Ironman Wisconsin - TriathlonFull Ironman

The cannon went off, calm went to chaotic in about 1 second. I took a while to get adjusted to the smack down that I was now recieving. Maybe that front of the line stategy wasn't a good idea, but too late to change that now. I got hit in the eye (which is now a lovely shade of green) and it felt like people wher trying to rip my wetsuit off from the bottom up. I only bought this wet suit a week ago, I had visions of getting out of the water and seeing scratch marks and rips from the waist down. Finally settled in and kept remembering what my buddy Ryan said "whatever you do, don't stop in the swim", that was a good piece of advice. After the first loop it calmed down and I was into a nice rythm. It amazed me that when I swam one lap earlier in the week I kept thinking how far the lap felt and I kept stopping on the way. Now I'm swimming 2 laps non stop and I feel that I have enough steam for a third. I can only equate it to adrenaline. Thank you adrenaline.

Maybe drop back a little off the start line. Its a funny thing, the swim is very hectic and unpredictable but it's also a rush at the same time. The swim does not scare me.

This was the most unusual transistion that I have ever encountered. I came out of the water, pulled my goggles down, took off my cap and had my wetsuit stripped off. Perfectly executed, those volunteers rock. Then I took my wetsuit and ran up a three storey parking helix into the lobby of the hotel were you get your transition bag and proceed to the change room. I had tied colourfull ribbons to my transition bag so it was easy to find. Worked great. Got into the change room put on my helmet, heart rate monitor and put on my socks. I carried my shoes because the run to the bike was out of the hotel into the parking structure, pass the people with sunblock (I never wear sunblock) and the length of the whole parking structure before you could mount your bike. That was just too much cement to run on in bike shoes. Put the shoes on at the mount line and the proceeded down the other side of the 3 storey parking helix. You picked up a lot of speed going down and the crowd where yelling, it was an unbelievable experience.

Smile more.

Decided early on that I would take the first loop very easy and not push too hard. Easier said then done, if you went too slow it was difficult to get enough power to get you up the next hill without having to stand and power it. I tried to take advantage of any free speed that was available on the downside of the hills without sacrificing the momentum of going up the next hill. The hills seemed unrelenting to me. The aid stations were always a welcome break and the crowds were fantastic. People kept yelling at me something about goggles, then it dawned on me, I still have my swimmimg goggles around my neck, what a rookie I must have looked like. No wonder my transition was fast. I tried to take them off, but with the size of my helmet and another hill always on the horizon I had no choice but to leave them where they were. I managed to find a little bit of time to gobble down my homemade peanut butter and jam sandwich that I had make into a sealable waffle earlier at the motel. Towards the end of the bike I had 2 issues, my legs were starting to cramp everytime I had to climb a hill. For some odd reason there seemed to be some big hills to contend with at the end of the ride. I managed to overcome them without having my legs completely lock up. The course was taking its toll on my legs. I never felt exhausted or tired but my legs were dogging me. I also realized that I have been drinking heavily for over 7 hours and I have not peed. I immediately thought that my liver was shutting down and this became a major concern to me. I finally forced about 1/2 a cup of pee out. How can I put 10 bottles of fluid in my body and only pee 1/2 a cup. I was worried. This is something I have never dealt with. Got off the bike and still felt good.

Get some hill work in, even if I have to travel to accomplish it. Take off goggles in transition.

Ran into the hotel and I immediately seen my brightly decorated transition bag. Dumped it out, took off my helmet and finally took off those damned goggles. Put on running shoes. looked for my gum in the bag but couldn't find it. I swore I put gum in that bag. I like to chew gum while I run. Ran out off the building past the sunblock ladies and away I went.

O'kay this is were my ironman dreams came crashing down. Ran the first mile or so with a fellow bt'er, my legs were definetely hurting. Then they started cramping, everytime my foot hit the ground my quads would tighten up into a solid charlie horse. I could no longer run. This can't be happening, running is my best event. I walked with a few short burst of runs in between, I thought my world had come to an end and I started to cry. I put my sunglasses on so the world could not see what I had been reduced to. I then decided that my legs were shut down do to the fact that I had not urinated, I drank everything that I could get my hands on. If I put more in, something has to come out. Nice theory, but that didn't work. Maybe I need to stop drinking, maybe I have too much fluid in me. No more fluid, but I still can't run. My heart rate is very low, I want to run but my legs won't allow it. I wasn't going to give up, so right then I made a decision that if I could not run I would walk as fast as I can. Now I'm reduced to powerwalking 24 miles, but I don't care, I'm pissed off and a man on a mission. I never once slowed down or stopped. I was enbarrassed to be walking while the crowds were cheering, I think they would cheer me even if I was crawling, talk about supportive. My feet felt like they were walking on raw flesh, too much water had gone over the top off my head and to my shoes. Finally The finsh line is in sight, someone in the crowd yells at me to run it in on home, I try and my legs immediately disagree. I yell back at the guy and tell him that at this point I could not run to save my life. I was forced to walk accross the finish line. I could not bring myself to yell or put my arms up in excitment, I just bowed my head and went accross. There is no finish line shot were you can see my face, I don't want to be a poor sport but I was upset. I didn't come all this way to walk.

Learn to overcome what had happened to my legs. Don't run with gum in your shoe.

After the race I ate some food and walked around for a while. My legs and feet were sore. After an hour and a half I decided to get my transition bags and bike and head for the car. My car was parked in a garage on a hill with some stairs to handle. Didn't do well on stairs. Had a 20 minute drive to the motel, got into the room and the first thing I wanted to do was take off my shoes. I would have done this earlier but I was afraid I wouldn't get them back on. Looked down at my brand new shoes and discovered that they were all blood soaked around the heels. Took the left shoe off first, oh that felt good, took the right shoe off and noticed something inside, it was my missing pack of trident gum, it must have fell into the shoe while in the transition bag. No wonder my foot felt like I was walking on raw skin, I had just walked 24 miles with a pack of gum in my shoe. You might be asking right now why I didn't stop and check my shoe if my foot hurt, I was worried that if I stopped I wouldn't start again. I'm now filty, sweaty and bloody, I really should have a shower, but the thought of hot water on open sores was just too much to handle. I got into bed and had 6 hours of rehearsing the events of the day and my disappointment. No sleep was had, so I waited for the complimentary breakfast to open. I pigged out and had one of everything they had, then I put my leftover Indian food from the night before in the microwave and ate that. I have a cast iron stomach and food seemed to comfort me.


goggles, bubble gum and lack of hill work.


It took 6 days before I would allow myself to write this race report. I was very angry and I didn't want to say something that I would reget. I acknowledge that it was a tough day and the conditions were unusually hard, I was prepared for that, after all it is an Ironman competition. After taking some time and reflecting upon the events that unfolded I am content with my race and what had unfolded. The first couple of days I would definetely consider myself as a poor sport, now that time has passed I am grateful for the great adventure and challenge that this Ironman has afforded me. I had my picture taken with Dave Harju and some great bt'er friends, I had dinner with a guy who won a lottery spot for Kona, how cool is that. I met a person who ended up coming in eleventh overall, and got to shared a lifetime of memories with alot of great athletes. It's funny to say but it feels like I experienced my lowest and my highest point in my life all in 14 hours and 11 minutes. I'm proud of my swim, I'm proud of my bike, and I will be back another day to prove myself in the run.