Race Report for New Orleans 70.3 Ironman
May 10, 2009
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pictures of the trip to New Orleans.
Race report for Ironman 70.3 New Orleans:
This had "classic" written all over it. A team road-trip in a
rented utility van, from Wisconsin to New Orleans. A team that is
really starting to come together. We certainly know each
other well enough for the smack talk to start almost
immediately. Although I cannot remember everything that was
said, I'm sure I started it off somewhere about 1 minute into our
16 hour road trip. The stage was set.
It started off with Michelle, Robb and me in the huge white utility
van. Robb was the designated packaging guy, direction guy,
and all around cruise director. He is the absolute best
director I had ever seen. He rivals my Grandmother in
planning. My other van companion was the amazing
Michelle. I have really gotten to be good friends with her,
and love to talk smack. It's all about the race with Michelle
and me. I start the talk and she is certainly game to chime
in. When I first met her, I would come out on top of
the races, but as of late she is getting stronger and stronger and
as you will learn, she took it to me yet again at the race.
For the record, I'm actually getting sick of her kicking me at the
races. I'm also happy when any of my teammates have a good
day, but I'm never going to let up. That goes with the rest
of my teammates as well.
Our first few hours went fast. We picked up Chris in Illinois
- the van was full with bikes, luggage and the all important
triathlon gear. I have the most amazing respect for each and every
member on our team, and Chris is no exception. This guy is
amazing in each and every way. He is incredibly smart, funny
and an amazing athlete. He is also one fun guy to have in a
van on a road trip.
Robb continued his impeccable road-trip-direction while Chris
started the rules of the trip. We learned of the rules when
we hit dinner. Rule #1 for our trip is NO
food-chains. In keeping with rule #1, we hit Chubby's BBQ in
Hayti, MO. This was an amazing road-side diner. The
pile of food that came out was awesome. I have never seen so
much meet. Michelle was a bit grossed out by the place, but
the guys loved it! If it had a romote control and a recliner,
it would be named the Man Cave Galaxy. We snapped a few pics
to show our friends and headed back on the road. Soon it was
time for Rule #2. NO Sleeping. We all abided by the
rules, well, all except for Michelle. Not sure how she got
away with #2, but she did sleep. The rest of us? NO
sleep all the way down and all the way back.
During the trip, we learned a lot about everyone in the van. As is
usually the case, I was talking non-stop. I told all the
classic Stu stories. Nothing earth shattering, but I love to
talk, and they listened. I think they did. When I
wasn't talking we learned about Robb's real job as
engineer. He told us everything you ever wanted to know about
highway design. It was actually very interesting. All I
can say is this is the first time I got to spend a lot of time with
Robb - he is a rock star in every way.
As we stopped at each consecutive gas station I was able to take
off more and more clothing. Ahhhhh. Just like my
college days taking the trip from Wisconsin to the University of
South Florida, I was loving the added warmth. The time went
fast with the few rules we had, and was happy to finally see
Louisiana after midnight. We made great time, and rolled to our
rented house about 3am. We had made it. It was warm and very
windy. That should have been a sign of things to come.
We quickly made our way into the house and all went to sleep fairly
quick. Now the fun began. Over the next 24 hours the
rest of the team began to come in one by one. Those already
in New Orleans made the way to Bourbon Street. I have been a
few times, so it was not as big of a shock to me as it was to
others. We ate and just toured the city with Robb at the
helm. Over and over he showed his amazing abilities to guide
the team.
On Friday we had a great day planned. The entire team (except
Tracy and JP) had made it to New Orleans. We had a team
interview with Desiree Ficker, Linsey Corbin, Heather Gollnick and
Chris McDonald. We had an incredible time meeting and
interviewing them. I cannot say enough about how professional
and kind all these athletes were. I'm not sure how other
sports could ever compare. This group was just amazing.
Classy. Professional. Wickedly cool.
After the interviews, I was introduced to Charlie's family. I
had met his wife before, but now was able to meet his
children. Have you ever met a family where you "just know"
that they are being rasied to perfection? These girls were so
incredibly polite, and fun to chat with. I'm glad Charlie and
his wife are leading such an awesome family. Charlie and Lisa were
also able to lead us around New Orleans a bit and take us out to
dinner. I love having a local being able to give you all the
history.
After the interviews and meeting Charlie's family it was time to
register. The process was smooth! Nothing
surprising. As is always the case on vacations, everything
revolves around the next meal. In keeping with Rule #1, we
ate Cajun food again. I think we even had Gator and I won a
dollar bet in "drinking" some sauce - I'm not sure why people
ever bet me to do things like that! With my new dollar in
hand it was time to swim in Lake Ponchatrin. The waves were
AWESOME. The water was rough. You could barely see 5
feet in front of you. This is the type of water conditions I
love. I train in lake water when warm enough, so I just love
it. That is certainly an advantage for my training. I
will always take lake training over pool swimming. Anyway, we
took some pictures of the surf. I had a smile on my face the
entire swim. I felt like Flipper. Bring it on. In
reality, if conditions were like this on race day, they would have
to cancel.
The day before the race we swam again. This time it was as
smooth as a pool. I had a hard time thinking I was in the
same place. It was like night and day. What a
difference. The "locals" assured me the winds would bring
calm lake conditions. BUMMER! I want the huge waves. Oh
well. The great thing about Ironman and 70.3 racing is you get to
check you bikes the day before. We took some needed team
pictures with the entire team. Time to check in the bike and
get to work.
We all woke on race day, with some warm temps and strong
wind. Perfect! I was still hoping for big waves, but no
such luck. The locals were right. Calm lakes but warm
and windy. I was set. I had done the training as best I
could for April 5th. I had been on my bike outside once in
the past five months in Wisconsin. I was not worried as I had
my trusty PowerTap to guide me all Winter long. I never
missed a day of planned running outside. It has to be well
below zero outside for me to miss a run. I had done this once
before in Wildflower and things turned out OK.
Raceday started out well in the swim. I have done so much
lake swimming that I have learned to swim straight and do my best
to take the shortest path possible. The swim here was
weird. At times I was only 30 feet off the shore. I had
people yelling and cheering at me the entire way. It was a
very uneventful swim. I felt surprisingly well. Great
almost. The only eventful thing on the entire swim was when I
hit a rock on the final turn. I later heard many others did
the same.
I came out of the water in great shape. I really had not done a lot
of swimming as I have been focusing more on my run. Coming
into T1 I was in perfect shape. I had not thought about my
wager with my team-mates, but upon jumping on my bike, I really
thought I had done what I needed to do in the swim to win.
More on the wager later.
I got out on the bike and just started to watch my PowerTap
watts. The great thing about riding indoors the last several
months is you know where you stand for power. I kept a close
eye and felt great. I turned a quick corner and watched my
FULL water bottle run down the slope and into the dark abbis. I
made the decision that I had little chance of finding the
bottle. Just continue on and things will be ok. Another
3 miles fly by and another bottle decides to take a ride on the
road. It was like slow motion - the bottle flies in the air, slowly
scrapes the road and spills its contents all over the road.
Bottle #1 - gone. Bottle #2 - gone. Bottle #3, almost
gone. Note to self. Buy new anti-bottle-launch
holders! This is getting crazy.
My midset was still ok. Even though I do not like Gatorade
near as much as my Nuun / CarboPro combination, I was ready to
switch. I was now dry and hoping to see a station soon.
It took awhile, but finally I saw it. As I came up, I was
actually looking forward to some Gatorade. I came up on the
first person. It was like a movie. In the deep baritone
voice, "weeeerrrrreeeeeeeeee ouuuttttttttttttt offfff
Gattttttooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrraaaaddddddeeeeeeee." And my
response, still in the movie mode was "noooooooooooooooo."
Now what? Why is it always the inaugural year that this
happens? This is always a problem when you are in one of the
very last waves to go off. With no Nuun, CarboPro or
Gatorade, I was in trouble. Mile after mile went by.
Surprisingly, I was feeling great. Not sure why, but I felt
great. The 2nd and 3rd station went by still with no Gatorade
and in fact, got one of the last water bottles on one
station. At this point I was deserate. Like a mirage, I
saw what looked like a tossed Gatorade on the side of the
road. I stopped and picked up a quarter bottle. I was
desperate and drank it. What else should I do????????
The ride back to New Orleans was dead into the wind. I was
averaging 20 MPH until the last few miles. I still felt great
and though I had weathered the storm. I road hard and at
times was only going 15 to 16 MPH on the way in. I was happy
to see T2 and thought I felt good. I quickly transitioned and
was out on the road. The first 3 or so miles of the run were
directly into the wind. I had a great few months of run
training so I really felt good about the run. I was on pace
to beat both Michelle and Robb. All I needed to do was have a
decent run. In looking at the times we all posted I had been
right. There was only one problem. I was
done!
I was not feeling that bad, but have you even tried to run and
nothing is moving? At one point I looked and was running a 10
min mile???????????? What was going on? I kept going, but my
legs were not. In looking back I had committed the rookie
sin. I had not taken hydration seriously. I think
nutrition is important to all, but for me, its a matter of racing
well and being on the edge of disaster. In my three Ironman
races, I had totally failed on my nutrition plan twice. On my
last Ironman I nailed my nutrition and had a great day. It
was soooo bad that at the end of the race I was truly fantasizing
about food. I literally got down on my hands and knees and
begged a hotdog vendor for food. The actual race did not have
any "salty" food to offer. Kinda strange, but true.
This vendor must have thought I was just so pathetic that he gave
in and donated the hotdog to me. It was the BEST hotdog I
have ever had. It was amazing. Unfortetley, I was on
the edge for several hours and finally started to feel better the
next day. For many reasons I did not do well on my nutrition
plan. In my thinking, nutrition is based on two things:
electrolytes/liquid and calories. I use NUUN/CarboPro for
this. Unfortunelty, in dropping my bottles, no Gatorade on
the course, and no backup plan, I failed.
I did finish. I did have a blast, but I need to think back to
my post and NEVER EVER forget nutrition again! Why do I
always forget this. Please, never again.
In grading myself, I give myself a B- on the swim. I felt
great and think I did well. I give myself a solid B on the
bike. My Powertap keeps me honest, and in fact, that was the
highest Power I have had for a 1/2 Ironman. I give myself an
"I" (incomplete) for the run. It had nothing to do with run
fitness. My poor run showing was from my nutrition
plan. My Nutrition plan I give a solid D-. Why not an
F? Hey - I made the trip! I deserve at least a passing
grade.
The bottom line is I'm MORE DETERMINED than ever!
Period. I will not go down without a fight. To me,
triathlon is a life long sport. A sport that I can grow old
with. I truly hope that I'm given good health so I can be
that 70 year old guy that people cheer for. I will continue
my quest to qualify for Kona and the Boston Marathon one day.
My teammate Charlie has tossed the idea around to try for Boston
this year. My fastest 1/2 Marathon is a 1:26. My
fastest Marathon is a 3:42. There is a HUGE time gap in
those. A 1:26 is a respectable time for a 1/2 marathon.
I know I can do much better on the 3:42. As for Kona, I've
done 3 Ironman races. I have not been even close to
qualifying. I won't even be racing Ironman again until my
children are in college. Five more years! After that, I
might just have to put in my time until I finally can compete in my
age group. If it takes until I'm 70, well, I'm ready to
wait.
I want to thank my entire team again - Tracy, Sara, JP, Michelle,
Charlie, Chris, Rob! I also want to thank our adopted
teammates Steve and Sarah (you guys are the best
ever!!!!!!!!!!)