Ironman Wisconsin - TriathlonFull Ironman

Swim start wasn't too bad, fairly free of combat for the first 200. Lined up 10' from the ski ramp, land side. Breathing bilateraly without a problem for most of the swim except around the bouys which were very crowded. At the first turn bouy it was chaos, got hit in the back of the head a few times but no real problems. Stay calm, keep stroking and sighting well. Around the second turn was just as crowded and so was the 200 or so after that. From then on it pretty much thinned out but there were pockets of chaos that I would hit every so often, not sure why or what was going on. Felt smooth in the water for the most part, breathing bilaterally, sighting on every 6 strokes or so, staying on feet as much I could.

Take turn bouys a bit wider to avoid the wall of people?

Long run up the helix and into the ballroom, took a bit of time to find my bag, felt long but probably only a few extra seconds. Into the change room where I put on bike shorts over tri shorts for the comfort. Out of T1 I hit the bathroom and then ran to the bike with shoes and socks in my hand, put them on when I got there since it was a long run.

Seemed like a long T1 on paper but it was worth the min to put on shorts and pee. Could have been a bit faster but I would have been more uncomfortable.

Took it out easy to the loop (16 mi.). Put in a few accelerations to get out of/pass groups. Loop 1 was great, felt good, HR was right at low-mid 140's. Stopped to pee once around mile 25-30. Hit the hills and kept steady, climbing in the saddle as much as possible, brought HR down on the downhill.

Nutrition plan was to drink only water and one sip of perpetuem until the first aid station, picked up one gatorade endurance. Planned to drink one gatorade per hour, sip on perpetuem @ :20 + :40 min mark of each hour, take one gel @ :60 of each hour with water. One salt tab per hr. Drank when thirsty, replaced gatorade with a full at aid station if I was more than half done. Ended up dropping my gel flask without knowing, grabbed gels at aid station. Power gel is a bit overly sweet but had to deal with it. Drank one bottle of perpetuem (1080 cal), 5 power gels (550 cal), roughly 4-5 gatorade endurance (600-750 cal), roughly 30 oz. water which puts me at ~400 cal/hr. Took 5 salt tabs (215 mg sodium each) + 4-5 gatorade endurance (200 mg each) + perpetuem (880 mg) = ~2755-2955 mg. Total fluid was 138-162 oz which is 4 - 4.75 liters so looks like the sodium intake was low.

Second lap felt just as good as the first, kept pushing, rode in the high 140's-150. Felt good, rode the hills well, a bit more out of the saddle than 1st lap but not too much. HR came back down on downhills. Felt like I was riding away from people as the miles went by. For a while I though I could ride 5:20 but the mile markers must have been off, I know bike computer was. On the way back into Madison I was still feeling strong all the way to the finish. Timing mat was at 40/83 mi mark, 1st 40 miles 20.68 MPH, 40-83 20.77 MPH, 83-112 19.42 MPH. So, looks like I faded during the hills on second loop thru the finish despite feeling strong.

Have a better handle on nutrition plan, keep track of exact amount taken in.

More efficient than T1, no sock change, slipped on zoot shoes + visor. Out the door, took some volunteer sunscreen application on arms, hit bathroom.

Sunscreen on back, not just arms.

Right from step one I knew I was going to be slow for a bit due to stomach cramps. I was almost sure it was just gas so I just tried to keep pace moderate and have it work itself out. Unfortunately it took until around mile 7 for relief. I was able to hover at 8:30 pace for the first 6.35 miles (State St turnaround) and though I could pick it up after my stomach felt better around mile 7-8 but my legs weren't having it. Had a bit of hamstring fatigue/tendonitis pain but I don't think that really held me back. Second 1/4 marathon (6.65 mi) was slowest @ 8:49 pace. I was walking thru part of aid stations to take in gatorade/water. At each station I probably grabbed three total cups, two gatorade/one water or one gatorade/two water. Cups varied in size but I probably took in between 6-10 oz of fluid at each (?) not really sure. Drank what I felt like having, took 3-4 gels total after the first hour (didn't think I could stomach them until that point) and three salt caps.

After loop one I felt better and was able to pick pace back up to 8:35 for third 1/4 of marathon. Thinking back I probably could have pushed harder but blowing up was a potential in my mind at that point. My feet were hurting a bit (wont run marathon in those shoes again) and my legs were feeling tired. I wanted to neg split the run since I was feeling better and though I could run 1:45 half but it wasn't happening. Last 1/4 was run at 8:26 pace which was fastest pace of the four quarters. I neg split the halves, 1:52:48 vs. 1:52:20, so it wasn't much better (amazingly even actually!)

I was a bit disappointed because I was feeling so good on the bike that I though flirting with sub 10 might be possible. I knew that was out the window when the 5:20 bike split didn't materialize but I though a sub 3:30 marathon was very possible. I did the best I could with how I felt so I can't complain much, just have to figure out why I cramped and why my hamstrings troubled me.

Don't wear zoot's for that distance, wear trainers (my trainers were shot though and didn't want to wear a new pair). Poor timing, I knew it just didn't like the Asics I was training in and the Mizuno Inspires I picked had to be ordered and wasn't going to run in shoes I hadn't worn before or broken in.

Couldn't breath deep after the race for some reason, coughing a fair amount. Generally uncomfortable respitory-wise but didn't feel like I needed to visit med tent.


Stomach cramps on run, leg fatigue from shoes?


Loved the race course and the city of Madison. Will definitely be back.