Ironman Wisconsin 2007

Kinda long and rambling...

Pre-Race: Saturday

Winds died down – lake was calm – nice sunny mid 70’s.
Did an easy morning swim, then a short brick. 30 min bike and 15 minute run. Discovered on the bike that my cleat on my left shoe was not aligned properly. I had recently replaced them – adjusted them mid-ride and all was good. Went back to hotel – then one last check of T1 and T2 bags. Then dropped off the bags and completed the bike check-in. Let some air out of the tires since it would be sitting in the sun all day. Didn’t want any surprises come race morning.

Then had a nice lunch with Cayman.

After lunch, I went back to the hotel to rest up. Just watched some movies and continued to hydrate.

Race Day:

I got up early for the race (2:30), as is my norm. Checked the weather and all was good! Tho it did show that the wind would continually increase throughout the day. Then did final checks on the special needs bags and final preparation. Soon it was time to head off to the race venue. A nice 5-10 minute walk. Dropped off the bags, got body marked. Checked the bike. Pumped up the tires and put on the hydration. Went inside verified that the transition bags were in place then found a nice quiet spot and laid out. Time flew by and soon they were prompting us to move down to the swim start.

We were joined by Darth Vader in the staging area for the swim. It was kinda funny, as some guy in a wetsuit was also wearing a cape and Vader helmet. Even had some control box thing on his chest.
Tho at this point Mike Reilly is strongly urging us to get in the water. So I went in and warmed up and positioned myself. IMWI is a deep water start with a very wide start line. I started away from the buoys – closer to shore. It was amazing that literally hundreds of athletes were staying on the shoreline/rocks to wait for the start. Mike did everything but drag them off the rocks, but they wouldn’t budge.

Cannon goes off and here we go. Good bit of jostling but nothing unusual just the normal kicks and hits. Odd thing was at the first turn buoy there was a line of people taking a rest from the buoy and out – caused a lot of congestion. After the next turn I was attempting to draft and followed a small group. I have not had much practice drafting and soon found myself alone. I spotted the buoy and kept on swimming alone. Soon spotted some swimmers – What the?! They are going in the other direction. I somehow swan across the center area. The buoy I saw was from the other side. Would have been nice if a kayak redirected me. So I swam back across…figured that was about 400 yards total that I swam extra – for me that is about 7-8 minutes. Once I got back with the others, I did have someone hitch a ride on my legs. Have no idea what they were trying to do but they were literally laying on my legs. I rolled hard and got a little separation – but then they were back… this went on for like 10-15 seconds so I figured this was deliberate so let loose with a strong kick. No more hitchhiker.
Also found that you have to be careful of pickpockets out there – someone’s hand or foot ran down my hand and literally pulled my wedding ring off. Luckily I was able to catch it – phew!

My goal for the swim was to be in the 1:20’s Even with my extra excursion across the course I was able to exit the water in 1:29:43 – So I was still happy with that. Overall: 1793.

T1 was not fast, as it is a long run up the helix and I transposed my race number when looking for my T1 bag. 30 seconds of panic trying to find it. Got everything out of the bag and packed up the wetsuit etc. It was pretty busy so I didn’t have a volunteer helping me. Then a stop by the sunscreeners on the way to the bike. 7:36.

Bike mount area is always interesting. Had a near collision as the person in front of me had some issue clipping in. My family was right there and witnessed a collision where one womans day ended right there with a separated shoulder.

The bike was great – felt strong all day. Initially there were a lot of referees on course. I saw an official literally rip a guy a new one for crossing the yellow line repeatedly. Gave him a yellow card. Now there was a ridiculous amount of blocking and drafting going on. People were riding 3 and 4 abreast. Which got me in trouble! Nothing like hearing a motorcycle pull up next to you and hear the official call your name. He saw me cross the center line when passing one of these packs. Luckily he only gave me a warning and a lecture albeit a long one – this was the same official from earlier.

Only incident on the bike was on one of the steeper climbs where the crowd in on the road – very much like the Tour-‘day’-France. I was moving up to pass a guy when he sees his friends and pulls over directly in front of me to have a chat with them. I nearly took off his rear wheel. Barely got around him.
Did throw a chain once, but that was fixed in a few seconds.
The other cool thing about this course is the two passes through Verona which is the start/end of the loop. It is just awesome with the amount of spectators and the cheering. They are 4 or 5 deep.
The wind really picked up on the second loop – that dropped my pace..
My goal was sub 6. 5:46:43 19.38 mph Overall: 551 (Moved up 1242 spots)

T2 went fine – uneventful.

The run started good. I was holding slightly better than a 10 min pace – which was right where I wanted to be. I was going for a sub-12 overall.
Took in a gel at mile 3 and that started some stomach issues. Took another gel at mile 8 and that is when things got bad. Stomach was in revolt. Pace started to really fall off – I really struggled over the next few miles. Had no energy, stomach was bloated, head hurt and felt bad all over. The head strongly urged to stop at the turn-around. However – just prior to the turn-around I went past the Capital Square Aid Station – where my wife and my 2 daughters were volunteering. Got some strength there. Then got my special needs bag and grabbed my secret weapon – Sweet Tarts – My daughter put them in my bag last year, so I added them again this year. I pushed on – I was only able to take in 2 sweet tarts and some water and a sip of cola at each aid station for the second half of the marathon. The initial couple of miles on the second loop really hurt. I estimated that I had a 12:32 if I was able to hold my current pace. I also walked for one minute at each aid station. That seemed to help the stomach. Once I got to mile 16 – knowing that I was down to single digit miles I was able to push the pace up slightly. I skipped the last couple of aid stations and pushed hard on to the end. I was really surprised that I pulled out a 12:12:47 overall.
FIRST RUN SEGMENT 13.1 mi. (2:17:06) 10:27/mile
RUN FINISH 13.1 mi. (2:26:47) 11:12/mile
TOTAL RUN 26.2 mi. (4:43:53) 10:50/mile Overall: 698

The catchers did a good job keeping me upright. After a bit I was okay, but shaky. I was only able to take in some Sprite at the finish. Tried some recovery drink and that was a mistake. Over the next two hours I was only able to take in a bit of water. Then felt okay and was able to start on getting in some nutrition.

From IMLive I am 698 while from the IMWI results I am 697 – so I’ll go with that one.

Overall: 697 12:12:47 VOECKS RUSS M40-44 110/346

This was a 65 minute PR for me from my IMWI 2006 race.
I PR’d on all times except for the run – I was like 8 seconds faster last year.

Overall I am very happy with the race – tho still disappointed that I was not able to go sub-12.

Still not sure what caused the issue. I believe that I was not hydrated properly. I felt like I was taking in enough, but I think I need to focus on that better.
Only have some expected soreness after the race … and a good blister on my small toe.

I am signed up for IMWI 2008 and will work on improving on my hydration plan as well as swimming and of course running!