Ironman Los Cabos, Mexico 2015 Race Report

Written by admin on November 28, 2018. Posted in Coaching From Jack, Feats of Strength, Motivational, News

Ironman Los Cabos had been on my radar ever since they announced the move from March to late October and I had decided this was my moment to go for the Legacy Ironman Kona Slot. The Ironman Legacy Program was introduced in 2012 as a way to recognize and reward our most dedicated repeat athletes. Through the Ironman Legacy Program, athletes who have completed 12 full-distance Ironman-branded races and have never competed at the Ironman World Championship have an opportunity to be selected for a special slot to compete in the Ironman World Championship. Ironman Los Cabos was a point to point race which is not my favorite type of race venue but the scenery and race experience made up for it all in the end. It had all the attributes that I was looking for to try and go for my 6th Full Ironman. Easy travel from Los Angeles (My bike was actually lost and stuck in LA for a few days), ability to go fast on the bike (Bike portion of the race was challenging and hot), wet suit swim (Swim had some of the worst currents and water was too warm to wear a wet suit), fairly flat run, and temperate temperatures forecast in the low 80s (The weather was actually near 100 degrees and miserable). Of course, what looks good on paper doesn’t always pan out in reality. The reality for this particular race was temperatures and humidity levels were both going to be excessive. A massive hurricane storm rolled through and missed Cabo by 80 miles but it pushed all the temperatures up to very high levels as it was 100 degrees with nearly 100% humidity right on race day. To make things worse, the water temperature was 82 degrees making it a non-wet suit swim. This was not playing to my perceived strengths. However, I did remind myself that, as an experienced athlete, I was prepared to handle whatever the day threw at me and my mantra would be to prevail at all costs.

Swim: Of course, right as we hit the water’s edge, a breaker hit so I waited briefly to time the next wave (note to self: should probably practice these surf beach starts a little more). Thereafter, the swim was a bit of a cluster. It was 400 meters to the first turn buoy and as I got close, the pack I was swimming with started veering left, whereas, the buoy was over to the right. A paddle-boarder was yelling something but I couldn’t make it out… not wanting to cut the course, I continued on my path to the turn buoy. Next thing I see is a jet ski dragging the buoy back to it’s rightful spot ~150meters back to my left! That was just the first of three buoys that became detached during the course of the swim causing my swim to be quite slow due to all the course corrections. I was seriously expecting my swim time to register as 1hr 20mins or more as it felt like I had been in the choppy water forever, so I was shocked to see a swim time of 1:19, not a PR for me but I’m just glad I made it out of the water. Was it short… nope. My Garmin GPS had me swimming well over 4,000m as the currents pulled us in all directions especially at the start of the race. We did have a current assist on the way in, but that is balanced by swimming into the chop on the way out. Coming out of transition I came into the changing tent only to notice that there was nowhere to sit as I found a few ice packs to sit on to try and avoid the sand as I put on my socks and Cycling shoes for the long and Hot bike ride ahead.

Swim time: 1:19:22

Bike: The bike was a 2 loop course. There was a big hill climbing out of Palmilla beach and onto the highway coming out of the bike transition. Once on the bike, I noticed the heat immediately and I started feeling like crap for the first 30+ miles because I had swallowed too much salt water in the swim. The course has two out and back sections to make an L-shaped course that you repeat twice. The first leg of the L is an out and back to Cabo San Lucas from San Jose El Cabo on a rolling highway. There was a slight headwind on the way out and a tailwind on the way back, which made the return trip feel particularly hot. The second leg of the L is a big climb and descent to and from the airport. As I hit this section, my legs had started to come around and I was feeling much better, perhaps aided by some occasional cloud cover. It took me all of the airport section and the outward-bound leg to Cabo San Lucas to gain some speed and start feeling better again. I felt great on this stretch and my average speed was picking up as I was back on target with my goal average speed of 23mph. However, hitting the turnaround in Cabo for a second time and heading back to San Jose, the tailwind and the accompanying heat hit me again. By this time, I was riding a bit slower and couldn’t hold my average goal pace. The pattern of how I was feeling repeated itself and as we hit the airport section, my legs started to feel better.

Bike time: 5:37:10

Run: I got off the bike after being nearly 30 minutes off my goal and as I came out of transition, the crowds were cheering for me and started yelling “Go big guy!” There was zero shade on the first 4 mile out and back section in town… the sun was high in the sky and not a cloud to be seen, just as we had had for the past few days in Cabo. Staying cool was my number one priority so each aid station (approx. every km) I drank some water and dumped at least two cups of ice in my hat to cool my head and neck off and bring my core temperature down. For the first run lap, I ate a Stinger Waffle with water each mile and ran through the aid stations barely slowing enough to grab cups of water. Lap two was equally hot and as I came through town again and saw friends that were racing alongside me at the time with my sponsors from then Invigorade sports drink. My pace was slowing rapidly… I kept lap one under 10min/mi pace but lap two was sliding closer to 11min/mi pace. My mind vacillated between wanting to just be over and done and stopping on the side of the road and knowing that I was still in the race and going to finish no matter what. Lap three required complete mental focus for me as I wanted to quit but I was so deep into the race and still in second place that I had no good reason to quit besides being tired. Heck, “tired” is never a good reason to quit! With daylight savings time, the sun had set as I neared the end of lap 3 and while I appreciated the cooler conditions, my body was struggling to maintain 12min/mi pace. So slow! At the final turnaround with a mile or so to go, I noticed several women behind me but I was no longer sure what lap they were on. I managed an 8 min last mile and crossed the line in a disappointing slower time than Mallorca a month earlier.

Run time: 4:46:20

After crossing the finish line, I was sitting having my chip removed when I overheard how many athletes were not able to finish the race due to the extreme heat and I immediately felt grateful that I had the opportunity to race and finish this race even under the most extreme circumstances.

Finish Time: 11:54:51

I was proud that I finished strong, ultimately improved to my best finish place in all the Ironman competitions I have done finishing 20th in my age group. Finally the finish line was ahead and running down the red carpet into the blinding lights and the voice of Pete Murray saying those four awesome words “You are an Ironman” was absolutely everything it cracked up to be. I was very emotional as I ran down the last stretch of the run course and knowing that I was just going to miss breaking 11 hours again didn’t matter anymore but being able to endure and finish this very tough and extremely hot race was the most important thing of all. Thank you also to the awesome volunteers who braved the extremely hot weather to ensure most of the athletes could finish the race safely. Finally, to my awesome sponsors at Red Ace Organics/Beets, Rudy Project, Juice Plus, MG Sport, and Honey Stinger for your continued support, as none of this would be possible without you.

Special mention: The activities/excursions were incredible in and around Cabo San Lucas as I had the opportunity to go parasailing, sailing, snorkeling at the arc, sunset horseback riding on the beach, ATV touring, and relaxed on the beach.

I do also offer personalized coaching for Triathletes looking to get better times in each discipline on the swim, bike, and run. There are no long-term contracts! Whether you want to jump-start your triathlon training with an expert consultation or hone your fitness with ongoing coaching, the best commitment you can make is to yourself. The Roworx Indoor Rowing Classes have also been a massive part of my success in training and fastest finish throughout my third full Ironman in Cozumel. Due to the non-impact nature of rowing, the legs, back, and core are constantly working through every single stroke. It is the perfect cross-training workout for any sport, especially Ironman distance triathlons.

Triathlon Training by an expert: Jack Nunn is the ‘unconventional’ triathlete – standing 6’3″ tall and weighing in at 220 pounds and was the 2015 Olympic Distance USA Triathlon Clydesdale Champion while still holding the fastest time to date at 2 hrs and 15 minutes in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Since 2008, he has competed in 14 Full Ironman competitions around the world and in August 2017 Jack recently completed the Isklar Norseman Xtreme triathlon in Norway. This race bills itself as, ‘simply the ultimate triathlon on planet Earth’ and is regarded by many athletes and pros as the hardest Ironman distance triathlon in the world. It’s a total of 226km spread over a freezing cold swim, a brutal bike ride with 17,000 feet of elevation, and a seemingly impossible marathon footrace up a mountain. In 2013, he also began racing shorter sprint triathlons, winning his age group in almost every event and has now raced in over 100 events around the world.