So its over now, 38 weeks of preparation, planning, sacrifice, pain, heat …. I think I felt every possible emotion on the journey to be an Ironman, but none was more special than that day. Yes, that day, August 25th. Its amazing how you can plan your entire life around one date and one event, and now that its passed, the question is, whats next? I know that another Ironman is in the plan, but its time to chill out for a little bit and reflect on the experience while its still fresh in my head.

I sat and wrote back in the winter time about documenting the whole experience and taking video on my blog so I can look back, but the actual experience is the thing that prevented me from being able to do that. There was just no time once February came and the double workouts kicked in, and as the training times slowly increased, it showed that doing anything became a challenge in priority just to get through a normal day. This training forced me to learn priorities, discipline and patience and made me really understand what is important to me. When you sacrifice so much, for so long, it really brings life into perspective.

So the race, well, I learned that its not about being FIT, although you need to be fit in order to survive the distances and conditions. Its all about execution on race day, which I think I did pretty good with. I flew into Louisville around mid-afternoon on Friday the 23rd, which was late compared to others who were competing but I was unaware that there was no athlete check-in on Saturday, so I had to check in on Friday before 5pm, however my flight didn’t land until 2:30pm… ugh. Thankfully there were no delays and I was able to get checked in, get down to the tribike transport tent and ensure my bike and gear were here and finally put my mind at ease. I felt good that my bike was in one piece and ready to go and knowing that, it was off to the hotel. I didn’t realize how much walking i was going to end up doing over the coming days without a rental car … but between Friday and Saturday, i probably walked 4-5 miles back and forth through the city to different events. it was a little concerning at first because my legs were sore on Saturday evening, but I survived.

Saturday morning started out with a short bike ride of around 20 minutes just to ensure my bike was all set for race day. She felt good, and fast … even though I hadn’t ridden her in over a week (remember that I had to drop her off last Saturday for transport). I returned to the hotel, and geared up to run down to the swim exit location for the practice swim. The one thing I didn’t do enough of this summer was open water swimming, so I needed to get out there and get the feel, which was good for me. I only spent around 15 minutes in the water but I did find out that the current in the Ohio River did help my swim time in the end (during practice, it took me 10 minutes to swim “up” and 5 minutes to swim back “down”). After the swim, it was time to get ready to get my transition setup….

After setting up transition, which was unique in itself because I had a volunteer walk me through everything in transition to explain how it works, I had pretty much the entire afternoon to just hang out and rest, which I did. I did the tourist thing for an hour or two, got some souvenirs and then headed back to the hotel to catch some rest. My legs were tired though from the walking, i’m just not used of it. I then did some mental prep, I guess some call it meditation. When you plan for something like this as long as you do, its very easy to get in that mode. I headed to sleep around 8am for a 3:30am wake-up … Naturally I didn’t sleep too much, just nerves I guess, but I was sure to keep drinking water to keep my hydration level up overnight.

The alarm went off at 3:30am, and it was time. 38 weeks, 450+ hours of time swimming, biking and running, all comes down to this. There is no single emotion that can explain it … the normal nerves were there, but quickly replaced with confidence and patience as I took my traditional shower before jumping in a dirty river). If there is one thing I learned throughout this entire experience, its patience, everything will come in time, don’t rush it. I finished showering, checked my gear, and got on my way to transition giving myself one last meditation session before going. I actually had a tear in my eye (yes, an Ironman does does get teary eyed too).

The trip to transition was quick, I verified by run bag, bike bag, pumped up my tires thanks to a nice gentlemen who let me use his pump. I was thankfully able to talk to my wife on the phone around 5:30am before I headed off to the swim start … I sometimes don’t give her and my daughter enough credit for dealing with me through all this. I really cut into our family time, among other things, to do this training and get to the starting line. Just to hear her say, “good luck” and “i’m proud of you” meant so much … but it was time to get this done. Next time I talk to her, this will be over.

The long walk to the swim start was like the final march … unfortunately the porta-potties at the swim start were packed, the line was unbelievable, but I got through it eventually. I hadn’t thought about the swim start “line”, since this was a time trial start, and I found that it was about a mile long … ugh, another mile to walk???? regardless, I stripped down to my tri-shorts, grabbed my goggles and cap and to the end of the line I went.

After finally getting to the end of the swim start line, I could hear the start cannon go off in the distance, right at 7am. Unfortunately I didn’t get in the water until around 7:30, but it moved fast once it started moving. There was no real time for emotion at this point…. but you know what? There was. The crowds, the people, the music, what an experience…. but I needed to remember that this was all about execution. I need to do the things I trained for …. comfortable swim, steady pace on the bike, and chill out on the run. Stay hydrated, stay fueled and take breaks…

It was finally my turn to jump in the water and I can say that overall the swim went well for me, I kept on pace at around 1:00/50m, which is my pool swim pace, so I was happy. It was challenging to get into my rhythm until we got out of the channel (about 900m in) because it was so narrow, it always felt like I was running into someone .. i did get kicked a few times, but nothing terrible. It wasn’t until we got to the open river and turn #1 that it spread out and I got into pace. I did freestyle most of the time with a few breaks doing a back stroke to recover and stretch my back. The current gong downstream definitely helped as I didn’t feel like I was expending a lot of energy towards the end. The numbers on the buoys were off though, I was expecting it to be continuous counting, but it wasn’t …. but I got through it. It was amazing at the end to think that I swam 2.4 miles straight .. I had never done that in training, and I did it in 1:15 …. nice, plus I didn’t feel like I expended much energy … perfectly executed. I got out of the water and my back was a little sore, but once I got my bearings back, it was off to transition.

My goal was to be on the bike by 9am, which I executed to just about perfect … I knew it was a long day of cycling ahead, 112 miles worth, a distance I never did in training. Plus it was getting hot very fast. I started by making a rookie mistake in the first few miles of the ride. I forgot to zip my tool bag under my seat, which meant my tire levers fell out (I heard them hit the ground). I was a little concerned because now if I got a flat, I had to hope that someone would stop and give me a loaner set of levers or else wait for the sag-wagon to swing by and assist… thankfully I didn’t have to worry in the end. The bike course was much more challenging than I thought, I kept thinking about the course profile and the only real climb being around mile 12, and it was WRONG! Starting around mile 15, we turned down route 1694 for an out and back, and it was mostly DOWN hill, then UP hill, then DOWN hill, then UP hill … oh, did I mention it was out and back? Yeah, do that twice…. As normal, you have the normal idiots who are cruising down the hills at 45mph, 3 wide across the road with bikers coming the other direction. Dangerous, just very dangerous.

Once I got through that portion, it was back to route 42 to find the start of the loop that I need to do twice. My strategy (execution) was to stop at almost every rest stop on the bike, and I just about did, except for in the beginning where I went every 2 until about halfway. I needed to stay fueled, hydrated and comfortable… sitting on a bike for that many hours makes me incredibly sore, so stretching every hour or so really helped. We finally hit the first loop and it didn’t appear too bad, until the rolling hills kicked in. It wasn’t terrible, but the rolling hills really do a job on your legs after awhile. I kept an easy pace, which was my plan, and many people were passing me (which is okay)… the bike is just not my strength, so my strategy was just to “get through the bike”, which I did. It got brutal on the second loop (which I was happy to hit the bike cutoff spot 1.5 hours early) as the heat got worse, it was said to be 92 degrees at the peak of the day although I couldn’t tell because of the breeze from riding kept me cool …. I finally hit the second loop around 1pm. The benefit of doing loops is that I know the course now, so I can ride it a little smarter, which I think I did. I was starting to get a little disoriented by this point as I was fighting off dehydration but was thankful to see the infamous “33 miles to Louisville” sign as we turned back onto route 42 (this was noted in the YouTube videos I watched about the race). At this point, 33 miles doesn’t feel that bad, although it would show that it was worse than I thought. The riders on the course were starting to really spread out at this point, which made it lonely at times, and a real mental struggle to get through. Route 42 had no real hills except for some rollers, so it wasn’t terrible, but by this time, anything was a challenge. It was good to see 42 turn into back into River Road with about 10 miles to go … this was the final stretch. By this point, my stomach was tired of drinking “Perform” and tired of eating “Bonk Breakers” … I needed some real food but I knew it was going to be a bit yet. I got into a good pace with another guy as we headed into town … I was finally able to see the bridges over the Ohio in the far distance … I just knew I had to keep going and keep it easy, remembering that I have to save something for the run. Finally, I could see the city skyline and I knew I was close to transition… my legs were cooked, I had sunburn, my stomach wasn’t feeling great and was feeling a bit woosey .. but i wasn’t done yet. As I rolled down the sidewalk to the “bike in” location, I verbally said … “damn, I just did 112 miles on a bike, wow”. My goal in the bike was first to beat the 2:45pm cutoff at start of loop 2, and then to be running by 5pm. I checked my watch (i was wearing two of them) and sure enough it was only around 4:30pm, a job well done. I did a health check at this point to see what hurt, and there was nothing major, I was sunburned and heading for dehydration and getting hungry for real food. I knew I could continue and get through this.

Thankfully a volunteer grabbed my bike for me right past the dismount sign … and I headed to transition. The transition tent was getting pretty gross by this point in the race … just picture the locker room at the YMCA being full of sweaty dirty people all afternoon, it was quite gross. So I quickly got changed, did a gear check and headed out for the run making sure to stop at the sunblock tent …. I requested they really lather it on me because I already felt quite sunburned by this time.

At this point, many people were already walking through transition and the run, but I was able to jog through it. I was surprised how good I felt after 7.5 hours on the bike … I knew there was a big challenge ahead of me though and I stuck to my execution plan to run :45-:60 slower than I trained at, and surprisingly it felt good at this pace. My knees were starting to bother me though, more so on my right knee which took a good shot the weekend before during a wipeout when i was running. My goal in the run was to run at least the first 10 miles, hopefully the first 13 miles and if at all possible, the first 18 miles and to be done by midnight (7+ hours). I knew even during training that I would not be able to run the entire marathon, so mentally I was prepared if I needed to walk. The pain in my left knee subsided thankfully after a few miles in, however the pain in my right knee continued to get worse and I noticed it starting to swell up pretty good by mile 10. I stopped at every aid station throughout the race (~ every mile) and fueled, and hydrated as i was fighting off dehydration and serious sodium deficiency from sweating. I would just walk through the station and then pick it back up after that. After I got the first run loop completed, which was about mile 13, my right knee really started to bother me and overall exhaustion was setting in. This was the part where things were starting to fall apart for me, but having a good execution plan allowed me to get it back on course.

After a few more miles of running with right knee pain (and it slowly swelling up), I found myself walking more than I was running and I had a decision to make. I knew I had it in me to keep running from an energy perspective, but my right knee would not let me do it easily. The choice now was either walk the rest and finish, or keep running and possibly injure my knee so bad that I could not finish, so the easy choice was to walk it.

I certainly wasn’t alone walking by this point … yes, i’ll let out the secret that a large number of finishers of Ironman triathlons walk the marathon (or some portion of it). I got to mile 16, and the walk started, and the mental strain of 10 miles of walking was ahead. Many things go through your head, but by this time, it was 7pm, I had 5 hours left to walk 10 miles. This is possible. I was fortunate enough to meet some nice people from around the country while I walked, stopping to share a story or two here and there, but it didn’t take away the face that it was still brutal to get through. Most runners that I see in other events are used of having music in their ears to pass the time, but this is not the case in the Ironman. It was quiet (especially once it got dark) and lonely at times watching some people walk fast and others jog. Basically, you are alone with yourself and your thoughts. Meditation helps.

The most painful part was the emotion I felt knowing I was passing people just starting the second loop who just may not finish. By my calculations, even if some of them walked a 16-17 minute mile for the next 10-12 miles at 9pm meant that these folks would probably not make it. And I can’t begin to imagine what that feels like. I hope I never do.

I started to pick up the pace as I got the last half mile of the run and people started appearing and cheering me on. I decided to start jogging so that I can practice for the actual finish and stretch my knee. My knee hurt, but it was well worth it in the end. The feeling I got as I turned the last corner of the race and ran towards “4th Street Live” and the finish was like nothing in the world. Here I was, just 1 short minute from finishing my dream race. There were people everywhere, cheering, screaming, music playing as I finally came through the chute, it was amazing. Even though these people had no idea who i was, they made it memorable.

Finally, I crossed the finish line and stopped moving (even though my mind felt like I still was). I’m so thankful to the lady volunteer that grabbed my arm because I almost fell over from exhaustion. I was so excited I didn’t even see my finish time as I went through the chute. Here I was, an IRONMAN. The title has a special meaning to me now because its a reminder of the things that I learned about myself during the training and the race. I think this is the most important part of the whole experience.

So what did I learn throughout this experience?

• Why prove anything? – I’m done with needing to prove “something” to myself. Whatever it was that I needed to prove to myself when i started this whole journey has been accomplished, and the sad part is I’m not sure exactly what it was. I don’t need to prove anything anymore to anyone, I need to start spending my time being wholesome and genuine and stop being something i’m not.
• Priorities – Ahhh… the importance of priorities in life. When you only have so many hours in a day, and so much that has to get done, you find out what is really important to you. Small things that would normally frustrate me, suddenly don’t seem so bad but the important things really do stand out. It makes for a full day, full of planning and then execution. I relate this to the Ironman in that prioritizing what I needed to, having a plan, and then executing to the priorities was critical for a good day. And its even more true in real life.
• Sacrifice – This was probably the hardest part of the whole experience. I missed things I probably shouldn’t have, didn’t spend as much time with my family as I should have, didn’t focus on work the way I should have just to name a few. I basically missed my entire spring and summer, its now heading into fall and I won’t get it back, but it okay because I have no regrets.
• Discipline and structure – staying focused on training for 38 weeks requires a certain level of madness. But for me, being somewhat OCD and ADHD in this area helped (i think). I need structure to be successful in anything and forcing myself to be disciplined helps me in so many other ways. Not everyone can get up at 4am everyday, train for 2.5 hours, then go to work. Almost everyday.
• Patience – I learned that one of my greatest strengths of being a Type A (“gotta get it done now”) could be one of my greatest weaknesses. I learned in this training that everything comes with time. You can’t go from riding a bike 2 hours a day to 5 hours a day overnight, it takes time, and patience. All things come to those who are willing to wait. The finish of the Ironman for me was a true test of patience and without the training and true understanding of how to adapt this to your life, I may not have finished and decided to just “run it” so I can get it done. It could have been my downfall, but thankfully was not.

I have absolutely no regrets for doing this. I think doing this has made me a stronger person and the entire experience has opened me up to my potential and my true inner self. Even as I continue to get emotional post-Ironman, it was worth it. Will I do it again? Well, yes, this is my drug. I’m just not rushing it … maybe one a year would do me good.

Lastly, I did want to share some motivating and humorous signs I saw along the course:

• “I’m a stranger, but i’m so proud of you” – very motivating, saw this several times
• “smile if you peed yourself” – yes, there were guys with pee going down their legs (not me)
• “Poop yourself, be that guy!” – I always recall a post on SlowTwitch.com about this, you’d have to read it to understand
• “shart.com” – Really?

Thats about it, next on the schedule is Ironman Texas in May 2014…. gotta rest up, its almost time to start it all over again.

Here are my finalresults for the race: