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Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance - TriathlonFull Ironman


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Wilmington, North Carolina
United States
Setup Events
50F / 10C
Sunny
Total Time = 14h 53m 16s
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = M40-44
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

I really like this venue! Did the HIM last year and this IM this year.

My first 140.6.

Well, first impression is that Timberman 70.3 hurt me worse than this race.

Anyway, I didn't sleep worth a damn. I saw every hour on my watch during the night. Gave up at 2:30 and got up. Considering I'm used to getting up at 3:00 that wasn't too off base.

4 SouthWestern rolls and 4 cheese sticks with a 4 pot cup of coffee. Breakfast of champions!
Event warmup:

None. I wish we could have. By the time the cannon went off we were a group of ice cubes.
Swim
  • 1h 27m 21s
  • 4224 yards
  • 02m 04s / 100 yards
Comments:

It was COLD. Actually the air was colder than the water. The air temp was between 38 and 50 depending on which weather report you listened to. This was my first mass start and in all honesty I've had more washing machine action with some of the HIM wave starts I've done.

I got into a rhythm and just kept on trucking. If I caught someone's feet for a bit, fine. If I did not, that was okay too.

Whoever was responsible for ordering the current to help the swim needs fired. None. No current. Hell, it might have even been the end of the outgoing tide. That would explain a lot. That's what the RD was saying at the award's dinner, that we were in either the zero tide at all time or at the tail end of the outgoing tide where there was still a bit of an uphill swim for us.

About 1/3 of the way through some boat went by and we got the wave action off that. Wow, that was interesting. Threw someone onto me it was so bad.

By the second turn buoy I was just tired of swimming. Not tired but tired of swimming. I wanted out. My calves started twinging and the right one cramped up hard for a minute. I kicked a little and it went away. I'd stop and it would be back after a while.
What would you do differently?:

Not much. I liked my performance for this one. Yeah I could be faster but I'm not for now.
Transition 1
  • 15m 49s
Comments:

Run up the dock, to the strippers, under the fresh water sprinklers, down the sidewalk, across the street and into T1. Grab your bag and head to the changing tent. My 15 minute transitions were not odd in the least. We were all putting on a bunch of clothing. Arm warmers, leg warmers, tights, cold gear shirts, gloves, shoe covers. It was COOOLLLLDDDD. I did a full change out, obviously, as did just about everyone else. I don't remember seeing anyone in just tri suit for the first half of the bike.
What would you do differently?:

Not much. It takes a bit of time to get dressed and unhinge the car :)
Bike
  • 6h 30m 51s
  • 112 miles
  • 17.19 mile/hr
Comments:

Holy Headwind, Batman. 70 miles of steady 10 knot headwind or quartering headwind. By the time I turned South and had that as a tailwind I didn't care anymore.

Wonderful ride. There was only a few spots of actually bad road that felt like cobblestone. The vast majority of the roads were older asphalt with tar stripes and it was easy enough to avoid the bumpity bump.

Right before I got onto I40 titeloops comes up to me and says, "Your disc is HUMMING!" Apparently he recognized my bike from BT. That made me smile.

Riding on the interstate on a bike is an interesting experience. Cars doing 80ish. At least they weren't buttheads and trying to knock over the cones. This year they had us in the left lane. Guess it's a pain in the butt to have to regulate all the on/off ramps with bike traffic and only one travel lane. Makes sense. Niiiicccceee pavement there.

Turned onto 421 and started into the back woods portion. This is one of the most pleasant rides I've ever done (except for said headwind) Lots of stuff to watch and see. Such as the 15 foot tall metal chicken guarding the gate at one house. HUH? Yup, that's a chicken :)

I avoided the aid stations, I try to do these self sustaining and for the most part do a good job. I had six bottles of HEED, Sustained Energy and Perpeteum mixed for about 250-300 calories each. Last year I had them mixed for 350 each and I ended up drinking water half way through as I couldn't stomach it any more. I've found I can do 250 basically all day. That means I need to supplement with bars so I brought along a handful of Cliff's Bars and one apple granola type bar made for this. That was GOOD! I'm going to have to try to remember where I got it or what it was called. I got it on a whim and wanted to try it out.

Considering I lost a lot of situational awareness about 4 or 5 miles into the run I think my two bars total was too few. I need to eat one about every 1.5 hours. I'll work on that for IMFL next year.

Special needs. I'm not positive but I think we played two or three hands of bridge while we were stopped there. I took off everything but bike jersey (with my bars) tri shorts, socks and toe covers. Thinking back I believe I should have taken the socks off but it wasn't a show stopper that I didn't.

Did I mention headwind? I'm used to doing 18.5-19 MPH when I'm just tooling around and I was along the 17.5 average when I stopped at SN. When I went on again it was down to 16.5. Oops. But it was a fun couple hands of bridge. Peed there so I wasn't dehydrating.

Ever onward. Damn, will the headwind NEVER stop? I was singing, I told myself jokes. Oddly enough I'd heard them all before. I was counting animals I passed. I was naming roads. Saw a sign "Fayetteville 64" and I laughed "Heyyy, I'm in NC" Then I realized I WAS in NC. Oh well.

Volunteers were outstanding. I'm serious. They were worth their weight in gold.

Played dosie-do with a girl for a bit and we laughed at that "My turn"

Played it with a guy on a silver felt tri bike that I'd never seen before. I saw the S.A. flag on his down tube and talked with him a bit. He had the bike for about 8 years. Weld marks so it was an AL frame. Thought that was interesting.

Dude was off in the treeline and he had a Felt B12 leaning against the tree as he was peeing so I yelled, "NICE BIKE"

Hit the 100 mile mark on the way back down. I laughed. First time I've done 100 miles on a bike ride.

There were these tractor trailers with HUGE triangular pieces blocking the road as we came up to the bridge back to the battleship. Had traffic all kinds of screwy. forced us onto the shoulder or riding literally on the white line to keep going.

The Marquis de Sade designed this course. At the end of the bike ride and at the end of the run there is the bridge from hell. It's about a 1/2 mile long and rises a good 100-150' in the middle. it hurts going up and going down.

I'm not thrilled with the speed of the ride but having no idea how any of this would shake out and still wanting to finish I'm okay with my bike.
What would you do differently?:

I need to eat a bit more, especially towards the end. Need bars and probably four of them for the whole ride.
Transition 2
  • 14m 42s
Comments:

Not much to say. I changed to an Underarmour Heat Gear short sleeved shirt and my running shoes.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing.
Run
  • 6h 24m 35s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 14m 41s  min/mile
Comments:

Having never run over 18 miles this was an experience. Weird it didn't hurt more than it did. I know I need more electrolytes than most people so I took a Salt Stick capsule every hour. Never cramped. I got twinges, mostly in my right hamstring but never cramped.

Somewhere around mile 4 I lost it. I honestly could have gone to sleep right there on the side of the road. I knew that was BS and I've been more out of it with less at stake so I knew I could keep going. Walk when I couldn't run. Run when I could. I started in on the double cups of HEED when I started feeling woozy. That snapped me out of it and I came back about mile 6.

As a side note, I did the HIM here last year. My run time was 3:03 for the 13.1 of the HIM. My first loop of the same 13.1 for this year was run at 2:53. I was flat out ecstatic!

I kept the run when I can, walk when I can't up and walked up and down the four hills of this course. If you've done it you know what I'm talking about. If you have not there are two hump back bridges, one is 1/2 mile and really steep and the other is about 1 mile and a more gradual slope. Both hurt. Then going into town there is this downhill drop for a block and coming out of town on the other side is this vertical cliff, or so it seems, for a block. Homeboy is walking those both up and down. After a while down hurts as much or more than up.

HEED, Pepsi, Coke, Broth (Ummmm, broth), kept me going. I forgot to pick up my Salt Stick pills for the second half of the run so thank goodness they had broth at almost all the aid stations.

What wall? I was still running in the 10 minute miles near mile 18. I was running and walking about 1:1 ratio by then but I never really got pissed or felt emotional about it all.

I have no idea when I decided I could do it or what the heck got into me but about mile 24 I started running for real. About mile 25 I was seeing 9 minute miles on my Garmin and I was wondering who the heck was making my legs move so fast. I didn't hurt. I didn't cramp. I was FLYING. Did that all the way to the finish line.
What would you do differently?:

Not much. I now know I can push a little harder. The question is how badly do I want to hurt the next day.
Post race
Warm down:

I ended up with the beginning stages of hypothermia. I was shivering uncontrollably and just could NOT get warm. I found a space blanket someone stuffed into the arm of a trash can and lined my jacket with that. One of the volunteers brought me hot chocolate and that helped considerably.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

The unknown. This was the first bike ride over 100 miles and my first run over 18 miles. Also, I must be a bit different than a lot of people here. I don't much care about making myself hurt too badly for this. A little sore is fine but not able to walk afterwords is for the birds.

Event comments:

I look forward to doing this one again after 2011's season.


Profile Album


Last updated: 2009-11-09 12:00 AM
Swimming
01:27:21 | 4224 yards | 02m 04s / 100yards
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Good
Suit: 2XU C:2 full sleeve
Course: Down the channel
Start type: Run Plus: Shot
Water temp: 63F / 17C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Average
Waves: Average Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 15:49
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Yes
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: No
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
06:30:51 | 112 miles | 17.19 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Good
Wind: Strong
Course: Looping with most of the loop going North and only the last 40 miles South.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 14:42
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Good
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
06:24:35 | 26.2 miles | 14m 41s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Good
Course: Two loop out and back.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 5

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2010-11-14 6:13 PM

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Subject: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance


2010-11-14 6:32 PM
in reply to: #3210504

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Royal(PITA)
14270
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West Chester, Ohio
Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance
Sweet job! 

That wind sounds brutal and you still had a respectable time.

CONGRATULATIONS, Dan!!!
2010-11-14 6:45 PM
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Extreme Veteran
546
50025
Oakland, Florida
Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance
My wife and enjoyed breakfast on the cruise with you this morning.  Hope to see you at other races.  Will stay in touch.
2010-11-14 6:53 PM
in reply to: #3210504

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Master
2538
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Albuquerque
Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance
Awesome job, congratulations! Sounds like you enjoyed every minute of your first 140.6
2010-11-14 7:39 PM
in reply to: #3210504

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Expert
1066
10002525
Raleigh
Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance
Nice race!
2010-11-14 8:24 PM
in reply to: #3210504

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Champion
7595
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Columbia, South Carolina
Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance
Great job!  So nice that you could improve your first loop time over your 1/2 time last year.  That shows huge improvement.


2010-11-14 8:53 PM
in reply to: #3210504

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Extreme Veteran
371
1001001002525
Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance
Just got back from Wrightsville. It was great to meet folks, and to see Brian and Dan at the cruise today.

Dan, that's so funny that you mentioned that Fayetteville 64 miles sign. I remember looking at it and thinking to myself "I'm glad I'm not going (that far) to Fayettesville" and then realizing, uh oh, I've got even further to go!

Brian, great way to stick with it in the face of many challenges.

And congrats to everybody else!

It was a hard race for me, and I'm going to take some to figure out what it means for me in terms of signing up for all three sports next year.
2010-11-14 10:34 PM
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Extreme Veteran
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Maryland
Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance

Way to go IRON DAN!

2010-11-15 5:59 AM
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Melon Presser
52116
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Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance
HOLY AWESOME IRON DADDY BATMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations!!!!

I would have LOVED to be there to give you a {{{MELON PRESS}}} in person but here it is.
2010-11-15 6:48 AM
in reply to: #3210504

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Extreme Veteran
1942
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In front of computer when typing this.
Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance
Nice job!! Enjoyed your RR!
2010-11-15 7:06 AM
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Extreme Veteran
829
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Tennessee
Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance
Enjoyed the report,,,,great race!!


2010-11-15 8:06 AM
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Champion
19812
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MA
Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance

Congrats Ironman!

Sounds like race day was signficantly different with current and wind than in past years. Way to adapt and just execute your plan.

I did same thing at IMFL when saw folks on side of the road by saying feeling better.

Super job on your run nice to see your first half of IM Mary faster than last year's HIM run. Progress!

Enjoy your accomplishment and your new status of Ironman.

Recover well and see you at PCB next year for your round 2 of IM.

 

2010-11-15 9:24 AM
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Regular
126
10025
Southern Indiana
Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance
Great job and nice race report.
2010-11-15 9:25 AM
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Master
1286
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Mt Pleasant, SC
Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance
Good job  Chief!

Good race report.

Kevin
2010-11-15 9:37 AM
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Master
1254
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Chesapeake, VA
Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance

Congrats on becoming an Ironman!

2010-11-15 10:08 AM
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New user
7

Dix Hills
Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance
Congrats Dan. "You are an Ironman" now. Thats amazing. Thanks again for the help on Thurs at the practice swim. I plan on coming back next year to either do a faster Half or try the full. I'm going to take a few months to think about it.


2010-11-15 2:43 PM
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Pro
4828
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The Land of Ice and Snow
Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance
     



What more can I say?
Huge congrats my friend!!

Edited by aquagirl 2010-11-15 2:45 PM
2010-11-15 2:45 PM
in reply to: #3210504

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On your right
Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance
Great work Dan.
2010-11-15 3:06 PM
in reply to: #3210504

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Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance
Thank you all!! Seriously. It's BT that actually kept me going more than once so it's all y'all's fault!

I do appreciate the well wishing. I like interesting race reports that have more than the dry data only so I try to write them.
2010-11-15 3:45 PM
in reply to: #3210504

Member
38
25
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance
Great job IRON MAN!! The broth was the best.
2010-11-15 6:00 PM
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New user
15

Washington, DC
Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance
Great race report! I really enjoyed reading it. I'm the guy with the silver Felt B12 that you yelled at while I was peeing. Then I saw you again in special needs


2010-11-15 6:55 PM
in reply to: #3210504

Extreme Veteran
353
1001001002525
Randleman, NC
Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance

Awesome Daniel! I had a very similiar experience at B2B in 2008. I was really getting concerned about the shaking after the race and I was also wrapped in a thermal blanket! You stuck it out and had a great race. Hope to meet you sometime.

2010-11-15 10:36 PM
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Champion
10550
500050005002525
Austin, Texas
Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance
Congrats on becoming an Ironman! 
2010-11-17 9:01 PM
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Veteran
186
100252525
Virginia Beach
Subject: RE: Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance
Excellent race report... also thanks for keeping us together and informed on the discussion board.
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