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 Swim
Comments: Instead of my wave at 6:08. A very large group with wetsuits entered at approximately 6:40. I typically seat myself in the back of the group becasue though I had been working hard at my swimming since last summer and have built a great base of endurance It takes a long time to get faster, Becasue this group was so big, I barely got into the water and set myself in the middle back of the wave. The gun went off!. My plan was just to go out very easy which I did, because it is a looong day. After about 30 strokes or so I relalized I should have seeded myself a little bit closer to the middle of the group because I was quickly trying to swim around people. A couple of swimmers were already zig zagging in front of me. I wasted a bit of energy trying to sprint past some of them. We headed to the first buoy going south towards the bridge to a 2 buoy turn around. This part of the swim was pretty uneventful and pretty relaxing. After we turned we began to look directly into the sun going past the start finish line. The spotting was difficult but I decided to just follow the swimmers in front of me hoping they were going the correct direction. I breath to the right so I was able to see the land as I swam. After about 20 minutes I realized my goggles were taking in water and my eyes started burning with the sea water. These were new goggles but had used them in several swims. They were new aquashere that had a big suctioning effect, but I realized with all the suntan lotion I put on it was effecting the seal. I had to stop 2-3 times during the swim to clear the water. We made a slight right around a small island-like . Worth mentioning there were about 11 turns on this course. About 3/4 of a mile in we hit a real shallow section, about 30yds, which we had to stand up and walk. This is when thing got interesting. As we headed to one of the out and back turn arounds at the furthest bridge. I was noticing as I was looking to the right that I was not making much ground. I looked to my left and the same was happening to others and I confirmed it when I looked at one of the large triangular buoys marking the turn. I was starting to realize that I needed to increase my speed as if I was doing a short 200yd time trial to get around the buoy. As I got closer one of the boats of rescuers were yelling" SWIM STRAIGHT TO THE BUOY!!"....They realized we had a strong current. I really was the strongest current I had swum in a triathlon, similar to a rip current. The next problem was when you turned at the buoy , you needed to swim straight with the current trying to push you down current to make the next buoy. Well this was a pain in the butt. Within 30 strokes or so I was already about 15 yrs below the buoy as well as other swimmers. The race officials were yelling that we had to turn back into the current to get around the buoy....This cost us all a lot of time! After we turned we had a short 1-2 hundred yard reprieve down current till we had to turn right again to another out and back section with a similar current however this time we only had to turn around. Thsi also took some extra time. All in all other than spiking my heartrate and effort , I was ok....Just felt like this was taking forever. We came back to the main section of the water to make a right and hit the home stretch and I would love to tell you the current brought us in to the finish quickly but that was not the case. The current in the water can play trickes on you. Whether you are in the channell or not made a big difference. I made it back to some temporary ramps where there was a volunteer there to help you out of the water. Eyes burning and all. As I got out of the water I lloked at my watch with my burning eyes and it said 1:37 and I was not as exhausted as I was in LAke Placid last year. What would you do differently?: Believe it or not there is not much I would do differently other than make sure my goggles held up with slick skin due to suntan lotion. I was content with my decision to use the wetsuit. I had done a lot more swimming and interval work during the winter and though the 1:37 was 2 minutes slower than Lake Placid with this type of current and speaking to many others who used and did not use the wetsuit, many were at least 15 minutes off their personal best. So I feel confident that in a normal swim I would have been in the 1:25 range which is good for me. The main thing was that I was ready to start my day on the bike feeling better than Lake placid after the swim. As we exited the water and I walked up the ramp to transition1, I saw My wife, kids, and parents and that is always a good feeling seeing familiar faces. The also has a shower of fresh water to wash the salt water off your body!  Transition 1
Comments: Challenge had a similar tent situation like Ironman that after you grabbed your Bike gear bag you went into the tent. For those unfamiliar, typically transition that we cal either T1 (swim to bike) or T2 (bike to run) is all set up where your bike is, but for a Ironman you typically need more time to prep for a 6-8 hr bike ride. I followed exactly what I did in Lake Placid. Put my desoto 400 miler shorts over my tri short, glasses, helmet etc....ate a banana, water and I had really bad chaffing which I was bleeding from my right armpit for the rest of theday. My tri suit top has the "battle wounds" to sho for it. I grabbed some swabs of vaseline so it would not get any worse. Of course I slathererd on the suntan lotion. I came out to get my bike from the cheers of family and a fellow WildWood warrior Lisa was there to take my pic. She was there volunteering.  Bike
Comments: Came out of T1 feeling good and started right away with my hydration plan. The streets were policed very well throughout the course. Some of the police were actually cheering for you!. We started for several miles tthough the side streets of AC, past a airpot that later in the day a military jet was landing and that was pretty cool. During this small section we got on the AC expressway for an exit , then got off for several mile to only return again to the AC expressway for approximatley 20 miles +/- THe expressway was pretty wild riding on because they had the right lane blocked off and you were mainly riding on the shoulder or on the far right of the right lane. The road was very smooth and we may have had a very light tailwind. It was only around 8am so winds typicall would be light at that time. Going though the toll booths on the bike was pretty funny. The only minor issue was the rumble strips that typically alert drivers who are falling asleep. You had to be certain not to stray to far to roll over them. At times you had to run on them to get right or left. During this stretch I was really trying to keep the effort low and stay at a lower heart rate and stay around 17 mpg average....it was going to be a long ride so I wanted to be sure I had some left for the run later. When we got off the expressway there were some rollers for a few miles till we hit the main loop. During this stretch I was able to see several pros especially Chris Mccormick on the bike heading back down towards the expressway. A side note was when I was in transition in the morning the TV cameras were quietly filming Chris Mccormack setting up his bike and I yelled "Give them hell today chris" which made him look up and chuckle. Back on the loop I started to learn that on the easterly section of the loop I was starting to feel a headwind. I kind of knew that this was going to be a problem later. The roads continued to be pretty smooth, and the aid staions The bike for the first 40 miles or so were pretty uneventful till I saw a guy making a right turn wipeout in front of me, and then at the next aid station there was a woman looking for a cell phone to call her husband. She eveidently went off the course to later find out she was disqualified. On the second loop i also made the wrong turn but a person in a car yelled at me, and I looked back and realized my mistake...... When I started to get to the town of Hammontown which had all the banners etc....my back and legs and the hernia were giving me some trouble and that was probably the first low point of the day. You sometimes get this dire feeling like "am I really going to make it another 56 and then have to do the run"......the roads around the blueberry farms where a litlle rough.... not because of potholes but the surface caused that constant rumbling radiating into your arms and legs. As I came into the town of hammontown which is the highlight of the course with all the banners etc I saw the family again,,, They were able to take a bus into town. The only disappointment was we belived the blueberry festival was occurring in town and not severla miles away. It was a boost for me to say hello. After I left them I knew I had only about 3 miles or so till I would satrt the secong loop and that was when I started to try to break the ride into sections. One more loop to get to the expressway, the expressway, and then sideroads to the bike finish. On the secong loop, I noticed stronger head winds on a short 5 miles section of the loop. I was starting to feel the effects of the heat. Thankfully the arm coolers helped. I would spray them with water and it would cool the skin and I was dumping water over my head regularly. Saw another crash just afeter special needs. While in special needs I ate my potato which tasted great and PB and J sandwich listening to several guys bitch about the swim current and not thinking they would make the cutoff in the swim. Came into Hammontown again with less people now in town. Definately was feeling the effects and I was around mile 75 of the bike but it was comforting to know that soon I was going to be on the AC expressway heading back. There is a small 5 mile section of so back to the expressway. The problem with the expressway is that since it is a highway they did not have aid station for that 15-20 mile stretch...It probably was a logistic problem for the RD's but you had an uneasy feeling that if something happened noone could get to you for awhiile since cars could not go both directions. Well once on the expressway that is where the headwind really took hold. I was fighting to stay above 14 mph. Most of the time if I started to coast I would be down to 9-10 mph...this stretch seemed never ending. I would hit mile 90 and at one point think "wow, I am almost done" on the other hand "crap I have 22 miles to go" and with the headwind which seemed to last even when I got off the expressway and going a lot slower could be nearly an hour and a half. This was the biggest test of the bike and what makes this bike ride epic. Lake Placid had a lot more hills than this course and many people when they look at bike courses they are so concerned with elevation total gain to judge a bike course but they overlook the heat, constant sun, and headwind which can really slow you down. When I get off the expressway this last 10 miles or so seemed to drag. This was when I was assessing my legs, mild twinge in the hernia, and wondering if I was going to hold up on the run. I saw a guys carrying his bike from a mechanical failure (thank god I did not have any of that this year!!)...... I kept taking in my nutrition and fluids and just said to myself "get to the run and the boardwalk and if the hernia hurt too much I would pull out if need be but at least I got to the boardwalk to experience some of the run" Entered the bike in, and followed the same procedure...reapply sunscreen, etc peed which was a good sign that I was hydrated. My legs felt like rubber and was not sure how I was going to run but was going to just keep moving forward. What would you do differently?: Considering I did the bike in Lake placid in 8hrs albeit with a mechanical issue I was pretty happy with this bike...I was aiming for 630-7 so pretty much where I needed to be. Worth mentioning that due to some of those above mentioned life events etc I did all my biking on the trainer except for 1 ten mile ride outside a week before the race......If I would have not had any training obstacle and could have done 1-2 more century rides I probably could have comne in closer to 630 but I am now a believer in solid trainer work since that was pretty much all I did. Transition 2
Comments: Not much to say here that I did not say above...transition for an ironman is usually slow if you are looking to be comfortable on the run...at least for me.  Run
Comments: Came out of T2 and we had to do a mile loop around BAder field which was an old airport and now a huge field with a minor league baseball field. Therestill was no shade. My legs felt like rubber but I was aiming to run a nice and easy 12 min pace.......however since my legs were still used to the bike cadence I was running anything form 930 to 1 min pace...was trying to slow down. I still had a long way to go. As I headed to the boardwalk I started to get settled down and found a real good 12 min pace. Granted this is a slow pace for a normal marathon but after 112 miles on the bike, I felt a good one to hold from training.....As I headed south on the boardwalk it was really getting hot and I was feeling good to know I was holding a pace but also feeling the effects of the conditions. It seemed like I was constantly drinking and putting ice down my shirt and head. As I headed south some houses had hoses going off to cool down as well as the beach showers we would run under.......Got onto a road that ran parallel to the beach and ran into FIREMAN ROB who was walking great to see him, also worth mentioning that later I woulsee Mr. Knoll one of the original Ironmen who was doing the relay. I held a good 10-12 min pace for about 8-10 miles without walking except the aid stations. But I relaized I had not peed in a bit even though taking in a lot of fluids. Around mile 12 I ran into a on the boardwalk bathroom to peee and it was tea colored. Not a good sign. I partly concerned about hyponatremia also dehydration.....I felt bloated with thewater and gatorade I took to be sure I did not "overcook" the water but I was not peeing enough and did not want my kidneys to shut down or my day would be over. I also checked my hernia and though it was not hurting much to run it was point tender and was bulging a lot but no more than a "bad day" when I was not doing an ironman. Soon after mile 12 I ran into erica and the boys and told her the update on my hydration status. After passing them, and just before the turn around at the Revel hotel I decided to walk a bit and hydrate till I got the urge to pee again..... That was for about a mile or so. MEanwhile the crowd was great cheering, calling your name etc...some general tourists had no idea what we were doing, some would get in our way but still better than the boring river road in lake placid.....overall a great experience. I even ran into Stephen Delmonte one of the RD;s near ceasars.. I was wearing my Wildwood Warrior tri kit and many thoguh I was from Wildwood , NJ...I was too tired to explain lol . Overall the boardwalk run was amazing though in future years it would be better to take it off the boardwalk a little bit more , if logistically possible, to prevent any boredom. But honestly it was tough to be bored. Especially when family got to see you a lot and everytime you passed the finish line near boardwalk ahll there was a big crowd, around mile 15+ is where the wheels started to come apart for me. I was trying to eat, drink etc and my run , that turned into a run walk was slowly starting to turn into a walk with some run.......was I running yes, was a walking at times yes. I was definatley uncomfortable... I could tell I had a huge blister on my left foot the size of a baseball, and both bottoms of my feel hurt in general. My armpit stung, and of course my legs were rubber. Ariound mile 18-21 near the casinos I was in a run/walk/run/walk trying to hold the pace but now I was averaging 13-14 min/mile on average. I wanted to finish in 14 hrs (2 hrs better than LP) but that was slipping away but I could tell I was going to do better than LP if I could just keep moving. Passed the family one last time around boardwalk hall for a few high fives and told my wife it wont be pretty but I will be finishing in about 75-90 minuts depending on how much of a run I could hold. All I had was one more down and back on the boardwalk and it was starting to egt dark. Passed a buddy Rob who unbeknownst to me that he had a knee injury and was battlling on the run who later finished. Met a guy Karl who we spent a good portion of the last 4 miles talking trying to run/walk it to the finish. Just beofre the finish he knew I was probably crossing with my sons so he let me go ahead first. My sons 5 and 10 met me about 200 yds from the finish to start running with me. I had to tell my older one to slow down (he is a runner himself lol), because I was having a hardtime keeping p...saw my wife and parent one last time and then I crossed!!!!!! Ironman #2 complete. Unbeknownst to me, I man was about to propose to his girlfriend as I crossed and it all unfolded at the finsih line. What would you do differently?: Two things effect my run performance 1) the two times I have done this distance when I look back i wonder if I could have run more in those last miles and therefore saved some time....i think i may self inflict 20-30 minutes out there on the run.....i am so concerned with finishing when I am on " fumes" that I do not risk " blowing up" 2) though I have made enormous gains on the bike I could have used a few of those weekends back to get those century bike rides in so my legs were a bit more fresher starting the run. But training time , as much as I had done is always the limiter while trying to juggle family, work and personal life. Though my time did not reflect it i felt I ran better than 2013. Post race
Warm down: Got a huge medal and a great finishers shirt and a recovery drink...I unfortunately was in too much of a daze to find the food table. Got some pictures done. had a similar reaction as I did in IMLP with constant shivering in the hotel...If I was not wearing a tri suit people in the elevator would probably think I was on drugs.....Once I ate and showered I was a little better. Basically hypoglycemia etc And probably getting surgery in early august. What limited your ability to perform faster: Pretty much covered my performance errors above but overall I was an hour faster than last year. Granted two different courses with entirely different sets of challenges. Event comments: I am a huge fan of Challenge USA and this race and the directors stephen Delmonte and Robert Vigorito. For an inaugural year there was very little that needs to be improved. Maybe more signs on the run course, better buoys marking in the swim, making that turn with the potential of a lot of current just a single buoy turn. To tell you the type of directors they are is that they sent an email saying they are listening to some of the challenges ( pun intended) to the execution of the race and will make the appropriate tweaks for an even better race next year. Though I will never forget my first ironman in lake placid and enjoyed the experience , honestly if I really look at it objectively my experience from top to bottom was better with Challenge. They just went out of there way to make things easier for athletes and families and I am not talking about the course. They even revisited a decision regarding gear bag access the day before the race and changed it for the better. Very humble RACE directors to do that. I hope to either race, volunteer or some way be more a part of the triathlon experience on a yearly basis or as they say " the challenge family" Look forward to see this race develop over the years. Profile Album Last updated: 2014-07-06 12:00 AM
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United States
Challenge Family
84F / 29C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 426/650
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 77/99
Disclaimer: This report is going to be read by not only my tri-geek friends but also by family and friends who care very little about the sport other than when I race. So I may go into detail about some things that may be obvious to those reading.
So I understand that I will have some who are just interested in my personal trials and tribulations, some just want to know about race specifics, and some want to know how the Inaugural year of Challenge went and how it compared to my IMLP (Ironman Lake Placid 2013) experience.
Background: I had finished IMLP in 2013 and said I probably would not do this distance again. Famous last words. However after recovering I had heard the rumblings/chatter about this CHALLENGE USA Atlabntic City race being a possibility and I believe it was in late September it was announced. For those not familiar, Challenge is another very big ironman distance race which is huge in Europe and Asia but was introducing its brand to the United staes for the first time. They have an impeccable reputation for being family and athlete friendly. Many of you are familiar with IRONMAN which is the same distance but it has been branded like COKE or PEPSI, so when we discuss Ironman or Iron distance there is no difference but who the race company is.
Also being born and raised in NJ, I felt this race was the closest to a hometown ironman and it was hard to pass up.
Right from the beginning, after signing up Stephen Delmonte ( I will refer as Delmo at times in this report) and Robert Vigorito (Vigo) responded to all our questions about the race whether it was through email or social media. Some things that were comforting to know after signing up for an inaugural race is that they had a great cancellation policy up till April 1st of race year just in case you are injured etc. With Ironman , though they have improved their policy since last year it is restrictive and you can lose as much as 600-700 dollars . Stephen Delmonte was well known for great south jersey triathlons and Vigo was known for being with Ironman and specifically Eagleman 70.3 for years with columbia sports.
Personal back story: As I signed up for this race I was lead to believe that this race was going to be "gentler" than IMLP but I would find out it would be a "beast" in other ways. Most 140.6 Ironman races are more difficuly in some ways and maybe more forgiving in other but doing the distance is tough no matter where it is or who puts the race on.
After placid I restarted my training in september, and everything up until April/May was doing great. Unfortunately, I had the illness and death of my cousin and best friends dad from out of state whcih reminded me that there are more important things than triathlon and I am lucky to be able to put myself through the training. These tragedies mentally killed a lot of motivation to train as well as time during some of the big weeks of training. But family comes first.
Another obstacle which I only divulged to my wife, parents, and 2 people who were going to be there raceday and I had been talking about plans was that I had been dealing with an inguinal hernia that had been hindering my training with some pain etc. I really thought it was going to keep me from starting because at times it did not bother me and other times just standing cause a boggy painful feeling during and after workouts. I was worried if I could hold up 13+ hours for an Ironman. It was not until the week before I left for Atlantic City that I met with the surgeon and he said I needed surgery in next couple Months but felt if I could handle the pain that I was a low risk for strangulation and more serious problems. Well I left his office knowing I would definitely start the race but was uncertain how long I would hold up.
I decided still to keep this mainly to myself because I did not want to create a "pity party" or try to come across as some type of martyr etc.....many people deal with more serious issues getting to the starting and finish line , I did not want to make it a big issue unless something happened and I had to explain.
So I went on as business as usual looking forward to leaving.
Arrival into town/pre race stuff:
Got into town late friday afternoon to check in. This process at Bally;s was very easy. We got some nice swag that I did not realize till I got home other than a nice computer bag with the Challenge logo, tire levers, water bottles, cool sneaker hooks for your bag etc.....just some tri geek stuff.
Other great things that Ironman did not do was we got a cool bike number to put on bike and athlete bib number sticker/tattoos to put on your body, so that you did not have to line up like cattle like I did in Lake placid last year waiting for someone with a sharpie to put my number on.
The other great thing , though I did not need it, was they allowed athlete check-in on saturday if needed. Another thing IRONMAN corporation was ridiculous with last year. So again, Challenge paid attention to things that made the experience better and less stressful.
Bike and gear check in with my bike and run gear was on saturday at Bader field (this is the transition area where you have the bike set up, swim start, and changing area when you finish the swim and bike before you start the next segment)......There was plenty, plenty, plenty, of parking!!! This was a huge plus on raceday etc......Was funny that I saw someone with their back turned to me talking on a cell phone and I had a question about the parking and as I approached him, he turned and it was Stephen Delmonte the co race director!!! He was very gracious and took his time answering my question without me feeling rushed, though I knew he was extremely busy with other things.
The other thing great about Challenge worth mentioning now was the bike pick-up after the race. We were allowed to get the bike the next day!!! this was huge , so after the race when you are exhausted you did not have to make huge logistical plans to get your bike or assign someone else to go out of the way to get it....Did I mention there was plenty of parking? !!!! hell yea!
Took a look at the swim, since I could not get to a camp or practic swim and someone took the water temp 72 degrees!! wetsuit legal, but more on that later.
I was slightly nervous and anxious on friday and saturday but I felt less than the nervous wreck I was before Lake Placid. Probably I was familiar with the fear and had a bit more experience.
Race Morning: My dad drove me over to Bader field/transition/swim start are to the HUGE PARKING LOT. My wave was supposed to start at 6:08, As i arrived there was some daylight since we still have long days but I could hear the announcer say the USAT has ruled the swim non wetsuit legal (for those not familiar ..if the water temp is over 78 degrees they say it is illegal thereofr if you want to win awards you cannot wear a wetsuit but you still can if you dont care...well at least that is the short story)........I could not believe it and even to thsi day most people did not think the water was 80 degrees especially since it wa 72-74 the day before.
Well anyway I had a decision to make just before the start....I decided to wear the wetsuit as did about 250+ other people (just guestimating but a lot) Swimming is my slowest of all three disciplines, at this distance I am not as fast as the shorter distances therfore who am I kidding? I am not going to podium anyway. Also this is a very long day and the wetsuit helps in conserving energy and I was not concerned about overheating anyway since I did not believe the water temp was 80 degrees. So I donned my sleeveless wetsuit minutes before my dad took my stuff.
FEw side notes: Special needs bag drop off was right near transition and not a long walk to 2 different locations like Lake placid. Just drop them in a box for shippment to the course. Also there was an incredible display by 3 Navy seals . One carrying the americal flag while sky diving, and the other 2 skydivers doing a few crazy maneuvers!!!