I have received questions from many people asking about my
experience doing the Ironman. This
is a rather lengthy description of the event. I have asked Kelly my guide, and Dawn who helped me in many
ways get to the finish line, to add clarification. Without seeing what unfolded, I just don’t feel that I have
interpreted things correctly, or with important visual details. They were encouraged to add any of
their own comments as well which you will see in quotes. What I have written is an overview of
my Ironman experience. If you read
Kelly’s blog, he describes in detail what our day was like.
For those of you that are not familiar with the Ironman , it
is an event where you begin with a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike
ride, and finish with a marathon run of 26.2 miles. A year earlier I had signed up to do the Wisconsin Ironman
scheduled for September 9, 2012.
The interest is such that you have only a day or two after the previous
year’s completion in which to sign up for the following year. During that year, you get your body
used to doing the swim, the bike and the run for the prescribed distances. The other important thing is to
understand your body’s need for nutrition and hydration in various
conditions. You have no clue what
race day might be like. My guide
Kelly and I had been discussing our plan for nutrition and hydration for that
day, and my friend Dawn compiled a list of all the items that I would want to
have for the Ironman.
I was quite fortunate to have connected up with Kelly when I
did. A friend of mine gave Kelly
my number, and he called me two days prior to signing up, and said that he
would be willing to guide me next year in the Ironman. If that wouldn’t work for me, then he
intended to sign up two days later and do his first one. I had an idea of qualities that I was
looking for in a guide, and Kelly had what I wanted. Before it opens to the public, the 2011 participants and
volunteers have a chance to sign up.
My daughter Lindsey was able to sign me up, so Kelly gave up his slot.
I had met Dawn about the same time, and she helped me with
many things Ironman related.
Sometime she would bike or run with me, and other times she would drive
me where I needed to be for training.
Dawn’s comments: “Rod and I had talked daily about training
and the amount required over the course of the summer and the logistics of
finding someone to help him with the needed training for the given week.
Between the treadmill and running with me on Saturdays, his running training
was pretty much covered. Swimming occurred at the Y pool on his own and seemed
to progress slowly at first. Then
Rod mastered the new swimming method and swam 2.4 miles in the pool many times.
Biking was his biggest need for folks to help and Rod’s longest ride of the
summer was 80 plus miles one
weekend. Otherwise he put in between 25 and 60 miles on weekend rides and the
rest on the Cannondale/trainer in his garage.”
Ironman weekend began for me on Friday. There are many rules that are in place,
and if you do not meet their requirements you can be penalized, or in most
cases disqualified. This meant that
I had to be registered by 5:00 on Friday.
Dawn and I arrived in Madison around 3:00 for registration. It was raining, and I am thinking that
I am glad that today isn’t the day.
Registering went smoothly, and then we waited till the 5:30
banquet. The banquet was one of
those high priced pasta dinners.
After the meal Mike Reilly from ironman.com spoke and entertained the
diners. He is the guy that shouts
out your name, and declares you an Ironman if you finish in within 17
hours. Following Mike, was a
mandatory meeting where they explained the rules associated with the various
legs of the event.
Dawn’s comments: “Ironman weekend started a few weeks
earlier for me creating a list of everything that needed to be brought along
for the big event. Every time Rod commented we need this or that, it got added
to the list. Then the list was categorized by swim, bike, run, and before and
after event needs. We didn’t want to forget anything so the list was checked
and rechecked as we packed.”
Saturday morning Dawn and I went over to Kelly’s house with
our transition bags (swim to bike, and bike to run) which he was going to take
over for me. Kelly and I took a
short ride to make sure that the seat and the handlebars felt fine, reducing
the likelihood of a surprise on Sunday.
The remainder of the day was a day to just relax.
I am not an early riser, so for the past two weeks I had
been resetting my body clock in preparation for Sunday’s 4:00 AM wake up
time. I ate a turkey and cheese
sandwich for breakfast, dressed, and headed downstairs with my swim gear to
meet Kelly. A friend of his drove
us to the Monona Terrace where we went over to the transition area to make the
last minute preparations. After
getting our bodies marked with bib number and age, it was time to wait until
6:30 when we would put our wetsuits on and head down toward the water. The pros took off at 6:50, and then it was time to get the
rest of us into the water before 7:00.
At 7:00, the cannon went off again, and it was time to swim.
I find the swim extremely boring. Kelly did a great job of keeping me out of traffic. I was fortunate to have had very little
contact with other swimmers. When
doing an event like the Ironman, focusing on what needs to be done is a big
part. While doing the swim there
is not anything for me to hear and of course not anything for me to see. It is all about trying to keep your
form, and perform one stroke after another. I was a little slow on the swim at about 1:50. I was hoping for something closer to
1:30. But, I was very happy to get
out of the water and do something different. When you reach shore, people help you strip off your
wetsuit, which is supposed to fit tightly over your body. As we got out of the water the crowd
began to cheer loudly and it continued during our one block long walk to the
transition area. The crowd was
fantastic, cheering for us loud and long the whole day whenever we came upon
them.
When we reached the transition area, we had people handing
us our things for the upcoming bike ride.
Kelly and I had one of those Smuckers pbj sandwiches before
leaving. We thought we would be
able to grab an energy drink for the bike, but that was not the case. They gave us a glass of water, and we
would have to ride 14 miles and then we could get water and an energy
drink. One of the nice things
about my slow swim was that it gave us ample opportunity to pass people on the
bike. We had a lot of ground to
make up. The bike course has
strategically placed stops where you can grab water, energy drinks, and certain
items to consume, which are meant to provide quick energy. There are around 3,000 volunteers
helping out throughout the day.
They are willing to help you with whatever you might need. We would stop, do what we needed, thank
them and be on our way. The
hardest portion of the course for me was miles 58-70. The wind had picked up and mentally you know you aren’t
close to being done with the bike.
Weather-wise, it was a perfect day, with temperatures reaching a high in
the mid seventies.
The bike had difficulty with some of the hills and dropped
the chain a few times. Another
time, the chain broke causing us to slowly fall to the ground. We had considered that this possibility
might occur before hand.
Fortunately for me, Kelly likes tinkering with bikes, and had prepared
by taking a link from the chain of his bike, and purchasing a tool to do the
repair. If your bike goes down,
you either have to fix it yourself, or wait for the support provided by the
volunteers. A friend is not allowed
to provide you with special assistance during the day, if you accept assistance
from a non volunteer, you are disqualified.
When doing triathlons common comments I hear are “that’s
cheating”, and “nice job”. Sunday
was no exception. One lady sounded
a bit agitated when she said to us, “I didn’t know tandems were allowed”.
One volunteer really did quite the job when he was able to
hand out two bottles of water one to me and one to Kelly as we went by on the
bike. Too bad we didn’t have a
picture of that. Another highlight of the trip was when we passed a pro. He was on his second loop and we were
on the first loop of the course.
He passed us just before the downhill, and we were able to use the hill
to our advantage and pass him if only for a brief moment. I was hoping to finish the bike portion around 3:00, but it
was almost 4:30 when we began to run the marathon.
The bike course was a 16 mile ride out of town where you
connected to a 40 mile loop which you completed twice before heading back in to
transition. The run on the other
hand was two 13.1 mile loops in town.
We had taken a rope in the event that we had some straight stretches of
road but, it was soon clear that the rope would not be needed. The loop took us through streets, on
sidewalks, up and down ramps where you would cross the street, and it also took us down a trail by the
lake. The ups and downs, sidewalk to road, ramp up, curb down, 180 degree turn
your way were directions that Kelly gave me. The run loop had us taking a lap
inside Camp Randall Stadium. The
first time through I asked Kelly if I could check out the artificial turf and
he said sure. Running on the turf felt like running on a well manicured lawn.
We had only run maybe six or seven minutes when we came to
the first water stop. They said
that they had bananas, grapes, oranges, chips, pretzels and other things. It all sounded good, too bad we had so
much more running to do. We would consume a small amount of
food, and hydrate at the various stops on the loop, but at about the eight to
ten mile mark, we realized that even at that, we would need to consume a bit
less. Our stomachs couldn’t digest
the amount of food that we were taking in. That food had been a refreshing change from the Gu and salt
tablets we had been consuming.
Kelly had taped six packets of Gu on the bike for me, and I had two more
during the run. It took me 5:15 to
run the marathon. I didn’t realize
that I would have spent so much time at the water stops. When I run marathons I would drink at
the stops and maybe have three packets of Gu during the race. After being out so long I clearly
needed more than that this time.
The loops of the run were concentrated such that fans could
congregate at various places. They
would cheer loudly when we went through.
I finished in 14:47:48, much slower than the 13:00 goal I had set. Aside from that, the day was a great
day! It was as if Kelly and I had
a day of swimming, biking and running with people supporting us the whole
day. Kelly did a great job of
guiding me. If I needed anything I
just had to ask. He made guiding
me seem easy which I know is not always the case. After I finished, I didn’t feel any more fatigue than I did
after finishing a marathon.
Recovery is proceeding well.
It is unlikely that I would do another Ironman due to the necessary
commitment. The Ironman itself is
not so difficult, but it is the training that leads up to the event. Doing an Ironman was well worth the
twelve month journey. Although it
was a long day for participants and fans alike, the feedback I got was that the
people that knew Kelly or me and came out to support us had an enjoyable day
too. What more can one ask for?
Dawn’s comments: “Ironman Day was great! Lindsey and I are
so proud of Rod’s Ironman accomplishment. Lindsey and I moved along the routes
to see Rod and Kelly as often as possible. Checking the Ironman Tracker every 5
to 10 minutes if not sooner. It was a hurry up and wait day. The weather was
great, lots of sunshine and light winds made for a good time for all the
spectators. I was amazed at all the specialty shirts (including IronRod shirts)
that we saw over the course of the day. After 14 hours 47 minutes Mike Reilly
announced Rod’s name, the only blind athlete in the event and proclaimed him an
Ironman. Lindsey and I were so glad to see them come walking across the finish
line area. Rod and Kelly walked through the finish line area with ease, looking
really good. They sure didn’t look like they had just finished an ironman. They
are truly amazing men!”
Here is a link to an article published in the Wisconsin
State Journal on 09/08. For those
using a screen reader you can locate the article by finding the first heading
level 2 from the top:
Below is a summary of the Wisconsin Ironman statistics:
Just over 2900 age-group athletes took on the daunting
challenge of reaching the Ironman Wisconsin finish line on Sunday September 9,
2012.
There were some excellent results posted in all age-group
categories. The fastest over-all time for age-group athletes was posted
by Joe Kurian in the 30-34 category. His time was a sensational 9:21:09. The fastest female finisher over-all was Michelle Andres who
crossed the finish line in 10:05:30.
In the youngest category it was Jessica Yurchich for the
women and Taylor Schleusner for the men crossing the line first with time of
11:23:18 and 10:04:39 respectively. Jessica and Taylor were entered in the 18-24 age category.
In one of the more senior age-categories for men it was
Monte Hitchcock and Jim Cunning leading the way with times of 11:35:19 and
11:57:04 in the 60-64 age-group. Margaret Dorio led the way for the women in the 50-54
category when she hit the tape at 11:23:48.
There were 50 age-group qualifying spots up for grabs for
the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii in the Fall of 2013.
Here is a link to Kelly’s blog. It is amazing that after spending 17 hours with me that day
in order to get me to the finish line, he can remember so much detail.
If you use a screen reader look for heading 2. The entries are in the order of most
recent first. The entry which
describes the beginning of our Ironman day is September 13.
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