Ironman Race Report!

So as most of you probably already know, I finished! Here is how:

Sunday am: We wake up at about 4:20am. I was mostly ready to go in the morning so I wasn't too worried. I had a couple pancakes, a yogurt and some tea but my stomach wasn't all that great. We got on the road right at 5am and headed down to the Terrace. I slammed a Vault Soda on the way, it's treated me right all season, why would it stop now? We get to Jess' super-top-secret parking lot and we sit there and organize. We finally make our way up to the Terrace. I put away my special needs bags (two bags, one which we have access to half-way through the bike, one half way through the run) and headed to check on my bike. I then get body marked so now I have 390 written all over my body in magic marker. Oh crap, I forgot my timing chip, I think it is in the car. Jess goes back down to look as I put the bottles on my bike and get that ready. I am ready! We head down to the swim at about quarter after 6. It's still dark! I go to the bathroom and then get readied up. It's 6:30 and Jess leaves to go find a place to watch and I am left to myself.

Swim: I enter the water at 20 to and get me a sweet spot next to the inner buoy, right by the pros (who get to leave at 6:50.) I tread water until the start and talk to Alvarez who happens to be up there as well. At this point, nervousness turns to excitement...it's on! We start swimming. Nothing can prepare you for swimming with roughly 2500 others. I get kicked, hit and kick and hit with each swim stroke for at least the first quarter of the swim. Finally on the back stretch I find occasional openings to swim as all the fast guys have moved on. Of course at each buoy (4 per lap) it would bunch up again. One guy clocks me in the head, the only words I hear the entire event are "I'm sorry man" and we both go on. I've never swam in a group like this before and I assume very few have much experience. People would go all sorts of directions. Many train for several hours with coaches in a pool to perfect their form, only problem is they are taught to look down and they just swim what they think is straight until they run into someone. Me, I devised my own technique where every other stroke I'd look up right after my inhale and it worked awesome, I never really ran into anyone unless they came from some random 45 degree angle. Anyways I never really did settle in and it was very tough. All that to come out of the water in 1156th in 1:20:33.

Transition 1: I leave the water and Madison is famous for this transition. They have peelers that pull off wetsuits, you sit down, put your legs up and two people grab each leg and just pull the suit off. So I run up the parking ramp helix half-naked and barefooted. But there were hundreds of fans so it was awesome. Into the transition room. I try to dry off with a towel and then I put on my bibs, under armor, jersey and helmet. I have a guy re-pin my race number as three of the four popped off when I put my jersey on. Then I run out of the terrace with socks and shoes in hands and had to run a good 250-300 meters to my bike (near the front.) I cross the timing mat to start the bike. All that in 10:12.

Bike: The first minute was spent getting my socks and shoes on. I ride down the helix (passing probably 10 people with my roadie skills) an get to John Nolen. The rain starts. It's going to be one of those days. I hammered, hard! My heart rate was high with adrenaline so I just went with it, passing people pretty much non-stop all the way to Whalen Road. With a tailwind at the beginning I felt like a rock star and was averaging 22mph to Mt Horeb. I still felt pretty awesome but my body was rejecting solid food and didn't care much for the Gatorade. I lived off of water and Gu the whole bike. I saw Jess and family three times in one lap and tons of other faces I knew, it was awesome!!! I get to the tailwind section of lap two and decided this was my time so I kept hammering. I entered Mt Horeb a second time and was still averaging 20mph (despite stopping twice on the roadside to pee.) I was starting to hurt. My neck hurt from looking up in my aerobar position (I suppose most people train in aerobars.) The section to Cross Plains was tough but doable but once I hit Cross Plains I started to count miles and my speed started to go down. Of course it was nice to have lots of support on the three toughest hills on the back side. I finally went by Lee's house to make the turn down Whalen. Guh! 20mph winds, harder rain, no shelter and I wasn't keen about the aerobars. My sub 6 hour bike disappeared. But I found someone going the pace I did and just paced myself all the way in. I cross the mat and my bike split was 6:04:09. Awesome! Average speed was 18.5. My ride time (taking out the putting on of shoes and the three pee stops was 6:01:15 with an average heart rate of 161bpm. I was stoked! After the race it was pointed out that I passed over 750 people during the bike. That means I passed like 7 people each mile! I was now sitting in 394th place overall!!!

Transition 2: This one was easier, but I forgot to pack a towel so I was still wet. I threw on all my run stuff over my wet body, put my socks and shoes on, ate two bites of a Cousins sub, hit the porta potty on my way and was off. Total time: 8:40.

Run: I decided right away I would run the 1st lap of 2 and see how I felt. I saw a ton of familar faces early and running down State Street with everyone cheering is one of the reasons I signed up in the first place. At about mile 1.5 the run got old. Seriously. But the feed zones rocked! I could now eat solid food so I would eat cookies now along with Gu and also bananas! Gatorade flavor was Orange on the run course which helped. The run got progressively colder though. At mile 5.5 we had to climb the Observatory double hills. Guh! But then we descended to the other side of State Street which is my favorite part of the course. Tons of fans, lots whom I knew! It was awesome! I am not going to lie, I got passed a ton on the run! I decided instead of going out to hard I was going to run my own pace as I am not a gifted nor well-trained runner. After exiting State St you have a long section where you run from Memorial Union to the opposite side of the UW hospital. I decided at this point I would run the whole thing, no matter how sore I was. My motivation? Some hardcore fans that watched all day (Smulkas, Kelson and Jen, Stephen & Emily.) How could I with a good conscience walk when they were sitting around waiting for me. I couldn't give anything less than my best. Second, this is the friggin' Ironman, it's supposed to be hard and hurt. Third, I was ahead of a couple people I know and I wanted it to stay that way. Fourth, around every corner was someone else I knew or didn't who gave encouragement. This is my town, lets rock it! Trust me when you role solo all day you have lots to think about. I headed back towards the lap marker and the closer I got the more people I knew. It was so awesome to have this much support! It was getting colder though so that sucked. I went to my special needs back, took a t-shirt to dry my face (which then stayed dry for like 20 seconds) and grabbed some Advil. After all was said and done my half-marathon split was 2:18. I figured my miles were alot slower (I don't carry a watch and the course was void of banks.) I go out again and I am freezing. People were starting to wear trash bags and this solar tin foil stuff to get warm. I noticed alot of people that passed me earlier were fading, I wasn't. I finally started to pass people! Ego boost! We got to run through Camp Randall and that was just sweet! Breese Terrace, two of my old apartments. Down University (there's Zarun's old apartment.) Down by the hospital, right on a bike path by the dorms, it still wasn't dark. Up Observatory. Guh! I was one of the 15% who ran those hills. This time down State was even better! People I knew everywhere! High 5's! I also was getting to the point where I was hungry. It's hard to run by Taco Bell, Fudd, Qdoba and Charlies and not stop! Actually I was focused so no biggy! The super fans were there in full force. Gary made a huge red flag with Go Mark on it in white lettering. It was the coolest thing! A cop with a radio informed me that the Bears were ahead 26-0. I know the Packers were going to be bad...but that defied all logic. Then back to the lonely bike path. The bike path lights were on but it still wasn't dark. Towards the hospital I saw some signs. One was for me (Way To Go Mark, 390, To Infinity and Beyond.) I also saw one that read Jon Alvarez, Iron Man or Iron Maiden. One said something about Brad. One said Rock Chalk Jayhawk to Tim. Funny! Finally I hit the 5 mile to go mark. I can run 5 miles in my sleep so I kept envisioning where I'd be on my 5 mile training course. Everyone I knew was at the finish so it was a bit lonely. But at 2 to go my smile got bigger (I smiled the whole day, after the swim.) I didn't hurt anymore! I ate some cookies and a couple pretzels. I saw a whole bunch of people that were going out for their second lap, but not me! I hit state street and started throwing down high 5's. I was taking it all in, I don't care if it cost me a couple minutes or positions, it didn't matter. Everywhere I looked there were people calling my name. Co-workers, friends, cyclists, etc. I make the turn to the finish. The people directed me to take another lap, I must've looked slow. I hit the final stretch. All I can hear is cheering (and Kelson) and I see Jess and Hez, Jerry, Gary and Linda! I finish! It was awesome! I get my medal and lose my timing chip! I get my t-shirt! I've done it! They gave me a foil blanket but I wasn't cold. I wasn't tired! I was stoked! Finally they take my finisher photo and I had a Coke! I get out to greet everyone! My mom calls on the cell, they saw me finish live on the Internet! My run: 4:51:21 which was 11:08 mile pace.

Overall Stats:
Place: 741
Time: 12:34:53 Age Group Finish:
87/201 M25-29
Swim: 1156th 1:20:33
Bike: 394th 6:04:09
Run: 1150th 4:51:21

Post Race: After saying some thank yous and goodbyes the soreness started to creep in. I couldn't bend or move very much or very quickly. We went to the Terrace to pick up by transition bags. I had a sweat suit in one so I put it on. Nice! We went to check out my bike and Garett gave me some help! Finally we walked back to the car and got in. Time to go home. No trip to home is ever complete without rolling a Taco Bell drive thru. I had two items (chicken quesadilla and a cheesy gordita crunch) and had them down in like 3 minutes. We got home and saw the pups! :) I showered up, did a short post and then watched the Colts win! :) A great day! I stayed up until midnight and went to bed, getting maybe two hours of sleep. I am sure I'll crash at some point today! Today I am sore as hell. Shins, calves, quads and shoulders mostly. Oh well! Banquet time in a few hours! I can't wait!

Thanks for reading! I'll post one more today to give thanks! :) But that'll have to wait until later!