16 days left (22 August)
The gear ratios on a bicycle can be complicated to explain…
(So simplify it for me.)
When you drive up a hill…
(Just like you were.)
…like I did, moving the chain to the largest cog at the back will make the bike do more work.
(Didn’t Shlomo Rosenzweig say that gears “reduce the amount of force you have to put into your leg muscles to push the pedals”?)
Yes, and that’s why when I first looked at the 21km climb at the Ironman World Championship in Nice, I asked him to check my calculations to see if I could complete the course before the prescribed time limit.
(If you want to understand how a mechanism works, ask an engineer. If you want to understand how nutrition works, ask a trainer.)
I crested the top of the hill and started back towards the end of the bike course. The last ten kilometres were almost entirely downhill. I had just completed a 1,250 metre uphill section. I had faced a challenge on the course mid-race and was starting to feel more confident.
OK. My plan might work.
(What plan?)
The plan is to use this race to regain my confidence for a 21km climb in the French mountains at the Ironman World Championship.
(That sounds great. Didn’t you have to run a half marathon after you rode your bike?)
Yes, but it was only half.
(How far is a half marathon?)
It is 13.1 miles.
(After driving 90 kilometers through the mountains?)
Yes.
(How did that happen?)
After the marathon, I had to run off the bike at the Ironman United Kingdom, that would be easier.
(A walk in the park.)
Not so easy.
(Easy for you.)
Easier than what?
(Easier than a whole marathon?)
Yes, but still a challenge.
(Even for you?)
I wanted to finish as quickly as possible. Except for the last two miles, the course looked like the Croton Aqueduct in Westchester or Johnson Park in Teaneck. Just an asphalt path through a park.
The first ten kilometers led to the turnaround. That went smoothly.
(Good training for the Ironman in three weeks?)
Exactly. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough food with me.
(What means?)
This meant that after an hour of running, I felt my energy levels dropping.
(So?)
So I had to use one of the gels from the food stand. I ripped open the lid and popped the finger-sized tube in my mouth. I’m used to flavors like chocolate or salted caramel. This was an ambivalent citrus taste.
(Bad?)
Yes. Have you ever tried something and couldn’t identify the flavor and it confused you?
(I am you.)
That’s right. When I pulled the tube out of my mouth, the metal in the packaging scraped against my two front teeth and it felt like I was chewing aluminum foil.
(Whitening your fillings?)
Somehow.
(Are your eyes rolling?)
Not too bad, but I felt my shoulders twitching.
Mind you, I kept running the whole time. When I reached the next aid station at mile nine…
(Just a few tables manned by volunteers.)
…I liked drinking Coca Cola to get the bizarre citrus taste out of my mouth.
(Wait!)
Yes?
(They drank Coca Cola to get a taste out of?)
Yep. The lemonade I hate was meant to mask a worse taste.
(Don’t you also drink Coca Cola to escape sugar?)
That too. The truth is, I only drink lemonade at races or on Passover.
(Why Passover?)
It tastes better.
Coca Cola for Passover is made with sugar.
(As opposed to high fructose corn syrup?)
Yes.
(So sucrose vs. fructose?)
Sucrose consists of 50% fructose and 50% glucose.
(So what?)
Therefore, Coca Cola with sugar leaves no aftertaste in the mouth.
At mile 11, I was still two miles from the finish, but I was already running past the start of the run course.
My brain was saying, “Turn right here” to run to the finish line, but something else was telling me, “Keep running straight.”
(Good thing you did.)
If I had turned right I would have been off course and probably disqualified. I ran around the back of the village and came through the middle to the finish line.
These were the first 70.3…
(Half-Ironman.)
…which I had been participating in since 2019 in Arizona. I had forgotten what it was like to cross the finish line of an Ironman in daylight.
I jumped into the air and sailed over the finish line without touching the ground.
I hoped this was a harbinger of what was to come at the Ironman World Championships in Nice, France.
David Roher is a USAT certified triathlon and marathon coach. He has successfully completed multiple Ironman races and is an experienced special education teacher. You can find him on Instagram at @David Roher140.6. You can reach him at (email protected).
