This was a great surprise and awesome start to my day. We swam on Friday in two foot waves with lots of wind. Sat. was flat and calm so I had a chance to get in both conditions prior to Sun. My strategy was to be about 2/3's back at the start and follow just inside the buoy line to the first turn. I swam out and got into a good spot when someone up farther stated they were swimming a 1 hour race. So...everyone got freaked out and started treading back to me. Next thing you know it's like all of your friends just piled into the phone booth. Off goes the canon and it's a mosh pit. Hard to get through and around some folks. I kept my head and just kept plowing forward for that first 800m stretch. My goggles fogged which was a pain and I got rapped in the head once pretty good. Once I passed the first turn and moved inside the line I felt more in rhythm. Next turn and I got inside and stopped after about 50m and cleared my goggles. They remained clear for the rest of the trip. I stayed inside around for the next stretch and into the start of the final lap. I now had room to focus on my stroke and except for the turns had only some contact. My suit felt great and I was never rattled. All that lake swimming this summer plus some good coaching really paid off. I beat my expected goal by 10 minutes!

Get inside the buoy line immediately and have the confidence to start a little farther forward. I could've swam this faster but was struggling to get through the melee for the first stretch. Just a couple of minor navigational issues but not enough to really affect my time.

Man, can I take my own personal wetsuit strippers to every race? That was so cool! Off like a prom dress. I was laughing running up the helix. I planned on 20 mins. overall T times so this one is a little over but I didn't want to make a mistake that sacrificed comfort and also had all my nutrition w/ me for the ride. On the way out to the bikes I heard a shout and saw Deb up on the next level waving and yelling. It was great to see her. Like a dumb ass I ran past my bike and volunteers were shouting my bib number. I had my location memorized but just blew a gasket I guess. Got the bike and proceeded to drop it. Nice. Picked it up and headed to the mount line. Down the helix and out. Saw some of my cheering section just as I cleared the helix and entered the course. That was great.

Move through the actual transition just a bit faster. The run up the helix is certainly a factor. My main goals were to be comfortable and not let the HR get crazy.

This is just as hard and technical as everyone said it was. The good news here is there was nothing I hadn't seen before given my training in Georgia. The bad news is that they need to do some paving. I planned on a very easy ride from the helix out to the loop. While you deal with some hills it is generally downhill to Verona and uphill on the return. I was not going to get sucked into a 'race' to get out there and lose control of my HR. People were flying past me on that first leg. I knew I would get to see them again. And I did. Once on the loop I stayed at or around my LT religiously. There was a lot of hard breathing going on around me and I didn't want to bonk this early in the day. About halfway out on the first loop one of my fellow ATL race pals met up with me and I trailed him for several miles until another race pal blew by both of us. I eventually caught up to him and rode near him through the first loop. My cheering section was set up in Verona on Verona St. right after the turn. That was great because at the end of each lap I was able to stop and check in with them very briefly. One weird thing happened just outside of Mt. Horeb, I heard a clicking and saw something sticking out of my front tire. My heart raced as I figured this was some sort of tack or other sharp object that I picked up and would be looking at stopping and changing a tire. At the top of the climb into Mt. Horeb I pulled over and spun the wheel. It turned out to be a piece of duct tape! I removed it and felt so pysched afterward that I just kept my head down and moved on. There are three difficult climbs in the latter part of the loop. The last two are really cool as the locals stage it like the the Tour. They get real close to you and cheer w/ cow bells and drums and pat you on the back, run along side of you. Really inspiring. It's all you can do not to hump it up the hill and blow a 180 on the HR monitor. The ride back to Madison after the second loop was very windy and Whalen Road was awful. They need to spend about $3 and fix that thing. By the time I was within 5 miles of the helix all I wanted was to get off that bike. I raced into the city exceeding my HR speed limit but didn't care. It was time to run.

Not sure. I know I don't want anymore PBJ's that my mother makes. My God that woman doesn't understand that the J stands for JELLY! As in: "Put some on there with the damn Peanut Butter!". I tried to trade with the other kids in the lunch room but they were not interested. I was surprised at the slower ave. MPH since I had been training in the 18 mph range all summer. But, the mantra of the day was ride at your LT (ave.) And I accomplished that.

None of the above things are really done at this race. Someone grabs your bike for you. You run in your shoes to the changing area. It's just not the same as your standard local Oly. My transition was quicker although I desperately needed to hit the bathroom over the last 8 or 10 miles on the bike so once I cleared the changing room I headed to the Porta-John and let go about a 5 min. pee. That felt great and was the first of three on the run. Showed me that I was properly hydrated for sure.

Not much here. Remembering that comfort at this point was more important than saving 1 or 2 mins.

Started out feeling good. Run/walk with a 5/2 interval for the first 30 mins. At that point I wanted to go to 5/1's. I thought I'd check it out and if the HR got out of line I would revert back to 5/2. My strategy here was to finish in 5 hours or better. I just kept checking in with myself and saying '5 hour marathon, 5 hour marathon'. I had one moment of weakness around Mile 10. I was feeling really good but all of a sudden got a faint spell. I had just taken a few sips of Gatorade at the water stop and thought I had really f'd up my fluid and gel management. All of a sudden this guy runs up to me and says; "Drink the broth, it really helps". I ran off thinking who the hell was that? Then I realized it was Ron. I got to the next stop and drank a 1/2 cup of broth and immediately felt good. Next stop another cup. After that about every other stop I downed some of that stuff. With a 600 cal/hr requirement I realized that my intake had dropped significantly from the bike. The broth plus Gatorade, gels brought me back. I saw Deb all over the place with Vicki and Roseanne and that was awesome. Also my ATS training pals were staked out in a huge party zone and made me laugh. They chalked the bad-ass hill on campus and I was alone running up it I looked down and caught my name. I just started howling at the "Lucky Joe Schum" reference. Usually a sarcastic note to some calamity that always happens to me at some event or training session. They were so psyched that I had seen it that they chalked another spot in front of their adopted bar. I felt strong from there on in just marking off mile after mile. It got dark on me right around Mile 22/23. At this point I stopped for one last pee break and then ran in virtually alone. Things had gotten quiet and even though I had athletes around me either finishing or going out for their second loop I was in a very quiet place. A fellow Ironwoman advised me that before I finish to take a moment to reflect on the day. As I climbed out of the last neighborhood and began to circle the capital I did just that. I stopped at the last water stop at the base of the hill. Got a quick sip of Gatorade and headed up the hill to the finish. As I turned the corner I was really happy and smiling. I felt great and my pace had picked up over the last mile or so. As I headed down to the archway there was a sign that sent you left for another loop or right if you were finishing. I yelled out to the volunteer that I was a 'Finisher'! and banked right heading for the tape. It was pretty funny because there were two girls handling the ribbon and someone had just gone through when I came barreling down the road. They had to scramble to get it across for me. I cruised through the archway and over the mat. The handlers grabbed me, removed my chip and walked me away. I could still hear the immortal words of Mr. Riley yelling "Joseph Schum, youuuu are an IRONMAN!!!!!". What a day.

I might consider stretching out to a 6/1 or 7/1 interval. Also, get that broth going asafp. Other than that, I followed the plan and maintained my composure.

As I got over the mat, my handler's got me a Coke. They escorted me to the end of the barrier where my friends and Deb were. I went through and was mauled. What fun! They walked me over, sat me down and gave me another coke, a beer and much hugging w/ boob. Makes you want to go out and do another one this weekend.


Faster would've required a deviation from the plan. I was supposed to maintain an HR right around my LT. At the end of the day I averaged 147 and my LT is 145 so that's about as precise as you can get to following a race plan.


Madison is a great host town. Everyone gets into it and all the businesses, volunteers, residents, etc. are very friendly and helpful. They love this event. Now, this is a hard course amongst all Ironman courses (which not one is 'easy') so I believe that you have to focus mentally and physically and do the training to achieve true success here. With that said, I recommend this race to anyone who wants to be an Ironman. The feeling of success after this race is enormous. This is one of the great race towns of the Ford Ironman circuit. It will be hard to beat this one, impossible to recreate.