Post by kenb321 on Sept 16, 2010 9:43:57 GMT -5
Where to begin on this report? Do I start with the race or the motivation that made me do it in the first place? The funny thing with the race is that it went almost according to plan. No real surprises, no big mistakes, no flats (Thank God).
I got up at 4:45 after a terrible night sleep in a Cedar Point Cabin. I had a feeling I would not sleep well and had to get up early, so I let part of my fan crew have the bedroom. Sue and I slept on the sofa/futon. Think part torture device/part…no just a torture device for a bed. I had everything packed the night before and the car was all packed. I had 1 Boost, oatmeal with brown sugar and a touch of milk, applesauce and later on, 1 Cliff Bar. Tried to go to the bathroom and tummy would not cooperate. Uh-oh.
Got to transition at 5:30 and went directly to my bike. I saw Brandon, Johnny Norris and track buddy, Ken Hagan. I had Susie take a bunch of photos and got my bags turned in. Waited in transition for Sue to get the rest of my crew up. They showed up at 6:30 wearing the brightest green shirts with Ken’s Wolf Pack on the front. It was great. More pics were taken and I headed down to the start.
I got in the water to see how far out the water was shallow. It was pretty far. Found out the start is delayed and went and found my fans. More pictures. Sometime during the week, it dawned on me that I do this for fun. I decided then: stop being nervous, stop worrying, stop over analyzing everything. I am not sure it worked but that is what I tried. But at the start, I was not nervous. I was already having a blast! Ken Hagan and I stood at the start together. We saw Durno doing shots for us at 7:00 AM. What an Ironfan he is! The races starts and a wave of emotion came over me. This was great. The swim was like any other Tuesday swim at Columbia. Got a rhythm going and went for a 1:16 swim. I think I wasted 2 minutes trying to be cool. I have seen the fast people take their wetsuits off in the water and tried it. Bad idea. Oh well.
Transition went fine and got on the bike in 6:00 minutes. My plan was to go small chain for the first hour and stuck to the plan. Knowing the course helped a lot, so all my preview days and rides out on the course paid off. The chip and seal was bumpy but no big deal. Wind was lousy on the first loop but really picked up on the second loop. Pushed a bigger gear going with the wind to try to make up some time that I would give back going into the wind later. About 2.5 hours in the bike, my tummy started yelling at me. Not sure if it was the Powerbars or the Salt Stick tablets, but something was making the tummy angry. I gave up on the Powerbars and switched to my bottle of Perpetuem. Also, cut back to 1 Salt Stick tab/ hour instead of 2. Stomach kind of loosened up but it would not feel good all day. About mile 70, I started getting lonely. Janet Edwards passed me at about mile 60 and she was flying! No one was around to keep me company, so I started singing. At the top of my lungs! Who knew I know every word to Bohemian Rhapsody and many Taylor Swift songs? I think I can thank my girls for the Taylor Swift. I did see my mother in law and father in law at mile 95 on the bike at a friends house on Huron/ Avery. That was great! Total bike time was 6:03.
Bike to run transition was OK. I changed into my full CTC gear. Got my shoes on, tried to go to the bathroom and started my run. I felt great! Legs were pretty fresh off the bike and settled in for a long jog. The family was going nuts for me and Lily’s sign read “I am fast, I am fast, I am light on my feet, I am fast”. This is what I tell our X-country runners to tell themselves during their races. Got kisses from Sophie and Lily and off I went. The first 4 miles were like any other run, started feeling my legs around 6 and knew there was no way I was holding 9:15 miles. Started slowing down to save some energy for later and was at 10:00-10:40 miles for the next 10 miles or so. I did get to see all the Spin folks at one of the aid stations. Tim Walsh asked how things were going. He gave me some words of encouragement that I needed. I came back into Cedar Point for the turnaround and that would be one of my complaints about the race. The turnaround was in the service area of CP and was awful. I think it would be better by the marina if possible. Heading back out on the run, I saw Susie and Sophie. My in-laws made it just in time for the turnaround. Another kiss from Sophie helped a lot. I would say miles 15-20 were the hardest. I slowed way down. Pushing 11-12 minute miles but still going. I think the best thing that happened then was coming through the Spin team’s aid station. I saw Patrick, Paul L. and Andy. The hooting and hollering I got from them was a real boost. From that point on, I started telling myself “you only have X left and you are an Ironman” Pushed myself and got back to 10:00 miles. I tried to give encouragement to anyone on the course. I decided not to walk any of the aid stations for the last 3 miles. I got water and Coke but kept running. I was afraid my legs would not start running again. The causeway seemed forever! I made it into the park. I saw Tiffany looking great. She was heading out on her second loop. We gave each other high fives and I turned for the finish line. I could not feel my legs. Like every moment of the day, I was smiling. I came to the finish line and my Wolf pack was going nuts. The crew had grown to include a bunch of friends and my boss and his wife. I ran the finish line with my family. Susie was telling me to hurry because someone was right behind me. I said I don’t care. The joy of finishing was made so much better with family and friends around. My official finish time was 12:09:08.
I got to see so many people at the end and everyone was so happy for me. I cannot explain the feelings that I have for everyone out there. I am still sore and walking backward down steps is easier than going forward. But I feel great. I owe many thanks to Eric Gibb, Rob Reddy, Ken Hagan, Mark Durno (those wheels rock). They all helped me work out my plan and helped me stick with it. All the people that came out to see me do this crazy thing, Mom and Dad, Jeri and her family, you guys were awesome for me that day. Anne and Emily Ness, my crew from previous races.
Mostly, I need to thank my family for the support they showed me this past year. An Ironman is a one-day race that takes about 365 days to prepare for. I used Ben Greenfield’s Dominator plan as a training plan. It is supposed to train you for an Ironman in half the time as anyone else. I cannot imagine training any longer. His is a good plan, I recommend it. But for Susie and the girls to deal with me, I owe them big. Thank you!
I got up at 4:45 after a terrible night sleep in a Cedar Point Cabin. I had a feeling I would not sleep well and had to get up early, so I let part of my fan crew have the bedroom. Sue and I slept on the sofa/futon. Think part torture device/part…no just a torture device for a bed. I had everything packed the night before and the car was all packed. I had 1 Boost, oatmeal with brown sugar and a touch of milk, applesauce and later on, 1 Cliff Bar. Tried to go to the bathroom and tummy would not cooperate. Uh-oh.
Got to transition at 5:30 and went directly to my bike. I saw Brandon, Johnny Norris and track buddy, Ken Hagan. I had Susie take a bunch of photos and got my bags turned in. Waited in transition for Sue to get the rest of my crew up. They showed up at 6:30 wearing the brightest green shirts with Ken’s Wolf Pack on the front. It was great. More pics were taken and I headed down to the start.
I got in the water to see how far out the water was shallow. It was pretty far. Found out the start is delayed and went and found my fans. More pictures. Sometime during the week, it dawned on me that I do this for fun. I decided then: stop being nervous, stop worrying, stop over analyzing everything. I am not sure it worked but that is what I tried. But at the start, I was not nervous. I was already having a blast! Ken Hagan and I stood at the start together. We saw Durno doing shots for us at 7:00 AM. What an Ironfan he is! The races starts and a wave of emotion came over me. This was great. The swim was like any other Tuesday swim at Columbia. Got a rhythm going and went for a 1:16 swim. I think I wasted 2 minutes trying to be cool. I have seen the fast people take their wetsuits off in the water and tried it. Bad idea. Oh well.
Transition went fine and got on the bike in 6:00 minutes. My plan was to go small chain for the first hour and stuck to the plan. Knowing the course helped a lot, so all my preview days and rides out on the course paid off. The chip and seal was bumpy but no big deal. Wind was lousy on the first loop but really picked up on the second loop. Pushed a bigger gear going with the wind to try to make up some time that I would give back going into the wind later. About 2.5 hours in the bike, my tummy started yelling at me. Not sure if it was the Powerbars or the Salt Stick tablets, but something was making the tummy angry. I gave up on the Powerbars and switched to my bottle of Perpetuem. Also, cut back to 1 Salt Stick tab/ hour instead of 2. Stomach kind of loosened up but it would not feel good all day. About mile 70, I started getting lonely. Janet Edwards passed me at about mile 60 and she was flying! No one was around to keep me company, so I started singing. At the top of my lungs! Who knew I know every word to Bohemian Rhapsody and many Taylor Swift songs? I think I can thank my girls for the Taylor Swift. I did see my mother in law and father in law at mile 95 on the bike at a friends house on Huron/ Avery. That was great! Total bike time was 6:03.
Bike to run transition was OK. I changed into my full CTC gear. Got my shoes on, tried to go to the bathroom and started my run. I felt great! Legs were pretty fresh off the bike and settled in for a long jog. The family was going nuts for me and Lily’s sign read “I am fast, I am fast, I am light on my feet, I am fast”. This is what I tell our X-country runners to tell themselves during their races. Got kisses from Sophie and Lily and off I went. The first 4 miles were like any other run, started feeling my legs around 6 and knew there was no way I was holding 9:15 miles. Started slowing down to save some energy for later and was at 10:00-10:40 miles for the next 10 miles or so. I did get to see all the Spin folks at one of the aid stations. Tim Walsh asked how things were going. He gave me some words of encouragement that I needed. I came back into Cedar Point for the turnaround and that would be one of my complaints about the race. The turnaround was in the service area of CP and was awful. I think it would be better by the marina if possible. Heading back out on the run, I saw Susie and Sophie. My in-laws made it just in time for the turnaround. Another kiss from Sophie helped a lot. I would say miles 15-20 were the hardest. I slowed way down. Pushing 11-12 minute miles but still going. I think the best thing that happened then was coming through the Spin team’s aid station. I saw Patrick, Paul L. and Andy. The hooting and hollering I got from them was a real boost. From that point on, I started telling myself “you only have X left and you are an Ironman” Pushed myself and got back to 10:00 miles. I tried to give encouragement to anyone on the course. I decided not to walk any of the aid stations for the last 3 miles. I got water and Coke but kept running. I was afraid my legs would not start running again. The causeway seemed forever! I made it into the park. I saw Tiffany looking great. She was heading out on her second loop. We gave each other high fives and I turned for the finish line. I could not feel my legs. Like every moment of the day, I was smiling. I came to the finish line and my Wolf pack was going nuts. The crew had grown to include a bunch of friends and my boss and his wife. I ran the finish line with my family. Susie was telling me to hurry because someone was right behind me. I said I don’t care. The joy of finishing was made so much better with family and friends around. My official finish time was 12:09:08.
I got to see so many people at the end and everyone was so happy for me. I cannot explain the feelings that I have for everyone out there. I am still sore and walking backward down steps is easier than going forward. But I feel great. I owe many thanks to Eric Gibb, Rob Reddy, Ken Hagan, Mark Durno (those wheels rock). They all helped me work out my plan and helped me stick with it. All the people that came out to see me do this crazy thing, Mom and Dad, Jeri and her family, you guys were awesome for me that day. Anne and Emily Ness, my crew from previous races.
Mostly, I need to thank my family for the support they showed me this past year. An Ironman is a one-day race that takes about 365 days to prepare for. I used Ben Greenfield’s Dominator plan as a training plan. It is supposed to train you for an Ironman in half the time as anyone else. I cannot imagine training any longer. His is a good plan, I recommend it. But for Susie and the girls to deal with me, I owe them big. Thank you!
