Ironman Wisconsin, 9/9/07

2.4 mile swim The swim. It was all they warn you about and more. I got pummeled, mauled, kicked, grabbed, slapped, smacked, whacked, bumped, dunked and elbowed for 1:24:31. The worst of it was within the first minute; the second good kick (about 10 meters after the starting line) dislodged my goggles and had them pressing on my head in a strange fashion. They leaked like a seive the whole time. There was a silver lining to that-- the lake was absolutely beautiful on this day. (Did quite a bit of training in Lake Monona and it was often stinky and icky...) today the lake level was near an all-time high, the bacteria and algea were at very low counts and I didn't see a single dead fish floating around. No wind, the lake was as flat as a mirror. The draft of 2209 swimmers is amazing-- after bashing into people for 2.4 miles I got out of the water feeling fresh; didn't seem to be working very hard, and was way faster than expected. I was right in the middle of a pack the whole time (except briefly when I was off course on the back stretch). Other pics 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Where am I 15 minutes into the Ironman? Swim course

112 mile bike The bike ride was great. I was out there on (probably) the oldest bike on the course-- 3Rensho: the greatest racing bike ever made. Of course that claim was made in the mid 80's. After lolligagging in the first transition (14 minutes, 56 seconds: 205 people got out of the water after me and got onto their bikes before me), I got out and averaged a little over 18 mph on the course. I passed a net of 776 bikers out there, and loved every minute of it. No troubles at all on the climbs; stayed well hydrated but did end up a little undernourished. The opening 40 miles were on total adrenaline; the hamstrings didn't even loosen up until the first pass through Mt Horeb. Got to Verona about a half hour sooner than I'd told people to expect me; decided I should cut it back just a little on the 2nd lap, but just kept on chugging away out there. Got back to Madison in a great mood. Just a little drained. 1 2 Bike course

26.2 mile run And then a marathon. This was not pretty. Legs were not quite right immediately after the bike ride; the first two miles were crazy hard. Low on nutrition, quads o' jelly. But a couple of gu packets and a few steps of walking helped to get things rolling again. I was able to run at my normal clip from mile 3 to mile marker #9 before the body decided it was time to slow down. Struggled from there on in, particularly after mile 13. Got through the first half of the marathon in 2:07 (good enough pace!), but the 2nd half included 100 paces of walking every mile. Total marathon time 4:32:45. Other pics 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Run course

Story behind the story:

Before 1. Breakfast! One dry bagel and that was it. No swimming for at least an hour. 2. Body marking. The lovely Lana did some fine work writing '739' all over me. 3. Tire pressure check. I had the most spokes out there (probably a tie for that award). 1 2 3

After 1. 3Rensho. What a great bike. 2. David & Stephanie's apartment. It has a shower. It was nice. 3-6. Run photos captured by David. The random sampling didn't catch me walking at all... 1 2 3 4 5 6

My personal Highlight

The greatest bike ever made So I was a little behind average on the swim and way behind average on the first transition... so I found myself near the back of the pack getting out on the bike course. Then I had myself a pretty good ride, on one of (if not the) oldest bike out there. Passed a net of 776 people, talked up it the whole way, and the best part was that the motorcycle-based camera crew took a look at my bike. So I got my 3 seconds of fame in the Ironman Race Summary video. Check out the youtube version here and have a close look at 4:23 into the video. You'll see someone headed for the port-a-potty, then a cow, then a volunteer giving away a banana... and then... three full seconds of the coolest bike on the course. They did everyone a favor by keeping my ugly mug off camera, but they were intent on getting a look at my downtube-mounted shift levers. Nice. I pointed them out for the camera-- wouldn't have it any other way. Also note in those 3 seconds I completely blew by two other riders. For a less glorious look, there are several seconds of me on the run at about 5:56 in... I'm the guy with very bad form (especially on the left leg) slowly running away from the camera. All 3 back pockets of my race jersey are full of miscellaneous stuff... Let's just continue to think about the bike. What a sweet ride. On a sad note, just about a month after IM WI 2007, my severe case of equipment envy got the best of me and I bought myself a shiny new (4 year old) titanium frame (with carbon fiber in the seat tube and seat stays) with a full carbon Campy record set. Wow. Made for an immediately less comfortable but inconsequentially faster ride. The steel 3Rensho might actually be the best bike ever made.

Race video stills 1-25. 3Rensho. What a great bike. Full DuraAce, indexed 6 speed set. 1983. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Results:

IM WI 2007 finish time distributions:

Distribution of race times of IM WI 2007. Note that all 6 categories (swim, bike, run; two transitions and total time) are all slightly asymmetric-- the deviation from the normal bell curve is toward the slow side. Not surprising. The average time for each is indicated by the vertical green line, and the red symbol in each plot is my time. That's about 5 minutes behind average on the swim, 23 minutes fast on the bike, and 17 minutes fast on the run. Not bad. The 2nd transition was respectable as well. Then there's that first transition... That was a combination of several factors: a lack of experience, being very happy to be out of the water (to the point of joking around with race volunteers), and keeping the inside of my wetsuit pristine all factored into the slow transition. But that was alright-- made for some extra people to go by on the bicycle. Total finish time was 27 minutes ahead of average, but right at the peak of the distribution-- lots of people coming across the line around me. This is why I missed out on a finish line photo-- too many people. Next year's goal: move left on all the curves. Training underway!