What A Great Day!

Here goes:

Arrived on Friday to a town full of athletes riding and running around. You could really feel the excitement in the air. Got settled into the room(GALT HOUSE-very nice rooms,hotel,everything) and went down to registration. Went through registration and had to weigh in-168.4 lbs. Holy crap I've put an extra 8 pounds back on in the last 2 1/2 weeks. Oh well, too late to worry now. Went to eat with the wife and 4 kids and sister then back to room to rest.

Parents arrived late Friday night and dad wanted to go down Sat. morning for the last practice swim to watch as he's never been to a triathlon before. He couldn't quit talking about how some of these older guys were out here and how well toned a lot of the women are. I know you're supposed to just relax all day and not get caught up in all of the Ironman hoopla but my family was there, and I was ready to take it all in. So we went all around town and I finally got to bed at about 10:45pm. All was well.

Woke up at 2:00 and started eating-had 15 Fig Newtons, a banana, and 1/2 bottle of gatorade to wash it all down. Went back to bed and actually fell back asleep. Woke up again at 5:00, kissed the kids and wife goodbye, and went down to meet my dad and sister to head down to T1 to check tires, get body marked, and take a few pictures. All the pros started coming in checking out their bikes and stuff, each one being announced along with all of their numerous victories. I just stood there and thought, Wow, I'm actually going to be on the same course as these unbelievable athletes. Had to walk(supposedly 3/4 mile-seemed more like 1-1/4 miles) from T1 to swim start, turned in my morning clothes bag and started to self-seed myself in the long line of athletes. Got in around a group that was expecting 1:10-1:20. I was hoping for 1:15. The pros got in(still dark), the cannon went off, and about 5 mins later our line started moving.

The Swim:
Athletes were going in every second and the line started moving quickly. Before I knew it I was on the last dock to the water. The the person in front of me pointed out the debris that had washed up against one of the docks(bottles, sticks, green foam,etc) not what you want to see 60 seconds from starting a 2.4 mile river swim. Work my way up the dock and all of a sudden, beep, I'm in! Start off real easy, sighting off the tree line 40 yds away. No real problems and really didn't feel like we were swimming against a current. Made it out past the tip of Towhead Island and this is where it got a little interseting. We were supposed to swim out towards a turnaround bouy and then out in to the main channel where it would be a nice float back in with the current to T1. Well,this was my 1st IM and I was kinda glad we didn't have the mass start, but I believe at the turnaround, it was as close as you could get to a mass start. I got knocked in the ribs and kicked in the stomach a couple of times but made it around alive an started out to the main channel. I couldn't wait for that strong current everyone was talking about to pick me up and take me home. It never came! I just kept on nice and smooth and when I came up the steps and down the loooooong chute to T1 I realized I had made it: 1:15:38 My goal was 1:15 so 1 down 2 to go.

T1:
I made sure to try and keep my HR down as low as possible, so I walked through T1 to the tent, sat down, and started getting all bike stuff ready. No problems in there went out got the bike and walked it out to dismount line-saw the family for the first time right at the line. They wished me luck and said they see me in a few hours. With 4 kids, one who is just 7 weeks old, they weren't going to get in the car and try to chase me all over the course. I told them bye and said see you in about 6 1/2 hours.

T1 10:41

THE BIKE:
Wow what a course! The first 10-15 miles or so were flat and nice asphalt. My plan was to ride according to HR, work hard on fuel and fluids, and just enjoy the whole experience. About 20 miles in we came to the out-and-back on HWY1694. This was fun. The first mile was flat and then we began a descent in which I hit 41 mph. Wow is all I can say. Then you begin a climb where you're barely pushing 11 mph, while othere cyclists are screaming down toward you on the oter side of the road at breakneck speed. You do this one more time (down fast-up-slow) before hitting the turnaround point and doing it again back to Hwy42. I did see a couple of cyclists on the other side of the guard rail at the bottom of the second hill and a few others standing around but never heard what had happened. Out on Hwy 42 again you turn off and start toward the town of LaGrange. LaGrange was one of the best spots for fans to watch b/c we had two loops through there. There were people everywhere and they were all screaming for you as loud as they could. The only bad part was that it was mostly down hill and over in about 60 seconds. The rest of the loop was uneventful. Just a BUNCH of hills. They just kept coming. I really couldn't get anything going. I'd get my HR up going up, and coast down letting it drop down to normal. I did, however, have one of the Pro women come by me, on her second loop, and just as she got out in front of me, blew a snot rocket my way. Pretty cool! As we started our second loop off 42 to Lagrange, this was where special need was. As I pulled off to get my bag, I saw a racer under the tent, on a spine board, in a neck brace and an ambulance next to him. I later found out that he was going through the intersection there and some idiot in a minivan didn't notice the stopped traffic, Police officers, or cyclists on the road and when the light turned green went on through. Monday's paper said he was in the hospital recovering from some pretty bad injuries. I was starting to wear down a little but knew that all I had to do was make it back to Hwy42 and it would be smooth sailing from then on. Well, I got to somewhere between mile 70-75 and started a climb up through what seemed to be a large acred neighborhood and went to shift down from the big chainring to the small one. All of a sudden, the chain pops off the cassette and gets wedged between the cassette and the wheel itself, right at the hub. My pedals lock up, and at 5mph I just know I'm going down. I manage to get uncliped just in time. I dismount and try to dislodge the chain to no avail. So, next thing I'm trying to take the wheel off, but the chain is in so tight the wheel won't move. "I'm F'd" I say to myself and I start to panic. About 5 minutes later a referee on a motorcycle stops and asks if I need help. I tell him the problem, and before he can call it in, the bike tech guys show up. One looks at the bike, tells me to go sit down in the shade cause it's gonna take him a few minutes to fix it. Great, as long as he can fix it I'm good. So I'm sitting over in the shade with another racer who has since pulled up and decided that he's done for the day(dehydration/no fuel/etc) , I've taken a few Motrin, had a Clif Bar and some water when I overhear one of the techs say something about "rebuilding" something. Oh Sh#t, I think, I'm done. Turns out he was talking about another riders bike he worked on earlier. He calls me back over and says here you go, it won't happen again, have a good race.:D I thank him about 1000 more times and I'm back on my way. He really saved my race b/c I had no idea what to do. Turns out the 15-20 minutes of down time I had were just what I needed, b/c I started passing people the whole way back in. With about 6 miles left you come around the corner and you see the most beautiful sight in the world-the Louisville Skyline. I knew I was gonna be alright!
Bike: 7:02:46 Goal was 6:30 but I nailed my nutrition and fluids and kept my HR in check so I was very happy.

T2
Dismount at T2, take off shoes and hand bike off to race vols. Head into tent and smell the one of the most foul smells I've ever smelled. I've never read a race report warning me about how bad T2 changing tent smells after1000+ riders have passed through and done God-knows-what in there but it was very, very bad. So tip #1 for future 1st time IMER's, get ready for T2 cause it's gonna be bad. Take off cycling shorts, bodyglide everywhere, sunglasses, hat, bib #, shoes and new socks. Which brings me to another tip. Tip #2, make sure you have new socks in your bike-to-run bag if you plan on peeing while on the bike. I learned early in the ride that if you don't get it right, it's going right down into your shoe.
T2: 14:51- no goal here, just relax and get ready for the hard part!

The Run

The first mile was awesome-9:12. Felt strong, and took ice cold sponges under the top of my shirt and felt great. Saw the whole family again at the 1.5 mile point under one of the bridges, kissed the wife and kids, tell them about my bike problems, and said "See ya'll in a few hours". My dad runs along side of me for about 30 seconds and says "how long you think it will take you, 5 hours?" I said "yes, hopefully" He says he'll see me at the finish and off I go. The first 5-6 miles feel really good, suprisingly, and make sure to start with the gels and water one stop-Gatorade the next. At one point I actually said to myself, I'm gonna finish faster than I thought and the family is gonna miss me finish. Wrong thing to think! Between mile 10-11, I started feeling the pain in my right IT band. I knew it would happen sometime during the race I just didn't know when. So I started to walk a little and stretch it out, take in fluids and fuel. I finally realized that when I keep running I could run a pretty good while, but once I stopped it would hurt again and I'd have to walk a 1/2 mile until it stopped again and repeat this the rest of the run. When I got to my special needs at 13.1, I changed socks again and it felt awesome. Tip#3, if you don't mind stopping for a few extra mins, change your socks at the half-way point. I continued this walk-run combo for the next 10-11 miles. By this time it's dark and I'm tired of eating, drinking, peeing so I pass the last 2 Aid Stations and run on in. About a half mile or more out you can hear the crowd screaming, and the announcers yelling. Although it's not clear what their screaming, you know exactly what it is. I make the turn onto 4th street and it's still lined with people. I run down to the point where I previously had to turn and go for another lap but this time I head to the finish. My dad and sister are there waiting with my kids who have been talking about nothing else than running across the finish with Dad. I grab their hands and start down the chute. I can no longer hear myself breathe as the crowds are deafening. They're all reaching out, giving my kids high fives and for one moment I actually feel like a Rock Star. I look back behind me to make sure no one is right behind me trying to finish b/c I didn't want to mess up their photo or mine. No one there so we continue on and I hear my name announced. Cross the finish line and I am an Ironman. With the TT start the finish photo had the actual race start time and I didn't start for 19 mins, so it was off a little but was still a great photo. I'll post it when I get it copied later. Goal was 4:30-5:00.

I had a pretty good 1st IM. I nailed my swim, got my nutrition and fluids dead on, and kept my HR in check for almost the entire race. Not one time did I ever feel like I couldn't go on. I was even able to carry all our luggage to the car the next day. With the exception of the bike incident and the leg probs on the run, it was a perfect race for me. I heard numerous people throughout the race talking about they averaged x-hours throughout training and it got me thinking. When I get back home I'm gonna check out my Trifuel training log page and see what my average weekly hours were since starting my training on Oct 23, 2006. I was figuring on 10-11/hours a week with a slight increase the couple of months out from the race. Imagine the look on my face when I plugged in the dates to find that I only averaged 5.5 hours/week from 10/23/06- 8/25/07. I was really shocked! If there is ever another post brought up that says how much do I have to train to finish an Ironman, although I wouldn't reccomend it, I think I have their answer. It has been quite a journey in those 9-10 months. I'm happy with my time and also in the fact that I never missed 1 footballl, basketball, baseball, or gymnastics practice or game, managed to find time for a few duck/deer hunts with my dad, and saw the birth of my fourth child 7 weeks out from the race. My family had a great time and my sister and dad both were so inspired that they want to run a marathon together next year and want me to run with them. I'm already planning on trying to register for IMFL'08 this Fall and hopefully put a few more hours in for an even better race. :)