Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Ironman CDA
Here is a recap of IM CDA...
On Thursday, I was all set for packing. I had a schedule of doing some work around the house in the morning, then have lunch with Ro, Kelly and Brody (wife, daughter and grandson). Then go to the bike store and pick up a few last minute items, then head home and pack everything. That would give me time to relax Thursday night, get a good nights sleep and head to the airport in the morning.
The only thing that went as planned was lunch and the bike store. On the way home,, I had to make an emergency stop. Let me just be blunt, I had to make an emergency stop for a bathroom. I was not feeling well. Nothing serious,,just you know,, I needed a bathroom. Enough said. When I got home I concentrated on getting things packed. I got all my stuff and laid it out on the garage floor. I had my swim area, my bike area and my run area. I went through the whole triathlon and made sure I had shoes, socks, foods, water bottles, jersey's, shorts, tubes, CO2 cylinders,, yada, yada. While I was getting things organized, my stomach was getting more and more uncomfortable. I got all the gear packed and loaded. Now all I had to do was get my clothes packed and I would be ready to go. Unfortunately,, my gastro-intestinal was having "issues". It seems that I picked up a case of food poisoning. No need for details here. Needless to say I spent the night doing other things than packing.
Friday morning, I was still feeling pretty bad. I woke up around 4:30 AM to finish packing my clothes and then headed to the airport. I spent the majority of my time on the planes, sleeping and drinking lot's of water and Gatorade. I knew I lost a lot of fluids and electrolytes so my main goal was to get back in "nutrition shape" .
Arriving in CDA, I went straight to the IM event to get registered and pick up my bike. As soon as I got there, I realized that this was a huge event. Everywhere you looked there was activity. It was incredible. It took about a couple hours to work my way around the area and get everything taken care of. My stomach was feeling better. I was continuing to take in water and eat some Clif bars, bagels and bananas throughout the day. Friday night the Austin T3 athletes had dinner together along with the family members and friends that came along for the ride. It was good to see everyone there together.
Saturday morning we went into CDA and did a short workout. We swam for about 10 minutes, rode for about 20 and then ran for 10. The water was crystal clear and 63 degrees. It was so cold that it took your breath away. It took several minutes to get used to it and feel comfortable. The rest of the day was spent getting ready for the big day. CDA is a beautiful place. We spent time driving the course and taking a look at the city. It is probably one of the more beautiful places that I have visited. The people are very friendly and the city basically turns itself over to the IM event for the week. I plan on getting back there someday to really spend some leisure time there. Another interesting thing about the are is that the sun comes up at around 4:15 AM and it gets dark after 9:00 PM.
Okay, let's get down to the big day. Sunday, June 25th ,, race day...
The Swim,, let me say that I know what a salmon feels like as they head upstream to spawn. When the cannon went off to start the day, 2000 athletes all dove, into the water and started swimming. We were all crammed in together, all swimming in one direction. I got my feet massaged, my butt punched, and my thighs grabbed. It can all be very frightening but I went to my happy place. The swim was awesome. I got over the issue of close proximity and just swam. I caught some good drafts and there moments of just plain fun interspersed with some of the aforementioned massages and grabbing. One interesting thing about the swim was that as I got closer to the end of the swim, you could see the bottom of the lake at about 10-12 feet in depth. As I was swimming I kept an eye on the bottom so I could see when it got shallow enough to stand up. As I followed through with a stroke, I looked down and spotted a body laying on the bottom. My immediate reaction was to scream like a little girl but thought better of that since I was supposed to be an "Ironman". I lost a bit of my rhythm when I saw this body. As soon as I got my head back around to look back down, I realized it was a scuba diver. I did not know it but for safety reasons, they station divers at various spots around the course. They keep an eye on the swimmers and try to help anyone who might get in trouble. I wonder how many people got into trouble because they almost drowned while screaming like a little girl? My final time for the swim was 1 hour and 15 minutes. Exactly what I predicted it would be.. that was awesome.
Transition 1 went well. The volunteers were wonderful. They took care of everything so I could concentrate on the task at hand. Heading out on the bike we rode out of the city and then back into it before heading out to the foothills. and the majority of the bike route which was west of CDA into Washington state and then back. We had two loops of this route. The first half went great. I was at about 16 mph on average. Things were going good. I was drinking lot's of water and staying on top of the nutrition and electrolytes. As we headed back into CDA I was starting to get stomach cramps. I did not think it would be anything serious. On the ride back through CDA in the city, I was going around a corner and I started to lose my front wheel on the turn. I had a flat. It took just a few minutes to change the tire. I was back on the road pretty fast. After I got back to riding, the cramps started getting worse. As we headed back out of town, the temperatures were getting above 90. The hills, for some reason, got steeper and longer?? Most of the last 30 miles was pretty tough. I was having to stop at each aid station due to " gastro-intestinal" issues,, again, no need for details. There were aid stations every 10 miles. I visited each one. They were all nice, well staffed and had plenty of supplies. Unfortunately, I was not there to evaluate and write a travel guide to IM aid stations. It took me about an hour longer to do the second half of the ride. I was behind in my plan. I was beginning to worry because the marathon is when the IM actually starts. My final time was 7 hours and 37 minutes. One hour longer than I expected. I was down 2 mph per hour than what I wanted to do..
Transition 2 had some false starts. More "GI issues", no details. I started on the run and couldn't. With each step, my stomach would hurt. So, I walked. I walked a close to 2 hours and 30 minutes to cover between 8 and 9 miles. Things kept degrading. I could not eat anything, I was drinking as much as I could. My mouth was constantly dry and my skin was cold. Then my legs started feeling like lead and I just could not walk in a human like manner. So,, I made a decision,, I quit.
It was a difficult decision I have made in a long time. It is one that I know was right, I know that my health is more important than an IM,, but,, it is still tough to accept. I think my meltdown was due to the food poisoning, the heat and the stress of an IM. I do not think that my gut really recovered from the food poisoning and then throwing that into a competition was too much for me.
I am concentrating on everything that has transpired over the past 6 months and try to focus on the wonderful teammates that I have, the great support that everyone has shown and the real excitement that comes with participating in an Ironman Triathlon. It was truly a great experience.
# posted by Unknown @ 9:44 PM 
