Ironman Louisville 2009 Race Report

Well it’s only been a week since IM Louisville but it feels like a lot longer. My legs were stiff for a couple of day after the race, but with the exception of a nasty welt on my right chest from my Zoot swim skin rubbing there was no lasting damage done! We had a great time in Louisville and the downtown Residence Inn was the perfect place to stay. I’ll make a reservation for there as soon as they will take it. Here are my thoughts on the day.

Once again I’ve been fortunate enough through the never ending support and tolerance of my family, friends and colleagues to toe the start line of an Ironman. Mom, Steph and K & E you guys are the best and you make it all worthwhile, to Tim and my friends at work, thanks for putting up with me leaving early for bike rides and taking 2 hour lunches to run, Nick, thanks for the training rides and the company on some of those long rides and a big thanks to my coach, Rick Choy who made a perfect plan for me to complete 2 Ironmans and peak at just the right time.

My swim was at least 8 to 10 minutes slow, a result of swimming too wide at the turn back down the river. I was sure that I could see Joe’s Crab Shack in the distance, a result of it being painted white this year. I swam directly toward it, so basically I was swimming from one end of an archery bow to the other instead of swimming along the entire length of the bow. This brought me out further into the centre river, there was never anyone swimming on my left, between me and the shore line and on my right was only the kayakers and lifeguards. I was definitely out in the middle of the river. They say the current is stronger toward the middle of the river and can be an advantage on the down leg, but I didn’t feel much of it out there. When I started to cut in to make the finish, it took a lot of effort to get back to the shore and it cost me a lot of time.

The bike went well, we had an ideal day, bright sunshine, almost no humidity and temperatures in the mid 70’s. I had a case of the drops and managed to drop my baggie of powerbars, salt tabs and just about anything else I laid my hands on and someone had dumped tacks on the road over a 5 or 6 mile stretch of 42, I saw at least a dozen people changing flats. I stayed toward the centre of the road and managed to avoid any. I made 3 stops to the porta potty. It was cool and I didn’t want to pee all over myself, it’s different when it’s 100 degrees, you’re dumping so much water on yourself to stay cool, it doesn’t really matter. I’d guess stopping probably cost me another 6 to 8 minutes. I ate half a power bar every half hour, took 3 salt capsules per hour and drank 1 bottle of Gatorade between each aid station.

I took off for the run, after having forgotten to put my Garmin 405 on to measure my pace, but I got into a good rhythm and was running the full mile between each aid station, while taking 30 to 60 seconds at each stop to fuel up. I stuck with water and ice only for the first 6 miles and I was averaging 9:00 to 9:30 per mile and by the start of the second loop I was into the coke and pretzels and a hand full of grapes every stop. I stopped for a few seconds and grabbed my special needs bag. I put the brace on my knee and it felt much better from then on and ate some red licorise. I kept it up until mile 18 and at that point my knee was hurting and I was generally just running out of gas. I stated doing a one minute walk half way between each aid station and before long we were back in downtown Louisville and I could hear the crowd cheering and the music blasting at Fourth Street Live. The run down that street is truly an amazing experience and many people say that it is the best Ironman finish line. I was fine after the race and we walked back to the hotel just as the sun was setting.


To everyone that donated to my MS fundraising, I can’t express my gratitude , thank you so much. In three years we have raised over $27,000 for M.

Ironman Louisville 2009, Awesome Day!

Full report to come in a few days, but the event did not disappoint. I will catch up with everyone this week but suffice it to say, Ironman Louisville was a total success on so many levels. The athletes kicked some serious butt on Sunday, it was the most perfect day you could ask for Louisville in August. I think the high was around 80, no joke. PERFECT!