Ironman Wisconsin - TriathlonFull Ironman

Coming into the swim, I was pretty intimidated. For one, the swim is not my best leg. Plus I have always heard how crazy the swim start is and everything about not having room, getting kicked etc. Coming into the water, my plan was to stay toward the back and actually stay to the inside because from what I have always heard, all the poor swimmers usually stay way to the outside. My logic was that I did not want to be around the group that was like me and did not know what the heck they were doing. For the 1st 1100 meters this actually worked pretty well. I stayed WAY to the inside and avoided a lot of contact until the turn bouy at 1100m. Coming from the inside to the turn bouy was tough and I had some trouble navigating around the bouy. During the long stretch back it was tough to avoid contact, I got hit a couple times and kicked one time pretty hard in the goggle. During the swim, I tried to stay positive and enjoy it and kept telling myself, "You only get one 1st ironman." I did not reach the time goal I set when I signed up for IM and really need to work on my swimming, but coming out of the water I was pretty happy becuase I had no disorientation and felt really good.

Just need to get in the pool more.

Out of the water, wetsuit stripper into T1. Did not rush transition too much.

For it being my first one, nothing. Next time I will pry get on my horse a little more

Have been reading a lot about how going too hard on the bike (especially on hills) can really affect your run. Coming in, my plan was to ride the stick (16 miles) in high z1 then on the two loops I wanted to ride the flats in low z2 and really spin up the hills and not go any higher than low z3.
For nutrition I brought one 32 oz bottle filled with 7 scoops of IM perform and 7 hammer gels mixed with about 15 oz of water (1100 cal). I also brought 2 bonk bars (500 cal) and planned to take these at miles 30 and 70. If the nutrition all went in well, I planned to have this all taken by about mile 85 and from there I would hit up a bottle of Perform or a gel from the last aid station to equal about 300 cal/ hour...this did not happen. Also brought like 10 salt tabs...took 1 every hour on the bike.

Becuase of where i came out of in the swim, I was pretty far back in the pack and had to do a lot of passing. Becuase of this, I went a little harder than I planned on the stick and rode in low z2. The stick was very congested and I felt like I had to go a little harder to get through the packs. Hit the first loop and still rode a little harder than I planned. Rode most the flats in low to mid z2 and felt great. I also felt like I was doing an ok job not going too hard on the hills. I was still going faster than a lot of the people I was around, but really never went over high z2/ low z3 save for on one hill. I felt like the first loop/stick went exatly to plan.
Came around the first loop back into Verona and was feeling good but it didn't last. Hit the big long climb into Mt. Horeb and by that time I got to the top, the wheels were falling off. I started having some pretty bad stomach issues and started to feel like I was bonking. It was only 70 miles into the day and I was already worried that I ruined my run. Decided to cool off the mix and tried to take my bonk breaker...oops that didn't work. Stomach felt even worse. Came up the big rollers north of Mt. Horeb and didn't do much "Rolling." Got through that portion and hit the big downhills but my stomach was still feeling bad and I had the three big climbs coming up. Came up the first hill and couln't help but laugh at all the spectators and their costumes. Then came to the second hill and saw my friend Nick, it is nice to see ppl you know at times like that.

During that portion of the race I actally liked the climbs because it was the only time I wasnt thinking about my stomach. Got done with the second hill and my stomach was feeling a bit better. After the third hill, the problems were all but gone. My second loop was ALOT slower than my first and I can not blame it all on my stomach as my legs were not feeling good on the second loop. During the second loop almost all of my riding was in z1.

Wind was out of the north and we had the wind at our backs on the stick on to the loop so that meant the opposite on the way back to town. I was feeling a lot better on the stick so during the first 5 miles of the 16 mile stick I took a little bit of my nutrition and then let my stomach settle...boy those last 10 miles or so felt like a LIFETIME. I must have looked at my garmin 100 times, one time I think the mileage actually went backwards.



Rode the stick in high z1/low z2 and was on track.

Still trying to figure that one out... Still have a ways to go on my bike fitness.

Voluneteers were great. Really didn't have to do anything.

Coming into the run I was worried I had gone too hard on the bike and was hoping I could still have an ok run. Time wise, I was right around where I thought I would be at this point of the race and knew I needed to run like a 4:30 to reach my goal of going under 12 hours...I really was completly lost as to what it was going to be like running a marathon after swimming and biking that long and have read enough race reports to see how many good runners struggle during the IM run but I knew sub 12 was reachable and I was going to do everything I could to get it.

As I ran by State Street I saw my wife, my parents and tons of my friends. They were all screaming so loud and I was JACKED..Looked Down at my watch after mile 1 and it read 7:24...easy killer, time to slow it down a bit. Kept running and looked down after mile 2 and it said 7:31. At this point a made an effort to really slow it up a bit but it didn't feel natural so I kept going. Mile 3 then read 7:21 and I really wasnt sure what I was doing but decided to go with it. I was passing a ton of people and so many were saying very encouraging things to me and it keep my spirits up. Around mile 6 I hit state St. again and saw everyone, this got me even more jacked. I figured eventually a bonk was going to come, but I figured I was going to ride it out until then. Besides, what fun is doing a race as hard as Ironman if you feel good the whole time? When I hit mile 8 in under an hour, I was shocked but wanted to see how far I could go. I started to think, "I still have 18 miles, that is so long, there is no way I could hold this." Right away I tried to get these negative thoughts out of my head so I started making little goals in my head in an attempt to break up the race. I looked ahead 5 miles to mile 13 and told myself I would hold sub 8's until then and from then we would talk about the rest of the race. During these 5 miles tried to interact back with the croud as much as possible and also thanked voulenteers quite a bit. Mile 12 or so I ran back by all my friends and family and my energy was still pretty high.

First 13 miles:
1- 7:24
2- 7:31
3- 7:21
4- 7:23
5- 7:22
6- 7:49
7- 7:15
8- 7:22
9- 7:28
10- 7:25
11- 7:23
12- 7:34
13- 7:34

After mile 13 I did some calculating and realized sub 12 was sure to happen. I also realized that If i could hold somewhere around 8:30's for the majority of the race, I could go under 11 hours. Coming into the race sub 11 never seriously crossed my mind. I was starting to feel fatigue but I knew I had to go for it.
At this point, I decided to only look ahead two miles at a time so I told myself try and run the next two mils in under 8 min per mile and completed this first goal running 14 in 7:34 and 15 in 7:47. I still tried to interact with the croud and was eating/drinkng about everything at the aid stations. I was starting to really feel it but was going to try and hold this pace for as long as I could. Ran miles 16 and 17 at 7:47 and 8:02.

Then hit the hill on Observatory for the second time. Slowly ran up the hill and then on top of the hill, my left hamstring cramped up to the point where I had to completly stop for a second. I streched it out real quick, then started walking and massaging for a few steps and then started limp running trying to keep most of my weight on my other leg. I really didn't want this cramp to be the end of it. Eventually the cramp worked itself out but by the time this happened, the wheels started to fall off a bit. I ran this mile in like 9:11.

From this time to state St. (at like mile 18 or 19) I don't remember all that much, but I kept looking at my watch and knew I was on pace. With 7 miles left my wife ran along side me on the sidewalk for a minute and gave me some words of encouragment and this helped me out. I caught up to a guy and talked with him for a sec and he was on pace for sub 11 too so we ran together for awhile, but eventually I dropped back a bit. After I dropped back the wheels were officially off. I somwhow managed some calculations and knew I needed to stay somwhere around a pace of 9:15 per mile. I kept pushing on and then somwhow at like mile 24 or 25 I caught another wind and picked up the pace, but just as I started to run harder, my leg cramped up again. I did the same thing I did last time and eventually it got better. I started running again and eventually could hear the finish and really started running. I then turned the corner high fived everyone on the right side (including my friends and family) and became an Ironman.

This was as close to a perfect day as it can get.

Guess I wasn't making much sense to ppl so I went to the med tent. Was pretty sick to my stomach, they watched over me for awhile but I was ok.


Awesome.