I raced and was in the medical tent with my wife who also raced. I was fine but she has a history of falling blood pressure at the end of a hot IM. I think we were in the med tent when they rushed you in using a wheelchair.

In short, the nurses and doctors were great and responded fast and I assume they knew what the heck they were doing.

My wife and I have done over 40 IMs combined and we have both ended in the med tent in prior races and this race was no different, they were prepared and professional.

I had a challenging day and ended up walking half of the marathon and was actually in the food area when I believe I saw you pass out- you had your head down on the table and looked like you were sleeping and then your head just rolled off the table- we tried to break your fall but we couldn't get to you soon enough, you did hit the pavement pretty hard- I didn't see you have a seizure- then they put you in a wheelchair and took you away, I hope you are ok now.
I really am impressed that WTC didn't run out of water anywhere else - I think they do a great job

I had 3-4 friends racing and they all anticipated the heat, and scaled it back and reset expectations. This includes one guy who is a regular KQ and 2:34 open marathon runner. While he was over an hour slower than he expected to be, he had nothing but positives to say about the race. You have to respect the heat, which you should know living in Austin. If that means carrying an extra water bottle or two on the bike, that is what you do. With a rented bike, I'm guessing you only had 2 bottles on your bike and assumed that you'd be able to get loads of water on course. That is on you. Planning ahead with the known heat, I would have gone out on the course with a minimum of 4 bottles on my bike. Sure I'd sacrifice a little aero, but I gain much needed fluids. At mile 2 of the run, you should have pulled yourself. You knew you were in bad shape and walking 24 miles just didn't seem like a good idea that that point.

As others have stated, personal responsibility plays a bigger role here vs. your blame WTC attitude...

you know it's good when OP doesn't respond for a while..

sucks for OP, no doubt. but we all have choices.

 





Sounds like, to me, the OP was defeated mentally before the gun ever went off....

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Chicago Cubs - 2016 WORLD SERIES Champions!!!!

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams

I am not a fan of Ironman, I am always happy to jump in on a just cause for IM Bashing...

But.....

In this case the OP is lacking credibility, is clearly taking no responsibility for himself, and seems to be barking up the wrong tree.

So, I will have to look for another opportunity to bash WTC elsewhere.

To the OP. I am glad that Ironman wasn't as UNPREPARED AS YOU WERE for this race!! Then, we would really have something to talk about.

Kudos to Ironman for running this race, and dealing with the fallouts. You should be proud of your commitment to the sport and the athletes you showed over the weekend (Seriously, no pink here!!)

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Austin Hardy -

I completed this race. I just want to leave one comment in the defense of WTC.

Everyone seems to be complaining about the bike aid station running out of water. I stopped at each bike station, filled my 2 bottles and continued on my way. Here is what I noticed. The majority, and I mean the vast majority of people took 1 bottle, took a sip then threw it on the ground. If you looked at the end of the aid station where they have the "Last Chance" to get rid of your garbage, there was mountains (3-4 foot high piles) against the concrete lane divider of bottles of water that were 95% full. There were piles of garbage bags full of nearly full bottles of water. Yes, you can say people took some water and drenched themselves, but the majority of the water bottles piled at the aid stations were nearly full.

In this case I say don't heap too much blame on WTC.

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Charity is injurious unless it helps the recipient to become independent of it. John D. Rockefeller Sr.

So is this going about like you thought? There was a pretty good twitch-hunt going on in another thread about timing matts and course cutting, but that fizzled out with real evidence (from the teammate of the accused no less) just a little too quickly. Sigh

FYI... if you take a blood pressure without a stethoscope it is communicated as the first number (systolic) over palp.
This can be a little quicker in an emergency to get.

If it is really loud (especially if you have a crappy stethoscope) this is also how you will take a blood pressure.

Sometimes when someone is in really bad shape... it is the only number that you can get.



Source -- 8 years as a military medic

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I do the same thing as them, just slower

I have a general history of racing poorly in the heat. I did the infamously hot Chicago Marathon of 07 (high of only 88). I did not adjust my plans as I should have and ended up needing medical attention which I mostly refused and chose instead to walk the last three miles. Pure stupidity on my part and I cannot blame the race for my judgement errors. Personal responsibility is key.

I crashed at Savageman last year and spent a week in the ICU. Turns out that the course known for crazy hills also has some dangerous downhills. I took one too fast and crashed. My fault, not the organizers.

I nearly froze at the cold Boise 70.3 on 2012. It is not WTC's fault that I came from out of town and didn't have enough warm clothes. I did the 14 mile bike in my wetsuit. WTC shortened the bike on that day and I wish they didn't even though a full bike course would have likely meant hypothermia and/or a DNF for me.

Personal responsibility.

It is WTC's job to put on the race and provide us with adequate support. It is each individual racer's responsibility to decide if they should participate.

I was a spectator/volunteer at the race.

I rode the section on 95 (once) on Saturday and it was brutally hot and sapped strength unbelievably fast. After last weekend I am updating my game plan for IM Canada this month.

I had expected in the litigious society that we live in that WTC would have shortened the course. (not inserting opinion here, this was my prediction)

At the finish line i caught people that completed in 11-14 hours after race start as well as some 16 hour finishers.

There were a lot of people that were very unsteady on their feet and needed help to stand. Quite a few were wanting to lay down or just be covered in cool towels. (Just relating requests)

This was my first finish line catching experience but I would expect things to be similar at most races. (I did bike special needs in IMAZ last year and i also did swim control at CdA... working swim control was the most fun shift... i got to interact with people right before getting into the water, i cheered for EVERY one of the athletes between loops and almost everyone on the exit, plus i had several minutes of talking with people before lining up for the start as well as people lining up at the pointy end of the field)

I did also visit a friend in the medical tent. (~9 hours after start) and triage was at about 40% capacity, i didn't go into the "admission" area.

I wish that there was more ice on the bike course (I heard people say that some stops were out by about 6 hours after start). This might have made a lot of people have a much better experience.

I am seriously disappointed by reports that there were stations on the bike that ran out of water, this is borderline inexcusable.

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I do the same thing as them, just slower

first off it sounds as if you were an idiot for continuing on for your 24mile walk. So lesson learned for you..hopefully, enjoy that fnishers medal, not sure it was worth it.

I will say as a sherpa for some people who've gone to the IM medical tent, well, it's very interesting. I'm 2 for 2 for people being let go too early from the tent and having to be re-admitted and/or packaged off to hospital.

I've also seen the medical tent people not care that someone passed out/fainted & was disoriented after they got released from the tent. Once they left the tent area it was a you're on your own and we don't care attitude. It took some persistence to even get someone to come out to re-eval the person.

Which leads me to think that you need to figure out if you are being a dumbass or not in the race and you also need to have a plan B should medical let you down, which can clearly happen.

On the other side of this coin, I've had athletes who've gotten superb care in medical tents at WTC races.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

I thought there would be more post by now, but it helps when the OP plays a long. He isn't so I guess he has seen the error of his ways.

Everybody knows that triathletes are self centered type A personalities. Because of that, you have a high percentage of people who may even be pathological in this sense. I know I am.

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"In the world I see you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Towers. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying stripes of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway." T Durden

That's awesome. My wife and I were in that infamous Chicago triathlon as well. I have some wonderful memories of taking a shot of gatoraide at mile 18 or so, slammed it, then realized the volunteers had just put out the liquid concentrate since they were out of water. The rest of the race was all throwing up/dry heaving and wondering what the F I was doing there. It was my first ever full marathon and I was TERRIBLY unprepared for it.

Remember the folks drinking water out of the large water fountains in the park? Yep..you know you're dying for water when you're drinking out of a structure that homeless folks no doubt take baths in.

Real eye opener but a good learning experience though for what it was worth..I was a hot mess for days afterwards and realized that I am incredibly lucky I did not need medical attention.

I did the race. It was my first IM. Maybe I dont know any better, but hats off to WTC for keeping the distance and super hats off to the CDA residents.

A few personal observations that may be a bit different from OP:

- At the start line, I only heard cheering instead of jeering at the "are you ready for 140.6"

-They did run out of water at one point on the aid station at ~mile 85. BUT, 3 miles later, there was an van pulled over with someone handing out water. Oh, and they still had plenty of Gatorade, just no water. By the time I completed the turnaround and passed the aid station again ~8-10 miles later, they had restocked with water. My bike split was 7:30, so I was back of the pack, and 14:48 total.

-They did run out of ice at some of the aid stations on the run, but that was after 7pm and there were still plenty of fluids/food, etc.

-My friends laughed at me, but I ran with a thermometer and took my body temp every hour or two to make sure I wasn't overheating. My objective of the race was to not die. Seriously.

-I dialed way back, kept my hr at 145bpm and just had a GREAT time.

I thought the WTC did a terrific job and the volunteers and residents really made the race. I am a newbie and this was my first tri of the year, but planning for the conditions made this a great race. I wouldn't call out the WTC at all, other than for a great race. It's up to the racer, I might not have gone as hard as I could have (I was shooting for sub 13hr), but I felt great at the end, had a huge slice of pizza, and the volunteer who walked me off the finish line made sure I was totally fine before walking away.

That was a really tough day, whichever way you look at it.

The swim was lovely. The rolling start, warm water, but wetsuit legal, (I went sleeveless), just perfect.

First loop of the bike, no problem. Rode conservatively, right on target, thought I was on course for a fabulous day.

Second loop of the bike, like riding into an open oven. Coming back into town, seeing a LOT of people walking up the first big hill- I have done this race a few times, never seen anyone walking. I can't imagine how hot they were walking up that hill. Aid stations were carnage, having to stop at each one to get what you needed, and everything warm by the end, Stomach shutting down, increasingly bloated. Seeing guys on the side of the road just sitting down in whatever shade they could find, people straddling bikes head on bars just wanting it all to be over.

Downloaded my Joule post race, topped out at 111. And it got HOTTER on the run.

Marathon. I had aquaphor in my transition bag, completely liquid. Nice. Applied to feet.

Cramped coming out of transition, Base salt saved the day.

Run. I NEVER walk. Never. Walked a lot. Finished with a 4.25 ish marathon, and nobody passed me on the run, except a few pros on their second loop. Finished under 12.30, and instead of a stream of people finishing at that time, a half mile stretch of nobody. Which was great as you got all the love from the crowd in the bleachers, but just nobody in sight, Very odd for a pedestrian time.

Epic day. Finishing was really REALLY hard. Getting in the lake post race, BEST thing ever. not my first race, but had it been I think at this point I would be taking up crochet, or something else equally benign

Congrats to all who hung in there, equally congrats to those who bailed, NOT day to be a hero.

I'm fully aware that I am responsible for myself, I was sharing my personal experience. I was well 'prepared' (as in trained), I was just putting my equipment choices in context and it didn't affect my exersion level/fatigue. I don't need a wetsuit to swim that distance or my tri bike to do 100 miles; I was merely stating facts and that I would have been slightly quicker for obvious reasons.

No.
They did give me medical help, I didn't refuse.
The fact that I left on "my own two feet" was my personal decision (as I stated) once I felt better. I wasn't blaming WTC, I was pointing out that there could/should be some type of policy in place.
That's the only number they gave me. I know that BP is measured in 2#'s (systolic/diastolic)
I wasn't sitting there with a stopwatch & a stethoscope, that's just what I witnessed

I'm not blaming WTC for the decisions I made that day. I've reiterated that I took personal responsibility. Maybe you skipped over some of the details, I did alter my strategy. I'm also glad you had a better medical tent experience, I was merely recounting my experience because I though it might be helpful & informative to some people on this forum who might potentially race in conditions such as this in the future.

I didn't 'struggle' on the bike.
It happened incredibly fast after I finished and sat down. It was my personal story to hopefully help people if they ever find themselves in that situation.

But you did blame WTC for allowing us to race Sunday without an 'out' option. Serious question, not trying to instigate: Did you express your concerns to any WTC staff prior to Sunday's start?

I can pretty much guarantee that there's something in that blue legal form we signed at packet pick up that made sure we were responsible for racing this type of endurance event.

[/quote]
Yes, given the benefit of hindsight I definitely should have done this. I would definitely recommend anybody who has the option to take Medics up on an IV (or two).

Hey, no argument on personal responsibility.

Running out of water on the bike course is total BS. Ditto running out of ice on the run. It's not like anyone was surprised by the heat. WTC just basically went cheapo and tried to save money on ice and water at the expense of athletes on a very difficult day. You can beat up the OP all you want...his decisions hurt only him. WTC's decisions potentially hurt every athlete on the course.

That's all I ask. The story is from my POV as an experienced racer who lives/trains in the heat.

I've had people on this Forum reach out to me personally since I posted this, and the majority of have appreciative that I shared this experience. I don't want anybody's sympathy. But also as anticipated at lot of responses in this thread are attacking the messenger & have some level of "HFTU."

I'm from the 'HTFU' camp; this story was a word of caution for people doing future races that feel/look like they're in good shape or find themselves in these type of conditions in future races.

Thanks, you put it a lot more eloquently but that really sums it up.