Well, it’s time for me to start gearing up for Silverman again this year so first I wanted to thank everyone who inspires people with their race reports. I never posted or joined any websites last year but was reading them all the time. I must have read Elliot’s report 25 times for motivation. I rolled off the couch July 29th2008 at ~245 lbs (heaviest I’ve ever been) and ran 5 miles in 104 degree Vegas heat. I wanted to get in shape and set a goal of competing in the Las Vegas Triathlon on September 28th. About a week later I saw Elliot’s race report and decided I would gear my training to completing Silverman (yea right, there is no way I could ever be ready for a full distance triathlon but I’ll play along).
My experience is more about the journey to get to the starting line than the actual race but I will get to the race part eventually. I’m lucky in that I grew up distance running and have always been comfortable in the water so I felt the most uneasy about meeting the cutoff time for the bike. It didn’t help that I looked up my bike time for the Las Vegas Triathlon a few years ago when I was in pretty good shape and realized that if I held the same pace for 112 miles that I had for the 24 miles, I would not meet the cutoff time. I was also lucky to live about a mile from the Henderson Multigenerational Center and was able to train in the same area as the race. The first few training rides that included the three sisters had me thinking ‘there is no way I will be able to get over these after 90 miles’ but I kept training. Most of my rides included the bike path portion of the race so I eventually felt as comfortable as I could with them.
Even though there are tons of books about training to do your first triathlon, there are none that tell you how to train for your first full distance race. They are all geared toward Sprint or Olympic. I guess only an idiot would decide to do a full with only a couple slow Olympic distance races years in the past, and train in 100+ degree heat, and without much in the way of training partners ( I ran with my wife twice. The first time we ended up stopping after about a mile at a garage sale and the second time we stopped at a store after about half a mile), and without ever donning a speedo (I much prefer boardshorts, especially at the multigenerational center). Terry at the Bike Shop in Henderson was my main training reference. I would go ask him bike questions and he would get me going in the right direction or tell me about aero bars or tune up my bike etc.
Climbing out of the lake.
I averaged 6 days a week training with half my workouts on the bike. I learned a lot at the Las Vegas Triathlon. For instance, I noticed while swimming that if I held my shoulder a certain way I would get a little shot of cool water entering my wetsuit at the neck with each stroke. I did this for about half the course thinking this would keep me fresh for the rest of the race and that the water would just seep out of the suit as quickly as it was coming in. Then I noticed I was not going as fast as I usually swim and the quarter mile run up the boat ramp was extremely difficult and exhausting. It turns out that water does not seep out very quickly and I must have been carrying about 3 gallons extra by the time I left the water. I didn’t look quite like I was wearing one of those Sumo-suits, but close. As I said, lesson learned.
After the September supported bike ride kicking my a$$, I upped my standard weekday ride to about 35 miles. This seemed to help considerably because I felt great after the October supported ride. With two weeks until the race, everything was coming together. I had lost 35 lbs, could swim the distance comfortably, had completed the run course loop in one shot and had biked the entire course in three pieces. The rapid cooling of the local weather and time change caused a bigger taper in my training than I had planned but I figured it would be fine. Not like I was planning on placing, this one was just for the finish. I even set time goals, both good weather (Sub 13) and marginal weather (Sub 15). Should have made one for really bad weather.
The Race
As everyone mentioned, race morning was really windy but the water seemed relatively calm as the start of the race approached. After 14 weeks of training I was standing in the lake waiting for the air horn to go off and I still wasn’t sure I could finish. As long as the weather gets better as the day goes on…
The Swim
I swam the first half mainly avoiding other swimmers and then on the way back, started drafting on the left side of a guy that was going about my speed. He was really good at swimming straight and was able to pass just to the right of the orange buoys, which caused me to swim straight into the orange buoys (3 times in a row). I struck out on my own about the time that the water was rough enough that it was not easy to find the buoy to turn in on. I kept swimming. Finally I rounded the corner and started swimming into shore with what seemed like giant whitecaps crashing over me. I noticed a female doing breast stroke and going backwards and made a note not to do that. I finally made it back to the dock and was extremely psyched up to see the participants for the half still waiting to start meaning I had finished the crazy swim in under 1:30! Small victories. This feeling lasted until about three hours later when my wife told me that their start had been delayed. Bummer! 1:34:42 swim
The Bike
Some of the rain leading to hail.
Intense headwind up to the main road then crosswind, and after about another mile, rain, then after a couple of more miles, HAIL! I knew I could make the bike cutoff time using my relatively new aero bars but couldn’t use them because of the wind. After about 8 miles, there was a rapid tic-tic-tic… coming from my front fork on a downhill then an explosion of plastic as the reflector on my front wheel had come loose from one spoke due to the wind and rain and whacked the fork until it broke off. I didn’t see any major damage so I kept going. By the time I had gone ten miles, I started thinking that if conditions are like this for the whole race, I’m doomed. On the bright side, my wife got some great video and pictures of me suffering. (She was great! She leapfrogged me for the entire bike and run. Found out it’s not an easy spectator sport.) Then things got a little better. The rain became a sprinkle and I turned more with the wind than against it. I was again hopeful but as I was passing the 20 mile aid station, I saw lightning in the direction of the start and remained concerned.
Keep climbing!
Nutritionally, I had planned on Perpetuum as my primary intake but as soon as I started drinking it I felt like I had to use the port a potty. I made the decision to stick to clif blocks and gels. I guess it worked out, I don’t really have any idea how many I had but I felt good all the way through. I started believing I was going to make it when I got to the bike path with about two hours left before the cutoff. Again I was pumped up! Maybe it was because I had ridden it so many times getting ready, but I made it over all three sisters and felt like I was flying the rest of the bike portion. I had plenty left as I finished the bike and was surprised how good my running muscles felt as I trotted to the T2 changing tent. First time I had gone over 75 miles on a bike. Beat the cutoff time by 45 minutes. 8:10:47 bike.
A casual spectator
Good view of what’s ahead
The Run
My plan was to survive by running from aid station to aid station then stopping to walk while taking in Gatorade, water, soup, gels, chips and cookies, then run again until I couldn’t run anymore. I had no doubt I could ‘run’ a marathon in 7 hours, right? I saw many people in pain, slogging through the night and then realized I was one of them. As I finished the first loop, I picked up my beanie and was able to stay warm without wrapping myself in foil. When I reached about mile 15, I started thinking I was actually going to make it. Friends and family started accumulating along the route, and it really helped me out when my daughter showed up with my granddaughter in tow. I kept conserving energy mainly because I had no idea how much I had left in the tank. Finally, as I turned onto the bike path for the final half mile I decided to see if I had anything left and was surprised to find my legs could actually go pretty good. My run was nothing stellar but I was surprised again with what I had left. First marathon since I was 17. Run 5:31:35 with an overall time of 15:31:36.
Thoughts
I’m still surprised I did an iron distance triathlon. Ever since I saw Julie Moss crawling to the finish years ago, I had it in the back of my mind that if something could take someone to that point, I needed to do it. Because I felt like I had a significant amount left at the end, this year I would like to find out how well I can do. I have not trained since the race with the exception of a couple of short runs. I don’t like training in the cold. It is back to 100 degrees in Vegas and I’m back up to 235lbs now so I’m back on it. I am a little worried since I don’t have the extreme fear of the unknown that I had last year but I have a much better idea of how to train. Also, as long as you are able to pace yourself and don’t expect an unreasonable performance, you can do Silverman on as little as 14 weeks of training. Race day I was 40 years old, 210 lbs, in my wetsuit used twice before, on a road bike with add on aero bars and a strong desire to keep going. As Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”
Thanks again for the inspiration last year and thanks to my wife Minelli, my kids, Cheryl and Trevor, my granddaughter Ava, Sam, Robert and Lisa for supporting me during the race. The feeling of finishing is unbelievable. I’ll see you on the road.
Steve
great rr, im thinking of going for silverman this year.
Congrats! Great first effort and on minimal training to boot.
I love the race and will be there again this year, cuz you have to support the little guys. (Which is really easy to do when they put on such a great race.)