2011 140.6 Race Report

I have been fully embracing my off season since my race...sleeping in, eating...coaching my son's baseball team.  As I sit here with a meatball sub and bag of Doritos I thought I would finally write my race report for everyone….what a great experience!

Pre Race Jitters

All week my nerves were building…I kept thinking:

·         did I train enough?

·         can I mentally do this??

·         why am I doing this again???

·          if I skip it, and just write a race report would anyone know????



Pre Race Meeting

Finally driving down to Cedar Point I decided it was too late to worry and I just need embrace the experience and race like hell.   I arrived at the race site early for the pre race meeting, registration and weigh in for medical (just in case they told me) … I was happy weighing in less for this race than I did 20 years ago at my Prom!!!  Sorry ladies I am married!  I think I also have the same amount of hair too, but just not on my head anymore.

After weigh in I checked into my hotel room and laid out my gear, re
read my life insurance policy, shaved my legs and I was feeling ready to go!   For some reason, after 8 months of getting up at 4am I was scared of oversleeping so I called for a wake call and also set both my phone and hotel alarm clocks.    Didn’t matter...I was up by Midnight and I wasn’t going back to sleep.   My family was in the room soundly sleeping and I didn't want to wake anyone... so I just laid quietly and cried until it was time to get up.  Eerily similar to the night before my wedding.   I had about 6 cups of coffee and left the hotel around 5:30am, setup my transition areas and met my seven teammates (6 of us doing our first IronMan distance race) for the walk down the beach for the race start and meet our families.




Team Lifetime Race Morning (Jan, Karl, Durai, Jen, Paul, Amelia, Me and Henry!!!)

 Swim (2.4 Miles): 

All I can say is the swim was absolutely nuts!  Can’t even explain how crazy it was during the mass start…the water was dark and cold...hundreds of people swimming as fast as they can…tons of contact – kicking, elbows, etc.  
Absolutely loved it!

I am the one in the middle!

My survival instincts took over to get me to the first turn buoy where things finally cleared out and I got into a nice groove.   After awhile I had to pee so I slowed down a little to relax and let it go….I felt bad for the guy behind me but there are no port-a-johns in Lake Erie.  I was so hydrated I peed two more times during the swim.  Which reminds me….big thank you to my friend Dan Rosenberg for letting me borrow his wetsuit, I will return it on Monday!  :)

It was a nice surprise to see my coaches on the beach waiting for me...I went up to coach Brian and Chris to give them each a big hug after surviving that swim and they looked at me like I crazy, next thing I know I was on my back and my wetsuit was off...back on my feet again...then Brian slapped my butt and wished me luck.  Which reminds me again….I need to check my September credit card statement to make sure I don't have any extra Lifetime charges for that stripper dance! :)   I had a great swim and finished that portion 13th in my age (middle) group!

Bike (112 Miles)

Bike was pretty uneventful because there is not a lot to look at in Sandusky Ohio.  My main goal was to keep a consistent pace, not get passed by too many people older than me, not wreck and not get too tired for the marathon.    I stopped at one of the aid stations and someone came up to me, handed me a Gatoraid admiring my bike and said “cool bike”, I said “thanks, I only got 27 more payments and it is all mine!”  That just confirmed this bike really does belongs in my dining room...I couldn't wait to tell Wendy!

I started getting lower back spasms around mile 30 and I was real concerned  because this was way too early to start getting uncomfortable…I mean I had over 80 miles to go.   I noticed my back tightening up on the swim but didn't think too much about it...now it flat out hurt.  The whole ride I had to fight the pain…I often had to stop and stretch but still rode a decent pace trying to stay with the group of riders I started with.   One of my teammates doing her 4th IM today told me she likes to have candy bars during the rides to keep her energy up...I thought this was a great idea so in the morning I decided to forgo my usual salami sandwiches for Paydays!   That really helped get me through the ride...I told myself just ride 20 miles and you can have a candy bar...I figured if bribery with candy works for my kids why not me!    I found myself at mile 100 with no more candy bars so I gutted the final 12 miles out....pulled into T2 just over six hours for the longest big ride of my life.

Mile 114.4...I have no idea why am I smiling!

Run (26.4 Miles)

I got off my bike and was looking for my wife to tell her about the nice bike comments and someone with an iPad so I could check my Fantasy Football scores...but Coach John had a different idea.   Coach grabbed me and ran me to the transition tent.   Before I knew it I was out of bike clothes and Coach Brian was taking my picture! (something similar happened to me before in college but I will save that for another blog).   Coach John gave me some motivation before I left....he said "Paul and Amelia just left so if you run hard you can catch up with them and Karl...ummm forget about Karl you won't catch him unless he gets lost on the course!"   With those "words of encouragement" I was out of the men's ten...took a quick peak in the ladies tent and onto the run course for my last 26.2 miles!  My first half marathon was faster than expected, my legs felt great and I saw a lot of teammates on the course which made it a lot of fun. 

I actually passed a couple Professional females so I knew I was running great....for a brief moment I began to mentally dictate my resignation email to work to chase my dream of becoming a full time pro triathlete.  Then I heard someone say "way to go, just a few more miles"... oops they were 15 miles ahead me :) .... email mentally deleted.  But anyways I was still running good from a Common Man standpoint and finished my first half marathon in around 2 hours and felt good.  My GPS stopped working around mile 14 on the run….absolutely freaking out both my wife and Lincoln Benefit life insurance agent!  After the race I found out my coaches had to show Wendy pictures taken from the turn to prove to her I was alright.  She wouldn't know for sure until I finished. 

Now I have ran 2 marathons before and each time you hit the wall right around mile 20.   As I approached the wall my legs were getting heavy and it took every ounce of energy to keep my legs moving.... I know they weren't with me but I could still feel the energy from my teammates cheering me on every step of the way... I thougth about my friend Nobu's heart and dedication (8-21-11 blog entry) and I could feel he was with me too...maybe not his energy but I it felt like he was riding me piggy back all the way to the finish!  But seriously I learned a lot from Nobu and how to push thru mentally and physically and I actually picked up my pace and finished with a negative split for the last 9 miles...on pure adrenaline.   Looking back I still can't believe how well I was feeling at the end; true testament to my Lifetime coaches and my training.  

And finally there was my family, friends and coaches at the finish line...after 8 months of training I finally did it!  One of the coolest things about this race was the family friendly finish line and I grabbed Paige and Brandon and ran to the finish while there was still daylight (another one of my goals that I didn't tell anyone)!  My family, friends, teammates were all there cheering me on...words can't explain the feelings I had... excited to finally accomplish something I prepared so long for, a little sad knowing the race and training was over, and a little scared knowing I am gonna feel really bad for the next week!  

Well that is about it...final statistics:
Goal Times:
Swim: 1hr 30min  Bike: 6hr 30min  Run: 5hr 15min  = Total: 13hrs 15min

Actual Times:
Swim: 1hr13 min  Bike: 6hr 18min  Run: 4hr 28min  = Total: 12hrs 15 min and
14th in my age group!

Goal Donation:  $2500.00
Actual Donation:  $3347.40!!!

In Summary:

I want to thank again all my friends, families and coaches who have supported me this year.  In addition thank you all for your donations that has allowed me to surpass my original goals...the experience was awesome.  I am very blessed to have each and everyone of you in my life.   It was an incredible journey and I could not have done this without your support and encouragement as I transformed from a middle aged, fat Common Man ... to a middle age, less fat IronMan!    Thanks for following and I hope everyone has enjoyed the blog updates.

As I open my second bag of Doritos I just want to offer some final thoughts for those thinking about 'tri-ing' this next year:

1.  You will need separate credit card that your spouse knows nothing about

2. There is no shortcuts for training

3.  Training alone stinks, find a team to help keep you motivated

4.  ALWAYS respect the distance

5.  You gotta have fun and finish with a smile!!!

SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!!!!



Back to my off season!!!!