Ironman Wisconsin : Official Thread (Page 42)

NICE JOB MAN!

I am Ironman! Such a great experience, its kind of surreal.

The day for me couldn't have gone better!

I come from flat land middle of nebraska so I was slightly worried about all the hills on the bike but the bike was awesome. I knew my run was going to suck either way so I intentionally put all my eggs in a strong bike leg knowing I was going to lose time on the run.  

Actually started out feeling fairly good on the run but about mile 8 the wheels started to come off. I have never had any problem with ankle or feet problems but for some reason yesterday my feet and insides of my ankles were killing me! Miles 9 through about 14 were the slowest part but I was able to pull it together for the last half and bring my pace back down a bit!

finish time 11:35! I was cautiously optomistic about a 12hr finish time so I am absoulutey ecstatic about coming in at 11:35!

This was a great experience and it was awesome to meet a few of you at the group swim friday.

Looks like everyone else had a good day too! 

swim file: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/221123294

bikefile: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/221123304

runfile: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/221123316 

Just got signed up for 2013, which will be my first full IM.  (It seemed like such a good idea this morning!)

How was the weather this year? I assume the swim was wetsuit legal?

Happy training!

Congrats, truly an incredible venue.  you will not be dissapointed.

Weather was almost ideal this year with lows in the 50's at start and a High of around 70 mid day.  Only negative on the weather was a 10mph or so wind out of the North on the bike.

Thank you, my BT Brethren, and you are welcome!

365 days to go!

Congratulations to all of you Ironmen and Ironwomen!!  Feels great, doesn't it?!

Yes indeed.  It was good to meet you also, even though it was for a brief moment in the chaos of race morning.  

I signed up for IronMan 2013!  I am so excited for the journey!  I was a volunteer at the finish line and it was great to help out, and really pumped me up for next year.  I have a website that tells a little bit about how I got here.

www.ironmanjourneytomadison.blogspot.com

Wow!  I had a great time this year finishing my first 140.6 and becoming an IRONMAN. I planned on 15 hours and finished in 14:04:59.  I took it very easy on the bike and was able to run the entire final leg minus the big hills and aid stops.  I gained a lot of ground there and felt good the entire day.

I got to give a quick "Hi" to Tony, but unfortunately missed the rest of you.

Thank you so much for all the volunteer support.  The weather was great and I never expect it to be completely perfect.  I think we were as close as it can reasonably get to an ideal day. 

Congrats to all the finishers.  Jo, you WILL be back to get 'em.  Congrats to everyone who signed up for next year and have a great year of training. 

To a healthy year and many races to come!

Thanks for saying hi, I was spacing off when I saw you and it took me a second to realize who you were.  lol

I knew it was early and we were all very "preoccupied", but I wanted to at least take the opportunity to say hello real quick.  Don't sweat it.

Congrats on your finish.

Well, I DNF'ed in T2, as planned. I was very tempted to walk the marathon, but knew even the minimal impact, over the course of 26 miles, wouldn't be the best thing for my still-healing stress fracture. Despite that, I had a an amazing experience, and even having not done 1/3 of the race, I can safely say the event is easily worthy every penny of the massive entry fee. 

I had a very solid swim; I was hoping to break an hour, but just missed it, coming in at about 1:00:5X, 114 OA. I missed about three weeks of bike training during the first half of my stress fracture recovery, so the bike was pretty painful toward the end, but still managed a respectable 6:20 bike split. The wind picked up on my second loop and really sucked, and my hammies started cramping big time as I made my second climb up Old Sauk Pass. I summoned my inner Jens Voigt, though, and (quite loudly) told my legs to shut up. That got me some encouragement from the other guys around me, which really helped me up the rest of that hill. 

Thank you to everyone that volunteered; you guys absolutely f'n rock! My wetsuit strippers and T1 guy, specifically, were super aggressive, efficient, and effective at getting me on my way. 

I'm in for 2013 to redeem myself!

I found this on youtube.  It's a good quality video of the swim start.  I'm the guy towards the shore in the green swim cap

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0DgSmK6sbA

You going for 2013?  I'll be out there for #4... God willing of course.

I haven't been active on this thread, but I've been lurking all along (training, kids, life, etc.) but I wanted to add some random sights and thoughts from the amazing day we had in Madison yesterday.

1. I was Zombie-marching into transition yesterday morning and this tall, skinny guy with glasses started screaming at us like a banshee about something (motivational) and it clicked...this was 1sttimetri! I semi introduced myself and wandered in, but it was super cool to have a random BT bud, so Thank You Mr. Donkai! I loved it even though I couldn't articulate that at the time.

2. I have read (on BT) for years about how amazing the volunteers at IMOO are, but until I actually experienced it I didn't really understand what it meant. During the course of my day I had wonderful people dressing me like a big baby, happily following my orders while telling me how awesome I was, pointing me in the right direction, lubing me up with sunscreen and vaseline, and generally catering to my every race-induced whim. It was magical.

3. The hills on the bike course were a cross between Mardi Gras and the TDF.  I shouted at some guys in speedos (hey sausage boy, help me out here) and they went nuts! Running beside me, happily taunting me and finally sent me off with a slap on the butt. Priceless. I actually looked forward to the hills on the second loop just for the buffoonery.

4. Whatever you do, if you can be at the finish line for a while just before Midnight, DO IT! We almost didn't go (hubby and I finished close together) because we were so broken. But we dragged down there, and watched the magic. I saw a guy hanging around at the top of the chute, and I remember thinking what was he doing, why won't he finish? About 10 minutes to go, he comes thru with his wife and daughter (they were in their 60's, she looked late 30's-early 40's), and they all crossed together! He obviously got sent ahead because they weren't sure they were going to make it, and waited to see if they did. I can't tell you how powerful it was to see them all make it together. I cry every time I think of it.

5. When they tell you to put a little safety pin in your timing chip strap, DO IT! That mass start is no freakin' joke.

There's more, but that's what a race report is (surgery and iffy training, vomit, chain dropping, marginal kidney function, ridiculous items in special needs bags, etc.). 

Big thanks to everyone for sharing their day! I loved reading along and hearing how it went. I am so proud and happy and trying to hang on to the afterglow. I hope you all are too!

Regards,

QuincyF

I hope everyone had a great day!

Body marking was fun and a good workout with all the up and downs. I am glad you all had great weather and that the rain came and went the night before.

I signed up for 2013 but when I saw Observatory Hill I had a moment of doubt

Like someone else said, the crowd support was amazing! I too had read about it but it was so much more then I thought it would be.

Enjoy the rest!