Ironman Wisconsin - TriathlonFull Ironman

This was a tough swim. After my swim on Friday I figured I would have a sub 1:10 easily. Started about 6-8 rows back and waited for the cannon. My sightin was really good, maybe that was the problem. I was swimming perfectly at the bouys and getting my ass kicked. The first turn is about 800 yards away and that is where the real chaos starts. Ever watch an animal planet documentary where all the wilderbeasts are trying to climb the steep river bank as the crocs are picking them off? That's nothing compared to an IM turn. Just got through it and I took the first of the hard shots to the face. Hit me square on in the goggle and I really thought it broke the lense. Saw stars on that one. Had to pull away from the crowd to get everything situated. I was never able to find clear water the entire 1st loop. By the 2nd loop it seamed I had a little clearing and started to feel like I had a pretty good stroke again. Bam! Another right hook square to the head. This one about put me out for awhile. I had to stop and get my wits about me after that one. Finally gor going again and was once again swimming well through the final 2nd lap. After making my last turn I was heading in the last 150 yards or so and there was a guy doing the freakin breast stroke. This guy was a great breast stroker because he was going as fast as I was freestyle. You know how you know a good breast stroker? They have a massive and wide kick. He hit me in the chest so hard on a kick I completely had the air knocked out of me. This was about 100 yards from shore. Came out of the water with a decent time but could have easily knocked 3-4 minutes off it.

Avoid getting hit:) Not swim so close to the buoy line next time.

This is a really long transition area. Still no excuse to go this slow. I was not feeling very good at this point. I had swallowed a lot of water from the beatings I had taken and things just wern't right with my stomache. Plus I couldn't decide on weather or not to wear arm warmers. Volunteers were awesome here as well as everywhere else.

Not sure. I needed the time to gather my composure.

Stomach started acting up before I even hit mile 1 on the bike. Thought I had just swallowed too much water and it would go away. It never did. Everything I ate or drank sat in my gut like a big rock. I had a massive gut ache the entire ride. I have always heard you will hit low places during an IM and you just need to work through them. I must have hit a low 20 times on this bike. I felt so crappy. Met up with Leapdog at about mile 10 and we switched lead bike back and forth several times until he passed me for good around mile 45 or so at the start of the hills. He helped my attitude a lot. Plus I kept thinking of what Mike Reilly said about the race. His main bit of advice was there are so many things in IM beyond your control.. You have complete control of your attitude. Stay in control of that and you will be fine. Everytime my mind started to drift off to a bad place I just refocussed and was able to push on. Crossed paths with Tammy somewhere on the loops and she was looking great. Saw my entire support team of Kelly, Aly, Nik, Kevin, Mom and Dad at the top of the 2nd big hill and that gave me a huge boost.I lost one of my major weapons around mile 40. My weight. I can absolutely fly down those long winding hills. I mean freakin fly. Coming down the 2nd hill of the 3 main hills I almost crashed. I have no idea how I held on. I was going about 38 mph and my wheel started wobbling really, really bad. I pulled it slowly to the left to try and get away from others and hopefully find a soft spot to land. As I was feathering my brkes and making my body like a parachute I someone saved the inevitable crash. Figured I had a flat or something broke on my front wheel. Nothing. Just had a weird cross wind that interacted badly with my HED 3's. This scared me so much I rode my brakes down the rest of the hills. I never went over 28 again. These are the same hills I was hitting high 40's on during training. All that sacrificed speed. Wind really started to pick up on the 2nd loop and made for some tough riding going into Mount Horeb. Started getting dizzy around mile 80 and knew I had to start force feeding or I would drop. Started cramming down bananna halfs at the last few stops. Stomach paid dearly but at least I could focus a little more. Going up the Helix at the end was horrible. My stomach was all ready gone and now I was spinning in circles. Please let me vomit.

Don't know. Never had those problems in training. As horrible as I felt though I am not all that dissapointed in bike time. I had hoped for closer to 6 hours but may have put myself in more trouble by pushing for that time. This was actually a decent ride. Hit the hills without having to get out of the saddle.

This was another long transition time. At this point I really was feeling sorry for myself and was in a bad place. Then Mike (Oipaloi) came in and sat next to me. He was looking great and was fired up. He gave me a great little pep talk that turned my attitude and got my ass out the door. Mike can never know how much he really helped me. I got out the door moving and told him I would see him soon.

Nothing

I actually started to feel a little better when I started the run. I was hitting about 9 minute miles and knew I had to slow down. Was able to get things under control and start laying down 10 minute miles. Mike passed me back about mile 1.5 or so and I wished him luck. Around mile 5 or so things started going bad again-quickly. My legs were great, my heart rate was great, I just couldn't eat or drink without major gut distress. I would blast a fart to awken the dead and feel good for about 30 seconds and then back to the pain. Finally gave up running around mile 8. It just hurt too much to be jostling around. Saw JoeR several times on the course and he really helped me out. He was spectating this year but dominated this course last year. He and a friend really gave me a boost everytime I saw them. I caught up with Mike around mile 5 and he was struggling his stomache wasn't doing him any favors. You'll have to read his report to get the story but it wasn't good. I saw Birkie walking at one point also and knew things weren't going well for him. Saw Rob fly by and knew he was having a great day. I saw Kelly and my brother Kevin at the 6.5 mile turn around. Seeing them really halped my attitude. I was still running some at this point and just gave them a thumbs up. By the half way point I had long given up running. I had walked the last 5 miles and knew I could walk in a respectable finish. I had seen too many people push hard and end up riding the ambulance. The fans are so incredible on this course I started to tear up a few times. Your race bib has your name on it and I must have had a thousand people scream my name wishing me luck and urging me on. These people are so genuimely concerned and happy for you it is impossible to explain how much it helps. Seeing Kelly and Kevin at the half way point I knew I would finish. I was hurting really bad but knew what they had done to come support me and started thinking about all the others who have inspred me along the way. I also thought of the others who really wanted to do this race but didn't get the chance. Finally I thought of Kelly's brother Todd who passed away a month ago. I knew quitting at this point was just not an option. Did some calculations and told Kelly to expect me around 9:15 but probably closer to 9:30. Then I did the first smart thing of the day. I took off my fuel belt and handed it to her. I couldn't hack the Infinit or the gels anyway. Just taking the pressure of the belt off my stomache started to halp some. Off I went walking my merry little way. I was walking a pretty solid 15 minute miles. As I walked through Camp Randall on the 2nd loop I started feeling a little better. I had tried to eat anything up to this point. Oranges, grapes, pretzals, broth, cola. If they had it I tried it. Nothing would go down without intense gut pains. Finally I was getting really woozy and tried Gatorade as a last resort. Gatorade has always tore me up and I avoid it at all costs. It went down and I started feeling better within minutes. Holy crap! When's the next aid station. Hit it again about mile 18 with the same result. All of a sudden I realized I could start running some down hills again. Forced myself not to rush into it. I just didn't want to put myself back into the bad place. I saw Mikes wife Karen at some point and she gave me the bad news that Mike had to drop out because of really bad problems. It broke my heart to know the guy who really helped me get going would not be finishing his 2nd IM. Hitting the turn around at State street on mile 19.5 I knew I wanted to run. I promised myself to wait until mile 20. Talked to Monty (Montezuma) at about this point and he was struggling also. We walked for a little while together and then I started to run. I could only go 5 minutes or so at a time but I was running. I basically walked 5 ran 5 the rest of the way in. I could have gutted it out and went the rest of the way in on a run, but what was the point? I could save 15 minutes by running but I would put myself in jeapordy of not attaining my first goal- finish with a smile. As I saw the lights at the Capitol and heard Mike Reilly's voice booming I knew I was about to become an Ironman. At this point I couldn't slow down. I knew my whole family would be there and I wanted to give them a chance to see me but I just COULD NOT slow down. I sprinted through the finish line all by myself and gave the crowd a couple of fist pumps. As I heard Mike Reilly say those famous words "Bryan Logue from New Prague Minnesota... You are An Ironman" I knew I would be back. I saw Kelly right away and then found Nik, Aly and my parents. As I came through the finishers shoot an old friend I haven't seen in years was my "catcher" Then a new friend AmyJo asked her if she could take over. I told Becqi I would get in touch with her and gladly went with AmyJo. She brought me through everything and got me on my way. Thank you AmyJo, next year is your turn. Met up with friend, training buddy and 2x Ironman Leapdog right after and talked to him for awhile. Started to rain pretty hard so we packed up the family and headed back to the hotel.

Nothing. I did what my body allowed and had a good race. I was a little dissapointe at first and then realized I put up a good time and have a lot to be proud of. I learned a lot about myself yesterday and realized I am able to push through some pretty tough times when needed.

AmyJo walked me for awhile and then Kelly took over and walked me for awhile. Got some food and hit the road. After drinking probably 3 gallons of Gatoraid on the run my body just would not shut down. Laid awake until about 3:30 and finally caught an hour or so of sleep.


Do I really have to say it?


What can I say? NASports puts on a world class event. Everything from the fans to the volunteers to the setting is top notch. I will do this race again next year. As the pain fades the memories become better and better. BT'ers are some of the greatest people around. See you all next year.