I decided to do this race to get use to the terrain in
Wisconsin prior to the full Ironman in Madison. Due to scheduling I went to
this race solo but was able meet a friend of mine, Matt, who made the drive
up from Chicago to help me out during the race. We volunteered together last
year in Madison for the Ironman. So it was good to see him and hang out again. We both raced the sprint during Rocky Mtn State Games in 2010 (while we both were on Active Duty stationed at Fort Carson), after
that we both started hitting the longer distances. He completed a 70.3 and
Ironman Coeur d’ Alene so I followed his lead with Boulder 70.3 and Ironman St George.This year I have both the 70.3 and 140.6 on the schedule. Representing the Greater Mankato Multisport Club in my "Green Gear" kit.
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| Lake Michigan (Swim start prior to Race) |
Race Morning: Got up at 5:10 after panic attack thinking we
woke up late. Then I was kindly reminded we agreed to wake up at 5:15. We
walked over to get some of the hotel continental breakfast (I just went for the
coffee since I prepacked my breakfast). We loaded everything up and headed over
to Transition. We were able to find a spot near where we parked the day before
and walked over to transition. Getting
there at 6 with plenty of time to pump up tires, fill up water and lay out
shoes, belt, hat etc. I exited out of transition
around 6:20 after talking with all my fans (or they wanted to use my bike pump
not sure) and meet up with Matt for an hour of hurry up and wait time. During
our exploration of Racine we heard that you have to try a Kringle (Danish pastry)
while in Racine. So we drove around town looking for a place open on Sunday
morning. We had a few failed attempts, eventually gave up and then headed toward the swim
start. I had my bottle with 2 scoops of
UCAN (cran-raz and chocolate) between 7:00-7:30. Got to the swim start around
7:30 did some dynamic warm up and ran a little bit before putting on the
wetsuit. About 20 mins before my wave start I got in the water and noticed the
beach was shallow for about 150 yds out from shore. The waves were pretty good closer to shore
not any white caps but you could see the waves moving pretty good out by the
bouys. I stayed in the water until my
wave was lined up in the timing
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| Matt and I prior to the race |
Swim 35:01 (1:48/100m)
After the horn sounded, I figured I would walk/jog out as
far as I can before trying to swim since the beach was so shallow. The majority of the group did the same, a few
guys tried to swim and realized it was too shallow and picked up the jog. We were swimming straight in to the waves for
250-300 yds before we turned to swim parallel with the beach. The waves were rough nothing like at St George
but it was difficult to sight over the top of them. I was able to swim with a group from my wave
most of the swim, we were separated a few times as we were passing people from
previous waves. Starting as the 19th wave we passed a couple
different color swim caps. I never
checked the watch for pace like I had planned, but felt like with the waves I
knew it was going to be slower than planned so I am just going to swim the race
the best I can. I was able to get in the shore side position of the group a
few times which gave me a little break from the waves. After making the turn to head back in to the
beach it really was congested due to the shallow beach again I was swimming
right in to people walking. So I jogged it back to shore hit the timing mat and
heading up to T1.
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| Coming out of the water |
T1 3:31
Pretty good run up the beach (after the previous waves the
beach was pretty rough) to the trail that took us in to transition. Wet suit
strippers were lined up where I was able to get my suit off quickly but not
without a tear in it first. Nothing I
can do about it now. I ran in to transition to 3 rows over and down to my bike
put on my sunglasses and helmet boom get going.
Of course I get stuck behind an athlete with his cycling shoes on trying
to run (CLICK, CLOCK, CLICK, CLOCK) ha ha.
Slowed me up a bit but once we got to the mount line I passed by a few of
those that stop at the mount line trying to get clipped in as I ran by and
hopped on my bike about 10 yards past the group. I was riding up the hill out
of transition before getting my feet in my shoes to start the bike.
Bike 2:35:34 (21.6
mph)
The bike was a single lap course with a 30 mile split along
the way.
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| Getting out of transition on the bike |
After getting my feet in my shoes and velcro fastened, after
the climb out of transition, I was off.
Plan for this bike was to keep a high cadence and power below 220
watts. I packed a bottle with the same
combo of UCAN on bike along with a cliff bar cut in 6 pieces. I also had my Speedfill bottle with a liter
of water. I was going to drink water every 15 mins and every 30 mins take a
piece of cliff bar along with pulls from my UCAN bottle. The bike course was mostly heading west with
a little 8 mph tail wind for the first split. There were a few rolling hills
nothing any more difficult then what I ride in training. I was able to keep a
high cadence 95-100 and a lower power output. After hitting the 30 mile split I thought, “wow
this is going to be a wicked fast bike split” even with all the traffic on the course. 30 mile split (1:19:21, 22.68mph) Shortly thereafter heading back
into town I met the former tailwind now the head wind. Continued to keep cadence
higher but had a higher power output with the head wind. Everything was going
as planned. With the roads being as
bumpy as they were (seemed like a crack in the road about every 2-3 bike
lengths), there were bike computers, water bottle cages, aero bottle parts etc
all over the course. I was sitting up out the aero position a number of times
to give my “body” a break from the continuous bumps along the roads. I saw a
number of people lose control of their bikes on the bumps and around
corners. I will never complain about the
roads that I ride on around my home again. With the headwind I took the last 5
miles pretty easy as we came through the north part of town back down to
transition. My legs weren’t feeling bad but my quads were pretty tight so I
used the bike to stretch during the last 2 miles as I passed by athletes on the
run course. I took my feet out of my shoes before riding down the hill into
transition to the dismount line. 26 mile split (1:16:13, 20.46 mph)
T2 1:32
I jumped off the bike and started running into transition.
Really? Again I was behind a guy running in bike shoes down my chute to my bike.
Getting to my spot I racked my bike helmet off, socks on, shoes on grabbed my
belt and visor then on to the run course.
Run 1:43:17 (7:53/mi)
The run course was a double out and back course with 3.3
mile splits.
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| Around the "suicide pace" discussion with myself |
Out of transition at the aid station, I still had my belt
and visor in hand grabbing a cup of water to dump on my head. Got my belt and visor on and then was able to
get set in to pace. The original plan was to run a 1:30 half marathon. So I was getting my pace just under 7:00/mi.
Just after a half mile in my legs were hurting this was not a good sign (maybe
just need to run some more to adjust I thought). I continued to push over the
two hills with in the first mile of the course.
As I got past the first aid station (mile 1), I knew I was on suicide
pace (since I am not Prefontaine) if I kept it up (I knew if I tried to keep this pace I was
going to blow up which would mean walking most of the race). I also saw Matt around
the aid station; he ran with me a bit. Had some words of encouragement about my bike split and to crush the run. It was good to have someone out there
cheering me along. I slowed my pace just
around 7:10/miles seemed to work well for a while. I ran through all the aid
stations during the first split (3.4 miles) on the way back I started to walk
the aid stations. My legs were still feeling pretty heavy, I assumed after
running for a while they would finally figure out it was time to run. My pace was continuing to fade along with an
increasing frustration level. At the half
way point my legs were hurting I was starting to take coke at the aid stations
along with putting ice in my top. It wasn’t too hot being in the upper 70s low
80s but the sun was pretty intense out of the shade. I planned a little mental game looking at my
watch I was 50 mins in to the run at the half way point around 6.5 miles. I am
going to jog and walk if needed up to the turnaround just before 10 miles. So I pretty much ran aid station to aid
station sucked up the pain and frustration.
Before I knew it I was at the turn around, I took some ice, water and an
orange slice at the aid station. Ok I need to negative split this last 3.3
miles. My watch keeps track of overall pace I was at 8:01/mi average at this
point I need to push these last few miles. I tried to push the legs as hard as I
could; I still walked at each of the aid stations to grab ice, coke and
water. At this point I was just trying
to finish in less than 5 hours. So I continued to push through the last mile where
a majority of the spectators were. Finally
I could see the end, I decided to walk the carpet and enjoyed
crossing the finish line. Crossing at 4:58:55!!
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| Even after a mental beating, Suns out Guns out ! |
Even with a frustrating run I was able to put together a
pretty decent race. 12 mins and 34
seconds faster than the 70.3 I did in Boulder 2011. With a good AAR (After action review ) with my Coach on power and nutrition on the bike and we should be all dialed in for Ironman Wisconsin.
Placed 28/237 in my Age Group
180/2275 Overall (missed the money by 174 places ha ha )
Next Race is USA Triathlon
Age Group Nationals 10 Aug in Milwaukee, WI.
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