Ironman Race Report

This is an open letter to all of you who have supported me in the past year as I worked toward becoming an Ironman. You’ll pardon me if I brag just a little, as I admit I am proud of myself for this accomplishment. Since many of you are endurance athletes yourself, I’ve included some of the technical details of the race. If you want “a full race report”, feel free to ask and I’ll send you even more detailed notes on the race.

But before I get into the technical details, let me say a huge thank you to all of you who encouraged, inspired, supported, and trained with me. If there is anything that this experience has taught me; it’s that anything is possible if you put your mind to it. They say that Ironman is a window into your soul; and that if you have fear, you will see it; if you have hope, you will see it; if you have weakness or strength, you will see them. I can say, after completing my Ironman, that there is some truth to this saying… certainly it was much more of an emotional experience than a physical one.

Ok, so you’re asking… how’d you do Brad?

Here’s the headline…

• I finished 13th overall in a field of 67.
• I finished 13th out of 58 males.
• I finished 4th in my age group (35-39, often considered the most competitive age group).
• My total time was 12:17:03. 

 My strategy was to swim approximately a 1:45 swim, then complete the bike in 6:00, and the run in 4:30… this would have landed me at a very respectable 12:15 finishing time. I basically raced exactly the race I planned to race; and despite a major setback due to bonking during the bike course, I finished really close to my goal time. If we break down the line, you can see that my strategy was probably a pretty good one considering my strengths and the course. 

I swam a little ahead of my goal, but came out at the back of the pack. I had great transitions picking up a couple places in both T1 and T2. I had a solid bike picking up 31 places on the bike.

I ran my marathon exactly as I had planned (run 1 mile, walk 1 min – fuel – drink, repeat), picking up 10 places on the run.  Here’s a chart of my heartrate and elevation over the run.

You can see from this chart that as I took my short walk breaks my heartrate fell to around 55-65%. Then gradually rose as I ran to my next mile marker to about 70%.

Here’s a chart of my pace during the run. I will admit that one of my errors in the race was improper fueling, and one side effect of that was a rather uncomfortable lower GI tract. It may be a little too much info, but the chart shows a couple of stops on the run where I had to take a biobreak. Sure I wanted to make my goal time, but I wasn’t going to mess myself to do it!

The bike was actually the hardest part and although I had the 10th best bike split, I know I could have done better with proper fueling. 

I had promised to dedicate my final leg of the swim to Deb Nielsen. I was true to my word and as I came around that last buoy I looked to shore and said “this is for you Deb!”

Here are some pictures from the official race photographer…

Here I am coming out of the water in almost dead last place!

What is up with that guys hat?

Is that proper Chi-Running?

Here’s “the line”…Overall:    13/67
Gender:     13/58 
Division:   4/11   Men 35-39   
Bib:        191 
Name:       Brad Hefta-Gaub      
City:       Seattle, WA   Swim Rank:  58
Swim Time:  1:27:36T1 Rank:    3
T1 Time:    3:22     After T1
   Rank:    56
   Time:    1:30:58Bike Rank:  10
Bike Time:  6:11:44 
Avg Speed:  18.1mph   After Bike:
    RanK:   25
    Time:   07:42:42
   
T2 Rank:    6 
T2 Time:    1:37  
After T2
   Rank:    23
   Time:    07:44:19   Run Lap 1:
      Rank: 17 
      Time: 2:11:24
      Pace: 10:02min/mile

After Lap 1:
      Rank: 17
      Time: 09:55:43   

Run Lap 2:
      Rank: 13
      Time: 2:21:21
      Pace: 10:47min/mile

Total Run:
      Rank: 14
      Time: 4:32:45
      Pace: 10:25min/mile

Final Rank: 13
Final Time: 12:17:03