Buffalo Olympic Triathlon Race Review

What a difference 2 years makes.  But wait.  I'm getting ahead of myself again.  Let's start from the beginning.

I spent Saturday evening was spent tweaking my bike and gathering all the necessities for race day.  One of my moms (New Mom for those of you keeping track) gave me an awesome backpack for Christmas that can expand out to swallow all of my gear.  I was able to get everything into that one bag - wetsuit and helmet included.  This went into the car along with my bike (no, my bike wouldn't fit in the bag too) and waited while I slept.

I woke up at 5:30 on Sunday morning and went through my normal pre-race routine.  Warm shower?  Check.  Bagel with peanut butter?  Check.  Climb into new team racing jersey and shorts?  Check.  With that, I hit the road for the 45 minute drive out to Buffalo.  The weather was looking absolutely great.  The sun was shining and the temps for race time would be in the low 70s.  Nice.

The first wave of the race wasn't scheduled to go until 9:00, but even at 7:00, things were just starting to get busy in the transition area.  I grabbed a spot on a rack and made sure it would be easy to find in the rather large transition area.  The Olympic and Sprint distance race at the same time, and there were two large transition areas separated by an Astroturf covered path.  With 1500 bikes to rack, they did a pretty good job of giving us enough space to maneuver.

Behold: my awesome MS Paint skills.

After claiming my space, I went to body marking where some dude drew on me.  No.  Wait.  That sounds weird.  Anyway, I got my race number on my shoulders and on my quads, plus my age on my left calf.  They do this so that you know if you're racing next to someone in your age group (remember this little tid-bit for later).  After that, I had another 90 minutes to spend waiting around, just soaking things in. 

After about an hour of wandering around, I got a text from my mom - Classic Mom this time.  She was heading over to see me race.  Sweet!  The Wife had to work on Sunday morning, so she couldn't make it, but it was pretty cool to know someone would be there.  Classic Mom made it out to the Get in Gear in April, but she's never seen me in a tri before, so having her out was pretty cool.

They had the pre-race meeting to remind us about the course changes.  This year, the bike course intersected two sets of train tracks and there was a very real chance that we would need to stop to wait for any trains.  That got a collective groan from the crowd.  My wave only the 4th to leave, so after the meeting I poured myself into my wetsuit and headed over to the beach for a quick warmup.  There was almost no wind, so the lake was just about as calm as my local lap pool.  I could tell already that the swim was going to be fun.  Just before my wave got lined up, I saw Classic Mom and gave her a nice wet hug before shuffling over to the start line.

The Swim
There was a hard right-hand turn less than 100 yards into the swim, so I lined myself up on the far left so I could get out fast and cut the corner in front of most of my wave.  Relatively speaking, I'm a stronger swimmer than I am a cyclist or runner, so I wanted to take full advantage of my time in the water.  Oh yeah.  I almost forgot.  At Buffalo, you don't have swim course buoys.  You get giant duckies.  Awesome.

The start was incredibly uneventful.  I ran in, took a good dive when it was hip-deep and busted a move towards the first turn.  I didn't get a lot of contact from the other racers - just a couple bumps here and there.  On the way to the first duckie, I started to catch up to the wave ahead of me.  I learned pretty quickly to stay away from any feet that were doing the breast-stroke.  One heel to the mouth will drive that lesson home quickly.  The good news is that all of the white swim caps from wave #3 made it easier to sight the course - just follow the little white dots.

The first left turn was a bit of a cluster, but the long straghtaway was a great place to get some speed going.  I knew I could go a little wider of the duckies without swimming too much further than the crowd.  I'd much rather swim just a little further if it means avoiding packs of other athletes.  After the third and final turn, I started seeing more caps from the 2nd wave - blue this time - but I was more focused on tracking down more yellow duckies.  I hit the gas with about 200-300 yards left to go and hit the shore feeling dizzy from the swimming, but still fresh.

Goal: 28:00, or 1:42 per 100 yards.
Actual: 24:52, or 1:31 per 100 yards.

The Bike
After a somewhat muddled transition (gotta practice those) I pedaled out onto the bike course.  With 1500 athletes, it did get pretty crowded out on the course, especially during the first lap.  Most of the riders were good about riding safely.  Slower riders stayed to the right, giving speedier ones some room to pass.  Although, there were a few that need to be reminded what exactly "on your left!" means.  In the end, I don't think anyone was slowed down significantly due to congestion.

The course was incredibly fast.  During most of the first lap, it felt as though I was either going downhill or had the wind at my back.  Yes, I know.  The course is flat, so there weren't any downhills, but that's sure what it felt like.  In fact, the only real hills to speak of were a couple long rollers on the back stretch of the course, heading back into town. 

I tried to keep my pace moderately hard.  My goal was to keep my average speed over 19.5mph, so any time I dropped under 20mph, I gave it a little more gas.  Cycling during a triathlon can be tricky.  Sure, everyone wants to go fast, but if you go too hard you can ruin your chances at a good run leg.  I have enough problems putting together a good run, so I'm often second-guessing myself when I see my average speed climb too high.

Then again, sometimes you just have to say 'screw it!' and go out harder than you think is smart.

The 2nd lap was a lot less crowded, but still felt just as fast.  Again, the only real slowdowns were with the two rollers heading back towards the park.  As I came up into the park I realized that I had forgotten to slip my feet out of my shoes.  I wrestled with my right shoe and got my foot out, but was barreling towards the dismount line too fast to be able to get my left foot out.  So, I unclipped my left shoe, hopped off the bike, took off my shoe, picked it up and ran with it towards my transition area.  This was not exactly the graceful dismount I was hoping for.

My speed still looked good though.  I managed to keep my average speed over 20mph for the whole leg.  Wow.  That's the first time I've ever topped 20mph for any triathlon distance.  Sweet.

Goal: 1:18:00, or 19.6mph
Actual: 1:16:00, or 20.13mph.

The Run
The first 1/3 of the run is very flat, which made it a little easier to get my 'land legs' back.  I haven't done as many bike-run bricks in training this year as I probably should, which probably contributed to me being a little stiff.  Still, I managed to shuffle along at 8:50 per mile while running down the lake path.

Mile 3 made me wish that I had studied the course ahead of time.  It was essentially one long sweeping climb.  It wasn't extremely steep, but the road just kept turning, and turning, and turning, so it was impossible to see the turnaround until I was almost on top of it.  Needless to say, my split wasn't what I wanted - 9:23.  The good news was that mile 4 took us down the same hill.  So, I drank some water from the hilltop aid station, poured the rest over my head and booked it down the hill.  Lo and behold, going downhill actually gave me a faster split time - 8:35.  Downhills help you run faster?  Go figure.

As the course led back towards the lakefront, I was able to see the finish line waaaaaay down the shoreline.  I knew that I was almost there, but it still looked so dang far away.  I tried to pick up the pace a little bit and was even able to pass a few runners - something that I rarely do during a race.  Usually, they're all passing me.  I tossed some more cool water over my head at the last aid station and then focused on trying to reel in the next runner in front of me.

With about 50 yards to go, I got close enough to see that he had a '33' on the back of his calf.  He was in my age group (I TOLD you to remember that knowledge morsel, didn't I?).  I managed to grunt out a little sprint at the finish and passed him with about 10 yards to go.  That's the first time I've ever out-sprinted someone in my age group before.  Yay.

Goal:  56:00, or 9:00 per mile
Actual: 54:49 or 8:50 per mile

Summary
Goal: 2:46:00
Actual: 2:39:42

Well lookie here, I met my goal!  Now, part of me says that I need to set some more aggressive goals.  But, another part of me realizes that the race conditions were ideal for fast times.  If there had been heavy chop on the lake or high winds on the bike, I could easily have missed the mark.  The part that I was most encouraged about was my finish place.  I was 21/42 in my age group, which puts me squarely in the middle of the pack.  I've never felt this good about being average.  Hopefully this means that I actually am starting to get a handle on this whole triathlon thing.  Even better, I still feel like there's plenty of room for improvement.

So, it was a good day.  I met my goal.  I got to race by Classic Mom a couple of times and I firmly established myself as a middle-of-the-packer.  Good stuff.

I'll get some photos posted shortly.  Stay tuned.

2011 Ironman Bike Ride

Last weekend was heavy on the events.  Not only did I have the Get in Gear 10K, but there was also the Ironman Bike ride.  This was my 4th time doing the ride and my 3rd time in a row.  This ride is infamous for it's brutal weather conditions.  It seems that every year, the weather figures out new and creative ways to beat the crap out of us.  In 2002, I did my first Ironman through 6 inches of wet snow.  In 2009, it was torrential downpours.  Last year, we had freezing rain.

This year was the most difficult of all.  The word of the day was "Wind".  This was no Spring breeze mind you.  This was 20-30 MPH sustained winds with gusts that could peel the skin off your face.  Sure, the temperature at the start was in the low 30s, but it felt closer to the mid-teens.  Yikes.

Now, if it had just been me, I would have considered wussing out and just doing the 30-mile ride.  But, there was a crew of 10 riders from the Twin Cities Spoke who had come out to tackle the 68 and 105-mile routes.  Well, shoot.  I wasn't about to let them have all the fun.

The wind was blowing straight from West to East, so naturally, the first 23 miles were predominantly straight West.  Ugh.  We started out as a cohesive group, but with a few different ability levels we were soon spread out.  For the first 10 miles or so, I didn't know if I was going to make it to the first rest stop in Jordan.  My legs were still sluggish from the 10K on Saturday and the wind wasn't helping.

Then, at about mile 12, while I was plugging along, I started getting passed by a large group of cyclists.  There were about 40-50 in the peleton.  My first thought was "Holy Crap!  Look at all of those delicious wheels to suck on!".  I shifted over into the pack and immediately my speed when from ~15 MPH to ~18 MPH.  It was great.  It really helped me appreciate the impact that drafting can have on speed.  I was able to ride this wave all the way into Jordan before stopping for some food and to regroup with the rest of the team.

At that point we had a decision to make.  As much as I wanted to do the 105-mile route, I knew that it was probably asking too much from my body.  Sure, I probably could have finished it, but really, that just seemed like unnecessary abuse.  So, as the group split up, some of the he-men continued on their way into the wind and the rest of us turned South.

The good news was that the wind was no longer in our faces.  The bad news was that it was now trying to blow us into the ditch.  I saw a guy riding with a disc wheel who I'm pretty sure is still airborne somewhere over Wisconsin.  Soon though, we were in for a treat.  A few miles before the next rest stop, we turned to go with the wind.  Holy Moley!  For the next 5 miles, I cruised along at 28 MPH.  WOO HOO!

We made another pit stop in Lonsdale and grabbed some more grub.  If anything, the ride organizers did a great job of stocking these rest stops with all sorts of goodies.  I didn't realize how cold my body was until I tried a cup of hot chocolate.  I could feel ever drop going down my throat and warming me from the inside out.  Plus, there was a fire pit in the parking lot for us to warm our buns.  Man, that felt good.

The next 23 miles were interesting to say the least.  The route was a North and East zig-zag back into Lakeville. The wind had picked up, so it's impact was even more significant.  There was one particular stretch where we turned back into the wind for about 1 mile.  I was going all out, downhill, and hit a blistering 10.5 miles per hour.  I was scared that if I stopped pedaling, I'd get blown back up that hill. 

Fortunately, that didn't last too long before we were back to alternating between leaning into the wind and shooting across the countryside like a rocket.  Soon, we were back in Lakeville and on our way back home.  When it was all said and done, I had ridden 67.4 miles in 4 hours and 22 minutes.  That gave me an average speed of only 15.4 MPH.  Sure, it wasn't fast, but I earned every one of those miles.

Will I do this ride again next year?  Eh, probably.  I figure that after snow, rain, sleet and wind, what could possibly be left for the weather to throw at me?

Get in Gear 10K Race Review

Summary: Sometimes you get the bear.  Sometimes the bear gets you.

Okay, you probably wanted a little more detail than that.  Fine.

The Get in Gear 10K is actually a whole lot more than just a 10K.  Sure, the 10K is the main event and has the most racers, but there's also a 2K fun run, a 5K and a half-marathon.  There were a little over 3100 runners registered in my race, 1800 in the 5K and 1000 troopers in the half-marathon. So, at any given time during the race there were close to 6000 people out on the course.

It's kind of a big deal.

The Wife and I woke to some gloomy weather.  It had been raining most of the night and the forecast said that it wasn't going to clear up any time soon. I suppose it wasn't that big of a deal.  Last year was rainy too, so it wasn't something that either of us couldn't handle.

We each ate a bagel with some peanut butter and snarfed down a banana before hopping in the car to head to the course.  After about 10 minutes on the road, I realized that I had made my first mistake of the day and left my bib number back at the house.  Crap.  So, after a little bit of lead-footed driving and a little bit more cursing, we swung back home, grabbed the missing gear and got back on the highway.

Lesson Learned: Get your act together the night before the race. C'mon, you've done this before.

The Wife's mom lives about a mile from the start line, so we met at her place and strolled over to Minnehaha Park.  Our friends Ike and Maggie (and their baby, Ruth) were there too.  Heck, even my mom made it this year.  She was always there to cheer for me back in high school, so it was cool to see her today.

Even with all the rain, there was still a fairly intense crowd at the start.  One of the hardest parts of a race this size is picking a good place in the crowd to start.  If you start too far forward, you end up getting trampled by speedy folks.  Start too far back and you'll be running zig-zags around the slower runners. 

By the time my chunk of the crowd reached the start line, approximately 4 1/2 minutes had gone by.  It was pretty jumbled up, but at least everyone was running off the start.  Adrenaline kicked in and I did the best that I could getting to my goal race pace of just over 8:00 per mile.  At the same time, I was playing a game of human Frogger and probably ran a couple of extra blocks going side-to-side to move up in the pack.  So, my second mistake of the day was starting way way waaaaaay too far back in the pack.


Mile 1: 8:09
Lesson Learned: Be more careful when seeding yourself at the start line.

The next couple of miles were frustrating..  By miles 2 and 3, I was starting to overheat.  As it turns out, I didn't need long sleeves after all and would have been better off with just a tri-top and lightweight gloves.  Also (and I don't know if overheating had anything to do with it) I just couldn't get a good rhythm going.  I knew that I could run faster, but every time I pushed a little harder, I just couldn't maintain the pace I wanted.

Mile 2: 8:34
Mile 3: 8:54
Lesson Learned: It's better to be cold at the beginning of the race than to be hot in the middle.

After stumbling through mile 3, I started to get angry with myself.  I mean, for crying out loud, I've averaged 8:54 in easy workouts before.  I tried to run with better form, focusing on mid-foot striking and leaning slightly forward with good posture.  It seemed to help a little bit as my splits started to get a little better, but still weren't anywhere near my goal pace.

Mile 4: 8:43
Mile 5: 8:29
Lesson Learned: I had better start to work more on my running form.
Lesson Learned: A little rage while running isn't always a bad thing.

For the last mile and change, I tried to force every last bit of energy I had into forward momentum, but it just wasn't happening.  Usually, I get an adrenaline rush that helps me finish strong.  This time: no rush, just more frustration. On a positive note, I heard my mom yelling my name as I headed towards the finish chute.  It took me back to cross country races back in high school.  It was pretty cool.

Mile 6: 8:25
Mile 6.3: 2:12 (Remember all that zig-zagging?  Well, it added another .1 miles onto the run.  No biggie.
Total Time: 53:29, 8:31/mile.
Goals Reached: None.  Not even my 'Meh' goal of 52:30
HOWEVER:  I DID break my previous 10K record by over 3 minutes.  So, um, yay!


Lesson Learned: Suck it up buttercup.  Sometimes a strong performance just ain't in the cards.
Lesson Learned: Moms that always cheer for you are awesome.  Plus, they don't care how crappy you think you did, which is awesome-er.  AND, I had 2of them there for me yesterday.  So, I suppose that's doubly-awesome.

After finishing, I stumbled around looking for where all those cheers came from.  In the process, I ran into The Wife, who had just finished her race.  I gave her a squeeze and slapped her on the booty in a 'good game' kind of way.  I'm glad I saw her first after the race.  Then we met up with the rest of our crew and made our way back to the cars.

As a special treat, Ike, Maggie, The Wife and I went to the 5-8 Club and treated ourselves to Juicy Lucy's.

Nothing says 'Sorry about the crummy race' like cheese wrapped in meat.

Drumstick Dash 10K Race Review

Before I get to the race report, let me give you a little background first.  The Wife has been down in Florida all week visiting her dad, so I've been home alone.  How does that affect my race?  Well, when I'm home alone, I tend to stay up too late and eat, well, let's just say that I eat irresponsibly (hamburgers and Oreos anyone?  I've also been filling in some late shifts at work, so last night I didn't head home until after 9pm, and didn't get to bed until well after 11pm.

As a result, I wasn't particularly enthused to get out of bed this morning to tackle a 10K.  It's funny how your bed can feel its most comfortable after you're done using it.  In any event, I got up, hopped in the shower to warm up a bit, and then headed to the kitchen to get some breakfast.  That was when I saw the current temperature.

You have GOT to be kidding me.

Single digits.  Yay.

When I told my dad I would be running on Thanksgiving, he said, 'Oooh.  Make sure to keep your junk warm'.  Good call Dad.  I started by putting on two layers of compression shorts and then my running tights.  For good luck, I put my green Covenant Pines shorts - the same one's from the Monster Dash a month ago. Remember....?

On top, I went with a long-sleeve base layer and a running t-shirt over that.  For a shell, I used the same jacket from the Monster Dash.  It's not too heavy, but really keeps the wind out.  For my noggin, I went with a plain old winter cap.  I have a skullcap, but it can't soak up too much sweat, so if I got overheated, things could get messy.

I learned my lesson at the Monster Dash that there's no point in getting to a fun race waaaay ahead of schedule, so when I got to the Lake Harriet area, I just sat in the car until there were about 20 minutes to go.   I walked/jogged about a half a mile to get to get to the band shell, and did a few pick-ups to get my blood flowing.  The band shell provided some protection from the wind, so I could do some light stretching without getting blown around.

With a few minutes to go before the start, all of the racers shuffled over to the course.  Most of us hopped in place or did some high-knee kicks to keep warm.  At 8:01 on the nose, the race started.  There was no gun, no horn and certainly no Ironman cannon.  It was just a nice, casual 'Okay....GO!' from one of the race officials.

My goal pace for this race was a sub-9:30 mile.  Okay, it really wasn't a goal, but more of a prediction.  I haven't been as motivated lately to bust my rump for a good time, plus, I had no idea how my asthma would be impacted by the cold.

Mile 1 - 9:44   As with most races, the 1st mile was the slowest.  The road was at it's most crowded and everyone's legs were still warming up.  I hopped onto the running trail to get a little more room to maneuver, but only stayed on for about 1/4 mile.  My Minnesota High School Geometry education told me that staying on the path would mean running a shorter race (Circumference=Pi x D, and all that).  In other words, I didn't want to be a cheater.

Mile 2 - 9:09   There were a couple steep hills on the back side of the lake.  Sure, they weren't fun to get up.  They weren't long, but they were steep.  The downhills on the other side though, well, they were long and shallow, which probably aided in speeding me up.

Mile 3 - 9:12   As we finished our first loop around the lake, the road conditions got worse.  Basically, you had two options.  You could run on the firm ground and risk hitting an ice patch.  Or, you could run on the snowy ground where, you wouldn't slip, but each footstep would sink down an inch or two.  Either way, it was hard to run efficiently.  Lots of effort was wasted on slipping or sinking feet.

On a side note, there was a water station at the 1/2 way point, but all of the water was freezing in the cups.  I've never had to chew my water during a race before.  Sweet.


Mile 4 - 9:13  At this point, I thought, "cool, only a few more miles to go".  This chunk of the race was fairly uneventful.  Although, I did have to take off my shades.  They were so fogged up that everything was a big gray blur.  I guess I must have been generating a little heat.
  
Mile 5 - 8:48  I was still feeling pretty good and could keep a faster pace, so I decided to push the last couple of miles.  Surprisingly, the asthma was behaving itself too.  I was a little warm, and probably could have done without the short-sleeved t-shirt, but it never got to the point where I was uncomfortable.

Mile 6 - 8:46   I kept pushing through the last mile.  The footing was a little wonky from time to time.  My lungs were really starting to burn from the cold air, and my quads were barking too. 

Mile 6.25 - 1:54   As with most races, the last little bit is fueled purely by adrenaline.  Having a downhill finish helped a bunch too.  I hit the line and stopped my watch - 56:45.  That meant I averaged 9:05 per mile.  Not too shabby for being under-motivated.

I didn't stick around long after finishing, and neither did many other people.  Once my heart slowed down a bit, I knew that all my sweat was going to start to give me the chills, so I headed for the car.  That's cool though.  Not every race has to have a party afterward. 

When I got back to the car, I snapped this photo.  Behold, the season's first beard-cicle:

Also included: the season's first eyelash-cicle, sideburns-cicle and 'stache-cicle.

I felt good about the race.  No, that's not quite it.  I feel good about the RUN. It was nice to get in a good winter workout that wasn't on the treadmill at the gym.  Hopefully, I can stay motivated to run more outside, regardless of temperature.  With some changes to my work schedule, I'll have the opportunity to do some morning runs every Wednesday, at least for a little while.

For tonight, I'll be tackling the late shift at the office, so that everyone else can snarf down some bird.  Don't worry about me though.  I've got a family dinner with my name on it on Saturday.  I'll even have a new 'Fun in the Kitchen' post tomorrow as I prepare my portion of the meal.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.

Oh, and Dad - my junk is just fine.

Team Ortho Monster Dash 10-Miler Race Review

Pre-Race
I'm used to races starting at around 7am, meaning that I'm usually getting out of bed by 5:00.  So, you can imagine how good an 8:30 start on Saturday felt.  After a bowl of raisin bran and a a quick shower, I was out the door and on my way to South Minneapolis.  The course was point-to-point, which means we started at Lake Nokomis and finished several miles away at the Lake Harriet Band Shell.  Since I like to get to races early, I got a nice parking spot near the start line.

One lap around the lake, then down the parkway to a finish at the North end of Lake Harriet.

Since this was a point-to-point, there was a gear bag drop.  I stuffed my warmups and a clean t-shirt into a bag, and dropped it off so the officials could hauled it to the finish and my things would be waiting for me when I was done.  Most of the fun prior to the race (and during, and after the race) was people watching.  There were over 1900 folks in my race and another 3500 doing the 1/2 Marathon - and at least half of them were in costume.  I was dressed in my customary 'Man in Running Clothes' costume, but others were in some very elaborate get-ups.  Some of the most common costumes were Sesame Street characters, super heroes and, believe it or not, Thing 1 and Thing 2 - LOTS of Thing 1 and Thing 2.

Do you have 2 red shirts, 2 white circles, 2 blue wigs and a friend?  Well, then you can be Thing 1 and Thing 2!

Now, I should mention that in the past, the course was an out-and-back, meaning that the start and finish line were both at Lake Harriet.  The course for both the 10-mile and the 1/2 Marathon was recently changed, and by 'recently' I mean 'within the last couple of weeks'.  As a result, some of the logistics for the event were a little, well, sloppy.  For example, there were only about 12 pot-o-potties at the 10-mile start area for 1900+ racers.  When there were only 5 minutes remaining until the start and several hundred people were still waiting to use the can, I knew that things were in bad shape.  It got to the point where people were squatting in the reeds near the lake.  Not fun.  I was feeling modest, so I decided to wait my turn.  The gun went off and I was still in line.  Ugh.  I wasn't too worried though - the race was chip-timed, so the clock wouldn't start for me until I crossed the timing mat.  In any event, I was eventually able to 'do my duties' and jog towards the start.

The Race

Getting stuck in line at the port-o-potties turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  Most of the racers were already out on the course when I started, so there wasn't nearly the crowd there could have been during the first few miles.  My goal for the day was a sub-1:31:00.  That meant holding splits of 9:05.

The plan was to run the first few miles conservatively, push harder for miles 6 through 8 and then hold on for dear life for the last 2 miles.

Mile 1: 9:01
I felt great, the weather was perfect and there were mostly clear roads ahead of me.  Other than dodging a few walkers, it was smooth.

Mile 2: 9:06
I was starting to catch up to a few more people, but it still wasn't bad,  I just tried to stay light on my feet and enjoy the day.

Mile 3: 9:12
We had just finished our lap around the lake.  It was starting to get a little crowded.  The running still felt easy though - perhaps a little too easy.

Mile 4: 9:09
This mile included one of the courses only significant uphills.  My time was pretty close to target, but I felt like I could squeeze out a little more effort without blowing a gasket.

Mile 5: 8:52
Ahh.  That's more like it.  I was in full-blown cruise control at this point.  The hardest part was passing runners in front of me.  I didn't want to be rude.  These folks wanted to have just as much fun as I did.  Though, it was a little frustrating having to weave through traffic.

Mile 6: 8:57
Cruise control was holding steady.  Whenever my Garmin told me my pace was dipping, I took a few quick steps to bring my speed back up


Mile 7: 9:00
The course was downright crowded at this point.  I tried to grab a drink at an aid station, but everyone seemed to want to stop at the tables rather than running through.  I said 'screw this' and just held on a couple more miles until the next station.

Mile 8: 8:52
By now, I was getting pretty pumped.  There was one pretty beefy uphill, but I managed to plug through it.  There were still tons of other racers on the road, and I had resorted to hopping up on the curb from time to time to get around everybody.  Note to other racers: if you are going to wear a costume, please don't choose one with WINGS.  It's hard enough to get around you on a normal day, but those wings make you about 5 feet wide.

Mile 9: 8:53
More of the same - I'm still pumped and the course is still crowded.  There's not much left to do here but gut it out to the finish.

Mile 10: 8:29
Okay.  I REALLY tried to speed things up for the last mile.  I was still passing people like crazy, but managed to avoid any accidents.  The crowds were great.  There were hundreds of people lining either side of the street for the last 1/2 mile.  I tried to 'Hulk Hogan' the crowd again, but I don't think they got it.  My Garmin read 1:29:30.  Not only did I meet my goal, but I broke 90 minutes to go along with it.  Sweet!

Mile 10.1: :40
Yep.  The course ran just a little long, or at least that's what my Garmin told me, and who do you think I'm gonna trust?  I hit the finish line and stopped my Garmin - 1:30:10.  Not bad for a fun little run.


Post Race

There wasn't a whole lot to this.  I got my bag, stripped out of my grodies and threw on a dry shirt.  The 5K racers were ready to go, so I decided to hang around to watch the start - it was good for a little more people watching and interesting costumes.  Some even dressed up their dogs for the '5K-9'.  I could almost see the Bark 'n' Sniffer at home rolling her eyes.

Shuttle buses had been arranged to transport the 10-mile and 1/2 Marathon racers back to Lake Nokomis.  I moseyed on over to the pickup site.  I thought, hey, this'll be great, I can grab a lift and make it home by noon.  Then I saw the line.  Crap.  Evidently, there were only 2 buses arranged for the 5400+ racers that needed a ride.

I ended up waiting in line for just under 2 hours.  Yes.  I waited in line longer than I actually ran the race.  Were I smart, I would have packed my cell phone and wallet in my gear bag and simply called a cab.  Shoot, I probably could have invited a few strangers to share the cab to keep the cost down.  Oh well.  At least I got to chat with some other friendly running folks.

In the end, I had a great day.  Sure the logistics cramped things up a little bit, but the running itself went really well.  Plus, the swag was top-notch - and you KNOW how much I like my swag.  We all got running hoodies and medals with skulls on 'em.  Nice.

The only thing left to do now is to pick some more races.  The Wife was out of town visiting her dad in Tampa.  I'm hoping that if I play my cards right, I can convince her to let me do Ironman-Florida in November, 2011.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Ironman Wisconsin - Part 4

Here we go folks.  The final stretch.  For those of you who've stuck with me so far - thanks.  For those of you just getting to the party.  You may want to check out my earlier posts for the pre-race, swim, and bike.  Or, you can skip to the finish to find out how this all ends.

My goal for the bike had been 6:40 and I ended up finishing the 112-mile course in 6:45.  That's close enough to make me happy - plus I still felt like my legs had something to offer up on the run.  I scooted into the Terrace, quickly found my transition bag - right at the end of the row where I left it.  I asked a volunteer if I could use the other changing room because the last one 'had a bunch of naked guys in it'.  No?  No.

I took my time in transition, making sure to apply a liberal amount of Body Glide to my special places.  I wasn't about to let friction abuse me the way it did on the bike.  I peeled off my bike jersey, applied some more Body Glide to the ol'l high beams and threw on my running singlet.  I velcroed on my Garmin wrist strap and then my stomach hit the floor.  I had left my Garmin on the bike.  Crap.

Since my running pace was going to be determined by my heart rate I NEEDED to get that back.  I waded through more nude dude and out of the Terrace back to the bike hand-off.  The volunteers weren't going to let me in to the racks, but one offered to grab it off my bike and meet me by the run-out area.  Okay. That'll have to do.  I turned back around and jogged through the Terrace again, out the back and to the run-out.

I saw the timing mats and stopped.  I didn't want my run time to start until I had my Garmin in hand - I'd rather have a long transition than a long run.  I don't know.  It made sense at the time.  So, I waited by the fence.  And waited.  And waited.  After what seemed like hours, I still didn't see a sign of my volunteer.  I made a decision, said to myself 'Eff it.  Let's do this thing'.  I crossed the mats and ran out onto the course.

Shuffle shuffle shuffle.

The crowds were amazing.  People lined the streets and sidewalks all over town, waving signs, ringing cow bells and screaming their guts out.  The first mile went quickly - you'd be surprised how a good crowd will help you run faster.  By the second mile though, I started to feel nauseous.  I think that six hours of gel and shot bloks was finally catching up to me.  My legs were fine, but all the bouncing from running was making me sick. 

By mile 3, my guts couldn't take it anymore.  I had to walk. Ugh.  Now, I know that there shouldn't be any shame in walking during an Ironman.  But, after months of training, it's never easy to adjust your goals mid-race.  My spirits were down for the first quarter of the race.  I wanted to run, but couldn't.  I knew I needed calories, but everything at the aid stations tasted like poo.

The good news was that, after doing a little Minnesota High School math in my head, I knew that I'd be finishing.  In the end, it was the hope of finishing that kept me going. 

For better or worse, without my Garmin, I had no idea how I was doing on time.  I knew that a sub 5-hour marathon was now out of the question, but everything else was a mystery.  By about mile 10 I actually started to just enjoy the experience.  Ironman puts your first name on your bib number, so a runner never goes more than a minute or two without someone cheering for them by name.

Running through Camp Randall Stadium.  Not pictured: me singing Minnesota Gopher Fight Song.

For those of you familiar with the run course, you know how excruciating mile 13 can be.  Runners are lead within less than 100 yards of the finish line, only to make a u-turn and head right back out onto the course for lap two.  I had to hold back tears as I watched one of the front-runners sprint to the finish line, knowing that I still had a long run ahead of me.  Dang.  I wanted to cross that line SO BAD.

During the 2nd lap, the sun began to set so the temperature started to drop.  My stomach finally started to settle down too.  I was able to release some pressure, by um, you know, 'lettin' 'er rip'.  Hey.  Don't judge.  I wasn't the only one out there grunting them out.

Photo Credit: The Wife.  Least graceful running photo posing credit: Me

For the last 10 miles of the course, I was also able to adjust my mix of running and walking to one with, well, more running and less walking.  I would just pick some landmarks, like traffic cones or street lamps, and walk one span while running 2 spans.  This had a few effects.  First, I was able to run faster and actually started to pass people.  Second, it helped me focus more on running and less on how miserable my body felt.

As I got into the last few miles, my emotions were all over the map.  I knew it would be over soon, and I could finally cross the line.  That mad me about 12 different flavors of happy.  I also saw many runners still heading out to do their 2nd laps and knew that a lot of them didn't have a chance to finish.  It was truly heartbreaking.

During the last couple of miles, I was running more and more.  I wanted to leave it all on the course.  If my calves cramped up or my quads locked, I'd walk a bit, but then get back into a jog again.  Then, I heard it.  The crowd was going crazy.  I ran through the last aid station, telling the volunteers 'Thanks, but no thanks.  I've got somewhere I need to be.' 

I ran the last 1/2 mile.  Enough of this jogging baloney.  I was RUNNING.  I made the final left turn and into the final stretch.  There were HUNDREDS of people on either side of the street.  I 'Hulk Hogan-ed' the crowd and they went bananas.  You've never Hulk Hogan-ed a crowd?  It looks something like this:

This was it.  I lifted my arms into the air and hit the finish line in full stride while race director Mike Reilly yelled 'Eric Bergstrom....You are an IRON MAN!'.

The next 30 seconds were a blur.  I was literally 'caught' by a volunteer - Kathy - at the finish line.  I put my weight on their shoulder and my legs went all noodle-y.  Another volunteer - Chris - grabbed my other arm and the two of them walked me over to a chair.  These volunteers are freakin' ANGELS.  Kathy got me wrapped up in a tinfoil blanket while Chris got me some Sprite, or Sierra Mist.  Whatever.  All I know is that a couple of sips got my stomach settled.  It was like liquid gold.  The cure to what ails ya.  Sex in a cup.  I wish they would serve this stuff out on the course.

My legs came back to me and they walked me over to get my finisher photo.  Now.  I don't usually toot my own horn.  But I looked back at some photos from the times before I started training.  Let's just say that Ironman has been very very good to me.

Before:

Packing on the pounds.

And After:

Evidently, modesty and humility weren't the first things on my mind after the race.

After the finisher photo, my volunteers angels did their most important task of the night.  They brought me to meet The Wife.  I love my wife.  She takes good care of me.  We hugged, grabbed some more Sierra Mist and went for a content, albeit slow, walk.  I was now an Ironman.

Yay.

Ironman Wisconsin - Part 3

Okay.  It's time to continue with the most epic-y of epic race reports.  Let's dive into the bike now, shall we?

The bike starts out with a descent down four levels of the parking 'helix'.  Somewhere in the middle of my third 'WEEEeeeee!!!' I caught a glimpse of Jim and Sarah cheering for me from the other end of the barricade.  I'm glad I got to see them before mile one of 112.

The course is laid out like a lollipop with a 12 mile 'stick' that goes from Downtown Madison out west to Verona.  Then we did 2 loops around the countryside. 

 
The first miles of the bike were uneventful.  Most of us were taking it pretty easy.  There were 6+ hours of cycling ahead of us.  It was pretty crowded out on the course, but I have a feeling that the race marshals were turning a blind eye to any drafting.  At least for the first 25 miles or so.

Heading out of town.

I stuck to my nutrition plan to a T.  Every 20 minutes, I took a gel, or 3 shot bloks.  Then, every 60 minutes I'd take some Endurolytes - essentially salt pills to keep me from cramping up. This was the same plan that worked pretty well for me during the Liberty Half Iron back in June.

The crowds along the route were nothing short of amazing.  You could never go more than a mile without seeing a line of folks cheering, a backyard party, or someone at the end of their driveway with a cowbell. 

The most interesting crowds were along Timber lane heading south into Verona.  This is where we encountered what are affectionately referred to as 'The Three B*tches' - three steep rollers in rapid succession.  Each one individually wouldn't take too much out of you.  They were very steep, but not terribly long.  However, having these 3 in a row was crazy. 

Fortunately, the crowds along these hills were crazy too - something close to what you would see on an ascent in the Tour de France.  You had your mandatory 'Man in Devil Costume', folks dressed up as farm animals, and lots of guys in Speedos and wigs.  You know - if you're into that kind of thing.

The first 60 miles or so went by fairly quickly.  There was always something to keep my mind distracted from the work my body was doing.  I kept the pace slow, but steady - constantly reminding myself that I still had a marathon to run later.  By mile 70, things started to drag a little bit.  The nutrition that had served me so well for a 56 course was starting to get tired.  The vanilla gel started to taste a little 'oogy', and my shot bloks got harder and harder to chew.  The sport drink still tasted good though, so I took in more of that for calories.

At about mile 80 I was beginning to wish that I would have paid more attention to applying Body Glide to my sensitive areas prior to the bike.  During an Ironman, friction is no man's friend.  I promised not to make the same mistake in T2.

Thank goodness my legs still felt great.  Even climbing the B*tches a 2nd time wasn't too terrible.  Although, I did have to shift a much lower gear to keep from straining up the hills.  I could tell that my average speed was dropping, but I was still scared to push too hard for fear of blowing out my legs for the run.  Once I crested the last bee-yotch, I knew it was mostly downhill back to Madison.  There were still plenty of fun-loving crowds in Verona to push us through.

Heading back on the 'stick' portion of the course, I started to feel anxious for the run.  Of the 3 disciplines, it was the one I was least confident about.  My body was starting to fight back against my nutrition telling me 'enough of this gel crap, gimme some real FOOD!'. 

Finally seeing the lake and the Monona Center again felt great.  It was strange.  After over 6 and a half hours out on the course, the swim was starting to feel like something I had done WEEKS ago.  I spun up John Nolen drive and up into the parking structure, unstrapping my shoes and hopped gracefully functionally down to the pavement.

I jogged through another crowd and into the Terrace to peel off my bike jersey, strap on my running shoes and tackle my first marathon.

Ironman Wisconsin - Part 2

Alright then.  It's time to swim. 

There's a funny thing that happens at the beginning of an Ironman swim.  You have 2900 closely packed, mostly vertical objects (floating swimmers) that rapidly turn into forward moving horizontal objects (swimming swimmers).   Space runs out.  Quickly.

You may have heard that swim starts are analogous to being in a washing machine.  This is absolutely NOT true.  Washing machines have a gentle cycle.  Now, I know that there aren't any athletes out there that are TRYING to injure other swimmers, but that's cold comfort when you're getting punched in the head, kicked in the face, pulled backwards and subjected to impromptu (and uninvited) prostate exams.

Believe it or not, this is one of the calmer photos.

Remember the ski ramp from yesterday's post?  The green horizontal arrow would be sitting right on top of it.

The most violent part was the stretch leading to the first buoy.  The worst of it came when I was kicked in the left eye just before the turn.  Fortunately, I had my goggles strapped UNDER my swim cap, so they weren't knocked off.  If anything they were forced deeper into my eye socket. 

In fact, at the end of the day, back at the hotel, I was looking in the mirror and had to do a double-take.  Was I wearing eyeliner?  Nope.  It was just the world's weirdest bruise.

Now that just ain't right.

Anyway.  Back to the race.  I rounded the first buoy and participated in one of the more unique racing traditions.  As swimmers make the first turn they all let out a loud 'MMOOOOOO!'.  It sounds awesome and hilarious all at the same time.  I did my best to join in, but I have a feeling my effort sounded more like 'MMOO-gurgle-glubglub-gurgle-ackackack'.

As I crossed the far end of the course and rounded the 2nd buoy I encountered one of the last acts of violence for the swim - a swift heel to the um...'Captain's Privates'.  I'm not sure how someone could catch me between the legs and through a rubber suit, but the assault on my 'low hanging fruit' was hard enough to knock all the air out of my lungs.  Fortunately, I didn't inhale any of the lake trying to catch my breath.

I tried to shake off the pain in my 'family jewels' and get back into a swimming rhythm when I experienced what would end up being my FINAL act of violence on the swim - another firm kick to the 'twig and berries'.  Okay.  This is getting ridiculous.  It better not be the same guy (or gal) who is intent on relentlessly pummeling my 'speed bag'.  I stuck my head up over the water and yelled 'NO MORE KICKING IN THE SEEDS!'.

But I digress.  The back stretch of the swim course was much more peaceful.  For one, with so many swimming abilities, the pack had already stretched out considerably.  Also, with such a long stretch to until the next turn, I could afford to take the course wider and get into a nice rhythm.  I like a nice, long, smooth stroke (get your head out of the gutter - I'm looking at you, Mom). 

I kept my line a little bit wider heading into the 2nd lap and really got to stretch things out.  I never pushed the pace and kept things easy and relaxed.  But, I could tell that I was making up ground on those that chose to swim in the pack.  I'll take it.  On the 2nd back stretch, I pushed the pace a little more, but never stopped being relaxed.  The only time my heart rate started to climb was when I could start to hear the crowd on shore.

Honestly, the swim felt great, despite my aching Honoré de Balzac, I could have gone another couple of laps.  But that crowd was too hard to pass up.  I picked up the pace and trucked it towards shore.  As it turns out, I ended up finishing the swim in the top 25% of racers.  Not bad for a noob.  I was just over my goal of 1:12 with a time of 1:14.  I'll take it.

On the left.

On the left again.

I hustled onto shore and over to the strippers.  No.  Not THOSE kind of strippers.  These are the nice folks that whip your wetsuit off quicker than a coed's top at Spring Break.  They literally sit you down on the ground and peel off your suit while you sit there with your legs in the air hoping that your tri bottoms don't come off with the rest of the outfit. 

I trotted through the crowd and caught a glimpse of Doc - one of our friends visiting to watch me race.  That meant that The Wife was close by.  Nice.  There wasn't time to talk though.  I jogged up the helix at the Terrace and into the conference rooms.  The T1 bag was easy to find - right on the end of the row, remember?  Then, I found a seat in the changing room to get my cycling gear together.

One of the volunteers, Mike, upended my bag and its contents spilled out.  He actually said 'That's the most organized transition bag I've ever seen'.  That made me feel good, especially considering how meticulous I was in packing.  I threw on all my gear, while trying to avert my eyes from all the nude dude around me.  Seriously, that place was a sausage-fest.  In hindsight I should have taken a couple extra seconds to apply some Body Glide to my 'baby factories'.  I would live to regret this later on in the day.

I hoofed it outside again and down the concourse towards my Rusty Steed.  Another volunteer de-racked my ride and pointed me towards the start of the course.  I strapped on my shoes, hopped into the saddle and descended down the helix.  There were only 138.2 miles left to go.

Ironman Wisconsin - Part 1

I don't care who you are.  4AM is too dang early to be getting up on a Sunday.  I had been battling butterflies in my stomach all night, and probably got around 4 hours of sleep.  Not in a row, mind you, but 4 hours total when you add together the 15-20 minute chunks of unconsciousness.

I hopped, okay, stumbled out of bed and staggered over to the shower.  A couple of minutes under the hot water did wonders.  I suited up into the two items that I'd be wearing all day - my tri shorts and my heart rate monitor.  Over those went a comfy pair of warmups and a long-sleeve t-shirt.

I snarfed down a bagel, some peanut butter and a banana while The Wife freshened up.  I checked my special needs bags one more time and then we hit the road.

Special needs on the left..uh, my left, your right.  Morning clothes on the left, uh, right, um.  You get the idea. 

All things considered, we were pretty early to the Terrace on race morning.  There were still a couple more things to do before the race started.  First, I had to drop off the special needs bags so that they could be transported to the course.  These held some basic necessities for mid-race.  You know, things like fresh socks, Vaseline and Aleve.

Bye bye stuff!

Then, we headed over to the bike racks where I filled up my aerobar-mounted water bottles with sport drink and water.  By this point it was getting pretty crowded.  It took an uncomfortably long amount of time to find the body-markers - the people who write your race number on your arms and your age on your calf.  It seemed that everyone we asked thought that these maestros of the Sharpie were in a different place.  Not to worry, eventually we tracked them down.

There were only a few more minutes left before I would have to start heading down to the water.  I took a sharpie and wrote a few things on my arm.

First, I put some key words up on my wrist.

Just a few reminders to keep me from flying off the handle.

Then, I dedicated some of my run miles to a few special people.

Yep.  Mile 26 was for you Wife.  Oh yeah, and mile #19 says EXACTLY what you think it does.

Then it was time to pour myself into my wetsuit.  There's just no graceful way to do it.

Struggling with my superhero suit while the sun rises in the background.

Once suited-up, we followed the mass exodus down from the top level of the Terrace and onto the shore.  As we neared the shore line the music got louder and louder.  Soon, we hit the end.  It was time to say goodbye.

Self-Pic.

And one with help from a stranger.  The guy behind us looks like he's never seen a camera before.

Before I turned to head into the water, The Wife gave me a kiss and said "be careful, and listen to your body".  I said, "Why?  Did I fart again?".  Ah yes.  I combat anxiety with humor.  She picked a spot up on a hill and I got in line with 2900 other nervous athletes clad in rubber and neoprene.

Soon, the cannon went off and the pros started their day.  That meant it was 6:50 and there were only 10 minutes left until it was my turn.  The only problem?  I was still on shore with at least 1000 other athletes.  You see, before any athlete could get into the lake, they had to walk over an electronic 'timing pad' so that the timing chip strapped around each of their ankles would activate.

These timing mats were only about 6 feet wide, causing an anxious bottleneck.  The clock continued to count down.  With 5 minutes to go, I was really starting to get nervous.  Then, with 3 minutes to go, I finally squeezed my way through, heard my chip chirp, and dove into the lake, right in the middle of the national anthem.  No.  I did NOT remove my cap for the anthem.

I swam slowly out to the crowd.  Before I knew it, I was smack in the middle of what can best be described as a 'floating mob'.  I didn't want to get too close to the front of the pack.  I figured that would just make me available for more people to swim over.  However, the more that swimmers were packed into the mob, the closer I was pushed up to the front.  I turned around, drew an imaginary line in the water with my hand and yelled "Okay.  THIS is MY SPACE".  I only got laughter.  Oh well.

When I heard U2's 'Beautiful Day' come on over the loudspeaker.  I knew that there were only seconds to go.  I could feel my heart beating in my neck.  I took one more glance towards land to see thousands of spectators lining the shore and climbing to the top of Monona Terrace.

Then,  BOOOOMMM!!  The cannon went off.

More Mega Miles

I'm tired.  Like, really tired.  I'm in the meatiest part of my training plan right now.  Here's a quick summary of the last few days.

Thursday

Last Thursday, I had my longest run workout ever. Yes. My Longest.  Run. Ever. In. My. Life.

I got home from work and hit the road as soon as I could - knowing that I'd probably need all the daylight I could get.  I wore my new De Soto shorts and jersey for two major reasons.  First, I'm planning on wearing the same kit for the Ironman and wanted to get the best simulation I could for race day.  Second, the jersey has 3 big pockets, and I needed to carry half a dozen Power Gels to keep fueled for the run.

The route I picked out started by heading West to Medicine Lake.  Then I did 2 laps around the lake.  The good news was that I only had to carry one 12-ounce water bottle since there are several parks around the lake with drinking fountains when I needed a refill.

The map is courtesy of my Garmin FR305 and SportTracks.

The run itself was definitely a learning experience.  My goal was to average 10-minute miles as long as I could and then just wait to see what happened.  Things went fine for about the first 10 miles.  It got a little weird from about mile 12-15.  My heart rate started to drop and I felt sleepy.  My best guess is that even with a gel every 30-minutes, I was low on calories.  For future long runs, I'll likely have to up my gel intake to 1 every 20 minutes.

In the end, I ran for 3 hours and averaged 10:17 per mile.  It's not nearly as fast as my run leg during the Liberty 1/2 Ironman.  But, I didn't have adrenalin on my side this time around.  My goal for Madison is a sub-5-hour marathon.  A 10:17 pace puts me in at 4:30.  There will be no way to know for sure if I'll break 5-hours on the run, but I'm still optimistic.

Oh yeah.  And as a reward, I treated myself to Kentucky Fried Chicken for a recovery meal.  Take THAT nutrition plan.

Friday

Friday was a rest day, as in 'butt in recliner, watching TV and going to bed early'.  It felt freaking GREAT.

Saturday

The plan called for a 5 1/2-hour bike.  This coincided perfectly with Tour de Tonka, a great community ride that leaves from Minnetonka High School and continues on to a few different route choices ranging from 16 to 100 miles.  Of course, since I'm in Mega-Miles-Mode, I did the Century.  Here's a photo of me just before the ride started all dolled-up in my Twin Cities Spoke jersey.

This is my 'excited' face.

The weather was a little dreary for the first half.  By 'dreary' I mean, it rained from mile 2 until 49.  It wasn't terrible.  The rain helped cool things off - just don't ride immediately behind someone with your mouth open.  Eew.

The skies magically cleared up for the 2nd half of the race and we were treated to a beautiful 50 miles.  The wind was even at our backs once we made the turn and started heading East towards Waconia.

This is my 3rd year doing Tour de Tonka.  They always seem to do a good job.  One would think that a community ride with half-a-dozen different routes and over 2000 participants would be a logistical nightmare.  But, these guys pull it off well.  The courses are well marked, rest stops are well stocked and there are volunteers everywhere - even on the Century course.  Well done.

Sunday

Sunday was a simple open water swim.  I drove over to Lake Independence.  It's the same lake that held the swim for the Liberty 1/2 Iron.  They have a long stretch of beach that is protected by buoys, so I was safe from playing bumper-cars with the speedboats and jetskis.

The swim was nice and relaxing.  I put my Garmin in a zip-lock back and tucked it into my swim cap to try to track my route.  It worked out pretty well -

I wanted to swim for 75 minutes - which would have brought me pretty close to race distance for the Ironman.  But when I saw lightning on the horizon I decided that maybe Mother Nature wanted me to go home have some leftover KFC.  Thanks Mother Nature, you're a real pal.

Monday

Today was another long pool workout.  It was a combination of a ladder and some 100-yard repeats.  For the most part, it was uneventful - except for the parts when the lane lines kept coming unhooked from the edges of the pool and floating into my lane.  Bah.

I'll be hitting more heavy-duty hours on the road, in the water and on the bike this week, but I've got a recovery week coming up, so I suppose I can tolerate just a little more suffering.

Liberty 1/2 Ironman Race Report

Yesterday was the big day - my 2nd half-iron distance event and likely my biggest test before the Big Kahuna. Get comfy folks, this is gonna be a long one.  Oh, and you may want to check out my last post to get an idea of what my goals were.

The Night Before

By Friday afternoon I had completely lost interest in work, so I spent a good chunk of time combing through the weather reports and putting together a checklist of clothing and other items for the next day. On the way home I stopped at Target for a few last-minute necessities and got a funny look from the cashier as they checked out my purchase of Shot Bloks, Chocolate Milk and Vaseline.

Once home, The Wife and I decided to bail on making dinner for ourselves and ordered out instead. Enter: Chinese Takeout. At the very least it would be easy on my stomach and provide me with a few carbs for Saturday. After dinner I got to work on the checklist.

First, I cleaned and lubed the bike, tested the gearing, hooked up my new Podium Quest water bottle and tied on my race number. Next, I made five piles of gear: one each for before the race, during the swim, Transition #1, Transition #2 and post race. The swim, bike and run gear all went in my big orange tub. The pre-race gear went in the bathroom and the post-race gear went into a plastic bag. Then, I mixed up some Perpetuem and stuck my nutrition in the fridge. The last thing to do was load everything I could into the car so I didn't have to think about it the next day.

The last thing on the agenda was the little matter of hair removal. Well, one empty clipper battery and two razor blades later I was ready to go. My dome was smooth and polished, my legs were frictionless and my torso was completely hairless. It looked like a small dog had exploded in our bathtub and I now had the appearance of a pre-adolescent boy. Awesome.

Pre-Race

The alarm went off at 4:30 the next morning. Ugh. I hopped in the shower for a few minutes to wake up. That helped. Then I suited up with my tri shorts and top, heart rate strap and warmups. Breakfast was a warm bagel with peanut butter, washed down with some Gatorade. I did a final check of essentials and headed out the door at 5:00. By 5:30 I was rolling into the parking lot at Baker Park.

I usually like to get to the course early for a race, and today was no different. I was fortunate to grab a spot in the nearest lot to the transition so that I didn't have to carry my gear too far.  I grabbed a nice spot near the 'Bike Out' area so that I wouldn't have to run too far in my bike shoes.  Over the next hour, I set up my gear, made a few trips to the port-o-pottys and walked around just kind of absorbing the experience.  At 7:00 I met up with a few new friends from the Beginner Triathlete forums.  Good peeps, not to mention fast - Steve and Ben even ended up coming in 8th and 9th in the Olympic distance.  Way to go guys!

After the meet-and-greet, I finished strapping up my wetsuit and headed down to the lake for a little swim.  The air temperature was around 60 degrees, but the water temp was close to 70, so I really only got cold once I got OUT of the water.  A few minutes later, I watched the first wave (Elites, Clydesdales, Athenas and relay teams) head out into the lake.  Three minutes later it was my turn.

The Swim

Our wave took off and I aimed for the 2nd buoy.  I started out on the slow side because I didn't want to get caught up in any thrashing that would only serve to frustrate me and not contribute to a faster time.  After about 200 yards I hit a good cruising speed and started passing some of the guys in my wave that probably started a bit too fast and were starting to fizzle.  It wasn't too bad, but there were a few clumps of dudes that were a chore to get around, but by the time we hit the first turn, things had thinned out.

On the return leg, the chop started to pick up and I felt like I was getting blown into shore.  Every time I lifted my head to sight, I found that I had drifted a couple yards off course.  At least, with the overcast skies, I didn't have to stare into the sun to find the course again.  Pretty soon I was catching up to some of the swimmers in the first wave.

I usually don't like holding back on effort during a race.  Frankly, I just don't have the discipline for that kind of thing.  So, taking it easy on the swim was difficult.  I kept reminding myself that today was about pacing, and having enough gas in the tank for the run.  I trudged out of the lake and crossed the timing mat at 36:08.  That was 3 seconds slower than my last (and only other) 1/2 iron distance race.  That puts my 100-yard splits at 1:43.  I'd have preferred to be closer to 1:35 or 1:40, but I'll chalk the slower time up to the wind and navigation errors.  I was 63rd out of 248 for the swim leg, so maybe I did better than I thought.  The only thing left to do was strip off the wetsuit and throw on my cycling gear before hitting the road.

The Bike

The roads out in the western suburbs are the closest thing I have to a home course.  I ride 'em several times per week and have ridden the course loop multiple times leading up to the race.  There weren't likely to be any surprises out there.  For the first 20 miles, I had two things on my mind - 1. Get my heart rate down and 2. Keep my cadence up.

My first heart rate check clocked me at 167 BPM.  Uh oh.  I shifted down a gear or two and took a couple of deep breaths.  Eventually it got down into the low 150s.  It wasn't the 135-140 that I was looking for, but I felt relaxed.  This is supposed to be a learning experience after all, and who am I to argue?

Since I had a pretty good swim, and ended up as one of the first couple-dozen people out on the bike that could mean only one thing: getting passed by a constant parade of carbon fiber and penis-shaped helmets.  That's fine.  I know those dudes are fast, and I hope to get there soon, but I've only been at this for a year and a half, so there's still plenty of room for improvement. 

The weather continued to cooperate.  Temps were in the mid-60s, the skies were overcast and the wind was minimal.  It was a great morning to ride.

I set my Garmin to go off every 20 minutes so I would be reminded to take in water, Perpetuem and Shot Bloks.  Then every 60 minutes I took in some Endurolytes to try to stave off cramping.  This was working fine, but after 2 hours on the course, I started to get a little tired of Shot Bloks.  I'll have to pack a better variety of food for the Madison in September.

At least I knew that I was sufficiently hydrated.  By mile 40 I had to pee.  Bad.  So, I decided to 'drop ballast' at the next downhill.  After a minute or two of meaningless stage fright (I mean honestly, I'm essentially alone on the course and I get stage fright?  Seriously?) the mission was accomplished.  I had baptized myself into triathlete-ism.  Man.  That felt GOOD, and I could finally focus on pedaling again.

The last 10 miles of the course were an out-and-back along the same course as the Tuesday Night Timetrial series.  It gave me a chance to see my buddies on carbon fiber again as well as all the other cyclists that were hot on my tail.  There's a nice long downhill to finish off the course which gave me a chance to spin to a higher cadence for a couple of minutes.  Evidently, this is supposed to help you get your 'sea legs' back after cycling. 

The Run

I hopped off the bike and monkeyed around with my socks to get them 'just right' before heading out onto the course.  My legs felt, for lack of a better term, 'oogy', but at least they weren't cramping.  A couple hundred yards into the course I was hit by the famous woodchip hill.  It's a 100-yard long jerk of a hill with little or no traction.  Blech.  Once that we were directed onto a nicely paved trail and over towards Lake Katrina. 

Just after mile 2 I saw the race leader heading back the other direction like a freakin' gazelle.  Sheesh.  If I could only be that fast.  My goals were likely a bit more modest than his.  I just wanted to take a few miles to find my groove and then try to keep my splits around 9:30 per mile.

The race organizers had their act together and had aid stations set up ever mile with water, Heed, gels and some other treats.  At mile 2 I took a gel, but had trouble ripping off the top and decided to stow it instead.  At mile 4 I grabbed a marathon bar, but looking at it made my stomach a little ornery, so at mile 5 I handed it to another volunteer and said 'here ya go, I changed my mind'.  From there on out I stuck to Heed for calories and water (mostly poured down my back) to keep me cool. 

A funny thing happened just after mile 4.  Up until that point I had Kevin Quinn's 'Evolve' stuck in my head - you know to keep the pace.  Go ahead, click on the link and tell me it isn't catchy.  I'll wait.  Okay, now.  At mile 4 my Garmin told me that I just ran a 9:33 split, which was right in line with my plan for the day.  Then I though to myself 'I love it when a plan comes together'.  That made me think about Hannibal Smith, which in turn made me thing about the A-Team, until then, you guessed it.  I had the A-Team Theme Song stuck in my head for the remainder of the run.  Excellent.

My splits for the middle portion of the run surprised the heck out of me.  At first when I pulled an 8:53 on mile 5, I thought that I should pull back, but my mile times continued to stay right around 9:00 through the 10th mile.  During this time it started to sprinkle, then it rained, then it downright poured.  I didn't care.  I just kept running with a big stupid smile on my face.  During the last few miles I was really starting to feel it - the fatigue I mean.  I think I was finally running out of gas.  The only thing left to do was be a big boy and gut it out through the finish.  Here are the splits, including the last little fifth of a mile:


9:51
10:08
10:00
9:33
8:53
9:06
9:25
8:55
8:50
9:16
9:29
9:50
9:27
1:27 (.18)


I hit the woodchip hill again (this time going down).  The rain had made the ground even squishier.  It was like running down a lumpy sponge.  At the bottom of the hill, the course turned right to follow the shoreline - where I started this whole race, back when the Earth was still cooling.  Then, I could finally see the finish line.  I trotted in with the best form I could muster.  I must have still been grinning like an idiot, because the announcer said something to the effect of:  'here comes Eric Bergstrom, and look at him smiling!'.

I broke the line with a time of 5:49, which was 11 minutes faster than my 'best case scenario' and a full 44 minutes better than the Square Lake 1/2 Iron last year.  Better yet, my run time dropped from 2:53 to 2:04.  Yippee!

At that point the work was done.  I hung around for a few minutes to chat with some of the other finishers and volunteers.  It's amazing how you feel like you can be friends with just about anybody after doing something like this.  Then, I headed back up to transition and slowly loaded everything back into the car.

Before heading home, I checked out the post-race barbeque and snarfed down a steak sandwich and some fruit in about 30-seconds flat.  Yummers. 

Well, there you have it.  If you made it through reading the whole thing - thanks.  I'll be back in a day or two to talk about the recovery process.  Later y'all.