Ironman Boulder Race Report – August 3rd 2014

There is something nice about having an Ironman where you live – you can sleep in your own bed, have your own kitchen to prep for the race and you know that you’ll see a lot of people you know all day long.

There were a few firsts for me – I would race for the first time with my wife Esra an Ironman race, so I knew we only would see each other on the course (instead of seeing the non-racer multiple times throughout the day, as we did in IM Wisconsin and IM Arizona). This race was also the first one where I would use the “drink from the bottles, feed form the pockets” approach, using Osmo pretty much exclusively on the bike and run, while snacking on roasted potatoes, home made protein bites, chips and pretzels.In the week leading up to the race, a new first was also the way I tapered – I upped the number of swim workouts and shortened bike and run workouts.

During the expo it was great to see old friends, such as Dave and Mel Downey – it is always great to see you guys and also make new ones, such as Rob and Nicole Verhelst. It is one of the reasons I love Ironman, because it is such a community.

Swim (2.4 miles – 1:19:11):

The swim start was a rolling wave start based on your predicted finish time. Esra and I decided before the race to start in the 1:10 to 1:20 hour wave, but imagine our surprise when there was a 1:00 to 1:15 wave and 1:15 to 1:30 wave. Good spirited we decided to embrace the change and start with the faster wave.  While I had a really good and straight swim (I sighted every 6 strokes) – but I have never been kicked, punched and physically assaulted that much – my swim was rough physically.

T1 (12:22):

Coming out of the water and running though T1 was great – I saw more than a few familiar faces and loved every minute of it. I had a sandwich with hazelnut butter on it and while it might have looked funny, I savored half of it on my way to my bike.

Bike (112 miles – 6:55:29):

Everything went according to plan for the first 65 miles. I did not try to win the “king of the mountains” on the uphill sections and used the downhill for recovery. Knowing that the Boulder course had over 4,000 ft. of climbing, I knew I had to pace myself not to end up burning my matches. However I hit a snag in special needs, as my bottles were still solidly frozen. Lesson learned – Podium Bottles Insulation and aluminum foil make for a very good insulator. With that I only picked the extra Osmo Pre-Load Bottle and Osmo Powder refills for the BTA Bottles and continued my ride. In the afternoon false flats and the rising temperature resolved my spirit a bit more than I want to let on. I addition I was getting hot spots in my bike shoes, which made me wonder if blisters were forming already.

Couple of lessons from the bike:

• ·      I still do not get proper “pee” signals from my body, so the first 70 miles were a little uncomfortable and it did not go away after the first pit stop
• ·      I need to create pre-measured Osmo powder refills – running the math on fitting how much of prepackaged16oz refills into 20 oz bottles without a measuring spoon while doing 17-18 mph is not smart or entertaining ;-)
• ·      I take too much nutrition with me – at the end of the bike I still had a whole bag of roasted potatoes and an other bag of protein bites with me (also the second sandwich in SN was not required)

T2 (26:40):

In one of the social events around race weekend, a pro suggested taking off you bike shoes when dismounting the bike and running through the slightly longer stretch to the T2 tents. This was probably the worst pro tip ever for me (and judging by Facebook for a lot of people). All was fine till I hit the black rubber mats over a wooden bridge and the black run track. It felt like running over hot coals. I also was sitting in the T2 change tent for a while figuring out if I really wanted to run in the heat. The run is always the hardest part of the day for me, but with so many people I know out of the course (especially my wife Esra), I finally got everything together and headed out.

Run (26.2 – 7:30:35):

When I started the day, my goal was to try to go under 15 hours, but in the first 2-3 miles of the run it became very clear to me that today would not be that day. With that I decided to soak in the race and enjoy it – I could not find my run legs and the concrete run surface was beating me up. Not long after that, I found myself in the central “round about” of the aptly named “flux capacitor” and saw Pam, Amy and David – our good friends and neighbors. They have seen Esra and me training all year long and now they were out to see why. It is really great to see familiar faces on the course – it breaks up your day and inspires you to carry on. I even did get to see my wife a few times during the run – she was also not having the day of her life and walking a lot, but she was smiling and had accepted the day for what it was.

Couple of lessons from the run:

• ·      Doing the math on fitting prepackaged16oz refills into 10 oz bottles without a measuring spoon does not get any easier on the run ;-)
• ·      I take too much nutrition with me – I did like having the potatoes, protein bites and later the Cliff Blocks with me, but did eat a lot of the chips and pretzels on the course (I had 1 cup chips at every aid station, so that makes about 26 cups or 2 bags ;-)
• ·      I was happy to have the Tums and Electrolytes with me – real food is digested differently than gels
• ·      I need to work with a lighter race belt and a hand held bottle – I feel that the wide belt around my stomach restricts me too much. I also had no more than 20 oz. of fluid with me after drinking the first bottle after T2 and SN, so a handheld will more then suffice

Finish Line (140.6 – 16:24:17):

Dave Christen and the Ironman team have picked a great finish line – it was lined with thousands of people cheering you to the line. As soon as you turned for the last three blocks people were out and partying. Truly memorable!!!

Thanks:

First of all I want to thank my wife, Esra for giving me the opportunity to train and race with her. I was done after IM NZ in March, but somehow felt emptiness in summer and she told me it’s ok if I want to race Boulder with her. I love you so much and while I’m sure we had hard moments along the training, we both have done it and I’m looking forward to the next one.

All those familiar faces on the course (and I might forget a few): Pam, Amy and David for coming out and cheering us on. Darren (for trying to put glow sticks on me), Charles (I still don’t understand why you refused to scooter pace me up the hill), Susan (for the on course hugs and making the trip from TX), Jonathan, Jen, Warren, Pam, Anna, Bill, Steve, Kat, Jean for providing (at times comic) support, all the racers (Michael W., Jenny, Jen, Russ, Andi, Donna, Ben, Liv, Collin, Michael, Susan D., SusanM., Orla, Trica and many more) passing and the whole Boulder community suffering with us, cheering and lining the course (bike and run).

Coach Matt “Daddy” Dixon for coaching me though my travels and Stacy Sims from Osmo for completely changing my nutrition plans around (for the better I might add). Danny Abshire and Yo Schmidt from Newton Running – I have a feeling I will rock those Newton for quite a while ;-)

Dave Christen, Ashlie Nalls, Mel and Dave Downey and the whole Ironman and BCC team – thanks for bringing Ironman to Boulder and creating a magical race. I said in March that I would be content doing IM NZ for the rest of my life, but you guys made that not true anymore (sorry Arthur should you be reading this).

Final Thought:

With number 3 (plus 1) done I’m happy to take a few weeks of triathlon and enjoy the Colorado summer  – swimming without purpose, hiking and spending time with Esra. After that is on for Esra and myself to train again for number 4 (plus 1) in New Zealand on March 7^th 2015 to see some friends on that side of the globe.

Sometimes you really have to want to be an Ironman ...

Just 3 ½ months after competing in Ironman Arizona I toed the start line of the 30^th anniversary of Ironman New Zealand. This meant recovering as fast as possible and training through winter in Colorado.

Just before leaving I got an acute bronchitis and armed with prescription medicine I headed for the airport on February 21^st to LA continuing to Auckland, arriving February 23^rd (love the date line). Then a 3 ½ hour ride to Taupō, the location of the race. To say the whole town is in Ironman fever is quite the understatement – there were Ironman logos, signed race memorabilia and flag everywhere. I would even go further and say – this town loves Ironman more than Kailua-Kona does. This would manifest itself even further on race day.

Race week was slow – Monday I headed to the Yacht Club for mandatory wetsuit dipping to avoid brining bacteria into the freshwater lake (Didymosphenia geminata) and get a little practice swim. The lake is clear as glass – you can see everything – which makes for an amazing swim. Being able to drink the water is a huge bonus – no bad or salty aftertaste. On Tuesday I made my way back to Auckland to pick up Michael Stone from the Airport. On Wednesday I was in for a treat – my old wetsuit was very loose, so I ended up buying a new Blueseventy Helix Wetsuit from Warren Benney. Part of this purchase included a test swim, which unfortunately happened at the Yacht Club, about ¾ of a mile away from the store. So if you really want to know if a Wetsuit fits, a 1.5 miles walk does give you a pretty good idea.  Thursday’s registration process was smooth and painless – very organized and the swag bag was worth lining up for. Our bag included pre-numbered transition bags (not the usual plastic ones – these were more like gym bags), socks, food samples and lots more.

The welcome buffet on Thursday night had real quality food and Mike Reilly and Cameron Harper introduced the history of this oldest Ironman outside Hawaii – amazing people, amazing stories and an amazing evening. Thanks to Arthur we had prime seating to the spectacle.

Friday came faster than we could believe and it was time to rack the bikes, let some air out of the tire (thanks Michael for reminding me) and check the transition bags. Since the bike helmet was to be left on your bike, my bags felt strangely empty, so I repacked them two to three times. We picked up out special needs bags and went home to rest. In the evening, I met Ann and Felicity – the other part of Michael’s “Kiwi Family” – they were angels on the next days – being there to transport us, cheer, lend a hand, get bikes and bags after the race – I felt very lucky and privileged to have such supporters.

During the week my bronchitis had its ups and downs and was joined by some discomfort swallowing.

With that we went to bed and I slept until 3:30am on Saturday – race day. Once I got up, I took my medicines, finalized my special needs bags with frozen items in order to have cold items out on the course and had breakfast. The only two things worrying me were the wind and the water, which was quite choppy. Later I found out that if the race had started at 3:30am, it would have resulted in a run-bike-run Ironman. Thankfully the wind and water calmed down for a spectacular day. 

At 5am we had our personal race transfer service thanks to Ann and Felicity to the transition area fence – it does not get better than that. Dropped my Special Needs bags on my check-in and then headed to my bike to put my bottles in the cages, pump my tires to 100psi and then headed into the tents to keep warm. Not being able to access your transition bags in the morning definitely made it a lot less stressful. Put my new wetsuit on and we were driven to the start – true VIP experience.

Swim (3.8 km / 1:17:35 / 2:00 – 100m)

The swim at IMNZ was amazing – it is a deep water start, but you can see the bottom of the lake at all times. The course is marked very well, even though I thought the whole week that the buoys were a runway for water planes. If I had noticed otherwise, I would have counted the buoys or remembered the numbers on them. This way the swim course seemed long. Hydration is thankfully not an issue, as the lake is freshwater and perfectly safe to drink. Overall I did get my space / bubble and finished the swim in a great time (PR).

T1 (15:46)

T1 starts with a 400m (1/4 mile) run over carpeted streets and stairs to the transition area. In order to keep my heart rate down, I walked all of it and was happy to see Ann and Felicity cheering me on. The change tent was a little mayhem (it seems the faster you swim, the more mayhem you’ll find), but once I found a spot, I changed and headed for my bike. There I found Arthur with a big smile on this face, but luckily for me he did not follow through on his promise to zip tie my bike to the rack – thanks J

Bike (180km / 7:40:39 / 23.48 kmh)

The bike course can only be described as interesting – there is not a flat section on the course and most sections have a very rough chip seal trying to loosen every bolt on your bike. Again – I did not drive the course before (yes, I made a mental note to do this next time), so I only had a few markers I recognized – like the intersection of Broadlands and Centennial – the highest point on the course. Both laps were great and after some time, my butt got more used to the chip seal sections. Based on Arizona experience I even stopped at a porta potty on the course, which can only be described as luxurious. During the bike I executed my race nutrition plan, drinking from my bottles at about ½ bottle per hour and having a gel after 30 minutes. The hills though took a lot out of me mentally and probably strength wise, so that the bike took quite a bit longer than expected.

T2 (12:46)

Again I decided to take my time in T2 to change, apply more chamois cream for the run, eat a bar and get ready. When heading out I filled one of my bottles with water and chips and took off.

Run (42.2 km / 6:51:34 / 9:45 min/km)

It applies to the run course, too– no flat section and a variety of surfaces – road, sidewalk, cobblestone and grass. Right after kilometer three, two things though were clear – my legs were not firing the way I was hoping for and the run course was also unknown to me (always learning the hard way). During the first lap I suffered, did not force myself to eat and drink as I planned and went as far as turning my run/walk and nutrition alerts off on my watch. Even seeing Michael running did not help - mentally I was going to a dark place convincing me I did not have enough time to finish and to call it. I ran into Arthur at the turnaround and contemplated giving him my timing chip. I did not do it, because after all he had done for me, I did not want him to be disappointed – so I chugged on hoping to find an unknown race official to give my timing chip to. I saw Michael again on the run and he had all the wristbands, so I knew he was going to be an Ironman in a bit. I don’t know if it was that or something else, but at around 20 kilometers I decided to make a serious effort to finish this – I went from a dark place to “I really want this and am willing to dig deep”. I reset my watch at a distance marker (apparently I stopped it somewhere), turned on all alerts again, forced myself to eat and drink on schedule and picked up the Aleve and Mucinex at special needs. I did compete my 2^nd lap and knew I could finish the last 14 km if I could keep “wanting  this”. The only thing I would have wished for was my running sweater in my special needs bag, as it was getting chilly after dark. (PR)

Finish Line (16:18:20)

The chute is very similar to the one in Hawaii, including the ramp portion, but as soon as I hit the carpet, I was hovering – no ramp could have stopped me. Michael, Ann and Felicity were there and made for a special moment. I don’t know who called me an Ironman (I’m fairly certain it was Cameron), but I definitely high fived Mike Reilly as I was coming down the finish chute. After getting my medal, finisher towel and finisher shirt, I headed for the buffet, which included ice cream and pizza!

Final Thoughts

I was lucky – very lucky. If you sign up for an Ironman 3 ½ months after your last, you hope to be lucky to recover quickly. When you get sick while in training, you hope to be lucky to get healthy fast. When you get sick a few days before the race, you hope to be lucky and have it not get worse. When you pick a race, you hope to get lucky with your race venue – the whole town of Taupō loves and embraces this race. During the day and late into the night all streets are lined with spectators from the town as well as race families. They not only line the town, they line the most remote areas, too, so that you never feel alone.  That and the amazing course (not to forget the starts in the sky after dark) made me very lucky.

I was fortunate – very fortunate. To have a coach, who knew the race, knew what it would take and was there by my side (which counts both for Scott for AZ and Michael for NZ). I was fortunate to meet Ann, Felicity and Arthur – the most amazing and kind people – words can not express how thankful I am for everything you guys did for me during race weekend.  I hope that our paths will cross again and that this is be beginning of a great friendship.

I’m blessed – for having a wife how loves me and did not once complain about my winter training sessions. I love you so much.

No Ironman is a gimme, but Ironman New Zealand was a lot harder for me then Arizona. I really had to dig deep and want to be an Ironman on this day.

One more thought:

If this sounds a little it like a love letter to Ironman New Zealand and Taupō, then you might be right – this is an amazing race, run in an amazing location by amazing people.