First off I want to start by thanking my Wife and Kids for allowing me to have this opportunity and helping me along the way. Without these guys propping me up there is no way any of this would have been possible. It was a hot day and they toughed it out right along beside me by placing themselves all over the course throughout the day while I was out goofing off once again.
Also thanks to Pops for spending some time walking with me on the run, Mike & Deanna and Kyle for venturing out and being at the swim and run, Jeff & Jason and Aaron for the boost at the turn on the bike and greeting me at the finish, Chris for grabbing my bike and being there for me, Uncle Tony for popping out of the quiet stretches and cheering me on, Steve & Lisa for being there at the beginning of the run, Greg and Melissa for the Diet Mountain Dew even though I did not have any and Dax yelling at me as I exited out on the bike course. Harry& Howard at the overpass water stop Volunteering and also the Landsharks that littered the course and were constantly giving me a boost.
My biggest concern for this race was the run and as it turned out it was like a big giant party because of all of you. I had a blast on the run despite my pain and discomfort thanks to you guys.
So on to the Race Blog and for those of you not familiar with Ironman it is a race that requires you to Swim 2.4 miles, Bike 112 and Finish off with a Full Marathon (26.2 miles) for a total of 140.6 miles. You are typically allotted a time limit of 17 hours.
Swim Time: 1:30:32
T1: 11:00
Bike Time: 6:53:05
T2: 23:48
Run Time: 6:15:13
Total Time: 15:13:38
Pre-race routine:
Up at 3:30. Quick bit to eat and got the coffee going, I typically have 1 cup prior to a race.
Swim
Jumped in the water and suddenly realized I forgot to turn on my Garmin. Ughh. Swam a 100M or so and decided I would be upset if I did not so I rolled over on my back and turned it on. Of course I had to wait for it to pick up a Satellite then navigate the menu's to swim and start. Got swam over a couple of times while I was piddling with this.
Once I passed the end of towhead island I caught a brief glimpse of the big blow up at the turnaround. Holy crap that thing is really, really far away. I thought it was just past the island, not even close.
I had to pee really bad for the last 1500M or so and let myself drift out into the main channel so I could relax and go. However, I guess the guy on my left was drafting on me and sighting off of me because he followed me out and kept brushing my heel which made it impossible to concentrate and go.
In the end it did not matter, for some reason when I downloaded all of the data to garmin connect there was nothing available but my time. It missed all of the GPS data which is what I was hoping for because my navigation was terrible and I was really curious to see just how far out in the channel I was.
T1
I planned to completely change at each transition which took a little extra time but I figured comfort trumped the few extra minutes it would take. It was total chaos inside the change tent and the Volunteers did and outstanding job of making sure we had everything we needed.
Still had to pee something terrible which made changing difficult as I was tapping my feet while switching clothes and that. Eventually made it out of the tent and ran to the port-o-let for what seemed like the longest piss I have ever taken.
Bike
For the first 9 miles it's really flat and I was having to force myself to slow down and stay in the 18MPH pace that I planned for this segment. It was hard not playing chase when other riders passed but I knew this was going to be a long day and I needed to be conservative early. My plan was to keep my HR in the 135 range for the first 30 miles or so while I got comfortable and then settle in allowing it to rise to 140's for the remainder.
All was going to plan, cadence was right, legs felt great and all of those concerns of over tapering where disappearing. It was beginning to occur to me that this was really happening and I was finally doing my Ironman that I had been training for. Woo Hoo!
Around mile 40 I passed a friend from the local tri club and he was looking a little pale and miserable. Checked on him and he said he was going to bail. Ackk! Reality set in and I started making sure I was paying attention to the details. Started over analyzing all of my nutrition worried I may succumb to the same fate if I am not careful.
About the time I am about to go crazy I pass my Wife and Kids. Forgot all about that other stuff and continued on. They made some signs but I could not read them very well between sun and the sweat in my eyes when I raised my head up from the aerobars.
Riding through Lagrange was very cool, lots of spectators and cheers in downtown and had a great time on what felt like a really fast moving parade. On On
Somewhere around mile 60 things started to go a little south. I was developing hot spots on each foot and it was making each peddle stroke painful. I could not figure out why this was happening since I was doing everything the same as I had done all year. Each hill was agony as there is really no way to climb without mashing a bit so I tried to alter my peddle stroke and go toe down which helped a bit.
I was really looking forward to seeing my Family again and taking a moment to say hello now that I knew where they were. I rolled up on them and stopped to give them each a hug. It was a great feeling and helped me forget about my feet for a bit.
Quick stop right after my visit at the restroom and grabbed my special needs bag. I had pringles and a coke in there and I thought it would be nice to have something different. Ate about 5-6 pringles and soda was a little to fizzy so I just had a couple of swigs and back on the bike.
My feet were killing me at this point and I was questioning not only how I could continue but how was I planning to run with these massive hot spots that I could tell were beginning to blister as well. Just kept reminding myself that the course "trends" downhill at the turn onto 42 and I could get to the end of the bike as long as I made to there.
I had stopped managing my nutrition while I was thinking about my feet and now I was getting sick. By mile 85 I was ready to vomit and pulled off to do a little dry heaving. On to mile 95 and I knew I was close, my stomach was a mess so I stopped one more time to try and puke. During this time I had not been taking in any fluids and by the time I realized I was out of everything I was already past the last stop. Ughh.
River Rd, pain is unbearable at this point and I was struggling to maintain 15MPH on the flat road. Riders kept passing and I saw full bottles in their cages. I wanted to ask for a drink but did not want to mess anyone else up. At this point I am only 6-7 miles out and no way I am stopping now. Just make it to transition and evaluate my condition once I can get some fluids.
T2
My family once again came to the rescue as they were there cheering me on right before I pulled into transition. Then my Brother caught my bike. We had a brief exchange and I probably made no sense as I don't remember any of our conversation. I was just happy to see him and the even more happy to be off of that f-ing bike.
Peeled off my shoes and started a slow walk/jog to the tent. Jumped off the pavement and onto the grass to help my feet out a little. As soon as I rounded the corner I noticed about a dozen guys lying next to the tent. Just tried to ignore them so I would not be tempted to join them.
One of the Volunteers in the tent found me a seat and brought me 3 cups of ice water and a perform right away. He was awesome. I sat for a minute or so trying to figure out what to do. I was a little delirious and sick still so I just decided I would start drinking one perform and one water as quick as he could bring them to me. I also found a gel and 2 fun size Payday bars that had been sitting in the sun. Warm and gooey they were so good. This was helping and I was perking up a bit.
Still had no idea how I was going to run with my feet all jacked up but after about 20 minutes of drinking and eating my head and stomach were coming around. I finally just decided that it was now or never and the only way to know if I could run was to just go. Out the door I went.
Run
I came out of transition and my Son was there encouraging me to run. That did not last long, hah. I ran about a block where the rest of the Family was and we spoke for a few minutes. I told them that I was a little dehydrated from the bike and not feeling very well. My Brother In Law, who is a Nurse, sighed a bit and looked concerned and I remember running off thinking he knows how quick that can turn bad and hoping he did not share that concern with Amy and have her worry.
OK, legs felt great, feet hurt like a crazy but I was adapting quickly and stomach was coming around. Just figured I would walk the bridge and evaluate if I could continue after this 2 mile or so stretch. First water stop had Soda's and Chips and the thought of another drink of perform was nauseating. I grabbed a handful of chips and a soda, those just might have been the best potato chips I have ever eaten in my life.
Back around for my second pass and another handful of chips and another soda and I was really starting to feel great. Looking at my Garmin I realized it was only about 4:30 and as long as I could manage the pain I was going to finish. Woo Hoo!
Passed the family again and stopped to say hello and let my Wife know I was feeling a lot better and ready to get this show going. I was planning to run .4 miles and walk .1 miles and see how long I could manage that. Turns out, not very long. hah
Made it to about mile 10 switching back and forth and between running and walking and the GI issues were returning. Pushed on that pace as best I could to the 13.1 mile mark. Another quick check of the Garmin, it's just past 7:30. I had 4.5 hours to finish a Half Marathon. I could walk slow and do that.
Ran into another guy from Kansas that was in about the same boat and we started talking and decided to stick it out together to the finish. Mile 15 takes you right towards the finish chute and I could hear the bells and cheers. I got really excited and as I turned right to make my second and final loop I was once again greeted by my family. It was awesome, again I have no idea what we talked about but we visited for a minute and I told them I had to go.
By now my feet were pretty well numb to the pain and I just kept moving. I could feel the blisters causing my feet to slide around in my shoe which was gross and I debated on what would happen if they popped. Hoping that my compression socks would hold everything together for another 10 miles or so.
By mile 24 I was pretty well done with running much more than a couple of hundred yards at a time. I was still with my friend and we decided that we would try to save enough in the tank to run the last 1/2 mile or so to the finish and just take it easy.
We both wanted to try and time our finish so that we were somewhat alone in the chute for the photo-op and that. When were started getting closer to downtown we started running with a quick thanks and goodbye. I let him run ahead and I just took it nice and easy. The crowd was growing and cheers were getting louder and I entered the finisher chute all alone screaming with excitement and looking everywhere for my family. I knew they were there but I could not see a thing between the euphoria and spotlights. Apparently I ran right into my Son's sign and was within a couple of feet of them but completely missed them.
One of my training friends was working as a finish line catcher and was there to greet me as I crossed the line. That was cool and he immediately pointed to my family who was now standing there waiting for me. I hugged my Wife and kids having a pretty emotional exchange that included a lot of tears and a bunch of hugs and high fives.
Post race
Warm down:
We walked to RiRa's where the Landsharks had setup camp. They had a beer tub full of ice water which sounded like a great idea until I actually jumped in. The cold water was too much and I jumped right back out. Of course I had compression socks on that I could now not get off fast enough because they were soaked with ice cold water, duh. Bought a beer and visited for a few then off to grab a something to eat at the finish line and up to the room.
Our room at the Hyatt overlooked the finish and I wanted to go down and watch but my body was done for the day so I sat up in the window and watched from there until they turned off the lights and the cheers stopped. Then off to bed and some well deserved sleep.
What would you do differently?:
Now that it has been a couple of weeks and I have had time to process I feel like I could have maybe pushed a bit harder on the run. I have never run a Marathon so this was a bit of a learning experience and I hate that I have a 6:15 time next to my only event of this distance. So I am planning to fix that next year and do a stand alone Marathon with a goal closer to the 4-4:10 mark.
My concern was that I would have GI issues again and while my legs felt like they were ready to go everything else was saying just take it easy. I don't know, it was my first Ironman and I was so busy taking it all in on the run that I kind of forgot about my time enough to where I maybe went to easy.
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