The Iron Geek

My personal journey of going from an overweight IT leader to an Ironman.

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6 posts tagged race report

My 140.6 Mile Journey

“They say that finishing an Ironman is a life-changing experience.  I really hope that they weren’t referring to losing a pinky toe, because I’m not sure mine is going to make it through the day and that would suck.”

This is the conversation that I am having with myself as I plod through the dark and deserted streets of Panama City Beach.  I am competing in my first Ironman Triathlon.  It’s just after 9:00 p.m. and I have been propelling myself forward for more than fourteen hours.  I am exhausted and my body is breaking down.  What started out as aches and pains has evolved into a full-on civil war between my mind and my body.  My mind is winning, and my body is paying the price.

I try to keep myself focused on the task at hand.  I must keep moving.  I must finish what I started.  Today is the culmination of eighteen months of training and preparation.  It’s not about an event, it’s about my life. 

I am not the same person I was two years ago. 

That person couldn’t run a hundred yards without being winded.  That person couldn’t do a lap in the pool without stopping.  That person carried around fifty-five more pounds.  That person drank too much beer and ate way too much fast food.  That person couldn’t keep up with his kids when they were playing. 

That person couldn’t commit to this type of goal and see it through.

That person wasn’t the real ME.  This is ME.  This journey has proven that I am still here.

Unfortunately, none of that is any consolation to my feet, which are damaged goods.  They feel as if they have been beaten with a hammer, especially my left pinky toe.  Every step sends a jarring pain up my leg.  And in a cruel twist of cosmic irony, it hurts more to walk than it does to run.

But when I run, I am slammed with the realization of how exhausted I am.  There is just no more gas in the tank.  I make a mental commitment that the next person that casually mentions that they are “exhausted” will get a full-on beat-down from me on principal alone. “You don’t know what exhausted is,” I think to myself.

Snapping out of this negative mental place, I think about my day.

I have survived a 2.4 mile swim with 2500 of my “closest” friends through a jellyfish-filled ocean.  I have endured the never-ending winds on my 112 mile bike, and I have been running, walking and shuffling for just over 23 miles.  “Just over 3 more miles to go,” I say to myself.

“Then you can call yourself an Ironman.”

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It Should Have Been Impossible: Ironman 70.3 Augusta

Have you ever done something that gave you such a sense of accomplishment that it was emotionally overwhelming?  Something that two years ago you wouldn’t have dreamed was even possible?  

While this race was on my schedule merely as a tune-up for Ironman Florida in November, I can’t tell you how much it means to me to complete it.  Ask anyone that knew me two years ago, anyone at all, if they thought I could complete a 70.3 and they would have told you “No way.”  

This guy, the guy that most of my friends in Boston remember, just finished a 70.3 Triathlon.

A little over a year ago I competed in my very first triathlon, a Sprint race at Crowes Lake.  Roughly 200 yards into a 400 yard swim, I had to float on my back because I thought I was going to drown.  It took every ounce of my energy to swim across that catfish pond to the other side.  I struggled on the bike, and basically walked the entire 5K.  I was something like 3rd from last in the entire race.  It was so upsetting, that I didn’t attempt my next triathlon until almost a year later.

Yesterday afternoon I stood in the rain at the finish line in disbelief that I had finished it.  That halfway through the run I was at such a low point emotionally that I had thoughts of cancelling my race in Florida, if not walking out on this race itself.  

But I didn’t.  I pressed on.  Walking a LOT more than I had ever thought would be necessary, but putting one foot in front of the other was all that mattered.  18 months of training 6 days of the week cannot prepare you for the mental fatigue that you go through, and I was surprised by it.  I marched on even though most of my body and mind told me I was INSANE for doing what I was doing.  Let the blisters scream.  Let the legs ache.  Let the back hurt.  That is why they make Aleve.  Keep moving forward. 

Take. It. Down.  TAKE. IT. DOWN!

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Worst Pictures Ever!

When I started this blog, I said it would be about The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of my Ironman journey…

I think I’ve got The Ugly DOWN PAT!

Damn!

I wonder what the hell I would look like if you actually photographed me drunk.

I’m Todd Michaud and Welcome to Jackass!

I’m hurtling through the air towards the pavement and I’ve just realized that my knees are going to be the ones to make a first impression, and it’s going to fucking hurt…

CRACK! It feels like Tony Soprano just took a baseball bat to the front of my knees. The pain shoots up my body.

SCRAPE! My left forearm tears across the asphalt which feels more like a molten cheese grater, scraping a beer bottle sized patch of my skin from my left forearm.

This ballet of destruction ends with some road-rash to the tops of my feet and left shoulder.

NOT MY BEST BIKE DISMOUNT EVER.

But let me back up…

This is my Savannah Sprint Triathlon race report.

I had a descent swim, covering 500 yards in 10:10. 2:02/100 yards. It was okay, but tougher than I expected.

My bike was awesome. It was a ridiculously flat course. With my new hydration strategy I felt great. Add a new super-fast bike and I was flying. I had a 19.7 mph average (my previous best was 16.6 mph) and that includes lying on the ground for a couple minutes after my Symphony Of Destruction.

How did it happen?

So I have been leaving my shoes attached to my pedals in transition 1. It has made my times really fast. But up until today I have dismounted the bike with the shoes on. Today I took my feet out of the shoes prior to transition, pedaling with my feet on top the shoes. As I came in to transition I swung my right leg around to the left side of the bike to coast before my jumping off to run.

The only problem was that my left foot slipped off the shoe before I stopped and it all went to hell in a hand basket.

A couple of Paramedics patched me up in the transition area. Gauze around my left knee and left arm. 5 minutes and change later I was out on the run course.

I drove 6 hours with the wife and 3 kids to come to this race, there was no way in hell I was taking a DNF.

A two loop run course around the same lake we swam in was next and surprisingly I ran a sub-30 minute 5K. This was my best ever 5K run in a triathlon, my 2nd fastest 5K (solo) ever.

I set personal records in two of the three legs and came close on the swim. You take out my Johnny Knoxville impersonation and it would have been a great day.

The rest of the day are in the hands of Aleve and Sweetwater 420.

The Bet and The Last Minute Race

So we had some friends over this weekend and of course the topic of triathlon and racing came up.  I was telling the husband of the couple that was over about my weight loss goals for my upcoming Ironman in November.  I let him know that I still had about 35 pounds to go before I hit what I think my best race weight will be.

He said something like “Yeah, I really need to lose weight too.  I used to be fit and skinny, but now, not so much.”

Long story, short: We now have a bet on who can be the first one to lose 35 pounds.  I wont say how much it is, but I will say that it is a big financial incentive to be the first one to lose the weight.  To sweeten the odds and get him on board, I’ve offered him 3:2 odds on the bet.  Basically, I have to pay him more if he wins.

Ironically, when we weighed in that night, we both weighed the exact same weight, down to the tenth of a pound: 222.2.  (Side note: He is almost 4 inches shorter than me.  It theoretically should be easier for him to lose the weight).

The day before, on Friday, I had been on Active.com looking for a local 10K race on Memorial Day weekend (I figured that would be a fun distraction).  While searching, I discovered that there was a Sprint Triathlon being held less than 5 miles from my house today (Sunday).  It took about 2 minutes to make that decision. (I still havent registered for anything on Memorial Day)

So I had my second, and unexpected, race of the season today.  It was a 400 yard swim, 10 mile bike and 3.1 (5K) run.  So slightly longer than my last outing.

The Swim: It’s funny, but my swim felt really, really good.  Considering I have been stressing about my swim for so long, I think it’s really funny that over the last two races, this has been my best leg.  I managed to keep a smooth and steady stroke and found that if I sighted less (looking up for the bouy) I went a LOT faster.  Just 3 extra strokes before sighting made a huge difference.

The Bike: Was hard!  Just like last time, I had some troubles on the bike.  This course was much different with several LONG hills.  It was an out-and-back course so you hit them both ways.  Nothing like hitting 36 mph flying down the hill knowing you are going to have to muscle your way back up it.  I got a massive, massive headache at about 4 miles into the bike.  I felt horrible.  The hills were pretty tiring, and there were two near the end that I actually considered I might have to walk up.  They were so bad I was up out of my seat, pounding my pedals in the lightest gear and barely moving.  It sucked.

The Run: What I have learned over the last two weeks is that I have to train more about running in high-heart rate zones.  I have really struggled finding a rhythm when running after getting off the bike in these races.  Unlike my brick training where I keep the heart rate in Zone 2, I am in Zone 4 when I get off the bike in a race and just feel exhausted.  On the last 1/2 mile of the race, I finally found my legs and started banging away 8:00 min/miles.  But before that I was shuffling 12:00 min/miles with walks way to often.

I came in 1:27:58 - 10th in the Clydesdale Division and 152 out of 202 overall.  My swim time was excellent, my bike time was weak and my run time was very poor.  I need to build up that stamina.  The best part of the day was my 8th place time during Transition #1.

Even though I had a tough race, with a screaming headache, I felt great on the ride home.  There is just something about going through that before many people have gotten out of bed on a Sunday morning that made me feel good about myself. 

After I write this post, I am going to lock down my training schedule for the week and pack my bag for early in the morning.  

Giddy Up!

The 5th Fastest Fat Guy

I had a great race this morning!

I competed in the Peachtree City Super Sprint Triathlon.  This was a 300 yard swim, 8 mile bike and 2 mile run. 

I completed the race in 1:03:26 - Good enough for 5th place in the Clydesdale division (Men over 200 pounds).  I finished 104th out of 205.

My splits were:

  • SWIM: 6:44
  • TRANSITION-1: 1:31
  • BIKE: 28:56 (16.6 MPH)
  • TRANSITION-2: 2:10
  • RUN: 24:07 (12:04 min/mile)

Now my GPS watch showed the run at 2.29 miles with a 10:39 min/mile pace, but whatever.

This is a HUGE improvement over my first triathlon where I came in 166th of 171.  I also made substantial improvement on my swim.  The first triathlon swim was 400 yards and I completed it in 18:35.  This was 300 yards in 6:44.

The Swim

The Swim felt really good.  I was able to get into a nice groove and just stick with a slow and steady stroke.  I concentrated as much as possible on keeping my kick to a miniumum, as that is normally what wears me out (too much kicking).  I did get a little freaked out with sighting (making sure I was heading in the right direction), causing me to pick up my head too often.  But for the most part, I felt really good.  I was surprised how tired I felt getting out of the water.  But I blew away my pre-race goal of 10 minutes.

The Bike

The bike kicked my ass.  I’m not used to starting out bike rides with a high heart rate and it really shows, especially on hills.  It was super draining going up those hills.  I just felt like I was constantly out of gas.  I went as fast as 32 mph and as slow at 6 mph.  I spent a lot more time on the low end of the scale than the fast.  I do most of my riding on a fairly flat trail and this race showed me that I need more time on hills.

The Run

When I got into the transition area off of the bike and started to change into my running gear, I got a really bad cramp in my leg that caused me to fall down right in front of my racked bike.  It took me a few seconds to massage it out and get my shoes on.  I made my way to the transition exit, but immediately started walking due to the cramps.  Thankfully there was a Gatorade stop right there and I was able to get some nutrients that really helped.  It took about 1/2 mile, but I eventually got into a rhythm of about 10 min/mile but had walked once on each mile, bringing my average up.  I ended up finishing strong, and I even had a little left in the tank.

Overall I am extremely happy with the results from today.  I had a goal of finishing in 1:00:00, but 1:03 is good enough for me.  Last year that time would have been good enough for 2nd Fastest Fat Guy, and an award.  I’ll take that.

Next up is the Savannah Sprint Triathlon (500 yard swim, 13.1 mile bike and 3.1 mile run) on June 11th.

Actually, next up is the Warrior Dash tomorrow.  =)

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