Ironman Wisconsin 2008 Race Report

THURSDAY

Arrived Thursday evening in Milwaukee. Bike case arrived safe and sound. We drove over to Madison and checked into a room with a faint smell of smoke at the Best Western down University Ave. We dropped bags and crashed around 1:00 am.

FRIDAY

Woke up Friday around 9:30 am. I started assembling my bike -- everything was in order. Theresa went off for a run. By the time she got back I had the bike together. I then took it for a 45 minute spin. Had to futz with the aero bars to get it just right (as I hadn't marked the original position properly). Note to self: if I do more time trialing, get fitted. Despite a season of adjusting saddle and aero bar positions, I don't think I got into the perfect position to maximize bio-mechanics.

We then got in touch with the parents, who'd arrived earlier the day before. They were checking out Picnic Point on the lake, so we drove on over to Morona Convention Center, right next to the capitol building. The whole place was abuzz with pre-race energy. They'd inflated the finish line blow-up arch. There was a giant Gatorade Endurance inflatable bottle. There was an Endless Pool display. Lots of people walking their Cervelo's, Orbea's, and Guru's in. Very fit people. Incidentally, I think the end of the season has found me a little over attentive to my body composition -- for example, I know that pre race, I was about 13.5% fat and post race I was 10.2%.

I found my way to the registration, forked over my $10 race day USAT membership and moseyed over to the medical check-in, which was really just a matter of jumping on a scale (which read 166 lbs -- !!). Then I went down a level where they gave me the usual packet with race numbers, timing chip, and bracelet. That bracelet is this wonderful little red badge of courage. The rest of the weekend, I'd notice another fellow with it and he me, we'd make eye contact, and give a knowing nod.

Afterwards, we grabbed some of the last items -- Harvest Bars and CO2 -- at the Ironman goodies store. They were selling all this Ironman paraphernalia, from shorts to tops to compression socks. What a brand name. It's no wonder they leave all the cute names to the shorter races (Tinman, Timberman, Hairyman, etc).

Then we met up with the parents. We moseyed down State Street. Grabbed lunch at the Noodle Shop -- I had a great bowl of Indonesian Noddles with Peanut sauce. Carbo loading -- yeah, that's it. Belly full, we waddled further down the street onto campus. All the students just getting back to school, although they were finishing up for the weekend, I figure. There was a kid protesting Bush. We walked east, down to the lake side, along which ran a promenade (on which the course ran, partly, incidentally). Chilled out for a little. We then made our way back to campus.

By this time it was only an hour and a half before our 6:45 pm dinner at L'Etoile, so to kill time we stopped at this store whose name catched T's attention: Fromagination. Ah, what a shop. All these potent little delectables: different oils, pate's, jellies, and of course, cheeses. So I asked the kid behind the counter if I could order a little platter of cheeses to sample and he said sure, how many would I like. I was going to say 10, but 10 is such a sterile, engineering number. So I rounded up to an even dozen. He seemed taken aback. Oh, and I'd asked him to select them for me -- omakase! He selected them with great care. I think he was kind of excited to be tasked with creating a coherent selection. 15 minutes later and $36 lighter, we had a dozen hunks of cheese wrapped (well 11: the feta was in a container with the brine). We sat down at a table outside where we proceeded through all twelve. T whipped out a piece of paper and had us rate each on a scale of 1-10. We started out w/ this great Sarvecchio parmesan. The high light was this Ossau cheese. The St. Felix also had a wonderful bouquet au pied and a really unique creamy flavor, but this garnered the lowest votes from Mom and Dad.

After this first pre- Amuse Bouche, we headed around the capitol diamond to L'Etoile. What a restaurant! Very much of the same ilk as Blue Hill, the menu was very seasonal. And September's high season. So many great veggies. I ate a branzino (fatty white fish). T had this excellent chicken on top of a creamy polenta. Mom had these killer scallops and Dad had a competent NY strip of a Scottish hairy cow. Oh, and we ordered all the items on the dessert menu. That was probably the high light. They had this excellent apple (cobbler?) thing. Stuffed.

SATURDAY

Woke up around 9:30. I got my swim shorts on and rode my bike over to the convention center. T drove over with my transition bags. I parked my at T1. There were soooo many rack spaces! I then checked my bags in the rooms. Then I headed down to the lake for a swim. Donned the wetsuit then swam 3/4 a mile. I drilled the first half just to get my arms catching the water. Felt good. I was getting a good catch. Then I swam the rest regular. The buoys were perfectly marked, stretching out in a long yellow and orange line, about 100 yards apart.

Got myself dry. Then we headed up to the square and availed ourself of the Saturday Farmer's market. What a great place! We sampled the local fried cheese curds and sausage. We had this splendid crepe filled with zucchini, pepper jack cheese, and tofu. Mmm.

Back to the hotel where we cleaned up. Then we drove out to scout the bike course. Kind of a funky start as it started on bike trail. But T switched on the navigation tracking of the iPhone (which incidentally, gets great 3G signal in Madison) and we were found. After like 7 miles of town, we got out into the country (shows you how tiny Madison is). It took us like two and half hours just to drive the course (well, we took a little siestita mid way). No long stretches of flat. Lots of short climbs followed by steep, curvy downs. Pretty nice scenery.

Back to the hotel and over to Harvest (next door to L'Etoile) where we had another lovely meal served by this waiter who had a most dainty way with words: "Is this ___ to your satisfaction?" He also referred to Theresa as my "friend" and me as T's "boyfriend". I let Theresa do the drinking for the night -- she discovered this great local ale, Spotted Cow. I pounded water. Dinner was a bowl of pasta with green beans in a light alfredo sauce. Very nice!

Back to the hotel at 8:30 and off to sleep a half hour later. I was all jazzed up for the race, but I managed to get myself tired and under the covers.

SUNDAY - Race Day!

Woke up easily at 4:20 am (10 minutes before the alarm). It was the first race day where I actually got a full night of sleep. I felt well rested. I had everything laid out -- water bottle. Morning power bars and shot blocks. I was hoping the caffeine would awaken the bowels for the pre game evacuation. I put in my contacts, lathered up with the 65 spf argentine sun block, and got into the race outfit. I grabbed a banana on our way to the car.

We parked at the far corner of the capitol square and walked over to the convention center. On our way, I dropped off my Run Special Needs Bag -- a small ziplock bag of peanut M&M's and Sour Patch Kids -- and my Bike Special Needs Bag -- CO2 and a gel. It was still dark, but the area had all this energy in the artificial light near the finish line.

I went down to T1 to load bottles onto my bike and pump my tires. Then I checked my transition bags. Everything was as I expected. Finally over to the bathroom. Sweet heaven, I'd found the short line. I had a full bladder and by now the bowels were doing their thing.

All evacuated, I found the body marking, then met back at the center with Theresa. I got my wetsuit on and walked down to the swim start. There wasn't much time to warm up -- I was in the water around 6:35, so I stroked for about 15 minutes and then dead-man floated the remaining time. After sending the pros off at 6:50, they sang the National Anthem. Ah, one of my favorite moments of the day. I get such a feeling of pride when I hear it sung. And it gets me pumped. They had us tread water in a long line between two buoys for the mass start. Oh boy. Cannon shot.



And we were off. More bodies around me than ever. I knew the pace I wanted to keep. Just breath easy the whole time. Keep an arm in front of my head at all times, lest I get a boot to the head. At one point, I had a sense that I was about the get such a boot; my hand was out in front of me, and just at the last second, I thought to curl it into a fist. Just in time -- as I would have had some jammed knuckles otherwise. Because of the mass start, I actually had a large pack of people around me at all times. I think I got some drafting w/o really having to stay pegged on a someone's foot. Rounding the corners was the only spot where there was lots of troublesome crowding.

I managed the first lap quite comfortably. I felt like I was getting lots of catch on each stroke, expending minimal energy. I was breathing easy and sighting with no problem. I was able to use people around me to save some sighting effort. The second lap was finishing and I was still quite comfortable.

1:20:49, 2:08 100M pace

Got out of the water, sat down, and a competent wet suit stripper yanked my Blue Seventy cleanly off. Then back to the Convention Center for T1. Interestingly, this was rather far off: a short run along the water, then up the winding parking lot helix, and into the building to Room C...probably 600 yards. It was great running through the crowds lining the transition and helix, though.

Into Room C, grabbed my bag, and went into the changing room. There were volunteers inside. Someone took my helmet and sunglasses out of the bag as I got my shoes on. And I was out the door. They had people with vats of sun screen, but I passed, as I had confidence in the argentine lather. I ran over towards my bike. I knew where it was, but when I heard my number shouted out, I turned around thinking someone was calling me. They were actually calling down to the volunteer at my bike's rack who kindly got it out for me. I ran with it, mounted and was off for the 112 mile trek.




So a word on what nutrition I'd loaded. I had an aero bottle full of GU2O and a bottle of Gatorade Rain in my down tube. One small gaff -- the Gatorade bottle was just the disposable bottle you get from the store, and it didn't have a drinking cap that could squirt. This mean that I couldn't squeeze it into my aero drink. Alas. For food, I had 3 harvest bars and 4 luna bars, and 2 powerbar gels. I alternated between the Harvest Bars (lots of calories and protein) and the Luna bars (very easy to palate). Towards the end of the ride, I was a little low on energy, so I put down the gels. In the end, I didn't eat one of the Luna bars. I ate a bar each hour. Overall, this worked well. I watched if I was farting as that was a sure sign that the GI was backing up. This has proven a good indicator. When this happened, I'd just take it easy on the food for 10-15 minutes.

Now as to the course...I cranked easy. Per the Timberman experience, I was operating with the mentality that any extra energy I may have from taking the ride too easy, I can easily expend on the 26.2 miles of run. So I let loads of folk pass me. I had a good pace going the first part, which was the flattest, incidentally. Disaster, around mile 45, however. Sort of. It was a water stop, and with one hand grabbing a bottle and the other hand on the bars, a woman in front of me totally ate it. The thought briefly went through my head that maybe I could jump her. But that thought quickly evaporated as my front wheel hit her bike and I flipped over. Amazingly, the volunteers there knew exactly what to do. A woman took charge. She grabbed my bike off the course. Someone else helped the lady off. The woman called for a mechanic who had an allen wrench out in a jiff to straighten my fork. Someone asked if I needed anything to drink. I muttered something about a Gatorade in my daze. And then I was back on the saddle and off. Probably lost just 3 minutes from that affair. All-in-all not bad. I have to write them a letter.

So back on the saddle. I got back on and noticed the hint of a cramp in my left calf. Maybe from an involuntary seizing up pre-crash. That didn't really bother me during the ride as much as make me anxious for what it'd do during the run. I spent some strokes trying to stretch it out. Anyhow, I was now on the back side of the route. Lots of hills. I knew there was a longish climb (like the climb into Redding) waiting for me. There was a great crowd cheering the whole way up. Oh, I wanted to attack the hill out of the saddle. Cresting the hill, the crowd was so tight. I imagined I was at the top of the Alpe d'Huez.

After that, we had a flattish section that lead past Verona where there was a long crowd of fans who'd taken the bus over from the convention center. So awesome!

Now for the second loop of the course -- I finished the first 56 at almost 3:00 exactly. Right on my 1/2 iron pace. Nice. But not too far into the second lap, I could feel that my legs were more tired than I wanted. So I pulled back. I focused on keeping the perceived effort low. I just stuck to eating consistently. I ate a gel at a low point.

Oh another thing I should mention. I read Maneesh's race report about peeing in the saddle in order to guarantee hydration. Well, I decided to give that a go. What a great feeling. Makes you feel so much lighter. None of the sloshy bloating in the bladder. I probably emptied 5 times. Wet shoes, but otherwise, not a problem. I wonder if anyone noticed.

Anyhow, the end of the ride was the least pleasant, bumping over some cracked concrete highway. Not so fun with soar legs. Also, I was getting a neck ache from the aero position and a minor headache at twisting my eyeballs upwards so long. I cranked up the helix to the convention center. At the top Dad was cheering me behind his camera. I was glad to get off the bike and hand it to a volunteer. I then made like I was going to run to T2, but my legs dictated otherwise. I walked.

In T2, I slid off my soaked shoes and happily slipped on my dry black compression socks. I pulled on my fresh Nike's, grabbed my hat, sipped a glass of water, and headed on out.

6:27:27, 17.3 mph pace

Oh boy. Heavy legs. But it was nice to stretch out and stand erect. I passed T and Mom on the way out. And around the capital, down State Street and out towards the University. Steps were labored, quite frankly. When I got off the bike at Timberman, I was really hankering for the run. I hit the ground and was running. 112 miles riding -- even though I kept it easy -- that's a different story. My legs were juiced. Interestingly, though, I didn't really have a feeling of crampage that I'd experienced in other races right after the ride. Even that calf cramp had gone away. I think I started off at a 9:00 mile pace.




The course winded through the university, even doing a lap around the Badger football field on the artificial turf, down University Ave (close to the Best Western -- oh so tempting just to sneak off the course for a little nap), and off the lake. Then it headed back towards the capitol where it ran almost up to it where it doubled back out to the lake. Right there I saw the parents and T. What a great energy boost to see them. I hadn't expected it, but it's amazing how your loved ones can stand out in a crowd.

Then back away, down the lake, turned back to the capitol, and close to the finish. Second lap now. I grabbed my special needs -- oh those precious Sour Patch Kids. So good! But, soon after I hit the proverbial wall. My stride was much shorter. It was funny, I felt that I was doing lots of work, but in actuality, each stride was so short that I really wasn't making the progress I wanted.

The rest of the run was repeating this mantra of "left foot, right foot, left foot..." I just wanted to finish in style. I started getting cramps mile 16. I grabbed some Hammer Electrolytes that we'd gotten as a sample at Rhode Island. And I drank some water. Mile 18 I started getting a headache -- dehydration -- I drank Gatorade and water at all the remaining stops. Ah, by mile 18 it started feeling do-able. I kept at it. Mile 23, I could taste it. I started picking up the pace. I had some legs left. I stretched out my stride and it actually felt good. My lungs and core were juiced, but I could get my knees high and push off the ground. Oh yeah -- that's what running is supposed to feel like. I hadn't realized how much of the run I'd been shuffling along.

The last two miles were a gas. Running on fumes. I stayed away from liquid the last two water stops as I was getting a mild nausea. I cranked the last two miles at an 8:00 pace. Ah, felt so good. I was just cranking. It was a mild up hill to the capitol square. The steep, up past L'Etoile. Around the corner. It was dark. I could see the lights of the finish line. I could hear the crowd. Oh, so good to be running into the finish. They pulled up a little finish ribbon and I ran through.

4:35:08, 10:35 miles (eek!)

Aaaaaah. They had space foil which they wrapped as a cape - felt so good since the sweat cools you down so quick. Two volunteers on each side of me. I could feel their eyes watching me for signs of collapse or disorientation. I tried to answer their small talk banter coherently. I caught Theresa out of the corner of my eye and moseyed over.

Total time: 12 hours, 34 minutes, 35 seconds.



More thoughts on the race later...