ways from Henderson (being on the Strip, naturally) ... but the burger was pretty damn good. Then again, what do I know: I'd just completed an Ironman and there were trucks pulling plexiglass-covered trailers with nearly naked women around.