Athlete Series: IMCA Recap
And just like that Ironman California is over. While the race might be done for Kelly, I am sure the memories of the experience will live on. Before I dive in to the race recap, I just want to tell you all how proud I am of this guy. While I’ve documented a good bit of his training for you, there is so much more that he both balances and battles with to be able to train and ultimately cross the finish line at IM California. He is a true testament that if you put your mind to something, put the work in to get there, then you’ll be able to accomplish what you set out to do. It might hurt sometimes, you might have an internal battle waging on, but you can do anything.
Race Day: The Swim
After a very early wake up call, Kelly was at the swim start and ready to hear the blip signaling he could begin his race. The swim course was unique. While it was all downriver, athletes actually swam in two rivers! Athletes started in the American River and finished the swim in the the Sacramento River, as the American River merges into the Sacramento River.
Water temp was right around 60 degrees (brrr!) so wetsuit legal. Living in Reno, this was an advantage to Kelly as most of his races take place in cold water. When the blip signaled his turn he jumped in and took off. “I felt confident in the water and didn't have any anxiety over the temperature.”
The current was flowing. Fast. He finished the 2.4 mile swim in fifty-five minutes. This was well under our goal time for the race, so this set him up nicely. However, T1 was insanely long coming in at a mile to get up to transition alone. Due to the length his T1 was much longer than anticipated.
Race Day: The Bike
But, he made it out to the bike. This was challenge number one for the day because of the weather conditions. Air temperature was in the low 60s, but the wind was a bit on the ridiculous side. Winds were consistently at 20 mph with gusts that were up to 30 mph. As I followed the tracker it was clear when he was in a headwind versus tailwind. “I felt strong and that my nutrition was on target.”
Kelly had a lot of positives on the bike. His heart rate never left zone 1 despite riding at his goal race power. He never got too cold even with the wind and air temp. And despite the wind, he rode the course faster than we had anticipated as well.
Then came T2, also a pretty long trek coming in at around .75 miles in length. He made it through, and all was left was the marathon…
Race Day: The Run
Challenge number two on the day. This was the first part of the race that things did not go Kelly’s way. After the initial first couple of miles Kelly knew that it would be a bit more challenging than planned. His back was pretty stiff after the bike and was not loosening up for him. He made the decision at that point to run/walk to keep moving forward.
The first part of the run was through a park before it opened up into more exposed roads, which the wind played a factor at those points on the course. The course ended with two small loops around the California State Capital Building.
Kelly kept forward motion, but this was not only the physically challenging portion of the race, but the mental as well. Kelly shines on pushing through, he has a great mental toughness game! Despite the hurt he kept going and had the chance to hear his name being called out that He Was An Ironman!
Race Data
Swim: 52:09 (1:18 pace), Goal Time - 1:10:00
T1: 19:50
Bike: 6:11:12 (18.1 mph), Goal Time - 6:15:00
T2: 16:20
Run: 5:13:41 (11:58 pace), Goal Time - 4:30:00
Total Time: 12:52
All in all this was an impressive first Ironman for Kelly and I’m so proud of the way he raced. Congratulations!