If anyones interested or bored, here it is, this is my first race report ever, so i wasn’t sure what to include…here goes:
Double Iron
Swim: 2:33 Bike: 14:40 Run: 14:47 Total 32 hours
Gear: look 576 tri bike, xterra x1 wetsuit, new balance minimus road shoes, Desoto tri suit. Louis Garneau bibs, craft cycling top, specialized tri vent shoes
Where to begin, where to begin, here’s an attempt to summarize 32 hours of exercise, emotional mood swings, amazing support, dealing with cold weather, and sleep deprivation.
Pre Race:
Woke up after a surprisingly solid 6-7 hour sleep, and drove down 30 minutes to the race site. We blasted the heat in the mini van rental to unthaw from the chilly outside temps. Anything below 60 degrees is now considered cold to me after moving to San Diego. Yes I’m a baby I know, but I think it was 45-50 degrees out, and felt freezing. I was surprisingly calm, just felt like any other day, I attribute this to my girlfriend, mom, and good friend being with me. In the back of my mind I knew that the countless hours and miles of training that I put in would pay off, and I was in the best shape of my life, which helped keep me feel more relaxed. After finishing a few ironmans, I knew the drill: just set up smaller goals to attain, don’t look at the day as one big event, break it up into small manageable distances.
Once we arrived at Lake Anna, it was still dark, and the triple iron athletes were still biking. These people are insane. While I was sleeping comfortably, they had already been on the go for 24 hours on the bike. It’s hard to wrap your brain around this as you pass them in the car, and I didn’t even attempt to think of what they were already dealing with. The crew (girlfriend, mom, and friend) set up our little tent area, gave me ham, egg, and cheeses sandwiches for breakfast, which were tasty, and handed me tea until the swim start. I knew that having a positive support team was crucial to finishing the race, and it was already paying off in the am. Because they were so helpful in the am, I was able to just stay relaxed and focus on the swim. A big thank you to the ‘crew’ J The race was delayed by an hour due to a really thick fog, but other than that the water was perfect. The water was probably 70 degrees. I wore a full sleeve wetsuit, and a neoprene cap, because I hate the cold, and I knew that being in the water that long, I’d rather be warmer than colder. My mentality was to stay warm, conserve energy, which translates into fewer calories burned in the long run.
Gerry, A double iron veteran, gave me some words of wisdom prior to the swim start: it’s a long day, pace yourself, don’t burn out on just one event, it’ll ruin your day. I had never swam anything more than 3 miles, but I was pretty confident in my swimming abilities, and knew I could tackle the 5 mile swim. The air horn went off, and I immediately felt super relaxed I got into a great rhythm and kept it the entire swim. I stopped after 2.5 miles to wade over to the shore where my mom and girlfriend had some hot tomato basil soup ready for me, which warmed up, I had a bite of another egg and cheese sandwich and dunked back into the water. I immediately got right into my groove, felt super relaxed, even managed to keep my eyes closed for 15 second intervals. This was probably the best swim I’ve ever had in my entire life, I was not cold, I had a good smooth stroke going, and I was using open water flip turns to turn around at the buoys saving more energy. I learned this from reading through another athletes report, and just did a combo of front crawl and back stroke around the buoys. I focused on my breathing, and staying relaxed. I finished the swim, 12 laps in open water, a little tight in the shoulders, but other than that I felt great, the weather had warmed up to 60 (back in my San Diego element), and I changed for the bike ride. Swim time 2 hours 33 minutes.
My crew had food and hot tea ready for me as I changed, and this is where the real race began. I treated the swim as a mental warm up, and it was time to get down to business. The bike was a 5-6 mile loop, done over and over and over. The bike was hilly, there was a steady climb right at the start, which slightly leveled out, and then the turn around was flat, with a downhill right before the turn around. The first 112 miles went by relatively quick. I ate a ton of nuttella and apples, oranges, bananas, and turkey salami and cheese wraps. This was pretty much the entire food lay out for the bike, with the occasional ZYM electrolyte drink, and yes, more tea with honey and lemon. Thanks to my girlfriend and mom for toiling and peeling and making all my food. One thing that I found, I’m not sure if it was the flavor, but every time I ate an orange I woke up a little, and felt like I had more energy.
8 hours into the race and I have not gone to the bathroom yet. I was getting worried that I wasn’t digesting my food, but I felt great so I didn’t think anything of it. I had a great cadence, and stayed in my aero position 50% of the time. 112 miles were done. The air temp started to drop so I threw on my arm warmers. Did a few more laps. The hill became harder and harder and harder. I quickly realized what everyone’s prior race reports meant when they said that the hill becomes a mountain over the course of the day.
The temps continued to fall, and I threw on a long sleeve. For hours and hours my crew was cheering me on, keeping me positive, and the more tired I got the more I relied on their presence to make me happy. Every time I approached the decent into the little tent city, which is where the turn around is located, I got a boost of energy, because I knew I’d see my crew. Seeing them put a smile on my face, and staying positive is what the whole weekends all about so a big thank you to the ‘crew.’ It was also good to get a break from the monotony of being on a 2 lane road in the middle of a forest. At first the forest is very pretty, the leaves were changing colors, but after you’ve memorized every twig and blade of grass along the course it gets old and the mental battle of not getting angry or annoyed begins.
I’m not sure what time it was, but I got significantly colder, and had to stop again to throw my arm warmers around my calves, and put on another top layer. It got colder again, and I had 45 miles to go so I put on a headband and another warm layer. All the stops to fidget with my clothes were starting to annoy me because I knew that it was adding time to me having to sit on my bike, and it was breaking up the good rhythm that I had going.
I wish I had planned out my cold weather gear better, because it would have probably saved 30-45 minutes of annoyance on the bike. I also didn’t plan for how cold it would get at night, but lesson learned I suppose. I had my hot tea in the back pocket of my jersey keeping me warm, and now that my clothing situation was figured out I was back in my groove. At mile 200, I stopped to apply more chammy cream, I was starting to get a bad irritation downstairs at mile 180, which kept getting worst and worst. I have no idea why, but it was extremely uncomfortable for the last 35 miles. I couldn’t get into my aero position, and I just had to bear it. I’ve never had an uncomfortable rubbing like this, and have no explanation for it. The last 25 miles, even though I only had 5 laps left, were the longest part of the bike. I continued to drink my tea, thanks to my amazing support crew blowing out the fuses of the generators at base camp J, ate my sandwiches, more apples, more nuttella, and more oranges. With the amount of nuttella I ate I’m surprised my teeth didn’t fall out.
With 4 laps left, I threw on my ipod, blasted some metal, and hammered the last 4 laps of the bike. I knew this was an unwise move as I was risking destroying my legs for the run, but I was sick and tired of being on the bike. I was tired of the pain downstairs, and just wanted to be off the bike.
Finally off the bike in the middle of the night, I think around 12am or 2am ish, it’s all a blur. I didn’t feel exhausted yet, I was physically tired, but not sleepy which was good. My Mom n friend passed out for the night, but my girlfriend stayed up with me, thank god for that, because she was making food for me the whole time, and gave me something to look forward to at the turn around. Yes it sounds cheesy and cliché but a hug and a kiss, or a “you’re doing great” shout go a very long way. Bike ride time 14 hours 40 minutes.
The run was a 2 mile loop, 1 out 1 back. Same first section as the bike…. that damn hill! Then it was flat, then back downhill. We walked the first lap together, I read this tip in a prior report and heard it’s best to walk to get your legs used to the motions. The tiredness started kicking in and I began yawning on the first lap. It was night time, I was cold, and tired, but I was extremely happy to be off the bike. I applied a bunch of A&D cream before starting the walk because my downstairs was so chaffed. Also before starting the run I had a hot bowl of tomato soup and a lean cuisine meal, which hit the spot. After walking the first lap, I began to jog. Overall I felt good, but my achilis tendons were very very tight. I was concerned this would turn into a big problem in the future, but I managed, adding in an occasional stretch, and it didn’t bother me aside from being tight. More so my right tendon and not my left. I was prepared for this problem occurring so it was nothing new, because it happened to me during a 200 mile training bike ride.
I ran 6 more miles, and I caved into exhaustion. I couldn’t jog anymore without falling asleep. I had already fallen once because I was nodding off and not paying attention. On the run my only fuel was ProBars. If you’ve never heard of these, get acquainted, they’re amazing. 400 calories of vegan goodness. I’m not a vegan, but they’re very very tasty. I drank coconut water and nibbled on probers as I ran. When I ran out of coconut water I swapped that for…you guessed it tea. It was around 3/4am and I knew the sun wouldn’t be coming up anytime soon, and the daunting task of completing this race started to set in. I was growing irritable not at the hamster wheel of a course, but breathing in cold air. Did I mention I hate cold weather? I was becoming annoyed with inhaling cool air. I was tired, both physically and mentally, and needed a rest. I sat down at the turnaround in a chair, and closed my eyes for what felt like 1 second, but according to my girlfriend I was out for 30 minutes. I was freezing, shivering and awoke. I popped out of my chair and began to trot into the night.
It was a surreal feeling, and slightly confusing for a minute. I woke up and just started to jog, counting down the miles. It was dead silent in the middle of the night, but there was a full moon which brightened the course. I just stayed focused on my bobbing headlamp projection in front of me so I didn’t fall again. After another 6 miles I felt the wave of exhaustion again. Besides the obvious physical tiredness and achy muscles, I just wanted sleep. I sat down for another minute to close my eyes, and poof, woke up 20 minutes later. I came to the conclusion that sleep was the greatest supplement ever. Eating and drinking kept me going, but sleep gave me this wave of energy and fuel to keep me going further and further. It was as if I had a fresh body after I slept.
Finally the sun came up and around 6 am, and eventually I finished my first marathon. I think…I know it was sometime in the morning hours. I periodically stopped to watch a finisher cross the line. It was always cool to see that someone finished their journey. I kept putting one foot in front of the other, everything felt tight, but I just kept moving trying not to stop, I walked backwards to loosen up my hips a few times, but other than that I made it a goal to run another 12 miles without falling asleep. I think I ran 10 and caved into sleep again. My girlfriend had joined me on the run again and I told her I needed sleep. She watched me lay on the side of the road soaking in the sun, and I passed out for about 30 minutes in the grass. I could have slept for hours, but she woke me up, and we kept going. I kept going, sipping on tea and nibbling pro bars, and soon had 13 miles left. Only half a marathon and then I’d be done. I thought I could finish the entire run, but that damn wave of exhaustion hit again and I needed to sleep. I laid down on a sleeping bag with 8 miles left for a 15 minute nap. I think I woke up because someone’s finisher music was going off. Immediately my girlfriend and I started running again, sorry I mean jogging / power walking. With 14 miles left, either my girlfriend, mom, or friend ran with me, which was extremely helpful. It was good to have company, even if we were running in silence together. With 1 lap to go we all ran together. Run: 14 hours 47 minutes
I wanted to run with everyone because I knew that none of it would be possible without their help. Everyone was tired, my girlfriend had not slept all night, because she was making me food, or just giving me support when I passed by. Everyone was working hard to get me to the finish line, they came to support my event, and I wanted to finish together. This lap took way too long as I realized that I had accomplished my goal, so I walked a ton, stopped to stretch, and generally be lazy. Once I got to the downhill I started to run. I heard the music that I was waiting to hear for the last day and a half, house of the rising sun, I grabbed the American flag, we all held hands and crossed the finish line. I teared up for a little, but it quickly passed as I was too tired to really comprehend what had just happened. I plopped down in the massage tent for a 30 minute massage which I was told by every athlete to do. I sat in a chair for a long time just sitting and soaking in the accomplishment and the feeling of relief from being done. I’d like to say that I was immensely happy, or jumping for joy, but I was so worn down from the event that happiness came in spurts throughout the following days. Even now as I type I get a warm fuzzy feeling from finishing the event. It’s really too much to explain or summarize in a report, but I hope I did a decent job of explaining part of the experience. Total time, 32 hours.
In all honesty the real journey was the training. Hours and hours of hours of training. I had done a marathon, ironman, 200 mile bike ride, countless 100 mile rides, countless amounts of long runs, night rides, night runs, back to back long bikes, back to back long runs, swimming for hours in the ocean, it’s overwhelming just to think about the training. The training was just as hard as the race. I felt burnt out with 4 weeks to go to the race, so I just focused on staying healthy and doing an occasional long run instead of trying to force myself to keep pace with what I was going prior. I was in a very positive place mentally which also helped me finish. I had an extremely loving and amazing crew, which without, the race would not be possible.
Things I would have done differently would be a better nutrition plan for the race. More variety of quality non processed foods. Also the sleeping aspect was new to me. Instead of caving into exhaustion and taking naps, I wish I had just slept for 1 hour after my bike ride, or half way through my run, instead I took periodic naps which only gave me energy for spurts at time. Also I would have worn different clothing on the bike. Other than that everything was great. I had no blisters on my feet, some intense chaffing downstairs, but aside from foot swelling and tight tendons for a few days, I felt great.
I cannot begin to give enough thanks to my loving girlfriend, mom, and my good friend for coming to support my race. It’s important to be in a positive place mentally if you want to complete an endeavor like this. There is no room for doubt, or second guessing. I truly believe that anyone can complete an event like this. All it takes is a commitment to the training and the desire to push yourself. It was good to get out of my comfort zone, and to step into the unknown. A book I recently read said that people do events like this because it’s the last great adventure out there in our lives. We as a society have discovered everything on earth, we’ve explored every corner of the globe, however, we have failed to explore what’s deep within each and every one of us. Without getting off topic I’d like to close by saying that stepping out of my comfort zone was the reasoning behind this race. I like biking, running, and swimming. I stopped going to the gym and just started focusing on what I like to do. While the training was grueling, I also enjoyed a lot of it. San Diego is a beautiful place and I got to explore every inch of it on my bike. So by no means was this just a self inflicted torture fest. Yes it was tough, but that’s part of the adventure.
I wanted to see what my limits are and how far I can go. How deep I can dig, how hard I can push, and that’s when you truly learn what’s inside of you. I believe our bodies are only limited by the shackles that our mind places on us. We’re blessed (for lack of a better word) with a limitless potential of a body, but we’re cursed with an efficient mind. Our mind screams for safety, security, efficiency, and rest. It is only when you break free from your mind that you realize what your true potential is. Everyone has an immense potential, and it’s up to us to realize it instead of sitting sedentary in our ways.
Once again thank you to my amazing girlfriend for supporting me every step of the way while training, and my mom and friend for coming out to support the race. Without your guys positive support I wouldn’t have finished the race. Thank you…I guess the next steps the triple 
I wish there was a way I could let people read my mind so they can see every aspect of the event, but sadly that’s not possible. I haven’t included a lot, but if I tried to recount every detail this report would go on for pages and pages, there is just too much to condense into a race report. If you have any questions feel free to ask.
