Just Emily and I made the trip up to Madison this time and our kids were staying with their Grandparents in Illinois. The days leading up to the race were very easy and very relaxing. On Thursday, I rode the 42 mile loop (well, almost all of it – when I got back to Verona, I made a wrong turn and cut off a mile or two) while Emily did her long run. Then Friday, Emily and I went down to the Monona Terrace for a nice open water swim.
Oh boy was it CHOPPY!!! In 2007 it was not bad at all, but we were both getting tossed around and slapped in the face pretty good. We went for about 25 minutes just to get the feel of the water.
Practice swim on Friday AM
Saturday I checked my bike and gear bags in and then settled in for the afternoon to watch the Buckeyes whip up on the U of Miami! It was a nice, relaxing afternoon. We had gotten plenty of sleep the last few nights and I was feeling very ready for the race to come. That night we had a relaxing dinner and attempted to go to bed early. Still didn’t get a lot of sleep, though – too excited about the race.
The alarm finally went off at 4 and I got up and got ready. Rinsed off in the shower to wake up, made my pre-race meal and got everything ready. I was feeling pretty relaxed even though I didn’t get much sleep at all. We drove down to the Alliant Center and took the shuttle over to the Terrace. I pumped up my tires and put my nutrition on my bike first.
A shot of the lake from the top of the terrace
Then I went into the Terrace and put my Fuel Belt bottles in my T2 bag. Then body marking and I was ready. I had some time with Emily so we wandered down the helix and towards the water. About 15 minutes to go and I got in the water. I stood by the edge for a bit and soaked in the environment. Then the pros were off and we had 10 minutes to go. I moved up a bit but stayed towards the outside.
Then, without much warning, the canon went off and the day had begun! From the very beginning, it was must a mass of humanity. You basically have to swim with your head up for a while and just try not to get too panicked. There were 2500+ starters this time around and you could tell! It was crowded pretty much the whole time. I tried to get into a rhythm and just swim, but it was tough. Nonetheless I kept plodding along and the 1st turn buoy finally came. At the turns, it gets REALLY crowded, so I tried to stay wide and out of the scrum. Then I made my way back towards the start of the loop and was hoping it would thin out some, but it never really did. Even on the 2nd lap, it was still crowded basically the whole time. I kept going end eventually came around the corner of the 2nd lap towards the finish. I was hoping for a swim in the 1:12-1:14 range, but came out in 1:16 something. It’s a very short part of the day, so I wasn’t too worried. I saw Emily, got my wetsuit yanked off and started the run up the 4 levels of helix. I didn’t want to mess around and kept moving quickly passing people. I went into the Terrace, grabbed my bag and went into the changing room. I put my socks on, put my helmet on and headed out. I just carried my shoes because it is a VERY LONG run to get through T1. I made my way towards my bike, stopped and put my shoes on and a volunteer unracked it for me. I grabbed it and headed down the helix on the other side.
Swim: 1:16:21 (138/352 AG, 918/2550 OA)
T1: 7:35
Once out on the ride, my focus was to “just ride” and soak in the day and all the support. I felt great from the beginning, but did already have to go pee. Probably a good sign actually. With my all liquid fuel plan I knew I’d have to pee a lot and did not want to stop 6-7 times, so I started early and just let it go. I had tried it in training before and it actually isn’t that bad if you can rinse off with water afterwards. Once I went I felt better and continued on just cruising. My focus was on just easing into it for the first 40 or so miles and then riding strong for the last 72. I started my nutrition plan about 15 minutes in and started sipping my sports drink mix of CarboPro and EFS and chasing it with lots of water – I wanted to make sure I didn’t repeat any issues in training where it didn’t absorb well and I had a sloshy gut on the run. The course is a “stick and loop” so you ride out to Verona, then do 2 loops of 42 miles each. I made it out to Verona in like 42 minutes and was making good time. In fact, I passed the 20 mile mark in just about an hour and knew I was doing pretty well because I felt great. I didn’t wear my HR monitor at all and taped over my bike computer speed and power and just went on feel. Thus far it was working very well. I made it to Mt. Horeb and allowed myself one pee stop to just take a short break. I felt great afterwards and then started into the hills after Mt. Horeb. They didn’t feel bad at all and I kept motoring on. Some of the climbs have an incredible amount of support and you feel like you are in the Tour de France. Just tried to soak that all in and enjoy it. The weather was beautiful and I was having a great ride! The 2nd lap was much like the first. I had finished my first bottle of nutrition and moved onto the 2nd about 2:30 into the ride. Everything was going very well, although I did get a little irritated at the wind when heading back to Mt. Horeb again on the bottom half of the loop. It wasn’t that bad and tried to just keep riding. I went pee several more times on the bike, but did stop again to use a port-o-potty in Mt. Horeb. I went in exactly the same one. I figure I lost about 3-4 minutes on my bike split from pee stops, but if I had stopped every time I had to go, I would’ve lost like 10-15 minutes. Once I got back to Verona again and started on the way back to Madison, I was feeling pretty tired. I had finished all my sports drink and was just sipping water by that point. I didn’t think I had over-cooked it on the bike, but we were going to find out. In training, I had ridden long, hard 5+ hour rides and then run well afterwards for 2+ hours at ~7:45-8:00 pace. Seeing the Madison skyline again felt great and I headed back towards town and eventually up the helix and into T2. I saw Emily again in T2 and felt pretty decent getting off the bike. I grabbed my bag, changed socks and put my shoes on. On the way out, I stopped to pee again in T2 and so lost another minute or so (really had to go). Then I headed out onto the run.
Bike: 5:41:03 (59/352 AG, 309/2550 OA)
T2: 4:12
With respect to nutrition, I had used gel at miles 4 and 11 and nutrition seemed to be going well. I had no sloshing in the gut at all so I knew whatever I was taking in was absorbing (many thanks to Sheila L. for her ongoing advice and help). I didn’t know if it would be enough, but I knew it was at least going down OK. My legs weren’t completely shot, either – I wasn’t running fast, but I was still moving.
I headed out of town the 2nd time and away from the capital and through the stadium. Running through Camp Randall is very cool… there was a game there the very day before. Once out of the stadium, I headed over through campus and got out towards the bike path again to mile 17 or so. That’s when it got really tough. There is always a line in these things where you are dying to stop running and just give in. Well… I finally gave in and walked for a few minutes. I didn’t let it last or get me down too much and tried to pick it up again. I saw Emily again at mile 19 on State Street and it was another huge lift. I had about 7 miles to go in an hour to break 11, but I knew that would be really tough. On a regular day, I can do that piece-of-cake, but I was 10 hours and 133 miles into the day. I managed to run along the bike path for a while and continued to get water and coke down at the aid stations. My nutrition was going pretty well, but I did end up at one aid station where they had Root Beer instead of Coke and nearly hurled!!!! Nonetheless, I trudged on and then headed out to the turn around. Once past the turn-around and headed back to town, I stopped to walk for a few minutes again. I think overall, I lost at least 10 minutes and maybe 15 by walking. I approached mile 23 and decided that even though I wasn’t going sub-11 on the day, I was at least going to PR on one of the harder courses in North America (St. George is definitely harder, but not many others can be considered harder than Wisconsin). I ran the last 3 miles at sub-9 pace and finished the thing off!! I didn’t quite break 4 hours for the marathon, but I was close, but more importantly I felt stronger in the 2nd half than I have before. I still gave in and walked, which is my next area to work on – the mental toughness needed in the 2nd half to race these events.
Overall: 11:10:01 (42/352 AG, 260/2550 OA)
Lots of positives to take away from this race… one is that I moved up from 77th in my AG in L’ville last year to 42nd this year. Another is a PR. It wasn’t huge and not what I had hoped, but it was on a really tough course. I am also satisfied that I was able to regroup and finish off the last few miles in a relatively strong fashion. What this tells me is that I had something left physically and it really is the mental toughness you need to get through miles 13-23 that I need to work on. It is a journey of continuous improvement and I am determined to race one of these IMs how I know I can!
And the bonus was, since we were kid-less for the weekend, we went back to the finish line at midnight and watched the last finishers – what an incredible experience! The people that finish close to midnight have been out there going at it for 17 hours and are some of the toughest, most determined folks around.
Next is the fall running season (assuming my little aches and pains go away) and then CDA again next year!
1 comment:
Awesome recap Jon! Way to go - we are so proud of what you have accomplished!
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