For those interested here’s how my first Ironman experience (M40-44) went on Sunday.
The morning started off early. Transition opened at 5 am for athletes to prepare their bikes and add any last minute items to our gear bags. All I had to do was add a couple of bottles of Hammer Heed plus one double-strength bottle of Hammer Perpeteum to the bike so I didn’t take long. With the swim scheduled to begin at 7 am, I had figured arriving to transition at 5:30 am would be fine. Turns out that a LOT of people had gotten there earlier to grab a spot in line for Kentucky’s unique swim start.
Rather than starting in big waves of folks, the Louisville event begins with a time trial style start with athletes entering the water from a pair of docks, two at a time every couple of seconds. Your time starts when you cross the timing matt to enter the water. The line for starting is no particular order, just first come, first serve. It was about 6 am by the time I’d gotten transitioned squared away and made the approximately 15 minute hike over to the swim start. The line was already stretching probably ½ mile long. Partly the distance was swelled by folks that had friends and family accompanying them. A little irritating, but I’d brought along a towel that I could use as a pillow while camping out waiting for the start.
Most of us were still wearing shirts and shorts while waiting since they’d provided morning gear bags to put our clothes and such into at the last minute for retrieval after the event. That was nice and meant not having to walk everywhere in bare feet – a plus.
Finally about 6:40 things started moving forward as the volunteers worked to get friends and family out of the line. At 7 am we heard the cannon go off for the age group start (pros had gone off shortly before). The line really started to move along then. When we got to the dock area the volunteers were motioning us to make sure our swim caps were squared away and goggles on. It was a then like something between being a lemming marching of the cliff in group or maybe a fresh paratrooper being “encouraged” off the plane by the drill sergeant – a quick dash down a dock ramp, a “go-go-go” from a volunteer and then feet first into water already filled with folks beginning to thrash their way into the swim. It was now just before 7:30.
The water in the river was very warm feeling (maybe 84, 85 degrees) and we were heading upstream between the shore and a small island on the left. The short distance between the two land masses forced everyone fairly tightly together for a good stretch. Still I’d say it was better than the chaos of a big wave swim start. The water itself was rather brown and murky, really couldn’t see your outstretched hand in front of you. No worse than our local lovely Chattahoochee River in Georgia though.
It didn’t take me long to find a comfortable rhythm and having the land on both sides made it easy to stay on track just by sighting while breathing. I passed some folks and got passed by some very strong swimmers occasionally. The time trial start really mixed up the speed levels thoroughly.
After probably 30 minutes I reached the end of the island and rounded a buoy with a big group of folks to head back on the other side of the island in the main channel of the river. It was downstream now, but I really didn’t feel like the current helped or hurt much in either direction. Water temperature was a bit cooler.
Continuing on in the swim, I stayed fairly close to the shoreline and passed within 50 feet of parked barges, warehouse looking areas, etc. There were plenty of kayakers out to keep us safe and somewhat away from structures though. The majority of folks were a little further out toward the middle of the river, so I didn’t have much trouble with bumping and passing which made it easy to stay in a rhythm.
To keep track of distance, I’d scoped out before the race that we’d have to go under two big bridges and get near a third to get to the swim exit. It was reassuring to get near each one and tick it off. I felt pretty consistently good throughout the swim other than some cramping in my hands from holding my fingers together while pulling. No feet cramps at all – although I did keep the kicking to the minimum required to stop my legs from sinking.
I wrapped up the swim in 1:31, which was amazingly close to my goal of 1:30. I’d based that estimate on about a 45 minute ½ Ironman lake swim earlier this year in Macon, Georgia. Exiting the water was a matter of climbing some aluminum steps out of the water. They had plenty of volunteers helping you get oriented and safely on land again. The wife and kids were there at the swim exit to cheer me on which was great. I stopped to give a quick hello and some fist bumps.
From there it was a quick walk through a couple hundred yards of corrals to get into the transition area. I’d decided before hand there wasn’t too much to gain from running through the transitions in an event bound to take me more than 12 hours.
As I approached the changing tent (something they don’t have in the shorter events), a volunteer handed me a bag I’d dropped off the day before with my gear. I entered the tent and put on a sleeveless bike jersey, some Zoot arm cooler sleeves, helmet, socks, shoes and sunglasses. I also stowed a flask with 5 servings of Hammer Gel, about 12 Hammer Electrolyte pills in a coin purse and a couple of refills of Heed and Perpeteum in sandwich bags. The plan was to stick to the Hammer products unless I really felt like I needed some solids during the bike.
After exiting the changing tent, I grabbed my bike, which was only a few rows away and made my way out of transition and started rolling. The first part of the course was fairly flat, and I was feeling very good, particularly for already having swum for an hour and a half. The game plan was to ride very easy to save strength for the run, but despite feeling like I was not pushing at all, I was averaging a solid 20 mph at first.
The first leg of the bike was an out and back on a hilly road that featured a major descent with rock walls bordering the road in a couple of spots. The whole vibe felt a bit scary while hitting 35-40 mph on the descents – even with a bit of braking to bleed off speed. Contributing to the feel were some folks that seemed pretty sketchy on their bikes. After the turn around we got our first aid station on the bike. The bike stations were generally well stocked with Ironman Perform, water, gels and bananas. The only exception was one toward the end that ran out of water (I suspect because by that time escalating temperatures had a lot of people using the water to douse themselves).
After the turn around we got to climb up the earlier descent, which made me appreciate my 23 tooth gear in the back. After that it was onto the rest of the course which consisted of two big loops with some smaller climbs and a run back into town. It was really scenic, pretty country side. At one point we passed a meadow with three or four horses galloping smoothly along with us. It seemed like a movie scene and was definitely in keeping with the Louisville theme.
Spectator support on the bike was also great. Lots of folks had come out from their country homes to make a day of watching the parade of riders go by and encourage us on. Passing through the city of Lagrange (twice) seemed like a small version of what you see on the Tour de France with cheering spectators lining both sides of the street behind barricades. Very cool. While mentioning the good things, the event also had a number of bike mechanics on scooters out on course with spare wheels and tools. I saw them assisting with probably a half dozen flats.
After about 55 miles on the bike, I realized I was probably pushing too hard and needed to dial it back. Temperatures were also steadily rising and I could feel some fatigue. I’d guess mid-80 degrees by then. Nutrition and hydration seemed good though and I’d been diligent about taking two Electrolyte pills each hour beginning shortly after the bike start.
Continuing on, by mile 80 I’d begun to have some small tweaking cramps in my quads and hamstrings. This is when it really struck me how much further 112 miles is than 80 miles. Doing 16 mph that is still a two hour chunk of work to do.
During the later miles of the bike I saw a couple of riders getting taken away in ambulances. Not sure if they were crashes or heat exhaustion, but I suspect it was the temperature. I saw plenty of folks stopped by shade trees and buildings along the route having a rest. I joined them about mile 95 when I had a full on cramp in one of my hamstrings and decided to stop and stretch it out. I ended up spending 5 minutes there off the bike (along with another 5 minutes at various aid stations resupplying my bottles with Heed and Perpeteum. The last 10-15 miles on the bike where pretty slow as I teetered back and forth on the edge of bad leg cramps. By then temperatures had probably climbed into the 90’s.
It was a big relief seeing the downtown horizon coming up along with the end of the bike portion after the 112 miles of hilly countryside.
Entering the transition a volunteer grabbed my bike and sent me on to get my run gear bag. I once again walked through the transition into the changing tent, which was filled with athletes trying to get set for the run. I found an empty chair and plopped myself down to get organized. A volunteer got me a couple of glasses of ice water and asked if he could do anything else for me. At that point though, I really just wanted to be left alone to rest a little and try to shake off the cramps I’d been having.
Unfortunately – no such luck with the body. As I took off my socks, one of my feet cramped up followed by an sympathetic locking of one of my abdominal muscles which in turn made me clench my jaw , which promptly cramped. It was ridiculously painful. I straightened myself out on the chair and rubbed my ab muscle. Shortly after, the cramps subsided enough for me to gingerly get changed into running shorts, top, socks and shoes. I also packed a fresh flash of gel and more Electrolyte pills. Another volunteer came by and I asked him to fill my hand-held running bottle with cold water. Not terribly enthused, I left the tent thinking I’d walk a bit and try and just tick off one mile at a time.
After heading out on the course at a brisk walk for a few minutes, I decided to try some easy running, figuring I’d go a few minutes and then walk. It didn’t seem to take too long to reach the first mile marker and the first aid station. I bypassed that one since I had plenty of water and gel for now. I was feeling somewhat encouraged.
Unfortunately, the temperatures continued to climb into the mid to upper 90’s as the day progressed. As the heat peaked, I felt more and more fatigued and my legs were back to cramping and locking up. Reaching mile 8 or 9 didn’t feel that encouraging with another 18 or so to go. I decided at that point to just continue forward walking until the sun got low on the horizon and the shadows from surrounding buildings grew to cover the roads. I took advantage most of the aid stations, which were well stocked with drinks, ice cold sponges, pretzels, oranges, bananas, gels and cookies. The only was exception was one toward the end that ran out of cups. Luckily I had my hand-held bottle along for refills. Reaching the halfway point and going past the finish line after concluding the first of two laps improved my spirits.
Even more so, as the sun eventually set on the horizon, I was able to return to mixed running and walking. I was pretty pumped again, despite continuing cramping problems. When the sun went completely down and they brought out chicken broth at the aid stations, I was in heaven. I have to say not much has ever tasted better.
Once I finally reached mile 20 I really felt like I was in the home stretch. Just like a lunch run distance left to go, then half a lunch run. Finally I was walking the first part of the last mile in a premeditated effort to be able to run up the chute and through the finish line.
Rounding the last block before the finish, one of the race organizers was in the middle of the street shouting encouragement about how we’d be able to tell our grand kids one day about having completed an Ironman in “some of the toughest conditions in Ironman history.”
With that in mind, I ran around the last corner onto the finishing stretch. It was lit up as bright as day light with floodlights and all the neon of Louisville’s 4th Street Live festival area. Crossing the line was incredibly satisfying.
Amazingly – despite it being a bit past 9:30 now – the family were there to see me finish, complete with home-made signs. Nice.
After the finish, a volunteer helped me collect my finisher’s shirt and hat, get a photo snapped, and guided me through the medical area to get some food. The medical area looked like some post disaster scene with folks wrapped in thermal blankets, laid out on cots, and hooked to IV’s. A steady stream of ambulances was carrying the more seriously dehydrated and sick athletes to the hospital. I really was feeling good about finishing at that point.
Post event food was the usual cookies, fruit and drinks plus some wonderful pizza and roast beef sandwiches.
Random Observations and Lessons Learned:
There’s no reason to wear race flats to an Ironman you’re just trying to finish. I wished I had something with more padding on for the last half of the run as a rock bruise on the ball of my foot resurfaced at the wrong time.
The hand held bottle is the bomb for the run. Having something to constantly sip from a douse my head with cold water occasionally probably helped save me from needing an ambulance.
It’s amazing how many people buy a snappy new jersey and pants at the Ironman Expo Store just before the event and then decide to wear it for the first time on the big day.
Hammer Nutrition products really do a great job. I never felt hungry and I was able to keep hydrated and balanced enough to finish.
The hat and sunglasses that helped at the start of the run are a pain to carry with you once the sun goes down. Perhaps bringing some throw away items would be good.
Swimming 2.4 miles and then biking really makes your triceps sore.
Congrats.