This was my first IM, and even though I was just doing it to finish after repeatedly hearing the recommendation to not race your first one, I had a conservative estimate of 13:30. I have done a few Oly’s and one half-IM; however, I trained in the heat all summer and felt ready for the race.
The abridged version:
My run special needs bag was empty, so my wife insisted that I at least include one pack of Sport Beans and some Band Aids.
For the second night in a row, I got almost no sleep.
Swim:
I was in the back of the line, and did not start until after 7:30. While snaking my way down to the river, I notice a poor guy in the water who is definitely not going to make the cutoff.
I thought that the time trial start was done wonderfully. I jumped in, was able to stay behind a few feet on my way to the top of the island and hit the turn feeling OK. A few minutes later, after nearly swimming in to a kayaker, I rolled on my back and heard “you need to swim to the left, you are too far out.” OK. I’ll turn some to the left. About 10 minutes later. A second kayaker said “you need to swim to the left.” No kidding. Apparently I still swim to the right in open water, which has plagued me at other races. After consciously turning left after every few strokes on the way back, I exited in 1:19. This was about 4 minutes short of my expected time, but I felt good. I ran into the changing sauna, and threw on my gear. As I was leaving the tent, I almost ran into a female racer who was running into the guy’s exit. Needless to say, she quickly realized her mistake.
Bike:
I settled in on the first few miles of the bike and ate some food before hitting the first hill. Dead deer, dead skunk, another dead skunk. Wow…a toe on my left foot feels really weird (I have no idea what was going on, but by the end of the day my #2 toe was a huge, sausage-like blood blister encompassing the entire toe). I almost got pinned between two cars on the one lane bridge out River Road as I was passing a stopped car in my lane and the oncoming car decided not to stop. I progressed out to the spur at an easy 16-17 mph while putting down some more food. I had a great time on the spur and a good first loop around LaGrange.
On the second loop is when my day started to go downhill. I just began to feel funny—cloudy. I slowly started having trouble eating anything and even had difficulty drinking my mix. I decided to take a break at the first water stop outside of LaGrange for about 10 minutes to let my HR drop and try to get some fluids down. I felt a little better and made it around to the water stop on 42, but felt really out of it at that point and stopped again. My leg seized up while trying to get off the bike, and the volunteers had to help me get my leg over the seat. I used the bathroom (the port-o-potties with ample toilet paper were worth the entry fee at that point), had a gatorade, and ate a banana. After about 15-20 minutes, I felt much better. I left the water stop and enjoyed most of the downhills on the way back into Louisville. I did encounter a tractor hauling a trailer and backing up a line of cars on 42, which forced me to ride occasionally on the rumble strip, pinned over by the line of cars. After the tractor turned off, the traffic opened up, but the cars were still frustrating. My bike time ended up being about 7:30. By the time I hit the dismount, however, I started feeling funny again. My toe was also really bothering me while hobbling down to the tent in my bike shoes. I think that I ate a banana at the transition water stop, but I don’t really remember. I then checked out for the run.
Run:
I did not feel that the heat was overwhelming as I had done my long runs starting at 3:00 pm, but after the second mile I started to get dizzy and had to walk. I stopped at the next water stop and drank some more Gatorade, but the cloudy, light-headedness would almost come on in waves. I walked to the third stop and felt really “off” at this point. I was never tired, I just did not feel normal. After going to the bathroom again, which left me dizzy sitting on the seat in the sweltering port-o-john, I decided to sit down on the curb with some chicken broth, fig newtons, Gatorade, and water. I sat there for at least 10 minutes, and finally decided to give it a try to the next water stop. I walked there, took another fig newton and some Gatorade, and then started a gentle stride, which ended up being a big mistake and resulted in projectile vomit. At this point I was trying to calculate if I had enough time to finish the race walking and beat the cutoff.
I walked the next few miles, picking up a pretzel with water and a gatorade at each stop. I would take tiny bites and soak the pretzel in water and Gatorade in my mouth to get it down. After hitting the turn, I again tried to run, but started feeling light-headed after 1 mile. At this point, I had come to the conclusion that if I ran, I was going to push whatever was wrong with me over the edge and not be able to finish. I struggled down to the special needs bag and almost decided to pass it by, but I thankfully got the Sport Beans that my wife had insisted I put in the bag. Our anniversary was Sunday, and this ended up being a great present. I was able to get these down one at a time, and I felt fabulous all of a sudden. I was able to walk 13-14 min miles…until the beans ran out. It was like I had been hit in the head about 5 minutes after I ate the last one. I started getting light-headed again. The blood blisters that had populated the back of my heels then decided to pop almost in unison, soaking the back of my shoes with blood. I started on the pretzels, Gatorade, and water again, and was determined to finish.
After watching the sun set, I was issued a fancy glowing necklace…ahhh, another perk along with the port-o-potty on the bike. As I trudged along, trying to closely monitor my situation and not push myself too hard, I came to realize that this race takes on a whole new tone after the streets clear and it gets dark. I saw a few athletes in small groups, but mainly it consisted of people by themselves. I finally made it to 26, and I just sprinted around the corner to finish in 16:20. I don’t even remember the chute as I was more running to the med tent than across the line. My wife met me there as two race volunteers, who were wonderful, were escorting me to the med tent. She had volunteered as a lead runner escort and had closely followed me the whole time with a good friend.
I had some blood drawn and a few finger sticks. My glucose actually came back high: 264, 153, and 171 on three tests about 5 minutes apart, while my sodium was 130, which was labeled as fairly low by their range. I was sent home with some broth, and they had my wife check on me every 2 hours.
I had a few dizzy spells on Monday and a few on Tuesday, but I seem to be back to normal today.
I am disappointed that I had to walk almost the whole marathon. I felt well prepared and paced myself accordingly on the first half of the bike, and at the time I did not know what I could have done differently nutrition-wise. For a little while, I also felt somewhat undeserving of the label Ironman. In the end, however, I think that I ended up finishing a different competition than the race I began in the morning. I now see this race as almost two separate competitions: a majority physical endeavor during the day and a predominantly mental challenge once the sun sets (especially when they decide to put the turn for the second loop 5 feet from the finishing shoot and people are yelling that you are almost done when, alas, you have to turn right instead of left). I believe that physical/mental split is what makes this distance great and lets this race challenge many different types of people.
Maybe one day I will take another stab at the physical Ironman.
To the lady I saw heading out on her second loop as I was nearing the overpass coming home, you rock whether you finished on time or not.