Ironman Wisconsin 2010 Race Report

If you've been following my blog for a while, you know my goal going into this race was to qualify for Kona.  I'll save you the suspense.

Did I qualify?  No.  Am I going to Kona?  Yes.  I finished 9th in my age group and needed 8th.  One person didn't accept his slot so it rolled down to me and I snatched that thing up immediately.  I really wanted to qualify "officially", but I'll take a roll down.

The day had some good and bad and fortunately had more good than bad.  But I will say it was a test of determination and desire for me because I thought Kona was gone one hour and twelve minutes into the race...

The Swim.  1:12:20


The swim was an absolute disaster.  Not sure why exactly, but I think I screwed up right out of the gate.  In 2008 I swam a 1:09:40 and I'm a better swimmer now so I figured I could finish in the 1:05-1:08 range without too much trouble.  Looking back on the race, I don't think I pushed hard enough right away. I was afraid of going anaerobic and burning too much energy early in the swim, and I think I held back too much because I needed to get out in front of that huge 1:10-1:20 group and get in the with 1:05 group.  Instead I got caught up in the 1:10 group and it's ugly.  It was the roughest swim I've ever been in.  I got kicked in the goggles twice (which really hurts).  People were swimming into each other and I don't know why, but we bunched up at every buoy (and I'm not just talking about the corner buoys).  It was crazy.  

Then on loop 2, I got kicked again and my goggles got filled with water.  I thought I got all the water out but I didn't so I swam the rest of the way with water in my left lens and it was screwing with my contacts.  I came out of the water, looked at the clock and saw 1:12 and thought 'there goes Kona.'

All I can say is that it was poor race execution on my part.  I needed to get out of the gate faster and get ahead of that group and I think the swim would have been a different experience. I will do my best from now on to get in front of that group because those people are crazy.


T1.  6:04


Transition was okay, but coming out of the water with so many people I had a hard time getting through T1 quickly.  The helix was packed and people were moving slower than I wanted to go so I had to try to work my way through them.  Volunteers were busy in T1 so I had no help and couldn't find my transition bag.  I don't know if it slowed me down all that much because my time is good, but I was getting very frustrated.  I had trained very hard for this day and it wasn't going according to plan and I was sure my goal was gone.  No one goes to Kona with a 1:12 swim.
 

The bike.   5:17:07


Again, you pay for coming out of the water with a huge group.  The roads were crowded and I couldn't hold ironman power.  When I passed people I needed to pass 20-30 people at a time so I had to do tempo so my power was fluctuating a lot more than I wanted.  My average power was 10 watts below goal power, which wasn't horrible, but I was getting very concerned about my surges to get around everyone.  I was afraid it was going to take it's toll on my legs and kill my run, but I didn't know what else to do.  The bike is my strength.  If I'm going to have a good race it's going to happen on the bike so I couldn't sit around and wait.  I had to get out there and make my move.


By Mt. Horeb (mile 35, maybe) I'd worked myself into a much better place on the bike and was able to settle in a little more.  At this point, I had begun to accept that Kona was probably out of the cards.  I was disappointed and frustrated, but had decided that I wasn't going to quit.  I would keep pushing for a Kona slot because that's what this race was all about.  I came up my Kona plan 3 years ago.  Why train for 3 years and give up?  Not only did I decide not to give up on Kona, I decided that no matter what I was going to have fun the rest of the day.  That's why I race in the first place. 

Courtney and friends hanging out on Midtown.

 My parents on Timber Lane.

 

I kept my power 10 watts below my goal for the remainder of the ride because of all the surges I did early on.  I was hoping that would save my legs for the run.  I stayed as aero as possible, keeping my head out of the wind and hit the corners as hard as I could trying to keep my speed up and overall time down.    I stayed on top of my nutrition, made sure not to hammer the hills, stayed within my power limits and kept an eye on my heart rate.  I grabbed water at every aid station and soaked myself down to make sure I didn't overheat at any point during the day. But mostly, I just enjoyed the ride.  It was really fun.  The crowds were huge and very loud (and perhaps a little drunk).  I gave high fives to the spectators on the hills and tried to take everything in. 


The winds picked up on loop 2 so the second half of the bike was a little slower.  But those same winds gave us a tailwind on the way back to town, which made up for most of the time lost due to the headwind.  It was on the way back that I passed the 100 mile marker and realized that my legs still felt great.  Going conservative was a wise move.  

T2. 2:46


Not a whole lot to say.  I got my running shoes on, fuel belt, visor, hit the porta potty (I draw the line at urinating on myself) and started the marathon.  I knew that to break 10 hours I absolutely needed to start the run by 1:30 pm (figuring that a 3:30 marathon was a best case scenario).  I checked my watch and saw it was 1:38 pm.  8 minutes off.  Not too bad, especially after a 1:12 swim.

They pick on me for always running with a visor on so they thought it was 

appropriate to make visors for race day.

The Run.  3:37:05


The run was great.  I really wanted a 3:30 marathon, but I decided to go out conservative and see how my legs felt.  I was afraid of pushing too hard and paying for it later.  I'm not sure if I've blogged about it much, but I do a run/walk.  I run for 9:30 and then walk for 30 seconds.  It was awesome. 

I am completely sold on the run/walk for ironman.  It makes sense.  Nearly everyone walks at some point (aid stations usually), but it's random and unplanned.  My walk breaks were planned and had a purpose - that's when I ate and drank.  The best part was that every time I started running again, I felt great for at least 2-3 minutes.  The fatigue comes back, but then you only need to hold on for a few minutes before the next walk break.  My heart rate always dropped 5-10 beats during the walk break and it took most of the run segment to creep back up so the run/walk really helped keep my heart rate down.  

Katie and Abby

With the run/walk I need to run a 7:50 pace to average 8 minute miles when you throw in the walking.  I started out running an 8:00-8:10 pace so when you add in the walk my average pace was closer to 8:15-8:20 initially.  I held that until mile 5 when my running legs came around.  I felt great so I decided to step it up a bit.  I pushed the pace for a while, then settled back into the pace that I started with.  About mile 20 I really started feeling the fatigue and began to fade.  Going into the race I was hoping to make it to mile 16 before I had to start digging really deep and I made it to mile 20 so I was really happy with how the race was going.  Mainly, I was proud of myself for being patient.  I wasn't patient enough in Florida last year and I had a complete melt down. 

My fade wasn't bad, but it took a lot more effort to go 20 seconds per mile slower.  It was a little weird, actually.  I faded immediately at mile 20 but didn't fade any more after that.  Mile 20 meant I lost 20 seconds per mile, but I held that pace steady for the last 6 miles.  

The finish, as always, was great.  I never looked at the time after starting the run so I thought I was going to finish in about 10:20.  As I turned the corner toward the finish chute I saw a 10:14:xx on the board so I was pretty pumped to see that I was going to finish in around 10:15. 

My official finish time was 10:15:20.  I didn't have a time goal for the race.  My goal was to give myself the best possible shot at Kona.  I figured 10 hours was what I needed to target so that was my target going in, but all I really wanted was Kona.  I didn't think a 10:15 would do it because I didn't think I cracked the top 10 in my age group. Soon after the finish a friend told me I got 9th in my age group.  I had a bad feeling my age group would have 8 slots, but figured that would give me a good shot at a roll down.  And that's exactly how it played out. 




All things considered, I'm very happy with my race.  It didn't go exactly how I wanted, but I didn't give up.  I stuck with my original race plan even when I felt like my goals were out of reach.  I stayed within my capabilities and raced a smart, patient race.  I knew if I didn't stay within my limits I would have a horrible day (I've proven this).  My only chance at salvaging my time after the swim was to be smart and keep executing my original plan.  


I got a little lucky and got my Kona slot.  But most importantly, I had tons of fun and learned a lot.  I know more about racing long course triathlons than I did a year ago, and I plan on taking that knowledge into my training for next year.  

I'm looking forward to Kona.  It's going to be a memorable experience I'm sure.

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Gear Grinders:  The Gear Grinders tore it up at Ironman Wisconsin. We had 20 Gear Grinders there and took home 7 Kona slots.  Not a bad percentage.  We took 3 out of 8 slots in my age group and 2 out of 7 slots in the 30-34 age group.  One in men's 40-44 and one in women's 30-34.  We could have had an eighth slot but it looks like one of my teammates didn't accept his slot.

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Post race:

My first black toenail.

Not my first blister, but it might be my first blister that was bigger than the toe.

 

  I would like to point out that a tradition was broken: no medical tent. Instead I went to the food tent 

and ate pizza while a woman vomited in a trash can next to me.  Only at Ironman.

Some signs shouldn't be ignored.  

Stuck and probably very embarrassed.  They did a lot of damage.

10 pm on State Street cheering on the final finishers.