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Writer's pictureZac Sutcliffe
Mar 13, 202312 min read

IRONMAN California Race Recap Part 2

October 23, 2022 | Sacramento, CA

Swim - 0:55:01

Transition 1 - 0:16:18

Bike - 6:38:52

Transition 2 - 0:10:47

Run - 3:50:31 Official Time: 11:51:29

If you haven't read it already, here's a link to my IRONMAN California Race Recap Part 1. Hope you enjoy my race day recap finishing my first IRONMAN!

Race Day Fit:


Sunglasses: Oakley Sutro



Race Day

I woke up around 4:15 in the morning, dunked my head underwater to get rid of my bed head and walked over to the hotel lobby to grab a cup of coffee. I munched on the breakfast I laid out the night before: a bagel and a banana (sadly my honey jar shattered in my backpack the day before - when life gives you lemons... eat a bland breakfast haha).


My dad drove me to the bus pickup station. You'd think after waking up at 4 AM I would be tired, but I was like a kid on Christmas: wide awake and excited to start the day!


There were 3,002 participants (119 in my division - Male Age 25 - 29). So, the bus ride to the swim start line was pretty packed.


I was a good amount of nervous and excited. I wasn't sure the ritual of when would be the best time to put on my wetsuit, so I followed what all the other races were doing and put it on about 45 minutes before start time. I'm glad everyone put it on pretty early because it was pretty cold that morning and having it on warmed me up a bit. (PRO TIP: bring a jacket to the swim start line).


In between the buses and getting my suit on, I completed the ritual porta-potty race morning poop. Shoutout to IRONMAN for having tons of porta-potties for the racers. Much better than my previous experience at M2B.


Race Day - SWIM (2.4 miles // 0:55:01)


Since the water temperature was around 65 degrees, the temp. was wetsuit legal (under 76.1 is legal for IRONMAN). We got in lines according to our predicted swim times. I heard that it's a good strategy to get in the group ten minutes faster than what you expect to swim so you don't have to waste energy passing people, so I got in the 1:11 to 1:20 group. I made a few friends in line and we all chatted about our goals for the race and wished each other luck. The race was a rolling start, so four people would get into the water at a time and the timing chip in your ankle strap would signal your start time based on when you went into the water.


I felt great as I approached the start line. Moods were high and they had "Lose Yourself" pumping out all the speakers. As I jumped in, I focused on not hitting any other swimmers and not getting hit myself. With the staggered start based on projected time, this was pretty easy. I took out at a pretty good pace. It felt like I was passing more people than were passing me. The sun was rising right as we entered into the first mile of the swim. It was literally so pretty.


The current was super strong in our favor, so instead of my goal to swim a 1:20, I ended up completing the swim in 55 minutes! And that's even with me stopping once with a few other swimmers signal the safety crew to help one of the fellow athletes who looked like he was struggling. They ended up getting to him quickly.


Swim -Division Rank 52 | Overall Rank 694


Race Day - Transition 1 (0:16:18)

A lot of people were complaining about the distance between the swim ending and the transition area. T1 came up a long ramp out of the water. People were moving prettyyyyy slow (for good reason, it could be slippery on the metal ramp) but I amped up and wanted to go fast but like a good samaritan, I waited patiently in line until we got to the road.



We ran down and across the road to the stadium, around the stadium, grabbed our bags on the outer section, continued around the stadium, past the change tent, to the field. All in all, the run from the swim to the bike was probably a mile and change.



At the field, I found my bike, took off my wetsuit, changed into my bike gear: t-shirt, helmet, sunglasses, socks, cleats (I had my tri suit shorts on underneath my wetsuit - so no need for the changing tent), put my swim gear into my bike bag, tossed on some anti-chaffe and sunblock, ate a couple of Clif Shot Bloks, walked my bike outside of the stadium (you couldn't ride it until past a certain point) and took off on the bike section of the race.


Race Day - BIKE (112 miles // 6:38:52)

The course (shown above) was 2 laps of a simple out and back route. It was pretty flat with no hard climbs. The temperature outside was around 70 degrees, so pretty ideal for the IRONMAN but a little hot. I went out pretty dang fast and was totally crushing my expected pace. I averaged around 20mph on the first way out ad was feeling really good, but then at the turn around, I realized that I was going to fast because there were 22 MPH WINDS at our back. 22 MPH! It was crazy.


I felt like I was going to fall over when we hit the turn around. I actually did pass one guy who did blow over and ended up breaking his collar bone. I hope that he ended up okay <3


The wind really accentuated two issues with my gear. First, I definitely should have brought an actual bike jersey instead of a t-shirt (usually I just wear a Hawaiian shirt on my long rides with friends). Second, I really wish I had an actual triathlon bike / helmet. I felt like I was one of the few people wearing a road biking helmet and without a tri bike. The wind made my old road bike feel really clunky and slow (I am still really appreciative that my step-dad gave it to me at the beginning of COVID, if he didn't I might have never have gotten into endurance training in the first place).


A little bit after the turn around, my chain fell off. (On Saturday, my stepmom told me that she had talked with a few of the other athletes and they said that they just go to the bathroom (#1) in their pants during the race). So, I took advantage of the time on the side of the road and peed my pants. PROS: Saved myself some time and felt like a real triathlete. CONS: My socks didn't smell great after the race and were a little soaked the rest of the bike. OVERALL: Would do again.


After I fixed my chain and got back on the bike, I went along with the 28 miles of agony in the wind, riding around 12mph. All the while, I made sure to get Gatorade Endurance Formula 24 oz. bottles at the aid stations and Maurten energy gels. I tried to drink a bottle of Gatorade (180 cal / 620mg sodium / 44g carbs) every hour and a Maurten energy gel (100 cal / 22mg sodium / 25g carbs) every hour.

If you want to read more about race day fueling, be on the lookout for a post coming soon...

I will admit... during the first aid station, I didn't know that you are supposed to slow down to grab the bottles from the volunteers. I want to take this time to apologize to the poor volunteer that got a bottle totally throttled from their hand. I swear I learned after that first stop to slow down for the next aid stations.

Towards the end of the first way back, I tried to keep my mindset focused on knowing that I would have the wind at my back again shortly. "Just a few more miles til' the turnaround... you got this Sutcliffe." I made it to the turn around, waved hi to my parents who were super supportive in the crowd and hit the road to do the out and back one more time.


No real issues on the last out and back. During the way back I keep coaching myself through the pain of the wind. "If you can make it to 100miles, you can make it to 112." That phrase helped me chunk the last portion of the bike into smaller, more mentally digestible pieces. And guess what... I made it to 100mi and I made it to 112mi!




Bike - Division Rank 44 | Overall Rank 849


Race Day - Transition 2 (0:10:47)

Although it was nice to get off the bike and change up the motion, Transition 2 was a low point for me in the race. I felt great leading up to T2 getting off the bike. Felt great swapping out my bike clothes for my run clothes (same t-shirt (bad move lol - stinky), same tri-shorts, different socks, visor) but I was pretty hungry and ate a few two many Clif Shot Bloks too fast.


My stomach started cramping as I ran out of the stadium to the beginning of the run (around 1/3 mile). I just thought to myself "Okay Sutcliffe, just go one mile and check in with yourself then). At the same time, I was doing the math in my head to see if I had to walk the rest of the race, could I finish before midnight. By my calculations if it came down to it, I could have. I'm glad it didn't come down to that.


Race Day - RUN (26.2 miles // 3:50:31)

At my mile 1 self check-in, I was starting to feel better. Magically the cramp was going away by itself. By my mile 2 check-in, I was feeling super fine. I went out on the run and wanted to treat it like a training run.. making sure not to go too fast. The last thing I wanted was to not be able to finish. I was thinking to myself at this point "I don't want to have to walk at all during the race."


So I paced myself at a comfortable 8:40 (I ended up going slower throughout the race, but ended up with around an 8:48 minute pace per mile).

Again, I had no clue how I would be feeling later in the race, and remembering my failed brick workout (explained in Race Recap Part 1), I made sure to take a cup of Gatorade for the sodium and electrolytes at each aid station and to consume a Maurten gel every 5 miles. This fueling strategy had my stomach feeling great and kept me energized for the run.


The first 15 miles flew by. I had a great time keeping a steady pace. I enjoyed the cool breeze that had died down a lot since the bike and the sun was beginning to set, leaving me with a really nice view of Sacramento. My mom met me at the 10 mile mark and cheered so loud that some of the other runners said to me "Your mom must really love you" haha. She had so much fun cheering people on that she is going to start volunteering at local races now.

My dad and stepmom met me at the 13 mile mark. I pretended like I was having a muscle spasm in my leg just to freak them out (I can be a real butt sometimes lol). But it really helped having support squads throughout the race to keep me motivated to keep going.


Like I said earlier, mile 15 is where things got tough. It was starting to get a little dark outside as I ran through Discovery Park. My whole body was just starting to get fatigued and my pace started to slow down. I really wanted at this point to get a sub-12 hour finish and knew that in order to do so, I would have to continue running. It wouldn't have to be quick, but I couldn't stop to walk for long amounts of time.


So when it got tough, I just locked in to what I practiced during my training. I stuck to my nutrition plan for sodium / carb / calorie intake. I also practiced a tip that I had read in Peak Performance (See my recommended reading list). In the book, Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness suggest focusing on a self-transcending purpose, or reason for doing something beyond yourself, in order to break through self-imposed limits. They say that you'll be more likely to push through something difficult when you think of someone else or something greater than yourself.


So I took their advice to heart. Instead of focusing on the pain in my legs or my desire to walk, I simply dedicated a mile to each of my supporters. For example, mile 15 I would think about all the ways my girlfriend had supported me through my IRONMAN training. Mile 16 I would think about my friends in Flagstaff... and so on. Before I knew it, I was rounding Capitol Mall approaching the last few miles!


The last few miles were extremely epic. The sun had already set and luckily I was out of the park and into the city, where there were plenty of lights from street posts and buildings. The crowd lined the streets and since the last portion of the race circled the Capitol, split into three consecutive laps, the whole streets were literally lined with people. You could easily hear Mike Reilly saying "You are an IRONMAN" to all of the athletes coming in.


I felt great and knew that I would hit my goal time. So I raced with my head high and tried to soak in the moment.


The finish line experience was truly magical. I took my time running across the red carpet. During the last few moments of the race, I began to get super sentimental. I was proud of all the hard work I put into my training and proud that I didn't quit during the race, even when things got tough. I really thought about everyone who supported me throughout my training. Those moments alone made the entire process: all the hard work and all the time, worth it.



Post-Race

After the race, I had a super nice volunteer help me get my ankle timing bracelet off (I literally was so mentally drained I couldn't even remember how velcro worked lol). Both sets of my parents were waiting for me at the finish line, so after I got my medal, t-shirt and a few pics, I met up with them. To my surprise, my sister was able to make it! I didn't think she would be able to come, so we both started crying as we hugged. It had a been awhile since seeing her.

My dad, stepmom and sister had to go. So my mom and stepdad walked with me to the post-race food area designated for athletes. At this point, my stomach started to feel queasy, so I had to walk slowly so I wouldn't puke. I really did not feel great.


I got some chicken broth to help my stomach (sooooooo good after a big race) and surveyed the food trucks they had with offerings from every type of cuisine. I wasn't hungry, so I just got burrito for later.


I really wanted to go to sleep after the race, so we didn't stick around to watch all of the other finishers. I heard that watching the midnight finishers is a really fun experience and if I ever do another IRONMAN, I will definitely stick around. Once we got home, I walked like I was going to head to bed, but my mom made me go take a shower haha. I guess they are her sheets she'd have to clean and I'm sure I didn't smell the best.


I probably had the worst night of sleep I've ever had in my life. I felt pretty nauseous and couldn't sleep. I still wasn't hungry until around 4AM. That's when I went and raided the fridge EIGHT times for eight different "breakfast's" haha.

 

I worked the rest of the week at my parents house and then took off on Saturday to head back to Flagstaff. I took the week off working out but did some spinning on the trainer and some shorts walks with my mom to shake out my legs.


I took the time to do a lot of reading and reflection and ended up finishing all of Tim Ferriss's "Tools of Titans" (Would definitely recommend - actually, check out my recommended reading list here).


Final Thoughts

Overall, from the training to the race day, my IRONMAN experience was great! I was lucky to go through injury-free and learned a lot about endurance sports through the process. I think my biggest changes that I would make for next time would be to perform more brick workouts during training and to join a triathlon team so training would be with friends instead of solo.

At this point, I've had some time to reflect on my experiences at IRONMAN California, and I know this post has been long, but I really think this is something worth continuing reading:


You go through months of training and often think about what it will be like to finish. You think about the feeling you will get when you hear your name, the feeling you will get when your cross that finish line and get a medal placed along your neck, the feeling your will get when you earn the right to call yourself an IRONMAN.


I was proud of time time and proud of my finish, but what I believe (and what I think a lot of fellow IRONMAN athletes would say as well), is that it really wasn't about the finish time. It was cool to hear your name and call yourself an IRONMAN, but the REAL value in this entire experience was in the journey.


The mornings waking up at 5AM to get in a run before work. The countless recovery sessions. The constant excitement about planning your workouts for the week and going to bed dreaming about your progress. These were the things that gave meaning to my IRONMAN experience.


I can't wait to experience them again someday and hope that you too get to experience them in your life, maybe not from doing an IRONMAN, but from doing something that you are extremely passionate about. I truly look forward to hearing about how you are going out and finding your Flow in your passions and life. Thank you so much for staying through with me to hear about how I am finding mine.

 

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