2010 Ironman Wisconsin Part 1

This is part 1 of my Ironman race report. I'll do my best to get the other parts up as quickly as possible but because I have so many photos to go through it may take longer than I would like.

We left for Madison on Thursday September 9th, a little later in the morning than I was hoping for at 7:30. Packets were available for pick-up until 4:00, and although I wasn't planning on getting mine until Friday, it would have been nice to sneak in before everyone else arrived in town. The drive west through Ohio was without incident and soon we were welcomed to the crossroads of America: Indiana!

The drive through Indiana, much like Ohio, was uneventful. We were able to enjoy the scenic farmland and RV manufacturers that is northern Indiana. One of these days we're going to stop and visit the Motorhome and RV Hall of Fame!

Gary, Indiana, on the other hand, was a colossal crap-hole. It was a huge eye sore and smelled bad. But we knew to expect that so we stopped for lunch and filled up the gas tank before getting that far.

We followed the directions of Gyna, our GPS, who wanted to take us on the scenic Chicago Skyway. It sounded much more impressive than it actually was. Why is it even called a Skyway? I could see the downtown skyline but I was more concerned with driving in the congestion that is Chicago. We had stop and go traffic for miles and it took us at least half an hour to get through Chicago.

Someone told me the Sears Tower had changed it's name, but we still found it!

I will admit, Chicago is very impressive. I wouldn't want to live there though.

Finally, after many hours on the road and $26.00 in tolls, we reached Wisconsin!

Arriving in Madison.

I was able to snag a room downtown at the Hyatt Place Hotel when one became available about 4 weeks out from race day. Otherwise we would have been staying at the Staybridge Suites East, about 8 miles from downtown. Our hotel was superb! We felt almost spoiled staying there. It was a brand new facility, immaculately clean, with all the amenities we could need. And the staff was some of the most helpful and friendly we've ever met! We had a king room with a sleeper sofa, plenty of room to put all my gear, and free Internet to stay connected.

The view out our window.

There were some very hip and stylish condos right below our window.

For dinner Thursday night we decided to walk over to an Italian restaurant called Paisan's. It was only a couple minutes walk just around the corner a bit.

They had beer.

And martinis!

Bailey was enjoying the bread and I nearly cleaned my plate. The first of a few large pasta dishes I would have to enjoy before race day!

After dinner we walked down the street to the race site. They were still in the process of setting up everything.

An empty transition area. This thing was HUGE! (And this is just looking one direction!)

We took a few minutes to walk around the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Monona Terrace. It was a fantastic venue and really ended up working well as a race site.

Overlooking Lake Monona. This would all be lined with spectators for the swim on race day.

Looking back at the Wisconsin State Capitol. Both Mrs. P and I thought this was probably THE cleanest downtown area we've ever been to. We felt so comfortable walking everywhere that weekend!

We returned back to the hotel and went for a swim. The pool was small but Jr. P and I had fun and it relaxed me so much I was able to sleep well that first night, which is something that doesn't happen much for me in hotels.

Stay tuned for Part 2!

I Did It!

At 10:22 PM CDT Sunday evening, I became an Ironman! It was an amazing journey and experience. I was very fortunate to have so many people rooting for me and following along online. THANK YOU!!!

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I won't get into much of anything right now. Look for full race weekend re-cap blogs coming soon with photos! We took a bunch!

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Madison was a great city. The hotel was one of the best we've ever stayed at anywhere! We were able to walk everywhere we needed without any trouble. The restaurants we ate at were all very good. One so good, The Cooper's Tavern, that we went back on the night before the race!

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Just the facts: My finish time was 15:22:31, placing me 2082 of 2398 finishers overall, and 297 of 352 age group. My swim time was 1:53:00, a PR time for that distance! My bike time was slow at 8:06:41, averaging 13.8 mph. My run time goal was to run sub 5 hours and I finished with a 4:59:13 marathon! Lots more details to come!

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Today I'm still sore in spots but not as bad as I expected to be. I have some minor muscle soreness and an achy foot. Except for muscle fatigue, especially noticeable when climbing stairs, and the bee sting now being very itchy (story to come), I'm feeling pretty darn good. Good enough for a 24 hour endurance run this weekend? Well, maybe not that good.

Introducing Margarita

About three and a half weeks ago I made the decision to invest in a triathlon specific racing bike. I had some concerns regarding Bella on my long rides and on speedy descents, and with something as big as Ironman I wanted the appropriate gear. At one month out from race day, it was then or never. I drove up to Bike Authority, the Cleveland area triathlon bike specialty store, on a Thursday night and left a couple hours later with the 2011 model Felt B16. Even though I was keeping him there well past closing time, Doug took his time and made sure everything was fitted to my measurements and working properly before I left.

Even though the B16 is Felt's entry level carbon tri bike, it certainly isn't short on features. Quite the opposite! It's packed with upgrades from Bella, the Giant OCR1 road bike I have been riding since 2006.

A full carbon fiber frame, fork, and seatpost. Stiffer than the aluminum I've been riding, but more shock absorbing too for more comfort on the long rides.

Check out the slick hidden rear brake in the photo below! It's been moved down to the chain stays to hide it from the wind.

No need to run cyclometer wire. I've been riding with a Garmin Edge 705 for a while and it just mounts to the stem. Because it's a GPS unit it reads speed without the use of magnets on the spokes! Plus I get elevation data, heart rate and cadence if I want it, and a mapping of my route when I'm done.

Here is where I did some more investing: hydration. In addition to the Profile Aero Drink bottle that hangs from between the aero bars, I decided to move my other bottles to behind the seat instead of keeping them mounted on the down and seat tubes. Again, I went with carbon fiber since it was available. If I'm going to do it, why not do it right? It makes mounting a bag a little awkward, but I think this will work.

I changed out the stock Felt saddle with the more anatomically comfortable Adamo saddle I've been riding on. It may look funky, but it feels much better in the right places!

With this model year, the B16 comes equipped with Shimano Ultegra derailleurs, an upgrade from the Shimano 105's I've been riding on. They shift very nice!

Internal cable routing makes for a very clean look and gives the wind even less to grab on to.

Another view of my behind-the-saddle area. Two bottle cages on each side frame a mini pump mounted on the very back. I decided to switch from carrying CO2 to a pump just from a simplicity standpoint. A pump is easy to use and if you don't get it right the first time, you can do it again.

I've put about 200 miles on her already, including one half iron tri at The Great Buckeye Challenge. She's amazing to ride and now that I've had some fit tweaks performed, can only get better. I can now fly down hills that would have had Bella shaking to the point it was scary. Getting used to the bar end shifters took a little time, but now that I'm comfortable with their location I don't have to get off the bars as often, making me more aero.

Here's to hoping we make the bike cut-off Sunday by hours and not minutes!

Paula Deen Would be Proud of Me

I'll be taking plenty of "Butt'r" with me to Madison: Chamois Butt'r! I must first admit, I've never used it, but it's gotta' help. Right? Things were getting a little chafed on my last long ride and I'm hoping to prevent that from reoccurring. Plus the packets are small enough for me to stash in my special needs bags.

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Hey, I'm 5 days out. I'm allowed to worry about the small things now!

T-6 Days

It's getting closer... 26 pages of information for the athlete. I took the bike in for a final tune-up on Saturday and began hearing about what happened at IM Louisville last weekend. 98 degrees and 90% humidity + people not wanting to drink the PowerBar brand fluid led to a water shortage at the 80 and 90 mile aid stations on the bike. From what I've read, that event now holds the record for the most DNF's in an Ironman event. Lots more things to think about now. I hope we'll be hot, but not THAT hot!

2010 Great Buckeye Challenge Half Ironman Triathlon

My first triathlon of the year was on August 15. I was hoping to participate in at least a couple others, but due to events happening this summer beyond my control, it made sense to not plan any races until late in the season. So no build up like last year. Just straight to a half IM distance event: the Great Buckeye Challenge at Buck Creek State Park in Springfield, OH.

I was hoping this race would be a good training race for IM and an indicator of my fitness to that point. As it was only 3 weeks out from race day, if I wasn't in shape there wasn't much I could do about it anyway. But I had some very long rides in already, as well as long swims, and hot runs. All my swims had been in the pool so the open water part would be new for the year, but it was just a training race.

Once set up in the transition area I wanted to get right into the water to warm-up for the swim and acclimate to the open water. Water temperature was decent, but there was a wind blowing across the reservoir creating just enough small chop to make swimming against the current tough. I'm mostly a left side breather and trying to breath swimming into the wind was hard. Hard to the point I didn't know if I'd be able to do it. The swim was two laps around the buoys set up in a long rectangle. We would start from the beach, swimming out to the first buoy and turning north. From there it was a long swim down to the end, where we would make two right turns before heading back, this time with the wind and current aiding us. After the first lap was done, we got to do it again! I left the water disgusted with the conditions and worried about making the swim cutoff, as seen in the photo below.

I tried to stay relaxed and waited my turn to start. There were also sprint and mini distance races being held that day and we went last. It took over half an hour before the half distance waves were called to the starting line. I was in the third wave. I started towards the back again so as not to get in the way of many other people. The start went well and I wasn't dropped nearly as quick as I thought I would be. Heading out the far side was as hard as I thought it would be, but luckily I was able to develop a rhythm to the waves and got my head up higher to breathe without inhaling a bunch of water.

I encountered one drawback to wearing a wetsuit while swimming that day: too much buoyancy. The way the waves were coming in, how small they were, was just enough to slam me back down into the water when taking a breath. It hurt and was very tiring mentally. I was getting beat up out there. My other big problem, which I can't attribute directly to the wetsuit, was a temporary overheating. At least it felt like I was overheating. It may have simply been stress induced near panic. At one point, about halfway down the far side of the course, I felt hot all over. Even the top of my head covered by the swim cap. I was fighting the urge to rip my cap off or even unzip my wetsuit to let the water cool me off. It was nearly maddening! Fortunately I had the presence of mind to realize it wasn't overheating and just a panic attack. I concentrated on relaxing and getting my breathing back under control. It passed as quickly as it began and I pressed on swimming.

My swim split was 1:05:22, over ten minutes slower than at Steelhead last year. Upon reaching shore I was surprised to learn I wasn't the last person out of the water. But I was close!

Once on dry land I was more in my element. I took my time in transition, making sure socks were on correctly and I had everything I needed for a long ride. Then I was off on my third ride of my new tri bike. (Long story for another post) I wasn't planning to hammer the ride, but I wanted to ride harder than I will at IM. The course proved to be hillier than I expected and the wind gave us serious headwind at a couple points. Road surface conditions on the two loop bike were very nice, with one stretch of freshly paved road possibly being the nicest road I've ever ridden on! My bike split was 3:21:04. Not great but not bad for me either.

I was looking forward to the run, as it's my strongest of the three sports. By the time I finished the bike the clouds departed and the sun was out in all her glory. I've been training in heat all summer so bring it on! In the photo below I'm heading out on the course with a little encouragement from Jr. P. The course was well stocked with aid, but I was smart to wear my Fuelbelt with my own fluids. It was a hot run and I needed as much electrolytes as I could get.

I felt great on the run! It was so nice to be able to run well after the rough swim. Just like at Steelhead, not a soul passed me. I made like a machine and just ran. I would offer constant encouragement to those I was passing whom both looked strong and looked pretty out of it. While I didn't suffer from any cramping, the heat slowed my pace considerably. With a 1:54 run split, I wasn't setting any half marathon PR's.

All in all a great training day. I got some open water experience before IM. I was able to get a serious ride in on the new Felt. And I had a strong run at the end. I like the half IM distance. It's a manageable distance. It doesn't feel like a second career training for one. I look forward to competing in more half distance races in the future. I'll let you know in a week if I plan on doing another full!

8 Hours at Pine Hollow

This is way late, I know, but getting caught up on my summer would be incomplete without writing about my experience volunteering at the Burning River 100. The weekend was bookended with me picking up and returning three HUGE electric generators, takes-two-people-to-lift-200-pound generators, sandwiching an evening and very early morning stint at the Pine Hollow Aid Station.

Pine Hollow actually had two aid stations. The first was at mile 70.9 when runners arrived from Happy Days. The second was after a short loop on the Salt Run trail at mile 74.2. From the time I arrived at 7:30 PM Saturday night, I joined an energetic group of workers greeting runners as they made the climb up to the aid station from the Sound of Music Hills. Since we had such a good number of workers, we were able to personally escort runners to the tent, get bottles re-filled for them, point out the food, obtain drop bags, answer questions, offer encouragement, and point them the right way for the Salt Run loop.

Of course at mile 70 the runners were coming in tired! But as the night wore on, it was shocking (and I've seen a lot) to see the condition of some of the runners. It really had me re-thinking my intentions to enter BR next year as my first trail 100. I saw people I knew coming in hurting. People I knew dropping. We had a lot of people drop at Pine Hollow, about 30 between the two aid stations.

Two gentlemen who dropped were running unsupported by crew or family. They couldn't go any further and had no one to pick them up. I was tired and was planning on going straight home after the aid station closed, which is the opposite direction of Cuyahoga Falls where the finish is. As it turned out, no one else at the aid station was planning on going to the finish either. Well, I wasn't that tired, I guess. I was able to give them a lift to the Falls and dropped them off around the corner from the finish and their hotel. Both guys were asleep by the time we got there and I felt bad having to wake them up.

Note to self: have support crew on-call for point-to-point 100 mile run. As I've since learned, some of the problems that day included: lack of appropriate training, under-nourishment, dehydration, going out way too fast because it was cooler than normal, and general inexperience running trails and/or ultras.

BR100 2011 registration opened yesterday. I haven't signed up. Yet. The early-bird price doesn't increase until December, by which time I will have registered for my first 100 mile trail run.

What Happened to August?

I mean, I remember seeing it on my calenders every day. And I know I was busy doing all kinds of things. I just don't seem to see any mention here of the month taking place save for the previous post with my mileage totals.

I think I burnt out, is what happened. July was a great training month and I had hopes of continuing that through August as well. I did OK, but not what I was hoping for. I lost interest in both training volume and in recording my efforts. I kept to my big training days on the weekend just fine, but the days in between I would find myself either unmotivated to get out the door, or just wanting to relax at home. I think I've done enough training to get me to the finish line. Unfortunately just getting to the finish line isn't what I had in mind a year ago when I registered for this thing.

I had some good training sessions last month including:

-5 Speedwork sessions
-Swims of 1.2, 1.25, 2.0, and 2.5 miles
-Long rides of 54, 88 and 116 miles (the 116 being a one-way ride to C-bus)
-Long runs of half marathon length
-Running in the heat
-Running while tired
-2 brick workouts
-1 half iron training triathlon (more on that in a separate post)
-and 4 rides on my new Felt tri bike (more on that in a separate post)

I hope they will be enough. I know I'm starting to self-doubt a bit now that race day is 10 days away, but I didn't stick with my training schedule very well.

The other day I came across a quote, possibly used by another blogger, and I don't recall to whom it is attributed, but whenever I start self-doubting my preparedness I try to think of it and it helps a little: "You go to war with the army you have, not the army you wished you had, or the army you might have had." (Or something like that) Now, I don't equate competing in a sporting event to be anything remotely similar to what our nation's soldiers are doing for us in our name, but it makes sense to me, right now, in my situation.

I'm ready for the swim. I won't be setting any speed records, but I am capable of beating the cut-off. Ditto for the bike. With the new ride I'm more confident, comfortable, and faster than before. Although I haven't been training the run as much as I would like, I'm hoping all the early season mileage and ultras will help me finish in decent shape.

August Numbers

Mileage for August:

Swim - 7.45 miles
Bike - 297.55 miles
Run - 64.2 miles

Not the kind of mileage I was hoping to log last month, which is partially causing my unease about going into this thing in 11 days. And I can't believe I didn't post at all during August! I've some catching up to do!

July Numbers

Numbers for July:

Swim - 8.1 miles
Bike - 375.14 miles
Run - 108.62 miles

Again my running mileage is taking a hit in order for me to spend more time in the saddle. I've missed a few long runs in order to get in some long rides. And time is pretty tight, of course, which makes getting everything done that I would like to very hard. I'm happy with the totals for the month. July and August are the big months with big workouts and it's showing.

I still need to jot down my thoughts about volunteering at Burning River last weekend, but I'm getting ready for the longest training ride on my schedule before Ironman this morning. I'm needing 110 miles today. I'm not worried about the distance, it's only 10 more miles than the ride I did a couple weeks ago. I'm more concerned with the course. I'll be riding a point to point, unsupported, solo ride from home to central Ohio. I have the route all mapped out so I hope it goes well!