Ironman Wisconsin - TriathlonFull Ironman

Ok, I am still trying to gifure out what happened here. My best 1000yrd time trial had me at a 1:15 pace for this race. 4 weeks ago at the Madison open water swim I did a 1:24ish time. Since that race, I've swam 3x as I've been sick with a cold that just kept on hanging around (and I don't like to swim all that much).
So..I pull out a 1:13? DOAH! That's not the way to set up the day, gunning it on the swim. Really had no idea since I didn't look at the clock when I got out - figured no upside from that. In this one case, it would have paid off to look since I likely would have put the brakes on in T1 - walk the helix instead of run, and take more measures to get my hr back in line.


Well,if I had known I was going that fast, I would have slowed down. I felt great, finally felt like I was turning my body enough and gliiiiding through the water, but as one will see later I had my HR way too high. Pretty much sealed my fate right there.
So in the future, I will go silly slow on the swim, and maybe bring a watch to check on my times at the halfway mark. Unless I invest time in becoming a better swimmer (really unlikely), I shouldn't be doing this at anything but a 1:20 pace.

Feet don't like running on concrete barefoot. Strippers were great. Probably didn't need to run up helix since the opportunity cost of that 2 mins upfront had greater effects down the line.

Got on bike, saw HR - HOLY CRAP - I'm at a 170!

Took more time, and probably put on a little more sunscreen. No need to run the half mile to the bike when you're not going for a Kona slot.

I'm disappointed in my time, considering my race rehersals had me pegged in the 17-18mph range. It didn't feel like I was going this slow on the bike. It's accurate to say there were 3 stages to the bike leg for me:
First Stick out - I kept to the plan, and rode my watts. I must have been passed by 300-400 people during this time, but you could see how most everyone out there was riding waaaaay above what they should at this stage of the course. I kept an eye on my HR, and it scared me - I was still in the 160's. I kept thinking to myself it'll drop by the end of the stick out, and then you can begin your race.
Verona to Verona - this is where I killed myself. I really thought I laid off the power hour 2-3, but it shows up as my highest hour. That is bad. I did a great job on keeping watts down on the uphills as much as I could. I also had brake rubbing that happened every time I poured water on my body and it got on the bike. That pissed me off, had to keep fixing that. Not even sure how that happens. Anyway, I started to feel really bad by the time I got to Special Needs. I was concerned I wouldn't finish the race.
Stage Three: Final loop and home - When I pulled over in special needs, I did a mental reboot. My goal went from time based to distance based. I decided it's my first IM, let's just finish it and we'll worry about times another day. I felt awesome on the backside because I would actually stop at every aid station and pour water on my head, one on my body, and then drink one. I ended up taking a lot of time chatting with volunteers (which were awesome, thank you all very much). I really thought I significantly reverse split the bike, but that's not the case.
I had some fun issues too (these are pretty funny). First, my nutrition bottle got spilled in a aid station when a volunteer and me tried to put ice in it. Whoops. No problem, switched to drinking Gatoraide. Unfortunately the big bump on the stick back in about mile 101 launched my gatoriade which caused me to mentally crater big time about mile 109. It's weird how falling behind just that much can turn a switch in the head, but I went from a comfortable 18-19mph pace to 13mph in a heartbeat. Even seeing the Terrace, I couldn't puch the pedals any harder at that point.
Finally, my neck/back muscles just gave out on me about mile 70. I literally couldn't keep my head up in the aero position for more than 1 second before it would flop down. It didn't hurt; i just had lost the ability to control it. That made me do a little funny riding - I had my elbow in the aerobar bad, and my chin in my hand. The other arm held the other aerobar. It looked like I was bored, or napping I'm sure. So if I passed you while doing that, it wasn't me being cocky - it was the only way I could see down the road. I really hope there's a picture of me doing that somewhere out there.

I wish I had enough faith in my race plans to keep going easy until my hr returned to normal. I also wish I would have found a happy medium between "racing" hard and not caring about time - I spent a lot of time in aid stations that could have kept me under 14 hours (which was one of my goals for the day).

I was a puddle when I got in to transition. I ended up losing my sunglasses somehow. My time is slow because it took me until I got outside to realize they weren't on my head anymore - yet they weren't in my bag or under my chair either. It was weird.
Worse, I find out I packed my run nutrition bottle in my Run Special needs bag. DOAH. No salt pills for me until mile 13. I really needed them at that point- mentally if not for any other reason. So I headed out looking at my first marathon with untested nutrition and not an awesome attitude.


Attention to detail - the story of my life :).

I started to feel better when I got in some gatoraide and pretzels. My strategy was to walk the aide stations, and run everything else but the big hills on Observatory. I wanted to run the first 6 miles at 10:30, and try to pick it up from there.
I just never had it. I didn't force the issue during the first 6 miles because I knew it was better to take it easy than too hard at the begining. I did the first 6 miles at 11:33. I was also afraid I wouldn't have anything left - it was new territory for me. I did pick it up on after the hills getting under 11min miles for a few. Unfortunately, I hit my second dark spot by mile 11, and I no longer looked at anything but distance on my Garmin from that point on. It wasn't a physical pain that stopped me, like you get when you are running a 5K and just can't go any faster. It was a mental block - no matter how much I yelled at myself inside to step it up, the message didn't get to my legs. My heart rate was nice and low by this point (in the 140's). I ended up eventually expanding my walk to all hills - the tunnel, the hill by Camp Randall, etc. I'm not happy about that, but I guess it's something to work on next time.
I really wanted to get through the race without an unplanned walk - to me that's the sign of a well-executed race. I held on until the dark of mile 21 out by Picnic Point. I gave in to the voices in my head, and walked 2 lightpoles. Otherwise, I stuck to my plan - jog the course, walk the aid stations, and start running when through it.


Execute the swim and bike better. I also know I could have found another 10 minutes out there during the course of the run to help get under 14 hours - I could have went to the next aid station to hit the porta potty rather than wait for one to open up both times, or ran all the hills.
Overall though, I was happy I wasn't walking, even if I was just shuffle-jogging along. I really keyed on "no walking" as one of my last goals I could control, and I think I did a decent job of sticking to it.

Got my medal, picture, and two slices of the best pizza I've ever tasted. Went to look for rest of EN guys, found a few waiting for the last guys to finish. Was great to hear how Matt Ancona ended up pushing through a side cramp that started on mile 2 of the martahon and never went away to END UP WINNING HIS AGE GROUP. All the hard work he put in the last five years, he so deserves his Kona slot.
Went to hotel, shivered all night. The combo of dehydration and blistered sunburn on my back really through my temp regulation for a loop. I kept forcing myself to drink but the coughing from my cold came back with a vengenence. I nearly booted a few times. It was a long night. I should have ate more after the race, and lined up water cause it hurt like hell to get to the bathroom in the hotel to fill up my water bottle.


I was less fit than I should have. That made my window of execution margin smaller, so little mistakes were amplified throughut the day.
I also think I need to drop another 15 lbs, to get down to 190ish, for me to have a good day. The hills are deceivingly hard, so less mass to lug up them is a good thing.



Now - after all this complaining...I WOULD TOTALLY RECOMMEND YOU GIVE THIS RACE A SHOT! It's a great time, and you find out things about yourself that you'll probably never know otherwise.
A year ago, I was a 240+ lbs. dude that had completed 1 sprint distance this century. I got down to 205, and loved nearly every minute of the race.The crowds are awesome, volunteers really went above and beyond. Other than the dark times where I knew I was in a nutrition hole, I loved being out there.
I'm disappointed that I didn't execute as well as I should have. If you are are a soon-to-be first timer reading this in the future, here's my advice - BIKE SLOWER THAN YOU CAN HANDLE DOING FOR THE FIRST TWO HOURS! I'm talking stupid slow. You shouldn't pass anyone for the first few hours. Even me, at 15mph average, passed a hundred or so people from Cross Plains to Verona on the second loop. Why? Because nearly everyone else goes out too hard, and dies in the last 40 miles and the marathon. Keep in your head that the bike leg is the commute to the marathon, and not a bike race. Then you at least have a shot to be one of those passing all the walkers on the run, rather than being a walker.