Pre-Race
February 24, 2013It's the day of the 2013 Rock N Roll Marathon in New Orleans.
I'm in Phil's Grill, a burger joint in Metairie enjoying a post-race cheeseburger and beer with my best friend from college, his newly engaged fiancé, his friend from back home, and Shellie and Brynn. I had just run my first marathon. My friends had run the half. Shellie and Brynn were my support crew/transportation. We were all loaded up on endorphins and beer when the machismo started about what we wanted to do next. Mostly, we discussed what marathons/half-marathons we wanted to run, such as Vegas at night, or New York.
At some point in the discussion, my buddy mentioned a Half-Ironman. That was greeted with a round of "Yea, that's badass. I'd love to do one of those."
Then about halfway through my burger, I started thinking... "I can run 13.1 miles. I used to cycle a lot in high school and college. I've got a decent road bike to train on. If I could learn to swim, I could possibly do a 70.3."
Endorphins make a person think really dumb things.
After a couple weeks of marathon recovery, I found my way to Pelican Athletic Club in Mandeville to become a member so I'd have access to a pool. And those first few swim sessions were beyond humbling.
Then I found an old Quintana Roo triathlon bike on eBay and bought it. I started riding a couple times a week and found I still could ride halfway decent. So I did what any self-respecting aspiring triathlete would do, and signed up for Crawfishman. And promptly DNF'ed within the first 100 yards of the swim. I did do the ride and the run though.
3 weeks later, I was back at it in the Big Easy Sprint. This race I finished, although the swim took me 17 minutes to cover 400 yards. Most of that time was spent hanging on a kayak in the middle of Southshore Harbor wondering what I had gotten myself into. But I eventually made it around the bouys and to my bike. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to be ready for Ironman New Orleans (my target Half-Iron race), but luckily Disney Running announced the Dopey Challenge which I decided to run instead. I still kept swimming and cycling as components of my cross-training through the summer, now on a different bike that fit better. And when fall hit, I went back to running full time in preparation for 48.6 miles through the happiest place on earth.
After Dopey, I got back into the pool to try to get my swim together for the upcoming triathlon season, and registered for 3 races: Magnolia Sprint Tri, Big Easy Sprint, and Crawfishman. I got 2nd in my age group at Magnolia, bailed on the swim at Big Easy due to cold and windy conditions, and did well at CfM in comparison to last year. I also joined a local triathlon team (Tri-Dat) to hopefully find some friends to train with and learn from. But I had that itch for a big race again in the midst of those 3, and with Shellie's blessing I registered for Ironman Augusta.
I talked with Brandt Quick, who is a local trainer/triathlon coach, and got him to write a plan for me for Augusta that would work with my schedule. I also joined the Masters' Swim class at Pelican, coached by Charlie Hoolihan for direct help with my swimming and also for the chance at some open water swims. My schedule worked out typically as follows:
Monday - Recovery Swim or Off
Tuesday - Interval Run
Wednesday - Interval Bike
Thursday - Hard Swim
Friday - Either brick (bike/run workout) or run
Saturday - Masters Swim, sometimes followed by spin class
Sunday - Long (5 hour) Brick
On occasion I'd hit an open water swim with Charlie or in the event of a holiday I'd throw in a long run. But for the most part, that was my life this past summer. Some days were fun. Other days sucked. But I had a goal, and a goal makes the suck suck much much less. (Say that three times fast.)
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| So much stuff! There's a bike in there too. |
My goals for the race were as follows:
Perfect day/race of my life type time: 5:30:00
Realistic 'B' Goal: 5:45:00
'C' Goal: Don't drown, don't crash, don't fall. Just finish.
I figured I could run a 1:50, finish the bike around 3:10, and swim plus transitions would put me at 45 minutes which based on my training would make for a good day. The 5:30 goal was if I ran one of my faster 13.1s, went under 3:00 on the bike, and had a good (for me) swim. I knew I'd finish provided I made it out of the water and didn't crash on the bike, but there's a lot that can go wrong over 70.3 miles. My biggest fear though, wasn't the swim. It was some sort of bike mishap that would end my day, either crash or mechanical.
Race Weekend
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| My Support Crew, Brynn and Shellie |
Saturday morning, Brandt had me take one last easy ride to make sure my bike was ready and working correctly. I rode down to the swim exit/transition area to get a feel for how things were laid out there, then rode back to the swim start to do the same. Everyone online raved about the current assisting the swim, but it didn't look to be flowing too strongly. Come to find out, the river is dammed further upstream and the plan was to open the dam for Sunday. I watched a group swim off the dock and they did move pretty quickly, but I was still nervous being this was my first really open water swim (not in a man made ski lake).
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| Savannah River From The Start Dock |
Later that morning we headed to the expo so I could check in, get my bibs/swim cap/race swag, and do a little shopping. After I was checked in and briefed,we headed out to drop off my bike, and then find a Wal-Mart to get bottled water and some snacks for the room and then went to an Italian place to have lunch. At this point, my nerves were completely on edge and I probably would have been better off locking myself in my room alone.
After getting back to the room, it was time to pack my transition bag, get my bottles ready, and make sure I had my stuff together for the following morning. Once that was done, we walked Broad St. again to get dinner and settled on a familiar pre-race meal of Mellow Mushroom Mellowterranian Pizza. We got back to our room about 8:30 or so and I promptly went to sleep while Shellie and Brynn flexed their creative muscles on a sign.
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| Pre-Race Dinner |
Race Morning
I woke up at about 4AM Sunday morning, and laid in bed while thoughts of my impending doom rolled around my head. Finally about 4:25, I got up, brushed my teeth, put on my team kit and some shorts/tshirt, and headed out to meet the shuttle bus to Transition. I got my stuff set up, met a guy from Orlando and talked Dopey Challenge, and got on the bus back to the swim start. Then I returned to my hotel, dropped my bag off at my room, had breakfast, and went back to the room to wait. While waiting I found a video on Facebook talking about river grass (wtf???) and remembered Jason warning me about it since he swam the river a couple days prior.
I'm not good at taking direction.
After the sun came up, from my room I could see the giant American flag hung from the 6th St. bridge, and decided it was time to walk to the start. I got there just in time to see the skydivers, the national anthem, and the pro start. I met up with my teammates, and we wished each other good luck. Steve asked how I was feeling (nervous as sh!t), and then he reminded me that I've swam this distance many times in the pool and this would be a piece of cake. But it wasn't until I was grouped with my wave that pre-race nerves finally subsided and was finally beginning to loosen up. I saw Shellie and Brynn on the levee and waved to them, and ran into a friend from my car salesman days starting in the wave behind mine. And luckily there was a guy who was about as laid back as he could be waiting near me at the back of my wave, so we chatted while walking to the dock. Once we were on the dock, I wet my goggles, jumped in the river to get some water in my wetsuit, and went down to the far edge of the dock to wait for the start. Anxiety gave way to anticipation and I was about to begin 70.3 miles of racing!
- Important note: I had 2 cups of coffee, a salted caramel Gu, and 2 bottles of water between waking up and lining up with my wave. This has consequences later.
Swim
The horn went off at 8:24. I hung back about 20-30 seconds in hopes of having some clean water to swim in, but managed to catch the tail end of my wave within the first minute. In hopes of avoiding bodies, I ended up drifting right, which put me in the middle of a giant patch of river grass (see, I don't listen). I tried to stroke through it, but it wasn't happening. I rolled over on my back and fluttered/floated until the first bridge (where the RD said the grass ended). After I passed under the first bridge, I resumed my swim stroke, breathing bidirectionally, sighting every 5-7 strokes, and focusing on long smooth strokes. I felt like I was making good progress until I ran head first into a kayak. That screwed me up a bit for a couple seconds but I was able to settle down and get back to swimming. It was about then that the fast guys from the next wave caught and passed me, but I wasn't able to get a draft off anyone. At the same time, I didn't get swam over either, so I'll take it.
I knew when I saw the second set of docks I'd be getting close to the finish, so I started paying attention to what was on the right when I'd breathe. I was close to the bouys where the current was strong, had some space to swim in, and started feeling like I could swim all day. And I was MOVING! So this is what it feels like to swim fast!
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| I just swam how far?? |
Finally the second docks and the Augusta Boathouse came into view, so I started looking for the swim exit. I found it, and with about 200 yards, I changed my course to aim for the red bouy on the dock so I didn't miss the boat ramp. As I crossed the river, my right calf started cramping, so I ended up doing some morphed out breaststroke-ish thing to get to the boat ramp. The cramps subsided as soon as I was standing. I walked, then ran up the ramp to the timing mat which beeped and went to hit the lap button my Garmin when I noticed I hadn't started it at the beginning of the swim. I quickly cycled the buttons to get to T1, but now I had no idea how I did on the swim, where I was on time, or if I'd hit my time goal. But I also knew I still had 69.1 miles to race so I couldn't dwell on what I can't control, and I sure as heck wasn't swimming that river again. I ran to the wetsuit strippers, got out of my wetsuit, went to my bike put on my shoes and helmet and headed out for the bike leg.
Bike
I had watched a series of videos on YouTube outlining the bike course, so I kinda knew what to expect. The bike course was fairly straight with some slight rolling hills for the first 15 miles, then got fairly hilly and technical for the next 33 miles, and the last 8 miles were essentially downhill and straight. My plan was to ride comfortably hard for the first 15 (about 80-85% FTP), climb strong and coast the downhills on the middle 33, and go WFO on the last 8.
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| Coming out of Transition |
The hills were challenging, but not much different than what I had trained on riding in north St. Tammany Parish. There were a couple climbs that were fairly long, and some really fast downhills where I hit over 35 MPH, but nothing I wasn't prepared for. There was one incident at the second aid station where a woman on a P5 ran into the back of another rider and went down in front of me. I managed to swerve to avoid her, just to have a guy turn his bike perpendicular to the road and stop to look back and see what happened. I got around him (much closer call), crept through the aid station, and got cranked back up.
Somewhere around mile 25, Jason from Tri-Dat passed me like I was sitting still. But I was going around 23-24 MPH at this point, and he got in the water 35 minutes after me, so he was FLYING. I knew he was having a good day at that point. The dude is an absolute ANIMAL.
Miles 34-35 were a really fast downhill with some sweeping turns followed by a pretty steep climb. I was in a pack moving pretty good until we hit the uphill when a woman yelled out "That was fun while it lasted". Everyone snickered a bit. Then she yelled "That's what she said!".
A dozen people on bikes cracked up at once. Perfect. Joke. Timing.
We made the turn on to Atomic Road at mile 47 and it was time to get ready to haul ass back to Transition. I took advantage of gravity and rode the last 8 miles faster than I've ever ridden 8 miles.
Still didn't catch Jason though.
I pushed hard through mile 55, and finally backed off when I could see the dismount line. I slowed up, got ready to get off the bike, and cruised until I got off the bike. I stopped my Garmin at the mat and it read 2:59:07, but I knew I lost a couple minutes due to nature. Not knowing where I was on time overall and not knowing exactly how much time I lost to pee meant I had to run as hard as I could if I were to hit my A goal of 5:30:00.
Run
I headed out of transition and felt really good. My friend Janel who was spectating to support some other locals was right outside transition and yelled and gave me a high-5. I didn't expect to see her there, so that was a great boost for me. Then the course went out past the levee and headed into Old Town Augusta for two loops up and down Broad St. and Reynolds St. It was here I saw my buddy from my car salesman days and gave him a thumbs up while I went chasing seconds.
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| Early in the run |
My first 3 miles would have made for a decent 5K. I was carrying an 8:06 pace and felt like I could do something close to that for the whole 13.1. Even as the miles wore on, I didn't really drop off much, except a little past the halfway mark where I grabbed some sponges and ate a Gu, and again at mile 11 where I was finally starting to feel like I had been racing all day. But a volunteer had a hose going and was more than happy to spray me down which was the last burst of relief I needed.
The aid stations were great. There was enough available food/Gu/water/Perform to make carrying nutrition and hydration completely unnecessary. I still carried gels, only to make sure I had flavors I liked. All the volunteers were so enthusiastic and were having a great time.
On the first loop, I passed Jason again coming back the other way. He was looking strong as well, but I think he was probably 4 miles or so ahead of me at that point, so there wasn't any way I'd run him down. I never did see Brian though.
Coming to the end of the first loop I was passed by someone else I know, Richard, who made the turn to the finish line in 4th place in our AG. That earned him a chance to race in the World Championships. So congrats to him!
Shellie and Brynn had set up camp on Broad St. where they could see me pass several times on the run. They were kind enough to offer encouragement as only they could:
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| Motivation a la Shellie |
Like I said, about mile 11 I was starting to feel like I was about done and started doing the math in my head and I knew I'd break 5:45. But before I hit the mile 12 marker, I got my last burst of energy because I was about to FINISH A HALF-IRONMAN, so I ran the last mile as hard as I could. Granted at this point in the day it was like an 8:30 mile, but still...
I finished the run in 1:47:03, which was 8 minutes off my 13.1 PR of 1:39 and was my 4th fastest 13.1. I was extremely pleased with my run.
I made it through the finish line, got my medal and my hat, and headed to the athlete's area to meet up with Shellie and Brynn. Jason and Richard were there so we hung out until Brian finished a little while later. I went to the med tent to get some ice bags on my knees, and headed off with the family to get some food.
Swim: 32:26
Bike: 3:02:48
Run: 1:47:03
Overall: 5:31:23
131/366 in my age group, 639/3290 overall.
Needless to say, I'm pretty happy with that result.
Post-Race
My support crew and I headed out to find something to eat, hoping to carry on the post-race cheeseburger tradition. But the place we wanted to go was closed, necessitating a trip to Mellow Mushroom again. We grabbed a sidewalk table to watch the race while we ate, and I inhaled a pizza and enjoyed a couple pints of Guinness. All things considered, I was feeling pretty decent as we walked back to our hotel. After I got cleaned up, we made the decision to head out of Augusta to try and cut a couple hours off of our drive the next day. We loaded up the MDX again, headed to transition to get my bike and my stuff, and made the 2 hour drive to Atlanta. The only real negative to this whole weekend was the walk to Transition to gather my stuff. Being able to drive there would have been a HUGE help.
I need to publicly thank a few people. First, I need to thank Joe B. and Kelly King, and John Danigole for starting the conversation that led to this. Y'all need to go buy some bikes and come tri (get it?) this out. It's way more fun than getting electrocuted in a Tough Mudder. ;)
I also need to thank Charlie Hoolihan, who was able to take a total non-swimmer like me and get me competent enough to swim 1.2 miles in a wetsuit down river in a respectable amount of time. I never could have gotten to that point on my own. Thanks Charlie.
Also, thanks to Brandt Quick for writing my plan and pushing me out of my comfort zone. There were many nights where I told Shellie I thought you were trying to kill me, especially after the 2800-3000 yard swim workouts and the 5 hour brick sessions in July and August. If anyone local to me is looking for a coach, I can't say enough good things about Brandt. He knows his stuff, is great to work with, and was able to push me hard enough to improve, but not too hard to get me injured.
I also need to thank Jason Tassin, the Assassin. His experience with the course and the distance was a big help, and his laid back demeanor Friday night helped keep me somewhat sane. And also need to thank the rest of my Tri-Dat teammates for keeping me focused, even though I did a pretty fair amount of stealth training.
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| All in a day's worth of racing. |
nonsense. Without their understanding and accepting of my weekend training I never would have been able to do this. And Shellie deserves some extra love for putting up with the never ending pile of smelly, sweaty training clothes that would start in the laundry room and end in our bathtub. Part of my motivation to do this stuff is to show Brynn that you can set crazy goals, do the work, and achieve them. I hope these lessons carry throughout her life.
So what's next? I plan to take this week off to recover and get my legs back under me. Then I have three half-marathons: Gulf Coast Half in Mandeville, Big Easy Running Festival in New Orleans, and The Half at the Louisiana Marathon in Baton Rouge. Those are all in preparation for the Rock N Roll Marathon in New Orleans at the end of January.
After I ran my first marathon, I swore I'd never run another. But I'm now registered for my third.
I will do another Half-Ironman though. This was fun. And not nearly as painful.
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