The Day I Became an Ironman

Intro

Well, I suppose I have to change the name of this blog now.  Last weekend was a culmination of a lot of work and sacrifices. I’m super stoked just to say that I am an Ironman. 

Madison is an amazing city and it really came out in droves to support the race.  For those thinking of doing an IM in the US, this is definitely the place to go.  There were 3,000 plus volunteers and at least that many fans along all parts of the course.  There wasn’t a one-mile stretch throughout the 140.6 miles covered that day which did not have some sort of cheering support.  

Here is the Ironman distance:  Swim 2.4 miles, Bike 112 miles, Run 26.2 miles

Cliff Notes Version //  8th Age-Group, 28th Overall (2,881 total participants)

Swim 1:02

Bike 5:18

Run 3:37

Overall 10:06

All of these efforts are PRs since this is my first...

Swim 

Wisconsin is one of the final mass starts in the IM circuit. That means all ~3,000 people were floating in the water like bobbers before the cannon went off.  I decided to position myself closer to the inner buoys as I knew I would be fast enough off the line to get some clear water.  The swim only really condensed at two points for me over the 2.4 miles.  The first was about 300 meters in when the wide mass line start consolidates into more of a swimming conga line.  The second point was at the first turn buoy, where in traditional IM WI fashion people stop to Moo…yes, it really happens.  

About 1/2 of the swim start line

I got in a nice groove on the long back stretch of the course and came out of the water feeling strong.  I had watch issues again, so I didn’t know my time until I started doing math on the bike based on the time of day.

Overall placing: 132nd

T1

I decided to run right by the wetsuit strippers as I needed to pull up my speed suit and couldn’t do that carrying the wetsuit.  This helped me fly by a large group of the 132 faster swimmers.  The “fun” part of T1 in Madison is that you have to run up a four story parking helix to get to the top of the Monona Terrace.  The helix was packed with fans which made running straight uphill less miserable.  Made first contact with my support team as I was on the top of the Terrace which was a nice boost.  Once inside, I made quick work of the wetsuit, threw my helmet on, grabbed my shoes, and scurried out as I saw an awesome volunteer scooping up all my gear from the swim. 

Just a sneak peek at the support

Bike

I jumped on the bike and immediately started going to work on my nutrition.  I scarfed down over 500 calories within the first 5 miles of the bike which really helped my body start to recoup some of the energy lost on the swim.  I had ridden about 80% of the bike course several times, so I was intimately familiar with what was around each bend.  I settled into a nice rhythm very early on and traded off flats and climbs with a lighter rider.  It was nice having a rabbit on the climbs to keep in eye-sight.  

Family High-fives around mile 75

The course consists of two loops that are connected to Madison by an out-and-back stick.  About 29 miles into the bike there is a pronounced climb to the city of Verona where I had my second cheering section encounter.   The 20% of the course I had not ridden before consisted of Barlow hill that I had been well warned about.  It is two rolling hills followed by a steep pitch of 19%.  I managed to ride up the hill comfortably without spiking my power too bad.

As I started in on my second loop, I remembered something that MJ told me once and it stuck with me the rest of the ride.  She would always say that the bike doesn’t really start until mile 80.  Given that and the fact that the final big climb of the course came at mile 90, I held a nice consistent power output for the remainder of the ride.

Two funny fan interactions came in the middle of the bike, which I feel are worth commenting on.

1. Around mile 35, I rode up a steady incline by a guy in a lawn chair.  He had a little counter in his hand and let me know that I was in 43rd place. To which I replied, “holy shit”. The math there is that 35 miles in, I had already passed 89 people on the bike.
2. Around mile 45, I was again riding up a steady incline (WI is hilly-by-the-way) when a lady stated pretty matter of factly that “you’re looking strong….for now”.  That comment really put me in check given that she was indeed quite right.  I was barely a 1/3 into the ride and I still had a marathon to run after this.

Overall Placing: 28th

For my #AllWattsMatter data nerds:

[Assuming a 288 as my FTP]

Normalized Power: 236

Intensity Factor (NP/bFTP) =  82%

VI  = 1.10

Cadence Fade = 12%

Avg Power Fade = 11%

T2

I rode into T2 feeling really good.  I had managed my power nicely on the bike and felt fresh.  I pulled in and even went with the flying dismount as I passed my bike off to a terrified looking bike catcher.  Apparently he didn’t trust my dismount skills.  I made quick work of T2 (2:22) and was out the door on the marathon.

Run

I knew that I was in a good spot on the run as I was never passed on the bike after mile 35 and knew that I had passed several other people on the course.  I ran the first few miles of the marathon quicker than I had planned.  I was secretly disappointed in my head and I knew this could potentially come back and bite me later on. 

Somehow managed to stay zipped up all day

The run course weaves around downtown Madison and the UW campus.  It was beautiful scenery and great weather (mid-70s), which would help me get through my first ever marathon.  I ran on and off with a half dozen different people throughout the day.  This was nice from a pacing perspective, but also kept the competitive juices flowing late in the game.  I got a nice boost of energy from my cheering section about 7 different times on the run.  I had some cramping in my left hamstring every mile from 15 all the way in, but other than that I felt great.

Taking a loop through Camp Randall

As I rounded a corner and headed towards the State Capital for the last time, I finally had some emotion come to the surface.  All the training and effort was finally becoming a reality.  Putting the Capital to my back and the finish line in my eye sight I couldn’t have been happier.  Running with a smile, I came across the finish line with Mike Reilly saying, “Dan, you are an Ironman”.  

As I said from the start, I couldn’t be happier with my result.  The reality is that I finished better than I expected to and had an error-free day for the most part.  

Nutrition

I’ve had nice success in the 70.3s this year going all liquid, so coming into IM I was planning on that being my base.  The below is a breakdown of what I consumed.

Pre-Swim: 1 serving 3FU3L w/ GQ-6

Bike: 3 Glukos bars (miles 5, 60,100), 5 servings 3FU3L w/ GQ-6 + 1/2 tube BASE salt (I wish I finished the whole tube - may have avoided cramping the final 11 miles on the run)

Run: 7 Cliffbar Gels + Gigantic handful of potato chips at mile 23 + 1 tube BASE salt

Thank You

A huge thank you goes out to all of the friends and family out on the course.  Your guys love and support through the lead-up and during the race was phenomenal.  Not only were you one of the biggest cheering sections, you were also the best dressed!  I’d like to give a big shoutout to my coach Michellie Jones who has had me extremely prepared for every race this year. She was also busy winning the Paralympic Gold Medal in Triathlon the morning of the race (Read more about that here).  Finally, thank you to the RIDE Tri Team family and sponsors.  You all have been great training partners and motivators throughout the year.  

Up Next

I can’t believe it’s only been 15 months of this crazy triathlon journey!  I’ll most likely race one more Olympic distance race before the end of the year.  I’ll spend the rest of my time traveling, visiting friends/family, and getting back in the groove of having my weekends.  I am already planning next year and I’ll definitely have some lofty goals, but more on that later! 

Playing Catch Up Part 2: Gaining Perspective in Omaha

Racing in Omaha was not on my radar at the start of this year.  This is pretty much due to my lack of familiarity with the annual races associated with the sport.  Given my finish earlier in the year in the desert and then again in Hawaii, I secured a spot to race in the Age Group National Championships in Omaha, NE in August.  Since I have been putting off a visit to see my brother who lives in Lincoln, I thought this would be the perfect chance to see him and try and secure a spot to the World Championships.

Leading into the race, my sole focus was on IM Wisconsin that I would tackle about a month later. Since the Olympic distance only takes around 2 hours and I was training for a 10 hour race, I had to put my expectations in check.  Knowing I could still put together a strong race, the only goal going in was to secure a spot to the ITU Wold Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands which will occur in September of 2017.  This would mean me taking 18th or better in my age-group.

Just a quick note, the Olympic distance consists of a 1500m swim, 40km bike, and 10km run.

Highlights
Swim 26:42
Bike 1:03
Run 40:26
Overall 2:13

Swim
Hands down, the worst triathlon swim of my very short career.  It was a non-wetsuit swim in a lake that was measured at 84 degrees F prior to the race.  Needless to say, I had a bad swim and was extremely hot while doing it.  This was another race where I was fortunate to be in the first wave, which ended up paying off later on.  I forgot to start my watch for the start of the race, so I came out of the water without really knowing what the damage was at this point.  Coming up the chute into T1, my brother yelled something to the effect of "a lot of people are in front of you".  All of these people were in my age group, I had some work to do.

Thanks for the pic ma

Bike
The bike course was a fairly flat course with two pronounced climbs.  I was planning on riding hard, but given my lackluster swim I really had to kick it into gear.  It was an out and back course, so at the turnaround I had somehow managed to bike myself into 20th place, meaning I passed a good 20 people on just the first 12ish miles.  I essentially held my position there, holding off a few attempts by people trying to pull away.  I hustled into T2 and was able to pass a few more people as I head out on the run.

Multitasking

Run
The run course was also an out and back, which included a turnaround in the TD Ameritrade Stadium (Home of the College World Series).  I had situated myself  nicely into 18th place on the run.  Given how the day had gone and Ironman being my focus, I was happy to sit in comfortably on the run.  At the turnaround, I found myself in no-man's land. I had a healthy lead on the few runners behind me, but I was a bit back from the runners in front of me.  I looked around coming down the red carpet and was pretty confident that I did what I needed to do.

Running the track at TD Ameritrade

Results and Roll-down
Well, my assumption was wrong...initially.  Due to the way the age-groups are broken out, USAT does some shuffling to account for people aging up over the next year.  This left me sitting in the uncomfortable 19th position on Sunday night.  I was outside of an automatic slot, but within the top 25 which would allow me to receive a roll-down.

It took until Tuesday of the following week to receive my invite from USAT to be a part of Team USA for the 2017 Grand Final.  Needless to say, I was and am pretty pumped.  I've represented the US in a different capacity before, but this will be the first opportunity to do so in sport.

Omaha was a great chance for me to be humbled by the sport again.  There were so many fast people out there and it was a nice reminder that I still have lots of work to do.

Playing Catch Up Part 1: Big Island Surprise

This is one of two race reports that I have been putting off.  Why put them up now?  I'm a little too OCD and these need to be posted prior to me putting up my Ironman write-up.

70.3 Hawaii
I flew over to the Big Island in June to race 70.3 Hawaii.  For those not familiar with the race, it's held about 20 minutes north of downtown Kailua-Kona (where the Ironman World Championship takes place).  The whole reason I signed up for this race was to get a little relaxation on the island before my big build up for Ironman Wisconsin.

Highlights
Swim  33:22
Bike  2:29 (PR)
Run  1:44
Overall  4:51

Coming into the race I was extremely relaxed and had some good friends flying in for the weekend. My body was in good shape, but you never know what is going to happen with the weather out there.

Swim
This is a non-pro race, so I was fortunate to be in the first wave of the non-wetsuit (ugh) swim start.  I say fortunate because this is the first race I actually ended up counting people to know where I stood in the mix.  The water was warm, smooth, and unbelievably clear.  While swimming, you were able to look down about 50 ft and see beautiful reef and marine life.  I came out of the swim feeling pretty fresh and charged up the hill to transition passing a bunch of people along the way.

Who wouldn't want to swim in that?

Bike
I jumped on the bike and immediately got into a comfortable rhythm.  After about 10 miles in there is a turnaround where I was able to see that I was in 30th position overall.  This definitely boosted my spirits as I knew I could make up time from my slower swim.  The bike course follows the norther half of the WC course, so it was cool to know that you're riding where history happens. The bike was really uneventful other than a short downpour on the climb to Hawi.  I didn't realize it at the time, but I put up my fastest bike split of the year on what can be a difficult course.  I rolled into T2 to find very sparse bike racks which was a good sign of things to come.

Showing off the deep V

Run
As I was getting off the bike, the sun had already come out and was baking down on the course. About 8 miles of the run course is on the grass at a nice golf course.  This sounds nice in theory, soft grass, no huge hills; however, the heat and humidity are nearly suffocating when you were on the grass.  I had been told by several people that this would be a tough run and the course didn't disappoint there.  While I never felt dominant on the run, I was able to manage my pace and nutrition. As MJ said, this race was all about "management".

Final trot to the finish line

As I came across the finish line into the chute my buddy commented that there weren't a whole lot of people that had finished before me.  He pulled out his phone and lo and behold I had just earned my first M-dot podium.  I finished 5th in my Age Group which was good enough for 42nd Overall.

Shoes are overrated