My Ironman Story Part II

The Day I became an Ironman

Part II

RACE DAY!!!!

It’s still crazy to me to think back, how before the race I was calm, at peace, little excited and definitely ready to get started. That’s the worst race morning, you always want to just hurry up and start! I think knowing its such a long day, remembering that its all about energy management to survive. That and killing myself to beat those cut off times I was telling you about! It’s dark when we start walking down to the start, but getting lighter as we get closer to the start area. Thanks to our families around, they take care of getting our special needs bags to where they need to belong. I also explained the night before to my brother, I gave him a card so he can get my stuff and bike while I’m out running so that way I don’t need to try to carry it all back when I finish. Little did he know what ends up happening on that bike ride and what he had to touch to get it back to my room…love ya Bro-thanks! We get to the start with enough time to not have to rush, we do lots of chatting with our full Team Maddie squad and spectators. We got a great team photo before the start and then we lined up for the national anthem and various announcements. The professional athletes go first, and it was wild to see some of them finish one full lap before I even got in the water!!

It’s rolling start, so every 5 seconds they let a bunch of people in the water, so even though the race started at 6:40, I don’t think I started until closer to 7 or so….that’s when my 17hrs starts.

Last Pre-Start photo (Kat, Bob, me, Stocks, Kara, Chris R, Kelly and Mike, Front Row Kristy and Chris M

There’s a saying in Ironman “Today is a good day, to have a great day”. Also, my friend Kat always says.....”this is it, don’t get scared now”. Man, what an emotional starting line that was before I got in the water.

The Swim:

There’s a beeping noise they use to count the seconds in-between each set of athletes to start, I’m almost to my turn. “Beep, beep beep” Next group goes. Check my wetsuit one last time, goggles on tight, swim cap down and everything feels comfortable. “Beep, beep beep” Next group goes, 2 more to go then my turn. Clear my mind, slow deep breaths, take it all in. The views around the lake are spectacular. “Beep, beep beep” Next group goes-I’m next. Holy shit-this is it… “Beep, beep beep”

Heart rate probably doubles…here we go, In I go! My first focus is to settle in, get the HR low and don’t do anything that will cause my goggles to leak. The first few minutes’ feel like I’m hyperventilating but I know this is normal for me and it will pass. Just stay focused, on my stroke, my mechanics, my breathing, that’s all that matters. When it comes to the time cut offs, the better I do at swimming the more time I will have for the bike. That bike scared me to death with finishing in time, but I couldn’t think of that yet now was about having the best swim of my life. Mirror Lake is magical for many reasons, one of them is a cable line they put out each year that sits under water. Normally, when you’re swimming in a body of water you need to sight buoys or pick a spot on the shore to ensure you’re swimming in the right direction. For this race, all you need to do is follow the cable, but you still should sight the buoys to be safe. Everyone wants on that cable, its truly the most iconic and beautiful sight to see from above. You can look it up online and see how there is a mass amount of people piled together following the cable. I wasn’t about to fight with people to be right on the cable, but I planned and managed to sit just inside the cable close enough to see it but inside enough to mostly stay away from the mass of flying arms and legs. Since this was also the lane for the pro athletes, I managed to get swam over and smashed by them when they did their second lap just after I started, I knew it was coming but boy was it violent. I settled into a great grove, very comfortable but kept trying to push because I can’t see my pace and can only hope that I was at a good pace. During the first lap, I managed to draft off some other swimmers. You can keep close to someone’s feet and catch a draft allowing you to use less energy but swim at the same pace. Still, where they going to slow for my pace as it really makes I far easier to swim. As I come out of the water after my first lap, I glance at my watch, 45mins it read…Excellent! I hadn’t really hoped for any certain pace and mentally and physically prepared for a 2hour swim as a worse case scenario, so I was off to a fantastic start. Now, can I hold that pace, did I swim too hard, I just needed to maintain that, and I would be in fantastic shape. Stil, can’t push harder since it’s a long day. This wasn’t the time to bury myself.

As I ran back into the water, trying to adjust my goggles and retighten them as I had gotten a little bit of water in them, it was starting to irate my left eye a bit. Once back in, I focused back on the basics, remembering what that first lap felt like and working to maintain that feel and effort. I again got comfortable. That is, until the first turn buoy when I got elbowed so hard I saw stars and my goggles almost came completely off. So, I had to stop and tread some water to get them back on and unfortunately there wasn’t a good way to get them on as well as when you’re standing so I had to deal with it for another half lap. Finally, back into swimming, found some feet to draft off and work to push harder on the return stretch since I knew I had lost some time. As I exited the water for the last time, I check my watch and it read 91minutes…absolutely smashed the swim and now I banked at banked a ton of time for the bike. Instead of needing to do the bike in 8hrs 30mins, I now technically had 9hrs before hitting any cut off times and gave myself more time for the first bike cut off time that you must be at/past on the 2nd loop of the bike by. In these full races, to help save some energy and because you’re probably disorientated, they have volunteers that are called “wetsuit peelers”, and they do just that. You lay down, I think I more so flopped or fell (no grace here) and 2 of them rip off your wetsuit. Pro tip: Hold on to your shorts or whatever you have on under the wetsuit because it’s probably coming off if you don’t. I held mine and no free shows were given…

Transition 1: Swim to Bike

There’s a little run to get from the swim exit to the Olympic oval where the changing tents are and bikes are racked. I’m on the highest of highs at this point, so much pressure Is off after that amazing swim. You run through a sea of spectators where I see my family and friends and many of the Team Maddie crew: everyone is in Team Maddie green shirts, though they unfortunately nearly match the race’s volunteer shirts they can still be seen. I take it all in, smiling every moment I can, burning those images in my brain forever. I grab my bike stuff and enter the changing tent. Get changed into my bike gear, feeling good, working to get the HR back down from the run. Taking my time not to forget anything but also working with purpose. I came out of the tent and go get my bike. Again, since it’s a full distance Ironman, they have volunteers that will grab your bike for you, your number gets called and if someone is available, they will run an get it for you. I’m volunteering to do this job this year. I ended up getting my own though, and off I went.

Check back Next week for part III of my story!