MICHAEL LOVATO | Professional Triathlete

Post-Underpants Run, I was feeling relaxed and ready to rumble. I had confidence in my build-up, and I knew I was ready to improve upon my 2007 Ironman. I had decided to implement a few new nutritional tricks to my routine, based on my, um, evacuation problems in the last three Ironmans I have done. This time around, my goal was to minimize time lost to porto-stops and poopy pants.

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The week and a half prior to the event went very smoothly. Amanda and I established a great routine of getting up early every day, going to bed early every night, and eating very well for each meal. I'd say the preparation was perfect.

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I traveled to New Hampshire with Simon and his friend Alan. We had a pretty uneventful trip to Boston, and the drive up to Gilford was fairly painless. Both Simon and I were slated to talk at the "Dinner of Champions", along with a few other atheltes. We showed up at the Gunstock Ski Area with just enough time to register for the race, and get in line for some food. For those of you who have never raced this event, you owe it to youselves to someday make the trip.

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About five days have passed since the race up in Idaho, and I thank you all for tuning in for my report. I apologize for the delay, but I decided to take a bit of a step back before writing the report. I know I'm not the most prompt and timely person, but this was a calculated move, as I thought it would be fun to let things sink in even further, prior to summing up the details.

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The race at Disney has changed elements of its course each of the last four years, since its inception. The swim has remained the same, the bike has changed from year to year, and there have been three different run courses. In my opinion, this year's bike course was the best it's been, and the run was probably the toughest. I was very excited to try out my new blueseventy pointzero3 skinsuit for the race. I received it two days before the race, so I was able to swim in it one time on Saturday. It felt great, and I figured it was going to be a nice little aid for a faster swim. Even if most of the other pros are using the same suit, it still seemed like it would give me an edge! The swim start went off pretty smoothly.

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I'm finally back home in Boulder, and I've finally found my way to the computer, so I thought I'd send out the initial race report... who am I kidding? As long as I'm reporting, I might as well give the blow-by-blow version. Sit back and grab some popcorn, 'cause here I go:

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I never have understood how most folks seem capable of putting together race reports within hours of finishing their events. I never even understand how they get them done within a day or two. I always find that I need a few days to let it all sink in, to process things, and to sift through the interesting and non-interesting, the essential info and the nonsense. Who am I kidding: I don't ever know how to filter out the non-essential info, and that's why my race reports are so long.

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As opposed to my standard long-winded approach, I'll offer just the brief re-cap of my race...as the travel to the race was the truly exciting adventure! (And it is perhaps the story of the travel that will find its way here in the future.)

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Wasn't it supposed to be hot and dry in the desert? That's what I thought, and that's just what told me I was doing the right thing in racing the inaugural Ironman in Tempe, AZ on April 9th. My last race had told me that my body wasn’t all that reliable in the cold weather, and my race history had told me that I tended to fare better than some in the hotter, more extreme conditions. I was beginning to see some summer-like temperatures on the Phoenix area weather reports. I liked the sound of upper eighties and sunny. After all, it appeared that there were many Northern-types on the start list; surely they would suffer in the heat, right?

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