This past weekend I lined up to start 144.6 miles and what
was to be my A race of the season, Ironman Chattanooga. I had trained for the
race all year. You could count the
number of workouts missed on one hand with missing fingers. I crushed all my prep races leading up to
this day and was able to maintain an injury free status.
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| Some fast guys and XTERRA Suits |
Toeing the swim start I knew I was in the best shape on my
life. All that remained was to execute the
race plan properly and I would put myself in contention to compete with some of
the best age groupers out there. Little did I know that some 9 plus hours later
when I thought I would be crossing the finish line I would be laying in the med
tent, taking in an IV, and coming back to my senses trying to remember what
just happened. Before I try to remember what happen let me recap my race until
collapse time.
Swim (54:18, 16th age group):
Coming into the race I knew I wasn’t as fast in the swim as
the top guys I would be competing against. However, with the water current and
my swim fitness I knew I would not be too far off their feet and there would be
a lot of miles to inch them back in on the bike and run. My initial plan to start the swim was to jump
in, follow the feet of my friend and teammate, Steve Smith, through the first
few hundred yards, settle into pace and work with Steve throughout the swim. (No,
this is not cheating but working within the race rules).
Well, that plan was hosed from the start. As we
started down the ramp I see the start mats and I looked back at Steve and asked
if that was where our time starts. It
was. Once I crossed it I immediately
jump in and started swimming, never letting Steve get in front to startL. A hundred yards into the swim I looked back
and did not notice Steve on my feet. So, I settled into pace, got the buoys on
my left shoulder and started to look around for someone to pace with as I swam
down river. Unfortunately the only swimmers I saw swimming around my pace were
way out and I did not want to veer off course to catch them. I ended up
swimming the entire 2.4 miles by myself and only having to move off course maybe 10
times throughout the swim to get around other swimmers. All together, outside
of the start, the swim went great. Coming out of the water in 54:18 (16thage group), I was a little shocked as I thought I would be around 55-57, and I even
lost what felt like was 30 seconds to a minute waiting to get up the stairs.
T1 (4:04):
Running up to T1 I had to un-politely, sorry guys, nudge a
few competitors who where clogging up the swim exit walking around. Nothing too
eventful happened in the tent but I struggled running to my bike and getting my
bike out of transition. The first problem was all my nutrition fell out of my
back pocket not once but twice. Then my bike was crammed so tight between other
bikes that I had to ask for help from a volunteer to un-wedge them to get mine
out, frustrating. Added on top of that my bike was one of the furthest ones
from the bike start, which made for a long transition run with the bike. Once finally on the bike it was smooth sailing
to start.
Bike (5:22:14, 11th age group)
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| Feeling Good Still |
I started the bike off great. My mood was at the highest point of the day. I had just got on the bike under an hour with no cramps coming out of the water (for some reason my hip flexors and lower back seem to cramp on continuous swims longer than 30 minutes. Any advice on what could cause this would be great to hear). The weather at that point felt great. The weather would change in the blink of an eye later in the day though. I rolled through the first 50 miles with ease, staying within my power range, rolling through the slower bikers, and I thought hitting all my nutrition just right. Coming through the small city of Chickamauga I got to see my family for a quick wave. This boosted my spirits a little more and helped with the climb out of town and to the start of lap 2.
Lap 2 is where everything started to unwind. About mile 70ish I started cramping in my inner thighs. My mood went from you’re rocking this to what is going on. I tried my best to keep a positive outlook and kept telling myself “relax everyone is going to go through a hard moment or two in the race, take in nutrition, and relax again.” From that point on the cramps never stopped. I eased them by backing off my power 20-30 watts and just rode myself in.
Trying to remember what I actually took on the bike has been
a hard task. I believe that I drank at least 4 bottles of EFS and 2 bottles of
water. Plus, whatever water I sprayed in my mouth and head at each aid station.
Throughout the bike I did not feel too hot but did notice I wasn’t dripping
sweat, which I normally do, but rather the sweat was drying fast enough to
leave a noticeable dried sweat ring around my shorts. Based on how I rode the
bike my first inclination for the start of dehydration and cramping was not due
to power or surging but neglecting proper hydration and sodium for the weather
conditions.
T2 (2:51):
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| The smile is deceiving |
Run (DNF):
As I started the run I got passed by Snapple Pro Lori
Sherlock and tried my best to just run with her. That lasted a whole 100 yards
before my inner thighs side no. At the point I was forced to walk and then run for
the first 11 miles. At every aid station the only thing I could take down was
water. Any nutrition, liquid or solid, would just make my stomach cramp.
At mile 11, just before we crossed the pedestrian bridge to make
our way to the second loop of the run is when things got interesting. I hit a spot in my health that I have never been
before (this year, not proud to say, I have experience severe dehydration twice
and not one of those time did it compare to the state I was in at IM Chatt).
Things just went into space, I felt myself staggering over the bridge, my heart
was racing while walking, I could barely talk and I didn’t know what to do. As
I made my way to the end of bridge I knew I would see my wife and I did. Once I
got to her I thought “please just hold me and take me home” but I gave her a hi
and said “see you in about 2.5 more hours because this is going to be a
struggle”. I also saw Steve’s wife and asked where he was and to my surprise she
stated “he is behind you about 1 mile or so”.
“Steve’s behind me, what?” I had not seen him since the start and had figured
he beat me out of the water and was going to lap me on the run.
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| Not feeling so good |
As I made my way to mile 14 aid station things got even
worse. I started to severely cramp throughout my body when just walking. I
walked through the aid station and made my way to an overpass and stopped. I
went to the guard rail, sat and thought “I am just going to sit here until
Steve catches up because I need help getting to the finish line and if he hasn’t
caught me yet he must be struggling too”.
When I sat everything seized up and the next thing I
recall I was getting shoved into the back of a gator. I remember people saying “sir
you need to get in we have to take you to medical” and me saying “I can’t I am
cramping and can’t move”. Then several minutes’ later things started to become
normal again. I am lying in the med tent, IV in arm and wondering what just
happened. Come to find out after the race Steve did catch me on course and said
he grabbed my foot and asked if I was okay in the gator. He said I was out of
it and was just sprawled out in the back and did not reply. I was in a bad
place I should not have been health wise.
So what did just happen? It is pretty simple. I clearly ignored
all the warning signs that I was starting to get dehydrated on the bike and chose
to ignore them. I eased the pain a little instead of fixing the problem. I didn’t
even make an attempt to adjust my hydration needs before the race, knowing good
and well it was going to be a barn burner and humid day. I pushed myself through
the beginning of the run hoping for some saving turn around when I should have
just stopped for a good 15 to 30 minutes and got my body into a condition where
I could have at least finished.
Not to mislead my statement above but I don’t believe that race
day nutrition has been the key factor in my suffering from dehydration in long
races. Rather just the finger that bushed the clasping structural wall down. This
offseason will be spent dissecting what I can improve on outside of just doing
what is written down for a workout. So next year I come back stronger than
ever.
This season though was not doom and gloom. It has been my best racing and training season to date, though the ending was not the icing on cake finish wise. I notched 2 age group winning podiums, my first overall win and finished in the top 10 in all my races this year, with the exception of IM Choo. I had the honor of representing Snapple Triathlon Team and its sponsors – Xterra Wetsuits, First Endurance, Garneau, Sweatvac, Rudy Project, and Trainingpeaks this year as an ambassador and hope I represented the team well. A huge thank you to my coach Adam Otstot for continuing to push me and bringing me to the start lines at each race in better fitness then I ever thought I would reach. The biggest I love you to my wife, Kristi, and my girls for always being there and being supportive of my goals.
This season though was not doom and gloom. It has been my best racing and training season to date, though the ending was not the icing on cake finish wise. I notched 2 age group winning podiums, my first overall win and finished in the top 10 in all my races this year, with the exception of IM Choo. I had the honor of representing Snapple Triathlon Team and its sponsors – Xterra Wetsuits, First Endurance, Garneau, Sweatvac, Rudy Project, and Trainingpeaks this year as an ambassador and hope I represented the team well. A huge thank you to my coach Adam Otstot for continuing to push me and bringing me to the start lines at each race in better fitness then I ever thought I would reach. The biggest I love you to my wife, Kristi, and my girls for always being there and being supportive of my goals.
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| What keeps going and more important then a race!! |
