Ironman Indiana Race Recap

I decided to do Ironman Indiana because I needed to defer my May Ironman Tulsa race to a race later in the year and Indiana was available.  Indiana was advertised as a flat bike and rolling hill run but I would call it a rolling hill bike and rolling hill run.  I have done flat courses like Ironman Maryland and Indiana was not flat like that.  It did have some elevation change (not much) but it certainly wasn’t flat like Maryland.  I went into the race a little concerned about the colder temperatures.  I have been hypothermic at a few races and I don’t do well in the cold.  The water temperature was in the high 60’s and air temperature in the morning was in the 50’s.  It was also supposed to rain the day of the race.  I typically would change clothes after the swim and bike because of the cold but they didn’t have a changing tent because of COVID.  I decided to race in my tri suit and leave it on for the entire race.  I put a throw away jacket on after the swim and figured once I warmed up I could get rid of it.  

I seeded myself in the 1:10 or below group for the swim start.  I didn’t swim as much as I would have liked for this race but felt pretty confident I could still do a 1:10 or less swim.   It was a two loop course and after the first loop you run along the shore and then get back in the water for the second loop.  While this might be a great strategy for race organizers and easier for them to monitor people it really sucks for the faster swimmers.  I had a great first loop getting out of the water in 34 minutes.  I still felt good heading into the second loop but immediately I ran into a lot of really slow people that had just started the race.  I had to navigate around a lot of people  doing breast stroke, floating on their back, and hanging onto kayakers.  So I came out of the water a few minutes slower on my second loop not because I was tired but because I had to get around a lot of people.  

The water on the second loop was also a lot more choppy because there was so many more people in the water.   Some of the people I had to go around were having a lot of trouble and they had just started the swim.  My swim was 1:11 which was 2 minutes slower than I had hoped for.  As a coach I feel bad for these people who were having trouble but I also feel like they didn’t properly prepare themselves for a race like an Ironman.  The swim is no joke and it is not easy.   Many people have major panic attacks in the swim which sets you up for a bad day.  I am not sure if these people started out too fast and freaked out, or if they just were not prepared.  Many of them were only 500 meters in to the swim and already having trouble.  If you are not a great swimmer you need to spend a good amount of time working on your swim before even considering signing up for an Ironman.  It's one thing to swim the distance in the pool in a controlled environment and it's a whole different thing swimming the distance in open water with thousands of other people.  

I am usually pretty quick in transition however there was a long run to transition and I had to put arm warmers on, long compression socks on, and a jacket.  I was shivering from the cold so this made things a little more challenging and slower.   My transition was 8 minutes and it normally would be half that.  The first 10 miles of the bike we had a lot of turns and the roads were  not that great.  Then we got onto the highway which was a little better.  Then about 8 miles of the highway the road was really rough.  Mile 20 I started to warm up so I got off the bike went to the bathroom and also threw away my jacket.  I still had my arm warmers to keep me warm and I had put toe covers on my shoes the night before.  That really helped keep me warm on the bike.  The wind was picking up and that was slowing down my pace considerably.  I was averaging about 19mph for the first 30-40 miles but then it started getting more windy and then the rain came.  It rained off and on for the last 60 miles of the bike.  The wind also picked up throughout the day.  I was hoping for a bike time of about 5:30-5:40 but ended up coming off the bike with a 6 hour bike.  At least everyone had to deal with the same conditions I was dealing with.  I felt pretty good on the bike and was able to ride aero for most of the bike and felt pretty comfortable.  My neck was the only thing that was feeling it toward the end of the bike.  On a flat/rolling hill bike course maintaining an aero position is super important on the bike.  It never fails I see people on super expensive tri bikes, with disc wheels, aero helmets but they can’t ride aero for the entire bike! In fact halfway through is when I see people starting to come out of the aero position.   Did they not practice this in training?  Maintaining an aero position on a flat bike course is important.  When you come out of aero it's like a parachute slowing you down.  A flat bike course may seem easier and more appealing to sign up for but it does have its challenges.  Like I said not everyone can maintain an aero position for 112 miles.  There is also no rest, no downhills, so you are always working.  The bike course was pretty boring and not very scenic like some other races I’ve done.  South Africa was amazing and gorgeous, so was Coeur d'Alene Idaho.  The great thing about this course is that the entire bike course was closed to traffic.  I have never done a race that was closed to traffic let alone an Ironman!

As always I was so happy to be done with the bike.  I was glad I didn’t have any bike problems and didn’t crash. I saw several people who crashed on the bike and felt bad for them.  I’m sure the rain was a factor along with the rough roads.  I didn’t feel too bad starting the run and was hoping for a 5 hour run.  I felt good running leading up to this race and knew I could do the distance but I also knew I wasn’t running fast.  I always try and take in as many calories as I can on the bike because I usually can’t take in much on the run.  I did really well on the bike taking in about 800 calories.  I use cliff blocks on the run and rely on the water, gatorade, and coke at the aid stations.  This worked good until about mile 16 then my body was not able to take in anymore.  I was feeling nauseous and even water was hard to take down.  The good thing is that it wasn’t hot so I wasn’t sweating a lot but I knew I needed some calories.  I tried sucking on one of my cliff blocks rather than chewing it.  The nausea didn’t really go away and it was a struggle for the last 10 miles. I finished the run in 5:10 just a little off of my expected time (which seemed to be a trend for this race).

My overall time was about 40 minutes slower than I’d expected but with the weather I wasn’t too unhappy with that.  I finished in 12 hours 37 minutes.  This was my 14th Ironman and wasn’t my fasted but not my slowest.  I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this course for an Ironman and rumor has it that it was the first and last year they will have it as a full Ironman.  I’m not sure if there will be a 15th for me but it’s always a great feeling crossing the finish line no matter what my time!!!