Ok..not quite a year but close enough. I was disappointed not finishing IMMOO 2011 and thus have decided to look at the bright side of things. In 2010 I finished a sprint triathlon in Maple Grove Minnesota. The Dare to Tri race is in Maple Grove (obviously) and 2010 was the inaugural race. It was fantastic. There is a sprint and olympic distance and in 2011 they partnered with Tristar 111 and added a completely different race distance. A 1 km swim, 100 km bike and 10k run. Macca raced the event this year and said he would be back in 2012. I really want to do this race but it is only 3 weeks out from Ironman Wisconsin. If you ever get the chance to sign up for the race you should do so. It is a blast and the little extras..like engraving your finishing medal onsite with your time are awesome.
Anyway I did the race in August 2010 and looked back at how I progressed in 13 months. At Maple Grove I had to swim a little over 500 yards. I averaged 2:30 per 100 yards and at IMMOO I averaged under 2:00 per 100 over 2.4 miles (4100 yards). I averaged a little over 15 miles an hour on the bike for the sprint race..at IMMOO with quite a bit more elevation gain I averaged 14.5 mph over 112 miles. Not the greatest speed but I was pleased. At Racine I averaged over 16 mph over 56 miles. Lastly, I walked/ran the 3 miles in the sprint and averaged a little under 12:00 minute miles. During training for IMMOO I was running 12 -13 minute miles over 13 miles. I think my fitness improved significantly. One huge improvement was in my quad, hamstring and hip strength from the training. I have been dealing with issues related to my knee surgery in 1998 since..well 1998. My right leg has been significantly weaker than the left ever since the surgery..often times causing me to run in circles. I saw my PT Joy last week and she said the strength I had gained was incredible and it is by far the best she has seen my leg in the three years she has known me. By the way if anyone in the Denver area needs the best Physical Therapist around for athletes Joy is the one to see at University of Colorado Sports Medicine. She knows her stuff, is an athletic trainer also and can deal with head cases (she has dealt with me for a number of years). Also I think the photos below show that I lost a little bit of weight. (Amazingly enough I am wearing the same tri shorts in each picture - spandex is truly a miracle fabric)
the original fat boy (233)
new and improved 203 (down from 242)
I have learned quite a bit in the last year. From learning how to swim efficiently with total immersion, train while still having a family life from my coach Suzanne at Steel City Endurance, to how to pee on the bike. Unfortunately I was never able to practice this in real life since I was never hydrated enough to actually need to go..but I did get advice from some of the best. I also met a number of wonderful people..from those I shared some training time with (Doreen, Kelli 1, Kelli 2, Angela), to fellow racers in Racine like Doug from Marshfield, and elite triathletes..Go Sonja!!! - who as I write this is only a few hours removed from finishing the Ironman World Championship in Kona in 10:08:44.
Lastly it has been great getting into a healthy lifestyle and sharing the sport with my family and friends. My sister-in-law Adrianne finished her second tri at Maple Grove this year PRing..and my wife Kristine is now firmly into the lifestyle and will probably be beating my butt in the near future. My soon to turn 4 year old daughter now gets off her bike and then wants to run after she goes through transition. She also says "on your left" when she passes people on the walking path. Finishing IMMOO 2012 is the goal for this next year but like this year I think the journey with my family and friends will be the real reward.
Well September 11, 2011 came a lot quicker than I thought it would. After my HIM at Racine I knew I had to work on hydration and running. My coach Suzanne and I started working on hydration strategies and my training partner Doreen (pictured in the wetsuit) made sure I didn't miss a workout. With six weeks to Ironman Wisconsin I knew I had a lot of work to do. My wife Kristine (In the first picture) made sure my weekends were free to train the long hours for the rides and bricks and even went on a couple of work outs with me. Kristine and my daughter Laila were my biggest cheerleaders before and during the race. I also had a bunch of other friends who were willing to train with me to help me get my miles in. One thing that was evident was that I was getting fitter since my pants were getting looser and I was spending more time admiring myself in the mirror.
We arrived in Madison on September ninth and I registered and weighed in. Everything for Ironman Wisconsin is based out of Monona Terrace which is kind of cool. The terrace is right on Lake Monona and a few blocks from the capitol. Pictured below is the parking structure helix that we had to run up after the swim to get to the transition area and then to the bikes.
My official Ironman weight was 203.9. I had hoped to be 199 by the race but I had lost 40 lbs since February..so I was happy. At registration I also noticed a few guys my size or a little bit bigger. However the vast majority of the athletes were definitely built for endurance with little body fat and most of the guys did not need to have a scale that went over 170 pounds.
On Saturday we met up with my brother Ben and his wife Adrianne. Ben was under some notion that I could attend a Badger game the day before Ironman. After some deliberation I declined. Instead we met up for a little pre game fun and then my wife and I went back to Monona Terrace to rack my bike and drop off my gear bags which we had spent two hours packing and repacking. I don't know how many times I rechecked my bike shoes, helmet, salt pills etc.
As you can see by the pictures the bags are dropped off in different rooms and sorted by athlete numbers. The picture is of the room that we triathletes refer to as T1 or the first transition. (Ha.."we triathletes" )The gear bag contains everything I needed to go from the swim to the bike. In most triathlons the gear is left by your bike and there are no separate rooms or changing areas.. However due to the number of athletes and length of the race the bikes are racked separate from the gear bags. My T1 gear bag included my bike shoes, socks, sunglasses, helmet, etc. What is nice about Ironman is that once you grab your bag and move into the changing area there are rows of chairs to sit down on and numerous volunteers to help you go through your bag, put sunscreen on or whatever and put your stuff away as you scurry out the door..the bad thing is seeing other guys nude rubbing nut butter on their privates. Triathletes are not a bashful people.
After racking the bike Kristine and I headed back to our hotel room at the Union South and went to dinner with Ben and Adrianne. We went to the Great Dane..which if you go to the beginning of this blog you can see me eating all manner of deep fried food and drooling over what I couldn't stuff down. The day before Ironman I was drinking water and eating mashed potatoes. In fact the three days before the race I was petrified that I was going to make the wrong decisions on what to eat and stayed to the basics of lean protein and chicken breast with plenty of water. I actually declined cheese curds and bacon.
I got to bed about 10 p.m. and was up at 4:30. Kristine and I were down at Monona Terrace by 5:20 along with thousands of other people. I filled my water bottles and made sure my tires were at 120 psi. I was one of the few that did not have a true triathlon bike. Instead I had my road bike with aero bars on it. During the ride I was glad that I had my bike with its front triple chain ring. We then wandered around checking out the spectators and other athletes as well as getting my body markings done.
The area became very crowded as gun time approached. At 6:30 the bike transition area was closed and we had to put on our wetsuits and move down the helix and into the water. The helix was crowded but there was about 6 feet of space for all of the athletes to run up once they exited the water. I was warned about the swim for IMMOO..it was likened to being in a washing machine. The closer you were to the start line and the buoys the worse it was. I put on my wetsuit and entered the water with about 20 minutes before the start. I spoke with some of the athletes and decided..what the heck..I am going to the start line by the buoys and will start a little behind. I figured the front runners would get ahead and I would get into a groove. I was surprised to see that there were a large number of athletes that were starting near the shore almost 200 yards from the buoy. Apparently they thought it best to stay out of the melee and catch up with the buoys toward the first turn 800 meters away. Seemed like a lot of extra swimming to me. But so did the fact that I had to tread water for 20 minutes before the gun started the race. However, with the wetsuit on treading water did not take up much if any energy at all.
I was talking to a couple of other athletes in the water when the gun went off and everyone just started moving forward. I can honestly say I have never been so beat up in a swim. There are 3000 people headed for the same red buoy 800 meters away and no one wants to give up space. I was jostled, run over, kicked and all in all just mugged. Your vision in the water is pretty much limited to two feet in front of you and about three feet to each side..usually there was a pair of feet in front and a body to each side with someone either touching your feet or going over your back. I have always tried to go around swimmers but that was impossible. To move to the left or right meant I was going to run into someone else. Thus the best course of action was to try and go over the swimmer in front..hopefully just an arm and not their body. When we got to the first turn it was actually worse. Some of the faster swimmers who had started 200 meters to the side converged at the same time. Everyone pretty much had to stop swimming and kind of just push themselves through the mass of humanity to get around the buoy. What added to the surreal spectacle is that everyone was mooing. Apparently it is custom to moo when you get around the first turn at IM Wisconsin. So of course I joined in. Once around the first turn I realized that my theory about the swimmers spreading out was wrong. The muggings got a little less frequent but for the better part of both loops there was always someone if not two people within a foot or two of you. Apparently one woman had her wrist broken in the first 100 meters of the race by someone kicking her. I was very glad to get to the last turn and head back to shore. I figured with all of the people, not being able to extend my stroke and just the sheer madness my time would be about 1:45. I was incredibly surprised to see it was actually 1:22. That was about 1:58 per 100 yards. The best I had done in the pool for training was 1:59 per 100 yards and that was for a 500 yard time trial..not for 2.4 miles.
Once I was out of the water I had the wetsuit strippers take off my suit and I was running with the rest of the athletes up the ramp and the helix and to the transition area. I even heard my name being called as I exited the water..talk about cool! I thought running up the helix would be exhausting..but with the hundreds of people yelling at you and cheering, you do not realize you are actually jogging at a good clip. I got to T1..changed into my biking gear and ran out..grabbed my bike and was soon riding down the other helix to start my 112 mile ride. Unfortunately within the first 2 miles we all had to slow down for the med crew to put a biker in an ambulance. Apparently they had come down the bike path too fast and ended up hitting the side of an underpass.
Just as an aside - if you remember my swim video on this blog from the beginning of the year (If you don't remember then you need to look..it is horrific) I was averaging about 2:30 per 100 yards and looking very bad doing it. Suzanne and her coaching helped me cut 30 seconds off each 100 time. That is HUGE. I am also going to confess that I was not a convert to the total immersion swim style or doing the drills Suzanne had scheduled for each swim practice..but I started doing them and again the difference is striking.
The bike course at IMMOO is 112 miles and is an out and back with two loops. The "stick" is a fairly fast ride out to Verona where the loop starts.
As you can see the course is anything but flat. There are three "big"hills that everyone talks about starting at Mt. Horeb with an additional two on the back side of the course. Compared to Colorado the three hills really are not anything spectacular. You just need to gear down and go slow. The longest one is probably just a little over half a mile in length. I actually enjoyed this part of the course since there were some downhills where I could actually use my body mass to my advantage and get speeds of 35 to 40 miles per hour. The front part of the course is what killed me. It is just constant rollers where your legs never get a chance to rest and you never get in a groove. A lot of people rate the IM Wisconsin bike course in the top 2 hardest courses out of all Ironmen races because of this. You are constantly shifting gears and trying to keep your cadence up.
The ride on the "stick" was pretty non-eventful. I kept a good cadence up, actually passed people and started hydrating by taking some salt pills immediately and chugging some powerbar performance for fluids and calories. However I noticed that there was not a cloud in the sky and that it was getting hot. I knew it would be a long day on the bike course.
At mile 30 on the course I started talking to myself..what the heck am I doing..I am less then a third of the way through the bike and was dying. I was hot and the legs were tired. At mile 45 I had gone through the first hill and done some downhills and was feeling great. I even saw my iron sherpas on the side of the road cheering for me. My wife and daughter, brother, a couple of sister in laws and their kids as well as my father and mother in law were on the side of the course in a few different places. This was a real pick me up. It is unreal how many conversations one has with them self on a 112 mile bike ride.
During the course of the bike I had to stop and fix my back water bottle holders which had slipped down to the tire. I also dropped a chain on one of the climbs and was yet again stung by some unknown bug..this time on the inside of my thigh. I thought I was going to crash the bike when it happened it hurt so bad. The one thing I did not do was stop at a porta potty..which did not bode well since I was picking up 2 to 3 bottles of fluid at each rest stop.
When I got to the special needs stop at about 56 miles I was famished. I opened my bag..it was peanut butter jelly time. I took two bites and couldn't even chew. I tried chips, licorice, a performance bar all with the same reaction. The guy next to me gave me some gummy bears and fig newtons with the same reaction. I was hungry but couldn't eat.
The second loop was much harder than the first. The riders had thinned out and it was HOT. The crowds were still as awesome as the first loop. On the hills people were running next to you with megaphones and yelling your name. There were girls in hula costumes..guys in hula costumes..girls in bikinis..guys in bikinis..the best sign I saw was strung overhead on one of the hills that said..."Worst Parade EVER!" I cracked up both times I went past it. It was wonderful having other athletes and people calling out your name. And I finally took pride in everyone calling me "big guy". Way to go Big Guy!! OK..I am not that big anymore..but for this race I was. Although there were a few much larger guys than me..that flew past me on the bike.. I was pretty impressed.
When I finally got to the stick going back to Madison I was very happy. My cadence went up and so did my speed quite a bit. It was mostly downhill and the end was in sight. I got to the terrace..rode up the helix (yes one final man made hill) gave my bike to a volunteer and ran into T2. I changed out of my bike top which I had planned on wearing for the run. It was caked in salt, sweat, grease..some blood from somewhere and GU. I felt great but did not know if my legs were going to work. I drank another 16 ounces of water before leaving on the run. I was done with the bike in 7:47. My goal time was 8:00. We also just found out the course was 113 instead of 112 miles.
I found out that I did not have to worry about my legs working..They were ready to go. The blister I thought I was getting was also gone. The crowds waiting outside T2 made it impossible not to run..and the crowds went on and on for about 8 blocks. The city streets were one big cheering section and I heard Scott. 2100 and big guy again and again. I checked my garmin to make sure I was running my 13:30 pace and found out I had run the first mile in a little over 10 minutes.. WTF. I slowed down immediately and even so my pace was at 12:20. (WARNING - NEXT few lines may be TMI) At about mile two..I finally had to urinate..my hydrating all day had paid off. Found a porta potty and .. umm. yeah..no urine at all and red fluid is not the color I wanted to see. Luckily I found my sister in law the doc. (She, my wife and brother were following me on bikes) She said I was probably very dehydrated and Suck it up and walk. The plan was to walk and hydrate as much as possible. It was then I notice my new shirt had already soaked through with sweat. I found a walking partner (which was not hard to do). I stopped at every aid station, drank 16 ounces of water and ate bananas. I also filled up my fuel belt with fluids(another 32 ounces) for the walk between stations. I made it through Camp Randall Stadium and was walking up Observatory Hill when the pain became a little too much. I was fine standing or sitting but moving forward had become increasingly painful. I also calculated I had eaten two full bananas and had about 80 ounces of water during the last hour and things had gotten worse instead of better. I had made it about 6.5 miles. At this point I decided to call it a day and thought I was going to cry. I have been second guessing myself ever since. At the time it was probably the right choice. Adrianne and Kristine told me I actually had been caked with salt and had a nice yellow complexion with sunken eyes when I called it. I'm still wondering if I could have saved the day. I know that physically I had the fitness to complete the Ironman and was on pace to do it under 16 hours..which for me would have been awesome.
So that is my long race report without the ending I had hoped for. With that being said the race was one of the coolest experiences of my life and I was glad to have my family and friends there to share it with me. All in all I have come a long way in a year. I was pretty depressed this week but have gotten over it. My wife convinced me to sign up next year again..so now I have a great base to work from and IM Wisconsin 2012 will be here in not time. Hopefully I will be about 20 pounds lighter.
I also want to thank everyone who has been with me through this journey, either as a training partner or just by putting positive comments on facebook. It has been fun and team Evil Monkey Multisport will be back next year to slay this dragon.
Well I did my first half ironman on July 17th in my childhood home of Racine Wisconsin. The Racine 70.3. It was a blast and I learned a lot form the experience. A Half Ironman is 1.2 mile swim - 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run. The swim took place in Lake Michigan which was quite warm at race time..65 degrees. It was also the first time I raced wearing a wetsuit.
I had planned on getting to Racine on Thursday night. However a hail storm on Wednesday damaged Frontiers planes and of course the only flight to Milwaukee that was canceled was mine. Frontier could not get me out or on a partner airline until Monday..which would be a little pointless. I did rebook on Air Tran for Friday afternoon and got to pay an additional $100 charge for my bike. Frontier is the only airline that does not charge an exorbitant amount for bike boxes. Getting in Friday night did not allow me to do anything I had planned on except for a quick dip in Lake Michigan. The water was warm and clear and most importantly calm. Saturday night my wife and I put my transition bag together with all my equipment. My friend Doreen told me to pack my salt pills in a baggie so they did not get wet. Since I was not going to wear my running singlet in the water I decided just to throw them in the pocket. By the way..I agonized over whether to buy a racing singlet ( basically a running jersey without sleeves) most of them are made for guys who top out at 160 lbs so the thought of my body in the singlet conjured up pictures of a pig in a blanket. I found a Pearl Izumi that actually seemed to fit and had to order it straight from the company since they only had 1 XL left in the company.
I actually slept pretty well the night before..didn't get up at all and was wide awake at quarter to five. My wife, daughter and I loaded the van up left my parents house and headed to the start followed by thirty cars with Illinois plates. Transition was fairly calm since the bikes had to be racked the night before. I had met three or four guys on Saturday while I racked my bike and I must say they were all pretty much jerks. No time to say hello or chat. I did meet two women - one from Germany and one from Denmark and we discussed the finer points of peeing in a wetsuit. Yes triathletes are a strange lot. However Sunday morning I was surrounded by first timers, guys my size and just genuinely fun people. They were all in my swim wave and we talked for 45 minutes about who would be coming in last. I took my jersey out and of course it was soaking wet. I had put a NUUN tablet in one of my water bottles which caused the water to shoot out the open drink spout. And of course the salt pills in my jersey pocket were now completely useless and a huge mess. Yes Doreen I will listen to you from now on. I was surprisingly calm. I think a lot of that stemmed from the people I met and the fact that the line at the porta pottys was surprisingly short. My swim wave left at 7:18 which was nice since the last wave had to wait until 8:32 to go.
THE SWIM
The swim start in Racine is a mile away from the transition area. You enter the water to the North and swim the 1.2 miles back South. Thus all of us had to walk the mile down the beach to the swim start. It was actually fun talking to everyone for the 20 minute walk. Also my wife and daughter walked with us, took pictures and played the role of sherpa. The pros left at 7:00 then a couple of more waves until our wave at 7:18. I figured it would probably be 55 minutes for me in the water since I am not a great swimmer and I was still getting use to the wetsuit. I also figured I would be doing a little breast stroking. The water was perfect however I noticed that it was 7 a.m. I was just standing in the water and I was already sweating profusely. My plan was to start at the end of the wave and let everyone go out and I would follow up the rear as best I could. After a few strokes and nervousness I remembered to concentrate on my stroke and actually was keeping up with a couple of guys. I decided to "draft" off of one of them by staying in his wake. It worked pretty well. The water was super clear and I could even see the sandy bottom. I also noticed that I was taking quite a few less strokes then the guy I was following but staying the same pace and was not out of breath at all. The swim seemed to last forever but when I finally saw the red buoy signaling the turn in back to the beach I was stoked. I was definitely not the last in my wave and was only passed by a few of the elite athletes in the wave behind us. I got out of the water and was greeted by a 25 yard run through the sand to get to transition. Now being in the water for the better part of an hour does something to my equilibrium and the sand did not help mattes. However I actually jogged up the path to transition and the waiting wetsuit strippers who stripped my wetsuit off in no time flat. It was great getting to my bike and seeing very few bikes had already left. I quickly changed into my jersey and helmet and was on my way. I did not know it at the time but my swim time was in the 43 minute range. Much faster than I thought I would ever get.
THE BIKE
The bike course in Racine is one or two hills and basically gentle rollers. The biggest issues of the day were the heat and the headwind that we rode into for the first 30 miles or so. I wanted to average 16 mph on the bike but had no idea how I would do. My bike was fitted with 4 water bottles and an aero bottle which I figured would provide plenty of hydration..I was wrong. The course was very fast at first and it was nice to get in the aero position and feel like I was really moving. Unfortunately I think everyone on the course was going even faster than me. The first 30 miles flew by and then I started to think..crap I have to run after this. Because of my history of hydration issues I drank continuously on the bike and took my salt pills. Every aid station I would pick up 2 more water bottles. I am chatty so had some conversations with a few people on the bike...one guy from Australia and another guy shared his peanut m&m s with me. I had one girl ride behind me and call me by my name. I was thinking that she must have been pretty impressed with me to look up my bib number and get my name before the race. Then I realized our names were on our bibs. I felt good on the bike but not great. I did see a little carnage on the course with three or four riders completely wiped out due to the heat. The heat wasn't bothering me that bad I was fully hydrated or so I thought. Although I had drank over 200 ounces of fluid I did not have to pee..and then thought it was a little weird when at mile 45 a slight breeze hit me and I began to shiver. That was about the same time I came up a hill and saw my wife, daughter and in-laws on the top of the hill cheering everyone on. It was very cool to see and they hurried and made it to the finish line to watch me there. Not that they had to hurry. I think I passed two riders and was passed by about 1500 or so it seemed. I did notice that the fitness of a lot of the women was not related to their body size or fat percentage but by how tan their legs were..yep you start thinking weird things out on the course. When I did come through the last miles on the bike you could see the runners.. A lot of them looked good and I was thinking crap..everybody feels better than I do..then a long line of people walking the course appeared..more than I have ever seen at a race. At that point I figured it would be a long day. My bike ended right where I thought it would with a little over 16 mph average.
THE RUN
Got off my bike..put the running shoes on..glared at my wife when I tried to put my hat on. She had used it the night before and has a head smaller than a childs..mine on the other hand is the size of a watermelon..thus my childhood nickname of melon head..Lets just say it wasn't fitting. I passed one woman and told her that she looked like I felt..she said she was packing it in and didn't go out on the run. There was an aid station immediately outside transition where I threw ice on my head and took in three cups of water. I started running and the legs were no there yet so I started walking with another woman. She said she had done Racine 4 times before and this was the worst weather. We actually passed runners while we were walking. She said she planned on walking the route because of the heat. Her walking speed was actually faster than my run. I told her I was going to try and run and took off. 5 minutes down the road I was walking again completely overheated. I ran/walked the first 4-5 miles and after that I knew that if I was going to finish it would be walking. There was no way for me to get hydrated no matter how much water - GU or salt tablets I took in. I had a large number of walking partners during the day and at one point it looked like a zombie movie with the number of walkers coming towards me and walking away. My Run time was horrendous..but I think if I would have pushed it I would have DNF'd. My shoes were soaked from peoples hoses and pouring water on myself to keep me cool. I ended up with blisters with two miles to go. When I got to the finishing chute I tried to run and my calves seized up with cramps..I have never had cramps before and never want them again. I heard my wife, daughter and relatives but didn't see them. Got across the finish line and after two minutes told my wife I needed to go to the med tent which was standing room only. I got my two 500ml bags of saline and felt 100 times better. We figured I was about 10 lbs light when I was in the med tent even though I thought I had drank huge amounts of fluid. My run was a complete disaster but I finished. My wife said they announced the heat index was well over 100 degrees for the race. I was hoping for a 3 hour half marathon and was even thinking 2:45 would be doable. However I ended up with a run in the 3:30 range..an Oprah Winfreying effort. The RESULTS show the train wreck that was my race. Actually the swim and the bike went well for me. Considering I have lost 35 lbs in the last four months and couldn't swim 200 meters or run 6 miles 6 months ago I am more than pleased. The only things I would change would be to get my fluids and nutrition under control to at least been able to cut 2 minutes or so off of my mile times. I also would have tried to find a way to run without my hat..I've got a great looking head and the hat just does not do me justice in my pictures..lol.
Overall I had a blast. My wife, daughter, relatives and friends following me on facebook rocked. I could not have gotten through the day without their moral support. Further I would have never gotten to the starting line without my wife Kristine's support for all the training hours and putting up with my stupid triathlon talk regarding GU..electrolytes..monkey butt..and weird drink mixes littering the kitchen My coach Suzanne Atkinson of Steel City Endurance also gets a big shout out along with my friend Doreen who has provided me invaluable tips on how to make it through the endurance events. I have also met a large number of wonderful friends the last couple of months who all have their own reason and goals for participating in this sport.
Lastly my Mom and Dad have provided me with the inspiration not to quit. My mother had a debilitating stroke when she was my age and for the last 18 years her and my father have had the strength to face everyday anew no matter what the challenge. For the last five years my mother has been "challenged" with breast cancer and has been going to radiation and chemo since the beginning of the year. Compared to what my parents have done and continue to do with a positive attitude this Ironman triathlon stuff is a walk in the park..with ice cream. Love everyone. Next race is in September. Hopefully the weather will be nicer. I have a lot to learn and do in the next few weeks. Like how to install a saline drip on my aerobars for the bike portion.
wt
