Ironman Louisville Race Report

I'm so sorry for the delay in getting this blog out. I've been a little tired from the race, getting packed and getting home. It's been a crazy 24 hours, but I will do my best to recap my race day experience.

The day started at 0400 with every alarm we owned going off within a few seconds of each other. About 0415 room service showed up with my morning breakfast, which consisted of a bacon & cheese omelet, wheat toast and coffee. I also had a banana and a peanut butter and honey sandwich. I was also drinking gatorade to start hydrating. We departed the room at 0500 for the great lawn (transition area) to check my bike, pump up my tires and walk thru transition one last time. Once everything was set we walked to the swim start, which was about 3/4 of a mile up the river at Tumbleweed Marina. The swim start is a time trial start so we had to get in line, which was about 2500 people long by the time we got there. I was in line with Lisa, Matt, Joe, Don, Kelly and Connie. All folks from Va Bch/Norfolk area.

The cannon went off promptly at 0700 but it took us 31 minutes to get to the water. They could only put about 4 people at a time in the water. We waited and moved, waited and moved until finally it was time. I started my timer when I crossed the timing mat and jumped in the water. The swim was interesting and not really all that hard once I got into a rhythm. It was crowded and I swam over and passed a lot of people. I got kicked in the hands, face and even in the junk once. About two miles in I got cramps in both legs and had to float along for about one minute until I could start moving again. I was worried at that point but somehow I managed the rest of the day without any cramps. I finished the swim strong and ended with a time of 1:08:24.

T1 went smoothly, except that I had a very upset stomach. I had hoped for a faster transition but the way it was set up it would have required sprinting the entire thing to get below three minutes. I got dressed into socks, shoes, riding jersey and helmet as fast as possible and off I went in search of my bike. I bypassed all volunteers putting on sun screen since I had my own spray-on sun block. I finally got on the bike after a T1 time of 5:46.

The bike course was very crowded. It was nearly impossible not to be in a drafting position, which is illegal. The bike went well for me other than my stomach not being happy. It took about two hours for my stomach to settle down. I only ate one of my three peanut butter and honey sandwiches, but I did force down a gel every 20 minutes. I rode as hard as I possibly could on that ride despite it being very hilly. Most of the 32 miles going back to transition was into a 5-10 mph wind which really didn't help any. I managed to finish the bike with a time of 5:39:00.

T2 went smoothly as well. When I came back to the bike dismount line, I handed my bike to a volunteer and ran down the shoot to get my bike-to-run transition bag. I quickly put on my shoes, took off my riding jersey and headed out. I did stop in a port-a-potty while in transition and noticed that I was dehydrated. It was about 95 degrees by this time. My T2 time was 4:33.

I thought I was doing well on the run but it was brutally hot. The heat, plus being a bit dehydrated, put the brakes on my run. After 3 miles I started walking through each water station. Did I mention it was 95 degrees? I also drank 3-4 cups of water at every station. My strategy was to run from water station to water station. I think I was also behind on my nutrition since I missed about 2 hours of food on the bike. Now I love to run and this was one hard run. I just couldn't put together a faster time. I just wanted to keep moving to the finish line since that was the fastest way to stop the pain. I finally passed the 25 mile marker and knew that it was almost over but that didn't really put any pep in my step. I just continued to grind away until I turned the corner onto Fourth Street and could see the finish line. Those last two blocks were the easiest park of the race. It was awesome to run down the street knowing that I had made it to the finish line. I was going to be an IRONMAN. I did the run in 4:14:06.

My final time was 11:11:49 and that gave me an 8th place finish in my age group (45-49).

I have to mention my supporters. Thank you Lisa! You have been with me since I started this adventure and you've always been the voice of reason. I really appreciate your support, pep talks and the "you can do it" attitude even when I was not feeling it. It was inspiring to see you when I finished the swim, started the bike, halfway thru the bike, at the bike finish, run start, run halfway point and of course the finish line. Thank you for sharing the emotional moment with me at the finish line. I don't have those moments often but I'm glad that I got to share that with you. Mom and Dad thanks for making the trip and running around all day trying to keep up with me. I appreciate all that you've taught me in my life. I applied all of those lessons to getting me through the day. I also want to thank all of you that have been reading my blog over the last months. Thanks!!

Now for the big news!! I've signed up for Ironman Canada for next year on 28 August 2011. So the blog will continue and I hope that you'll continue to follow me in my adventure.

I'm going to take the week off and rest.

Have a good day!!

This is it!!

Well friends this is the last blog before the race. I want to thank each and every one of you for following me to this point. I don't know all of you but I do appreciate you taking this journey with me. I'm excited to get this going but I'm also sad that it's coming to and end. My training has become a big part of my life. I know that this will not be the last Ironman for me. I hope that some of you will join me for triathlon races in the future. It's not about being the fastest, it's about living and enjoying our life's to the fullest. Thank you again for your support.

I Officially started this journey on 1 Dec 2009 with a 12 minute swim. I've gone a long way since that first workout. As a matter of fact, I've gone 2463.55 miles in the last 9 months.

Here is the breakdown:

Swim - 65.46 miles over 36:40:10 for an average of 33:36 per mile.
Bike - 1898.3 miles over 101:00:07 for an average of 3:12 per mile.
Run - 499.84 miles over 63:23:21 for an average of 7:36 per mile.

Tomorrow on race day you can follow me online at www.ironman.com
When you get to that page you'll see a LIVE window in the middle top of the page with Ironman Canada and Ironman Louisville. Click on the Athlete Tracker for Ironman Louisville. My bib number is 2481 and my age group is 45-49. There are timing mats that I cross a number of time during the day that update my position.

Once again thank you for your support. It's been an awesome adventure that I plan to do again and again. I hope you'll follow me tomorrow on my race as well as in the future.

Have a great day!

Today I did an 18 mile bike on the ironman course. Me and a group of friends rode out River rd and back. It was a very easy pace going out but we did hit it coming back home. The bike felt good...I felt good!

I then drug the whole family down to the expo for athlete check in, only to find out that they can only go so far. So I continued solo and got weight, signed waivers and received my race packet. On a side note I ran into a guy, Mark R., that I haven't seen since 1986 when were in the Army together. It's a small world.

After getting all checked in we loaded up my dad's truck and went for a little drive.
An 80 mile drive to be exact. That's all of the bike course you need to drive since 32 miles is repeated twice. I'll tell you I don't remember the hills being this tall when I was here riding a few weeks ago. Not to worry though because my legs are rested and ready to go.

Tonight I'm going to the Age group athlete meeting. This is were we'll get the rules about drafting, littering, etc told to us again. Then it's early to bed.

Have a great day!

Louisville, KY

Well after another normal flight on Delta airlines we finally made it to Louisville. I say normal because Delta hasn't been able to get me anywhere on time in the last few months. I'm just over their delays and cancellations.

OK back the good things....

We arrived in Louisville and were meet at the airport by my parents. Who drove all the way from Amarillo to see me and Lisa. We got checked into our hotel, which is right downtown and one block from the finish line, so I don't have far to walk when this is over. We then retrieved my bike from the company that transported it here and took a walk around the transition area. It was an awesome feeling walking around that area and looking at everything. I can't wait to see it full of bikes and people running every which way.

We then had a very nice dinner at the Red Star on 4th Street Live. Which just happens to be right where the finish line is going to be set up. It's an awesome place for a race finish. After that we headed across the Ohio river to see Matt W. who had the race wheels I'm going to be using. Once we had my bike set up and race ready we headed back to our hotel to end the day.

More to follow tomorrow. Have a good day!

Today I did a 3 event workout, all of them at a very easy pace. I started the day with a 45 minute bike. I rode on a Greg Lemond spin bike. My bike is gone to Louisville. I then did a 15 minute tread mill run at 8 minute pace. It was easy and my heart rate never got above 130 BPM. I hope that is a good sign! I then did lunch and some work before heading home. On the way I stopped at the fleet rec 50m pool for some easy laps. I did 300m free, 4x50m lt/rt (left hand only/right hand only), 300m free, 4x50m tips (dragging my fingers tips on the water as I recover), 300m free, 4x50m catchups, 300m free, done. I did 1800 meters total. All of these workouts were done at an easy pace just to keep my body loose.

Tomorrow morning Lisa and I are heading to Louisville so I'll be blog from the event sight tomorrow night. YEAH!!

Have a great day!!

Well I was suppose to swim today but work got in the way. So I ended up rowing 5000 meters and then running 4 miles. The row took me 20:37. That is the first time I have ever rowed that far so hopefully I won't be sore tomorrow. I did the run in 30:30 and just maintained a nice relaxed pace. I'm really looking forward to getting this race going.

We are still closing up loose ends before the trip on Thursday. Lisa had to pick up some race wheels for me from Fat Frogs. We then met at Starbucks to listen to her daughter sing at open mic night. Then I had to run the wheels down to Chesapeake to Matt's house. Matt is also competing in Ironman Louisville and is driving to the race. So he's carrying the race wheels. Thanks Matt!

Have a good day!

Today I took my girls down to the ocean front to watch Lisa and her daughter run a 5k. They did great! Lisa's daughter was the winner of the 14 and under group. Great job ladies!!

I then headed home for an easy bike followed by a hard run. I did 45 minutes on the bike spinning at >100 RPM. I then changed into my running gear and did a 53:54 run covering 7.3 miles. It was a good day and that is pretty much my final bike/run workout of this program. The rest of my bike/run workouts are going to be easy and short.

I took my bike to 3 sports in Richmond today. A company called Tri Bike transport is going to pick up my bike and take it to Louisville. The nice thing about Tri Bike transport is I only have to take the pedals off. The bike is shipped on a special trailer completely intact. I'm feeling like I left a child with a stranger! I'm going to have nightmares about them forgeting my bike until I see it in Louisville Thursday. The company owner has promised me a call Monday morning when they pick it up. I'm hoping everything goes well.

Have a good weekend!