E's IM AZ race lessons

10 Lessons learned:

1. One canister of Vitalyte is not enough to supply the needs for Amber and I for a hot race. We started making our concentrated bottles on Sat. night only to realize that we would be short of our planned amount. We had wanted 3 bike bottles at 4 x strength and some for the run, but could only cover the bikes. That meant we would have to rely on Gatoraid on the course which has caused stomach issues before.

2. Even if it is a dry heat, 93 is still hot, especially when Boulder's temperatures have rarely reached into the 70's. I managed to do pretty well keeping hydrated and fueled on the bike, but needed more hydration and calories for the run as I probably had only 40 oz of drink and around 400 calories for the entire run. In the end, I was 3.5 lbs down for the day (even after pizza), so my run was probably affected by dehydration.

3. Tubulars are much easier to change in really hot conditions. This was handy after i got a staple in my sidewall with about 10 miles to go on the bike. Wasted some time inflating the bad tire, but got the new one on quickly and remembered to drink the rest of my front bottle before setting the bike down. At least it was far enough into the bike that i didn't try to "make up the time" by going hard for the rest of the bike.

4. My swim is improving, but still have a lot of room for improvement. I met my goal of being under 70 minutes (by 31 seconds). My next goal is under 67 for Canada.

5. I need to work on my biking/leg strength, but a lack of long rides didn't make me slower than Canada last August.

6. I need better blinders for the start of the run. I've gotten good at letting better bikers go, but still like to keep up with/pass people too much at the start of the run. Midway through and near the end, I think its good to have people to work off of, but not at the start.

7. The Arizona run course sucks if you are running and most everyone else is walking and taking up the entire sidewalk.

8. It helps to have inspiration. For my first IM, my ankle injury gave me inspiration to keep moving forward. For my 2nd and 3rd, I didn't really have anything to inspire to. For Arizona, Marit's injury (even though i only know her through her blog), inspired me to HTFU during the run.

9. Attitude isn't everything, but it sure helps. I spent the day grateful for the opportunity to put myself through the event, so when things were tough, I was able to keep calm and keep moving forward. I ran for a while with a guy that who was having his worst race in over 10 IMs and he was pissed. He kept saying that his goal was to just finish and predicted a marathon time of 4:30 even though he was on a pace better than that. My goal was to give it everything i had and keep trying to run a 3:45 even though i ended up 10 minutes over that.

10. You never stop learning.

Post IM lesson - You can pack a Ikea TV console, dresser, two bikes, lots of wheels, and lots of bags inside a Subaru legacy wagon (better mileage having the bikes inside than on top), but you won't be able to see out the back.