Back in November of 2010, I read a short race report about a six day, stage running race – 148 miles across the Colorado and Utah desert on foot.  My imagination was hooked, and eight months later I found myself on a bus with 31 other racers, driving away from Moab, UT, on our way to the starting line nearly 150 miles away.  The bus stopped at a trailhead, we got out, and after some brief encouragement from the race director, we began our trek back to Moab, along the Kokopelli trail.

Day 1 was actually one of the shorter days, “only” 20 miles.  But starting in the midafternoon meant that we experienced the heat and wind of the day.  I was struck by the beauty majesty of the surroundings.  I’m used to trees and flowers, so it was hard for me to see the beauty that first day, where rocks, scrub brush, rocks, and more rocks were our steady diet for hours.  But the majesty of the canyons and buttes is plain to see – and everywhere in this part of the desert.  My run went well on that first day, but I grossly underestimated my fluid needs.  I ended the day severely dehydrated, and after finishing spent upwards of half an hour on my back with my feet elevated trying to get my blood pressure stabilized and my fluid levels settled.

During this time I was watched over by an outstanding medical team.  There were four docs who travelled with us – some were ER docs, some with military combat medicine experience, and all of them visibly committed to making our run a success.  Each night, the medical team would set up a “blister clinic”, and treat all comers – draining blisters, and taping feet and toes for the next stage.  I’m glad that on the whole, their week was uneventful.  But they were a great asset to the race, made us feel more secure, and were great guys as well.

Photo: Glen Delman

Blister Clinic

Before the race, I considered Day 2 the most difficult, and it did not disappoint.  Since we started Day 1 so late in the day, we didn’t have much recovery time between these stages.  It also traditionally was the warmest stage.  Due to recent flooding of the Colorado River, our planned camping area at the end of Day 2 had to be moved, so our mileage for the day was shorter than planned, around 35 miles.  I spent much of this day (and many of the others) running with Kurt and Shelley Egli.  They had run RATS twice before, and were a wealth of knowledge and experience.  Kurt was my “desert whisperer” – throughout the week he would quietly inform me of some nugget of info about the heat, the course for the day, or the week ahead.  Shelley taught me that I have a whole other gear with which I can climb hills!

Photo: Glen Delman

Kurt and Shelley Egli

Somewhere near the middle of the day we met up with Jason McGinniss – who had been way out in front of us up until then.  Jason had taken a wrong turn, and had burned a fair bit of time and energy before getting back on the course.  The four of us ran/walked for what seemed like hours.

Photo: Glen Delman

Jason, Shelley, Kurt and me

Much of the second half of the day was on one LONG, relatively straight “road”, so someone would pick a landmark (typically a telephone pole), and we’d run to that.  Then walk to the next pole, and then we would run to the next landmark. Repeat. And again. Do that 30 more times.  And that was Day 2 in the books.  I spent much more mental effort on drinking a LOT of fluid, and keeping my electrolytes topped off – so thankfully I had no hydration/energy/GI problems at all.

Each day the wonderful camp crew would tear down camp as we ran, and when we arrived at the day’s finish line, miraculously we arrived at a fully assembled camp.  Food was plentiful and very tasty.  And I’m not sure how many watermelons gave their lives during the week, but I’m guessing it was somewhere north of 100.

Starting on Day 2, each of our camps was close enough to the Colorado river to allow us to soak our legs, and take a QUICK dip – the water was very recent snow melt, and was probably in the mid 50s.  But it felt soooooooooo good on the legs, and it was nice to get at least the top layer or two of dirt off.

For Day 3, we ran a little longer than expected, to make up for some of the lost distance the prior day, the consensus was that it was around 11.5 or so.  The joke around camp was that: “It’s an unusual group of people who consider an 11 mile run a ‘rest’ day”.  I ran with the Egli’s again, and Doone and Tim Watson – a delightful couple (of fearsome runners!) from Canada.  Well, I ran with that crowd until the mud.  We had been warned about the mud that the receding river had left on the trail – and nobody had any trouble…except me.  My very first step into the mud resulted in my shoe and gaitor being sucked right off my foot!!  I was glad there was a big rock there, so I sat down and put myself back together again.  And tied my shoes a little tighter this time.  Maybe too tight…

Day 4 – the Expedition Stage – 52 miles, up and over a mountain range, and back down the other side.

Photo: Glen Delman

All through the morning we could see our destination –

the saddle between the right two peaks in the distance

One of the challenges of Desert RATS is staying on the right trail.  During this stage, at least two people got off course long enough to end their race.  I felt so bad for those folks.  And I was very nearly one of them myself.  I was running with the Watsons through a nice area, and had drifted ahead on a long downhill section.  Cruising through a trail intersection, I realized I hadn’t looked carefully for a trail marker, and went back.  I found the marker, but in my haste I looked at it from the wrong side (so no matter what, I wasn’t seeing the correct arrow), and then I must have not even read the marker correctly, and started off on the side trail, uphill, full speed ahead.  Doone and Tim arrived at the crossing shortly afterwards and saw me blundering up the wrong trail, and called me back.  A minute later and I would have crested the hill, and they wouldn’t have seen me…and I have no idea what would have happened.  I was very low on water at that stage, and we were literally, out in the outskirts of nowhere’s-ville.  I told them that when I get home I was going to have another set of twins, just so I could name them “Tim” and “Doone”.

Thankfully, most of the rest of the Expedition Stage went off without a hitch.  I was very disciplined to take a shot of nutrition – Infinit concentrate – each 15 minutes, an S-Cap each 20 minutes, and to wash them down with lots and lots of water.  I was pee-ing about every hour and a half, and had no bloating.  In one particularly long segment (11-12 miles) I drained my main Camelbak bladder (100oz) and my reserve bladder (35oz).  I was NEVER so thankful to see a water drop!!!

With 7.5 miles to go, I hit the last aid station and was feeling very good.  I realized that I would not be making my 12 hour goal for the day, which I really needed to hit in order to reach my 30 hour goal for the week.  But the last 6 miles was downhill on pavement, so I was anticipating making up a bit of time.  I got a refill on water, and had my mandatory equipment check.  Each aid station, the crew would ask for one piece of mandatory gear – the knife, strobe light, mirror, etc., and mark it off in our expedition book, as well as recording our time.  We exchanged well wishes, I took a step, and my knee exploded in pain.  I could instantaneously tell that my IT band had siezed while I was standing there, and each step brought me to new levels of pain.  I hobbled off, not wanting to get corralled by the med guys at the aid station, and got my pain induced hyperventilating under control.  By walking with my leg straight, it didn’t hurt too bad, so I kept moving, and rubbing the outside of my leg to try to soften up the spasming tendon.  After a while, my peg leg started to bend a bit, then a few test steps jogging, then I was back into it.  Then, like a moron, I stopped to pee.  I hadn’t pee’ed before the last aid station in case they were goint to weigh me (if I had lost too much weight, they could pull me off the course).  Well, now it was time, so I went to the side of the road, and went.  First step, and HELLO KNEE!!!  Crap.  Let’s try this again.  Peg leg walking, massaging as much as I could, and it softened up enough to get going again.

I started the day by cruising the first 10 miles, and enjoyed some brilliant scenery and good company.  But at hour 2, I really started to “race” in pursuit of the 12 hour goal, and my body and mind paid for it.  I have never before focused so intently, and for so long, on moving forward.  Working hard to tackle the uphills without losing too much time, and really pushing on the downhills – of which there were many, and many of them were quite technical.  I got two new blisters this day to complement the little guy on my pinkie toe.  I finished in 12:18, and was very happy with that result.

Photo: Glen Delman

 A very happy Mike at the finish of the Expedition Stage (note the salt line on my shorts!)

Day 5 was a real rest day, no running, just soaking in the river, and eating.  One of the best lines of the week was delivered this morning…from one of the tents I hear: “I feel like I got hit by the ugly truck. Then it backed up, and hit me again.”  So true.  We were all pretty beat up, and filthy, and I can’t imagine what the scent was like downwind.  I got my feet taped up, and ready to go for the marathon on Saturday.

We also enjoyed a slide show of photos that Glen Delman had taken through the week (and he graciously allowed me to use some of them here).  It was an emotional night, as we realized the magnitude of the adventure we had shared together, and the beauty we had started to see in the desert – and in our fellow racers and the crew.

Day 6 – let’s run a marathon!  This stage starts with a monster up, and then a huge downhill, with a little slice of technical trail running on a 5 mile out and back spur.

Photo: Glen Delman

The view from the climb

Well, it WOULD have been only a marathon if I wasn’t a doofus.  Going into the first aid station at the top of the huge hill, I let my companions drift ahead so that I could go into the station a bit slower, but spend less time there.  I was very concerned that my knee would flare up again, so I wasn’t taking any chances.  I left the aid station and crested the hill, and my companions were already long gone – so I took off running down the hill at a really good pace…until the car came up next to me.  One of the runners saw that I went right past the trailhead and screamed and whistled for me, but I never heard him.  He got the attention of the aid station folks, and they sent a car after me.  I was about .4 miles down the road when he told me I needed to turn around (and walk back up the hill – grrrrrrrrr).

With that, all hopes of a 30 hour final time evaporated, and I turned my attention to just running hard and doing the best I could.  The technical out and back on Porcupine Rim was really hard for me – since it was out and back I was able to see how far ahead the other runners in my morning group were, but I just couldn’t summon the juice to close the gap.  To my credit, I got “lost” again, but only got 3 yards down the trail and realized that I was maybe on the wrong trail.  I started looking for tracks, and seeing none went back to the last “Y” and saw a bunch of tracks on the other trail.  It only took 6 days, but I finally learned how to stay on the trail!!

The finish line was a raucus celebration.  All the finishers clapped, shouted, and whistled for each runner as they rounded the last turn.

I was SOOOOOO happy to see the flags of the finish line, and to hear the screaming and banging of water jugs.  I had finished Desert R.A.T.S., and the smile didn’t leave my face for four days.  My final time was 30:18, which placed me as the 4th male, 5th overall.  That one female was Suzanna Bon – a delightfully humble runner who demolished the women’s course record by five hours.  We ran together for a while on Day 1, and after a while she politely said something like “I think I’m going to go on ahead” as I walked up a hill, and she ran it like a mountain goat.

Photo: Glen Delman

Me approaching the finish line at Oceanside, 2009.

What an incredible experience! I spent the week with three different families – my own (Karen and the kids, and we stayed with Karen’s sister and her husband), my EnduranceNation online training family (most of whom I hadn’t met in person until this week), and the C Different family of blind athletes, their guides, other fundraiser athletes like me, and a host of C Different support crew.

At dinner the night before the race, my daughter Katie drew this encouragement on the tablecloth.

Below are some daily mails that I sent out to my C Different supporters leading up to race day, and then my race report.

Tuesday
The race is less than a week away, and I’m VERY excited. My training has gone very well, despite struggling against a few nagging injuries (it’s so fun getting older!). I think I peaked out at about 15 or 16 hours of training in one week.

For the past year I’ve been training with the coaches at EnduranceNation, an awesome online community of triathletes. As part of the race prep for an Ironman the coaches ask us to think of our “One Thing”…that one thing that you will think about which will help you keep going when you just want to stop, when it just hurts too much, when your body says “enough is enough”. My answer was easy this year: I’m doing this race on behalf of the C Different Foundation which supports blind athletes.

On the course with us will be 4 blind triathletes and their guides, along with 18 more of the “IronTeam”. When the going gets rough, which I’m sure it will at points, I’ll be thinking of those 4 incredible people who have gone through so much to be there. We’re having a team dinner on Thursday night where I’ll get to meet the entire C Different Team. I’m sure this will be an inspiring, humbling, emotional kick off to the race.

Anyhow, I’m bib #1282. The race starts at 7am on Sunday. I’m hoping to end somewhere around 7pm. It’ll be a great way for me to spend half a day! If you would like to check in on the progress of the C Different sponsored blind athletes during the day, here are their names: Charlie Plaskon, Richard Bernstein, Ryan Van Praet, Dave Bigoney.

Many of you have expressed an interest in joining with me in support of the C Different Foundation. To the many who already have donated, I say Thank You! If you would like to donate (there’s still time!) just click here: http://ironteam.kintera.org/faf/r.as…7&e=1384636286

Friday
I picked up one of the blind athletes from the airport yesterday, and then helped him get oriented to the hotel. Oh-My-Goodness what a production! I had no idea what it entailed to be blind. Small example – the TV remote. First they had wrapped it in a little cardboard wrapper advertising spa services, so the remote didn’t “feel” like a remote. So I had to place his hand on it. He was glad that it was a standard LodgeNet remote – so he knew where the buttons were. Then he wanted to put it exactly back in the same place since that’s where the maid would return it. That way he could find it each time. He had commented, and I got the smallest of flavors, that every little thing takes a LONG time.

Then finding an outlet for his phone transformer…forget about it – and that was with me having functioning sight! (The large-ish transformer wouldn’t fit in the first two outlets I found.)

But he was upbeat and helpful though the whole process of discovering his room, finding the meeting rooms where the group would be eating meals, etc. Well, he was upbeat until I told him the water is about 57 degrees!!!

I have great confidence in him though. He’s been blind since birth, but has gone on to become a lawyer, and has completed 8 marathons. This will be his first Ironman. He kept saying (with a big smile) “I’m going to kill whoever talked me into this!”.

So if you have a chance to check in on my race day progress, also look up Richard Bernstein and see how he did on that frigid swim 😉

Saturday
Hi there! It’s the day before the race – not much to do today. As they say “The hay’s in the barn” – now all there is to do is rest, pre-hydrate (translation: dring Gatorade all day), and drop my bike off at the race site.

Yesterday was a highlight. In the morning my coaches gave their pre-race talk, discussing pacing, strategy, pacing, mental keys, and pacing. While I’ve heard it all before, it’s good to get it in your head one more time. During the talk I noticed that Charlie Plaskon was standing in the back listening. Charlie was one of the first C Different blind athletes, and will be racing this Sunday. After the talk wrapped up I went over and introduced myself and we sat and chatted. A little bit later the C Different crew assembled for a bike ride, but Charlie’s guide wasn’t available, so they asked if I would “drive” for him. What a thrill…a humbling thrill though.

Thankfully, Charlie is a great guide guide – he coached me through all the stuff I had to do. Starting the bike rolling, getting our feet clipped in the pedals without dumping, calling out the turns (and whether we pedal through the turns or not), etc.

And let me tell you, that 64 year old guy can push the bike along, all the while talking about going back to school to become a motivational speaker, studying the course by asking lots and lots of questions.

What a great cap to my race prep week! By this time tomorrow the race will be in progress, and while I can’t be writing notes to you all, please know that I do think about you – there’s a lot of time to think out there!

Race Report
The day was incredible, simply incredible. There was a rainstorm the night before, but we had sunshine at dawn. The weather stayed very mild through the day.

Me (left) and one of my coaches Rich Strauss right before the start.

The swim start of an Ironman is always very exciting. Most triathlons split up the starts by age group, but in Ironman races everyone starts together. I started WAY off to the side, but got mixed up pretty good at the first turn buoy. Overall, the swim went great, and I was out of the water in 1:12:56 minutes.

I started the bike as planned – pretty slow. We call it J.R.A. – just riding along. Around 45 minutes or so into it I started in with my target bike pace, and then stayed there a long, long time. The course is pretty hilly, no monster climbs, but lots and lots of hills that can really suck it out of you if you try to power up them. But I stayed at basically the same power output on the hills as when I rode on the flatter sections. This, of course, meant that I got passed by a LOT a LOT of people during that bike ride, especially on the uphills. You want numbers? Of the (about) 2000 people that started the race, I was in 604th place after the swim, but after the bike I was 891st – so that was a lot of people passing me by.

One great thing that happened on the bike, which illustrates the spirit of Ironman – at about mile 90 I heard something hit my helmet and go inside. Well, if it’s a bee and he stings me my day might be done. So I pulled over, took off my helmet and shook out my hair. As I was doing that the next guy riding by slowed an asked if I was OK. Then a couple seconds later another guy slowed, asked if I needed anything. I “knew” that second guy since we had been riding about the same speed for hours – and he’s in my age group – and I’m sure he knew I was in his age group (they write the ages on our calfs in big numbers). So 90 miles into it my direct competitor slowed and offered to help when he saw I was having some kind of problem. There are a lot of great people out there!

Speaking of great people, the spectators and volunteers are the greatest. People all along the course were so incredibly supportive and encouraging. It was great to see my wife Karen and my CdA support crew of Karen’s sister and brother in law Laura and Danny and their friend Kevin. Last year we missed each other a few times, but this year worked out a lot better.

On the way out on the second loop of the bike course, I stopped to say hi to Karen and the crew!

Another great fan was Aaron Scheidies, a blind C Different athlete who wasn’t racing today. Other C Different spectators would tell him when any of us with the C Different group was coming and he went crazy! On the first lap of the run he took off one of the C Different colored Mardi Gras beads and draped it around my neck, and I ran with it the rest of the day.

I finished the bike in 6:24 – a bit slower than I had hoped, but I was happy with it. I paced on the bike to have a good run.

OK, on to the run…

It all started with the slatherers. That’s what the locals call the volunteers who apply sunscreen on the athletes. I’ve been told that this volunteer position fills up first, hmmm, I wonder why! As I was heading out for the run they asked if I wanted sunscreen, and before I knew it 8 – eight! hands were all over my face, neck, arms, and legs!

The run is a lot more personal than the other disciplines – the course is mostly two out and backs, so you get to see the other athletes, and also the spectators (much easier than at 20mph on the bike!). I had seen some of the C Different people on the bike, but on the run I was able to see and cheer them all.

I came up behind Charlie Plaskon and his guide when they were on a walk break. I walked with him and told him that he inspires me to do my best. Without skipping a beat, he replies: “Well if you’re going to do your best you shouldn’t be walking here with me!” I laughed and ran on. Charlie ended up finished in 15:33 – pretty great for a 64 year old guy who can’t see!

My pacing discipline faltered a bit on the run, and running a bit too fast early on started to catch up with me at around 15 miles. I was very fortunate that around mile 20 I met up with a young guy named Zach who also wanted to break the 12 hour mark. So I would call out paces from my GPS and he would calculate if we were going fast enough given our current distance and pace. He was very encouraging and enthusiastic. While triathlon is a very individual sport, finding a “teammate” late in the run is priceless.

Zach and I made our 12 hour goal with a bit to spare. So after a 4:04 run I ended up with a total time of 11:54:20. Let me tell you – it felt GREAT to cross that finish line!

And more numbers…after the bike I was in 891st place, but after the run I finished in 559th place out of 2060. That means that I passed about 330 people on the run – Yipes! So this was great proof that my pacing worked well (and also proof that I still have some room to improve on the bike!). Comparing to last year is even better news – I did a 12:36 last year. So I knocked off 42 minutes from last year on this same course, and 10 minutes off my best Ironman time from Vineman the year before!

After soaking in the lake a bit I got bundled up and went back to the finish line with Karen, and was able to give some of my EnduranceNation partners a little shout (ok…a BIG SHOUT!) as they approached the finish line. We also saw some of the C Different folks including Richard, who I spent a lot of time with on Thursday was guided by C Different founder Matt Miller, and they finished in 14:36 – a great time!

Me at the finish line with my son Conor

 

If you haven’t already, please go to http://www.cdifferent.org and sign up for their newsletter. I’ve been amazed by what I’ve seen this week, yet this was only one of their events for a busy summer and on through the rest of the year.

I told my coach that the title I was going to put on this Race Report would be: “EN Kool-Ade is BORING…”, with a first line of “…until you start passing folks in mile 2 of the run”. At EnduranceNation we are coached to ride steady and controlled. Tests are performed to figure out our goal watts for the bike, and riding that goal really paid off!

This was a great weekend of racing for me.

Breakfast was the same for both races: Clif Bar, Banana, hard boiled egg, Gatorade – 3 hours before my start. Then one Gatorade while setting up transition.

Numbers for the half ironman race:
Swim: 31:10
T1: 4:20
Bike: 3:03:35
T2: 3:31
Run: 1:45:37
Total 5:28:15
AG place: 51/259, Overall 274

In contrast, here were last year’s:
Swim: 34:17
T1: 2:59
Bike: 3:11:04
T2: 2:49
Run: 1:49:13
Total: 5:40:22
AG place: 54

So I was very pleased with good improvement everywhere (except my lollygagging in transition!).

The swim went really well. Sighting is hard since we’re basically swimming right into the sun. But I got a LOT of good drafts, and just cruised.

I think this race went so much better than this year’s Oceanside performance because of my discipline on the bike. Here are the power numbers:
TSS: 227.9
Norm Power: 204
VI: 1.06

My goal watts was 200, so I was right there. It was hard seeing SO many people stream by me on the uphills. But it was juicy passing them again on the crests, and blowing by many more on the downhills and the flats. But the real justice didn’t come until the run.

I got passed by very few people on the run, and I only had to walk up a chunk of two or three of the very steepest trail hills. I was happy that for the last month and a half almost all of my runs have incorporated some sort of hill.

Not much more to say, like I said…kinda boring. Very happy though.

Recovery: I brought one serving of Clif Bar Recovery drink with me, and drank it right after the race. Stood in the cold lake for about 30 min, ate at the expo and put my feet straight up in the air against a tree for another 20 min.

Then up to camp, good dinner with Rich Strauss and the fine folks from Pasadena Tri Club. It was great to hang with Rich and Marvin, and just chill with people around the campfire that night. Went to bed a little later than planned (10pm), but like I said, it was great to just chill and watch the wood burn.

Now then, on to the Olympic distance on Sunday morning…

Numbers for the Oly:
Swim: 24:39
T1: 3:50
Bike: 1:25:56
T2: 3:10
Run: 45:24
Total: 2:43:01
AG Place: 29/156 Overall: 320

Power numbers:
TSS: 112.2
Norm Power: 207
VI: 1.07

Left camp for the race start right on time, but noticed the wheel cover making a bit of extra noise – has it been this loud all the time? Started down Lynch hill and a guy rides up next to me: “Is your back tire flat on purpose?” Crap. But dopey me, I don’t have an extra spare tube and CO2 in my RV size transition bag (nice quote from Rich when he see’s the monster: “Is THAT your transition bag?!?!?!”). So I walk down to the very nice mechanic guy who throws a new one on for $11 – cool, I’m back in business. I’ll tell you though, walking down that hill woke up my glute muscles, and not in a good way .

While the bike was being repaired I looked up my wife’s former boss and current dentist, Robert Plant, who is a legend in triathlon. He’s in his 60’s, has done Kona many times, and won his AG this day. We’ve been in a number of races together, but I’ve never had a chance to meet him.

The highlight of the pre-swim was standing next to Nacho Libre – yeah. Some guy was wearing his race cap, goggles, a Mexican Wrestling mask, bright red tights and some shorts. Classic. And that’s the way he started the race I think.

Lynch hill out of T1 was hard. Again, I fought, fought, fought to not push. Then about 2/3rds of the way up, there were two Cal Poly coeds, showing their bums to the passing riders – one with “Faster” and the other with “Stronger” written across their cheeks. Very funny.

Up and out of the park, and on to the rollers. Same as Saturday – back and forth with a huge wave of people. Them streaming past on the uphill, and then blowing by them on the downs and flats.

Same hydration as Saturday – Infinit concentrate (in Camelbak on Sat, bottle on Sunday) and course water in the AeroDrink). Worked great. Did one pee at about mile 2 on both runs as well.

The run went really great – I was SCREAMING (or so I thought…). Then some guy went blazing past me, and was encouraging people as he went, so I decided that he shouldn’t be left alone. I caught up with him, and for a brief moment I noticed we were doing 6:30ish pace – yipes! But we were well into mile 5, so what the heck, it’s mostly downhill from here. He then tells me news that is about the worst you can hear…”weird that the markers the put up are in kilometers, not miles.” WHAT!?!?! I had just drained my Infinit bottle (since we only had a few minutes left as we pass marker #6). Oh CRAPPPPPP!.

He assured me that there were just a couple small hills left, then all downhill, so I just went for it. My right hamstring was right on the edge of cramping, but it was more a muscle tightening than a dehydration spasm, so I wasn’t too scared. During that run I saw maybe 5 people basically crumple on the road trying to stretch out spasming legs.

When we got near the top of Lynch I told the guy that he shouldn’t pace me, but should go if he had it in him…and he did. I saw him after the race and thanked him profusely – without him I’m not at all sure how I would have done, but I could easily see another 3-5 minutes on my time.

Again with the Recovery drink, soak in the lake, food at the expo, break camp, and head home.

Much thanks to Rich, Marvin and the Pasadena Tri Club.

Much thanks to the EnduranceNation Kool-Ade.

Mike

Readers Digest version – Great venue, great race, GREAT volunteers, a bit too much wind during the swim and bike, pleased with my race, wishing I was faster – 12:36.

I had the pleasure of not having to worry about CDA lodging – my wife’s sister lives 12 minutes from the starting line! So we enjoyed a family get together along with the race. So me, wife, twin 5 yr. olds and my wife’s son flew in Thursday. To babysit the twins on raceday, wife’s niece and her boyfriend (the niece’s boyfriend, not my wife’s!) flew in on Friday.

On Friday morning I swam a lap of the course, and sat through a very helpful pre-race talk with Rich Strauss – I’ve followed his Intermediate Ironman training plan since Christmas. The key thing I took away from the talk: spend your day getting prepared for racing starting at mile 18 of the run. Other than walking up the hill to the second turn around and one other very short hill, I had no unscheduled walks (I walked out of most of the aid stations to drink).

Race morning started at 3:30 with a trip to the potty (30 min before my alarm). Breakfast consisted of a Clif bar, banana, Gatorade Endurance, and a hard boiled egg. Thirty minutes before the race I had another Gatorade.

The race started under the shadow of 10-20 mph winds, and very choppy water. I was surprised to hear the announcer offer a duathlon option if anyone wanted it. From what I can tell, about 35 people took the offer and skipped the swim. My guess is that at least that many started the swim and never finished. It was rough out there. I found the solution to my hydration problems – I think I drank at least 1/2 gallon of lake water due to the waves. I also got kicked, a lot. I have two abrasions on my nose from goggle impacts. At the mash up at the first bouy I politely, but firmly, removed a young lady’s grip from my arm. She said “Sorry” – but you get the idea of how crowded it was for that little scene to take place. I’m all for tradition, but the mass start tradition I could do without. And I started WAY right and out of the fray, though I did stray closer to the middle of the course at the buoy (a mistake I quickly corrected).

Swim time: 1:18:50

During much of the swim and into T1 I was FREEZING – more on that in the “Things that didn’t work” section below. The highlight of my extended (12 min) T1 was the slathering. The people applying sunscreen had warm hands, and it felt SO great on my ice legs.

I started out very slow on the bike. Very slow. I was freezing, and glad that I had arm warmers on. My upper body was spent and wouldn’t hold me up in aero position, so I mostly sat up for the first 45 minutes or so. Once I got to the first real hill the daze cleared and I started to ride for real. Oh, but then the hills hit. It’s not that any one of them was a monster; it’s just that there were a lot of them. But the course was great, the roads were in very good condition, and the community support was terrific. Loads and loads of residents brought chairs to the top of their driveways to watch and cheer as us crazies went by. Each of my three bike splits had a faster time than the previous – dang, if the race were only 200 miles longer I probably could have gotten up to a respectable pace!

Bike time: 6:39:30

The run went better than I had hoped. Well, I had hoped for a 4 hour time, and that didn’t happen, but all went according to plan, and I didn’t bonk or cramp out. My biggest concern coming into the race was a nagging groin strain that has been with me for about a month. I was pretty nervous that 30 minutes into the race it would flame out. So to protect it I shortened my stride considerably and just ran lots of short quick steps. Many people feel that this is the way you’re supposed to run anyway, but I don’t because of problems with one of my big toes. Mercifully, the toe cooperated, and didn’t flare up.

Again, the community was outstanding, and a couple of houses had their stereos blaring (Rocky, Chariots of Fire, and U2!). After not seeing familiar faces through the bike, it was great to see my wife, her sister and her husband. I also saw (and heard) from many Silicon Valley Tri Club members. And my brother in law’s buddy Kevin who gave constant phone updates to the rest of my crew who couldn’t find me on the course. You guys were great!

After a little nervousness that maybe I should have included some reflective tape on my clothes, I hit mile 22 or so, and still had a lot of daylight. I drank coke for the first time, and started running closer to my 9 minute pace goal. And then around the corner, and a straight shot to the finish line. I was smart enough to take off my hat and sunglasses, and zip up my jersey for the picture, but I finished too close to the previous runner so I never got to hear the famous “you are an Ironman” bit. Hmm, I don’t remember hearing anything. Maybe they did say it.

Run time: 4:20:49
Overall time: 12:36:05

Things that went well…
Nutrition. I chose to not get a CDA rolldown slot last year at Oceanside because I was so badly dehydrated and realized I needed to get better control of my nutrition and hydration. Things went perfectly on Sunday. On the bike I wore a CamelBak with 12 scoops of Infinit (to cover 6 hours), and supplemented with course water, a couple banana chunks from the course, a Clif bar, and a few salt tablets. The CamelBak was empty right at mile 111. Nice. On the run, I started with one bottle of Infinit with 4 scoops, and had another in my special needs bag (or my Dire Needs bag as my sister in law called it!). I then walked through most of the aid stations and was careful to put down at least one cup of water per station, sometimes another 1/2. I also ate probably 3 salt pills, and started drinking a cup of cola at each station starting around mile 20. I think maybe I could/should have started the cola earlier.

Porta potties. All this drinking sent me to the porta potties probably 5 or 6 times. I was very appreciative of the typically 4 potties at each bike aid station, and 2 per run station. I think I had to wait only once. At one of the bike stops they had a rack, at another a volunteer held my bike. Very nice.

TriBike Transport. Nice to not have to mess with the bike.

Support. I could not have done this without the help and encouragement of many, many people. This report would go on for another 3 pages if I listed them all, but thanks Laura and Danny for opening your home and being a great help with everything in CDA. And many, many thanks to my wife and twins for putting up with my crazy hours, long workouts on the weekends, and the multitude of you made over the last year to make this day happen.

Things that didn’t work…
Oops too much… I shouldn’t have had that last bottle of Gatorade right before (not) sleeping the night before the race. I took a lot of trips to the bathroom when I would have preferred to be sleeping.

Wetsuit. After the first 1/4, and sitting idle in the traffic jam at the first bouy, the top half of my wetsuit filled with water, including the arms. I thought it just flushed through, and would get warm again, but it never did – cold water just seemed to keep flowing through. My neck seal seemed tight, and I can’t find any obvious tears. I’ve been diving much of my adult life, and have tons and tons of time in wetsuits, and I’ve never experienced anything like it. So I rode really low in the water, and my arms were extra heavy. Funny, I did a good enough time, but my arms and shoulders were hamburger for the first hour on the bike.

SaltStick was sticky – had to take apart to get the tablets out on the bike. Maybe the pills I had were too big. I should have worked with it more in practice.