Beach2Battleship Iron Distance Triathlon - TriathlonFull Ironman

The scene on the beach was surreal. 750 people with 5% body fat dressed like seals jumping aroud to stay warm. At day break it was 45F and overcast. We stood in the sand near the inflatable starting arch for the National Anthem and Eminem's "Lose Yourself". This was my first mass start event and it was chaotic. Luckily I didn't get scratched or punched (too much) and had relatively clear swimming after 10 minutes. With the incoming tide, salt water, and pre-race practice, it ended up being the fastest swim of my life (any distance). I only drank a few mouthfuls of salt water from an errant wave and didn't freak out too badly (I did spot a guy clinging to a kayak with his goggles and cap off so others did not fare so well unfortunately. Total time: 52:11

Out of the water I ran through a freshwater shower and gargled a bit of it which made me feel a lot better. With the cold and wet, its difficult to do basic things like strap on a watch when your fingers are numb stubs. Besides the typical cycling gear, I put on arm warmers, full finger gloves, and a bike jersey over my tri-top, in addition to shoe covers. For this I was extremely grateful--I saw many on the bike with nothing but a basic tri suit and NO GLOVES. Their hands were frozen beet red and their faces were drawn. Total transition time, 07:17

I'm a cyclist first and foremost, but 112 miles is a looooooooooong ride by any measure. I started munching right away and ended up eating about 1800 calories over the next 5.5 hrs (8 goos, 1 clifbar, 1 stinger waffle, 2 lunabars, 2 bananas, 6x24 oz bottles of Heed, and energy drink). The hardest part of the ride was the headwind and drizzle, which kept up for the first 75 miles. I was shocked that I was only averaging 18.4 mph at mile 75 because of the headwind. To give you one example, we rode 14 miles on the interstate which included simultaneously: mile long hills, 10-15 mph headwinds and crosswinds, 48 degree temps, drizzle, and cars passing at 60 mph. At mile 75 all this changed dramatically when the sun came out, temps hit 50, and we had a 15+ mile tailwind all the way home! I rode the last 30 miles at 23+mph to bring the average speed to 19.7 on the day, right on target. My target heart rate was 155 bpm, which requires a fair amount of discipline because that is much lower than I normally ride. At least 100 times over the course of 5 hours, I looked at my heart rate to see 156 or 158 and had to soft pedal for 10 secs to drop it back down. This is so frustrating but absolutely necesary to endure an ironman (for digestion, for leg freshness on the run etc). One must arrive at the start of the marathon fueled and ready to run.

I did come extremely close to having a horrific, ironman-attempt ending crash on the bike at mile 40 when the guy in front of me slammed on the brakes to retrieve a dropped energy gel. I swerved and but without time to react I braced for impact. I ended up whizzing past him at 20 mph so close that I got his sweat on my leg.

During the final miles some people were definitely hurting. One guy was riding out of the saddle (standing on the pedals) and I asked him if he was was alright as I went by. He just said "my knees are killing me" as I went on. Yikes.

The only other hiccup was that due to the cold weather my perspiration was way below normal and so I had to stop to pee on the side of the road at LEAST 6 times. As far as race mistakes, this is a relatively minor one, and generally I was happy to be well hydrated. Without getting too personal, riding in the aero position for 5 hours can numb your gibbies, so peeing was somewhat of an out of body experience. Total time: 5:43:55 at 19.7 mph at 153 bpm avg, 155 target max

In a tent I put on my shoes, race belt, cap, and kept the arm warmers on. You practice doing this in 30 seconds, but after riding 112 miles, you felt a little less rushed for some reason. I peed again and was on my way in 5 mins total.

Off starting the run I felt fantastic. I was fully fueled and hydrated, and the pounding started to thaw my feet. The course is 2 loops out and back, 4x10k roughly. My heart rate strategy was easy to implement then: 155 bpm for the first 10k, 160 bpm 2nd 10k, 165 bpm 3rd 10k, and then whatever is left in the tank for 10k, shooting for 9 min miles. Controlling the throttle like this is really tough when people are passing you by and fans are cheering, but I knew that this discipline was the key to survival. One 18 y/o passed me on the run doing about 7:30 pace and I said "hey man its going to be a long day still you might want to sit back a bit." He said "I haven't found my pace yet so I'm not worried about it." Well sure enought when I passed him 5 miles later, he had found his pace: walking.

There were hundreds of half-ironman athletes out on the run course and a few full-iron athletes coming back towards me on the out-and-back course to cheer on. In downtown Wilmington there were a quite a few fans and the Team in Training tri top I was wearing attracted many "Go Team" cheers. My nutrition strategy had been good all day but I started to feel pretty hungry so I took a gel and cup of heed (energy packet and energy drink) at every mile. During the course of the marathon I ate at least 8 gels and 2 bananas. I was on a high for the first 16 miles but then really started to feel the fatigue of the day. There's a lonely part of the run near the back of the course in the woods...I was sitting at 164 bpm and I thought well I'll just open up the throttle here and see what I can do. So for the first time in 9 hours I stopped glancing at the heart rate monitor and ran for about a mile. When I looked down my heart rate was 165 and 9 min pace.... uh oh--the lights were on in the engine room but there was no one home! I started worrying that I didn't have enough for the final 8 miles so I stopped smiling and pointing at crazy fans and completely zoned in. With about 4 miles to go a train crossed the run path and I got bunched up with about 30 others waiting for it. As some of these people (and the eventual 2nd place female) were in my age group I decided to drop the hammer when the train passed an eternal 2 mins later. I ran the last 4 miles at 8 min pace in much pain but with the growing adrenaline rush that I was about to become an ironman! I crossed the finish line with hands in the air at 10:40:37, 60th pace overall out of 750! Run time: 3:52:27 at 9 min/mile pace.

At the finish line I put my hands on my knees and was completely overcome with emotion. I really did not expect that. It was an incredible total body surge that beats most (to remain unnamed) natural and synthetic highs I've felt before. The guy who puts a medal around your neck came over to me and tried to put it on me but I ended up falling towards him and putting my head into his stomach crying. I could not get up so next thing I know I'm in the medical tent on a gurney shivering cold. I recovered after drinking some chicken broth and eating half a pizza and found my buddy Bill in the warming tent. Together we cheered on some finishers, ate more pizza and beer, and took the bus back to the hotel. So I'm writing this the next day, super sore but thrilled that I had the race of my life completing the most difficult one day endurance event on the planet--an ironman distance triathlon!


Thank you to the race organizers and volunteers who made the event run seamlessly!