Ironman Louisville - TriathlonFull Ironman

It took us about 25 minutes to get to the start of the Time Trial start. Once again, as we were moving to the start of the race, I felt very calm and confident. As we got to the dock, and began jogging to the water, I was excited and ready to go.

The first portion of the swim was very calm. I had a few collisions with other swimmers, but I tried to stay way to the right to avoid congestion. As I got to the top of Toehead Island, I noticed that a few people were standing up and walking. Stood up, adjusted my goggles, and then went back down into freestyle swimming.

As I rounded Toehead Island, I again stayed way to the right. I didn't quite make it to Indiana, but I was probably closer than 95% of the others in the race.

Even though every race official always said "DO NOT EXPECT ANY CURRENT IN THE RIVER", I didn't believe them. I fully expected a current to push me to the finish BUT I WAS WRONG. In fact, I've heard of many people having their best swims at Louisville, but I could tell this was going very slow for me.

As I climbed out of the water, I looked at my watch and saw 1:45. Then I looked at the distance, and found that I had swam 2.75 miles.

Stay closer to the action, and practice staying on track.

Felt so good to be out of the water. I knew it was a VERY slow swim, and just wanted to get out of there, and on the bike.

I felt I already had a good suntan from training so I bypassed the sunscreen guys. ... and I'm glad I did.

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In my previous long training rides, I always got caught up in races with faster riders. So my theme for Ironman was to ride easy, and NOT race, trying to keep my pace around 18mph.

I had also earned a reputation for staying in my big chain ring for most of my training rides. Today, I planned to use both rings equally.

I started the race with Infinit in my front aero 20oz bottle, and both 24oz bottles behind my seat. I also had 40oz of water in my Speedfil. I successfully drank 20oz of Infinit each hour, and an equal amount of water. As I approached the Special Needs bags, I remembered that I didn't have mine so I started taking Ironman Perform as a substitute for Infinit. Fortunately, I seldom have any stomach issues so everything felt good.

One nice thing about being a slower swimmer is that I get to pass lots of people on the bike. This gave me tons of confidence, and made me want to push the bike, but I also remembered that I need to take it easy IF I wanted to have anything left in my legs for the run.

It was so cool to see my family three times on the bike course. I felt bad that I couldn't stop and talk, especially when I saw other athletes stopping and talking to their families, but I knew they understood that I had "Unfinished Business" and needed to keep moving.

I LOVE MY SPEEDFIL!!!! I learned that it is important to communicate with the aid station volunteers, yelling at them (nicely) to remove the bottle cap on the water. This allowed me to shove the bottle into my speedfil and I never needed to plant my feet on the ground. At one point however, I did need to stop for about 15 seconds to open an Ironman Perform bottle to put in one of my 24oz bottles.

Like so many others, I was shocked at how hot the bottom of my feet felt on River Road. I had this sensation during one training ride, but this day was even worse. I worried that it would carry on to my run, but after dismounting the bike, I never thought about it again.


Nothing. I may have been able to push a bit harder, but on this day, with the heat in the coming marathon, I felt it best to take it easy.

T2 was fast. I grabbed my bag, ran into T2, and realized I only needed to lube my toes, switch socks, put on my shoes, and grab my running hat. I bypassed the sunscreen team again, and ran out.

Once again, it was so encouraging to see T3 families there yelling for us. Todd Petri told me that Kathy was only a couple minutes ahead of me, so I took off trying to catch up.

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As I exited the Transition, I felt tired, but also felt comfortable and ready for a marathon. As I got on the bridge, I met Kathy, and we both felt good, but I could tell she was looking very strong.

As I hit the turnaround on the bridge, I suddenly felt that my quads were ready to cramp so I backed out of the pace, and stuffed cold sponges on my quads under my tri-shorts. This helped a bit, but I still felt they were ready to cramp so next time, I stuffed ice under the shorts. Eventually, I used every aid station to dump ice water down my shorts. So much for the cramping issue.

Kathy and I planned to do a 3:30 run / 1:30 walk. Even though I felt I could have initially pushed harder, I stuck with the plan. After 4 or 5 miles, I started looking for excuses to walk more, and I did.

It was so helpful to see so many T3'ers out on the course. If I happened to be walking as a T3 jersey approached, it made me start running.

As I was within 1/2 mile of the final turnaround, I saw Kathy again. She was temporarily struggling, but I knew I couldn't catch her because I was feeling weak too. I hit the turn around, did my share of walking for a few more miles, but then started to feel better. I ran most of the final 3 miles, bypassing the final aid stations.

For the past six months, I had planned my finish line approach. I was going to high-five the crowd on both sides, and then look up, point to God, and thank Him for all that He's done for me. But somehow, like all too often, I forgot about God when I got to the finish line.

And it was such a good feeling to see Bob & Lynn at the finish line. As always, they are just amazing in their selfless giving for all of us.




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After the volunteers handed me off to my family, I stumbled a bit, and of course that caused some concern so I went to the Medical Area for observation. They quickly determined that I was dehydrated so I got 2 bags of the (very popular) IV. I then saw Kathy in the Recovery area and we had a chance to talk about our races.


The heat may have been a factor, BUT I have to say that I never felt bothered by the heat throughout the day. I felt like it was a normal summer day, with average temperatures. Yet, according to almost everyone, the temperatures reached into the lower 90's, so that may have contributed to my need for walking more than I had planned in the mid-section of the race.


Several years ago, James, Chris & Pat had a vision for the Tremont Triathlon Team. Without their vision, I would never have entered or finished this Ironman. With 21 T3 athletes on the course, this day was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

I also need to thank Kathy Petri who allowed me to ride along on her training plan with her Triathlon Coach (Val Gattis, Victory's Edge Multisport Training). Since December, Kathy kept me accountable to the training plan, and pushed my training further than ever before. Because of this, I rode twice as many miles, swam twice as many miles, and ran more than any single year in the past.

.. and yes, I am soooo thankful to God for my health in these "Golden" years. When I was in my 30's and 40's, I never would have imagined that I could still be PR'ing in my 50's. Thank YOU so much!!!!