Ironman Louisville - TriathlonFull Ironman

Swimming tends to be my strength (as compared to my piers) so I wasn't to worked up about hitting the water. Plan was to just cruise the distance and not push it at all. That's what I did. Swimming up the channel behind Towhead Island was a bit congested and I found it a little tiring trying to find some open water. After rounding the buoy for the downstream run I stayed more to the channel side of the swim course and for the most part stayed clear of traffic. On occasion someone would start banging into me but I had plenty of open water to divert to. Stopped and just floated a couple times as I was passing a buoy to catch my breath and kinda get my bearings. It was encouraging to see just how much the current helped you along. Either way, by the time I exited the water, I was glad to be out. I also did all I could to avoid drinking anymore of that H2O than I had to. Plus as a side note, I'm sure my navigation sucked as I was constantly trying to find open water.

Not much....Exertion level was good and exited the water feeling fine. Oh, and just to come clean, I'd like to apologize to all the competitors that were behind me in the swim start line! Being a newbie I didn't realize that all the folks sitting down on the sidewalk were at the front of the line. I just casually made my way down a bit and planted my butt right in the middle of them. Had no idea that was the front of the line. I was in the water within 1 minute of the start. Sorry! I won't do it again....

Jogged to the changing tent and took my time getting ready for the bike, yet I didn't waste any time either...

Nothing

Ahh the bike! The part of this race that I feared most actually turned out to be the best part of the day. Just some 6 weeks earlier this bike course had landed me in the hospital with severe dehydration and acute kidney failure. Biking is my weakness and trying to train for those rollers is difficult to do in my neck of the woods. Thanks goodness the temps were cooler today and we actually got to enjoy some overcast for an hour or so. Let alone the humidity felt non-existent.

Anyway, whereas the bike was concerned I had two goals. Stay on top of hydration and nutrition, and preserve my legs for the run. Because I tend to be weak on the bike, I was very concerned that I may not be able to keep from burning my legs. However to my fortune, I had the opportunity to speak with a coach the night before the race. He told me how to manage that bike course in such a way that I understood what he was saying. And I executed his advice to the letter.

Riding the course on race day was a great experience and my favorite part of the race. Seeing the residents out there cheering us on and of course the devil and grim reaper added a smile to my face more than once. But mostly, it was just a beautiful day out there. I was actually able to absorb some of the beauty of that course this time around.

The end result was that I came off the bike with the legs feeling excellent! I really took it easy the whole way only slightly picking up the pace with about 30 miles to go. I had rode this course twice before and both times I hopped off the bike with about a 16.95mph avg, BUT my legs were toasted. Today however would be much different. 16.98mph avg but the legs felt very good and my energy was great.

However, there was one problem. As the day progressed on the bike my stomach just wasn't cooperating well. I had actually noticed it before the swim even started. Just felt like nothing was moving and that digestion had stopped. I made sure to drink plenty and take in my nutrition but it was just getting progressively worse. By mile 60 I had to abandon my staple Infinit nutrition mix as I just couldn't handle it any further. I used bananas and Perform to keep the carbs coming and drank plenty of water. I was also taking in a salt tab every 20 miles. I was slightly nauseated coming off the bike and had some mild stomach cramps. It was cause for concern but the legs felt good and the energy was good.

Nothing, exertion level on the bike was perfect for my abilities.

Again, tried to jog into T2 with the bike shoes on so went pretty slow. Made my way into the tent and got the shoes and compression sleeves on. My volunteer was awesome and he brought me a drink and gathered up all my stuff for me. Topped off my handheld water bottle and headed out on the run. Oh, and stopped to water the flowers on the way out....

Nothing, didn't waste any time but wasn't trying to set any land speed records either.

We'll, this is where my race really began so to speak. Exiting T2 I stopped and hugged the wife and kid and talked to them for a couple minutes. I was definitely feeling good other than the stomach cramps and slight nausea.

To provide a little background, my primary objective when I decided to participate in this race some two years earlier was "to run the marathon". All the training and preparation I had done was to accomplish just that, and here I was with relatively fresh feeling legs and plenty of energy. I was ready! EXCEPT........

My stomach wasn't. I headed out onto the course and decided to go out really easy and see how the cramps would play out. Thinking they would work themselves out in a few miles. Probably was running a 10:30 pace. Got to the turn-around on the bridge and there was a gent just hurling his guts up right there in the middle of everyone. I felt so bad for him as I knew personally exactly what he was going thru. Plus there was no cover out there and he had to suffer the embarrassment of getting sick in front of all those people. Anyway, made it back off the bridge and once again greeted the wife and kid with a high five and continued on my way. Stomach still cramping and some slight nausea but manageable. The prevailing thought was "boy this is gonna be a mighty long run if those cramps don't go away" But 4 miles in (still crawling along very slowly) they seemed to be letting up. Yeehah! I'm gonna get to run this mary afterall!

Well, two miles later that was all she wrote. The cramps had subsided but the nausea was becoming increasingly worse, enough so that I had to walk. I started walking at one of the aid stations but the nausea just grew worse every time I tried to run. My two years of dreaming to run this mary had just went out the window so I backed up and punted. I pretty much walked from that point on and on occasion I would try to run a bit. Nausea just wasn't getting any better, in fact it was getting much worse.

I made it back around to the turn-around downtown (around mile 14) and stopped and told the family to expect a long second loop as I was getting fairly sick. I assured them I'd be fine but I had to walk mostly to keep the stomach settled. And about a mile later, I became that guy I saw hurling up on the bridge a couple hours earlier. I got pretty ill pretty quick but as soon as I tossed my cookies, I immediately felt better. Woohoo!, maybe I can run now? Nope, wasn't happenin' Even with my stomach drained it still made me very nauseous to run. In fact, it got so bad the only thing that sounded good at the aid stations was ice water. In fact, it got so bad that with 10 miles to go the only thing I could do was wet my mouth with water and spit it back out because swallowing it made me more sick.

I put on a spectacle two more times on the run course that eve and felt very bad for those who had to witness my disposition (including the couple sitting on their front porch with their young daughter). Not being able to drink, I knew I was gonna hit the finish line pretty dehydrated. It was either that or get violently ill. I chose the dehydration as the temps were cool and the sun was setting. I was fairly confident I could hoof it in ever so slowly. And I did! I managed to run about a mile and a half of that last 6 miles although actually it was more of a hobble. My son was there to greet me on the run course with about 4 blocks to go and he ran along the sidewalk with me as we approached the finish chute. That was cool.

There's not much I could have done different. I'm still fairly new to this sport and I just haven't found a nutrition/hydration strategy that has yielded consistent results for me. Maybe next year I'll get it figured out.

I made it thru the chute and needless to say all the pain went away for a couple minutes. I hadn't cried at all up to this point but when they gave me that finishers cap that was all she wrote. I had been dreaming of putting that hat on for two years and now I was wearing one. I embraced my wife and son after I got out of the chute and the tears started flowing again. It was an awesome experience!

I was pretty dehydrated and still very ill so I knew I really needed to get to medical quick. By the time I made the one block walk to the convention center they had to wheelchair me to a cot. They got to work on my pretty quick and after one IV and some Zofran for the nausea I was a new man in 30 minutes. If I could have only gotten that Zofran at mile 6 :)

Medical seemed to have over 100 cots in there, perhaps more, and they were mostly full. Many seemed to be suffering the same symptoms I was. Just an observation.


Stomach problems


I loved the race and more so, the journey to get there. I may do it again in 2012 but I want to see how I feel about it in a week or so and let the "high" wear off first.

They say trying to plan your IM is like trying to land a man on the moon. You just never know what the day is gonna throw at ya. For two years I had envisioned how I was gonna run that race but somebody else had other plans. I am grateful that as I was out there on that run course feeling pretty bad, I kept my wits about me and accepted that I wasn't going to be able to perform as I had hoped.

Had I pressed the issue, I may have ended up back in a hospital with a DNF. I've competed in 3 half distance events, and now this full distance event. I have yet to get my nutrition/hydration right.

Hopefully the 3rd year doing triathlons is a charm!!!

Signing off.....