Vineman Full Ironman - TriathlonFull Ironman

I just relaxed and enjoyed the swim. The water temp was perfect and it wasn't terribly crowded. Only a few grabs to the feet and legs and no one swam over me. I had to float on my back a few times for some coughing fits, but for the most part I was comfortable. I think I could still use some work on sighting and swimming a straight line in open water, but the river made it a little easier.

I really wish I could have started my new job at a different time, but with the airlines seniority is key. The government was about to shut down when I got hired so the timing for that was perfect. It's hard to plan for an ironman a year out. Being sick didn't help either, but I didn't have much control over that. Before I got hired, I was swimming masters 3x per week and that was immensely helpful. In the pool, I went from 2:00/100 to 1:45/100 in a few weeks.

I walked out of the water and went to a wetsuit stripper, that was fun! Once in T1, I pulled regular bike shorts over my tri shorts since I hadn't gotten used to this distance. I also wore a long sleeve white underarmour shirt and a sleveless jersey over it. That was a good idea. It was overcast and kind of cold, so getting off my wet tank and putting on dry clothes was key.

With proper training, I know I would have gone with just a regular tri suit and maybe just put arm warmers on. This was my first IM so I didn't know what would work best.

A few weeks before this, I did the Leadville 50 Lap the Lake. There was a 800ft of climbing between 9600-10400ft of altitude, so that gave me a lot of confidence that I could do this. Chalk Hill wasn't too bad the first time. With almost no training for 8 weeks prior to the race and that being my longest ride, I'm proud to have completed the distance. Being sick definitely hampered me though. I averaged 15.5 for the first loop and up to about mile 75, when I finally had to take some Sudafed again. My nose was like a faucet. That made me feel dizzy and lightheaded, meaning I had to stop a few times to make sure I wasn't going to pass out. I was eating clif bars, ritz crackers, and gels so nutrition wasn't an issue. Between miles 80-100 I had a very hard time pushing the pedals. I'm not sure if it was the sudafed, but I just felt like a zombie. Just before mile 100, I started to feel better but then flatted right at 100. It took me about 10 min to fix it and I was on my way again. The last 12 miles were tough after that 10 min break but I finally finished. I didn't think I made the bike cutoff, but it turns out I had about 30 minutes before that so I decided to walk a bit of the run course.

It's been said already, but I know I would have done better with some training.

I was pretty tired and sore coming off the bike, and I knew I wasn't going to run the marathon, so I took my time changing. I changed the bike jersey for a running tank and pulled off my bike shorts for my tri shorts underneath. It was finally sunny, so I put on my white hat and I was off.

Change into different shorts. They were kind of chafy by then.

I knew I didn't have time to walk the whole course. I would have been 5 miles short at the end at my 15min/mi walking pace. I was also with a group of 12, so I timed it to walk one loop and finish by the time they were done. I saw several of them along the way and it was fun to see all the other runners and walkers. It's funny to come back to the finish and tell a volunteer you're done. They have such a sad look on their face, but I understand. I came knowing I wouldn't finish and had made peace with it. It was nice to see all my friends finish and some others too! Of course it would have been nice, but very unrealistic to think I could have done it with almost no training.

Life, sickness


I had so much going against me before this race that I decided to just participate and have fun, and even though I DNF that's exactly what I did!

I fly for the Air Force Reserve and in April got hired at an airline and started training for that job. Having to spend 18 hours a day studying and training for my new job and fitting in flying for the Air Force meant I had no time to train. I was on the road 20-25 days a month and managing any kind of consistency was impossible. I was battling ITBS and sciatica through physical therapy so I knew going into it that I wasn't going to be able to run so I set out to do the swim and bike and see what happened after that.