Madison, Wisconsin United States World Triathlon Corporation 72F / 22C Sunny

Total Time = 16h 10m 24s Overall Rank = 2223/2839 Age Group = M40-44 Age Group Rank = 372/384

***Warning this is very long winded***

My "Pre-Race Routine" started all the way back in September, 2011. I signed up for my second ironman event after talking a buddy in to doing this race with me for my second and probably last time (yeah right).... My training was going pretty good, a few little injuries and illnesses over the winter, but my "real training" wasn't going to start until June.

When June came, I was pretty fit and was ready to ramp things up. Things were going along pretty smooth until June 22nd. I had to drop off my truck at the dealership for some service work and needed a ride home. I asked my dad to pick me up at the dealership, which he eagerly agreed to do. My dad arrived in his 1991 Alfa Romeo convertible, which he restored to be just like his 1971 race car, sans the roll bar, that he got rid of just after I was born.

On the way home, my dad pulled over and told me to take the wheel (you see where this is going)... well 4 miles later while going around a 90 degree right hand curve the car got loose on me and ended up in a ditch on top of us. My dad broke his neck in 2 places and had a compound fracture to his upper arm. I had a concussion and a big cut on my head which required several stitches. I also had numerous facial injuries, I still think at least one fracture to my cheek/nose area.

Anyway, this put a toll on my training. I was able to get back to work about 2 weeks after the crash, but had decided that ironman was probably out... actually this was the first thing I told my wife when she arrived in the ER... I signed up for the Racine IM 70.3 which was a few weeks later. I showed up for the race determined to not use my crash as an excuse. Well I ended up DNF'ing. My first DNF, and I was devastated.

I kept training and building my mileage slowly. In August, a friend asked me to ride a 90 mile road "race" with her here in WI. That was my line in the sand - If I couldn't do that ride, IMWI was OFF! I ended up riding with her and had a very nice day, slow but nice. And I was pretty confident I could do the mileage in Madison

One more 100+ mile ride and I was feeling ready for the IMWI hills.

Fast forward 2 weeks, I arrived in Madison. I knew I had under trained for the race and decided that my only goal would be to finish better than my crummy time in 2010 (http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=228044 ).

On race day we arrived at the race site at about 5:30. Did the usual stuff, dropped off SN bags and loaded up our bikes. Because I had a newbie with me, I walked him through getting his bike ready and the way SN stations worked. This was probably more helpful to me, that it was to him. I had no stress! We got our wetsuits on at about 6:15 and started making our way to the water and said our good bye to our families. - We were in the water about 4 minutes before the gun went off. So no real physical warmup...