Swim 1:15:42
T1 9:12
Bike 6:04:17
T2 3:22
Run 5:42:18
Some observations from the course:
1. The swim was just about what I expected. Having a calm day was key.
2. That run up the helix in T1 is not that bad; it’s navigating the sea of people getting their bikes out that caused me the most trouble.
3. The bike course was definitely fun and doable, but damn hard! It took a lot out of your legs.
4. I need to run more. I must point out, however, that I was on pace to finish about 30 minutes earlier, but decided not to worry about it because I’d rather finish with Steve (he was having severe stomach issues when I caught him on the run) and have some good memories than have some arbitrary time that still wasn’t as close to my goal time as I’d wanted to be. So . . . I walked a lot in the last half.
5. Finally, I guess I was never really willing to admit how injured I was before this race. The IT band issues from Buffalo Springs Lake in June took their toll, and my legs never really felt 100% ready for the race. Also, the calf strain 13 days before the race did affect my running a little. It never actually caused me pain, but I was acutely aware of it all during the run.
All-in-all, I thought it was a great event. I was disappointed with my time, but not so much that I let it get me down. I was really happy to finish in a respectable time, despite the injuries and the couple of bad breaks (see more below). Given the perfect racing conditions, it was just an all around enjoyable experience.
Here’s the long report:
Sunday, September 2 through Wednesday, September 5:
I drove up to St. Louis from Austin on the Sunday before the race. I had decided to hang out with Mason (Duchatschek) for a few days to get the benefit of his sage advice and Ironman veteran knowledge before race day. We had a really good time doing some very mild workouts (no running). Went on a few bike rides and swam one day just to keep things moving. Melissa (his wife), and Clayton (his son) were very wonderful hosts. I’m sure it couldn’t have been convenient to have me there for so many days, but they were very gracious and helped keep me at ease with the impending race. I’m so appreciative for everything they did for me. Thanks so much!!
Thursday, September 6:
Mason and I drove up to Madison on Thursday the 6th. We got a bit of a late start, but not too bad. We got in around 4:30 PM and, after wandering around downtown Madison a bit to get our bearings, we got to the hotel and got checked in. Steve got us reservations at the University Inn, which, despite its outdated accommodations, ended up being a great place to stay, primarily because it was right there on State Street, along the IM run course. Plus, it was in the heart of everything, so it was great for people-watching and for getting anything we needed nearby.
Steve and Laura and the twins (Alex and Will) got in around the same time. After we got all our stuff into the rooms and settled down, we decided to go out to Uno’s for some pizza. Then, we came back to the hotel and hung out for a bit before calling it an early night. At some time (I forget when), Steve’s friend, Matt and his wife, Shauna, arrived. I don’t recall if it was before or after us, but they had some other plans and didn’t go to dinner with us.
I forgot to mention that when I left Leander on Sunday, I’d forgotten my wetsuit, so Lisa FedExed it to the hotel. Although I was a bit worried, it DID arrive at about 8:00 PM Thursday night, so I had it for the rest of the week! WHEW!
Friday, September 7:
At 7:00 AM, Steve, Mason, Matt, and I got up and went down to Lake Monona for the Gatorade open water swim. It was a pretty rough day. The winds were fairly high, the clouds were dark and foreboding, and the lake was pretty tumultuous. Regardless, we jumped in our wetsuits and took a short swim (about 600-800 meters) just to get a feel for the water. It was definitely swimable, but I was certainly hoping for a less breezy day on race day.
After the swim, Mason took off to a business meeting and Steve and I stuck around for a pre-race talk that Steve’s coach, Rich Strauss, was giving to his athletes near the swim. It was a very informative talk. Rich and his coaching partner, Patrick, had some great advice for the group. In fact, I actually ended up using some of it in my race. Pretty much everything he said was spot-on. I can see why Steve likes using him as a coach.
After the talk, we headed back to the hotel to clean up, get some breakfast, and pick up Laura and the twins. Then, we headed back over to the Ironman village so that Steve and I could register for the race. That took longer than I’d hoped! By the way, I think their scales are wrong. They weighed me in at 202 lbs, and only 5 days earlier, I’d been under 195. Talk about a blow to the ego!!
Anyhoo . . . I was supposed to pick up my mom at the airport in the early afternoon, but registration ran late and she just took public transportation. Sorry, Mom!!! Glad you made it, though!
After registration, we went back to the hotel to see my mom, and then Matt and Steve and I piled into my car with the bikes so that we could drive the bike course and I get an idea of what I was in store for. We drove the whole length of the course and stopped at the top of Timber Lane so that Steve and I could ride back a couple of miles and then ride up Old Sauk Pass and Timber Lane to get a feel for how it would be race day. I thought they were respectable hills, but not too bad. Matt reminded me that by the time I got to them, I’d have a bunch of hills already under my belt and my legs would be tired. He was VERY right!
Anyway, after riding the course, we went back to the hotel and then met Mom and Laura and the twins for dinner at Za’s, a pasta house kind of place about a block from the hotel. Gotta get that carbo loading!
After visiting for a while, it was back to the hotel so I could get my transition bags and special needs bags packed up properly. Then, it was early to bed so that we could get a few more things done the next day.
Saturday, September 8:
Once again, Mason, Steve, and I went down to the Gatorade swim. Mason walked over with our stuff and Steve and I rode our bikes over, just to get the blood flowing a bit. It was a stark contrast to the day before! The wind was gone; so were the clouds. The water was like glass. We took turns swimming. Steve and I went out about 400 meters and then swam back, just getting a feel for the water and what it would be like swimming out along the shore line. It was nice. Then, Mason went out for a swim and told us to go on back to the hotel to get things ready for bike and bag check-in.
While we were warming up and getting stuff ready for check-in, Mom was heading to Chicago to pick up my wife, Lisa! I just have to say what an incredible trooper she was! Lisa is not a morning person, but to support me at IMoo, she got up at 4:00 AM on Saturday to get to her parents’ house so her dad could drive her to the airport for a 7:00 AM flight to Chicago. Once at Midway Airport, she then hopped on a CTA train to downtown, had to be shuttled by bus to another train stop, and then took a second train from downtown to O’Hare Airport, where my mom picked her up for the 2 hour drive up to Madison! What a heck of a day she had!
Steve and Mason and I dropped off the bags and bikes and then ran a couple of errands. We finally caught up with everyone else at the hotel at about 3:00 PM. We all just hung out and relaxed and then went back to Za’s for dinner. Mom, Lisa, and Laura didn’t eat at Za’s, they had Afghan food later. Steve, Mason, and I hit the hotel room around 8:00 PM, and just hung out and tried to fall asleep. I think I got to sleep around 12:00 AM.
RACE DAY!!
The alarms were set for 5:00 AM, but I was awake at 3:30 AM. I finally got up at 4:15 AM, and then Steve and Mason got up a little later. We did some last minute prepping, ate our breakfast (for me it was peanut butter on two slices of bread), and then headed out the door at about 5:15 AM to meet Matt in the lobby to drive over to the swim start. Mason parked my car about 2 blocks from the race finish line and we walked the rest of the way over to Monona Terrace. Once there, we did our final bike checks, loaded up the nutrition and hydration, checked the air pressure in the tires, and then went back into the Terrace to wait out the swim start.
At about 6:30 AM, Steve and I got into our wetsuits and headed down the helix toward the swim start line. Steve was wearing his Slowtwitch.com “Peaceful Tribe” jersey, and we ran into a few Slowtwitchers in the chute. The two I remember in the swim line were guys whose online handles were “lunchbox” and “cooterbob.” Funny guys; I hope they did well.
At the bottom of the line, near the water’s edge, I finally saw Mom and Lisa. They were in the stands waving to us. Laura and the twins didn’t make it to the start. The boys were a little sick, and I think Laura was exhausted from caring for them. She did an awesome job shuttling those guys around. It couldn’t have been easy for her. After waving to Lisa and Mom for a bit, Steve and I were off and into the water at about 6:55 AM, just after the pros started off. We treaded water for about 5 minutes, said our “good lucks,” and then at 7:00 AM, the cannon went off and we started swimming.
The Swim:
It wasn’t as bad as I’d been afraid it would be. The lake was like glass; no wind. Steve and I lined up behind the ski ramp and to the outside a bit to
avoid the scrum. It worked well. We had pretty smooth sailing throughout the first part of the swim (toward the first turn buoy). I felt like I was swimming okay. I never really got punched or kicked, and I really enjoyed most of it. I did get slapped on the legs a bit, but if it went on more than twice, I just started kicking hard and the person would back off.I lost Steve immediately. I figured that would happen, so I just stuck to my race and kept swimming. I was amazed at how quickly the time passed. I took Steve’s coach’s advice and counted my strokes. It made the time go by even faster, and before I knew it, I was rounding the last buoy for the second time and heading toward shore.
When I got to my feet, the clock read 1:15. That was about exactly where I thought I’d finish. I learned later that Steve finished in about 1:12.
T1:
The first transition was LONG!! After I got out of the water, I got to the wetsuit peelers and got out of my wetsuit pretty fast. The problem was, though, that we had to run from the water’s edge up the helix, into Monona Terrace, and then into the bag room. Running up that helix was hard at first because I didn’t have my land legs back. About a third of the way up, I finally felt stable and picked up the pace.
Once in the bag room, I got my T1 bag handed to me and ran into the changing room. There was no place to sit, and I knew there wouldn’t be, so I planned accordingly. I had worn my tri top under the wetsuit, so I didn’t have any changing to do. I just stuffed my Gu’s into my shorts pockets, put on my helmet and sunglasses, grabbed my shoes, and ran out. I got to my bike, put my shoes on, and then started running way down the corridor of bike racks to the “Bike Out” arch. It was a LONG way to run. People kept popping out of the racks in front of me slowing me down. I expected this, but it was still frustrating. Anyway, I finally got to the bike out line, jumped on my bike, and headed down the helix to John Nolen Drive.
The Bike:
The bike course can only be described as tough! We biked down John Nolen Drive, along Lake Monona for a bit, then up on the bike path, under John Nolen Drive, and out into God-Knows-Where!!! There were so many turns on the bike course, I couldn’t have told you where I was at any given time. The long and short of it is this: The first 15 miles don’t give you any clue what you’re in store for later.
I cruised along nicely at the beginning. Doesn’t everyone? I’m glad I drove the course with Steve and Matt, though, because the first 15 miles doesn’t give you a clue as to how hard the bike course is. It was flat and fast (somewhat) in the beginning. I was a little anxious, though, because I couldn’t really get things going as fast as I wanted due to the sheer number of bikes out there. That turned out to be a good thing, though, because if I’d pushed harder, I probably would have burned up my legs really quickly.
At about Mile 25, I had my first big set back. I think the volume of travel and amount of time I spent sleeping in hotels and other beds over the last few weeks finally got me because my back, which had been a bit tight the week before the race, finally seized up on me and made it virtually impossible to stay aero for very long. I had no problems staying aero if I didn’t have to pedal, but I could only hold the position for 30 seconds to 1 minute if I had to pedal, so I spent the majority of the ride on the base bar and resting my hands on the arm pads trying to stretch out my back. I know this cost me a few minutes over the course of 90 miles. Still, I did tuck in on the descents to minimize the time loss.
The first loop of the course was just awesome. There were scattered spectators here and there, but when we hit the hill up into Mount Horeb, the crowd got thicker. The crowd right after the water stop at the Mount Horeb high school was loud and they were a lot like a mini version of Verona. It gave me a good adrenaline charge to go through there.
The first climb up Old Sauk Pass was not that bad. I knew it was coming due to my reconnaissance a couple of days earlier, so I spun easy until I got to it. I saw Matt in his bright orange shirt about 2/3 of the way up. He was very encouraging and told me Steve was only about 4 minutes ahead. I picked up the pace a bit, but my inability to stay aero really cost me some speed. I knew Steve had to be putting time on me because I had only been 3 minutes behind coming out of the water.
Just after Old Sauk Pass was Timber Lane. This was the steepest climb, but very short. Based on its grade and length, it reminded me of the climb on Highway 360 in Austin just before Bee Caves Road when you’re heading back towards town. Timber Lane was just a bit shorter than that hill. It was tons of fun, though. The crowd was packed in tight with a very narrow lane for the cyclists to get through. We all had to grind up the hill, so we were slow, and the crowd was like the Tour de France crowd cheering us up the hill. It was just awesome!
Once over Timber Lane, we had a nice general descent until Midtown Road, which was the last climb before Verona. On the first loop, I made a turn onto one of the roads between Midtown and Verona and then dropped my head as I coasted a bit. I wasn’t paying attention and almost rolled off the road onto the dirt shoulder. I had to ride the lip of the pavement for about 10 yards before I coaxed myself back onto the road. Two guys passed me just after that and both of them complemented me on the “nice save.” It could have been ugly if I’d rolled into that thick dirt!
Going through Verona was probably the most exhilarating part of the ride. The main drag was closed to traffic and there were barriers put up making it a narrow lane, only a bit wider than the path up Timber Lane. There were thousands of people lining the street cheering wildly. Plus, Verona was pretty flat, so we could fly down that lane looking good for the crowd. I saw Lisa holding a sign that said “I love my Danno!” That was a HUGE pick-me-up. Only a few short miles later, I was turning right to start my second loop.
There wasn’t much different about the second loop. I was a bit slower because of the toll that all the rollers had taken on my legs, but I wasn’t THAT much slower. My back was still bothering me a bit, but not so bad that I entertained any serious thoughts about quitting. I knew I’d have to keep my pace backed off a bit or else my back might really bother me on the run. When I saw Matt again at Old Sauk Pass, he told me Steve was now 12 minutes up on me. I knew then that I wouldn’t catch him on the bike. In fact, I figured that I wouldn’t see him again except maybe as he passed by in the opposite direction a few times on the run.
I completed the second loop and headed back into Madison toward T2. I thought I might have a shot at going under 6 hours, but as I checked my watch at the 100-mile mark, I knew I wouldn’t make that. No sweat, though, I raced my race and kept it steady and even, so I knew I’d have something on the run. I preferred to race smart rather than kill it on the bike out of some crazy misguided pride issue.
I was never so happy to see Monona Terrace as I was at about 2:15 PM on Sunday! I rolled up the helix, had a perfect dismount, and hopped off the bike at right about 2:25 PM for a 6:04 bike split.
T2:
My bike to run transition was much better than I’d expected. I was budgeting 5-6 minutes, but I did it in 3:22. I had a great dismount, leaving the shoes on the pedals. My running legs actually worked pretty well, and I got into the bag room and the changing room very quickly. Rolled my socks on, put on the shoes, stuffed my helmet in the bag and took off.
The Run:
As I said before, the run is always my weak spot. I didn’t put in nearly enough run training this year, and I knew breaking 5 hours would be hard. If I had been completely healthy, I think I could have done it, but it would have been tight. My goals had been to do 5:45 on the bike and 4:45 on the run so that I could do 1:15 on the swim and have 15 minutes of transition time to hit that 12 hour goal. My back trouble on the bike and the fact that my leg muscles just weren’t loose enough to give me comfort left me in a 20-minute deficit for my 12-hour goal. I knew when I left T-2 that I was probably not going to make that 12-hour goal. I would need to run faster than 4:30 on the marathon, and given my calf troubles, IT band issues, and general stiffness, I figured that was next to impossible. In fact, even if I’d been completely healthy, I don’t think I put in enough run training to do a 4:20 marathon anyway. I figured the best I could do would be to hit 5 hours even and get somewhere between 12:30 and 12:50 overall.
Alas, if I’d had any lingering hopes of blistering the run, they were dashed early on. At Mile 3, I started getting an upset stomach. I was a little surprised because my bike nutrition/hydration had been spot-on. I dumped my water bottle and Gatorade bottle at each alternating hydration station on the bike, so I always had cold water/Gatorade. I didn’t drink or eat too much and I varied the nutrition I ate so I wasn’t relying only on gels. Still, Mile 3 hit me like a ton of bricks; my heart rate was up and the water and Gatorade I’d had at the first two stations just sat there like a lump in my stomach. So I stopped and walked from Mile 3 to Mile 5. That helped a lot, and I ran Miles 5 and 6. However, at Mile 7, it returned, so I walked Miles 7, 8, and part of 9.
At Mile 9, I was caught by a guy named Bruce in the M40-45 group who had been just a few minutes behind me on the swim and bike. He was walking the aid stations and running in
between them. That had been my plan, but my GI issues were putting a crimp in that. He was going at a very easy pace, so I ran with him at Mile 9. We passed the time chatting and alternating our walking/running, and before we knew it, we hit the turn-around and were headed back on the last 13.1 miles. I was telling Bruce about running after Steve and that I was disappointed I probably wouldn’t catch him.Just after Mile 16, Bruce and I were chatting about how I wouldn’t see Steve again for the rest of the day. Not 5 minutes later, I saw Steve up ahead walking. Apparently, the GI monster got him at Mile 14, and he’d been walking ever since. Bruce and I caught him about 20 meters before the Mile 17 aid station. We passed him and I invited him to come along, but he was hurting and declined.
I guess it was fortuitous that we caught him right before the aid station, because Bruce and I stopped and walked the station, and it was just a little bit before Observatory Hill, which we intended to walk also. Steve was back behind us just a bit and I invited him to come walk with us, which he did. By the time we got up Observatory Hill, Steve was able to walk/run with Bruce and me for a few more miles. So, we walked and ran together, all 3 of us, until Mile 21.At Mile 21, Steve and I both had to use the porto-potties. We told Bruce to go on ahead and we’d try to catch up. After we got out of the can, Steve said he just couldn’t run anymore. He was still having GI problems when he ran and just needed to walk. I made the decision there to let Bruce go on alone and I’d stay with Steve. I figured that I could have finished about 20-35 minutes faster if I’d caught up with Bruce, but two things held me back. First, Steve didn’t look great and I was worried about him. I knew he’d be okay because of the great support at the race, but he looked like he needed some company to help keep him going. Second, and more importantly, I’d already determined I wouldn’t make my time goal, and rather than get “the fastest time I could,” I wanted to enjoy the experience. I figured that crossing the finish line with Steve would be more fun, more memorable, and more rewarding than crossing with an arbitrary time that was slower than I had wanted. I didn’t want my first Ironman experience to be me second-guessing everything about why I didn’t quite make my time goal. So, I chucked the “fastest time” and decided to walk with Steve. I’m glad I did. We had a fun finish.
We saw Mason at Mile 24 and told him we were going to carry Steve’s twin boys across the line with us, so he called ahead to Laura and had her waiting near the finish line with the boys. When we got there, Steve got Will and I got Alex, and we crossed the line together holding his boys. It was very memorable and a lot of fun. I wouldn’t have done it any other way!
My total run time was 5:42 or so, for a final finishing time of 13 hours, 14 minutes and 49 seconds. Steve actually crossed the line a second after me. It was awesome!
Wrap up:In closing, let me say that this race was a really incredible experience. The crowd support was better than I remembered it being when I was there supporting Steve in 2004. They were loud, encouraging, helpful, kind, and just so great! The volunteers were simply amazing! I tried to thank as many people as I could, but there were so many of them! They made the race so much easier for us by being there. The city of Madison was great, too. The policemen controlling the intersections were polite and helpful. They did a great job, and I didn’t hear about any serious problems in race execution. All-in-all, it was just a glorious day out there.
Big thanks to Mason Duchatschek for sherpa-ing things for me. He was a great source of information and help. Also, he was all over the course, so it was cool having that inspiration everywhere! Thanks, Mase.
I have to give special thanks to my wife, Lisa. I already mentioned what a trooper she was just in getting to the race, but it went FAR beyond that. She was very patient with me during all my training (which admittedly wasn’t as oppressive as it could and probably should have been) and never complained once. She took on more than her share of the household duties and doggie care duties so that I could get in my long rides/runs. Frankly, I don’t know how she put up with it.Most amazingly, however, she did all this in a summer that was filled with chaos. Her mother had neck surgery early in the summer, and Lisa had to help shuttle her around to appointments, help care for her, and do a lot of work that her mother simply couldn’t do because of the surgery. She also made the last few plans for and pulled off (almost flawlessly) our wedding in July. In fact, she was patient with me even though by the time IMoo rolled around, we’d been married less than 8 weeks, and I’d been gone for various reasons (work or IM sherpa duties) for just over two of those 8 weeks.
To top it all off, despite the weeks without me around, the early morning on Saturday, and all of the summer chaos, she managed to be just about everywhere on the bike and run courses to see me in action. I don’t know how she had the energy, but it was such a huge pick-me-up every time I saw her.
Then, if THAT wasn’t enough, she drove with me the entire trip home from Madison to Austin. I gotta tell you, I have the greatest wife in the world!
Anyhoo . . . That’s my Ironman Wisconsin report. It was a truly awesome experience. I can’t wait to do the next one!
