IronMan Louisville 2008 Race Report

Saturday afternoon we went down to the 4th Street Live and enjoyed a pasta dinner. Went back to the hotel and relaxed keeping off my legs as much as possible. Around 8PM we all hit the bed and I actually had a nice evenings sleep. I set the alarm for 3AM and got up and had a bowl of Cherrios and off to bad again.

Around 5:30 Mrs. Team BRAZO and myself made our way to transition to put the nutrition bottles on the bike. Much to my surprise, they announced that transition was closing in 3 minutes – what, I had read 6:30 it would close not 6:15. But it worked fine as all I needed to do was place the bottles on the bike.

We then made our way over to the swim start which is about ¾ of a mile from the transition area. The swim is a single file start with people jumping in left, center, and right off a pier. You then swim up stream in a channel around an island. At that point you head straight down the Ohio river to the transition area.

My swim was pretty uneventful with my goal of going slow and easy. It was a without wetsuit race which isn’t a problem, but anytime someone hit my feet my hips would drop and I’d almost need to stop and re-start my stroke. Just like IMWI 2007, I stayed right next to the bouys. I exited the swim around 1:40 and felt pretty good.

I took it nice and easy in T1 holding my thoughts of enjoying the day and not expending extra energy. I made my way out of T1 and onto the bike course – the first 15 or so miles are pretty flat and easy. At this point I was enjoying the boats along the shores of the Ohio river and just taking in the sights. I kept my speed around 16 mph and felt great.

We then turned on an out and back portion of the bike ride that took you down a 1.5 mile decline and then right back up a 1.5 mile incline. At that point you made a U-turn and headed back down. Even though it seemed like a daunting task to climb up 1.5 miles, it really wasn’t too bad. Most of the way I was able to keep a “harder” gear and pedal my way up without getting out of the saddle.

At that point you then reach the part of the course that you do 2 loops. This part is much more “rolly/hilly” then the first part. You ride into Lagrange, KY with both sides of the street just packed with spectators (they have a shuttle from Louisville). The loop is around 30 miles and contains quite a bit of rolly hills.

About 2 hours into the bike, my stomach started to give me problems – this was not good news. I knew that I might have a problem with my stomach but at 2 hours – that is not good. I continued to sip my water and stayed hydrated (I can measure that by the fact that I had to pee probably 6-7 times). Around the 3rd hour I was no longer able to keep my Perpetuim down and had to make the decision to get the bike to T2 and then worry about the nutrition on the run.

The day before the race, XT4 sent me an e-mail suggesting a few things to stay cool on the bike and the run. The temps for race day were 93 degrees. He suggested that I use a liberal amount of water to shower my body at the aid stations and that put a bottle in my bike shirt and use that every couple of miles – spraying the water in my helmet and on my body. Well, this worked Great – I’m sure the water station people thought I was a bit overboard, but I’d first fill up all my water bottles on the bike (4). Then I’d pour 2 full bottles over my body. Then I’d take 2 full bottles and put them in my bike shirt. No question that XT4’s advice saved my day on the bike.

Around 25 miles to go, my body was shutting down as far as energy. I was starting to get very dizzy and had to concentrate hard on keeping the bike on the road. Each hill was just a killer and my speed slowed down. I made a promise to myself that I would get the bike back to T2.

This is where the Mental side of the IronMan kicks in. Along the 25 miles, I knew that if I pulled to the side and a medical staff person stopped by – they would pull me from the course and I would agree with them. So, I did everything in my power to stay on the bike. With 3 miles to go – out of 112 miles, I had no choice but to stop. You would think you could just finish 3 more miles on a flat ride, but that was not happening. I picked a spot where I didn’t think I would be noticed and sat down on a tree. My eyes were rolling in my head and I felt like I was just about to pass out. Well, at this point I thought I best get back on the bike and stop near a police officer to summon help.

This is all happening with freaken 3 miles to go – unbelievable that your body shuts down that much. It took everything in my power to go those 3 miles – I decided not to stop for help.

I made it to T2 with the idea that my day was certainly over, but I had plenty of time to just sit down and see what would happen. I was smart enough this time to put a Coke in my T2 bag. I sat there for 30 minutes sipping on the Coke. A gentleman right next to me sat there also and finally he got up and quit the race – just couldn’t go on. Finally I decided to at least give it a try.

I had about 6 hours to walk the marathon, so I thought I’d give it a shot. I started out walking just sipping my Coke and slowly the stomach felt better. I then decided that my 15 minute a mile pace may not get me to the cut-off in time, so I decided to try and run as much as possible. Every water station (every mile) had Coke, which was a life saver. IMWI last year only had Coke at the 20 mile point. So, I would run between the water stations then drink water one time and Coke the next time. My stomach was getting better and my speed on the run was improving. When I was running, I was maintaining around a 9:45 minutes per mile and felt good.

I knew I needed to get some nutrition in my body, so I tried a plain GU and sure enough – it went down good and caused no stomach problems I then ate oranges, pretzels, GU, and just about anything else. What’s up with that -- Coke seems to be the trick with me. I kept drinking Coke because I could feel myself coming down if I skipped a station.

Around 10 miles into the run, I knew I had this thing in the bank. It was so hard to believe that I was going the finish this IronMan – I was certain of a DNF on the bike. Last year for IMWI, it was almost too easy (whatever that means), so it felt like something was wrong. I expected that "to hell and back” experience and I didn’t have it. Well now I have.

Certainly the hardest thing I have ever done in my life and I was so pleased that I had the Mental fortitude to get through the pain. If I would have DNF’d, it would be ok – but getting through the “completely done” was very gradifying. I now feel like an IronMan.

Now I can sit back and follow all you folks doing IMWI 2008. I’m very much looking forward to giving back via volunteering for IMWI on Sunday.

So, during the run on Sunday I gave much thought to what John Elway did – back-to-back Super Bowls and then retired. Maybe not a bad idea, but time changes minds…