2016 Ironman Wisconsin Race Report

For those of you who don’t read this all the way through I wanted to get this part right for sure.  I’d like to thank those that came out to support me on race day:  Jeff Scully was there from start to finish helping Jess navigate the entire course and get the entire group in places to see me.  In addition he has let me borrow his bike for the past three years.  I tried to sell it for $5 to the bike catcher after I came back to the Monona Terrace but she wouldn’t take it.  It will officially be returned to its rightful owner.  Thank you to my parents Tom and Nora, for watching our two boys Sunday morning/afternoon while I competed.  Afterward they came out to the run portion and raced around downtown Madison to see me several times on the course.  I know that much racing around the run course was challenging for them physically and they’re probably as sore as I am today.  A shout out to Melanie Gray for also being there from start to finish and helping everyone get around the race course and keeping me focused on the run.  Having been there herself it was a great help to see the empathy in her eyes on the run course telling me to ‘pick a spot and run to it’.  Big thank you to Leslie, Denise, and Doug Householder for making it out to ‘their spot’ on the run course and cheer me along with a home-made sign.  I had one of my few lighter moments on the run when I was yelling to them “I’m f-ing retiring after this!”  Thanks to Sara Draeger and Wayne Hunt for coming back from a vacation up North to watch the boys allowing my parents to come down and see the run portion.  I know they both wanted to be there themselves to cheer me on, and I felt their support as much as anyone who was at the race in person.  Sam and Natalie Jonas made it and cheered me on during the run and I appreciated the lighter moments with them as Sam was yelling ‘feel the Bern’ or was it feel the burn?  They hung around to the finish to make sure I was OK after the race.  Jerry Draeger and MJ were out on the course several times on race day cheering me on at the swim, bike and run.  Best of all after the race they went to the Monona Terrace and collected my bike and transition bags so I didn’t need to worry about them.  My cousins VJ Scully, Lynne Murry, and Leanne Scully for making the trip over from Milwaukee to cheer me on during the bike and run.  It was great to see them several times throughout the day and celebrate with them afterward.  A big shout out to Sarah Nechvatal who made an appearance during the bike through Verona and then, after what I understand was a rowdy weekend, dragged herself down to the finish line to capture a great video of me coming across the line.  I also saw Missy Thousand (I think on the bike in Verona) but certainly on the run down on the lake path, which is a very dark and lonely place, shouting encouragement to me to get across the line.  Last but not least my beautiful wife Jess, who gave birth just two months ago and supported my goal for the past 12 months.  I know she has been incredibly frustrated with me over that time for countless number of reasons (related to training) but she kept it inside and kept me focused on my task.  She carried the weight of two parents over the past couple of months and prior to that managed Camdyn on her own during several long training days and events.  On race day she was a beacon of positivity and calmness and looked into my eyes each time I saw her and passed to me her determination and grit to get to the finish line.  Thank you to all those above and thank you to the many others that cheered from afar and offered kind words on encouragement and congratulations.  There is only one person who crosses the finish line but there are a team of people that carry them to it!

Race day itself was an adventure like no other this time around.  On the way down to the swim portion I felt sick and lethargic and actually said to Jess while I was putting on my wetsuit ‘why the hell am I doing this?’  I’ll say this much, she was not the person to utter that sentence in front of as the fire that I could see behind her eyes was like no other, even though her face and words told me ‘you got this’!  She and the boys have sacrificed so much to get me to that point that there was no way she was letting me pack it in right at that moment.  I took her words of encouragement and headed into Lake Monona.  I again started farthest out from shore up closer to the front of the pack to try and get a better swim time and get me on my way to a sub 13 hour finishing goal.  Gun goes off and it was much of the same as before, lots of grabbing, pulling, and bumping but I enjoyed the physical contact and aggressiveness.  It seemed to be a bit more physical than before and maybe it was because the ‘secret’ of swimming inside the buoy line was no longer a secret.  Finished the 2.4 mile swim in 1:21:40, almost 4 minutes slower than 2014.  Not off to a good start in my mind.

The transition to the bike was quick and I was off onto the course.  I heard my support group yell for me as I left the helix of the Monona Terrace, but was immediately down on myself as I was behind my goal time already and had 6 hours plus all by myself on the bike.  I got through most of the first loop and was coming up the last large hill before Verona to where my support team was setup to cheer.  As I came upon them I saw Jess and my parents had brought both my boys Camdyn and Dawson to cheer for me.  I squeezed Camdyn’s arm as I rode by and tears came streaming down my face as I rode into Verona.  I still had this negative and crappy attitude to contend with but thought about how difficult it would be to face my kids if I quit.  I heard the voices all day telling me; “you’ve already done this, why go through the pain again?”, “you’re already off your time so there’s no point”, “there goes another over-weight or older person by you on the bike, give it up”…it’s comical now after the fact how loud the voices were telling me to just stop.  As I started my second bike loop I kept reminding myself there’s your ‘could’ pace and there’s your ‘should’ pace, meaning I know I could ride harder but I won’t have anything left for the run so slow down.  Too late!  I looked down and saw that the first loop average was 17 mph, I was shooting for 16-16.5 mph to have something left for the run.  So on the second loop I tried to reign it in a bit but the voices were back telling me “you’ve already burned your matches, you won’t be able to run”.  The wind picked up on the second loop which made it much more difficult and by the end my feet and back were killing me so I figured my day was pretty much shot.  I made my way back to Madison telling myself there’s no way I’m running any of the 26.2 miles so just walk it as quickly as possible so I can go home.  Finished the 112 mile bike in 6:40:45 going 16.77 mph, which was 12 minutes faster than my goal so I made up some overall time.

After the next transition to my running gear I came out to start the race and checked that I needed a 10 minute 40 second per mile pace marathon to come in under my 13 hour goal time.  I immediately saw Jess as I came up to the capital and told her with tears in my eyes that my legs are toast and “I can’t do this”.  Again, she peered into me exuding energy and light, encouraging me to keep moving forward.  I just kept thinking about the whole 26.2 miles in front of me, which if any of you have run a distance race before is pretty much the worst thing you can do, you just need to focus on the next 1 mile, or 100 yards, or ten feet.

As you can tell from this race report, I had some pretty loud negative voices in my head.  Jess asked me after the fact, why I thought that was and the only thing I can come up with is that the last two months of my training after Dawson was born, were totally different from my first 10 or so months and that change threw me off my game.  I found that after Dawson was born, I made adjustments to my training to get it done whenever the time allowed so there were several sessions when I was up riding my bike on the trainer at 2am because I was up with Dawson for the midnight feeding.  By no means is this an indictment of Dawson, I love my chunker, I think my training just took a shift down in priority and it felt more like taking my medicine after he was born.  So that shift lead me to believe I wasn’t getting in the right amount of work in order to accomplish my goal time so I felt like I was unprepared at the beginning of the race.  My attitude sucked all day, I think I spent too much time comparing this race to how I felt two years ago the first time I competed.  There’s nothing like the first time you run a race and it just can’t be replicated so I needed to focus on why I was doing the race this time around and that was for redemption.  I wanted to prove to myself that I was better than this race and that it wouldn’t put me in the hospital again.

So after I first saw Jess at the start of the run, I said to myself “just run a mile and see how it feels”, then another and another and I told myself I’d walk at 6 miles after I got to State St.  I saw my support group a few times and like I mentioned before, Melanie Gray yelled at me to just pick a spot and run to it.  So I kept going until the turn around to head back to the Capital, once there my quads still weren’t hurting so I kept pushing to the half way point.  For those unfamiliar, the half way point is back up where the run starts and you come around the corner to a sign that says ‘Finishers’ with and arrow to the right, where you can literally see the finish line 100 yards away, and it also says ‘2^nd Loop’ with and arrow to the left…this is a demoralizing sign to have to face on your first loop.  I made the turn with a stutter-step and let out a loud scream to get my head right.  During my training runs, there was a halfway point on my route where I envisioned the course halfway point, each time in training I’d make this stutter-step turn with a little hop and a shout to push forward.  I told myself that every step now is one closer to home and if I can somehow turn my attitude around and prove to the voices in my head that my personality is stronger than them, it would be an epic finish.  So I started grinding on the second loop and saw my support team several times, most memorably on the long and steep Observatory hill.  I saw Jess right away and she ran by my side telling me ‘you are the storm’ and to ‘finish this’, which is exactly what I needed.  At the bottom of the hill were my parents who I could see were just as tired as I, yet they were beaming with pride and yelling encouragement.  I looped around to the lake side bike path and the support group was there again screaming at me like it was the first start of the race, the energy was overwhelming.  There was some serious ‘darkness’ ahead of me at mile 23 running the slight uphill on the quiet, lonely University Dr, but once I made it to Camp Randall I knew I was home.  I never looked at my overall pace during the run because I was going pretty much as fast as I could muster and I figured if I missed my goal then it wasn’t meant to be as I had nothing left to give.  My GPS watch battery started to fail just before the stadium so I shut it down and just looked at the time of day and saw it was only 7:30pm meaning I had 30 minutes to make it two miles to make my goal…I’m going to beat this race!

I won’t do it justice trying to explain the feeling of running up to the Capital towards the finish of an Ironman race.  All the hours, conversations, sweat, blood, commitment, motivation, pride, anger, and pain flashed through my mind as I came to the final turn to once again face the Finishers/2^nd Loop sign, this time going to the right.  I let out a prideful scream a few times coming down the finishers shoot; I had done it, I had defeated all the negativity in my head, the voices telling me to quit.  I had gotten my redemption on the most physical and mental challenge I’ve ever encountered.   I ran the 26.2 miles in 4:25:33 at a 10:08/mile pace which was 9 minutes faster than my goal.  Overall I finished the day at 12:43:10, coming in 17 minutes faster than my goal and 54 minutes faster than my first Ironman.

 

I made it to the food tent and was joined again by Melanie who stayed with me and walked me around to make sure I didn’t run into the same medical issues I encountered in 2014.  After the first Ironman, the issues snuck up on me as I felt fine after finishing so I was scared it could happen again.  I finally felt good enough to exit the finish line area and celebrate with my support group.  I walked in circles around the group as I was so jacked up on caffeine and sugar from all the race course nutrition.  It was so much nicer this time to see some of my friends finish and be able to celebrate with the group.  In the days since I’ve been asked if I would ever do it again and even though I’m in retirement I know I won’t be signing up for a full ironman again anytime soon.  I have said to Jess that if she or one of the boys (I’d be 54 when Camdyn’s eligible) wanted to sign up I would do the race with them side by side.  As I said earlier, there’s nothing like completing a race for your first time, the next best thing is to have a front row seat for someone else’s first time.  I can honestly say that given my crappy attitude, I would not have finished this year’s race without the support of all my family and friends; somehow ‘thank you’ just doesn’t do it justice.

Weeks 25 through 28 of Ironman Training - Expect the unexpected

Only two more weeks after this week!  The taper has begun; this is basically taking your foot off the gas and starting to wind down the volume of each workout so your body is fresh for race day.  It is more than welcome at this point after nine long months of training!!  Having completed one Ironman before it's fun to watch all the first-timers panic now at the end of training (I was doing the same myself).  On Facebook they are all questioning if they've done enough to prepare, asking if their race plan is sound, worrying about the water temperature and whether or not the race will allow wet-suits (easier to swim 2.4 miles in a wet-suit due to the buoyancy).  I'm at ease with all of this as I know, much like a final exam in college, cramming will do you no good.

What the past 8 weeks has really driven home in my mind, and it will be applicable on race day, is to expect the unexpected.  Now my new son Dawson was unexpected, but the amount of time he sleeps each night is a variable that is not consistent.  For the most part (Jess has been taking some of these late night feedings when I have long workouts) I've been handling the middle of the night feedings.  These feedings occur anywhere from midnight to 2 AM and afterward I've just been starting my workouts for the day.  So the unexpected part is potentially only getting 5 or 6 hours of sleep before mustering the energy to plow through a 2 hour plus workout.  It's something that is just out of my control and I have to adjust the best I can and get the most out of the workout.  This will be the same on race day, sh*t will happen and I'll need to adjust and keep grinding.  Dawson has not only given me motivation for the big day, but he's also prepared me for what's is likely to come...so thank you for only sleeping a few hours each night?

In retrospect I'm not sure I would've signed up for Ironman had I known it would all be this difficult with two kids on the ground (first time around Jess was pregnant with our first).  Then again, Jess has done a ton of the heavy lifting to allow me to compete in this race again and for that I am ever thankful.  If anything, I'm using this race to show Camdyn and Dawson that they can accomplish anything they choose, regardless of the obstacles, should they set their mind to it.

Remember, the race is on 9/11 this year in Madison.  I can't say it enough how amazing and helpful it is to all the participants to have the spectators cheering them on throughout the race.  If you can make all of, or part of the day please do so, you will not regret it!

Weeks 12 through 24 of Ironman Training - Thank you!

Just by looking at the title of this blog entry, it's glaringly obvious that I haven't kept up with posts...if you've been thirsting for updates, I apologize; if you could careless, then I'm right on schedule!  This time around has been a grind to say the least.  I feel like I've done a better job training with regards to being smarter and spending time focusing on what's going to get me the most bang for my buck.  For example, I'm typically only swimming one a week because that's only 10% or my race day, I'd rather focus my efforts on getting stronger on the bike.  I feel like I've been working hard but I can't tell if I'm truly working hard or if it's just harder this time around...we'll find out come September, 11th!

I would be remiss if I didn't express my gratitude to the woman in my life who's been pushing and encouraging me along the way.  Jess, as you know just gave birth to our second boy at the beginning of July; it's worth noting that the first time I did Ironman she was pregnant and delivered a couple of weeks after the race.  Point being, we didn't have any kids on the ground the first time around and now we've got two.  She has been absolutely amazing through this training and continues to be in order to get me across that line.  From day one, she convinced me to sign up again for the race after we agreed upon how we would handle schedules, she's prepared meals, pushed me out of bed, flexed her schedule around my training, left me encouraging notes, and is already planning how to be there for me on race day...all the while balancing two kids!  None of this is possible without her and I love her dearly for helping me run this race.  She has already earned one IM medal in 2014 and is well on her way to earning the second (although something tells me she'd rather have a shopping spree or a beach vacation)!

Point is, these events/goals are rarely individually achieved.  You better have one hell of a team supporting you along the way, I know I do!

Race is on September, 11th this year which will be peculiar given the tragic history of this date.  If you're looking to lighten the mood a bit or be inspired please come to Madison to cheer on all the athletes.  Truly and amazing bunch of people of which come in all different shapes and sizes.  I tell people that if you are able to see the finish line between 8-midnight you will see some amazing accomplishments and the rawest of human emotions...I dare them to walk away uninspired!

Weeks 5 through 11 of Ironman Training - This is difficult

Well if my training was going anything like my blog entries I'd be in trouble come race day on September 11th.  It goes without saying that I've been a bit of a slacker when it comes to blogging this time around.  Fortunately the training has progressed, I'm over a 1/3rd of the way through my training program.  More of the same, swim, bike, run, lift...repeat.  I signed up for a 1/2 Ironman race that's new to Madison this year fittingly called 'The Milkman' on June 19th.  It doesn't quite fit into my training plan but considering all the chaos headed my way later this summer it's best to get it in now.

Training thus far has been difficult to put it simply.  I'm not sure if it's more difficult this time around because there's less fan fare around the goal or because I'm working harder to accomplish my elevated goals.  I'd like to say the latter, but I don't want it to be lip service.  I'm further ahead with my biking which is where I'll make up the most time but the running has been a challenge.  I don't skip workouts and when I'm doing them I keep telling myself to work hard and not just go through the motions as I need to get better.  I guess the theme in this blog is that everyone struggles to workout and get better...if they say they don't then I'm pretty sure they are lying.  Find comfort in the fact that if you're doing it right, you're hurting/uncomfortable and those around you are as well.  It doesn't make it any easier, but achieving goals never is, so keep at it...keep getting better!

Weeks 1, 2, 3 & 4 of Ironman Training - Momentum

The blog entries will be less often this year as I'd like to keep them somewhat meaningful and helpful to my few loyal subscribers and not just fill the page.  I started my training back in January and here we are mid way through March already, so technically I'm through more than 4 weeks, it's actually closer to 10 weeks down.  "What the hell do I care?" you may be asking yourself...my point is coming.  This training time is filled with base training, and what that means is that I'm just logging the time/miles at this point with no set goal or workouts that push me into higher heart rate zones.  The idea is to set a foundation on which to build over the next several months.

My point is that I've been doing this for 10 weeks and I'm still struggling to find the momentum in my training.  By momentum I'm talking about that feeling that you get when you actually finish a workout that once was difficult and has now become easy because you're making progress in your health/endurance (building momentum).  This isn't a blog about lacking motivation or a feel-sorry-for-me attitude it's a 'misery enjoys company' type of blog.  If you're out there struggling to feel like your workouts are making a difference in your health, endurance, appearance, etc; I'm here to tell you that 1) you're not alone and 2) it's coming, just keep working.

Momentum is very difficult to build when it comes to getting into shape, whether you're starting from the couch or a shorter hiatus.  It's right around the corner and once you feel it happening it is what will become addicting about being healthy.  You appreciate how difficult it is to get this momentum and you will not want to sacrifice all the work that went into finding it.  So whether you've found it or you're still digging for it, don't quit!

Why the hell…again?

Here we go again; today marks the start of training for Ironman 2016.  You (as well as most in my circle) might be asking yourself, “why the hell would someone put themselves through this again?”.  Perfectly fair question, but before I get to that I have to mention a few things for those new to this blog.  The full distance triathlon consists of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run, all to be completed within 17 hours to be considered an official finisher.  I penned this blog in 2014 during my first to 1) stay sane – it was a means of therapy for the mental battle that is training, 2) as to recall my journey when looking back, and 3) so users can choose to follow my progress vs having to unfriend me on Facebook because of all the Ironman updates.

Now to the why; my number one reason is because I feel like I need my revenge.  My first time out in 2014 I didn’t set any goals other than to finish in good health and I accomplished half of that.  Granted the finishing was most important but in the end I spend the night deliriously in the medical tent, my shower at home puking and the next day in the ER due to overhydrating on water (I didn’t even think that was possible).  So I feel in a small way that the race still got the better of me and I need to prove to myself that I am capable of a better performance.  I heard from someone after the race that there’s an interesting dilemma many participants encounter, if they race poorly they feel like they can do better and if they race well they feel like they can do better.

I think much of my motivation in 2014 was derived from the fear of the unknown and whether or not I could push myself to the finish line.  I’m nervous that the fear has now subsided and it will have an unintentional impact to my training effort, so I must generate a new fear.  That fear, I hope, will be generated from the embarrassment of not accomplishing my goal that I’m setting this year and that is to finish under 13 hours (2014 was 13 hrs 37 mins) and be well enough to drink a Miller Lite after the race. 

I hope to share some useful information and encouragement with you all over the next 7 months that you will be able to apply to your own personal struggles and goals.