RACE REPORT BOOK (the long version)

Ironman Wisconsin 2012 - Race Report Book

Thank you ALL for your support during the race! You kept me strong throughout my IM race journey, during rough patches, etc! What a great event, what a great venue; volunteers and spectators were amazing, the swim, bike, and run courses were so beautiful. Madison is a great town! My overall experience was extremely positive. And YES! I would do it all over again...   Here is a summary of my overall experience.

SWIM:

6:20 AM on Race Day

I was VERY concerned about the start of the swim. There were 2,400+ people starting at the same time from a stand still position in the water. Last time I did that was at St. Anthony's Triathlon with a wave of about 50+ people and it was ROUGH! and very physical.  I positioned myself in the 1st row of swimmers about 50 meters away from the bouy where the strongest swimmers are. This meant I would have to swim a bit more, but I wouldn't be with the aggressive mass trying to stay right where the buoys were (shortest distance). The 74ºF water with a shortsleeved wetsuit was perfect! When the cannon went off, I couldn't beleive I was at the start of an Ironman race. I was so calm and I had no body contact with anyone for the first 150 meters. Then, I could feel people touching my feet and I had swimmers on each side, but we had plenty of room. It was great! After 30 minutes of swimming, I decided to pick up the pace a bit as a straight line of swimmers was forming. I moved closer to the buoys and it became a bit more physical but not bad at all. I could see Monona Terrace to my right and once I made the last left turn I knew the swim was done! I was feeling good and very smooth. I was trying to feel the air temperature with each stroke to start thinking what cold weather gear I needed on the bike (gloves, vest, arm warmers, etc). I knew I could have a better idea once I stepped out of the water. The swim finish came quick after the last turn. 

My time 1:02:10, Right on TRACK (Goal-1 = 1:04:22 / Goal-2 = 1:01:48). 


T1

As I came out of the water and got my wetsuit ripped off by the volunteers, I was in shock by the amount of people lined up on the Helix of the Monona Terrace. The Helix is basically the ramp for the parking garage of the building. We had to go 4 levels up to T1 (and T2 on the bike).  People were cheering and screaming... I took a very conservative approach: Jog/Walk, some competitors were sprinting up it.. crazy... I grabbed my bike bag and went to the changing area where a volunteer took my bag and opened it for me. I put my helmet on, he helped get my race number and turned my GPS tracking device on. I put my helmet on, sunglasses, and arm warmers... I decided against the gloves during my commute up the Helix by watching other competitors in front of me and their dress code as they left T1. I then grabbed my biking shoes and headed out the door. The sunscreen volunteers quickly loaded my back and neck with it... OUCH !!!... I guess my wetsuit gave me lots of chafing this time. I moved on, got my bike, went to the mounting line just before descending on the other Helix.

My time = 0:08:44 (Goal = 0:09:00... RIGHT ON!)



BIKE:
Went down the Helix, exited Monona Terrace, turned my Garmin watch on.  WOW! What a beautiful day. I could've left the arm warmers in the bag. My target heart rate (HR) was 125-135 BPM with 150 MAX on hills if I could control it. I could summarize the bike course as follows: 16 miles out, then a 40 mile loop in "relentless hills", TWICE, then 16 miles back to the Helix.  The first 16 mile segment in rolling hills and newly paved roads were nice and smooth. As I started the loop with hills the weather kept getting better and better. The farms, houses, and people on the street cheering and screaming made the event feel like you were in the Tour de France. My HR was in the 122-136 range, up to 140-150's in some of the hills, the downhills were AMAZING.. so much fun ! After the first few hills I checked my average speed: 19.1MPH (Goal = 18.0). I was golden. I was comfortable, and now I had money in the bank!!! I knew the pace would go down once I entered the 2-loop section. There were a few "curve balls" thrown at me during this portion of the race.

1st Curve Ball: At mile 50, with an avg speed of 18.9mph and avg HR of 128bpm, I felt a bit of cramping in both my quads. I questioned my nutrition, but quickly realized I was doing everything as planned... Then, after another smooth hill, I confirmed the cramping in the quads.  WHAT? Why now? I started pulling on the pedals more (rather than pushing). That relieved my quad cramping but I was concerned I would burn the hamstring muscles and cramp there too (complete lock out! and chaos!). I reduced the intensity on the bike to 120-125 Heart Rate to see if that would help. From miles 50 - 100 I was able to average 17.6mph and bring my HR to avg 126bmp.

2nd Curve Ball:  At Mile 65, my right knee started to have a sharp pain. It felt almost like an IT band issue that I had several years ago. WHAT?? I can't believe this is happening. I figured it was from pulling on the pedals a lot longer than I'm used to. Then, I really started to think about the upcoming task, the marathon... How am I going to run a marathon with cramps and a sharp knee pain???  Well, I still had about 50 miles of cycling before running, so my focus went back to cycling and  BAMMM, another one!

3rd Curve Ball:  It happened! The cramps were now moving into the hamstrings.... Uh-oh... WTH?  I noticed that if I just kept moving my legs in circles with steady pressure on the pedals, the cramps were somewhat in control, but the moment I added torque or even tried to stretch, the cramps would start to lock up the muscles in a painful way. I had a couple bigger hills in the loop before heading back on the 16 mile stretch to Monona Terrace. With both the quads and hamstring muscles on the verge of locking up from pushing and pulling, I started to doubt my ability to make it up the next big hill. I didn't know if zig-zagging uphill would help? I thought of stopping and strecthing if they did lock up on me. I had 2 more big hills to climb before heading back. Then, I saw a few people walking up hill with the bikes -- Of course, why didn't I think of that?  So I felt more confident about making it!   I'll just walk the bike up if I have to.  Well, the 1st hill was a close call. I made it all the way up on the bike but barely. 10 more meters and I would've been walking up.  I used the downhills and flats to recover with minimum pressure on the pedals. When I saw the next and last hill I was ready to walk if I felt a slight sign of muscle lock up. As I got closer to the hill, there were tons of people on each side with loud music, air horns, noise makers, and 2 guys running on the course beating on drums. One of the drummers pointed at me and got about 3 feet from me. He matched his drum beat to my bike cadence (RPM).  The second drummer joined him. They literally beat the drums to my cadence and ran 150 meters up the whole hill with me. Because of them, I didn't have to walk. I thought about getting off the bike and hugging them, but that would've been kind of counter productive. The cramps were distracted or something and I was done with the loops. I checked my average speed once again: 18.2 MPH. Not bad!!! 16 miles to go on some rolling hills but nothing like the loop ones.  THANK YOU DRUMMERS !

Some of the CRAZY fans on the course

4th Curve ball: At mile 107, I shifted gears coming into a hill. I lost the chain, but I attempted to get it back in without stopping the bike. By re-shifting the front derailleur... bad idea... I was rushing because the hill was right in front of me and I JAMMED the chain in between the front sprocket and the carbon frame. WHAT?? NOT AGAIN!  I stopped, looked at the issue and I realized it wasn't an easy one to fix. I tried pulling the chain hard, but the space between the sprocket and carbon frame was too narrow. The athletes that were passing me asked if I needed help, I just told them to send Tech Support if they saw the motorcycle or SUV. With cramping legs and a "broken" bike many thoughts were crossing my mind:
- Time to quit, I don't even know if I can run with these cramps.
- Walk the bike for the last 5 miles and try the marathon.
- Wait for Tech Support (which could be 1 hour)
- Pull that chain as hard as you can and don't worry about scraping the carbon frame.
After 10 minutes of standing still, and a bit more calm, I was able to carefully fix the chain as the Tech Support motorcycle showed up. I finished the last 5 miles pretty comfortable. The last task was to climb the Helix. Luckily, it wasn't too bad and my legs didn't lock up. WHO WANTS TO RUN A MARATHON????

Total Bike was 6:21:27 - 17.62 MPH  (Goal -1 = 6:13:20 - 18.0 MPH  & Goal-2 = 5:53:41 - 19.0MPH)  

After checking my Garmin, I confirmed that I lost a total of 10 minutes waiting for help!  For my own entertainment, I calculated the "adjusted" bike time  to be 6:11:25 or 18.1 MPH... Right on Track !

Strava Bike Data HERE


T2
Once I got to the top of the Helix, I dismounted off the bike and handed it to a volunteer. I went inside the building for the transition. Got my running socks, shoes, visor, and a new Garmin GPS watch. I asked for Biofreeze for my quads, but they didn't have it. 2 volunteers out of T2 had a massage table and they recommended I lay down for stretching. I laid on the table and he stretched out and massaged both my quads. It hurt! But it felt good after. I headed out the building at about 2:30PM ready to run a marathon (or at least try). I wasn't sure how my legs would behave from cramping and how my sharp knee pain would be. I was nervous but I was open minded (Goal#3). I have till midnight to walk the maratahon if I have to. Even then, I was worried. I didn't know what kind of curve balls were coming my way. The sun screen applicator volunteers reminded me of my wetsuit chafing from that morning. On my way out, I waited a few more seconds for my Garmin GPS to 'locate satellites' before crossing the official Run Start check point. Once the satellites were located, I pressed start and off I went!

My time = 0:10:20 (Goal = 0:08:30... a bit off, but the massage & stretch was worth it!)

RUN
1st HALF MARATHON:

Camp Randall

I knew the first mile or so was a slight downhill so that was a plus. I started the run and to my surprise there was no cramping or locking up in my muscles if I kept a short stride (the ironman shuffle run, which I trained). However, there was a really heavy pain in my quads with each stride, right where the bike cramping was. The pain was pretty intense, but I dealt with it for 1.5 miles and it started to get better (or maybe I was just getting used to it). My downhill pace was around 8:30 min/mile. My HR was right on track at 139BMP. I was concerned about the uphills, I didn't want to use the quads and risk cramping, but I knew the uphills were coming soon. The first one was really short but really steep and right before entering the Badger stadium, Camp Randall. I didn't even risk it there. It was before mile 3 and I turned around and walked the small/steep hill backward.  Some guy asked: "Does that really help?" "Don't know, but at this point, I'll try anything". No cramping but the muscle pain every time I landed was still there. Running inside the stadium was great - right on the grass.  Around campus there were some pretty nasty hills, but I never walked. I jogged up to a 10:30min/mile uphill, but my average was sill right at 9:00min/mile after the first half marathon. 

*With cramping pains and hills. I was able to run the first 13.3 miles in 2:01:11 or 9:07 min/mile (Goal 1 = 9:10 min/mile , Goal 2 = 8:45 min/mile) with a conservative average Heart Rate of 137 bmp.


2nd HALF MARATHON:

Around 7:35 PM on Race Day

At the half way point of the marathon, I stopped for my special needs bag, sat down, changed to dry socks and dropped the Fuel Belt since the aid stations had it all! I massaged my quads a bit before standing up. Once I got up, my legs locked up! It took a lot more effort to run. I started walking all the uphills and now some of the downhills. Walking actually felt good. I started to look at my current pace and making finish time predictions. I knew my wife and kids were watching the Live Feed on the computer at a friend's house. With school the next day and Florida being 1 hour ahead, I realized that if I kept walking a 17 min/mile I wouldn't be at the finish until 9pm (FL time). Too late for them to be out. So, I pushed myself to get back into a 11-12 min/mile shuffle for the last 10k to make it by 8:30pm so they could watch me cross and go home to get ready for school the next day! 

*Clearly, the last 13.3 miles or second half of the marathon was a victory for the pain in the quads. While my HR was low, my energy levels were high!  I felt great, but I was defeated to walk. Once I saw the finish line, the pain in the quads fainted a bit and I was able to enjoy it. See me cross HERE (Thank you Cale!)

My overall run time was 4:43:13 or 10:47 min/mile

OVERALL Time 12:25:54

Andres, Mark, and Wilmet (2X Ironmen)