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!!!

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 :)

2012 Kinetic 70.3 - A Weekend Of Firsts

The Kinetic 70.3 and Sprint distance triathlons, held by Setup Events at Lake Anna State Park in Spotsylvania, VA for the Virginia Triathlon Series, saw a number of firsts for me and my would-be triathlon career this weekend.

This 70.3 race is my first half-distance Ironman race of the season and technically my first half-distance Ironman ever since the swim was cancelled at the Poconos 70.3.  I headed down to Lake Anna with my wife and several members of the DC Tri Club on Friday to avoid a long drive on the morning of the race.  Eight of us plus a dog stayed in a nice little cabin near the lake.  After picking up our race packets, we hit up the local grocery store for pre-race and race day nutrition - you know, those healthy foods like Krispy Kream donuts and chocolate chip cookies along with a nice pasta dinner to carb load.  Between the grocery run and dinner, I managed to get in a quick open water swim  to test out my sleeveless wetsuit.  I was getting tired of messing with the wetsuit sleeves, so I upgraded to a Blueseventy Helix sleeveless suit which is working quite nicely.   

After stuffing ourselves on carbs and hanging out for a bit while we got our gear prepared for the next day’s race, we all decided it was time to hit the sack around 10:30 p.m. to try for a good night sleep. Like the night before most races, pre-race day jitters, a strange bed, and a very warm room (in part thanks to one of the other guys in the cabin turning the air conditioner off during the night) made sleep difficult.

Race morning came early (4:30 a.m.), and we headed out around 5:10 a.m. after a light breakfast of eggs and cheese danish.  The race started at 7 a.m. and we were parked and ready by 5:30 a.m.  Imagine my horror when I realized I left all my gear at the cabin, 20 minutes away.  Talk about boneheaded mistakes.  My wife drove back to get my stuff while I checked in, got my body markings, and racked my bike.  She was back in plenty of time with my stuff, so the first mini-crisis of the day was averted.

The weather for the day was spectacular. The high was in the mid-70’s and sunny. The race start was delayed about 15 minutes while we waited for fog to clear over the water, but we got good pictures and made sure everything was ready for race start, including a quick jump in the lake to get that panic feeling from the first hit of cold water out of the way. Water temperature that morning was about 70 degrees. For this race, we would be swimming 1.2 miles in a triangular course with the swim buoys on our right following a beach start. I was in the fourth wave, males 40-44 years old.  

After the national anthem, the horn sounded and I was off.  For the first time, I actually passed people on the swim portion although breaking through the crowd in front of me was difficult.  Eventually the crowd began to thin, and things went pretty smoothly from there. Unlike the Olympic Distance race I had done at this lake two weeks before, this race was going quite smoothly - no fogged up goggles or breathing problems from a recent cold. My goal for the swim was 50 minutes, and I did it in 51:50. Not considered a fast time by most, but pretty good for me who sucks at swimming.

I came out of the water feeling pretty good and headed for T1 which is where things started to take a turn for the worse.  I tried to put on my bike jersey after peeling off the wetsuit.  I had decided not to wear the one piece tri-suit for this race and didn’t want to wear the jersey under my wetsuit. Turns out this was a mistake and a lessoned learned. Every time I tried to put the damn thing on, it would get twisted.  I literally had to try four different times before I finally got it on. After that and getting my shoes and helmet on I finally grabbed my bike and headed out of T1 with a horrid T1 time of 00:06:38.

The bike mount area for this race is at the bottom of a fairly steep hill so I made sure my bike was in a low gear. After getting on and clipping in, I began to pedal up the big hill still feeling pretty good and then it happened. Not two minutes into the bike portion of the race, I heard one of the worst noises you can hear in a race, a loud POP.  I was close enough to the transition area, that I thought some kind of starter gun had gone off.  No such luck, my front tire had just blown.  I had done a Century ride the weekend before where I first started experiencing tire problems.  It had been the back tire then, now the front tire wanted a turn. One good thing about having the flat the weekend before, I had practiced my tire changing skills.  About the time that I got the old tube off, a gentleman in a SUV pulled up and asked if I needed a pump. I don’t know how many of you have ever had to change a flat but I can tell you it is easier to do with a pump than those C02 cartridges, so I said sure.  At first I thought he was a SAG driver associated with the race, but as we installed the new tube I realized he was just someone there cheering on his wife. I was a little concerned I might get penalized for accepting outside assistance during the race, but at this point I wasn’t going to tell him to go away. After getting my first of two spare tubes on the wheel, the gentleman began to pump up the tire. Unfortunately he pumped it up a little too much and ended up popping it. Now down to only one spare tube, I quickly changed out the second busted tube and asked if he would mind if I inflated it.  After thanking the gentleman for his help, I was finally back on my way. My Garmin was set so that it would stop timing if I wasn’t moving so I didn’t know for sure how many minutes the flats had set me back.  What I did know was that I had no more spare tubes left, so if I got another flat I was going to be SOL.

The race course consisted of two loops and was fairly flat. A few hills were nothing I wasn’t used to in my regular training rides. My original goal was to complete the 56 mile bike portion in under three hours.  For the first portion of the ride, I ended up riding with some of the guys with the fancy disc wheels. They were already on their second loop while I was still on the first, but it gave me something to focus on. I would pass them then they would pass me. This went on for a bit - helps pass the time and beats riding out there all alone. The second loop got pretty lonely though. I was making good time on the bike but had a lot of ground to make up after the slow swim (normal for me) and dealing with the flats.  As I started on my last 15 miles of the bike ride, I noticed my front tire was feeling a little funny. It didn’t really feel like a flat, but it didn’t feel quite right either.  As I made the next turn, I realized it was in fact a flat. The tire wasn’t totally flat like before but it definitely had lost a lot of air. I was faced with the possibility of my first DNF. I had no more spare tubes and even though the tire wasn’t completely flat, could I honestly expect to ride 15 more miles on this thing? As I made the next turn, one of the cops directing traffic yelled out “Your tire is flat” as I rode by.  I thought to myself “no shit” but just kept on riding. I finally decided to pull over and fully assess the situation. It dawned on me that even though I didn’t have any spare tubes left I did still have some C02 cartridges, and since this appeared to be some kind of slow leak I decided to pump the tire up and hope it would last long enough to finish out the ride.

At this point, I really wasn’t concerned about time and just wanted to finish the race. I started riding again but at a moderate pace, especially on turns.  Going into the aero position was no longer an option either at this point. Amazingly though I was still able to pass people but with my focus on the tire and just finishing, I was no longer bothering with nutrition and apparently I even racked up my first penalty as I got dinged 4 minutes for some kind of position penalty. The best I can figure is that I was concentrating more on my tire and less on if I was riding too far left. In fact I stayed away from the right side of the road because it was bumpier road than in the middle.

I finally made it back to transition after taking the final downhill super-slow. I felt my tire again in transition and it was very low on air again. My official bike time ended up being 3:18:34 plus the 4 minute penalty. My Garmin, which didn’t count the time I was stopped changing tires, said my bike time was 2:53:25 including the slower pace for the last 15 miles.

Once I got my bike remounted and my running shoes on, I was off to complete the last leg of the race. My T2 time was 00:02:54. After dealing with all the flat tire issues, I was feeling mentally drained. I felt like my overall time goal in the neighborhood of 5 1/2 hours was now out of reach, so all I really wanted at this point was just to be done with the race. The run consisted of the same loop three times for a total of 13.1 miles. You start out by running up this monster hill which I knew.  Little did I know that this run course was nothing but hill after hill, much of it in the glaring sun. As I completed the first loop of the run, I started to experience some cramps in my upper back. I don’t know if this was caused from dehydration or by a new pair of Newton shoes which had been fine on shorter runs but now seemed to be bothering my feet on this longer run with all these hills. Either way, it was dawning on me that this was not going to be an easy run. Having done the first loop, I now knew exactly was to expect for the next two... hills and lots of them. Halfway through the second loop, knowing I had a bunch more hills to run and figuring my goal time was totally screwed, I was finding it harder and harder to convince myself to keep pushing myself through these back cramps. Finally, I started walking. This may be mental more than anything, but once I start walking in a race I find it that much harder to start running again. Things start tightening up and it just gets harder and harder to push myself. I spent a lot of the last half of the run walking. My final run time was 2:32:10 making my total race time a dismal 6:56:04.

This was not a time I was terribly happy with. I was very happy that many of my friends who also did this race had PR’s and very good races, but I couldn’t help feel a bit discouraged.

Many of the people who stayed at the cabin the night before headed for home on Saturday, but my wife and I stayed through Sunday with two friends.  That morning, I woke up around 5:30 a.m. and decided I wanted to do the Sprint distance race starting at 9 a.m. I originally had not planned to do this race but felt I needed some kind of redemption from the day before. It wasn’t really about the time, but more about I wanting to have a problem-free race. I was beginning to feel like I was cursed or something. Most my gear was still in the car, so I got up, kissed my wife, and headed off to the park to see if race-day registration available. I also needed to see if I could get my tire fixed. The answer to both was yes. The bike technicians were able to get my tire fixed up and gave me a new spare tube. This was the first time I had ever done a Sprint distance race which consists of a 750 meter swim, 18 mile bike, and 5k run. I didn’t really have any major time goals in place but wanted that problem-free race. My legs felt a little tired from the day before but overall I felt pretty good. The weather like the day before was fantastic. The water temperature was 68 degrees, a couple degrees cooler from the day before. I did the swim in 19:46 which I was pretty happy with.  Like before, not a fast time but good for me. I went with the one piece tri-suit for this race which gave me a better T1 time of 00:03:54.

The bike course was different from the day before. Obviously a shorter distance but they threw in more hills to make it a little tougher. I did it in 54:04.  More importantly though, I had no flat tires.

The run consisted of one lap similar to the laps from the day before. In other words, hills. I managed to do it 24:38. Not bad for a hilly course and considering I just did a half Ironman race the day before. My overall time for the Sprint was 01:44:38.

Obviously, a Sprint is not the same as doing a 70.3 race but it was great getting a problem-free race under my belt and will hopefully set the tone for the rest of my season. Next up is the Columbia MD Olympic distance triathlon next weekend.

For one final first for the weekend, I met four-time Ironman champion Chrissie Wellington at a book signing for her new book that afternoon. She was great and gave me some advice for my 70.3 race in Hawaii coming up next month.

Oh and a big shout-out to my wife for supporting me this weekend and for taking tons of great pictures.

Pocono Mountains Half Ironman Race Report - My Almost first 70.3 Race

The morning of race day

This race report is for my almost first half-Ironman race. Since I completed Ironman Louisville, I’ve been looking for one more race to finish out my inaugural season of triathlons. Originally, that final race was going to be the Nation’s Triathlon which was held locally on 9/11. Not only would it be my last race of the season, I could redeem myself for my performance in the similarly designed DC Triathlon in June.  (I decided to try out running with no socks during that race. I am not sure if my feet have forgiven me yet.) Thanks to the monsoon season of rain we have been experiencing on the East Coast this fall, the swim portion of Nation’s was canceled.  Although I had a good race overall, it didn’t seem like an appropriate way to end the season. So I decided to do the half Ironman in the Pocono Mountains (1.5 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run).  As my first half Ironman, I thought it would be a good note to end the season. Mother Nature is laughing at me.

For those of you unfamiliar with the area, the Poconos are basically a resort area on the PA, NJ, NY border and surrounding the Delaware Gap National Park.  My wife and I spent New Year’s skiing there, so we were familiar with the geography.  Did I mention this was the inaugural race for this area? 

After signing up for the race, I tried to book a room at the Fernwood Resort, the official race headquarters and the hotel we used in January.  After hearing the “No Vacancy” news from this hotel and every other hotel in the area I decided I had two choices, book a hotel almost 30 miles away from the race or stay at the nearby Pocono Palace, an all-inclusive resort for honeymooners.  Not wanting to get up at 4 a.m., we opted for the Palace, although I was disappointed we didn’t get a heart-shaped bed.

With final race of the season chosen and housing arrangements made, I just needed to train and wait for race day to arrive. Fast forward to the week of the race. The extended forecast predicted no rain and low temperatures (low 42 to high 52).  This was quite the change since all my triathlons have been in the spring and summer months, and I had trained primarily for hot weather races. My first concern was that I was going to freeze my butt off getting out of the water. Yes, wetsuits would be allowed for the swim (thank god), but I was still going to be freezing once I got out of the river. Of course, none of this really mattered because the weather in the area continued to deteriorate as the week progressed. Heavy rains fell most of the week, and now it looked like it would rain all weekend as well. By Friday, the swim was canceled, and my plan to end the season with a full triathlon was nixed.  Though not a huge fan of swimming, I was pretty disappointed. I had been working on my swim technique quite a bit since Louisville and was really looking forward to see how much progress I had made.

While I no longer had to be concerned with freezing once I got out of the water, it was looking more and more like I would be racing in the pouring cold rain.  The day before the race, we woke up at 5 a.m. to drive the four hours to the Poconos.  we checked in, grabbed my race packet, and joined the pre-race briefing to hear about the revised time-trial bike start and several warnings to avoid the walnuts on the course.  (No joke, walnuts.)

Originally, shuttles from the Fernwood would take athletes to the river several miles away.  T1 was a short distance from Swim Out then off to the bike course which ended at a separate T2 at the local high school.  Run an out-and-back for a finish through downtown and into the area Oktoberfest.  With the swim canceled, things changed a bit.    Instead of dropping our bike gear at T1, we brought the gear with us in the morning.  With the swim, we would have started in waves based on our age with each wave jumping in the water at a designated time. Now we would start on the bike using a time-trial fashion. The bikes were racked by bib number with athletes released in numeric order.  The lower your number, the less time you spent waiting in transition.  My number was 1976 of 2000.  A long, tedious wait followed by lots of time spent passing.

After the coordinators finished with the course changes, it was time for the head race official.  Now I’ve heard the Ironman rules before and if you read my Ironman Louisville race report, you know these rules don’t seem to be strictly enforced for general age groupers. This particular official seemed proud of the number of penalty flags issued by her team.  She predicted the penalty tents would be incredibly full - and even talked about stopping to pick up your dropped water bottles to avoid disqualification for unsportsmanlike conduct.  My first thought was, “Are you kidding me?”  One of the things I knew based on my experience from the bike start on the Nation’s Tri is that everyone piles into tiny lanes at the same time because there is no swim portion to thin out the crowds.  Preventing drafting and blocking in a race like this is almost impossible. Maybe the official was trying to scare us to cut down on rules violations they had no way to enforce.  (Turns out I was right, plenty of people drafted with nary an official in sight.) 

The rain was still holding off so after we racked my bike at T1, we headed out to drive the course on our way to T2 to drop my run gear bag.  It was quickly apparent the 56-mile course was going to be very challenging.  I originally hoped to finish the bike leg in 3 hours but revised that estimate to 3 1/2 to 4 hours depending on the weather.  The course was hill after hill with at least three OMG hills. Many of the downhill portions ended with fairly sharp turns causing you to have to slow down and lose any real momentum. Add to that wet roads with wet leaves and huge nuts that kept falling from the trees. My concern in Louisville was getting out of the water; for this race I was quickly becoming concerned with coming out of the bike course alive, especially if it was going to be pouring down rain. The run course had its share of hills as well but nothing I wasn’t used to.

Finally after checking out the courses and dropping all our stuff, we headed to dinner at a local Italian restaurant (have to stock up on those carbs) then hit the local grocery store to stock up on some last minute race day snacks. After a relaxing stint in the room’s hot tub it was time for bed. Unlike Louisville where I got next to no sleep, I was going to get plenty of rest for this one. During the night, the rains returned so hard I actually woke up from the rain hitting the roof of the hotel. By 5 a.m., the rain thankfully had stopped.

Dressing in layers for a cold race day start

After I packed everything I needed for the race in a bag, my wife drove me over to Fernwood to catch a shuttle (school bus) to the T1 area. Spectators weren’t allowed down at the T1 spot, so my wife just dropped me off and headed back to our hotel to get a couple more hours of sleep. I had a long wait ahead of me. I sat in the Fernwood lobby for about 40 minutes waiting for the last shuttle to arrive around 6:30. It took about 15 minutes to get down to the T1 area where I proceeded to my bike rack. After removing the covers I had put on the handle bars and seat to keep it dry from the night rain, I dried the rest of my bike, checked the tires for air, and made sure everything was in good working order. Now all I had to do was wait. I made sure to dress in layers for this race as I knew the day was going to start off very cold and possibly even wet, but as the day went on and things warmed up I likely was going to want to easily remove the warmer garments. This would be my first Tri in the cold so I was treading some new ground with how I should dress. I packed everything from your basic tri kit to long leggings and a long-sleeved shirt. I opted to wear basic tri shorts and a sleeveless tri top with arm warmers and a windstopper short-sleeved cycle jersey. On top of that, I put on running pants and a water-proof bike jacket. Oh, and I had a skull cap on to keep my ears warm under my bike helmet.

The race was supposed to start at 7 a.m. but was delayed to 7:15ish. Either way, I knew I wouldn’t be crossing the starting line till at least 8:30 a.m.. Fortunately, the rain held off for the entire race and I did not have to sit there in the rain.  It was quite chilly. After the National Anthem was sung and we heard a mile had to be taken off the course due to overnight flooding, the pros got started from first rows. Of course, being all the way in the back I really couldn’t see much. Deciding I wouldn’t be starting off in the rain, I decided to leave the rain jacket and just wear the tri shorts and top with the cycle jersey over top and the arm warmers to keep my arms warm. This was definitely the right call. After patiently waiting and pacing and watching, it was finally time for my row to head to the start line. The time was like 8:33 a.m., so I had estimated my start time fairly accurately. I ran to the bike mounting area over the time mat, hopped on my bike and was off.

The course starts with in a parking lot type area leading to a left turn to a quick up and back. Unlike with Louisville where my primary goal was to simply finish, I wanted to push myself hard with this race so that’s what I did. Right off the bat, I pushed hard. I had a bit of a pain in my lower back which I had actually been dealing with all week. This made it more difficult to get in the aero-position, but truthfully this wasn’t really much of an aero-postion type of race. At first the cold caused my heart rate to speed up faster than what I am used to, so I did end up pulling it back a notch for a short bit but as I got going I quickly warmed up and my heart rate returned to normal. After completing the first up and back, I knew the first set of big hills would soon be upon me. As I approached the first OMG hill (within the first 5 miles of the course), already I was seeing other riders who had stopped to either rest or walk their bike up the hill. I had seen people walk in the run portion of a triathlon but this was the first time I had seen people walk their bike in a race. There was one lady off to the side resting against a guardrail who looked as if she was on the verge of a heart attack. I heard another rider who must have thought the same thing ask her if she was alright as we went by and she said yes, she just needed to catch her breath. Knowing this hill was only the beginning, I thought if people were already struggling they might as well hang it up now.

As the race went along I continued to push my self hard. There was always a steady stream of people in front of me since I basically started at the back of the pack and had to make my way to the front, so getting complacent was never much of an issue. Almost from the beginning, I played tag with another racer in front of me as we took turns passing each other.  This went on until almost the very end of the race. We even joked with each other about it as we kept passing one another. He was faster than me on the straight-aways but I was always able to overtake him on the hills. I think the last OMG hill towards the end must have slowed him down enough though, because I didn’t see him after that.

At one point in the course, I had two riders wipe out right by me. One guy decided he was going to try and pass in a pack of riders, and I guess he ended up pushing another rider over to the right where he hit one of those plastic orange cones used to divide the lanes. When he hit, he wiped out causing the guy behind him to also crash. Both riders ended up with only some scratches and bruises.

During another leg of the race, a car ended up driving onto the bike course causing us to stop for a second. They weren't race officials, just someone who somehow ended up at the wrong place at the wrong time. The rider next to me wasn’t happy she had to slow down for this, but I just blew it off and started pushing hard once again.

For nutrition up to this point I had my usual bottle of Gatorade and water on my bike. I had eaten a banana and a box of Frosted Flakes cereal right before the race start and overall was feeling pretty good. I had a Gu pack on the bike and a Kit Kat bar in my cycle jersey. As I was approaching the last 15 miles of the bike course I was contemplating whether to stick with just the liquids or have either the Gu or Kit Kat. Before I could decide though, I came upon the biggest of the OMG hills. This thing was a monster. I don’t know the exact elevation of it but it was steep and it was long. The front tire of my bike actually came up off the ground a bit as I was pedaling. This one had quite a few people walking it, but I wasn’t going to be one of those people. Kicking it into the lowest gear on the bike which I seldom use, I made my way up that monster.

After that I had no choice, I was beginning to feel it and needed an extra boost. I knew the Gu was probably the better choice but I really don’t like those things, so I decided to eat just a small portion of the Kit Kat. I didn’t want a repeat of Louisville and have bad cramps on the run portion of the race. It seemed to work as I was feeling better and no cramps, though probably the Gu would have been better overall.

As I approached the end of the bike portion, my butt was sore and my back was still bothering me a bit but overall my legs felt good. I rolled into the dismount area looking to see if my wife was there. She wasn’t, turns out she had gotten stuck in traffic trying to make her way to the T2 area. As I mentioned before, this was the first year for this race and I think it’s safe to say the coordinators have quite a few bugs to work out for next year especially when it comes to coordinating the traffic and spectators.


My final bike time was 2:55:12. In T2, I racked my bike which to my surprise caused the entire rack to begin tipping over. I managed to catch it before that happened and saw one of the legs on the rack had come loose and so after playing with it for a few minutes I got it to stay up. This wasn’t a good start to my T2 time. After that, I realized I had forgotten to untie the laces on my running shoes (yes I have laces on my shoes). Of course this was after I had already taken one of my bike shoes off so I had to hop on one leg trying to untie the shoe cause I didn’t want to put my socked foot down on the wet ground. Finally after 6 minutes I was out of T2 and on my way to do the run.

Crossing the finish line

The run portion begins out the back of a high school. You actually run part way around the school’s track then out the parking lot onto a main road through the town. The course is basically a long up and back, where we ran out to about the 7-mile mark then turned around and came back. Things start out flat but I had to take on a number of hills before all was said and done, no OMG hills thankfully though. As I began running I thankfully had no stomach cramps. The pain in my lower back was there but nothing I couldn’t deal with. My legs overall felt pretty strong which was surprising after coming off that bike course. Still I wasn’t getting my pace up as quickly as I wanted to. I was running about a 9-minute pace the first half of the race as opposed to the 6-7 minute I would have liked to have seen. I attribute this partly to a very tough bike course, but also to the fact that I had gotten a little lazy in my training and had not done very many brick sessions (this is when you ride your bike and then do a run right after) since Louisville. By the second half of the race I had gotten my pace up in the 7-minute range. The weather was perfect for running and by this point I had shed my cycle jersey, arm warmers and skull cap. I grabbed water at several of the aid stations to make sure I stay hydrated and at one point contemplated stoping to pee, but decided I could hold it till the end of the race. There were a number of people opting to walk the race and on more than one occasion, I would hear people who were walking in pairs talking about how they were unhappy the swim portion had gotten canceled. I couldn’t help but think to myself, “If you can’t complete the race without walking with no swim, how can you really be upset there wasn’t one?”

As we got to the 12-mile marker one runner started saying how we were almost to the finish line, and another one said he wished it was the 13-mile marker. I yelled out it’s just around the corner when a spectator on the sidewalk jokingly yelled out, “I hear runners talking, they must not be pushing themselves very much.” I couldn’t help but laugh.

As I rounded the final turn, the finish line was in sight. There were several runners in front of me so I decided to kick it in high gear to pass as many of them as I could before crossing the line. The crowd was cheering and the adrenaline was pumping. Running down the chute of this race was nothing like the excitement of Ironman Louisville, but it was still a great feeling nonetheless. I crossed the line with a final run time of 1:52:31.

This race wasn’t a perfect race in large part due to the weather and in some part due to the its youth as a race. Despite that, it was a very challenging race even without the swim, and I was happy to finish my first Tri season with it. If I do a race in October next year though, I hope it’s in Kona :)

The finisher medal

Results:
Division M35-39 Place: 75/193
Overall Male Place: 301/907
Bike Time: 2:55:12
T2 Time: 6:03
Run Time: 1:52:31
Overall Time: 4:53:46

2011 Ironman Louisville Race Report

I was reading triathlete and fellow DC Tri Club member CourtneyFulton’s Ironman Louisville race report yesterday, and it got me thinking about the blog I started all those months ago when I first decided to sign up for Louisville. Of course, I never updated that blog but thought I would give my own race report on my first Ironman – if for no other reason than to have a written account of the experience, so I can look back years from now when the memory has started to go and reflect on one of the most exciting days of my life.

First, let me give a little background on my journey to get to race day since I did such a bad job maintaining this blog over the months. When I first decided to sign up for Ironman Louisville (Swim 2.4 miles, Bike 112 miles, Run 26.2 miles)    back in January, I had never done a triathlon of any distance before.  Although I did a fair amount of running to stay in shape, I didn’t really considered myself a runner meaning someone who competes in races on any kind of regular basis. Yes, I had done a few races including the Marine Corps Marathon back in 2009 with a time of 4:29:15, my greatest achievement to that point in my running/triathlon career. So when I registered for the Ironman, I had little idea of what I was getting into and no idea what I could expect from it. I was signing up as a challenge to myself, and my only goal was to finish.  

As I reflect over the last nine months, I can tell you I have learned a lot, met a lot of great people, and frankly gotten totally hooked on triathlons. Since I started training for Ironman Louisville, I completed a number of running races including the National Marathon where I got my time down to 3:33:46 and a number of Olympic distance triathlons (Swim 1.5k, Bike 40k, Run 10k)  including the DC Triathlon where I had a finishing time of 50:49 (Not my best time, but a great race). I also met a lot of great people (Elaine, Jeff, Jen, Sara, Gary, Jason, Brent) and trained with some awesome folks who also were doing Ironman Louisville (Dave, Art, Hilary).  I probably wouldn’t have been able to  finish this race if it hadn’t been for them and their help along the way. Oh, and then there was the support of family and existing friends which was invaluable. Just to name a few, Dad, Pam, Bob, Susan, David, Amie, Shanna, Doug, and most importantly my wife Kara.

That’s enough background, now on to the actual race report. I will start with the day we left the house and headed to Louisville, Ky. The race was on Sunday August 28, and we left home the preceding Tuesday. We drove; it was only eight hours and cheaper than flying (not to mention carrying my bike with us). The day we left, the East Coast was hit with a 5.8 earthquake while we were on the road. We later learned there was no damage where we lived, but the news did cause a little unexpected stress at the time as we contemplated whether we should turn around and go back home or keep going.  We decided to keep going, and eventually got in touch with our neighbor who was watching the house for us – she told us everything was okay. Earthquakes wouldn’t be the only natural disaster we would have to worry about. A Hurricane named Irene was making her way up the East Coast that week, threatening to hit the Washington DC area where we live but also NC were my in-laws live. They tell you when you do an Ironman, you have to prepare for the unexpected but this was getting ridiculous. As much as Irene sucked, it did have one positive effect. Despite making the weather on the East Coast horrible, it did help create perfect weather for race day in Louisville. Instead of having temperatures in the high 90’s or low 100’s like the year before, our temperatures were in the mid-80’s. 

The swim portion of the race.

So back to Tuesday.  We arrived in Louisville that night, and over the next few days, I met with friends and family, did some light training, mapped the course, and did everything I could to avoid stressing out. The Saturday before the race, the nerves were getting pretty high – mainly because I was worrying about finishing the swim within the allotted time. Ironman Louisville has a time trial start which is unique for an Ironman race.  You have 2 hours and 20 minutes from the time the last person is in the water to complete the 2.4 mile swim. The way it works is you get in line (first come first serve) and when the race starts, people jump in the water two at a time every few seconds.  It takes about 30 minutes to get everyone in, so the sooner you get in the water the more extra time you have on top of the allotted 2 hours and 20 minutes to finish the swim portion. The swim is my weakest part of the race (I am a slow swimmer), and because the water temperature was so warm I couldn’t wear a wetsuit (which basically means you swim even slower).  I was concerned that if I was one of the last people in the water, I wouldn’t be able to finish in time. Saturday morning, we were given the opportunity to do a practice swim in the Ohio River which was really a good thing. Louisville’s swim course is 900 meters upriver between an island and the river bank, 400 meters straight upriver to a turn, then downriver the rest of the way. The current really helps on the long portion of the race and once I saw how much during the practice swim, I started to feel much more confident about finishing in time. Later that day, I took my bike to be racked and dropped off my race bags. Unlike most triathlons, the bike and run gear goes in different bags to be stored in the transition area.  During the race, a volunteer brings you the bag for the next leg of the race when you get to transition and enter a big tent to change.  It’s pretty cool, almost like you are waited on in transition. 

Me, Dave and Art waiting in line for the swim to start.

As Saturday night approached, the nerves returned full force. I wanted to go to bed early and get a good night sleep, but that just wasn’t going to happen. I basically lay in bed tossing and turning all night getting very little actual sleep. As much as I tried, I just couldn’t turn off my mind.  Finally 3:30 a.m. arrived, and it was time to get out of bed and get ready. My wife who didn’t get much sleep either (I think she was almost as nervous as I was) got up with me.  After getting dressed, we headed down to the hotel lobby to meet Dave and Art (who I had trained with for this race) and walked over to transition. Once in the lobby, we were greeted by Dave and his wife who were staying in the same hotel as us. Art had not arrived but he was staying at a hotel down the street. We waited about 30 minutes but finally decided to head over without him (not to worry – Art met us over there in plenty of time.) After a quick stop at transition just to check on our bikes, we headed over to the swim start area a little less than a mile away. A fair number of people were already waiting in line when we arrived at swim start, although we had more people in line behind us than in front of us. After watching the sun come up as we waited in line, start time approached.

The swim start line

First the pro’s start, then the National Anthem and the Kentucky Derby call to post (with the bugle) was performed. Finally, after standing in line, several bathroom breaks, and a last-minute banana and Gu pack, it was 7:00 a.m. and time for the race to start. It didn’t take us very long to get in the water; we were in by 7:10ish. It was actually one of my smoothest starts for a swim. Normally, I will get short of breath after the initial jump, but today I was calm and my breathing was steady. As I swam, people would periodically come up behind me and bump into my legs or back as they passed me. Having people bump or grab onto you while you swim is a pain, but nothing like it would have been if it was a mass start swim (think 2,500 people all jumping in the water at the same time). I knew the harder part of swim was the upriver part, and once I got around the island it would be downhill from there so to speak. Besides having the current with you for most of the race, this race offers plenty of sightlines (such as three huge bridges) so you always know where you are. Keeping track of your progress can be challenging in open water swims, but here it was no problem at all. There was also a small portion where you could actually walk a bit in the water. I saw others doing this so I stopped and walked a couple feet just to get my barring. I felt good for most the swim but my right calf started cramping towards the end of the course, so I had to turn on my back and float a bit while I rubbed it out. Finally I was out of the water with a time of 2:13:06.  At this point, I knew I was going to finish this race, and you could tell because I had a big smile.

Coming out of the water with a big smile.

As I ran to T1 from the river, my family was there on the sidelines cheering me on and high-fiving me and with that I felt a new burst of energy. Once in the tent, I pulled my bike stuff out of my bag, put on some sunscreen, changed into my tri shorts and a cycle jersey, sipped some water, and headed out to my bike. Along the way, I decided to stop by the port-a-potty and go to the bathroom before hitting the road. Most races the bathroom isn’t a huge issue for me, but with this race I decided it was better to stop and go now then having to go somewhere along the road. 

Again as I mounted my bike and began to ride out, there was my family cheering me on and giving me more energy to get the job done. The first 10 miles of the bike course is very flat so it’s easy to push yourself too hard starting out. I wanted to pace myself and my leg where it had cramped up in the water was still feeling a little tender, so I didn’t want to push too hard. I soon came upon two riders and had to decide if I wanted to pass them or not. In triathlons, you aren’t allowed to draft behind other bike riders, and the rules say you have to pass someone within 20 seconds or back off. Since this was my first Ironman, I wasn’t sure how closely they watched these things and was a bit concerned if I passed the first person but not the second one I could end up too close to the second rider and be in danger of getting a drafting penalty. As the race went on, I realized that the rules weren’t really enforced any more than any other race, at least not for us non-pro's this far back. If I was behind another rider for a few seconds, I wasn’t going to get penalized.  This early in the race though, I thought I would play it safe. Eventually, I decided to pass both riders and went on my merry way. 

The bike course in Louisville is very hilly and to make it even worse, there is very little shade on the course. As I mentioned before, the temperature thankfully was only in the mid-80’s instead of the upper 90’s.  By this point in the day, the sun was out full force and even in the 80’s, it was getting pretty hot. I knew the key to this portion of the race was to stay hydrated. I made sure to keep drinking Gatorade throughout the course, and I switched out my water at every aid station. One portion of the course is an out-and-back that takes you down a very steep hill and over a small bridge. In the course briefing, they even warn you to be very careful on this leg of the race.  By the time I arrived, there apparently had already been a four-bike crash. As I rode by, one guy was being put on a stretcher with a neck brace. As you can imagine, I made sure to be careful. 

Waving to my family as I ride by.

About half-way through the course you get to a town called La Grange where spectators are shuttled to via bus to cheer athletes on. You actually ride through this area twice, and both times my family was there cheering me on. The first time through I was feeling fine, but on the second loop I was beginning to feel it a bit so having them there giving me incentive was nice. Just after the second pass through La Grange, I could get my special needs bag – another feature unique to Ironman races.  The bag contains the mid-race supplies I had packed and dropped off that morning.  My bag contained some aspirin, a Coke and a Kit Kat bar. I took the aspirin, ate half the Kit Kat, and drank the Coke for an extra boost of energy. One of the volunteers also was nice enough to get me some ice that I used to cool my Gatorade back down. I had been switching out my water bottles, but I really did not like the Powerade they served on the course so I had been sticking with my Gatorade which by this point had gotten quite warm. 

With a new burst of energy, I was on the road once again.  On the first loop of the course, I was riding with many of the faster riders who were on their second loop with their expensive race bikes and fancy wheels that make a very unique noise as they go by, but on the second go-around for me it was much quieter with fewer people on the road. This is the stretch where you have to try and stay focused. At this point, I basically was ready to get off the bike with nothing to distract me from the aches and pains in my neck and butt.  Finally, I made my way to the final 10 miles - the same flat 10 miles I started on. I knew I was home free but the break between aid stations is a bit long in the final 20 mile-ish stretch. As I rolled into the transition area, my neck was really tired and my butt was really sore. I completed the bike in 7:04:50. I got off my bike and handed it off to a volunteer to rack. At this point, I noticed my family was not around (turns out they miscalculated the time a bit and showed up late) but figured they would be around soon.  I grabbed my run bag and headed into the tent to prepare for the last leg of the race, the run.  I was tired but overall was still feeling pretty good. However, I was concerned about dehydration so I began to drink lots of water, Coke, and ate some cashews I had in my bag for salt. I believe this was my biggest mistake of the race.

Running while trying to deal with cramps.

At the half-way point.

After changing and resting for a few minutes, I made my way out of the tent and began to run. Still no sign of the family, but at this point I just wanted to get going and get the run done. The first part of the run takes you out and back over a bridge into Indiana which is about a mile when all is said and done. At this point, the sun is still shining fiercely and it hits you pretty hard on that bridge. My legs were feeling pretty strong all things considered, but my stomach started cramping. This is something I’ve never really dealt with in a race before; yeah, I’ve experienced cramps before but usually in my shoulder or someplace like that, and can run through them. These were strong cramps in my stomach, and I was afraid I had put too many liquids and too much food in it during transition. I started to walk to see if I could get the cramps to stop, and at the first aid station I tried to drink some Powerade which was really gross. Trying to run again was still a no go, the cramps weren’t letting up. I knew I had plenty of time to finish the race, but I really didn’t want to walk 26.2 miles. Running was always my strongest event in triathlons, and I was damned if I was going to be foiled on the part of the race where I should be strongest.  As I approached the second aid station, I started getting that cotton mouth feeling which told me I was getting dehydrated but I didn’t want to dump a ton of liquids on my stomach either. I decided to take a cup of cold water and sip it while I walked. This actually seemed to work as the cramps began to let up. I started to run again, but by the time I got to the next aid station the cramps had returned. So I repeated the process of grabbing a cup of cold water and sipping it while walking and then began to run again. It certainly wasn’t an optimal solution, but it was better than walking the whole thing.


Once off the bridge, the run course basically is two big loops; you actually run right past the finish line when you complete the first loop. As I got to the end of the first loop, my family had caught up with me and was cheering me on. This plus seeing the finish line gave me another burst of energy, but the cramps had started returning with more frequency. Sipping cold water while walking kept the cramps at bay less and less. By this time, the sun had started to go down so heat was becoming less and less of an issue but had been replaced by general fatigue coupled with the cramps. I knew even if I walked the rest of the way I would still be able to get to the finish line in plenty of time before the midnight cutoff, so the decision I had to make was to push it to get a better time or take it easy to make sure I finish. As the race went on, I saw more and more athletes who had crashed and burned and were laying on the side of the road not able to move under their own power.  I did not want that happening to me.

As I got to the last 10 miles of the race, I decided I probably only had a few run bursts left and I wanted to make sure I had one of those bursts left to run over the finish line. At this point, my nephew and brother-in-law caught up to me and started walking with me on the side of the road cheering me on. Then at the final turn, my dad and sister were waiting for me to cheer me on and as I made that turn, I could see the finish line and began to run with everything I had left. My sister actually started running on the sidewalk beside me and for a second I thought she was going to run faster than me. As I ran the final stretch down the chute, I was amazed how many people were there cheering me on. People were reaching out to me for high fives on both sides of the road. I only had energy to reach out to those on the left side, but it was an awesome feeling high-fiving all those people as I crossed the finish line and heard the words “Jay Cochran, you are an Ironman” on the loud speaker. My run time was 5:56:56. As much as I wanted to just stop and enjoy this moment, the final burst of energy sent my stomach over the edge and I had only minutes to find a trash can. I quickly grabbed my finishing medal and motioned I was going to be sick. Fortunately a garbage can was nearby, and I was quickly ushered over by a very helpful aid (thanks, Claire).  After throwing up some water and sitting for a minute, I went over and hugged my wife and other members of my family, had some pictures taken, and enjoyed the moment. I had done it. I was an Ironman.  My overall time was 15:43:35, not quit the time I was shooting for but the important thing was I had finished.

My Mdot tat combines my love of comics and tri's.

When I got back to the hotel, I went on Facebook to see how everyone who wasn’t there in-person had been following my progress on Ironman Live and been cheering me on.  It was really awesome to see all the comments and posts from everyone. I also tried to eat some solid food but that just wasn’t going to happen. It was a day or so before I was able to eat normally again, but I didn’t care. The next day, my wife treated me to an hour and a half deep tissue massage then I went for my M-dot tattoo. I also hit up the Ironman store and bought all the cool Ironman paraphernalia I wasn’t willing to buy until I knew I had finished the race.

I rested for two days but unlike when I finished my first marathon where I felt like I was done and didn’t want to do this anymore, I felt more energetic than ever like a tremendous mental weight had been lifted. If I could do an Ironman, I can do anything. By day three, I was already in the pool training for my next race which was the Nation's Triathlon two weeks away and by the following weekend, I was doing a 100-mile Century ride and feeling pretty good. 

As I mentioned at the beginning of this race report, my goal when I started was to finish an Ironman.  Now that I have, I want to actually start winning some of these races. I have set a new goal for myself: within the next two years, I want to qualify for the Ironman Championship race in Kona, HI. I know it won’t be an easy road and will require lots of hard work and dedication (especially when it comes to the swim), even more than it took to complete Louisville, but I will give it all I have and hopefully within the next two years I will be writing one of these race reports for Kona.