Race Report - Beach2Battleship Full Iron Distance Triathlon - October 29, 2011

Executive Summary:

Results: Total Time: 14:43:25 Swim: 52:52 T1: 23:23 Bike: 7:35:42 T2: 18:03 Run: 5:33:28

Would I recommend this race? YES

Would I do this race again? YES – Loosely targeted for 2012.

Best part besides finishing: THE SWIM – nothing else is a close 2^nd.

Worst part of the race: The weather punctuated by the headwind in the 1^st 70 miles of the bike. In particular miles 20-30. Couldn't be worse next year, right?

Detailed Race Report

I am going to skip the lead in for now about the trip there and checking in but I will remind you that on Sept 11, 2011 I made it halfway through mile 20 of the run at Ironman Wisconsin before I pulled out. There is a race report for IM Wisconsin, yet to be written, that I think I have the heart write now. Less than 7 weeks later (6 weeks and 6 days to be exact) I was out there trying to do another full iron distance triathlon. I am pretty sure that your coaches would advise against this as a strategy for becoming an Ironman but I played it smart and at the end of the day I did what you want to do at every race - Finished upright with a smile on my face. There's a whole other post on how the 7 week turn around worked for me that need's to be written but it's taken too long to get this written.

The race is a logistical challenge with the split transition but if you read the race instructions and study the maps it'll start to make sense. One significant difference between this race and IM Wisconsin is that special needs bags get checked along with bike to run on Friday (it's a Saturday race) and CANNOT be visited on race morning. The quality of the PB&J made with store brand grape jelly on store brand white bread that went into my Bike Special Needs bag was not significantly impacted by the extra time in the wild.

Race Day

Brief visit to T1 to put water & nutrition on the bike. In this race you can check your T1 bag with your bike or on race day. I guess in hindsight that means you could leave your T1 bag the night before and add to it on race morning but I chose to bring it with me on race morning. I had inflated my tires at bike check in and with the Wx being cold I decided I would not check them or inflate them on race morning. Your coaches will tell you that this was crazy & I agree. My only defense is that my resounding theme for the race was to try to be 180 degrees opposite of IM Wisconsin. Hopped the very 1^st bus to the swim start.

Swim Start

We were warned at the racer's brief that the with the late sunrise the race start would be delayed until the Coast Guard gave the go ahead that it was light enough to see us in the water. A stark contrast to this was the color of the swim caps. A dark gray - pretty close to the color of the water. Go figure. I was very calm during the wait at the swim start. Even tried to lay down get a short nap. This wasn't my first rodeo and I had done all I could to get ready so why worry.

The Swim

Warning from the race announcer that we were < 5 minutes away from the start. 90 seconds later we get the gun, we head from the beach into the water. Not quite the 'face plant and go swim as soon as my feet were wet' that I planned but it worked. Thank goodness I did a 7 minute pre-swim Friday AM. I knew what it would taste like and what the footing was like.

Bag o' Chips swim. I end up far to the left & I am screaming by the buoys that I have figured out are @ 1000 meters. When I got to the turn buoy which was supposed to be 2 miles into the swim my watch read 32 minutes and some change. Holy cow I have a chance to do something special here. But here's were it get's a little dicey for me. I had in my head I'd be able to see the condos and the marina when I made this turn but you can't. At this point I made a decision that could have ended my race. I stayed left. By the time I could see the condo & marina I was being pulled away from it. I made a full right turn and started swimming perpendicular to the race course. A little extra effort and I was able to get back to the right side and in with the pack. The slower part of the pack but in the pack. This may sound scary to anyone thinking about this race but I'll tell you that I read about it in past race reports & they were mentioning on the B2B FB group but I ignored it. Totally my call and if you what to do this race I'll explain to you how to avoid this but still take advantage on the currnet. Maybe even get on a boat and show it to you because it's about the only part of the course you can't see from land.

Grabbed the ladder at the dock and kissed the top step before getting out and getting moving. Ladder exit was a 1^st for me but I refused assistance of the volunteers as I did not want to pull them in & after all I hadn't been in the water long enough to get tired. :) Run about 50' for the wetsuit stripping. Here's a little hint – get your cap and goggles in you hand before you get to the wetsuit strippers. They'll stay in the arms of your wetsuit (if you have a full suit). Just remember when your unpacking to get them out or you might not see them until next year. Another 25' feet to fresh water shower. Spent maybe 45 secs rinsing hair, face, and as much body as I could. Run another 150' and I cross the timing mat.

52:52 for 2.4 mile OWS. Holy cr4p that was fast. Officially in T1.

T1 – Or how can you spend +22 minutes in T1?

Cross the mat & I decide to again go 180 degress from IM Wisconsin. The trip from the timing mat to transition entrance is between 400 & 600 yds. If you've done your Yasso's you know that's more than ¼ mile but less than ½ mile. I decided the night before I'd walk this & I did. I had 20 minutes buffer from my predicted swim time. I doubled the time it took to get to the transition area but my HR was down and I had my wits about me.

Grab my bag and head to the tent. Just as at IMooo it's full. Note to self: Get 10 minutes faster on the swim so you can have space to change into bike stuff in T1 in future races. I have to go slowly (it part of my name I've got the Goslow part covered) around the mass of humanity to an empty spot at a table on the other side of the tent from the entrance. Decision time. Some very good & a couple not so good.I have most of my cycling wardrobe in my T1 bag. It's cold out – 40's. Do I wear cycling tights with tri-shorts underneath and lose the tight at Special Needs or go with cycling shorts and suffer more than I already have to. Went with the tights. Good choice. They did not come off 'til T2. The tri-short under were not optimal because the noseless ISM saddle I use didn't like the extra layer. Not optimal but it worked. What was the bad decision? Half gloves instead of full gloves. Preview of the bike – when I stopped at mile 21 to change to full gloves it was near impossible and cost at least 5 mins. Final clothing configuration: SS technical running shirt, bike jersey, arm warmers, cycling jacket, tri-shorts, cycling tights, socks, shoe covers and those d4mn ½ gloves.

1^st complaint about the race organization – BUT THERE AREN'T MANY – 1 porta-john at the Men's changing tent. I am 2 row of bikes towards my bike when I decided if I am going dress warm and not suffer that way I better stand in line and get it done. Note to self: Learn to pee during the last 300m of the swim. I am done and off to my bike. I am so happy to see her and I starting talking to her and myself because that's one of the ways I handle stress. Had my one and only bad experience with another racer. The woman at the rack next to me asks me to be quiet. Go Team. Stress levels not helped by this & I told her a little about how I felt about it as I am walking towards the mount line. In hindsight I should have said: “I know you must be talking to the voices in your head because I KNOW you're not talking to me.” Everybody handles the stress of race day differently. 'nough said.

To the mount line and I can't clip in. Take your cleat covers of you big dummy. Done. A little water to wash the salt out of my mouth and I am off.

Bike – or a tale of two rides

To be brief (haha) I'll say that the due to the Wx and +20 mph headwinds most of the 1^st 70 miles was hell. Miles 20-24 avg of 11.1 mph. The headwind turned the flat bike course into on long (65 miles) hill with no downhill for recovery. Everyone I got out the water ahead of passes me. Then the racers doing the half pass me. All of them I swear. Things improve when the full splits off with the half around mile 35 or so. Then I am in contact with other racers who going my speed or OMG I am able to catch. FF to Bike Special needs at mile 51. Bike racks are full but the volunteer who brought me my bag stands and holds my bike while I go through my bag, mix Perpertum, take things out of my jersey that I won't need for the rest of the bike, get my PB&J's, get a porta potty break. At this point the other racers are taking it easy and it dawns on me that best mindset I could take through the rest of the ride is that this is just a well supported century that I need to continue to plug on through. Done with BSN. Fill my aerobottle with what's left of the water in my last throwaway bottle, grab two water bottles & I figure with new Perpetum I have most of the fluids I'll need for the rest of the race.

Hit the 56 mile mark at 4:10 or 4:15 elaspsed time on the bike. Finished with a bike time of 7:35:42. Negative split the hell out of the bike. Made a turn around mile 70 and the wind was at my back & feel like I am on a powerflat similar to points on the Silver Comet. Avg 23 mph for 4 miles somewhere around mile 100. Holy cow. To boot I am PASSING people. All I can figure is that they burned it up on the 1^st 70 of the ride while I was just plugging along.

Bike Stratergy & Nutrition on the Bike

My one and only strategy on the bike: Drink until I have to stop and pee. By mile 21 I am there but there's only one porta pottie & there's a line. Skipped it knowing that the next stop is mile 35. Avert your eyes if you don't want to read about pee. Mile 27 & I am scoping out bushes. Mile 31 I see a guy pulling off from a spot that looks perfect for me. Never done this in a race, on a training run but it was a great relief and kept me out of line at the next stop.

As for nutrition as far as I can tell I took in roughly 3000-3500 calories. 9-10 scoops of Perpetum, 5 gels, 3 PB&J's (sandwiches eaten mostly in areo :) ). I don't usually track my day to day calories but on the bike I took in 2-2.5 times the number of calories I do on a normal day where I don't have any training sessions over an hour. Again 180 degress from IM Wisconsin. Finished the bike well haydrated, totally fueled and ready to run my best marathon ever.

Little bit of cluster getting back to transition. Road separated into 3 lanes. One for runners coming in and going out on the run, 1 for bikes and the 3^rd full of people who raced the half walking out with their bike. Runners & racers crossing into the bike. So I start greeting them all with a hearty “BIKE UP” and I get through it. But with the distraction I completely forget what I practice every time I ride back to the house – getting out of my shoes and leaving them on the bike. So I am stuck in my bike shoes on as enter T2.

T2 – Not as long as T1 but close

Running by the bike to run bag and I am transposing my race number from 757 to 575 and guess what I can't find my bag because racer 575 had the audacity to get to T2 ahead of me. Volunteers get me moving and I have my right & proper bag and head on in.

Quick side note: The bags given out sucked. White 13 gallon trash bags with drawstrings. Marked the bags with red duct tape the night before and it was quite helpful.

Into the changing tent. Following John Ridgely's advice – Don't sit down in T2. Lay my things out on a table and start working through what to take, what to leave and trying to remember to put my bike stuff in the bag at the end. Note to race director: Could we please close the flaps on the Men's Changing Tent next year. There are about 5 of us in the tent and volunteers. I am the only one going for a full costume change. If you were looking in the changing tent it's you own damn fault what you saw. :) Done with everything but shoes & I sit down to do what? APPLY A THIN LAYER OF AQUAPHOR TO THE BOTTOMS OF MY FEET. Again 180 degrees from IM Wisconsin and more of John Ridgely's excellent advice. Same advice he gave me before IM Wisconsin that I ignored. Listen to your coaches.

Run outfit: A shortsleeve technical shirt, the arm warmers from the ride, running shorts, visor with headlamp just in case I don't make it back to my special needs bag before sundown. It was cool but sunny.

Socks on and shoes tied. Stuffing things in my bag and I am thinking about whether I have put body glide and Aquaphor everywhere I should have. It's okay because I am going to carry it with me. Then it is time to run my BEST MARATHON EVER.

Run – Or my BEST MARATHON EVER.

My strategy for the run was similar the bike. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate until I have to pee. Repeat. On the run side of it I planned to run between water stops as long as I could, then start a run/walk with 2:1 or 3:1 until all I could do was walk. Well guess what, all I did was walk the waterstops and hit the porta potties about 8 times. The rest of the time I ran. The most I have ever run in marathon. My 1^st marathon I ran (if you can call it that) for the 1^st 18 or so the walked most of the rest. After that I ran/walked my fulls with as much as 30 minute of walks during a full until ING in 2010 where I ran all but waterstops until mile 21 and walked the rest until mile 24. So this time I ran a good 25 miles. WOW! All that from the base I had from IM Wisconsin and 2 long runs over 10 miles (one was 13 & the other 14 miles) in the 7 weeks between IM Wisconsin & B2B.

Had 2 points where I wanted to walk. Dark moments. The Wall. Whatever you want to call it. 1^st was mile 11 or 12 where I figured out I was cold but I had a jacket in my special needs bag – quicker I get there the sooner I am warmer so I kept running. The second was mile 23 or so. My quads started to get tight and sore around mile 20. I had been thinking about in the back and a few times in the front of my mind “When will I hit The Wall”. I convince myself that I had felt worse on every step on my 13 mile training run between IM Wisconsin and B2B and I could keep running. Worst case I might have sore legs for an extra day. So what I am pretty d4mn close to being an Ironman.

A note about the finish. I am back to the Battleship Park and headed down one of the lanes while finishers are walking there bikes out and encouraging me to keep going. I had little moment there where in I tear up a little. This is the guy that didn't cry when his kids were born & I am thinking about bawling over finishing this race. I hit the finisher chute and I swear 90 turns later I am coming across the finish line with my right hand making a 'W' for my wife who's support was endless this year.

A brief (haha) note about nutrition on the run. I will call what I did for nutrition on the run taking advantage of the Holy Trinity of Ironman (full iron distance triathlon) aid station offerings: Water, Soda (in this case Pepsi), and chicken broth. I took 2 of the 3 at almost all aid stations – in a lot of cases I took all 3. 28 or 30 aid stations if I recall the count correctly. At the run start, every mile & at the 6.5 mile turnaround on the run. I had the misfortune of getting caught by a train on the way out on the 1^st loop. No one was happy about it but stuff happens. My stomach had nothing to do at that point so it told me it needed something solid. Next aid station I grab some pretzel sticks along with the Trinity. Not such a good idea. A mile or so later & my stomach feels too full. I dial down the intake of the Trinity for a couple of aid stations and by mile 9 or 10 I feel okay again. Maybe 1 or 2 more pretzels at mile 20 but other than that it's all Trinity.

IMooo to B2B What I did different (as much as possible)

This is way too long but I do want to cover a few secrets or things I did differently from IM Wisconsin that help me have the day I did. This is by far not an exhaustive list. I made so many different choices from what I ate to what I my hotel accommodations to how I travelled. Just about anything I could flip on it's head.

1. Tylenol – taking anything during a race is decision not to be taken lightly & not to be done without practice. From what I have read Advil/Ibuprofen is a no go on race day because of kidney function issues. I cringe when I hear people say that is what they take during a race but to each his own. For IM Wisconsin my mother had asked what I would do if I had a headache during the race & since I had not had an issue in a race or taken any Tylenol during a marathon since my 2^nd marathon I didn't carry any for IM Wisconsin. For B2B the only point during the race I did not have any with me was during the swim. 4 tabs in each transition bag, each special needs bag, and in my bento box on the bike. I took 2 at bike special needs and approximately 4-6 more over the course of the race.

2. Topical Analgesic – My product of choice is Biofreeze. There is a slightly different product called Perform by the makers of Biofreeze that I'll use as well. I had it in both special needs bags, and my T2 bag. Even had a small sample sized packet that I carried on the run. I used it on my legs (hit the big muscles) in T2 and at the halfway point of the marathon on my hip flexor/psoas area as well as the big muscles. My massage guy suggested way back before my 1^st marathon that I could put some on before my 1^st marathon in the areas I was having issues so I took the leap of logic that it would be useful during the race.

3. Aquaphor – Or as I now call it: My new best friend. Had it in every bag. Carried a large tube with me on the run. Turned out I forgot to apply Body Glide to my chest in T2 (a necessity for me to avoid BNS – Bloody Nipple Syndrome). Around mile 2 or 3 I am reaching into my shirt applying Aquaphor to my chest. Having ignored the advice to use Aquaphor at IM Wisconsin because I had had no blister issues all year I practiced with it during the period between IM Wisconisn & B2B and now I won't run without it.

4. Nutrition – Post IM Wisconsin I visited with my Sports Nutritionist of choice – Ilana Katz. Turns out I had gained back 20-25 lbs of the +40lbs I lost between Marine Corps Marathon in fall 2008 and the Snickers marathon in spring of 2009. I lost the original 40lbs working with Ilana so I knew she'd be able to put me back on the right track. We visited and she added an extra meal to what I had done to lose the 40lbs and it was like magic. Lost 10lbs in the 6 weeks leading up to the race, feeling the best I had in a while. Ilana also worked with me to develop a carb loading plan for the week before the race. Actually she laid out the framework and I developed the plan myself - making the specific food choices myself based on my schedule and foods I like. This is now a skill for me and not just a piece of paper with a meal plan full of someone else's favorite foods. Be it the weigh loss or the carb loading something worked because I was running strong during the last .2 of the marathon. One last note on nutrition. People will tell you that trying to lose weight 6 weeks before a race is not smart but I was working with a professional using a plan that had worked for me in the past. The results speak for themselves.

If you made it this far: THANK YOU FOR THE ATTENTION