Woke up 3:15 and drank about 500 calories of Sustained Energy then went back to bed. It had 4 scoops of Endurolytes mixed in as well. Finally got out of bed at 4:15. I was very rested and wide awake. I was out the door at 4:45 and on my way to the event. We parked on the street at a meter which was cool because Sunday's are free. Many thanks to the person who suggested we get there early for parking.

First I stopped on the square to drop off my special needs bags. The boxes weren't set up yet so I helped get them off the truck and put them in order. It was funny how some people would help organize the boxes and other would just find theirs and drop off their stuff making the boxes harder for the rest of us to organize with weight in them. I imagine that those are the same people who drive in bus/bike lanes because they are too impatient to wait.

The bike corral was open when I got there so I went there next. I took the plastic off my seat and pumped up the tires. I ignored the advice and pumped the tires up to 130. The pump I used did not work very well so I had to ask someone to hold the valve while I pumped (that sounds kind of funny). The valve on the rear tube kept coming loose when I took the cap off. It was leaking badly until I tightened it up. I was a little worried about it but decided to risk it and not to change the tube. It gave me no problems during the ride.

Next I went to the bag drop-off. My bike transition bag was too full so I had to take some things out. At that time it was not raining and the forecast was for eventual clearing so I took out my rain coat and my wife Vicki took it back to the car with the rest of my dry gear. At about 6:00 I ran into my friend Dirk who told me that it was really raining hard in Mt. Horeb. I freaked!. Vicki volunteered to run back to the car to get my rain coat. She must really love me :-). I was very happy to have that coat back in my bag.

At 6:15 I met a bunch of friends in the area next to the bike corral to put on out wetsuits and take some pictures. After all the hugs and pics we started walking down to the swim at around 6:35. Once I got there I put on my game face and went straight in the water. I wanted to start about 3 rows back from the orange buoy and about 10' outside it. Once I got there I asked this dude what swim time he said he was shooting for and he said 0:55 minutes. So I moved about two rows behind him. My Promotion wetsuit is extremely buoyant so I didn't need to tread water and that was nice. I looked around to see if there was anyone else that I knew and I saw my friend Kristine. I also saw a friend in one of the kayaks. I swam up to him and grabbed his arm when he wasn't looking. Once he turned around I mumbled "Help, I can't swim". He thought I was funny.

10, 9, 8....3,2,1 BOOM, we're off. It was pretty congested where I was swimming so I headed to a spot inside the buoys. It was a little better but was still like being inside a washing machine. I felt like I was moving really slowly but as I passes the first intermediate buoy I could tell that we were really moving. Just about the time I would find a good spot and start to get in a groove somebody would come out of nowhere and try to swim over me. There were people swimming all over the place. I'd bet a bunch of people swam at least a 1/10 or two extra miles. I was told going into it that the second lap would be much smoother but that didn't happen. I was having mini battles for space the entire way. I also noticed that the gals (blue caps) were more aggressive that the guys. I'd bump into a guy and he'd move over. I bumped into this one gal and she swung her elbow and tried to crack me in the head with it. Luckily she missed. Got kicked in the goggles once but they didn't get knocked off or leak so no big deal. I did find myself having to pee the entire second loop but I couldn't slow down and relax enough to do it on the swim, so I continued. Once I got to ramp I the clock read 1:09:50. My goal was 1:10. Cool. Instead of getting out right away I decided to stand in chest deep water and relieve the bladder. I figured that it would take less time than waiting in line at the portolets. Don't tell my wetsuit stripper what I did. I did not check my heart rate but I knew my swim was very aerobic. Except for swallowing some lake water.

The run up the helix was fun and easy. I saw Vicki, my parents, in-laws, and several friends. That was fun.

By bike transition was extremely slow. I could not find a free helper so I did it solo. It took me a couple of minutes to decide what to wear. I decided to go with my team race singlet, bike shorts, leg warmers, gloves, day-glo green sock, and my fall rain jacket. I also placed a bike shirt and arm warmers in the back pockets. My thinking was that I'd rather be a little warm at the beginning. If I got too warm I'd just pitch my jacket to a friend and put on the shirt and arm warmers instead. But that never happened. I was comfortable and toasty warm all day. I saw a lot of people who had to be freezing. Thanks Dirk for the last minute forecast, that saved my ride.

The ride was fun and not too difficult. My plan was to cruise out to Mt. Horeb at an easy pace then fall into a pace that I could maintain for the rest of the ride. I was surprised by how many people passes me before Mt. Vernon. It felt like 3 or 4 hundred. People were really flying and jamming up the roller hills. I had no idea how fast I was going because I was only interested in when I had to eat and drink. My meal plan was for Sustained Energy with 4 Endurolytes per hour mixed in. I planned for 5 hours of this mixture then I would switch to hammer gels for the rest of the day. I drank one profile aero bottle's worth of water about every hour or so. I was very hydrated based on the fact that I stopped 6 times to pee. I thought about it afterwards and figured that I could have finished 20 minutes earlier if I would have been willing to pee on my bike. Yuk. I didn't even try because I figured my leg warmers would just direct it straight into my shoes.

At about Cross Plains I was not longer getting passes very much. Instead I began to pass a bunch of people back. Those of you who know me know that I'm not a hill climber. But you'd be proud to know that I was on Sunday. Hills were no issue thanks to all the energy from the spectators, the 27 tooth cog, and the smell of bacon. I was maintaining a steady pace and people were just slowing down. Lots of flats and cold people. Was the tack guy out again? I was having no issues and was feeling very fresh. My average HR for the ride was at 136 or 75%. Unlike the first stretch out to Mt. Horeb where I was concerned that my taper did not work. I was concerned that the energy I was supposed to be getting back would not come. It did however at 40 miles. My taper was perfect. BTW I followed the taper outlined by Mark Allen.
http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/triathlon-training/the-perfect-taper-000287.php

The bike to run transition went much smoother thanks to my helper. I cut that time down a bunch from T1. For the run I wore Tri Shorts with running shorts over them, the same race singlet, fresh socks, a blaze orange nylon vest, arm warmers, and a blaze orange headsweats hat. I must have looked like a construction worker with all that orange on. However, it made it very easy for my family and friends to find me. The run was fun and not too difficult. I smiled the whole way. Being a first timer to the IM and marathon I didn't want to kill myself during the run or the race. My goal was to walk up hills and through water stations. I walked up every hill and towards the end of the day there were several almost hills that I walked up too. The only issues I had during the run was that the bottoms of my feet were sore and chafe from the arm warmers near my armpits. I was never cold.

My goals for my first IM race were to 1st finish, 2nd Have fun, 3rd break 13 hours, 4th not end up in the medical tent. At 11:30 I had 6 miles to go so I totally knew I was going to exceed my goals. Breaking 12:30 didn't mean anything to me so the last six miles I walked even more and talked to several other athletes and slapped high 5s to a bunch of spectators. Several spectators were surprised how fresh I looked and even more surprised when they knew I was just about to finish. I was feeling really good and really sloughing off. In retrospect though had I known that I could have put some more distance on a couple of training buddies who were on my tail I would have picked it up a notch or two.

At the last aid station some guy asked me a question I didn't understand at first. I thought he was asking me if my number ended with 1 or 2. I responded 1 as in 1451. In actuality he must have been in my age group and was asking me if I was on my first or second loop. Needless to say I didn't have to race him to the finish :-)

Overall I was very pleased with the day. I met my goals. I was surprised that it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. I felt sorry for all the cold people. I had a bunch of energy left over after the race which I felt was important for my first one. My self made training schedule worked. My taper worked. My food plan was awesome (Love that Hammer stuff). My choice of attire was perfect (Thanks to Dirk and Vicki). I made a ton of new friends throughout all the training. I now have a lot of cool workout clothes so I have to keep it up. My clothes fit better and are even loose. I was surprised how good I felt both during and afterwards. I actually hurt way more the day after and also after a couple of long training days. I had fun.

Will I ever do it again? I'll never say never. I like my odds in the 70+ age group :-) And Frank will probably be retired by then. Actually I think Australia 2010 would be a hoot. Tattoo? Thinking about it.

Thanks Trifuel for the great forum. The knowledge I gained through all the great questions and responses made for a really fun first IM experience.

Mike

Swim 1:10:49 (501)
T1 15:06 (Ouch)
Bike 6:22:13 (684) (learn to pee while riding)
T2 9:23
Run 4:36:39 (917)
Finish 12:34:09 (734/2439 overall; 106/328 in M40-44 age group) Fun! Fun! Fun!