MCM+Superstorm Sandy+Ironman Florida = Ironman #2

Completing my first Ironman in Louisville was a challenge-filled day of Ohio River water, biking up and down rolling hills, and a dehydration and cramp-plagued run.   Of course I decided to take another Ironman challenge!  Wanting something a bit flatter, I went online to register for Ironman Florida.  I knew that Ironman races sold out quickly, but I didn’t expect the race to sell out in five minutes.  I did grab a slot, and the quest for my next Ironman finish began.

Flash forward to two weeks before the race. A number of my friends from the DC Triathlon Club decided to sign up for the Marine Corps Marathon (MCM).  For many, this would be their first full marathon so I decided to sign up in support. MCM2009 was my first long distance race, and I thought it would be fun to do the race again with everyone. Of course, I mixed up the dates when I registered – completely missing that the marathon was six days before IM Florida.  The smart move would have been to drop the MCM race, but I opted to do both. To me, Ironman is all about pushing limits then seeing how much further I can go, so doing a marathon the week before seemed like a great way to push myself. 

Preparing for the race was a little tricky.  A week before the race, meteorologists started to warn D.C. residents about Superstorm Sandy, a major hurricane set to combine with a cold front dropping down from the west to create one of the deadliest storms seen in our lifetime.  No one was certain when it would arrive or exactly where it would make landfall.  I was starting to feel a little paranoid.  During IM Louisville, an earthquake hit Washington D.C.  As I prepared for IM Florida, a hurricane was headed the same way.

The MoCo Mafia After MCM2012

The week leading up to MCM2012 was very warm for late October – in the upper 70’s.  I did a brief 3-mile training run but otherwise limited training for the week.  Race morning had cooled a bit, but the day was by no means cold.  The outer bands of the coming storm offered a light drizzle and some headwinds but held off for the race.  The cloud cover actually made perfect running weather.  I finished a smooth race with a time of 03:42:54.  Not my best marathon time, but I didn’t want to kill myself trying for a PR just before IM Florida.  I just enjoyed the run.

Waiting out the storm on the first floor

Superstorm Sandy hit the coast north of D.C. on Monday, so we had no damage or even loss of power even with the rain.  We did sleep on the ground floor in case the wind was too strong for our trees.  By Tuesday, the worst of the storm had passed and it was time to pack for Florida. 

My wife and I left the house at 3:30 a.m. on Thursday for the flight to Panama City Beach, FL.  My aunt and uncle met us at the airport, let us stay in their waterfront condo, and lent us a car.  Their help and support was invaluable!  Although the early part of the week had been stressful, everything in Florida moved smoothly.  My dad, who lives in a different part of the state, drove up to cheer me on for the race. 

Athletes had to check in no later than 5 p.m. on Thursday; we headed straight to the expo after dropping our stuff at the condo.  Dinner came next followed by the mandatory athlete briefing.  On Friday, I rode my bike roughly 7 miles to the expo to rack the bike and drop my transition bags.  I noticed some problems with my brakes on the ride, so I dropped the bike at the Ironman maintenance area where they got things working perfectly.  I also managed a practice swim near Swim Start.  The buoys weren’t set up, but I was able to test the waters – the chop seemed rough but manageable.  A quick run to the grocery netted spaghetti, salad, and key lime pie to carb-load at dinner plus race day nutrition.  After dinner, we popped in the 2011 IM Kona DVD for some last minute inspiration then went to bed.  

While I was nowhere close to how nervous I had been prior to IM Louisville, sleep was elusive.  I don’t think I slept soundly at all Friday night.  Transition opened at 4:30 a.m. but I was awake to make eggs and toast at 3 a.m.  Having access to a kitchen while on the road for a race is very nice.  We gathered my swim gear and special needs bags before heading to Wal-Mart to pick up the shuttle over to transition.

Arriving at transition race morning

I dropped my bags and checked my bike, then headed down to the beach.  We found a quiet area to sit for the hour until race start.  With the waves crashing in the background and the dark sky overhead, I dozed off a bit while we waited.  Twenty minutes out, I slurped a peanut butter Gu pack and donned my wetsuit.  After handing off my morning gear to my wife, we headed over to watch the pro men start at 6:30 a.m. and the pro women start at 6:45 a.m.

Mass start with over 2500 Age Groupers

The swim course was a two-loop rectangle heading straight out to sea.  With the current moving right to left and a mass beach start of more than 2,500 age groupers, my plan was to start in the back of the pack towards the right to avoid being pushed into the buoys during the swim out.  The National Anthem played, the cannon sounded, and we were off.  I had done a mass start before for an ocean swim in Hawaii during the Honu 70.3 race.  This was harder.  The waves were big and constant, and people were everywhere.  Every time I tried to establish a rhythm, I would hit someone’s feet, someone would grab my feet, or I’d be sideswiped by another swimmer.  The mass of bodies did create some drafting opportunities and provided a path to follow when sighting was difficult from the waves. 

The first 15 minutes were stressful.  More than once, I was fighting back thoughts of “F@#^ this, I’m not dealing with this for 2.4 miles.”  About that time, I saw the first turn buoy and decided to finish the first loop.  A foot grazing my face skewed my goggles as I turned into the sun.  I was wearing heavily tinted goggles, and this was the shortest leg of the swim, so I was fine after I stopped to straighten my eyewear.  By the time I reached the second turn buoy, I was feeling more confident about finishing the swim.

1st loop done

The beach leg of the rectangle was shallow and allowed athletes to walk through the surf.  Just as I put my foot down, a wave broke over me from behind.  My right foot was stuck in the sand, painfully pulling my hamstring.  I walked it out and managed to continue.  It was nice to take my goggle off and clear the taste of salt water from my mouth during the jog through the surf.  My time after the first loop was 0:55, so I knew I could make the cutoff barring any major incidents.  I aimed wide as I started the second loop to stay out of the buoys.  The crowds had thinned, but plenty of swimmers remained.  This loop was fairly uneventful, although I felt seasick from the chop.  I think the feeling was more intense than in previous swims because the wetsuit on the salt water made me a float like a buoy. 

My final swim time was 01:55:55.  My goal was under two hours, and I was able to accomplish it under the toughest swim conditions I’ve faced to date.  I feel more confident in my swimming and hope it will cause me less stress in future races.  Wetsuit strippers met us at the water’s edge.  This was my first race with the luxury of strippers – I have to say it was nice not fighting my way out of the suit alone.

Heading to T1

I headed through the freshwater showers then headed to T1.  I was a bit tired after the swim, and I took my time in T1.  I had worn a swimsuit under my wetsuit and switched to bike shorts for the 112-mile bike ride ahead.  A stop by the baby pool of sunscreen and the port-a-john and I picked up my bike from the volunteer before getting underway.

While the IM Florida bike course is flat compared to IM Louisville and the temperatures were not as hot, the high was still in the low 80’s with high humidity and clear skies.  The combination out-n-back and one-loop course offered minimal shade.  For IM Louisville, I had trained in heat up to the week of the race.  With IM Florida so late in the season, I was out of practice with the heat.  I did make sure to have plenty of salt tabs on hand as well as a nutrition plan that met my needs.  As stated in earlier race reports, I don’t do well with Gu and gel packs.  I switched to Stinger bars and mini Nutter Butters which work well for me.

On the second half of the bike course.

The bike course is extremely flat with one significant hill crossing a bridge early in the out-n-back (so I got to ride it twice).  The worst part of the course was the last 3-4 miles of the out-n-back.  The pavement was old and riddled with cracks.  The ride was so bumpy that the road was littered with water bottles, CO2 cartridges, and even spare tubes. 

When I reached the special needs tent, I desperately needed the contents.  Thanks to a tip from my friend Dave, I had purchased a little $5 cooler at Wal-Mart to keep my Coke, Gatorade, and Kit-Kat bars cold.  It worked perfectly.  After refilling my Gatorade bottle, I ate the rest for a nice burst of energy. 

Back on the second half of the bike course, I was feeling strong.  My only real issue was the pain from my new shoe clips.  I had broken the old clips on a recent Century ride.  I tested the new ones on a short 30-mile ride without problems, but the longer distance hurt.  My wife and dad were waiting to cheer for me at mile 90.  One of the best parts of this bike course was the number of people cheering along the bike course.

snazzy new USA compression socks.

My final bike time was 06:40:09 when I headed back into T2 mid-afternoon.  My original goal was to complete the bike course in less than 6 hours, but heat and painful feet slowed me down.  Still, I was pretty happy with the ride and ready to face the run without the cramping that plagued me in Louisville.  I took my time in T2, adding snazzy new USA compression socks to my running outfit.  I didn’t overeat or drink, something that had contributed to my cramps in Louisville.  Another stop at the port-a-john and I started the two-loop out-n-back run course.  The course was mostly flat with a slight hill in the state park portion.

My uncle & dad cheering me on.

The run course had lots of people cheering, including my wife, dad, aunt, and uncle.  They were stationed on mile 6 which meant they saw me 4 times as I ran past.  After running the first 3-4 miles, I switched to a 2-mile run/1-mile walk strategy because my feet and legs were feeling a bit tired.  Still no cramps.  By the end of first loop, the sun was setting.  Fortunately, I planned ahead with a headlamp in my special needs bag.  On the final 6 miles of the course, my feet and legs were spent.  I had slowed to a 1-mile run/1-mile walk ratio.  As I approached the final mile, I mustered my final burst of energy for the finish line. 

The energy at IM Florida was different from the energy at IM Louisville.  The energy at Louisville’s finish line was unbelievable, while Florida’s energy was concentrated on the actual course. At one point along the run there was a tent with a guy in an actual Iron Man comic character costume cheering you on which was cool.  My wife even commented that the energy in the chute was lower in Florida.  Nevertheless, I crossed the finish line to lots of cheers and with a sense of accomplishment as the announcer once again proclaimed “Jay Cochran, you are an Ironman!”

Crossing the Finish Line!

My run time was 05:37:05 for a total time of 14:43:38.  If I hadn’t run a marathon the week before, my run probably would have been stronger but I don’t regret doing both.  Florida was a PR after Louisville; more importantly, I had no major issues during the race.  My swim was strong under trying conditions, and I was able to avoid cramping during the bike and run.  I will need to figure out what’s wrong with my clips and probably won’t run a marathon before IM Lake Placid next year.  The biggest win this season?  My confidence for these long distance races has grown significantly.

Sweet bag given to athletes doing Ironman races in 2012.

Need another reason to run an Ironman?  The swag given to the athletes this year has been great.  Bravo to them for providing us with something so useful and nice. 

Special thanks to following:

All my friends who cheered me on via cyberspace and those who helped me train over the course of the summer. Especially Dave and Sara for doing all those long century rides with me so late in the season.

Jeff Halper: For letting me borrow his race wheels for this race. They performed well even though when the wind blows through them it sounds like I have a cricket riding along with me :)

My Aunt and Uncle Pam & Bob: For providing us a place to stay race weekend and a car to get around with. Not to mention cheering me on during the 14+ hour day.

My Dad: For driving 7+ hours  to come cheer me on and providing me support.

And most importantly My wife Kara: For not just coming and providing race crew support but also putting up with all the long weeks of training and the foot rubs afterwards that helped me get through it all.  Without her I would not be an Ironman.

Love you honey!!!

Cedar Point 70.3 Report - To Rev Or Not To Rev

Last weekend, I set out to complete my very first Rev3 race with the Cedar Point 70.3 triathlon in Sandusky, OH. I had been hearing lots of good things about Rev3; some people even said they thought their races were as good as MDot ones. So I wanted to find out for myself. The other reason I signed up for this race was because my wife.  She grew up in Ohio and spent many a summer riding the rides at the Cedar Point amusement park with her family, and she really was looking forward to going back there.

This race would mark my fourth attempt at a 70.3 distance race. Up to this point I had not experienced a lot of success with the 70.3 distance. My first 70.3 race took place late last year in the Pocono Mountains. Overall, I had a strong race for that one, but the swim portion was canceled due to heavy rains leading up to the race. So I don’t really count that as a full half Ironman distance race. My second attempt took place earlier this year with the Kinetic 70.3. For this race, I had a decent swim but then it went downhill as I was plagued with multiple flats on the bike segment and a piss-poor run giving me a lousy finish time. My third attempt at the 70.3 distance was with the Honu 70.3 in Hawaii. After getting lost in the sun for the swim portion, I failed to meet the swim cutoff time and wasn’t able to finish. My first official DQ.

So going into this race, I had some doubt whether I could pull off a strong half Ironman distance race or not. It didn’t help that I had been struggling with Plantar fasciitis in my left foot and was able to do my first long run without experiencing any significant discomfort just a week before the race.

The race was on Sunday, but we arrived in Sandusky, OH on Friday. My wife’s parents, sister, and brother-in-law were joining us for the weekend to cheer me on and ride the rides at Cedar Point. We stayed in a hotel right next to the park which had its own indoor water park which was interesting.

The weather for the weekend was questionable to start with rain forecasted for Saturday and Sunday. That Friday night, some severe storms moved through the area and lasted into Saturday morning. The storms brought lots of rain and wind. Enough rain and wind in fact that Rev3 canceled the Sprint distance race they were doing on Saturday. Basically, there was too much standing water on the road, and the swim buoys were blown off course. They also had to cancel the practice swim for the half and full Ironman distance races the next day. That morning I got up early and ran three miles on the treadmill in the hotel fitness center. I hadn’t done any training that week because I wanted to be well rested but felt I needed to get in a small run to get the blood flowing. I also wanted to test my foot to make sure it was still okay, which it seemed to be.

Morning of the race

After that we got dressed and headed over to the amusement park. I had enough time to get in a ride before heading over to the race location to pick up my packet and rack my bike. We rode a ride called the Dragster which went from 0-120mph in 3.8 seconds going up to 420ft in the air. It was a pretty fun and fast ride. After that, my wife and I headed over to the race expo where we picked up my packet, got a race briefing from the officials, and racked my bike. After spending an hour or so there, we headed back to the park for an afternoon of rides. In hindsight, I must admit that riding roller coasters the day before doing a half Ironman probably wasn’t the best thing for me. Riding many of those rides tends to put a lot of wear and tear on the joints and body. The next morning I could definitely feel it some in my neck (which had been sore since a bike accident I had six weeks earlier). That night, we went to bed fairly early and managed to get a decent night sleep. Waking up at 5 a.m. on Sunday morning, we got dressed, packed up the tri gear and headed over to the amusement park. There was a full Ironman distance race going on as well as the half. The people doing the full had to be out of transition by 6:30 a.m. because their race started first at 7 a.m. Those of us doing the half had until 7:30 a.m. to get ready with our race starting at 8:20 a.m.

Getting a warm-p swim before race start

After getting my stuff set up in transition, we headed down to the beach to check out the water and see the people doing the full distance race start. The water at first glance seemed to be calmer than the day before. There was a line of grey clouds in the sky keeping the sun at bay, but it was hard to tell if the sun was going to break through by the time the half distance race started. With about 20 minutes or so until our race began, I had a chance to get in the water and do a warm-up swim. The swim portion for the half distance race would be done as a wave start. My wave consisted of males ages 40-45 and would be starting at about 8:30. As I was doing my practice swim, I could feel my neck was still a bit tired from doing the rides the day before and could also tell that the chop in the water was pretty bad. Whenever I would stick my head under the water and try to swim, I would feel a little seasick. So right off the bat I could tell this swim portion wasn’t going to be much fun.

Giving a thumbs up before heading into the water

The race course was a swim out keeping the buoys on my right followed by two right turns and then a swim back in. The first leg of the swim seemed like the worst portion to me. I had to swim directly into the chop which would hit me directly in the face every time I lifted my head. I also experienced bouts of seasickness whenever I tried putting my head underwater. It was a wetsuit legal race which was good, but still it was a bit tiring swimming with the chop. On the first right turn, I could see the shoreline and many of the rides in the amusement part. These rides made for nice visual points to spot with. My original swim time goal was to complete it in about 45 minutes but by the time I made the second right turn and started swimming back to shore, I could tell I wasn’t going to be able to make that time. My final swim time was a dismal 55:38. I was the last person in my age group out of the water so I had a lot of ground to make up.

Exiting The Water - Time 55:38

As I ran back to T1, I realized that finding my bike was going to be harder than I initially  thought. The bike racks were not well marked. There was nothing on the ends of the racks indicating what numbers they were for, and the individual numbers were on the bottom of the bike racks which often times were covered by people’s stuff. After finally finding my transition area, I began to take my wetsuit off and get ready for the bike portion. My T1 time was 5:10.

As I began the bike portion of the race, I was feeling pretty strong. My neck was a bit tired and riding in the aero position certainly didn’t help it, but I managed to power through it. Most of the course was relatively flat which was nice. Not only was I able to get some good speed going but it was also good practice for Ironman Florida which I will be doing in early November. The bike course had a couple of stretches of road that weren’t well maintained which made for a very bumpy ride at times. The worst part was the last couple of miles riding on the road going back into the park. Very bumpy with a strong headwind to boot. I spent much of the bike portion passing and getting passed by another female athlete. It got to the point where we even joked with each other about it. Towards the end, I was able to pass her and finish the bike portion before her, but it wouldn’t be the last time I saw her during the race. My final bike time was 2:45:41. Originally I was shooting for a time of 2:30, but overall I was pretty happy with this time.

Final Bike Time 2:45:41

Back in transition, I had to search around a bit for my transition area again. Once I found it, I was able to get ready for the run portion fairly quickly. T2 time was 4:22.

As I began the run portion, I really had to pee. I actually had to pee after starting the swim and held it for the entire bike course, but I decided at the first aid station on the run that I was going to have to go. After a quick stop at the port-a-john I was back on the course, but the slight delay allowed the girl from the bike portion to catch back up to me. We ran together for a while but eventually she got the better of me and took off - never to be seen by me again.

Final Run Time - 1:52:25

The run portion was flat and took us through town. The weather was great, not too hot with temps in the low 70’s and some cloud cover to keep the sun from coming out in full force. Aid stations were plentiful and well stocked. I didn’t have my fastest run in this race, but I had a pain free one which was something I hadn’t experienced in some time. My final run time was 1:52:25 making my total race time 5:43:15. I came in 276 out of 715 racers. I came in 57 out of 93 in my age group.  Considering I was the last person out of the water for my age group, I felt I did pretty good coming back.

After crossing the finish line, I got my finisher medal, shirt, and a free Gatorade towel. We grabbed some food from the food tent. The medal was cool because it was shaped like a Ferris Wheel, and I give Rev 3 credit for serving some of the best post-race food I have ever had at one of these events. What was even better - they allowed you to serve yourself so if you wanted a big bowl of fruit, you could have it. After eating, we headed back to the hotel for a quick shower and then it was back to the park for an afternoon of riding rides which was a lot of fun.

Sporting my new Finisher shirt and medal

As to the question of how good a race Rev 3 puts on, I would say they did a pretty good job. I don’t think they do quite as good a job as MDot. Mainly they just don’t quite have that level of excitement yet an Mdot race has. When I finished Ironman Louisville last year, there were tons of people standing there at the finish line cheering me on and giving high fives. And that was finishing the race at 10:30 at night. At the Rev3 race, it just wasn’t quite the same feeling. Still Rev 3 probably puts on a better race than anyone else, and if you have an opportunity to do one I would say go for it.

As for me, I have two more races for the season with the Marine Corps Marathon in the last week of October then Ironman FL the first week of November. Yes some would call be crazy for doing a marathon a week before doing a full Ironman, which I probably am. I felt pretty good overall with this Rev 3 race and hope it helps propel me into having strong performances in the final races of the season. This season has had a lot of ups and downs for me, but I hope that I managed to save the best for last.

Rev3's Finisher Medal

The Garrett County Gran Fondo "Diabolical Double" Report - Hills, Hills & More Hills

Dave and I

I completed my first ever Gran Fondo ride this weekend, to be more precise I did the Garrett County Gran Fondo Diabolical Double which is a bike ride that climbs 16,500 over 125 miles.  I knew going in that this was not going to be an easy ride.  Dave, who trained with me last year for Ironman Louisville, had done the ride before and convinced me to sign up with him this year.  He told me on multiple occasions what a b!tch the hills on this ride are. Still, until you actually see some of these monsters for yourself, words just don’t do them justice. I wanted to do this ride ever since I heard about it last year from Dave - at least once.  I don’t know exactly why other than it was a challenge that I wanted to overcome.

I had hoped to get in a number of rides on Virginia’s Skyline Drive to help me prepare for the ride. Skyline made me a much stronger rider last year, and I was convinced it would help me again this year. Alas, time was not on my side with all the races and travel I had going on this year, and I was only able to get out to Skyline once - the week before.  A 110-mile training ride with Dave and a few others turned into just 80 miles for me as my body struggled to overcome jet lag (from Hawaii) and insomnia as I readjusted to the Eastern time zone.  Add in a strenuous week of workouts consisting of a 11-mile run, over 60 miles of riding, over 3500 meters of swimming  and some weight lifting.  When we started the ride, my body was pretty tired and I did not have a strong ride for my one and only trip to Skyline.

After struggling on my training ride, I decided to take the week leading up to the Diabolical Double pretty easy, so I made sure to get plenty of sleep and moderated my workouts. I did 30 miles of riding on Tuesday and 1,000 meters of swimming on Thursday. Another challenge on my Skyline ride was nutrition, so I focused on this before and during the Diabolical Double. With aid stations every 18-25 miles along the ride with food and liquids, this was not to difficult.

The plan was to drive to Deep Creek the Friday before the Gran Fondo.  I originally hoped to leave DC around 2 p.m. but didn’t get away until 5 p.m. Fortunately, traffic wasn’t too bad so I arrived in Deep Creek around 8 p.m. Packet Pickup and the free dinner were open until 9 p.m. so I met up with Dave and some other members of the DC Tri Club to grab our packets and some pasta, salad, and strawberry shortcake.  While Dave and I were staying at Wisp, the other DC Tri Club members (Jason, Brent, Elaine, and Andy) were staying at a nearby cabin for their jaunt on the “Masochistic Metric”, a 62-mile ride climbing 8,000 feet.   

After getting our gear ready for the following morning and watching some Olympic Trials on the television, Dave and I headed for bed so we could get up at 4:45 a.m. for the 6:50 a.m. mountain-top pre-briefing.   We loaded up on coffee, powdered donuts, and Pringles for a calorie-rich breakfast.  

For my nutrition on the bike, I decided to switch from my normal Gatorade to Accelerade sports drink. It’s one of those powders you mix in with water, so I could fill my water bottle and bring extra powder for later in the day. Overall, I think it did a pretty good job of keeping me going. I was using Fruit Punch flavor which doesn’t taste as good as the Gatorade but wasn’t horrid. I also packed a number of Stinger bars and a banana. I’ve decided to give up on Gels. They just don’t sit well with my stomach, so I have to work on finding suitable alternatives.

The weather for the day looked like it was going to be good. The morning started out a little foggy but the temps were decent starting out in the high 50’s to low 60’s and getting into the mid 80’s by later in the day. The sun was out with a mixture of clouds thrown in occasionally to give a break from the rays beating down at various points on the course.

While 1,200 people total were doing the Gran Fondo event this year (up from last year), only 50-100 people were crazy enough to do the 125-mile Diabolical Double. We were the first ones to start with the shorter rides starting in waves after us. By 7 a.m., we crazy few were lined up to begin the long day’s ride. After the National Anthem, we were off. The course starts off downhill for about a mile and a half which is nice, the downside (no pun intended) is this is the same hill you have to come up at the end to finish. Dave and I decided to stay together for the ride, although Dave is a little stronger rider than me so basically he was willing to ride at a slower pace to stay with me. We began our descent as people doing the shorter rides cheered us on while waiting for their wave to start.

A couple miles in, I heard a loud bang. I knew from past experience (see my Kinetic 70.3 race report) that someone had just gotten a flat - fortunately it wasn’t me. A short time later, Dave discovered his back tire was flat. He insisted it wasn’t his tire that made the loud bang, nonetheless he was in need of a new tube.  We had made our way to the front of the pack by this point but soon would be passed by everyone as we made repairs. People were really nice though and kept asking if we needed any help as they rode by. Dave changed his tire but apparently had only packed one spare tube, not too big a deal though because I was carrying three. We got on the road and began to pass people again although we never really caught back up to the lead group again. The stretch between the start and the first aid station was about 18 miles. My plan for this ride was to take it one aid station at a time. I wasn’t going to dwell on the 125 miles rather I would focus on the next 18 miles. This seemed to be a pretty good mental strategy though it didn’t help that Dave kept telling me about the killer hills yet to come; he said he was trying to keep me motivated. The first 18 miles weren’t terribly bad. Certainly it had its share of hills but nothing I would call killer and of course we were still fresh at this point. As we rolled into the first aid station, the remains of that initial lead group were rolling out. This would be the last time we saw them. The first aid station was well stocked with food and drink as well as entertainment. They had a Hawaiian-type kettle band playing which was cool. Dave filled his tire up with real air from a pump opposed to the stuff in the C02 cartridges which never seem to last long and managed to snag a new spare. We both grabbed some grub and drink and refilled our water bottles before hitting the road for the next aid station.

Less than a mile out of aid station #1, we started riding with a group. One of the guys got too close to another rider, hit the back tire of the guy in front of him with his front tire, and took a bit of a tumble. The rest of us stopped to make sure he was alright (he was), but when I went to clip out I managed to pull the clip off my right shoe. So once again, Dave and I pulled off to the side of the road to make repairs, this time to my shoe.

By this time, riders from the 102-mile century length started passing us while we were sidelined.  Once I got my shoe back in working order, we were back on the road and able to quickly catch up to those century riders. It was about at this point where we hit our first really big/long hill. Some people choose to walk up it, but Dave and I kept on riding and we caught back up with Diabolical Double riders by the time we reached our second aid station. This station was the last one serving all riders regardless of distance.  From this point, the people doing the 40- and 60-mile rides would break off in a different direction. For those of us doing the 102- and 125-mile rides, we had our first major challenge ahead of us. The next stretch included “Bowman” and “Killer Miller.” Either of these hills would be a challenge on their own but having them in the same segment made this one of the toughest portions of the course. The only upside was at this point, I was still feeling pretty strong and fresh. Had this segment been at the end of the course, I am not sure I would have made it. Knowing what was ahead, I made sure to take in a fair number of calories. Peanuts, M&M’s, a PB&J and some orange slices were all consumed at this station. After refueling and a stop by the port-a-john, we were back on the road.

Shortly out of the aid station, Dave began to experience problems with his shoe clip. His didn’t come off like mine but it had become really loose, so we pulled off for our third round of repairs. Once back on the road, it didn’t take us very long to reach the first monster hill, Bowman. This thing seemed like it went on forever. Besides the fact that going up these big hills is just plain tiring, they also take forever to get up. Distances that normally take 20 minutes now take an hour, and your mind starts using the extra time to mess with you. You start asking yourself “Why are we doing this?”  Of course when you pedaling up these things, it’s hard to come up with a good answer. It’s as much a mental game as it is a physical one when you do these things.  Once you finally make it to the top, you start to remember why you’re out here at least until you get to the next hill. Once over Bowman, we had get some nice downhills and a little time to recover before taking on Killer Miller.

There is actually a cutoff time to arrive at aid station #3 if you plan to complete the whole 125 miles. We were well within that time limit, but we still had Miller to overcome. Dave yelled out to a group of people on the side of the road asking how far was it to “Killer Miller”.  Their response - around the corner just 300 meters away.  Oh great, so here it comes. Bowman had managed to make a few cracks in my mental barrier, but I wasn’t going to let Miller get me. After all, the next aid station was only a short distance beyond this monster. As we rounded the corner, there was actually a fork in the road and we started to go up the left side. Quickly realizing this was the wrong way, we back tracked and headed down the right side where a couple little girls riding their bikes in their driveway cheered us on.

I don’t think Miller was quite as steep as Bowman, but it was definitely long with minimal shade. Again, the hardest part of the slow trip up the hill is controlling the little voices in your head asking “Why, oh why are we doing this????” As we approached the top of Miller, we found a timing mat and a group of volunteers screaming “You did it, you’ve made it to the top!” which was music to my ears. Of course, I was still trying to tune out that little voice now saying “Great, but we aren’t even half way yet.” That’s when focus on the next aid station and not the miles left in the entire course is helpful. Fortunately, the next aid station was a short distance ahead.

As we rolled into aid station #3, we could see the course was starting to take its toll on people. This aid station marked the final bail out location for the course. If you decided you didn’t want to or couldn’t do the whole 102- or 125-mile distance, the race officials had mapped out a shorter, more direct route back to the finish line. Of course, people were available to drive riders back if they couldn’t continue or to offer aid in general, but this was a way to return under your own power and still cross the finish line. We still had to go up a pretty big hill as we left the aid station plus the monster hill at the finish line, so I figured we might as well keep moving forward (although there was a small part of me tempted to take the bail out route knowing I still had monster hills similar to Miller and Bowman ahead of me).

The next portion of the course between aid station 3 and 4 was would mark the longest distance between aid stations. Most of the aid stations were about 18 miles apart but the distance between these two was 26 miles. The upside was the absence of monster hills like Miller and Bowman on it. By no means it was a flat segment, no such thing on this ride, just not the killer hills like we had just done. What this segment did incorporate was about a mile and a half of course on a gravel road. The last time I did a ride that took me on a gravel road I ended up with a flat tire, so I wasn’t too thrilled with the prospect of taking my road bike off-roading but as Dave put it - it’s one of the many charms of the ride.

The ride up to the gravel road went smoothly and by the time we reached that spot on the course, we had started riding with another group of three riders. We all started down the gravel road which starts out going downhill. To my surprise, we rode past a pair of people standing on the side of this deserted gravel road playing their banjos. Since we were pretty close to the West Virginia border by this point, I couldn’t help the flashbacks to the movie Deliverance.  I spent most of the downhill segment riding my brakes and trying to avoid any major bumps.  Of course, one of the things you learn on these rides is what goes down inevitably goes back up so about halfway through the gravel portion we started going uphill. This wasn’t a Killer Miller type hill but t wasn’t a small hill either and the gravel made it that much more challenging. About half way up the hill, we started hitting softer dirt.  Because I tend to lean forward with my weight on the front of my bike when going uphill, my back tire started spinning out more and more. It got to the point where I felt like I was going to fall over, so I opted to walk the rest the way up the hill. Dave and the other guys we were riding with managed to ride the whole way up and Dave waited for me at the top. It didn’t take me long to get to the top, as I was able to walk it almost as fast as I was able to ride it and once we got going again we were able to catch up to the other group fairly quickly.

The rest of this segment went by without too many issues and as we approached the fourth aid station, we entered a town which is home to the Westernport Wall, a very steep and pretty well known hill that is part of the Savageman Triathlon. You can actually ride up this hill for the Diabolical Double if you want but most people choose not to.... I thought about it for two seconds and then said Nah!!!!. For those not familiar with the Westernport Wall segment, it is not only a very steep hill but it also is on a horribly maintained segment of road with lots of potholes and such which cause a lot of people who try to go up it to fall over.

Once at the fourth aid station, we spent time resting, eating, drinking and trying to physch ourselves up for the next segment which was quite possibly the hardest segment of the entire course.  On this segment , we headed out of town, crossed the border into West Virginia, and immediately start pedaling up. It’s not a super steep climb but it is long and continuous. Something like seven miles of just going uphill not to mention much of it is in the direct sun.  After that, we had some ups and downs to about the 4-mile mark from the next aid station where we found another incredibly steep and long hill. We were so close to the aid station only to be foiled by this neverending hill that after each turn just seems to go on forever. On top of that, we were by no means fresh like when we took on Miller and Bowman. This hill really pushed me to my limits. At this point, Dave had broken away from me and I was on the course by myself. Finally when I got to the top of the hill, an officer sitting in a cop car was waiting to tell me the aid station was just down below in the next little town. It was all downhill. Thank god.  As I got to the town, I didn’t see any sign of a aid station so I kept riding and began to start riding up a hill again. At first, I thought the cop had lied to me but I kept riding. I was to the point distance-wise where I should be seeing an aid station. At this point, another rider had caught up to me and was having similar thoughts. We kept riding for a bit longer. With still no aid station in sight, I decided to stop. The other guy kept going. I was faced with a dilemma. I could keep going up this hill and hope there was an aid station ahead, or I could go back down the hill to see if I already passed it.  However if I hadn’t passed it then I would have to ride all the way up this hill again, which I REALLY didn’t want to have to do. I had just decided to head back down when I came upon another rider. I asked him if he had seen an aid station below, which he hadn’t. He tried to call his buddy who was ahead of him to ask him but only got a voicemail. By this time, the first rider who had ridden ahead came back after still not seeing any aid station. I decided to head back down the hill and the other two followed. As we got to the bottom of the hill, we discovered we had missed a turn arrow and were supposed to turn left. It’s a good thing we had all been desperate to find the aid station because the hill we had been riding up not only didn’t have an aid station, it wasn’t even part of the course.

After making the left turn, we were quickly at the fifth aid station and the 100-mile mark of the course. Dave was waiting for me there where he asked what took me so long. I explained having missed the turn and all. After resting for a bit and refueling, we started out to the final aid station of the course. This one was only 11 miles away. We started out going up a hill - not a monster hill but at this point any and all hills were taking their toll. My left knee was starting to bother me on the hills and I was just flat out tired both mentally and physically. I was starting to tell myself things like “I’ve already ridden over 100 miles on a super hard course. I can walk away and still be proud of my accomplishment, right?????” The 11-mile segment to the final aid station was wearing because it was constant up and down, but I was determined to get to the last aid station. Like the segment before, Dave had pulled out ahead and would wait for me at the aid station. About five miles out from the aid station, I was joined by a group of four riders. I think everyone was having similar thoughts to myself and that was “Where the hell is that aid station?” About one mile out, one of the guys ended up getting a flat but opted to ride it in to the aid station. We arrived at about 6:30 p.m.  Dave was sitting there waiting for me along with a few other riders.  This aid station not only had comfortable chairs but also had lots of ice and cold drinks which was really nice.

We were down to the final 14 miles of the course and most of it was actually fairly easy with rolling hills. The kicker was that nasty 1.5 mile stretch of uphill we started out on going down. Under normal circumstances, 11 miles would be nothing but we all knew that hill was waiting for us at the end and would do everything it could to try and stop us from crossing the finish line. The hotel we were staying at was even at the bottom of the hill, so there was the added temptation of just stopping and calling it a day. Dave wasn’t going to let me quit though, we had made it this far and we would get this 11 miles done together. He said we would ride the whole last segment together which we did. We started out and made our way down the road. Like I mentioned before, most of this segment was not bad at all so by around 7:10 p.m. we made it to that final hill. By this point, I was determined to finish the whole thing. I had played with the idea of bailing at the hotel (at this point, I could really care less about getting my finisher shirt and the free thing of French Fries) but by the time we got to the hill I was ready to beat it.

We began to ride up it and my knee started bothering me again, but I kept going. We made it past the Team Z cheering section, and my knee was really hurting. I looked down at my Garmin which was telling me I had already ridden over 125 miles thanks to that extra hill I rode up when I got lost, so I decided I was entitled to walk. I told Dave I would see him at the top and got off the bike and started to walk. It was really only a short distance before I arrived at a stop sign and a bit of a flat area in the hill. I didn’t really want to walk over the finish line, so I decided I would ride the rest of the way in. Dave actually waited for me before crossing and we rode over that final timing mat together, which was a really cool thing for him to do.

I can’t tell you how many times during the ride I asked myself why I was doing this ride and why I didn’t just quit. There was no finishing medal, this wasn’t even a race. In the end, just like with the Ironman, it’s about pushing yourself to your limit and then exceeding it. When you do that, there aren’t many other things in life I have found that give you that sense of gratitude.  I don’t know if I will ever do the Diabolical Double again, but I am definitely glad I did it once and can proudly say I did the entire thing.

Ironman 70.3 Hawaii - My First DNF, But Oh What A Feeling

Kona Airport

As I begin my final day in paradise, I decided it was time to reflect back over the last two weeks here in Kona, Hawaii and update this blog with my Ironman 70.3 race report. If you are someone who follows me on Facebook or Twitter then you already know that this race didn’t go exactly as planned and that I suffered my first DNF (Did Not Finish).

Now before I go into details on how this DNF happened, let me first go back two weeks to when I first arrived in Hawaii and start from there.

The trip started with me, my wife, and my bike flying out of Dulles airport. This was the first time I had ever taken my bike on a long-distance non-driving trip. I had originally hoped to ship my bike to Hawaii via Tri-Bike transport, but unfortunately they weren’t offering any pick-up locations on the east coast for this particular race, so that left me with the option of shipping it myself or just taking it on the airplane. I ended up renting a bike box from Bonzai and bringing it on the plane with me. The airline charged an additional $100 for an oversized piece of luggage so it seemed the best route to go.  Lugging a big bike box around the airport was a little challenging but all-in-all it went pretty smoothly checking it in. From there we boarded our first flight from Dulles to Denver and then from Denver to Kona. We left around 7AM ET and got to Hawaii at around 3:30PM Hawaiian time. There is a 6 hour difference between time zones, so it was a long day.

As we arrived in Kona and disembarked off the airplane, I was immediately struck with how different things are here. First of all, it was the first time I had ever been in what was essentially an outdoor airport. Everything was open with sidewalks to get from one section to the next. The different section had roofs but no walls to speak of. The weather was humid but gorgeous. My wife, Kara went over to pick up our rental vehicle (Jeep Wrangler) while I waited for our luggage to be offloaded and brought to the luggage claim area. After some wait all four bags arrived but no sign of my bike. Immediately panic began to set in, but I managed to stay outwardly calm. I went over to the help desk of the baggage claim area where only one person worked the desk, and he was already trying to help someone else find their missing luggage. One of the first things I had to get used to was the laid-back attitude towards “Hawai’i time” which meant patience (not one of my strengths) especially when I’m trying to find out where my $4,000 bike is. After some time waiting, it was finally my turn to be helped. I proceeded to ask the gentleman if he had my bike in the back by chance, which of course it was not. The gentleman told me he had offloaded three bike boxes, two of which I had seen while gathering the rest of my luggage. The third one was nowhere to be seen. The gentleman took my baggage claim number for the bike along with my personal information, told me he would begin the process of finding my bike, assured me that it would be found, then sent me on my way. At this point, all I could do was wait and hope.

As we left the airport and headed to the house we would be staying at for the next two weeks (awesome accommodations provided for us by our friends Tricia Totten and Al Denbleyker), I tried to put aside my worries about the bike and enjoy myself - after all we were in Hawaii. Driving down the Queen K, one of the main roads in Kona and a well known landmark to triathletes, I couldn’t help but notice how different the island looked from what I was expecting. For those not that familiar with the “Big Island”, it is essentially a landmass made up by multiple large volcanoes, and the Kona side of the island contains a large number of lava fields which are essentially areas of large rocky terrains. I know that doesn’t necessarily sound appealing, but when you mix in all the mountains to the one side and the ocean to the other it really does make for some very unique and breathtaking scenery. At times, it almost seems like you are on another planet.

View from the house

After arriving at the house, we unpacked and got settled in. Our hosts wouldn’t be joining us until the following day, so for the first night we explored the island on our own.  We headed for town which was five minutes away looking for a good place to eat. By this time it was 5 p.m. Hawaiian time, but our internal clocks where still on Eastern time which meant for us it was 11 p.m. We soon found a nice little seafood place near the water and enjoyed a great meal while looking out at the Pacific Ocean. After dinner, we headed back to the house and soon to bed. This was probably the first time in a very long time I had gone to bed at 8 p.m. at night but again for us it was really 2 a.m. 

The next morning I woke up very early. I actually first woke up at 3 a.m. which for me was really 9 a.m., but managed to go back to sleep until around 5:30 a.m. After getting up, I decided the first thing I would do was go for a run. The house we were staying at was up on a mountain. You could see the ocean from the front of the house which made for an awesome view, but to get down to the water and the town you had to go downhill. Not being the familiar with my location, I decided to just start running towards the ocean which meant downhill. I ran for about five miles, two of which was downhill with the remaining three on Ali'i Drive, the main oceanfront road that goes through town. The morning often starts out a bit overcast which was good because it meant I could run without having to deal with the full brunt of the sun bearing down on me. As I ran I couldn’t help but notice all the different flowers growing everywhere. My nose was immediately bombarded with all different scents, it was literally like running through a florist. I also was greeted by some of the island’s wildlife, like a family of turkeys walking down the road (there is something you don’t see everyday back home). After running out five miles, I decided it was time to turn around and head back. Of course, this meant I would now have to run uphill. If you ever thought of Hawaii as flat, you are wrong.  There are some stretches of flatness, mainly along the Queen K highway, but for the most part the terrain here is very hilly.

Once I got back to the house, I decided it was time to call the airport and find out what the status of my bike was. I ended up calling a main number for the airline opposed to a local one and they were finally able to tell me that my bike for some reason got diverted to San Francisco but was now on its way to Kona and should arrive later in the day. Hearing this was a tremendous relief. After a nice Brunch at a place called Lava Java and some more exploring, we picked up my bike and proceeded to the local bike shop called Bike Works to have the bike reassembled. We also rented a bike for Kara so she could ride during the next two weeks. She has signed up to do a small triathlon in July with her sister and has begun training for it, so we wanted to make sure she had some wheels to ride while here.

Now that I had my bike, I was anxious to get out and ride. That next morning, I headed out on the Queen K towards Hapuna Beach which is where the swim portion of the 70.3 race would take place. The distance from the house to Hapuna is about 35 miles and the plan was for me to ride out and have Kara meet me there in the Jeep where we would spend the day at the beach relaxing and also getting a feel for the swim course.

Energy Lab Center

Riding the Queen K was an awesome experience. After all this was the road where the Ironman Championship takes place, and I was riding along the same course as many great Ironman Champs like MACCA and Chrissie Wellington had rode. I rode past the Natural Energy Lab, another well known Ironman landmark and continued on through the lava fields past the airport. At this point in the ride, I first got to experience the legendary Kona headwinds. The road is fairly flat but the headwinds were like nothing I had ever experienced before. We are talking about gusts of wind up to 35-40 mph hitting you head on or even worse from the side. I can tell you that when this happens just staying upright on the bike becomes a real challenge. It took me about an hour and 50 minutes to get out to Hapuna with the last five miles of the ride being a huge challenge. I was really hoping that come race day the wind would not be as bad. Once at the beach, I waited for Kara to arrive and watched as the wind whipped the water around. It would seem the wind would not only present a challenge on the bike but on the swim as well.

Going into this race, I was somewhat nervous about the swim portion. I hadn’t thought about the wind, but this was going to be my first ocean swim race and with no wetsuit allowed I was concerned about whether I would be able to complete the race within the allotted 1 hour and 15 minute cut off time. After swimming for a bit, I quickly realized that it was true what people had told me - the salt water makes you really buoyant and makes up for a lack of wetsuit. This made me feel a bit more confident about the swim, but still I would have to deal with the waves and this swim would also be a mass start, as opposed to a wave start, so I would be starting out with 1600 competitors all at the same time.

On Thursday, I did another 20 mile bike ride with Tricia and Al who were also racing on Saturday, this time starting out from Hapuna and doing about 10 miles out and back of the 70.3 course. It was still windy but not quite as bad as when I had biked on Monday. I also did another swim of around 900 yards. Swimming out was fine but coming back in, we were hit with some really choppy waves. I can tell you this was not particularly fun, however I felt if this was the worst I would have to deal with in the race, I was feeling much more confident about completing the swim in time.

Greg Welch Swim Clinic

On Friday morning, we attended a swim clinic out at Hapuna put on by Ironman Champion Greg Welch. The buoys for the race had been put out in the water and we had a chance to swim some of the course. I also had a chance to try on a TYR skinsuit. These are suits that look very much like a basic tri-suit but are said to help you swim a little faster. They don’t have Neoprene in them like a wetsuit, but they are made with a material that is said to help trap air between yourself and the suit that I guess gives you that little extra float. I figured I needed all the help I could get so I got one for the race, and they do seem to work.

After the clinic, it was time to go pick up our packets and drop off our bikes to be racked. The race had two different transition areas. T1 was located at Hapuna Beach and T2 was located about five miles down the road at a hotel resort. You had to go to the resort to pick up your packet and attend the pre-race briefings and then take your bike over to Hapuna to be racked. The only thing that sucked about this was that the parking at the resort was a mile away from the actual building, and you had to either walk or take a shuttle from your car to the resort area then do the same to get back to your car. In other words, it took most of the afternoon to get the race packet then rack the bike.  Another strange thing with this race was that you had to bring your T2 stuff with you because they wanted you to drop off your T2 bag that day opposed to bringing it with you on race day.

70.3 Hawaii Event Center

After spending the afternoon doing all of this, we returned home for a nice spaghetti pasta dinner and soon got ready for bed. Because my body’s internal clock was still used to eastern time, I actually was able to go to bed fairly early and got a really good night sleep. We went to bed around 9 p.m. and woke up at 3 a.m.

After having some eggs for breakfast, we headed out to transition which opened at 5 a.m. Once again, we parked at the resort and took a shuttle over to Hapuna. We got to T1 around 5:30 a.m. After checking my bike, making sure my tires where inflated, and finding Tricia and Al who had arrived a little sooner than me and Kara, we proceeded down to the area where they were doing body markings. This was the first race I had done where they did the stamp markings opposed to just writing your number on you with a marker. The girl who did my markings must of thought I was an idiot because I kept messing up my number. You see my number was 969 which is the number I first told her to put on me, however I looked at the wristband I had been given the day before just to verify the number I had given her was correct and saw it as 696. Not fully thinking, I said, “Oh wait, I am sorry my number is 696 not 969”. So she wiped off the numbers and started again, until I realized I had in fact been correct the first time and that my number was 969. So for second time, she had to clean the numbers off my arm and start again. I felt like an idiot, but she was completely cool about it.

Getting Ready To Swim

After getting body marked, I headed back up to where my bike was to finish getting ready for the race. I decided I needed to hit the port-a-john before the race started so I went over and started standing in the long line. Finally, I was only four people back in line when I heard the loud speaker, “Athlete 969, your back tire has blown out on your bike. Jay Cochran, you have a blown out back tire, please report to your bike.” My first thought was, “Are you kidding me?” I bailed out of line and ran over to my bike where a volunteer was standing to tell me I had a flat. When I was riding the course earlier in the week, I had gotten a cava seed stuck in my tire which gave me a flat, and I am guessing when I changed the tube I might have pinched it, so when I inflated my tire it caused a blowout. Anyway, I didn’t want to risk messing up another tire changing it myself so I ran over to a bike tech (which was a nice thing about this race, there were plenty of bike techs around) and had them change the tire for me. About 15 minutes later, I was back in action with my bike remounted, and I proceeded to once again try to use the bathroom. Fortunately, the line was shorter now and I didn’t have to wait long.

After making sure everything was completely set up for T1, I headed down to the beach to get ready to begin my swim. As I mentioned before, this would be a mass start swim. The pros would begin first with a foghorn followed by a cannon shot to start the 1,600 age groupers from an in-the-water start. You could stay closer to shore and stand in the water, or swim out and tread water if you preferred. My plan had been to hang out towards the back of the back and stand until the cannon sounded. The course was basically a triangle shape with the first leg along the left side of the triangle for about 900 yards followed by a turn to swim left to right along the back side and a turn to come into to the swim out from the right side. The first leg of the swim went very smoothly. Hanging out towards the back of the pack seemed to have worked as I didn’t have to waste a lot of energy fighting off other swimmers or getting hit by them. I made pretty good time as I turned the first buoy. It wasn’t until I made the turn around the second buoy to begin the swim along the back stretch of the triangle that I began to run into problems. By this time, the sun had come up enough and was hitting off the water at an angle that essentially blinded the swimmers. I had planned to use a hotel building on land as a sight point for this stretch of the course, but the sun nullified that plan. Another problem was that the wind had begun to pick up to 15 mph gusts which started churning the water.

A Mass Start

At this point, finding anything substantial to sight was not going to happen since you had waves hitting you in the face and the glare of the sun blinding you. I was still seeing some swimmers off to the right side of me so I tried to follow them. It was at this point when one of the volunteers on a paddle board came up to me and indicated I was swimming too far in and needed to head out some, so taking her word for it I started heading out. At this point, I was blind as a bat and just swimming hoping I was going the right way. After some time had passed, I couldn’t help but notice I didn’t seem to be passing any more buoys, and another volunteer on a paddle board came up beside me to tell me I was swimming too far out. I looked to where he was pointing but still could not see anything. I continued to swim in but was getting really frustrated. I stopped several times to try to see where I was but could not see any buoys in front of me. I could see some behind me and saw how far out I had gone but still had nothing in front of me to really sight. Finally, I just started to aim for the central point of glare from the sun and used that to sight. Finally, I got back to the last turn buoy but looking at my watch I now had less than 10 minutes to finish the last stretch of the race and get to the swim out before the 1 hour and 15 minute cutoff. Refusing to give up, I headed for the finish and just hoped I could eke it out. As I made it to the shore, I realized I had missed the cutoff. The last stretch of the race was the shortest, but it was also against the current and it just took a little longer than I had to do it. I was out of the water at about the 1:19 mark so I had missed the cutoff time by about 4 minutes. According to my Garmin I swam 2653 yards. What was surprising was there was still a fair amount of people on the beach cheering me on and congratulating me on completing the swim. Part of me appreciated the sentiment but part of me wanted to yell why are you congratulating me, I just DNF’d. I’m a goddamn Ironman and I wasn’t able to finish this 70.3 race. I managed to bury that frustrated side of me and thanked people as I walked by who were congratulating me. Then the race director came up and collected my chip and swim cap, again I thanked him but at the same time was trying very hard to control my disappointment mainly in myself. Even then I knew this had not been a easy swim and in fact should be proud I never gave up and finished the whole thing including the extra 600+ yards I swam, but part of me also knew I failed in the overall goal of finishing the entire race. I then went up to T1 to see if Kara was there because I didn’t see her at the beach. Turns out, she didn’t know if or when I had come out of the water and was up at T1 looking for me there.  At this point, the volunteers had begun the process of closing down T1. They had to gather up all the T1 bags and take them over to T2 for when people finished the race. There were several other athletes there who had also not finished the swim in time gathering their bike and things. By the time, I go to my bike the volunteers had already grabbed my T1 bag and thrown it in a truck with all the other bags. This bag of course had my bike shoes in it so without the bag I wasn’t going to be able to ride my bike over to the T2 area. The volunteers where nice though and we ended up putting my bike in the back of the truck and I rode over with the driver to the T2 area. Kara took a shuttle over because there wasn’t enough room in the truck for both of us.

Lance Armstrong

Once over at T2, I met back up with Kara at the car and we loaded the bike in then headed back to the race area to cheer our friends Tricia and Al on who were still in the race. I got to see Lance Armstrong who won the race in a record breaking time of 3:50:58. My friends Tricia and Al also finished the race. Tricia came in 5th place for her age group and got cool Kona bowl as a trophy.

I found out later that the swim had caused problems for lots of people. Apparently the winds had gotten so strong that some of the volunteers on the paddle boards got carried out to sea and had to be rescued by the Coast Guard.  A possibility of why it took so long for a volunteer to come tell me I had swum out too far. The wind also caused one of the buoys to break loose during the race although I don’t know which one, and I also learned the lead pack of age groupers got confused and ended up turning in towards the finish line too early and once they got to the finish they were told they had to turn around and swim the entire course.

For those who made it out of the water in time, they had to face quite a few challenges on the bike and run. Wind guests by this point had gotten up to 35 mph on the bike course, and I heard there where a number of accidents. My friend Al saw one lady do a face plant on the pavement, and for the run the sun was out in full force on a course with no shade. Part of me would have liked to face those challenges because that is in fact what part of doing these races is all about, but I will be honest there was also a part of me that wasn’t too upset that I missed out on that.

Trish & Al

Though disappointed I got a DNF for this race, I have had an awesome time here on the Big Island both with fun and leisure stuff and with training on the same course that the Ironman Championships use. I have already decided that I am coming back next year to redeem myself on this race, and I also know I come away with some great experiences here that will help me on my races to come. I now know first hand why the Kona course is so challenging, it’s not the course itself but the elements and uncertainty they can throw at you. Racing here really is like racing no other place I’ve been to. It wows you with its beauty and can crush you with its temperament.

A big thanks to Trish and Al for letting us crash with them for 2 weeks.

The Columbia Triathlon - Hills, Hills, Hills

So it’s been a week since my last blog post, and with that I have another Triathlon under my belt. This time it was the Columbia Triathlon held by TriColumbia in Columbia, MD which took place this past Sunday 5/20. This was the first time I had ever done this particular triathlon but I had heard it was a good, tough race to do, so I signed up early in the year to avoid sell-out registration.  

For the week leading up to this race, I decided to really try and taper. Tapering is something I always struggle with because I don’t like to stop training. After doing the Kinetic 70.3 and Sprint triathlons last weekend and hearing that the run course on Columbia was really tough, I decided my legs could use a little RnR. That Monday I rested completely, no training at all. On Tuesday I ended up doing a pretty high-paced 30 mile bike ride followed by a 2 mile run afterwards. Wednesday, I ended up resting again with no training at all. On Thursday, I did some work in the pool for about an hour followed by an easy 60 minute ride down at Hains Point on Friday. Finally on Saturday I did an easy pace 3 mile run, again at Hains Point.

That Saturday, I also had to pick up my race packet, take my bike over to the race site, and rack it. For this race, they don’t allow you to rack your bike the day of the race. My plan was to drive over with my wife, drop the bike off, and be on my way. When we first arrived at the transition area, I learned that we had to head over to the Sheraton hotel about 2 miles away from the race venue. This is where the packets were being given out which we needed before we could take the bike into transition. So we hopped into the car and headed over to the Sheraton. Even though it was only 2 miles away, the local roads were struggling to deal with all the added pre-race day traffic so it was a little slow-going getting to the hotel. Once we finally arrived, I ran in and got my packet which went fairly smoothly or so I thought. With packet in hand, we headed back to transition. Again, slow-going due to heavy traffic. Once back at transition, I started to notice that everyone walking their bike over to the transition area was wearing a green wrist band. I had attended races before where you had to wear a wristband to enter transition, but no one at the packet pickup had said anything about a wristband and there was no wristband in my packet envelope. Before taking my bike off the car rack, I decided to go find an official for clarification. I had a sinking suspicion I was going to have to go back to the Sheraton but wanted clarification before I made the trip again. My suspicion was confirmed and a wristband was needed to get in. So with that we headed back to the hotel. Once there, I quickly ran in and found the table where the wristbands were being given out. Turns out it was a separate table from where you pick up the envelopes, and the person who gave me my envelope failed to mention that I needed to get a wristband. Of course, I do take some blame for this - mainly that if I had thoroughly read the athlete’s guide I would have seen that I needed a wristband and where the packets where being given out at. (My wife kindly did not point this out.)

With everything finally in hand we returned to transition and got the bike racked.

That night, I tried to go to bed fairly early. The race start time was 7 a.m. and transition opened at 4:45 a.m. I wanted to get there pretty close to when transition opened because they said the parking near the transition area was limited and expected to fill up fast, and I didn’t want to have to park far away and walk like 10 minutes from my car to transition. So I decided I would get up at 3:30 a.m. so I could leave the house by 4 a.m. It was a 40-minute drive from the house to the race. Despite going to bed early, I didn’t sleep well. Apparently, sometime on Saturday I was stung by a bee or something in my left arm, and it was starting to bother me. It wasn’t a horrid pain but more like an annoying pain, and with that and just the pre-race jitters I did a lot of tossing and turning.

The next morning, I woke up at 3 a.m. and decided to go on and get up. I may not have gotten a lot of sleep but decided I would cook some eggs and toast for a decent pre-race breakfast. After eating and getting dressed, I loaded up the car with my gear bags (I made sure not to forget those this time like I did at Kinetic) and hit the road.

I arrived at the race site at about 4:40 a.m., the parking was open and people were already arriving. After parking, I just hung out in my car listening to some good pre-race tunes to get me focused and relaxed for the race. Finally, I headed to transition with my gear bags and set up for the race.  Transition for this race had us pretty packed in, so there wasn’t a lot of space between bikes. I was fairly far back from the bike out area which was actually at the top of a steep hill. Unlike Kinetic where you had to mount at the bottom of a hill and then ride, this one you had to run your bike up a hill and then mount on a fairly flat area.

The weather for the day was expected to be quite nice. Sunny with temps in the mid 70’s. The water temp was a nice 70.6 degrees, so it was looking like a good day all around to race.

The swim portion started around 6:45 a.m. with the pros then kicked off with the age groupers in waves based on age and gender starting every 8 minutes or so. My wave was slated to start by 7:14 a.m. The Columbia Triathlon requires that you swim out to the start line with your wave and tread water till the horn blew. As we approached the final minutes of my wave’s race start, I swam out looking for a spot that was towards the back of the pack. My wave was large with at least 30 people in it. Finally, the horn blew for our wave to begin and we were off. It was very hard to get any kind of space to swim in the beginning. I am always afraid I am going to get kicked in the face when swimming so close to everyone, and I was particularly worried about getting hit in this race. I didn’t get kicked, but one guy kept swimming right next to me and hitting me on the top of the head like 4 times. Every time he would take a stroke, his hand would come out and over to hit the top of my head. Once or twice is one thing, but I was really getting annoyed at this guy because he seemed either completely clueless to the fact he was hitting me or just didn’t care. It was the first time in a race where I really had to restrain myself from wanting to hit someone. Finally, I managed to get away from the guy and tried to get into some kind of swim rhythm. For both the half and sprint tri’s I did the week before, I had swims that I felt pretty good with. I was hoping today I would be able to get under 40 minutes. I had not been able to get a good look at the swim course beforehand, and we started off swimming into the rising sun which was creating a glare on the water. I knew we essentially were swimming straight upstream then would be turning at some point to come back down, but I didn’t know exactly how far the turn was or how many buoys were in the water till the turn. I basically ended up just following the people in front of me and hoped they knew where they were going. This strategy worked for the most part as I don’t think I ever swam terribly off-course. I may have zig-zagged a little more than I would have liked but I have a hard time keeping my head in the water when I don’t feel comfortable knowing where I am going. I alway want to raise my head up and verify I am on course, even though the more you swim with your head up the slower you move.

Towards the end of the swim, we swam past a small little island right before the swim out location. This section of the lake was filled with lots of underwater plant life, the kind of viney/clingy plants that end up clingy on your arms as you’re swimming. Not a big deal but just another annoyance. My final swim time was 42:46. Not quite the time I was hoping for but still within the ballpark.

I decided to walk instead of run back to T1. Once I got back to my bike I quickly got my wetsuit off, my bike shoes on, grabbed my bike and made my way up the hill to the bike mount area. I had ridden the bike course of this race before so I was pretty familiar with it and knew what to expect as far as hills. It’s by no means a flat course but it didn’t have any kind of hills I wasn’t use to dealing with in more normal training routes. My biggest concern with the bike was making sure I didn’t get any flats this time.  Just in case, I packed 3 spare tubes and 3 C02 cartridges so I was well prepared.

The bike course was pretty crowded. There was really no point along the 26 mile ride where I was alone. For a good majority of the race, I kept playing the passing game with some guy who was 30. He was a bigger guy and seemed to have a similar riding style to mine, basically he was able to power up the hills which I’ve found to be my strength when my legs are fresh. I would pass him then he would pass me and as I mentioned this went on for a while. Finally at about mile 18, I got the jump on him with one of the bigger hills on the course and was able to pull away.

The bike course was pretty uneventful, no accidents that I saw and for me more specifically no flats. With the course being as crowded as it was, I was a little hesitant getting into the aero position as much as I would have liked. The course was not closed to traffic so you had to keep an eye on cars as well as other riders. I was shooting to get the ride portion of the race done in 1:15 but ended up doing it in 1:17:43. Again a little off from my goal time but still in the ballpark.

After dismounting off the bike and running back down the hill to transition with my bike in hand, I returned to my spot on the rack to find both my transition neighbors there. They had both gotten out of the water and were on the road when I first got to T1, but it would seem I made up some time on them during the bike portion. I quickly got my bike back on the rack and proceeded to change bike shoes for running shoes.

It was finally time for the last and likely the toughest portion of the race. I hadn’t seen the run course before but had heard it was one of the toughest 10k courses on the east coast for a triathlon. It also had a portion of the course with its own nickname, “The Gatorade Wall.” I normally feel pretty strong running on hills but my confidence had been shaken a bit after my lackluster performance on the Kinetic 70.3 run course. I knew a large part of my poor performance on the Kinetic run course had more to do with mental aspects than physical, but the fact is that run course had gotten the better of me and I did not want a repeat performance here.

As I started out on the run, the first thing I told myself was regardless of how bad the hills might be here, it was only 6.2 miles. Starting out I felt pretty good. My legs felt strong and had no noticeable cramps to speak of. The first mile was in the park with a pretty steep (monster) hill. I had actually run up this one a few weeks earlier during a bricknic held by the DC Tri Club. I made it up the hill and was still feeling good. Mile 2 was pretty flat and into mile 3, I was starting to feel as though the reputation of this run course was a bit overinflated. By this time, the course was taking us out of the park and through some nearby neighborhoods. This is where the real hills would be found. I started to see why the course had the reputation it did. Still, a lot of it was in shade and had people who would come out of their homes and cheer you on. At one point, a bunch of the neighborhood kids were on hand to cool us down with their Supersoakers. The one thing that did suck about this portion of the race was with the aid station. Apparently, they decided to fill up the water cups with a garden hose because I definitely got that gross rubbery garden hose taste when I drank the water there.

The hills on the course where pretty constant for the last 3 miles of the run. Even the last .2 leg of the race to the finish line they managed to get one more hill in, still I managed to finish pretty strong. Since I didn’t really know how bad the hills would be, I didn’t have a specific time goal in mind for the run. I figured unless things went really badly I could do it somewhere between 40-50 minutes. My final run time was 48:45.

Post Race Photo Op With Andy Steinfeld

My final time for the race was 2:56:20.17, This was a comparable time to the other olympic distance Tri’s I had done, but since this was the toughest olympic distance race I have done to date I was pretty happy with that time. I was also happy that I continued to build on the trend from last Sunday’s Sprint of having a issue-free race. Hopefully that trend will continue on to my next race in 2 weeks with the Hawaii 70.3 Half Ironman race. I do have concerns with that race -how well will I do a 1.5 mile ocean swim with no wetsuit?  Truth is, who cares cause I’m going to Hawaii :) Also thanks to my friend Sara who came out to cheer me on Sunday.

This is where I will be writing my next race report from :)