Thursday, September 29, 2011

ChesapeakeMan Race Report

Many people asked me what it's like to compete in an IronMan distance race. There is nothing easy about completeing 140.6 miles without stopping. It's also hard to train for 3 sports at the same time. On the busiest weeks I would log over 20 hours of training. I would wake up at 5:00am to go swim, go to work, then come home and go for a bike ride, get back home and go for a run. Once the run was over I would get back home and take a shower, eat dinner and go right to bed. Just to do it all again the next day. It takes a special wife to be able to deal with your husband being gone for that long. All of that training is necessary, though. It's a long race. You start out the race swimming 2.4 miles in the Choptank River. You then go on a 112 mile bike ride through the windy marshlands of Cambridge. You then run a full 26.2 mile marathon on a lonely stretch of Egypt Road. This race report will help you get an inside look at the race and the rollercoaster ride of emotions it brought on to me.
Pre Race:
I woke up at 3:51 for race day praying it wasn’t going to monsoon. I checked the weather forecast on my phone and it said 20% showers all day with clouds. Perfect weather if you ask me. I ate my giant blueberry muffin and my banana, grabbed all of my gear bags and headed off to T2. I dropped of my run gear bag and my run special needs bag and bike special needs bag. I jumped on the shuttle bus and it took us to T1 where I dropped of my bike bag, pumped up my tires and met up with my family who just showed up at the race. We hung out and talked and before I know it I was putting my wet suit on and covering my body with Vaseline. I needed to get out one more pee so I walked into the dark shrubs near the water. When I was walking back I ended up stepping in a large pile of dog crap with my bare feet. This was quite disgusting; luckily I was going to be swimming in less than 10 minutes. What a shitty way to start off the day. (pun intended)
The Swim:
I started in the back of the mass start for personal reasons. (Since this is a race report I’ll go in to gross detail. When I get nervous before races, I pee a ton. This race was no difference. I had to pee again. I knew I could pee in the water behind everybody else so I started in the back) .The gun went off and away we went. I no longer felt the freezing cold water as I was now in race mode with an empty bladder.  It was a fairly violent start. People were kicking and punching… a normal triathlon swim start. 200 meters in I took a left arm to the face which knocked my goggles off my eyes. I stopped to fix them and got back in my groove. We passed the back end of the rectangle shaped course, so I assumed I was around 1000 meters in. Here the water was extra choppy and that’s when I felt a piece of seaweed brush against my arm. This was different seaweed - it hurt. Around 100 meters further I hit another piece of painful seaweed. I was thinking maybe all the rain stirred up the bottom of the Choptank River. I went another 50 meters and hit something squishy with my left hand. It was then that I realized I was getting stung by jellyfish. I think the next 3-4 stings made me realize the faster I swam, the faster I would get out of this war zone. I stopped sighting every 5 strokes. I found a good swimmer and swam next to him, sighting every 20 strokes. He was on my breathing side so I only had to breathe and glance over at him to see if I was swimming straight. He eventually swim past me and I swam in his draft for a couple of hundred meters before he left me for good. I finished the first loop in 37 mins. I was happy with that time. I was thinking I’d be closer to 45 mins. I went out to start the second loop when I took a nice jelly fish stink to the right arm pit. The pain in the other stings was now a dull sensation but the new ones always freaked me out. They always hit me when I least expected them. The second loop went about the same as the first; however, I think I swallowed around a gallon of sea water. One guy grabbed my left leg in the choppy water. I was able to shake him off but when he did it again I kicked up really hard with my right leg and got him good. Not sure if I hit face, arm or chest, but my leg wasn’t grabbed anymore. I swam to the swim exit and my feet hit ground. I stood up and realized my equilibrium was all over the place. People were falling around me like college kids leaving a bar.  The 2.4 mile swim was finally over in 1 hour 16 mins. My goal was 1:30.

Transition 1:
They gave me the wrong bike gear bag at first so I put it on the ground and started to yell my number. Eventually a guy got my bag and handed it to me. I thanked him, told him to have a great day and ran to the changing tent. All the seats were filled so I sat on the ground and threw my bike stuff on and ran out of the tent towards my bike. My dad asked how I felt. I told him I felt great except for all the jellyfish stings. I put my sunglasses on when I realized they were broken. I threw my one week old Oakley’s to the ground and off I went for the 112 mile bike course.
The Bike:
The first 10 miles were uneventful. I ate an Uncrustable and drank some Hammer Nutrition Heed and Perpetuam. At the 12 mile mark we had to make a loop, I didn’t know it was a quick circle and almost ran off the road because the flag waving volunteer wasn’t waving his flag in the direction I was supposed to go. He was just looking at me as if I had 6 heads or something.  I made the turn and headed towards the long 50 mile loop. For the first 30 miles I concentrated on nutrition. Every 15 mins I would take a nice drink of Perpetuam followed by Heed followed by water. On every 30 minute mark I would take a shot of Hammer Gel and on the hour I would eat fruit snacks, an uncrustable or a cliff bar. I took in some endurolytes every hour as well. I new I was hydrated because I had to make a few bathroom breaks. These were eventful because there weren’t many Port-A-Potty’s set up. With all the rain the mosquitoes were everywhere, and they were pissed and smelled blood right away. I’m sure the sight of me jogging around in cycling shoes while I was peeing was a funny sight. Only a few of the bastards got me. One resilient one made it a solid 3 miles on my shoulder before I knew he was there. When I squished him it left a blood stain on my brand new AFC tri top. Next I ran into a 3-5 mile stretch of rough road. It felt like we were on cobblestones. My over hydrated bladder took a beating and this stretch of rough road made me have to pee like none other. They told us we would encounter a 1 ½ mile stretch of road that had water on it. I was expecting this so when I got to it I expected a few puddles. Little did I know it was 4-5 inches of water. I quickly dropped to an easier gear and pushed through the swamp. My feet were literally under the water at the bottom of my pedal stroke. My feet were soaked, but it was kind of fun. Something new to take my mind off the monotony of the long bike ride. Around 5 miles later fellow Adventures For the Cure teammate Tony Glorioso (he was doing the Skipjack race that covered over 70 miles total) was passing me on the bike. We talked a bit about the swim and the water on the roads. This ended up hurting him because he came in second place in his age group by only 53 seconds. It may have hurt him, but it helped me. It’s always nice running into people you know when your mind starts to haunt you with what you still have to do in the race.) I sang every song I could think of to myself and finally made it to the special needs bag drop area at mile 65. Here my parents were waiting for me along with my brother. My brother had a sign that read “Go Brent, Don’t Die.”
 It made me laugh as I reached out for my bag. I stuffed my bento box and ran to the Port-A-Potty. My mom held my bike while I was in there, my dad was updating the race status on his facebook page. Kind of funny seeing my dad do that. I jumped on my bike and my dad told me only 45 miles left. I kindly reminded him it was actually 47 miles. I started riding again, eating and drinking according to my schedule. At the 80 mile mark everything started hurting. My butt, my legs, my neck, my triceps, everything. I was also really bored. I swore to myself at this point that I would never do another full Ironman distance race and I would never ride this stupid bike again. This second loop was the exact same as the first, however, the water on the road was a little deeper because of the high tide. After getting through the swamp I finished my bike ride. I averaged 17.1 mph. I was hoping for 17.2-17.8 so I was happy with that. I didn’t want to hammer it too hard on the bike because I didn’t want to wreck my legs for the run. My 112 mile bike journey was finally over. In around 6 hours 30 minutes.
Transition 2:
I waited a second at the dismount area before somebody grabbed my bike. They handed me my run gear bag and I ran into the changing tent. This time there were seats in the transition area. Everybody in there was moaning and taking their time, as was I. It had already been a long day and now we had to “run” a marathon. I changed my socks and shoes grabbed a banana and off I went for a 26.2 mile war.

The Run:
I actually felt good coming into the run. I was hydrated and I left some room in my legs to run. My super goal was to run a 4 hour marathon but had no clue if that was possible after 114.4 miles of swimming and cycling. I went out at an 8:45 pace and felt great stopping at the first aid station for Gatorade and water. This aid station was nice because they were blasting loud music. It allowed me to escape the distance that was in front of me. I drank at the next two aid stations and made it to the 4.5 mile turn around where I took a shot of Hammer Gel. This one didn’t get down that easily, but I choked it down after a little fight. The turn around was neat. There was a party set up and the actual turn around point was a cooler where the people were storing their beer. They were blasting music as well and rooting us on. The ladies were dressed up as peacocks and giving out hugs to any runners that needed one. I got more Gatorade and water and headed back to the high school. I made it to the run start area and was feeling good getting ready to start lap 2 of my 3 lap 26.2 mile trek. I saw my family and told them I was feeling well. I stopped for a quick Port-A-Potty break and went on my way. Mile 11 hit and I felt great!! Mile 11.5 hit and I thought I was dying!!! My stomach started cramping like none other. I have never felt a stomach cramp that bad. And they wouldn’t go away. I refused to stop so I made it my goal to at least run to the next rest stop and get down some liquids. I was angry because my legs felt fine, my stomach just refused to allow me to keep my pace. I made it to the next couple of aid stations and started drinking more water and Gatorade. I took down some endurolytes and started running again. Nothing changed. My stomach was still killing me. I started getting worried that my whole race was going to implode. I knew I ate fine on the bike and was well hydrated going into the run. I’ve run open marathons before and only drank every 2 miles and that was enough for them. Here I am drinking every mile but now I’m hurting like none other. At the turn around (13.5 mile mark) I grabbed some potato chips and started eating them. Nothing. I drank and drank and drank. Nothing. At mile 15 I started getting worried. I was getting dizzy and it looked like the clouds were moving really really fast. Maybe they were? I was able to choke down 100 calories worth of fruit snacks but still couldn’t get any relief. I tried drinking some Pepsi because I remember my grandmother giving it to me when I was sick as a child. It went down fine and I felt better while I was walking, but when I started running again the cramps were there and even worse. I was actually scared to see my family to begin the 3rd loop because I didn’t want them to see me in such a bad place. They could probably only see me for a half mile stretch, but I was scared I couldn’t even jog that long. Before I made it to the turnaround a guy coming up behind me asked what lap I was on. I told him I was on lap 2, he said he was on lap 3. He asked me how I felt. I told him about my stomach. He said that I should try eating the soup at aid station 2 and 4. He said his stomach was killing him and he ate it and felt great afterwards. He wished me luck and ran to his finish. I got to see him run down the finishing chute as I made the turn to see my family and begin my last 8 mile lap. When I saw my family they asked me how I was. I told them my stomach was in a bad bad place. They told me afterwards that they could tell I wasn’t feeling well. I lost my stride and was struggling to hold onto 10-11 minute miles. I made the turn and got out of their site and started to walk. I hated walking.

This was the first race I have ever done where I walked. Every step felt like somebody was punching my quads, but I didn’t mind that pain. I was expecting it and I’ve felt that pain before in marathons. This stomach thing was new and it hurt. I saw the aid station about a mile and a half in the distance and forced myself to run to it. I ran as close to the side of the road as possible hoping that if I passed out I would land in the grass to the side of me. I was hoping I could wake up after a soft landing and finish the race. Yes, your mind set is that crazy during races like this. You are willing to do anything to make it to the finish. I made it to the aid station and got some soup and coke. The soup tasted great but when I started running I was still hurting. I went to the Port-A-Potty to force myself to pee to see what color my urine was to try and tell if I was dehydrated. It looked like I pee’d orange juice. At this point I was scared. I was dizzy and dehydrated. I walked the next ¼ mile passing by a group of people in green shirts rooting us on. They told me to keep on marching forward. I listened but it hurt. I was in a melt down. I got to the next aid station and got some more hot soup and cola. I walked for around a minute to make sure it went down. I started jogging and felt absolutely fantastic. What the heck just happened? It was like somebody flipped a switch and turned my body back on. It was the weirdest thing I have ever felt my body go through. I was shocked. I started picking up the pace to a 9:00 pace and felt great. It was like I was a new person. I pushed my run to an 8:30 pace and still felt great. I was scared to push any further because I didn’t want to bonk out. The soup had saved my life. All I wanted to do was thank the guy who told me to eat it. He saved my day and my sub 13 hour goal was still in tact if I could hold on. I ran around the far turn around for the last time. I slapped the peacock’s high five and told them to play me some Lil’ Wayne to run out too. They didn’t have it so I settled for soup and went on my way. At that point another guy caught up to me. We ran together for the last 4 miles talking about the pain that we were going through.  It was amazing to see what the human body is capable of going through and pulling itself out of. We were walking with our drinks in hand at the last aid station. We finished our cups and threw them to the ground. He started to run and  I told him to go ahead planning on finishing a few seconds after him so he could cross the line by himself and live it up running up the finishing chute. I forced myself at this point to walk the next tenth of a mile. A few tears crawled out of my eyes and I told myself to take this moment in. All the training, the fight to get to this point – I’m going to do it! I though about my brother. I went to watch him do Ironman Louisville last year and after he passed out on the bike, he got up and finished the bike portion. He started the run but then had to pull out. It broke my heart having to see him pull out. He wanted it so bad. All I wanted to do was finish the 140.6 distance for him and get revenge on it. I knew at that time I was going to do it. At that time it was just getting dark, I couldn’t see my footing, but I didn’t care. I could have broken my foot stepping in a pot hole but it didn’t matter. I knew I could crawl to the finish at this point and that made me happy. As I was turning for the home stretch a race official on a motorcycle asked if I was finishing. I told him yes and he congratulated me and rode on. I’m guessing he was handing out glow sticks to the people that were going to be there for a while. I ran down the stretch and the hundreds of people at the finish line were cheering for me. It was an amazing rush of energy. I saw the finish line and heard the announcer announce my name. I crossed at 12:44:44. The announcer gave me a high five. He seemed genuinely excited for me. They handed me some Gatorade, put the medal around my neck and handed me my finisher’s shirt. The guy ran the final 4 miles with came by and we shook hands congratulations each other.I saw my family walking over and my dad came and shook my hand and told me I did a good job. I’ll remember that for the rest of my life. I looked for my mom but she was no where to be found. My brother told me she was scared to death when she saw me start my last lap. She was like a statue, no emotion, no movement. I turned around and saw her on the phone with my sister, smiling. She gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and handed me the phone. My sister congratulated me as did the guy I ran with for the last 4 miles. I was literally in shock. Not at the fact that I finished such a long race, but the fact that I felt so good physically. After pulling myself out of that dark hole, I felt I could have ran another 10 miles without any problems at all. My body literally felt amazing at this point. It was the strangest thing.
Many people say I’m crazy for doing this race. I knew I would hit a point where my body would break down and I would have to will myself to the finish. That’s the reason I signed up for the race. Many people go through life never knowing how strong their bodies are. They never take themselves to the brink, crumbling from the pain and then see their bodies pull them out of it. It was an amazing thing for me to witness. During races like this there are 3 things racing it. Your heart is racing it, your body is racing it and your mind is racing it. Your mind will constantly be telling you that you are hurting and that you should stop. Your body will tell you through pain and injury that you need to stop. It’s up to your heart to ignore your mind and body and push forward when you don’t even know if there is an end in sight. When you are at the brink of crashing, literally blacking out, but yet, you push forward ignoring your mind and body, it’s that time that you realize what you are capable of. It’s at that point when you realize what it’s like to be alive….. to be an ironman.

1 comment:

  1. Congratulations!! Brooke and I are finishing training for Baltimore, and that's been hard (we're both hitting our wall with training runs at this point)-- I can't even imagine what you had to do to prepare for this.

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