Ironman Louisville - TriathlonFull Ironman

Being a TT start, I wanted to get down to the swim area early. I needed to hand my bike bag to the volunteer overseeing the transition bags, put my nutrition on my bike, talk to Jeep Fleeb for a pre race interview and head down to the swim start. I thought I was doing pretty good time wise getting out of transition but when I got down to the swim start the line was already really long. So much for an early swim start!

Standing in line for 1 ½ hrs before an IM race is really boring. When I had to use the bathroom I got some looks from people when I got back in line. After using the bathroom a couple times it was getting close to the pro start. They went off when it was still pre dawn and I was so far away I couldn’t see who was who anyway. I decided to wear the Speedo FastSkin leg suit and not shave my upper body. I put the suit on when the pro’s went off and of course I had to pee again. FYI - In a wetsuit, if you have to pee before you get in the water you can just step in the grass and let it go and it comes out your ankle in to the grass. Not so in a FastSkin that REPELS WATER!!! If this does happen to anyone, the only way to get the droplets off the suit is to jump up and down and look like you are warming up to stretch!

It was finally time to start and the line started to move. There were probably 300-400 people in the water before me. As I got closer to the dock I noticed that others had to use the bathroom as well. There were a number of puddles as I made it down the ramp and it hadn’t rained in 2 days. When I approached the swim start we crossed a timing mat and everyone started to run to the end of the dock. I jumped in feet first and started to swim toward the island to get out of what little current there was. I was weaving in and out of swimmers like crazy. I couldn’t see them until I was right on top of them and had to make a couple of quick blocks with my arms when I came up on some breaststrokers. (I think breaststrokers should have to drag a buoy behind them to warn people that come up on them.) When I dodged out of someone’s way I took in a mouthful of water and swallowed it. YUK!!! I threw up a couple times in the next few minutes before I took in some more water and threw up a couple more times. Just before the turnaround I came up an a rather large woman that wasn’t swimming very fast. If there is a woman reading this that all of a sudden had a hand up there butt, I apologize!! As soon as that happened the song “I Like Big Butts” popped in my head and didn’t leave until I was well into the bike! THANKS CUBE!!!! Once I got to the turnaround it started to get easier to swim and people started to spread out. I wasn’t pushing the pace at all after throwing up a number of times, I pretty much set the cruise for 70% or so and cruised on home. I kept looking back to see if anyone was drafting me but there wasn’t. I thought I was going to be close to an hour and was surprised to see 55min and change.


Not drink the Ohio River! YUK!!!

Took a little extra time getting help with my top and getting my race belt on.

No much

I got to the transition tent and had a volunteer help me with my tri top, sunscreen and helmet. When I got to my bike I put on my race number with the MyAthlete tracker, put some Cliff Shots in my pockets and headed out of T1. I noticed just before I left T1 that my chin strap wasn’t fastened. Whew, that was close. I hopped on the bike and was off. It took about 2 blocks before I got my feet into my pedals, everything was flat so I didn’t need to rush it. I knew after swimming in 84 degree water that I was going to be dehydrated, not to mention throwing up a few times, so I started with the fluids and in the first 30 minutes had finished 32 oz of water and a bottle of Gatorade. I grabbed a bottle of water at the aid station and another bottle of Gatorade, squeezed the bottle into the NeverReach and grabbed 1 more to pour over my legs and back. That felt pretty darn good. I set my watch to go off every 20 minutes and took in a mouthful of gel solution every time I heard it. The first 10 miles or so was fairly flat and there were about 6 other riders that kept shuffling positions, keeping the legal distance but it was just hard to spread out. They finally took off and I didn’t see them again for a while. My plan was to take the hills easy and work the flats and down hills. I wasn’t paying much attention to speed, just cadence and HR and I kept seeing some really low HR numbers. The hill sections were not too bad at all, my MHR on the hills was only 159 which is barely in Z-3 so I seemed to be executing the plan. After about an hour my stomach seemed okay and I started with the solid nutrition. I ate 3 Cliff bars over the next 3 hours along with Cliff Shots while trying to finish close to a bottle of Gatorade each hour as well. I grabbed a water bottle at each aid station to refill the NeverReach and another to pour over me and got a new Gatorade bottle as well. I just tossed what was still remaining and looked forward to the cold drinks. The volunteers were very good at handing out the water and supplies. I went through the stations at 20+ mph when I could and never dropped a bottle. I mixed a few bananas in there as well for something different.

About 20 miles into the ride I arrived at the out and back where a couple significant climbs were. I was flying by people on the down hills and just spun up the hills without much effort. The ride through the horse farms was beautiful. Some horses were out and seemed to be curious about what strange noises were coming from those funny looking things going by. J I turned back onto Rt 42 to head out to the loop in LaGrange. There was a headwind the whole way out and that was kind of annoying, it seemed to be blowing in my face for ¾ of the loop. Go figure! I was thanking the people for standing out in the heat to cheer us on and when I looked up in the sky at one point I saw some rather large vultures soaring. I mentioned to one family that the vultures were a nice touch, I hope they stay hungry! The turn onto Rt 42 back to the start of the second loop was a nice break. Finally, a tailwind!! Man did that feel good. At this point I didn’t have much company, it was nice to see people when I hit the second loop. I passed a couple pro women somewhere around the beginning of the second loop, couldn’t catch Hillary though. I was keeping on top of my hydration and nutrition and was really needing to pee. I tried to stand up and let it go but just couldn’t go. I reached a spot where I was catching a few riders and looked back and saw no one in sight and just pulled over and went. It was a quick pit stop and I got right back to business and caught the riders ahead. As I passed them someone came out of nowhere and went by me. It turned out to be Pat (devilwillride) who said that he wanted to say that he chased me down. J On the second loop I came up on a group of the Mexican riders that were riding 4 abreast and passed them. Next thing I know there is a motorcycle next to me showing me a yellow card and telling me to stop at the next penalty tent. At that point my back was getting tired and my back wheel was making a strange grinding/clunking noise so I figured the 2:00 would be a welcome rest. Unfortunately, the next tent I saw was at transition. Making the final turn on the loop on to Rt 42 was like heaven. I saw the sign Louisville 33 miles and there was a nice tailwind and it was almost all down hill!! Whheeeeeeee!!!! I actually ran out of water coming home the last stretch. I still had Gatorade and I was sure there was 1 more aid station. I needed a gel but wanted water to wash it down with. I finished the Gatorade just as I came up to the last aid station. I grabbed a water, poured it in the NeverReach and poured some on my legs and made it home. My rear wheel was making noise still and actually slipped a couple times in the last 7 miles. All that matters is that I made it back. When I packed my bike it looked like my rear hub had failed and the assembly just fell apart when I took the skewer out.

Absolutely nothing. I think this was as close to perfect as the ride could have been.

Had to spend a penalty in the penalty tent during transition and stretched my back out before I left T2. I also used the porta potty because I had to piss like a race horse!

Not have a penalty to serve and get out of T2 faster.

What can I say about this run? I came off my bike and my back was killing me. I stretched a lot in T2 but knew I just had to get out and start running. On the way out of the tent I figured I might as well hit the toilet because I was definitely hydrated on the bike. As I came out I let the sunscreeners go wild, I have to say that they didn't compare to the sunscreeners at IMWI!! :) Out on the course we had to go up a slight grade and out and back over a bridge. I stopped and walked through the aid station and took a water and Gatorade and started running again. My back was really tight but the first mile went by in just over 8 min. The next two miles my back wasn't loosening up at all, I stopped to stretch it for a minute at an aid station then tried to continue on. I walked most of mile 5 and part of mile 6 then I felt like I could run again. Apparently my back said it was okay to run but my stomach had a different idea. When I started to run, my stomach would knot up and I felt like I had to "squat". I went into a porta john and it was gas. My belly felt fine when I was walking but would knot up as soon as I would start to run. On my runs when I have to "squat" the urgency doesn't go away when I walk and after I go I am good to go. This was very different. I figured if this is what the day was going to bring me so be it. I am still going to have a blast out here. I pretty much stopped at every porta john for the next 15 miles or so. Sometimes it was gas, other times it wasn't. I wasn't about to take a chance and let one rip on the course, that would kill my finish line pic. (Not to mention be remembered as "The Aquaphor guy who sh*t himself at IMKY!!") I had a lot of fun walking with different BTers and chattin' it up with anyone that was around. The volunteers were great and the cold water and gatorade felt great! I saw JeepFleeb at the end of the first loop and he was great at telling me how good I was doing until I got to the run. :) I of course realized this because I was WALKING!!! ;) I actually did not know how well off I was coming off the bike. This day just wasn't going to be a good marathon day. Someone asked me if I was all right as I was stretching and I told them that I was fine, I wanted to negative split the run so I walked the first 13 miles. :) Before the turn around I saw CubeFarmGopher and chatted with him a bit then told him that I would try to run and catch up to him. I remember seeing the smile on Mike Rogillio's face, he looked like he was having a blast!! I said hello to Gaaary, he looked great as well. One of my coaches, Paul Fronhofer (pfron), saw me going the opposite way. As he passed by me he tried to get me to start running with him. He was holding 9:00 miles and I ran with him for about 1/4 mile but had to get to another porta john. Ugh!! I walked for a while with AbbieR, she was my savior with that tiny little piece of Tums she gave me. I saw CubeFarmGopher again while I was walking with Abbie and he yelled out that he thought I was going to catch up to him. I yelled back that Abbie looks better than he does! ;) I started to run for a little bit and said good bye to Abbie when my stomach decided to put the brakes on and I had to find a toilet FAST!! I spent a little while in that john, I leaned back a little and felt the whole thing wobble. I thought for sure it was going over!! WHEW!!! When I came out some of the walkers looked at me funny, I had to look down to see if I had some toilet paper sticking out or something. Nope, they probably just saw the thing move and wondered why. When I started running again I saw Abbie again. I said "Some friend you are, I go to the bathroom and you didn't even wait for me!" :) Somewhere in here I saw Jeep Fleeb again and gave him my fuel belt as I wasn't using it anymore. Thank you Jeep!! I think I was around mile 19 or so when Sean (trisean) ran by, I stayed with him for a little bit then I saw Brandon run by looking very strong. I tagged along with Brian for the last 3 miles or so, he was a machine out there. There were people cheering saying how strong we looked and I was thinking that Brandon was running the marathon that I wanted to run. He rocked his race and I felt honored to be able to run the last few miles with him. I will have to say that I told him with about a mile to go that I may have to use a john. He replied "Oh no you don't, you're running the rest of the way with me!" Thank you Brandon!! During the last mile we were talking about his finish pic. I believe it was decided hat backwards and sunglasses on. :) We turned the corner to the finish and I said I was backing off to give him the whole chute. Brandon played that chute like a pro, slapping the fans hands on both sides, hands up in the air, a great finish to his race. I decided to take the hat off and hold on to my sunglasses. I came through the finish looking pretty good because I WALKED for 17 miles! :) I slapped some hands coming into the chute then threw my hands up early and just held them up there until the finish. I got to the finish and saw them wheeling Brandon away in a wheelchair. When I came through the finish, I saw tnickerson and she walked me over to the convention center. I have to say that I didn't see that coming but what a race he had!! I was glad to be able to run the last few miles. It was awesome seeing everyone on the course.

Not drink the Ohio River, carry Tums from now on, sleep more than 2 hrs the night of a race!

I had a massage, ate some chicken and rice, got cleaned up a bit and headed back out on the course to walk or see some other BTers. I caught up with Mike Rogillio and ran the last mile in with him. Headed back out to see Shaun but didn't see him. I met up with Dollar, JeepFleeb and Jesse at the finish line and saw Shaun come in. Walked Shaun over to the food and then to his hotel. Hopped in the car and went back to the hotel.


No sleep, drinking the Ohio River, GI issues on the run.


I need to come back to this race, I definitely can rock this course. The venue is awesome and the finish line has got to be one of the best in the world!!