Virginia Double IRON - TriathlonOther

The swim went as well as any swim could go, I guess. Luckily for me Lauren helped me pick out my swim cap color. Thank God there was one pink cap left. This is truly my lucky day. :)

Usually I have problems with my wetsuit rubbing on my neck, but this time it was perfect, I had no issues at all.

The first loop was a bit crowded but I tried to just relax and not blow up in the first few loops. At the start of the second loop, Tony (Aluminum1) was just in front of me, so I drafted off of him. Drafting was the hardest part, not because it was hard to stay with people, but because there were so few people, I didn't want to be the obnoxious guy swimming all over them in a race with plenty of room.

Well, the swim had a slight right turn, then left turn as you headed out to the turn around, so that meant a slight right and left turn on the return. After watching the Triples the day before, I realized everybody stayed on the bouy line. But if you cut out the right turn and head straight to the near bouy, you could save plenty of time. So on my second lap I was behind Tony, but he turned at the bouy. I aimed straight for the turn around buoy and slowly passed Tony. When we got to the turn around, I had to adjust my goggles, so Tony pased me. He had about 10 yards on me so I pushed a bit and got on his feet again. When we were heading back I again took the shortest route and passed him again. The third lap, I had to take in some nutrition (Thank you Renee and Hollis), so he passed me again. Now I was looking forward to "Swim Circles Around Tony" game. Once again, I drafted off of him and again he took the right turn. As I was swimming I noticed his swim cap and one arm, then swim cap and both arms and now he was getting closer and closer. When I knew we were going to hit each other, I stopped kicking and let him run into my legs. I think he was trying to take me out for cutting the course :) After this lap, Tony stopped for nutrition, so I never saw him again during the swim. I got in one more lap then the guy with the red cap passed me...Game on! I drafted him and passed him on every return lap. He passed me when I stopped for food. But eventually we got out of whack and I had to swim solo.
I got in lots of really good daydreaming. The only thing is I didn't see anyone for laps on end and I feared I was last (even though I knew people were behind me). Finally I finished my last lap. I stood up and asked how many people were in front of me. The timers didn't know, but Lauren said I was 4th or 5th. Sweet. I took my goggles off and they were stuck to my face. I brought brand new goggles that I wore for the first today. I really should have loosened them...like Sherri said I should


Listen to Sherri when she suggested that I try on my new goggles before I get in the water

After the swim, we walked up the the bathrooms. I had a little trouble with my right calf cramping (or wanting to cramp) during the swim and I really didn't want to yank my wetsuit off, which always causes my calf to cramp, so Sherri gently removed the suit. I Talked to Lauren a little about soccer I think, then went in to the bathrooms to change. They had showers in there so I took a little shower and tried to get my clothes on my wet body.

Sherri and I had decided to leave my bike up the hill near the bike start with my bike shoes. I had my old running shoes on so I walked up the hill, then put on my bike shoes and the bike was on.

Nothing

The bike, ahhh the bike. Well, before my first IM, I was told by Paula Newby-Fraser (gratuitous name dropping here) that the best way to get through my first IM bike was to find a gear that I can push all day, then go one gear easier. That worked then so I thought I would go that route again in the double. The part of the course that concerned me was the 1/2 mile hill at the beginning. Once I started to spin up the hill, it proved to be no big deal.

Most of the rest of the ride was a blur. Here is a summary from what I remember. Ride for 2.5 miles, then turn around, rinse and repeat :)
Once again, Sherri and the rest of the BT crew were great. I didn't need anything, they took care of everything.

One problem that I always seem to have with my wetsuit swims, is my left glute tightens up which ends up being a pain in my back. It really bothered me during my first IM, but it hasn't been that bad in my last two. During the ride this weekend, my back was bugging me, so at mile 75 (lap 15) I stopped for a massage. That was the greatest massage ever! The MT worked out all of the knots and when she was finished, I felt like a new person. As I was leaving she said she was going home at 7 pm. That was the worst thing to happen to me. For the next 75 miles, all I could think about was what if I need a massage after 7 pm? At about 6:45, I stopped for another massage. I didn't really need one, but I didn't want to miss my chance for one. While I was laying on the table getting a pretty good massage, Sherri walked over and said "You better close your eyes, because this is your nap". WTH? No way, this isn't THAT good of a massage. I had the MT stop right there and I was on my way.

The one thing with this race that I regret, is that there were so many BTers that came all of the way down here to help pace, but it has been my experience that I don't do well riding with others. I tend to ride at their pace and I don't focus on my nutrition like I should. I do have to thank Grems, Shelly123, ernie and I'm sure I am forgetting someone else, because if this were a Saturday ride, I would love to spend more time with you, but I could tell even with you riding at my pace, I was more tired after riding with you. I don't know if it was the fact that I was talking or what. I do know that when I ride by solo, I self correct my pace and effort several times every hour. When I ride with someone that is consistant, I don't adjust when I need to. Again, I'm sorry I didn't spend more time with each of you, but it was something I knew would hurt in the long run.

At some point I caught up to Michelle from South Africa. She was suffering on the bike and was hoping to find someone to ride with. I was riding faster than her, but I thought I would slow down to pace her, because that shouldn't hurt if I ride slower, right? Well, the one lap I planned on riding with her, turned into her last three. You would think that riding slower would be easier, but it wasn't. She had such an awkward riding style. She would hammer up the hill, then recover on the downhill. Completely opposite of how I would ride, but true to form, I switched to ride like her. That took it's toll. I was beat. So now I am riding slower and working harder :(

Finally she finished and I went back to my normal style.I think I have some serious pacing issues :)

For my nutrition, I have no idea what I took. At the camp, Sherri would just say "Take this". I would say "OK" and eat it. She said that I went through almost a whole bottle of Enduralytes during the race. "Ok, I believe you". I did carry a bottle of water and a bottle that contained 3 scoops of CarboPro, 2 scoops of Cytomax and one scoop of Gu20. I set my watch and took a drink every 12 minutes. Each bottle is 600 calories and I would go through it every 1.5 hours. My crew gave me cheese sandwhiches and bananas, too.

Once the sun went down, I had to stop to pee. I had peed once after the swim and now it was about 8 hours later and I had to pee again. That is par for the course with me, but when Sherri found out I had only peed twice, she commanded me to pee more. I guesss my bladder is scared of her too, because I had to pee every other lap for the next 4 hours, then every lap, then every 3/4 of a lap until I finished riding.

At one point during the night I was watching the yellow line painted on the road. I was looking at the multicolored ground too. Part of the road was new asphalt and part was older, greyer asphalt. Sometime during the ride, I noticed that all of the asphalt was black, not grey and the yellow line is gone. Oh well...wait...that's not right...hummmm...OH CRAP! I was riding with eyes closed! Needless to say, I was wide awake after that :)
When I was finishing lap 44, the race director told me I only had to do 45 laps, not 46. That was probably the fastest lap of the day. I felt like I was on cloud nine. I was so happy to be finished with the ride

Probably learn to ride with others. I used to to be able to ride with others once upon a time, but I think all of this solo training has spoiled me with riding with people.

I was really happy with the ride overall. I had no saddle issues, no cramping, no bonking and nothing went wrong. I couldn't ask for a better ride.
I turned my bike computer on but I never looked at it. I didn't wear a HRM, so I have no idea what zone I was in and I didn't care, because it wouldn't change anything. I went as fast and as hard as I needed to.

I don't remember T2, but 31 minutes seems a bit longer than I remember...

I dunno, speed up I guess.

Ok, now I am 2/3 of the way through this tri and I feel really good, like better than I have in any tri I have ever done. I can't believe that my legs actually feel good. Now in the months prior I had laid out several little goals that I wanted to accomplish.
Sub 3 hour swim - check
Off the bike before 2 am - check
And now my last little goal, 16 miles or 8 laps before 7 am. MikeB gave me the idea to take a nap just before the sun came and sleep until after the sun rises. It is supposed to make you feel like you slept all night and now it's a new day.
So I started out on my run. This time I actually wanted pacers with me, because I know how I am. I would walk the whole thing if they left me alone :) The first person to run with me was Possum. Hollis was great. It was 2 am and she had so much energy you would swear it was 2 pm. That first lap went off pretty good. We walked up the first part of the hill and ran when it flattened out abit. After it got steep again, we walked to the top. At the top of the hill, we turned right for about .4 of a mile to the turn around. I remember running a little and walking some. I don't know why I walked, it just felt right, even though I wasn't hurting. Hollis and I talked about anything and everything, that was fun.
After Hollis was Frank. Frank rode his bike and that ended up being one of the fastest run laps of the day. I don't remember anything of the run except how much fun I had. Next was Hollis again, then I ran one lap solo. My solo lap went just like the others...except slower.
After the solo lap came Renee. Holy crap I thought Hollis had a lot of energy, Renee made her look sluggish. I could barely keep up with her (conversation and pace) :) I ran few more with Renee and Hollis, then it was Christine Miller's turn (deepbluesea). Once again, she was a hoot. I don't think I laughed as much as I did when we ran together. I don't remember much about any of these runs, but I do remember how much fun I had on each lap.

For nutrition, I didn't really want my IM cocktail, so we switched to coke and water. These women and Frank were so awesome. They even carried the bottles for me. I am so grateful, for everything they did. I finished lap 8 at around 6:15, so I ran one more loop. I got in 9 laps just before 7, so I finally got a chance to nap. Whooo fricken hooo!!! I got to the camp and Sherri led me to a tent that had a sleeping bag and some blankets all laid out. I got in but kept my shoes on so my feet wouldn't swell. Sherri zipped up the tent and I tried to sleep. I couldn't sleep because of all the noise outside. The next thing I know Sherri is yelling at me to wake up. WTH? I hadn't slept yet.
"You said I could sleep for 20 minutes!"
Sherri - "I let you sleep for 30 minutes and we couldn't wake you"
I think they are lying but, Oh well :)
After that my legs had stiffened up and I had no desire to run. The crew had a chair all set up for me. I sat in the chair for a few minutes trying to wake up and I said to Sherri "I don't want to run anymore"
She said "Ok, I'll get your bike"
"No, I'll run!!!!"
Just then Kathy Roches' husband stuck his head out of his tent and offered me a piece of bacon. He said "It has lots of salt" I was just about to say yes, but Sherri answered "NO!!!!" I said "yes" and quickly snatched it anyway. I stuffed it in my mouth before she could take it away. I might have mentioned earlier in our conversations that I couldn't stomach protein during long workouts, but this is bacon, that doesn't count, right?. For the record, that was the best bacon I ever had!
After that I started running again. I ran and ran and each lap was with a different person. What I loved the most about everybody, was they each brought something new to each lap. Even running with Christine (Lucy) we didn't talk much, but I really needed some quiet time too. Those laps just seem to come at the perfect time. Lucy is very quiet but when she did speak, she cracked me up. Once again another person with a great sense of humor. It was such a pleasure meeting and running with every single person out there.

Now comes the bummer part. I had run 9 laps by 7 am and it was now noon. I got to the camp and Sherri said I was on lap 13. I could have sworn I was further along than that. I ran to the top of the hill, trying to calculate my pace and laps. I got back down to the timing mat again and the people there said " Congratulations, you are 1/2 way (13 laps)" Crap. This should be lap going on 15 at least. I knew they were keeping track of my laps at the top of the hill, so I asked when I got up there. They said "you are on lap 11"...*pop*... I no longer had any energy. I just wanted to walk. I was in a funk for a while after that. That is when my pacers took out the emails and letters from all of you here at BT. That was what I needed, exactly when I needed it. Before that, I really just wanted to stop and go home, but that really helped to lift my spirits. Thank you all!!!!

I stopped for a massage and Sherri walked over to talk to me. She laid it out for me. I had to suck it up and run. And not the same old crap I had been doing, I needed to run. I had to knock off 4 minutes per lap, if I wanted to finish. I told her, I couldn't go any faster, but she told me I had to. Each of the pacers had strick orders to keep me moving.

The first person up was Renee, she kicked my a$$. I walked to the top of the hill. Then I made up my mind to run. I didn't just run 20 feet at a time, like the previous laps, I ran all the way back to the timing mats. I got back to the camp and Sherri said. I ran that lap 2 minutes faster than I needed to. That was just what I needed to hear. I ran the next few laps faster than I needed to, but I started to get tired. I hadn't been exhausted before, but now it was getting to me. I ran another 12 miles, before I needed another break.

A massage is written in my log book, but I don't remember it.

I ran with Renee for a few more laps and now the people on the course were having fun with the fact that I ran with a different woman on each lap. They kept asking "Is THIS your wife?". "Nope". I became the guy with all the girls...too funny. On laps 23 and 24, I ran with Andrew (Shanks) and Brett. I can't believe Brett was still out there hours after Gina had finished. And Shanks had been out there forever. Even though I had a good time with each of the women, it was also nice running with a couple of guys. Lap 25 was with Christine and Renee and 26 was with Lauren and Sheila. That was great. I was able to just sit back and reflect on the whole day.

At the turn around something happened. I don't know if I just let my guard down and relaxed, but I felt really heavy. It felt like my legs could no longer hold my weight. I was so scared that I couldn't make it the 1 mile to the finish. That last mile was the hardest. When I got near Sheila, I put my hand on her shoulder to hold myself up. Her tone changed. I think she realized I was in trouble. We carefully walked for about a 1/4 mile while she held me up, then I started to feel good again. We walked a bit down the hill, then Lauren went ahead of us as we got near the finish. As we rounded the last corner, Lauren and Sean were heading up the hill carrying the American flag. They gave me the flag and I can see the whole BT crew waiting for us. They were playing the national anthem and I got choked up. We all ran together, but the next thing I knew, it was just my family. While I think that was very nice of the BT crew, they had just as much to do with my finish as I did. They deserved to cross that line with me.

Make sure the whole crew crosses the line with me.
I would also try to actually run more when I felt good. Although I think I left everything on the course, I may have crapped out earlier if I had pushed it earlier.

Laid in a lawn chair waiting for the last few racers to finish. I also played with the boys who were The Greatest American Heros. Max has the power of super speed, so he ran around the chair cooling me off :)


Long a$$ course :)


Wow, what can I say? For the last year, I had been training by myself. I had become quite independent when it came to training. I didn't need anyone for anything, yet, there is no way I could have done this race by myself. For someone who was so independent, I absolutely needed the BT crew for everything.

It was such a humbling experience to have people that I had never met in real life, give so much of themselves to help me reach my goal. I owe them so much. I could never write just how much they all mean to me. I may never see these people again, but I hope they all know they have a special place in my heart.

When it's said and done, I won't remember who won this race. I won't remember what my split times or pace was. My memory of the details will fade, but the experience of the journey will be with me forever.

One last thing. Iknow I haven't written about them much, but Ihope I have expressed at least verbally to them, that I couldn't dream of doing any of this if it hadn't been for Sheila, Lauren and Sean's understanding and patience. They have supported me so incredibly much and I owe everythng to you.

Love you guys!