Ironman Louisville - TriathlonFull Ironman

The swim starts with a single line; however, becomes a group swim very quickly. I got punched in the head on my 3rd stroke;however, goggles stayed on the entire race. I jumped in the water with Pat, Glenn, Chris, James and Ed. The swim was Hard. I could never seem to get going steadily. It was wavy and I felt like I was swimming up and down and not forward. I ran into Glenn at least 5 times and saw James once. The first turnaround after the Island was difficult to manage because everyone clumped together and I was stuck in the middle. I had to breaststroke/tread-water around the buoy.
There was absolutely no current on the Downstream side of the swim. I ignored my surroundings and just swam. I tried not to look at how far I had to swim to the end. Seeing the Island slide by on my left for the last time was a good feeling. Once I made it to the first bridge I was happy but again it seemed to take forever to get out from under that bridge.
I got to the last bridge and felt mentally there; however, there was still about 600 meters to go. Getting out of the water took some time also because of the clog of racers getting to the steps. Actually this was ok because it allowed me to breaststroke again and catch my breath before standing up.
When I stood up on the step I was Amazed that I was standing right next to PAT!! How does that happen? Swim 2.4 miles with 3,000 people and get out next to one of the people you jumped in with. I never saw Pat during the swim at all. This admittedly gave me confidence because I had no idea my swim time but I knew Pat was generally a better swimmer than me so if I kept up with him then I had a GREAT swim. It was also good running to transition with a teammate.
On the way to transition Pat and I ran into Joe as well. It was very cool to walk into transition with them both.

Nothing besides swim more in training. The furthest I swam in training was 1.7 miles twice. I hurt my left arm and could not swim much at all for the last 5 weeks of training. I was very nervous about the swim because I had not covered the distance or even close to the distance.

Got my bag and went into the tent. I took it slow to ensure I had everything I needed. I wore my tri shorts in the swim so I really just had to put on shoes, socks and a shirt and grab my food for the bike. Luckily someone left a towel next to me so I used it to dry my feet really good before putting on the socks. Getting on the shirt was hard...I had to get someone to pull it down because it was stuck at my shoulders. (Volunteers were great). Shoved the gel, Advil etc in my shirt pockets and left. Went to the bathroom and then got sunscreen applied. Ran/walked to bike. Walked to mount line and got on bike. No issues.

Put a hand towel in my bag and take an advil in the tent. Run from water to tent and tent to bike...maybe. I think I needed the time to get heart rate and breathing under control.

I planned my bike race carefully and am glad to say I raced my plan. I had 7 stinger waffles ready for the bike and 5 gel shots, along with fizz in my aero bottle and Powerade on the course. I ate one waffle as soon as I got on the bike then 1 waffle at the top of every hour and a gel shot at the bottom of every hour. I drank about 20-30 ounces of water with fizz and 15 ounces of powerede between each aid station.

I rode the first 10 miles at a comfortably fast pace in the large chain ring. At the first major hill I downshifted to the little chain ring and stayed there for the next 90 miles. At each uphill I get to my easiest gear and spun up the hills with as little effort as I could then crested each hill and downshifted and got back into aero position and peddled then coasted down any hill where I hit 20 MPH. I passed Kinsey on the way to the out and back. This surprised me and actually made me slow down a little as I was afraid I was over cooking the bike.
The out and back portion of the ride went very well; however, was very scary. Going down hill in a pack at over 40 MPH with the other lane coming up the hill at 7 MPH is something you are not entirely prepared for and some people were being very unsafe. I take risks but riding the yellow line at 50 MPH yelling on your left is where I draw the line. I saw James coming down one of the hills as I was spinning up. Great to see others out on the course.

Right about mile 30 my left Kneecap started to hurt pretty bad. I just kept spinning.
I got to the start of the first loop and made it to about mile 35. Here I stopped to pee for the first time. Great Volunteer held my bike for me and gave me water while I went to the port o potty. I also took 2 Advil at this point....FYI I pee'd 3 other times during the bike segment without stopping, nuff said.

About mile 40 my left kneecap stopped hurting and never bothered me again during the bike. Weird!! Going through LaGrange both times were insane. I felt like a rock star!! People yelling and screaming all along the course but in LaGrange they line the roads and have a party. I saw Stephanie, Ken and Cassie for the first time on the bike here. After LaGrange by a factory on the right my bike computer froze and I could not read any speed or cadence for about a mile. This had me somewhat panicked but I kept going and it came back on to my surprise. This happened again during the second loop so I figure it has to do with the factory.
Got to pendelton road and saw Steph, Ken and Cassie again at the top of the 3rd hard hill in a row. This was great! Miles 50-60 were my hardest of the entire race. I was not 1/2 way on the bike, I was very tired, wind in my face and I just wanted to get to mile 60 and start the second loop. Also, I got a poweraide from a volunteer and when I tried to drink it the plastic inside was not taken off so I had to stop the bike to remove it. This was one of 3 times I stopped on my bike during the ride.
So, I made the turnaround and the 2nd loop went without any issues. Miles 85-112 were harder than expected due to a wind in the face that felt like you were riding in a furnace. I saw Glenn with a flat tire about mile 90 and felt really bad for him. He had a great ride going. He said he was fine so I kept plugging along. However, about mile 100 I get really emotional because I knew as long as I did not wreck the bike I would finish the race even if I walked the marathon.
Came to the finish and dismounted with no issues. Was happy to hand off my bike to a volunteer.

Take advil in transition and about mile 50-60. Everything else went great. I did not use my special needs bag.

Great Volunteers again. I stopped on way to tent to remove my bike shoes. Once in tent I took it slow. I felt very nauseous so I made sure I got everything in place. No issues with socks and shoes etc. About fell over from dizziness when I stood up. Took 2 advil (4 for day) and left tent. Went to bathroom again (6 time during race for those counting), got sunscreen applied then went back in tent to get Vaseline around my waist to ensure no short rubbing.

nothing

For the first 2 miles all I wanted to do was throw up but I also knew I needed to keep the liquids etc inside. I walked the transition and then slowly jogged till I saw Steph, Ken and Cassie. I told them this was going to be a long run, death march. I gave Stephanie a very Salty Kiss for luck. I walked/jogged to the bridge then walked up the bridge. I started to jog and ran to the bridge turnaround and back to the first aid station. I then ran down the bridge and kept going around the block towards 3rd street only because I did not want everyone to see me walking that soon. I saw Steph, Ken and Cassie again ran a little bit then walked for a min. The race then really started for me about mile 2.
I started to feel better so I told myself to run for 3 min and walk for 1 min. Then I ran for 4 min and walked for 1 min. I kept up running for 3.5-5 minutes and walking for 1 min the entire race. I was amazed that I was able to keep this up and never really had issues. I did not track mileage at all and really had no idea most of the time what mile I was on or how far I needed to go. I passed the entrance to the horse track 4 times and never once saw that entrance. I guess I was focused on the road.

About mile 4 I passed Pat and chatted with him for a min. He told me to go get Ed and Aaron so I kept plugging along. Ed had a tough day due to his stomach and Aaron was cramping in his legs very badly. I saw Ed for the first time after the turnaround as he was going into a toilet. I saw Aaron before the turnaround and caught him about mile 11. I had seen Cassie about mile 9 (she going the opposite way) and she looked fresh. Aaron told me to keep going and tell Cassie to catch him, which she eventually did. On the first lap I saw Kathy, Gene, Chris, Glenn, Pat, James, Carla, JoAnn and everyone was running their race well.
I was very happy to go around mile 14 and not hear anyone finishing, which made it easier to turn right and keep going. I passed my special needs bag and felt great. Saw Stephanie again then Ken at about 14.5. Ken gave me a high 5 and said one more lap. This made me feel GREAT! At mile 15 I swear my toenail Ripped off. I stopped and took off my shoe and sock because it was such a sharp pain that would not stop. Could not find anything so decided to keep moving. Thought I was done running. I walked of a min then decided it was either gonna get worse or better so I started running again. The pain went away...THANK GOD!!
I caught Joe and Brian running together and was happy to see them both for the first time. The were moving along steadily. I walked with them for a min then bid them good luck and kept moving. right about this time was the first time I ever drank Chicken Broth. Ended up having 3 cups during the race.....Not Good but made my stomach feel GREAT!!
I realized about mile 22 that I was gonna finish in about 4 hours 35 minutes which was incredible!! Best sign of the day was a 7 year old girl's sign at mile 24 that said "Holy SHIT your gonna do this"...I laughed and kept plugging. About 1 mile out I took a walk break with a young lady who was also about to finish. I said let's go and knew I was not stopping till the line. The feeling turning the last couple of corners was amazing. This is when I really got emotional. The last 100 yards down the shoot is a feeling I will never forget!! I knew I was close to 13 hours but to cross the line in the sun under 13 hours was AMAZING!! I knew if I did everything PERFECT I could break 13 hours!!! GREAT DAY

Nothing. Pretty Amazing Run.

Drank water, Poweraid, ICE, Sponges, 2 waffles, 1 gu, 3 cups broth, 1 handful of potato chips, 3 handfuls of pretzels. 2 cups of soda.

Drank 2 chocolate milks, bottle of water (did not want any more power aid), soda and a cookie. Changed clothes (used wet wipe to get some salt off) and then went out and stood for 2 hours to watch others finish. It was the best warm down. Wore the medal and my T3 shirt the entire time!!


Heat, wind, waves..not much


This was my first IRONMAN and I don't think there is anyway it could have been better. To be there with over 20 teammates and what seemed like 100's of T3 spectators on the course cheering us on it was incredible. Felt good most of the race. Had some lows but many more highs!!!