Richard Hunter's IM Florida Race Report

I am still slowly getting back to reality after a nice vacation post-IM Florida and am working on some ramblings on my race. However, in the mean time, I wanted to share this race report from Richard Hunter. He is a visually-impaired triathlete who just finished IM Florida - reading his recap of the day definitely helps me keep things in perspective!


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2011 Ford Ironman Florida

2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run

Race Report by Richard Hunter

Visually Impaired Triathlete & Marathoner

On November 5^, 2011, with Alan Gulledge as my guide, I participated in my first full Ironman race. This was my 3^rd year of doing triathlons, but only my 10^th triathlon ever. I have written my race report as a memory sake so that when I reread it in the future I’ll be able to relive the emotions of my journey, which was shared by many. The emotions are still so fresh that I can’t even talk about the volunteers who helped me without tearing up and swallowing the ever growing lump in my throat.

Alan Gulledge (guide) and Richard Hunter, post-race.

Beginning the Journey…

Three-years ago, under some quite extraordinary circumstances, I came to know Justin Waller, an Ironman athlete who was seeking out the opportunity to guide a visually impaired athlete in a triathlon. He had been inspired to volunteer by coverage he had seen of C Different Foundation (CDF) guides serving as the eyes to the blind participating in triathlon. Justin wanted to participate in the sport in a different way, to rekindle the Ironman fire within. At that time, I did not know anyone who had done an Ironman. Like many, I had seen Ironman coverage and was in awe of these amazing athletes and their stories. Watching coverage of Ironman would send shivers to my core, and a multiple finisher wanted to help me. Justin devoted a year of his training to guiding, mentoring, and training with me. He was my only resource in 2009, and he guided me to my first half ironman finish in Augusta, Georgia. His volunteer spirit lit a fire within me which I don’t think will ever burn out. He gave me so much, and all I can do to honor his gift is to pay it forward. Justin introduced me to all of the resources who continue to make triathlon possible for a guy who would not otherwise be able to participate. I am proud to call Justin Waller a friend, and he will always be my personal hero. Justin was the answer to a prayer in my life and bolstered my faith like nothing else.

Though Justin proved to me that I had what it took to finish a 70.3 mile triathlon in respectable fashion, being the anal retentive worry wart I am, there was NO WAY I would ever consider doing a full Ironman until I passed certain personal tests. Most importantly, how could I consider running a marathon after swimming 2.4 miles and riding a bicycle for 112 miles if I couldn’t even run a marathon without cramping for up to 10 miles? With the assistance of Ironman Sheila Leard, a sports nutritionist, I was able to complete endurance events cramp free for the first time which opened up the possibility of doing an Ironman.

Overcoming Adversity…

Given the wealth of volunteers who have stepped up to help me with my training this year, I can’t say that my vision loss has handicapped my ability to participate in the sport. The adversity I faced this year was not unlike any other person with the goal of Ironman in mind. Shortly after signing up for Ironman a year ago, I found myself in physical therapy for about 7 months. My pelvis was constantly becoming misaligned which only exacerbated issues related to super wound up hip flexors pulling on an arthritic lower spine. A locked-up calf muscle, IT band, and quad, and hamstring did their best to cause problems with my ankle. When I finally left PT in July armed with specific core strengthening exercises and stretches, the physical therapist made it clear that my body was not likely to stand up to the increasing demands Ironman training would entail. The smart thing to do would have been to stop what I was doing, strengthen my core, and start all over again when I was whole. I almost quit. Then, my coach Jon Klingensmith suggested I just take things day by day, and he tailored my plan so that I would be less likely to hurt myself further. I kept at it, knowing full well that the other shoe would drop at any moment. Then, I started getting rather severe nerve pain shooting down my leg from my SI Joint, through the piriformis, and across my left ankle and foot. That has continued to be an issue to the present, but it only hurts when I’m walking or standing. The nerve pain actually subsided during exercise, so I kept going. Finally, 4 weeks out from Ironman Florida, I came down with bronchitis. This happened exactly at the wrong time, just as my 2 weeks of final peak training were about to start. I went to Urgent Care, got a breathing treatment and a prescription. The doctor said exercise wouldn’t make it worse, but my oxygen saturation levels were so low that he said I’d have to take it easy. I don’t even know what that means! So, I took one day off, and did everything on my training plan. My lungs didn’t seem to deflate all of the way before I’d start the next breath, and the crackling of my lungs made me wonder if I was doing any damage after all. I was left wondering if I would recover in enough time to race. Up until race week, I had so many problems that I wasn’t convinced my body would get me to the start line. The positive thing about that was that I lived in the present and didn’t even think about the race until a couple of days prior to leaving.

When a visually impaired athlete participates in a triathlon, obviously two bodies need to make it to the start line. Knowing full well that Alan is not superhuman, months ago I asked an Ironman athlete by the name of Don Sullivan to be my back-up. He is always Ironman ready, a phenomenal athlete, lives in Florida, and has guided a totally blind friend of mine. Much to Alan’s frustration, with about a month to go before race day, he injured his knee severely enough during training that he was prohibited from running for 3 weeks prior to the race. What I didn’t know at the time was that Alan was talking with Don about the possibility of standing in for him at the Ironman. When Alan laid it all out for me a couple of weeks before the race, I asked him if he could swim and ride, and he said yes, and that he was hopeful he’d be OK for the run. Alan wanted me to know that he’d happily step aside. I told Alan quite assertively that I’d run by myself if need be and simply choose a body to follow as there would be plenty in front of me. I’ve been through much with Alan, and it was important to me to honor him, though I knew I might be running solo in the dark. I was prepared to run slowly and tentatively with a head lamp. After all, I just wanted to finish.

Race Day Approaches…

Aside from the prospect of finishing an Ironman race, I was looking forward to sharing the experience with Justin Waller, Jon Klingensmith and their families. Since Heidi and my girls couldn’t be there, what a gift of support I’d have race weekend. In addition to being friends, both have guided me in triathlons, and both bring much calm to what could be a quite anxious time for me. We all booked the same flight to Panama City Beach which helped greatly with pre-race logistics. I was also thrilled that my good friend Alan Arceneaux was flying out from Oregon to watch the race.

In contemplating which race to do, I had chosen Ironman Florida for several reasons. It’s in November so I could train all season long in good CA weather; it is a wetsuit legal course; it’s not as likely as some races to be hot and humid that time of year; and, though not the determining factor, was the flattest Ironman course in the country. Given my propensity to easily lose 10 pounds during the course of a longer workout, I wanted to choose a venue in which the weather conditions were optimal for a guy my size. The challenge is that a Gulf Coast swim would mean uncertain ocean conditions. Ocean swells can top 6 feet on race day or could be smooth as silk. As a relatively new swimmer, the prospect of swimming tethered to my guide in a mass start race of 2800 triathletes in giant swells made me wonder many times if I really had the mental strength to make it more than 10 minutes. Would I panic? Having had no experience with mass starts, I knew I had to trust my training. I had heard people describe the mass start as “terrifying,” and I knew Alan and I would have to adopt a plan to ensure success.

The two days prior to the race, the wind blew hard and the surf conditions were less than ideal in my mind. Alan would comment to me about the surf, and I was thankful I couldn’t see it every time we left our room. While standing in line, I listened to those who had done a practice swim talking about seeing a ton of jellyfish, small sharks and rays. My initial rationale to stay away from large groups of triathletes was validated! We were told to just keep swimming if stung by jellyfish. Despite this, I wasn’t concerned for sea life. My only focus was visualizing myself being calm, relaxed and focused in the water and to shut out the bad images which I would have to squelch over and over again.

I’d like to say that I have unshakable confidence, but truth be told that just isn’t in my nature. Standing in the midst of all those Ironman athletes, I found myself envious of their experience, wondering if they too had any doubts interrupting their train of thought. Knowing that Ironman is just as much mental as it is physical, I can’t help but wonder if these swirling thoughts alone are the crack that can cause things to crash down on me race day. While I don’t fret incessantly, it’s just enough to cause me to scold myself for being weak. On the flip side, the gift of uncertainty is that it has driven me to work harder, to lean on my faith, to remember that God opened the door to triathlon and kept it open by providing the necessary volunteers and strength to train in spite of adversity. I find myself repeating, “Where there is doubt, give me faith.” It sounds silly to think that I believed finishing an Ironman is what it would take to honor my family and those who helped me along the way, but I wanted them all to share in my joy of success. Failure was not an option, yet the seeds of doubt needled at me.

On Friday, race-day eve, Alan and I woke up to an alarm and headed to the beach for a short swim. Though the swells were noteworthy, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, yet it still felt as though I was on a roller coaster ride. I relaxed through the movement, and reminded myself that it was fun, but I didn’t like the idea of facing that for my first mass start. At least I knew I could swim in those conditions with not too much difficulty, and I told myself that I’d be OK.

Race Day!

A beautiful sunset and changing winds were a promise of a good tomorrow. A southerly wind would mean calmer seas. Yeah! When Alan and I went to sleep, all our gear was already staged in transition and a broken spoke on my bike had been repaired. Well… Alan slept. I never do! Luckily, I didn’t spend the night worrying about failing. I was amped up to get started. I’ve learned that sleep is not necessary the night before a race, just rest. Sleep can come later.

3:45 AM came quickly. Though the race didn’t start until 7AM, the morning moves quickly on race day; you have to get ready, eat, pump up your tires, place nutrition on the bike, drop off special needs bags, and ready yourself for the swim. Since we were staying at the host hotel, we were able to get everything ready and put on our wetsuits in our room. Alan said a prayer for us, and we were out the door.

Race morning was perfect; it was cool and the ocean was smooth! After a quick dip in the ocean to take a few strokes, we found the perfect spot for me to start. Alan and I positioned ourselves to the far outside right of the 2800 triathletes lining the narrow beach. Though it meant swimming a tad further, the chaos would be more manageable by starting on the outer edge. When the cannon fired at 7AM, the sun was just coming up in the distance. This is where one needs to pause and visualize almost 3,000 people running at the ocean at the same time, all shooting for the same first turn buoy, and you are just one, or in our case, two with a rope tied between so Alan could guide me safely through the masses. As we left the beach into the ocean, I thought of two people who were my inspiration for the swim: Tom Leard, a retired Marine who swam with me weekly in open water, and Noah Bentley who took swim lessons in spite of a fear of the water and was doing triathlons within 6 months!

I knew my day was going to be determined within the first 10 minutes. My entire focus was a calm, smooth, relaxed start. It became apparent very quickly that my training with Tom paid dividends. I didn’t get breathless and the contact with others didn’t’ phase me. I can’t tell you how many times people swam across my tether, stopping me in my tracks, calling out to Alan to find out which head was his. Yet, I was calm. I was going to nail this no problem! Yet, no sooner than when my confidence soared, I would get a reminder to stay focused as I would get hit or be swam on top of from both sides at the same time. I was keenly aware that it would have to be a freak accident to end my day in the water. I found my mind drifting past the bike to the marathon, only to pull it back and remain focused.

The 2.4 mile swim was a double loop course in which we had to exit the water, run along the beach, and then re-enter the ocean for a second loop. The most tiring aspect of the whole swim was running through the sand and pushing ourselves through the water so we could start swimming again. The second loop was less crowded, but the contact continued throughout, just less frequently. At one point, Alan stopped me in my tracks to help me avoid swimming into a big jellyfish. He had just punctured the top of one with his hand, missing the tentacles. Fortunately, neither one of us were stung during the swim. As we neared the beach on the last loop, Alan stopped and said he was feeling nauseous from accidentally swallowing saltwater a couple of times. He began vomiting into the ocean, and I was beginning to wonder what this would mean as we jumped on the tandem.

As Alan and I began running up the beach, I was boasting with pride as I heard screams of encouragement and thanked God repeatedly for making the swim an enjoyable experience. I had just finished an Ironman swim and my confidence soared. The race director wrapped his arm around my shoulder, ran with me and shouted encouragement as we made our way up to the wetsuit strippers. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was just as thankful as I that the blind guy got out of the water safely, but I later learned that he is just one of those positive and encouraging guys that can fuel your spirit.

Finishing the swim immediately put me in Ironman distance mode. As a first timer, I knew I’d have to be conservative and patient. I could not worry about time. I reminded myself that success at this point hinged on having enough energy for the marathon at the end of the day. After a painfully slow and long transition process, we got on my tandem to start the 112 mile trek.

I was relieved to see that the saltwater hadn’t had a lasting effect on Alan. We had to negotiate a start chute with many other riders and did so without incident. We quickly started passing one after another and were clipping along when we flatted at mile 20. Crud! Changing a tube on a tandem is more time consuming than a single road bike. But, we took our time to ensure that something wasn’t embedded in the front tire. We couldn’t afford to blow through any more tubes. Unfortunately, the CO2 cartridge never fills up my tires, so I had to pump my tire up with a frame pump. With our combined weight, it makes it necessary to get close to 120 lbs of pressure in the tire or we’d run the risk of a pinch flat. After 15 minutes of watching bikes fly by, we were off again, and I did a quiet prayer to get our tire through the race with no further problems. Finishing 112 miles is not difficult, but a race can end if there is an issue with the bike.

The first goal for the 112 miles was to simply “pedal along” which meant never feeling like I was working hard. Again, I had to be patient. Coach Jon reminded me the warm-up for Ironman is the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and the first 20 miles of the run. With this in mind, I would periodically check my heart rate, and sure enough I kept it in the 130s. After the flat, we didn’t try to play catch up. I found myself saying aloud many times that I didn’t care about our time. I just wanted to finish the Ironman. This gave us the permission we needed to stop at porta potties without worrying we were losing time. The second goal for the bike leg was to be militant about my fueling strategy. Long before the race, I was practicing exactly what I’d be eating on race day. I knew exactly how many calories and milligrams of sodium I’d need to consume. Sheila Leard and I had met and spoken several times about my strategy, and I reminded myself of something she had told me some time ago… Many of the DNFs (Did Not Finish) are the result of gut issues. That is something you definitely want to avoid when running a marathon at the end of an Ironman! Obviously, the body can become very dehydrated, and internal organs, including the digestive system, can run the risk of shutting down.

After the initial drama of the flat, the ride was fairly uneventful other than a terrible headwind for the first half. The forecast for the day called for 20 mph wind. There were times when pedaling the tandem took more effort than it should to even go 16 mph. That is saying a lot, because on a good day, we were thinking we could manage an average of 20 -21 mph. That was not in the cards! Luckily, the headwind on the way out meant a tailwind for the way home, which was much better than the reverse. Once we re-entered Panama City Beach, we were once again blasted with the worst headwinds of the day. The last 6 miles were a cruel joke to bodies that couldn’t wait to get off the tandem!

I honestly didn’t even think about the marathon at all leading up to the race, yet the Ironman comes down to the last 26.2 miles. I’ve had the most experience with running, and have finished marathons under some pretty significant revolts from my body, so my mental resolve was much stronger for this part of the Ironman. I had a fueling plan, I had the experience, but I wasn’t sure if those lingering injuries would rear their ugly head as they had in several training runs. I was just hoping that any severe pain wouldn’t happen until late in the race. After all, common knowledge about an Ironman marathon is that sooner or later your resolve would be tested and it would be difficult to continue. Also, as I stated earlier, Alan’s ability to run the marathon was a big question mark. We implemented our marathon strategy immediately. Our plan was to stop at each aid station for at least a few seconds to ensure we hydrated properly and to leave the aid stations running.

The cool thing about the run was that it was a double out-and-back course. We were thrilled to see Jon, Justin, and Dan Streetman (also a friend) pass us going the opposite way several times. They were on fire and having great marathons! Within a few miles, Alan felt the stabbing knee pain, but he kept going. Alan would say that it felt like someone was “hammering a nail into his knee.” Therefore, we ensured our brief stops in aid stations periodically included some stretching. After completing the first 13 mile loop, I realized how bold I was to state that I could run by myself if needed. The course went over speed bumps, a few curbs, across plywood, along cones, more turns than I realized, etc... Not only that, the prospect of choosing someone to follow didn’t seem like a good fall back plan. There wasn’t anyone else running our pace in front of us. There were many walking, and it was commonplace for people to be stopped in the middle of the road or running closely the opposite direction along the orange cones. If Alan had to stop, I’d have to be extremely cautious as the conditions were beyond my ability to run solo. I think Alan sensed this too, because I was feeling his pain as he pushed on, hoping not to slow me too much. As he would start to apologize, I would quickly retort that I too needed to manage my pace and that it is about finishing, and nothing else.

At about mile 15, my ankle started to hurt. I had learned during training that this did not mean an ankle injury, but rather tense muscles in my calf and foot. Since Alan was already stretching in aid stations, I stretched my calf. It provided some temporary relief, so I knew I was on the right track. I just hoped it wouldn’t get severe enough to cause me to walk in severe pain like it had on one of my training runs. Then again, I was already far enough into the marathon that the prospect of walking wouldn’t necessarily stop me from finishing. There were several times before mile 20 that I thought, “I’m going to be an Ironman today,” but I intentionally pushed that thought out of my mind because the hardest part was still ahead of me. There are no guarantees until you’ve actually crossed the finish line.

With 4 miles to go, I said to Alan, “With the exception of the aid stations, we’ve ran the entire marathon so far.” Within seconds, his hamstring locked up. I should have kept my mouth shut! We stopped so he could stretch and hydrate. Once we started jogging again, we decided we should just keep running, not stopping in aid stations, so we wouldn’t run the risk of the speed change ups causing more cramps. At this point, it was already dark, and Alan was now holding a hand-held tether so he could keep me on track, avoiding all obstacles. Dear God I was thankful he was still on the course. I could barely make out a shape directly in front of me and I couldn’t see any of the obstacles. I was further blinded by lights along the streets. Alan was clearly straining, but running all the same. Two miles from the finish he was grunting in pain with every step. I just kept encouraging him, telling him how proud I was, how strong he was… I needed him, and he knew it! I think Alan needed me too. Maybe it was the distraction of Alan’s obvious pain, but I felt great. My ankle wasn’t getting any worse and I never ran out of energy. I felt as though I could keep running beyond the finish.

As we approached the last ¼ mile of the marathon, Jon’s wife, Emily Klingensmith, ran alongside us shouting words of encouragement. Emily peeled away as we entered the finish chute. The lights were blinding, Alan was still guiding me with the tether, the crowd was deafening, and I heard the announcer call out, “Richard Hunter, you are an Ironman!” We had done it, and I crossed the finish line with my dear friend Alan, who suffered greatly to my benefit. What a heroic effort on his part!

1.2 mile swim: 1:26:07

T1: 14:09

112 mile bike: 5:51:42

T2: 11:48

26.2 mile run: 4:11:37

Overall: 11:55:22

Justin Waller, Alan Gulledge, Jon Klingensmith, Richard Hunter

What’s next…?

Even though I finished Ironman Florida in the top 1/3 of those who lined up at the starting line, and though I’m the 2^nd visually impaired triathlete to break the 12 hour Ironman benchmark, this success doesn’t change how my mind works. I’ll still be a “head case.” I’ve learned a lot about myself during this journey, including being keenly aware of my weaknesses. I will strive to confront those weaknesses with new challenges which cause me to step outside of my comfort zone. For now, I’m going to enjoy a little down time and let some time pass before I even worry about my next goal. I’m also looking forward to having fun with the family without having to fit in the long workouts.

Special Thanks…

Thank you Heidi for your support of my efforts, by allowing me to pursue this craziness, and for picking up the slack I left in my wake. As a visually impaired athlete, participation in the sport of triathlon would be impossible without caring volunteers to assist me. Those listed below share in my success and I’m overwhelmed by their generosity. A special thanks to my 2011 training partners:

Triathlon Guides: Alan Gulledge (IMFL, Big Kahuna Half Ironman); Coach Jon Klingensmith (Folsom Olympic Distance Triathlon); Stuart Evans (Denver Triathlon).

Tandem Pilots: Lance Maguire, Bill Kelly, Bill Dutter, Noah Bentley, Louis Du Brey, Justin Waller, Jon Klingensmith

Open Water Swim Guide: Tom Leard

Running Guides: Emily Klingensmith, Austin Weaver (Parkway Half Marathon)

What you can do:

Please feel free to pass along this race report. You’d be paying me the ultimate compliment. My prayer is always that something I do might resonate with a single person, so much so that they might be inspired enough to step outside of their own comfort zone regardless of the adversity they face.

If you feel so called, you could always make a monetary contribution to the C Different Foundation (CDF). They truly change lives and many of their athletes paved a trail for me.

Anything is Possible!

Richard Hunter

Visually Impaired Ironman

My Weekend Adventure - Golden State Race Report

This past weekend, my Dad did his 2nd triathlon! In leading up to the event, I decided to turn it into a little adventure of my own and ride down to the race (about 35 miles away), do the race, and ride home. That way, I could see my Dad at his 2nd event, and have a fun diversion to keep my training interesting (and as a result of me also racing, I have no pictures – sorry). The last 3 weeks have been a big build, so this weekend would cap it off – a commute, race, commute and then long ride/run the day after.

The race is draft legal and has 3 laps of a 5-mile course. I decided to ride my road bike, but that was mostly because I wanted it for the commute down in the AM in the dark. I put my race wheels on it and decided that was sufficient for a race rig! I left early in the pitch black and stayed on streets mostly for the first part of the ride. I rode down Folsom Blvd and planned to get on the bike path at Rossmoor Bar. However, there is a stretch of Folsom that is really bad for bike tires and I took a calculated risk. More streetlights, no traffic, but more risk of a flat. And sure enough, I got a flat in my back wheel half way down. I pulled off to the side and fixed it and then motored on. Because of the delay, though, I got to the race a little later than I had intended and missed my Dad’s swim start. I did manage to find their car (that had my stuff in it), get over to the swim finish, and see him come out of the water and head out on the bike. The swim in the river had a strong current and was pretty cold, but he hung tough and made it through! Once on the bike, he did great and motored on for his 5-mile ride and then 1-mile run afterwards.

My Dad finishing his run.

Meanwhile, I had to head down to the water and swim over to the start across the river. I hadn’t been in open water for a while and was using a new wetsuit, so I wanted to get in the water and give myself some time to swim a little bit. The swim is in the river and the current was pretty strong against us on the way up; plus they made us swim in the middle of the river where it’s strongest. After they sent us off, I got going and felt pretty good. Smooth and steady. I practiced sighting while breathing to both sides and just worked on swimming as straight as possible. There were a few times I tried finding some feet, but it didn’t last long, and was just resigned to doing my thing. I made the turn buoy and then felt like I was being pushed down river on the way back. You could basically just float in your wet-suit and enjoy the ride! Well, apparently the lengthy swim up-stream was enough to make me very slow. I came out of the water in around 20 minutes, but I tried not to let it bother me as I felt fine and haven’t really been swimming that much. So I climbed up the stairs out of the river and headed to my bike. Got my wetsuit off, bike gear on and motored out of the transition area.

Getting going on the bike.

Just a few minutes into my first lap and a guy in pink motored past me; I put in a hard effort and got on his wheel. This draft legal stuff is great!! It gave me a chance to recover, catch my breath, and get ready for the rest of the hard ride. The ride was really fun, had lots of turns, and I stayed on that guy’s wheel for big chunks of time. I also saw Rebecca out there and she was able to hang on my wheel for a while! In hindsight, had I had my tri-bike, I probably could’ve gone faster (but also would’ve probably worked more on my own), but the ride was still solid. The guy in pink (yes, it was a guy in pink) was in the wave before me and finished after my 2nd lap. Fortunately, on the 3rd lap there was another guy who I could work with and the two of us shared the effort to the end. I ended up averaging ~270 watts with a norm of about 280. I would expect a sprint to be a little higher, but my legs were tired from the previous weeks’ training and the commute down, so I wasn’t quite as peppy. Plus, the course was quite technical so there weren’t large stretches to lay down the power. In any case, I was happy with the effort.


T2 was uneventful. Not as quick as I could’ve made it, but I don’t do this short stuff very often! Out on the run, my legs took about 2-300 meters to adjust. Felt like bricks initially, but then I settled into a rhythm of hard work. I started trying to pass as many people as possible and keep the effort up. I find that I don’t really have that extra gear for events like this. I’m just too zeroed in on longer efforts to push to these sprint-length efforts. Regardless, I was in the low 6-minute/mile range and kept the pace up as best I could. The turnaround came quickly and I motored back. My watch was reading 6:10/mile on average so I just pushed hard through the finish. I ended up running under 19 minutes, so was content with that. A nice hard effort right near the end of my 3-week build.

Finishing

Results were not stellar, though – I got 8th AG out of 33 and 24th overall out of 436 finishers. My Dad, on the other hand, was 3rd AG, picking up some hardware in only his 2nd attempt!!

My Dad with his new hardware!

In my case, sprint races are tough for me because I am just too far behind out of the water. The guy who won (a pretty elite athlete), put like 10 minutes into me in the swim alone. The strong current really suited the strong swimmers. On the bike, he beat me by 4-ish minutes and I suspect a large chunk of that is time in transition. On the run, however, he put less than a minute on me (and that was on tired legs from IM training) and I had the 6th best run in the field (and one of those 5 faster was a relay). Nonetheless, I am still resolved to keep working on swimming. It keeps the sport interesting!

After the race, I chatted with a few people, then got my stuff ready to head home. The ride home was less eventful – no flats. I did manage to find 2 guys on the bike path to work with and motored along with them for a while. I decided my legs couldn’t handle that pace very well, and just took it easy after that. All-in-all, the whole experience was great fun! An awesome race and a fun way to do it!

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This weekend marked the end of a ~3-week block of training for Florida. In the last 22 days, I’ve managed:

Swim: 05:45:00; 13430 yds;
Bike: 52:21:55; 923 miles;
Run: 12:26:58; 100.1 miles;
Total: 70:33:53

Not a lot of swimming (my pool(s) were closed for a whole week of this), but decent work on the bike. All of this amounted to a TSS of 2680 for the 22 days. Here’s a shot of my Performance Management Chart from WKO+... it covers the last 2 seasons.

Blue is CTL, Pink is ATL, Yellow is TSB - for discussion on the Performance Management Chart, go here:
http://www.peaksware.com/articles/cycling/what-is-the-performance-management-chart.aspx

I’ve had decent training for IM races before (at least given the balance and constraints in my life), but have not yet been able to pull together a marathon to what I feel is my potential. I think the bike focus this time around will help improve the physical aspects in that I’ll be fresher coming off the ride, but the mental challenge lies ahead and I am really looking forward to another shot at it!! Bring on the race!

My Dad Did His First Triathlon

I had the pleasure of spectating while my Dad did his first triathlon this past weekend! He has not problem with riding and has been cycling for the last several years. Running was not particularly worrisome since, if it comes down to it, you can walk and still finish; so the big question was the swim! He started going to the pool diligently and worked up to where he could swim for several minutes without stopping. He also started trying some short run/walks after his rides, too!

Before the start with my Mom!

When race day came, the thing I was most nervous about was the swim - practicing in the pool is one thing, but swimming in the open water with 40-50 other people starting at the same time is very different. Once the gun went off, he waited for a lot of the wave to move on ahead and then started swimming. We were watching from the beach and could see him most of the way. He did some freestyle, some sidestroke, some back-floating, etc. But, he got through that swim of his own power! Once he was coming up the beach, we were excited and relieved at the same time ;-)

Before the start - he's the one in the sleeveless suit with his arms folded.

Coming out of the water...

He got through transition and rolled out on his bike; at this point, I was pretty confident because he is a solid bike rider. He did the ride with no issues and got back to transition in about the time he was expecting.

Heading out on the bike.

Finishing the ride!

Now the run! He put on his shoes and hat and headed out for the 2-miler! He implemented his run/walk strategy and made it to the line quicker than he expected!

Starting the run.

And approaching the finish!!

I was REALLY proud of him for setting the goal and getting out of his comfort zone - putting himself out there and making it happen.

The next day, my wife went back down to Rancho Seco and finished 2nd overall in the Women's Luna Triathlon - a great multisport weekend for our family!

Race Report - Folsom Long Course / Olympic (as guide)

Folsom Long Course (1 mile swim / 56 mile bike / 9 mile run)

I had a big weekend planned with the new Folsom Long Course triathlon on Saturday and then guiding my friend Richard Hunter in the Olympic Distance race on Sunday. The Long Course tri was a unique distance with a 1 mile swim, 56 mile ride, and 9 mile run. I had been training well and even tapered some for the race, so was quite looking forward to it. My plan was not overly sophisticated and consisted of “going hard” and my definition of hard for the event was a power of 250-280 watts steady during the ride and a pace of 6:30-6:50 during the run. I learned several things from this race that I will hope to improve upon in future events.

Key lesson #1: swimming straight is critical. Sounds obvious, but I learned the hard way (again in this event). The start was uneventful and since there were only around 200 people in this race total, my wave was not overly crowded. I did my best to draft, but it was pretty sparse and so it was clean water pretty much from the get-go. Heading East up Lake Natoma, the sun was really bright, so I basically just did my best to go towards the sun and search out the buoys. I don’t think I did a bad job on the way out, but after hitting the turn bouys on the far end of the rectangle, and heading back West, I ended up kind of in the middle of the rectangle. Not good. I couldn’t see the sighting buoy well and the last turn buoy was too far down there. Lesson learned: it is more important to sight often and swim straight(er) than it is to put your head down and just go. I also learned (as I do in every race), that I have a ways to go with regards to my swim technique and fitness. Compared to my bike and run, my swim is just too far behind.

Key lesson #2: practice your transitions the way you want them to go on race day. In spite of the easy (and small) transition area, I decided to have my shoes clipped into my pedals already and just roll out of transition before getting my feet in my shoes. I did practice this one time about a week ago, but it turns out to be much harder than expected. In mounting my bike, I basically had to stop, turn my shoe over, and get on just like I would’ve otherwise, and then, once I got out on the roads I had to really slow down to get my shoes on my feet. The tongues of my shoes were stuck inside out and I had to really dig my finger in there to get them fixed. Very annoying at the start of a ride where I knew I had some serious work to do to chase down some guys in my AG. In hindsight, I would’ve been much better off just putting my shoes on and clipping in normally – would’ve been faster.

Key lesson #3: call out (loudly) what you want at aid stations or alternatively, carry everything you need in small races. The beginning of the ride was going well (after I managed to get my shoes on) and I started passing people and getting dialed into my nutrition plan, which had me getting calories in every 15 minutes, alternating a swig of EFS liquid shot, and a drink from my bottle of EFS/CarboPro. I use water in my aero bottle to chase both. At the first aid station, about 20 miles in, I was starting to get low on water and grabbed the first bottle as I rolled by. However, I was not as diligent as I should’ve been in specifying what I wanted and ended up with HEED instead of water. This was a “short” race (i.e. not an Ironman), which allows more “slack” in nutrition, but I still was concerned not having any water to dilute the concentration of my nutrition. I still had some water in my bottle, so I just put the heed in there hoping that it would be dilute enough and rolled on.

Key lesson #4: know the course like the back of your hand! Again, since this was a small race, there wasn’t a lot of intersection control and even though I am local and knew the basic route, I did almost miss a turn. I overshot by about 20 yards, had to stop and go back. This happened twice. I don’t think it really held me back that much, but was still not good… if I had kept going and not figured it out, it would’ve been VERY frustrating (but my own fault nonetheless).

Key lesson #5: be uber-prepared to fix flats as quickly as possible. When I was getting my gear ready on race morning, I got out my pit-stop to have in transition and throw in my jersey pocket in T1. However, I left it on the work bench in my garage. Oops. About 45 miles into the ride, I felt the dreaded soft-mushy-tire on my back wheel and knew I had a flat. I hopped off quickly, but “only” had a tube and CO2 to change it. I didn’t have my pit stop, so I was forced to change out the tube. On my tri bike, it’s not particularly easy to get the back wheel off, particularly when you are standing on the side of the road. The axel comes out the back of the frame instead of out the bottom of the frame, so you can’t just turn the bike over. This bike also does not sit well upside down like a road bike and won’t balance. You basically have to hold it yourself with one hand and fuss with the wheel with the other. I have done it many times, but my bike is usually hanging on the wall of my garage with me “under” it when I change wheels. Getting the wheel off the back took me longer than it should’ve. I checked the tire quickly and didn’t feel anything so just hoped for the best when I got some CO2 in it. Turned out to be fine for the last 10 miles.

Key lesson #6: you must put things behind you and focus on what you can control, staying in the race moment. I had a pretty good run (6th fastest in the field), but probably didn’t get everything out of myself on the day because I knew I had dropped way back in the field in those 10 minutes I lost. Regardless, I should’ve dug deeper – perhaps easier said than done, but a lesson nonetheless. I went hard on the run, but faded more than I would’ve liked and given different race circumstances, I may have been able to push just a bit harder in the last 3 miles. (I probably also had the next day’s effort in the back of my mind).

Nice look on my face, eh?
I could've at least smiled (although I did give my daughter a kiss ;-)

I ended up finishing in 4:15:16 and made my way back to 4th in my AG. Had I not flatted, I probably would’ve been 2nd AG and somewhere between 5th and 7th overall. Had I had the pit stop and it worked, I may have only “lost” 20-30 seconds and not 10 minutes and the race unfolds differently, but that’s not how the day went. I had a solid run but I don’t feel like it was quite to my current potential for the distance and also a solid bike, although from a power standpoint, it is basically the same ~245 watts norm for a HIM ride (that’s not Auburn). I don’t seem to be able to push it past that range – perhaps it is telling me something or I need to break through somehow.

Also, big congrats to Sheila Leard and Karyn Hoffman who also tackled the Long Course race! It was a hot run and we all made it through!

All-in-all, it was a successful race and a fun day out there. For the rest of the afternoon, I put on some compression socks and hung out with my kids, hoping to bounce back quickly for the next day’s adventure.


Folsom Olympic Triathlon (warning – graphic picture at the end)

My job on Sunday was to be the guide for my good friend Richard Hunter. He is a visually-impaired athlete and graciously allowed me to be his guide for the race (in spite of signing up for the long course the day before ;-) All kidding aside, it was an honor to be out there with Richard – he’s a great guy and a great athlete!

I had been on the tandem bike with Richard only 1 time before, so we got down to transition early with the idea to get in a short warm-up ride and get me re-acquainted with piloting a tandem. We had to wait a few minutes for enough day-light to ride, but then got the tandem out and practiced at the bike out area. The mount line was at the start of a curvy bike path, which made for a bit of a nerve-wracking start for me. Once you start peddling, you can’t stop and you basically have to get one foot in the peddle, get rolling, and worry about the other one later after getting your balance and bearings. Let’s just say I was most nervous about this part. Regardless, we managed to get out there for a few minutes and I got a little more comfortable.
Richard and I started in the physically challenged wave, which consisted of the 2 of us and 2 other guys using handcycles. It was like having your own personal start, although it wasn’t long until the waves behind us started coming through. Regardless of that, Richard found a nice rhythm on my feet, followed the tether, and we cruised through the swim with no drama. It was actually quite nice ;-) Our first transition was a little clumsy, getting our wet-suits off and bike stuff on, but we figured it out quickly, grabbed the bike, and headed for the bike-out. Crunch time. It was probably in my head already, but sure enough, when we tried to get going, we fell right over to the right and right off the bike path into the brush. I banged my knee pretty good (didn’t think much of it at the time) and the chain fell off. Richard’s calf cramped a little when we fell, but otherwise, we seemed to be fine. We did eventually get the chain back on, but after a minute or two of fussing with it. Not the best way to start the bike, but we figured it out… after that little drama, I just concentrated on calling out turns, when I was going to shift, and the hills, etc. We worked the ride as best we could and ended up riding a 1:09 or so. I think it would’ve been a few minutes faster with a smooth start and no chain issue.

Coming back into transition at the end of the ride was nice with a good crowd there to cheer us. We had no issues and got through transition fairly quickly and out onto the run. I let Richard drive the pace (he is a really good runner), and just stayed with him on his shoulder, calling out directions, etc. I tried to be as specific as possible. Even though he has run this path many times, it was a race environment and I still wanted to make sure we didn’t have any issues, so I tried to over-communicate as much as possible. Richard set a good pace and I cruised along, pretty happy with how my legs felt after the 2 days of hard effort. We ended up running a 44-minute 10K and Richard set a new personal best on the course by a little over a minute. Not bad considering our little mishap!

After the race

At the end of the race, Richard and I recovered for a minute or two and then I happened to look down at my leg. Holy Cow!! The whole front of my right leg was covered in blood. I wish I would’ve had a picture… My knee did ache some during the run, but I never looked down and didn’t really pay attention since I was focused on making sure Richard got through the run smoothly. I went over to the med-tent and asked them to clean it up a bit. They told me there was a pretty deep gash and I should probably go to the hospital to see if it needed closed up. They cleaned it and bandaged it for me. We hung around chatting with a few friends, but then Richard was nice enough to leave a little early (before his awards!) so I could go get it checked out. Bottom line is I ended up with 2 staples in my knee as a souvenir from my first guiding experience… here’s a shot for those with strong stomachs ;-)

Stapled closed

I had a most-excellent weekend of multisport adventures. My race went well overall and guiding was awesome! It puts the sport in a new perspective. Plus I had a great weekend of "training" with some hard effort on back-to-back days. Now it's time to get my knee healed, recover, and get ready to race again in 2 weeks (I hope!)

And with respect to Richard, he is quite fit and is now getting ready for Ironman Florida in November! I can’t wait to see him do his first IM!

Volunteer Report - Vineman 70.3

My initial plan for the year included Kansas 70.3 and Vineman 70.3, but with the late addition of IM CDA, that meant scratching Vineman. It was good experience to do another Ironman, but I was bummed to skip Vineman. Since I had 3 athletes racing, I decided to volunteer instead. It was a great experience being on the other “side” and helping out for a change. It did make for a long day and I think I am still recovering ;-) I also don’t have any pictures, since I was busy most of the day...

From an athlete perspective, PRs all around!! Justin Waller posted a 4:59 and knocked off more than 20 minutes from his PR for the distance – a smokin’ fast 28 minute swim and solid bike and run rounded out his day. He did the run in 1:42 – major improvement and a negative split!

Rebecca Reichardt had raced here last year and was ready to get her revenge. It came in spades as she was solid all around on the swimbikerun. A 33 minute swim; 2:48 bike; and steady 2:04 run gave her a HUGE PR for the course, taking 40 minutes off her time on the same course!

And Karyn Hoffman also set a new PR for the distance by 14 minutes, going under 6 hours with a sub-2-hour run. And this PR is compared to Clearwater, the notoriously flat and fast course… not only that, it came just 3 weeks after finishing the Western States 100-miler. A great performance and gutsy race!

While watching all of these PRs and inspiring performances unfold, I was also spending some time working in various capacities on the course. My first assignment was in the penalty tent. The volunteer coordinator wanted somebody in there who was at least familiar with the sport, and I guess I fit the bill. It was not overly exciting as we only had one pro serve a drafting penalty. I did get to see the pros come into and go out of T2 pretty up-close and personal. They transition just like the rest of us: some smooth and effortless, some not so much. The field was stacked so I saw the likes of Chris Lieto, Paul Mathews, Joe Gambles, Matty Reed, Tim O’Donnell, etc. Andy Potts had a particularly awkward transition as he came into the parking lot in the wrong spot, tried to correct, caught a curb, and went down. It wasn’t a hard crash, but nonetheless, not the best end to the ride for him I am sure. Turns out he went on to an OK run (i.e. 1:13 half marathon and 3:45 win and course record).

Since the penalty tent was not busy, I headed over to the finish line. The men’s winners had already come through, but I was there when the women’s race came to a close and Melissa Rollison, relative newcomer, pulled off the upset victory over Leanda Cave and Mirinda Carfrae, posting a 1:16 half-marathon (she is a former star runner for Australia). I hung out there, removing timing chips for a couple of hours. It was pretty fun to see people come across the line and how different people respond – relief, joy, fatigue, pride – all rolled into one. This was especially true once the masses of AG’ers started coming in. It was just great to watch.

Then, I was summoned over to the food tent to direct traffic - basically telling people not to enter the exit and making sure people knew where to go. It wasn't the most glamorous duty, but it did make me appreciate all of the little details that go into an event like this. I was standing by the catering truck and the amount of food served was incredible. It's like putting on a wedding for 2000+ people. I certainly have a new perspective and appreciation now for these races and will appreciate it more as an athlete!

I've taken a little mid-season break and am starting to get back into some "real" training after Coeur d'Alene and the motivation is definitely back. Next up - Folsom Long Course - should be a fun event with unique distances: 1 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 9 mile run.

Race Report - Ironman Coeur d'Alene

This past weekend, was a busy one for Vitality Multisport athletes.

Karyn Hoffman finished her 5th Western States 100 miler. She overcame adversity throughout the race, including a nasty fall 25 miles in and continued to chug along; she is by far one of the toughest athletes I know finishing in just over 27 hours!

Sheila Leard, who just 9 months ago broke her pelvis in a bike crash finished Ironman Coeur d’Alene in spite of a cold, cold swim and a flat tire within the first few miles of the bike ride. She persisted and ran her way from 10th to 4th AG during the marathon!

Bernhard Sturm was back in Idaho for another shot at an Ironman race and also had a tough swim, having to flip over and do some back stroke early on. With 2340 people, it was a doozy of a start! He overcame his “near-panic-attack” and cruised to a 1:12 swim. He rode solid and steady and had a good first half-marathon. However, his gut started shutting down in the 2nd half and in spite of that, hung on for an 11:02 finish. Ironman is about how you respond to adversity and not how things go when it’s easy… great performances!

And with respect to my race, here are the lengthy details…

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Last year’s race in Idaho was my first DNF. A few days after that race, I decided to go ahead and register for 2011 so I could go back to Coeur d’Alene for some retribution. Meanwhile, time passes and I changed my plan to just half-IM races in the first half of the year and a late build-up to IM Florida. I wasn’t completely sure I was going to be ready for the mental investment that IM takes. The last few off-seasons, I had worked hard on swimming and biking, but this past off-season, I decided to do some running races. I ran a lot over the winter and had changed my season plan to include a marathon in March. I hadn’t run one hard in several years and wanted to see where my run fitness was these days. Meanwhile, back in January, I had started working with a new coach. After the marathon, we started layering on the swim and bike training and I was feeling pretty good on the bike. In late April, I did a training ride with a friend who was doing it and felt pretty good (in spite of the pouring rain that day)… then that night my wife says “you might as well do CDA too!” How’s that for supportive (she is truly incredible ;-) !!! So the wheels started turning. I was considering it and let my coach know I was already registered. His opinion was to go ahead and do it for the experience (rather emphatically ;-), so I decided to give it a shot and the decision was made at the end of April to do the race on June 26th. I had already planned on doing Auburn, then Kansas 3 weeks later, and now I was adding a full Ironman just 2 weeks after that. So the “gauntlet” would be 3 races in 5 weeks – “World’s Toughest” in Auburn on 5/22, Kansas 70.3 on 6/12, and IM CDA on 6/26!

From a preparation standpoint, I had done the early season marathon and had some good running “in the bank” but after 3/27, I had exactly 1 week of running over 30 miles. I was doing some good biking, through April and May, but not much long stuff: only two 5+ hour rides in April and 1 ride over Memorial day weekend of 6.5 hours with some good climbing. That was about it for long rides. I did bump up the swimming after the marathon, too, but only got 1 week over 10k yds and my average week was around 6K yds. By no means am I making excuses because I did have 2 very good half-IM races in May and June to get me ready. Racing is, of course, the best training! Here are plots of the details on my training build up into this race.

Mentally, I was approaching the race to go out, give it what I had on the day, and gain experience. Just to face the hard parts on the run course and improve how I respond. That lasted until a week or two prior to the race, when I did start having some expectations brewing. I ran a 1:28 half-marathon in Kansas so I figured I could have a decent marathon off-the-bike in Idaho. Well, there is the small detail of a 112 mile ride with 5K feet of vertical to contend with. I had also had a good race in Auburn and my TSS (training stress score) for that ride was in the neighborhood of 230. At that race I ran a 1:31 off the bike, so I figured if I kept the TSS down in CDA to the 230 range, I’d be good. Just keep the pace of the run slow and I could keep running. No problem, right!?

From a stress standpoint, the trip was very relaxed. Fortunately, my folks were watching our kids so Emily and I got to travel on our own to Idaho. It was very easy - just do my daily business, whether it was a short swim and ride or checking gear in and then relax and try to forget about the race. We even got to see a movie! Plus, Sheila Leard and Bernhard Sturm, 2 of the athletes I’ve been coaching, were also racing, so it was nice to be there with them.

We didn’t spend a lot of time at the expo as I wanted to stay out of the craziness, but we did indulge in listening to the pros at the press conference and my wife managed to get this picture with Julie Dibens (who went on to win the women’s race and set a new course record).

We also saw other stellar athletes including Craig Alexander, who has 2 of the last 3 IM World Championships, and Maik Twelsiek who is another incredible athlete with 2 IM titles. Craig Alexander would win the men’s race with a 2:46 run and Maik Twelsiek set a new bike course record with a 4:29.

Craig Alexander before the race

Anyway, race morning finally came. I went about my business getting things going – made my breakfast and we headed to the race. Got there and transition was already buzzing… the vibe at these events is incredible on race morning: a huge amount of nervous energy! I pumped up my tires, put my nutrition on my bike, and then we looked for Sheila. We found her over at the band shell and got ready together. Here’s a shot of us on race morning.

Me and Sheila race morning

Here's a shot of Emily and me (no, Emily was not planning on robbing a 7/11)

I decided to use a different start strategy this year since I got pummeled last year. I know there is no secret to it; you always get in the mess, but I figured I would at least try to minimize it. I made my way toward the beach with my wife, gave her a kiss, then moved on down there. I kept going far to the right. My plan was to start wide right about middle depth. I made my way over there and then saw Emily again who had snuck her way into an awesome spot at the edge of the beach so we got to sit together to wait for the start.

Coming up to sit with Emily

Mass swim start

And wouldn’t you know, it wasn’t as horrible as last year! Sure, there is incidental contact, but I actually had a tiny bit of room every now and again. That is until you hit the turn buoys. When you have 2300+ people converging on one point, it gets pretty crowded. Just tried to make it around without incident. The swim went by fairly quickly except that I did have some cramps in both calves. This is a common problem for me and I think it just comes from being horizontal for so long. They came and went and I didn’t really have to do anything (i.e. stop and stretch them). However, my right calf was a bit sore coming out of the water.

The water was cold and a lot of people were having trouble, but the cold didn’t bother me much at all. I had to take my time getting my make shift arm warmers on, but other than that, I was fine. And for the record, my make-shift arm warmers were great – we had bought a 75 cent pair of tights from Kmart and cut them up. I even left a thumb hole and a hole for my Garmin to poke through (wish I had thought to take a picture). Worked awesome! (thx to my wife for the idea ;-) Coming through transition, saw my wife, and then headed out on my bike.

Sheila starting the ride

My plan for the ride was to take it easy the first hour, but not be a complete slave to the numbers. Keeping it under 200 watts the first hour and then settling into a rhythm around 210 watts for the remainder of the ride. I was hoping my HR would be in the high 130s or low 140s, but alas, it was in the mid 140s most of the ride. However, from a perceived exertion standpoint, it felt very easy. Everything seemed fine so I rolled with it. I felt pretty good and the sun was out, so the first part of the ride was quite nice. It was a little crowded, but I gradually made my way through the masses. My friend Bart caught me a few minutes into the ride so we rode together for a while. After the out and back on Lake CDA drive, I headed north towards the hills. I was going to ride the hills moderately trying to prevent any large power spikes over 300 as best I could. I continued along with my nutrition plan (1100 calorie bottle of EFS with CarboPro and one 400-cal flask of EFS liquid shot) sipping my bottle every 15 minutes and taking a hit of the liquid shot every 45 minutes. I broke the ride down into 45 minute segments to help facilitate this. It worked pretty well… I did make an effort to front-load the calories early in the bike and had been through about half my bottle after about 40-45 miles. It seemed to be going down easily and I only had to pee once in that time, so I knew the additional sodium was helping (or at least that’s the theory). I kept motoring and came back to town where I saw Emily again. She got this shot of me on the bike.

I ended up doing the first loop in 2:41. The second loop was OK – it definitely had thinned out and there were not nearly as many people. About 65 miles in, I caught up with Bernhard who told me he had a rough swim. He wished me luck and I rode on. Meanwhile he was lurking back behind me ;-) I felt pretty good at this effort level all the way through about 90 miles, at which point I started feeling it in my legs. Ironically, this is about the distance of ride that I had done in training. It was about this point that Bernhard caught me and passed me and rode away. On the way back to transition, he put about a minute or two into me. It was in that last 20 miles of the ride when I knew my legs were going to be tired for that run. I attempted to focus on being positive, knowing that I had ridden very hard in Auburn with 6K feet of climbing in that race and still had a great run. I just went on faith that I could do the same here.

It’s flat for the last 10 miles back into town and they really dragged on. My neck was tired and I was ready to get off the bike. My 2nd loop ended up being a 2:52 so I was 11 minutes slower. Didn’t know that at the time, but I knew I was pretty tired. Coming off the bike felt good… I went through transition smoothly, changed socks, got my shoes on, grabbed my hat and took off. I saw Emily again at that point and she told me Bernhard was only a minute or two ahead. It turns out Bart was behind me by about another minute (or less). I started running and just got my head in the game.

My run plan was very much the same as the recent half-IMs I had done: 30-minute segments. I jogged out of town and tried very much to keep things under control. I consciously slowed myself to try to run at 8 minute miles (or more) for the first 30 minutes. It took me the whole first 30 minutes to get my avg pace down (or up) to that level. Bart had passed me leaving town but I held back as much as possible to just stay within myself, knowing that it gets tough later on! I really held back on the 2nd 30 minutes also and made an effort to take in my calories and walk for 10 seconds every aid station. I was drinking mostly water at this point, but had some IM Perform, too. The 3rd 30 minutes came and I was still doing OK. I had made it up the hill to the turnaround and come back up the other side. Still chugging along. My pace was slowing towards the 8:30 range, but I was still running. I made it back to town to finish the first lap before the end of the 4th 30 minutes, but I knew that my pace continued to slow down. My HR was in the mid 140s still, but it was more and more of a struggle to keep the pace below 8:30. I ran the 1st half-marathon in x:xx. After I hit the turnaround, I saw Emily and took a short break. I kissed her and she wished me luck – I knew the tough part was ahead.

Me nearing the end of the 1st loop of the run

Bart finishing the 1st loop

Sheila finishing the 1st loop still smiling and looking great!

I was able to run for another 4 miles gradually slowing down. I had switched my nutrition plan to just cola by this time and had chucked my liquid shot. I just couldn’t get any more of that down. Once I got to mile 17, I lost mental focus and my “relaxed, calm, focused, strong” mantra was really tough to hang onto. It turned into: “dang, my legs are shot!” This is not good and was definitely the point where I lost control of my race. Then it turned into “I don’t care what my time is” and “I am only doing half-IMs from now on” and just plain “ughhh…” Obviously, I let my head go negative and I had a tough time bringing it back to the task at hand. I started walking at mile 17 and walked for about 14 minutes. It turns out Bart had stopped to hit the port-o-potty and I had passed him, but when I started walking he motored past me again. I told him to hang in there and keep going…. And then after a little pity party, I managed to gather myself and start running again. At least until I hit the hill for the 2nd time and decided another walk would feel good (Uggh again). I walked the whole hill for ~12 minutes. Once to the top, I started running again and made it to the turnaround point. On my way down the hill towards the turnaround, I saw Bernhard and wished him luck. After the turnaround, I did manage to keep running the rest of the way in. It was tough and not fast (marginally running) and not what I had hoped, but at least I was running. I had a hard time getting my HR elevated, but did manage to get it back to 139 for a while. The thought of getting under 11 hours slipped away and then I started doing the math to see if I could at least PR. I kept going, but still stopped at every aid station, but now for a count of 20 seconds. It got harder and harder to keep running, but I tried to keep focused on just to the next 30 minutes! The run through the neighborhoods again was a blur and small little inclines felt like mountains! But then, the turn onto Sherman avenue and a straight shot downhill to the finish!!! Wow, that felt great. Last year, I didn’t make it to that point, so I had finally gotten some retribution… it wasn’t exactly what I had hoped for, but it was what I had in me on the day.

Bernhard finishing!

Me finishing!

From a number standpoint, I had averaged 182 watts with a norm of 205, just a touch higher than Wisconsin last year. Also probably a touch high with respect to VI (put out too much effort on hills and norm power was too much higher than avg power). My power dropped from 189 avg 211 norm 1st half to 177 avg 199 norm in the 2nd half of the ride. I continue to struggle with holding power over the duration of the ride. Perhaps just a matter of pacing, but last year, I really held back in CDA and ended up feeling worse on the run. Go figure.

My run numbers (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95381522) were:

Time / Distance / Pace

30:08/3.72/08:05

30:00/3.51/08:32

30:16/3.51/08:37

31:42/3.42/09:15

30:20/3.15/09:37

30:01/1.71/17:34

30:16/3.07/09:51

40:35/4.22/09:37

From a nutrition standpoint, I feel like it was good overall, but does need a little tweaking. I had a gel before the swim and then went through all my calories on the bike and even had about 6-8 swigs of IM Perform beyond that. I estimate I consumed ~1550 calories in 5.5 hours and took in about 3000 mg Na. On the run, I had 2 small hits of my liquid shot, but then chucked it and stuck with Perform (sports drink) through the 1st half and then switched to cola for the 2nd half. Love that cola! I wish it would’ve been “real” Coke (it was Sam’s club cola), but it still tasted good! Not sure how many calories I took in on the run. About 500-600 I am guessing, but that’s just a guess – my run fueling strategy needs some work.

I am really proud of Sheila, who made it onto the "podium" in her AG, coming back from a crash, not running until February, and finishing an IM in June. Amazing. Here are some shots of her at the awards banquet.

Overall, I was 877th coming out of the water, rode to 307 on the bike, and fell back to 319 on the run. In my AG, I was 117th out of the water (out of 353), rode to 53rd on the bike, and stayed at 53rd for the finish. Not my highest placement, but a finish nonetheless! I learned a lot from this race, including the importance of pacing, the relative unimportance of the time you do the swim in, expectations are the enemy, and that I need to work on my mental toughness. I didn’t have a conventional IM build to this race, but had some good races to go from. I plan on taking a short break now and then starting to build again for Ironman Florida in November!

Cheers!

Race Report - Ironman Kansas 70.3

Kansas 70.3 is a race my wife and I picked out to do together because it is a ~5 hour drive from where her parents live, so we decided it would be fun for it to be her first half. I consider myself very lucky that my wife is interested in triathlon also. The fact that we share the same interest in racing, challenging ourselves, and seeing what we’re capable of, is really nice. It is a time-consuming hobby, so working out ways to do it together is awesome!

The other thing I think is great about the sport is that the average folks like us can race on the same day on the same course as the elite pros. Some of these professionals are incredible athletes and to be doing the same races is way cool. This race had some great athletes, including Chrissie Wellington, who is the 2-time defending women’s champ and arguably the best women athlete around. Our run-ins with the pros started on the plane ride to Kansas, where we were in the row in front of a guy who was obviously going to the race. I noticed his Trek/K-Swiss jacket when he boarded and pretty much knew then that he was a pro on that team. I would find out later, it was Paul Mathews who ended up winning the men’s race in 3:49 with a 1:12 half-marathon. Yeah, that’s fast.

This was my wife’s first half-IM so my goals/targets for this race were, in order of priority:

1) Do what I could to help her and make sure she finished.

2) Practice my nutrition and race process in preparation for the rest of the season (IM CDA is 2 weeks away).

3) Go hard and see if I could qualify for Las Vegas, the 70.3 World Championships.

4) Break 1:30 on the run.

We spent the day before the race scoping out the venue, riding a little bit on the course to make sure our bikes traveled OK, checking them in, scoping the swim venue, etc. We were also trying to figure out how to get our family into the park without having to get up at the crack of dawn to get into the park – there was only one entrance and the bike course went out that way, so they would close it when the race started. It made for a long day and more walking than I would’ve liked, but my wife’s family were very supportive and I really appreciated that. Our kids were wiped by the end of it, too!

Race morning came and there was no sign of rain yet. We got into the park pretty easily and were walking towards T2 first (a half mile from where we parked) and the gossip was that the storm moved south and we might get off the hook. Regardless, as we were setting up T2, they announced they would compress to 3 minutes between waves to get people out there sooner and take advantage of the decent weather. So we set up our shoes/hats and then wandered down towards T1, which was another half-mile away.

Once in T1, we started setting up and when I checked on my wife, she was having trouble getting air into her front tire. I didn’t want to mess with it, so I just used the extra tube I brought that morning and changed it out. 1st drama of the day. While doing that, the woman next to her also said she was having some problems. I checked her tire and it turns out she was trying to put air into it with the valve closed. I politely explained what was happening and helped her get set up too. It actually was nice to focus on some other folks and just take it easy and relaxed. Next were the port-o-potties, which actually didn’t have as long of lines as I expected. We were pretty relaxed because my wife’s wave was #10 and mine was #12, so we had some time. Then we wandered back up to the swim start and my wife got in the corral while I watched the pros come out of the water. This is where I recognized the guy that was by us on the plane and noted he was bib #3 and 2nd man out of the water. I waited there until I saw Leanda Cave and Chrissie come out of the water and then got ready for my start.

In spite of my REALLY long swim in Auburn, I was reasonably confident for this swim. It didn’t look bad at all. However, the wind was really starting to pick up and it was way choppy. I just tried to roll with the waves and get into a good rhythm. I didn’t really have any drama during the swim – there was only 1 guy who got aggressive and grabbed my shoulder and pushed me back. Otherwise, it was just a process of trying to find a group and stay on some feet while trying to get into a rhythm with the chop. Once out to the turn buoys we headed back East, into the wind and into the chop. I felt like I was swimming in place. On the way back I just tried to keep plodding along, but it did seem like a LONG time. And once out of the water, it was a LONG time – 42 and change. Later on, I would see that the swim was hard for most people, but I did not expect that number. 90th AG out of 222 coming out of the water. My wife swam a 41 and change (yes, she is a better swimmer than I am!) and was 23rd of 78 in her AG coming out of the water.

I made my way through transition and just focused on the task at hand – working my way through the field on the bike. My plan for the bike was to go hard and stay around 250 watts as best I could. I was going to sip my “meal” bottle every 15 minutes and do a shot of my EFS gel every 45 mins and supplement with a Saltstick cap. I wanted to keep the sodium coming in to prepare for hot, humid conditions on the run. As I got rolling out of the park, I started passing tons of people. I was in the 2nd to last wave and obviously did not have a great swim, so I was basically riding through the field as I went. I would just ride up behind people and go around. On the road out of the park, which was straight East into the wind, I realized this was going to be a hard ride with pretty gnarly wind solid from the East. Once we turned South and headed towards the rest of the course, I was flying, but I knew it wouldn’t last long.

(don't have many pix because my wife and I were both racing, here's one of the race shots - you can see Kansas is not flat)

Then, about 10 miles in, I started up one of the many rolling hills (Kansas is NOT flat and this course is at least as hard as Vineman if not harder), I happened across somebody with a flat. Then I realized it was Emily!! I stopped and turned around. When I came up to her, she already had the back wheel off and was getting ready to change it. I told her to hand it over because I knew I could do it quicker. So I changed out the tube, now the back one, and then put some air in it with her CO2. It seemed to hold, so we got her wheel back on and then had to get her chain back on too. All-in-all, it took me about 5 minutes I think. I knew I was giving up some time here, but this race was more about her than me and I wasn’t completely sure she’d be able to use the CO2 correctly. And once you try that and the air is gone, you are stuck. As I mentioned, my #1 goal was for her to finish, so I was happy to help. Had I not come along, she probably would’ve been fine, but I get her rolling again and she lost only 7-8 minutes and I lost about 5. I spent the rest of the ride working hard on the hills and into the wind as much as I could knowing that I had to make up some ground on the folks in my AG. I worried some that she would have more problems, but rode on. There were large sections of the ride heading straight into the wind and times when I was pushing 300 watts and going 16-17 mph. In addition, my Garmin had 2500 feet of vertical. Usually, that seems to over-estimate a touch, but that is still more than Vineman, which has less than 2K feet of vertical. I ended up riding a 2:38 and estimate I lost ~5 minutes from the flat. Average power was 230 watts with a norm of 244. I was hoping to ride a little harder, but it felt like a solid effort – enough that I was irritable by the end and starting to get a little fatigued. And in spite of the flat, my wife still rode a 3:06. If not for the bad luck, she would’ve been under 3 hours for the bike, which is pretty good for your first time out!

Coming into transition was fun – the park road has some rollers and we had a strong tailwind for the last couple miles, so I was zooming by people still. A few hundred yards out and took my feet out of my shoes and rolled into T2. Racked my bike, took off my helmet, put on my shoes, grabbed my hat and was on my way.

The run is not super hilly but does have some slopes and one moderate hill. Everything is relative and the hills we run at home make this seem small, but I did hear people talking about how big it was. Anyway, I went on about my business and started my run “process” … 3 30-minute laps with target HRs and paces. I was shooting for a HR of ~157 on the first lap and going to try to keep my pace below 6:50 on average for the 30 minutes. I felt a little sluggish for the first few minutes, but the run legs showed up and I rolled along at ~6:4x pace. The course has 3 out-and-back sections and you repeat those on 2 laps. I hit the first out and back and then cruised back down toward the boat dock down the hill and towards the 2nd turn-around. I was moving well and felt good. On the way back up towards the campground, I was starting to get a little tired, but not bad. At the end of my 30 minutes, my average pace was 6:42 and my average HR was 158 – very close to target. My plan for the next 30 was to raise that 2-3 bpm and keep my pace up. I made my way around the campground and meanwhile started watching for Emily, hoping she had made it off the bike OK. By the end of the first lap of the course, I was still cruising along at a good pace and felt pretty decent. I started the 2nd lap and motored on. When I got down to the boat dock again, I was nearing the end of my 30 minutes and decided to extend it a minute or two… 2 reasons: (1) there was a small hill coming out of the boat dock and I didn’t want my average pace to show too slow on my watch when I started the next lap (a little mindgame for myself), and (2) if I let this one go a touch long, the last one would be shorter! By doing this, I made sure to set myself up for a good mental approach in that last 30 minutes and it worked really well. I got my avg pace down to the 6:50 range before hitting the small hill back to the campground and also knew unless the wheels fell completely off, I’d only have ~27-28 minutes to run on this last set! I let my HR come up a little and kept at it. My avg pace for the 2nd “30” minutes (actually 31:24), was 6:54 and my avg HR was 161.

(another race-photographer shot)

At this point, I also switched to only liquid fuel. My gut felt a little heavy and I didn’t want to push my luck. Coke tastes like sweet nectar of the gods in the 2nd half of the run!! I started the last part of the course around the campground on my 2nd lap and finally saw Emily. She made it off the bike and was already nearing the end of her first lap of the run – AWESOME! I was relieved at this point because I knew she would at least finish. Plus she still looked pretty good, so I was hoping she would finish strong. Those last 2 miles were tough, but I was flying by people so fast, it felt great. I was also on top of my mental approach and stuck to my rhythmic – “relaxed, calm, focused, strong.” On that note, I had recently read the mental chapter in Chris McCormack’s book and had already some thoughts organized in my “folders” that could be called upon when needed. I was hurting by this point, but I was in control mentally and felt great about that. I wasn’t completely focused on “when do I get to stop!” I was focused on my process and that was a huge victory for me. Not only that, I was keeping sub 7 minute miles and a HR of ~163 so I was NOT blowing up by any means. I pushed my way to the finish and clocked a 1:28:02 run, beating my previous best half-IM run by 3.5 minutes. I finished in 4:52 overall and was pleased I had managed to get under 5 hours in spite of a 42 minute swim and stopping to help Emily fix the flat.

I downed some sports drink, recovered for a minute or two, and then wandered over to part of the run course to watch for Emily. She came by and started her campground final loop and only had about 30 minutes to go… Then I found my family and we all watched as Emily finished her 1st half-IM in 5:44, which included 7-8 minutes of fixing a flat tire!! She had gotten back down to 23rd AG out of 78. AWESOME! I ended up working my way back up to 16th in my AG out of 222 and was pleased with that given the circumstances.

(my wife and I with my father-in-law after the finish)

As I continue to mature as an athlete, my perspective on races has changed. In the past, I probably would’ve been frustrated that I missed a PR by quite a bit. However, I just got to watch my wife finish her first half-IM and finish 23rd AG at a big race. Not only that, I helped her do it, by stopping on the side of the road and fixing her flat. This is what sticks with me. There is a fair amount of being self-involved in this sport – lots of training time, etc. It was a great experience to see my wife share in my passion AND get to help her do it and be there on the side of the road when she needed it. This was just a small thing, but it reminds me that we all need to find ways to give back to the sport and keep the community feel/approach during races, whether it is with your wife or friend or a complete stranger.

With respect to my own race, I had a great run and broke 1:30, was in control of my head (almost) the whole time. I left it out there, but also stuck to my process. I also dialed in a good nutrition plan for the rest of the season. I am very much looking forward to things to come… next up: a “bonus” Ironman in Coeur d’Alene only 2 weeks after Kansas!