IRONMAN WISCONSIN 2005 RACE REPORT

This was sent to me from a friend of Stacy's and I thought it was great story.

IRONMAN WISCONSIN 2005 RACE REPORT

Well, a year ago at this time I was standing on the shore at Mansfield Dam Park having just finished my second workout with Texas Iron. I had completed three sprint tri’s that summer of ’04 and was hooked. I vividly remember standing there telling Jamie “I’d really like to get into longer distances, so I’d like to set a goal for next season of doing an Olympic distance event”.

Flash forward to September 11, 2005 Madison Wisconsin and Ironman Moo. Oh, by the way that Olympic distance race turned into three, they grew into a Half Iron (Half Vineman) and that evolved, in a moment of temporary insanity, into Ironman Wisconsin. My mom and dad lived in Madison when Dad (aka Skip) was in the Air Force before I was born. They left in 1965 (ironically this was also my race number!), but growing up I had watched the rickety home movies of them sailing on Lake Monona where they lived on Pirate Island. It would be nice to see their old town and swim in their old lake.

As most of you know, I have a little issue with the cold (water and air) and find it rather unbearable. I was excited to see that the weather in Madison was, once again, unseasonably warm in the days before the race. The water had also warmed up, but not to the point of jeopardizing the use of my security blanket. Uhm, I mean wetsuit.

On Wednesday I got to Madison early in the afternoon, checked out the Ironman Village and started assembling the bike. I had used some Tufo liquid latex in my tubulars (after my flat woes at Vineman). That stuff works great for flats and flat prevention, but in this particular instance sometime between when I let the air out and packed up in Austin and the time I got to Madison some of it gummed up the valve stem of the rear tire so it was not able to take in air. Ended up gluing on a new rear tire late Wednesday night.

On Thursday prior to the race I went and checked out the swim course at 7 am and did the equivalent of one loop of the rectangular race course. Then Diana Bentley and I met up to register, get packets and go for a nice 60 minute spin through the guts of the bike course. We drove to out and dropped a car between Mr. Horeb and Cross Plains. Then we drove to Mr. Horeb and parked at the ‘round-a-bout’ there to start our ride which would take us on most of the more major climbs. Since I needed to let the freshly glued rear tire set, I had to do this ride on a rented rear wheel. It was ok, but clunky shifting, dropped chain and the inability to use the granniest gears didn’t exactly give me confidence. Hopefully all would be right in the bicycle world when I got my cassette back on my wheel!

Later that afternoon I had a massage at the hotel, and got the rest of the wheel issues resolved although a few more adjustments than I anticipated were needed and my confidence was not totally restored.

Friday my mom and dad flew in. We met up for an early dinner, then I was off to the athlete’s meeting. The next day I did a 40 minute easy ride which went well, mechanically, and boosted my spirits about the bike. I followed that with a 20 minute run around the capital and State Street areas. That would be it for physical activity. The afternoon was spent sightseeing with the folks and dropping off transition bags and the bike in T1. Mom and Dad had done the grocery shopping and we cooked the pre-race meal that night in the kitchenette at their hotel. The weather forecast for the race was for record highs. In this instance the meteorologists would not be wrong. I headed back to my hotel and got to sleep by 9:30.

Race morning I got up at 4:15 and had some breakfast in my room, then walked up a few blocks to the special needs bag drop off. Then I headed over to put bottles on my bike, pump up the tires, and get body marked. It was a beautiful morning, but already the heat was noticeable.

Athletes were allowed in the water at 6:30. I hung back for a while, then headed into the water at 6:43. Once in, there is about a 150 meter swim out to the deep water start. This was the perfect warm up. Then the name of the game is to tread water and try to defend your space. I found a spot and tried to tread water horizontally to occupy more than my fair share of space and deter others from getting too close. There were still about 800 people that were bigger weenies than I was, trying to wait until the last possible minute to get in. I think they must have started using a cattle prod from the shore and those people finally came to terms with the fact that they had to get in and swim out to the start line. A media helicopter flew low overhead and hovered. We all cheered and waved. Then it was time for the national anthem, a moment of silence to remember our fellow American on this tragically historic date, and BAM! The cannon went off and the contact immediately ensued. Yes, it is like being in a blender.

The swim was mentally stressful for a weaker swimmer like me. I really tried to focus and not let my mind wander or have too many complex thoughts. “Danger” soon became my mental cue at each turn buoy, which is where things would really get rough. This certainly wasn’t a cue I had come up with prior to the race, but in the heat of the moment it kept me on my toes and gave me a little ‘fight-or-flight’ physiologic response.

The swim was over (1:18:38), I was out of the water to the wetsuit peelers and on my way to Ironman’s most creative, shall we say, transition area. Transition times here are notoriously long. You come out of the lake, get peeled, run down the hike/bike path to Monona Terrace Center, up the ‘helix’ (a 5 story circular ramp of the parking garage at Monona Terrace), into a ballroom, get T1 bag, go to women’s change room, stop at sunscreen slather-ers, run out to rooftop of Terrace where bikes are waiting, ride down the other helix. Whew. My only trouble in T1 was getting my gloves on over wet hands. Maybe after a few more long rides my hands will be tougher and I can go without next time. The assistants in the transition area were great. T2 time: 8:02.

Whee! Down the helix and onto the bike course. It felt good to be on the bike, but I knew what lay ahead of me (hills) and I could feel the wind picking up. The heat was definitely on. I took it easy on the way out to Verona, where the hills start to get relentless. The crowds on the loop part of the bike course were awesome. On a few hills, there were Alps de Huez type crowds: people cheering and standing just far enough apart for a cyclist to pass through. There was even a lady in a devil outfit that would run up Old Saulk Pass beside you, yelling to ‘get off her hill’ and shaking her pitchfork. Some more creative outfits. The guys in Speedos on Timber Lane were promising varying degrees of love and affection to the girls if we made it up the hill (at least I think they were just doing that for the girls!). People with signs in Verona. One said “Ask your friends what they did today”. I laughed out loud at one that said “HOLY F*CK! YOU’RE DOING IRONMAN!!!!”

My nutrition plan was working for me. I was feeling pretty comfy, although my feet were swelling a little and I did need to loosen my shoe straps at the half way point. Fluids became a bit of a problem around mile 80. Aide stations were roughly every 15 miles with one stretch being quite a bit longer. The heat index was 105 and the wind was blowing so this really wasn’t quite often enough. The second loop looked like a war zone. There were athletes strewn along the sides of the roads, drained. I could hear sirens from emergency vehicles frequently. I was still feeling good under the circumstances. I missed getting some fluid I needed at an aide station. The next aid station wouldn’t come for 20 miles. I reduced the amount that I wanted to drink in order to make it to the next station without a long dry spell. Still felt fine. My problems probably began once I got a water and Gatorade at the next aide station. By that time my absorption rate had slowed significantly I’m sure, and I took on more fluid than I usually would (making up!?) all the way back to Madison.

Off the bike in 6:53:13. Same drill for T2. Up helix, hand off bike, run into ballroom, women’s change room, past sunscreen, and onto the run course. When I was getting off of the bike I noticed that my abdomen was a little distended but I still felt ok. T2 time: 3:42.

My ‘on the fly’ run plan at this point was to run the first half of the marathon, then reward myself in the 2nd half by walking the aide stations. That rosy plan lasted until all of about mile 5, where I walked the aide station. By this time two things were happening:
1) An aide station every mile? Excellent! Or maybe not. I was falling in love with the ice water soaked sponges. They were great for the heat, but my shoes became a soggy mess. Mine were among the many wet footprints being left on the pavement as we slogged along. I could feel some blisters coming on.
2) My lower GI was not well. I was feeling more bloated but still trying to hydrate.

I stopped at my special needs bag just before the half way point, sat down in the road and changed my socks, carefully slipping them over the lovely cherry tomato looking blisters. The dry socks really helped and I can’t say that the blisters were much of an issue after that.

My stomach issues became dire at that point. Miles 12-20 were Tour-de-Port-a-Potty. No one wants to hear details, but walking along wondering if I would make it to the next little blue building ‘in time’ was the low point of the race. By this time I had figured out that I couldn’t consume anything else. I crunched on some ice to wet my parched mouth.

Finally between mile 20 and 21 I was able to run, although not too quickly. I came up State Street which is lined solid with people eating, drinking, and cheering. There was a race announcer here. I guess my rate of forward progress was pretty slow because he had quite a filibuster going as I plodded along. First the usual: my name, age, then occupation, my running form, how it compared to the last time I passed by, that I was from Austin, that my training group was Texas Iron, that Texas Iron is coached by professional triathletes Jamie Cleveland and Andrea Fisher. Then he said “Stacy, Andrea is watching and she said ‘run’…….’FASTER!!!!’” That made me smile for the first time in a few miles. I had no more bathroom stops after that. My mental cue went from the very pedestrian “Port-O-Let” to a much more noble “Forward, Farther, Faster”.

I could practically smell the Brats (I’m not kidding, they fed us bratwurst sausages in the finisher’s tent) over at the finish line. I can’t say that, given my condition, that spurred me on but at least I was moving again.

I pulled Mom and Dad in at the finishing chute. They handed me a ‘Come and Take It’ flag (historical battle flag from my hometown of Gonzales, which is where the first shot in the Texas’ fight for independence from Mexico was fired). I was flanked on each side by Mom with a Texas flag, and Skip with an American flag. The three of us ran to the finish.
Run Time: 4:22:43.
Total Time: 12:46:30.

Breaking the tape was an amazing feeling and any hard times during the race were quickly forgotten. The ‘catchers’ at the end asked me the question: “What do you need: Medical, food, or family?”. Luckily the answer was family, and they were right there beside me. Thanks Mom and Skip.

As everyone told me before the race….it is a long day out there, lots of variable, lots of little races within yourself during the big race. On a day with brutal conditions and a record DNF rate (20%) I have to take satisfaction in knowing that I did the best I could with what I had that day and not play the ‘what if’ game.

I was grateful that Diana, the only other Texas Iron athlete to do Ironman Wisconsin this year, was in Madison with me. She is a tremendous athlete. I saw her in the water where we just happened to float by each other bobbing around prior to the swim start. She gave me a big grin, looked me in the eye, grabbed my hand and said “Go get ‘em girl, today is YOUR day.” Then she was off to line up with the other stronger swimmers. Diana will have HER day, once again, very soon.

Thanks go to Jamie and Andrea. Andrea was a miracle worker and got me ready for this Ironman in a short time (I think it was 10 weeks) with personalized coaching. Thanks also to all the Texas Iron athletes….you are all an inspiration and your support and encouragement meant so much to me.