In the last two weeks, I’ve been in touch with a lot of friends and family members, all offering their congratulations on my race. Life has been different after coming back from Ironman. I am still inwardly glowing about my accomplishment, which I hope will continue to be the case for a while. I feel it’s the first time in a long time where I actually feel as proud as those congratulating me seem to expect.

Recovery
There is a concept of “post Ironman depression” which comes from all of a sudden not having that goal to look forward to.  In addition, there is the loss of physiological benefits of all that exercise because I had to take some days off after the race for recovery.  After acclimating to 3-6 hours of exercise per day, taking off days following the race was tough. I was sore for about 3 days, and after that I was just going crazy. I ended up taking off Monday-Friday, then doing a 10-miler Saturday and realizing Sunday morning it was a bad idea. Sunday was a rest day, and but I’ve been back on the road for at least an hour of biking or running since.

I’ve definitely felt the addictive pull of running before, but never like this. I wake up and feel absolutely compelled to get outside. It’s nice in a way, because I really enjoy the workout, but I don’t feel completely in control, which is not ideal. It’s been over two weeks now, and I think the mental post-race downswing has mostly passed.

What comes next?
Everyone has been asking me what comes next. In truth, I have made a decision to step away from triathlons and marathons for a while to concentrate on my career. I do have a desire to do this again, but not for a while. Training takes up an extraordinary amount of time, and I have other goals to pursue. Eventually, I have my sites set on an Ultramarathon, specifically, the Western States Endurance Run (100 miles through the Cascades), and now that I see what I’m capable of in triathlons, I’d like to try to make it to World Champs in Kona, Hawaii, which would require a sub 10-hour finish. With a better bike, and many more miles in the saddle, I think I am capable of this. This is all in the distant future, and nothing I’m really planning for right now.

So I made it! Yesterday at this time, I was somewhere in the Ohio river, taking strokes toward the finish of the swim of Ironman Louisville. To say that I’m happy with my race would be the understatement of the year… Right now, I think it might have just topped the rest to be my favorite performance I’ve given so far. Everything came together, and I crushed all my expectations. I was set on finishing before nightfall, (13+ hours) and hoping I would beat the 12 hour time mark if I had a good race.

My finishing time ended up being 10:51:48, putting me at #115 out of about 2100 competitors, including 42 pros. Those not familiar with Ironman competitions may not understand why I’m so happy with my time, but I’ll put it in comparison with my half-Ironman time to give you a sense. During my half-Ironman race, which I was happy with, I finished at 5:10, which included a 34 minute swim, 3 hour bike and 1:30 run. Yesterday, I was faster at double the distance for both the swim and bike (1:07 and 5:59 respectively), and my run was only 35 minutes slower for a full marathon versus the half. I’m ecstatic! Here is a recap of the day in pictures, and in words:

The Start
I woke up at 4am, but really was awake in bed since about 1:30. My mind was racing with details about transition, my equipment, and things I needed to check on in the morning. Dad dropped me at transition at 5:30, and I checked over my bike, handed in my bags of special food items that would be handed to me at the midway points of the run and bike legs. Dad walked with me to the start at which point I was REALLY nervous. I was trying not to think of the whole day and start by thinking of one leg at a time. After waiting and stretching for about an hour, they started the pros 10 minutes early, then started us with a rolling start. (People were starting off a dock, because of the altered swim route). As I neared the dock, I was struggling to keep my mind on the next ten minutes instead of thinking about the whole day all at one time.

The Swim
The water was warm, and I could feel myself slipping through it due to the effects of shaving. I spent the first mile or so trying to draft off different people, but I was moving up in the field and wasn’t finding any ideal people to draft off of. That, and I got kicked in the face when people bunched up at one of the course buoys, and since my goggles have no padding, I was scared of having it happen again, which could have been seriously compromising. The current was noticeable on the way out, and helped on the way back. I swam pretty strong, and was passing people most of the way home. I finished in 1:07:17, which was about a minute faster than my pace during my half Ironman.

Transition 1
I moved pretty steadily through transition one, and was really excited to see my family and friends cheering me on wildly. I went down the wrong lane to get my transition bag, and had to do a stop, drop and roll to get the the adjacent lane and grab my bag. I was feeling pretty good at this point, so no problem.

The Bike
I felt fine on the bike, and was trying to rehearse my race plan. (0-30: hold back, 30-60: steady, 60-90: work and move up, 90-112: work and stay relaxed). Executing this without getting caught up in the crowds that passed me initially is the reason the race went so well. I was absolutely dismayed at the number of people flying by me on the first 30-45 miles. I was trying to focus on the feeling of holding back, rather than a pace, and it seemed most everyone else was just hammering it. It’s natural to feel really strong at this point in the race, but it was still really early. We went up quite a few hills in the first 30 miles, and I really slowed down, to prevent any anaerobic effort.

I looked at my average pace at about mile 16, and saw it was 14.4, which is insanely slow. At that point, I just released my expectations for time, and just tried to focus on my race plan. I was tempted to try to play keep up with the people around me, but instead I just let people go. Going through the LaGrange street festival at mile 38 was fantastic; I saw my family and friends yelling, holding signs and cheering.

On the back end of the first 30 mile loop, I started to find my stride, and I was happy to see that after all that time (3 hours) holding back, I had passed through the first half (56 miles) in about 3:02. I then started to work, and found myself picking people off left and right during the entire second half. I negative split the bike leg, and came in at 5:59:19, averaging 18.7mph.

It was a long, long ride. So many details to focus on! I was timing my electrolyte pills, and taking a stock of them on the hour. I was taking in my main liquid food source, Perpetuem, and swapped bottles half way through as I had kept one in my special needs bag. This forced me to take it in evenly. It also helped me focus on each segment of the race separately, and not think about the whole thing, which was overwhelming. At every aid station, I took 2-3 water bottles, replacing my stores and dumping the rest on myself to keep wet and cool. (It was getting warm at this point in the day). Having my family and friends at miles 38, and 68 gave me something to look forward to, which helped immensely.

Transition 2
I tried to stay really relaxed during the last 10 miles, and I was testing my legs by standing and flexing them, to see how tired they were. I felt pretty good, and even managed to take off my shoes while still on the bike, which enabled me to jump off and not be hindered by running in cleats. Again, seeing my family at transition was great. At this point, I knew I was doing well, and I was eager to start the run, where I didn’t have to worry about any external factors affecting my race. (On the bike, I was worried about penalties for following someone too closely, flat tires, crashing into another bike due to a lapse in concentration, etc).

The Run
I felt great starting into the run. I knew my plan for the bike had worked like a charm, and I wanted to focus on sticking with my plan for the run, which was to keep the feeling of having something left in the tank. I wanted to know I could go faster at any point in time, so I focused on that feeling and started chugging along. I was running 7:50′s to start, and kept this up for a while. It was getting really hot, so I walked through part of the aid station, so I could take in a lot of water, dump ice in my shirt and more ice water on my head.

I was really not feeling like eating, and actually feeling a bit uneasy from all the liquid food I’d taken in during the last 30 miles on the bike. I kept reminding myself that my nutrition was the most important thing at this point, and despite my distaste, kept taking in gels, electrolyte tabs, and Perpetuem.

The first lap (14 miles) went fairly well. I slowed down to 8 minute miles, but was feeling pretty good. As I looped around, I got a glance at the finish, and tried to get the thought out of my head, since I still had 12 miles to go. The second lap was tough. I was still trying to get in fluids, but was feeling really hot. The shock of dumping ice water over myself was getting worse and worse, as I was heating up in between the aid stations. I was trying to make it to mile 20 before making any assessments on how I was feeling, but I knew I was tiring. I did my best to pick it up, but I think I was still struggling to keep about an 8 minute pace, with another 20 seconds or so to refuel and get water at the aid stations. I started counting down the miles from 22 on, and finally letting myself think about the finish. It sounds silly now, but my eyes were welling up every time I thought about it. I finally picked it up during the last two miles and when I rounded the corner, I let it all out. I wanted to finish strong, and was overcome with emotion as I crossed the line.

My friend Alyson Tudor was there to give my my finishers medal, and the volunteers grabbed me and helped me over to my family. I was completely physically and emotionally overcome. It was great to see everyone and I was ecstatic because I knew I had broken 11 hours.

My Fans

My family was the best. They really came through this past week, and did everything for me. My sisters even organized the making of custom T-shirts so I could spot them along the course! Alyson Tudor, who had helped organize the whole event was there to cheer me on as well. My friend Whitney York, and her friends Millie and Meredith were all over the entire course, and it was fantastic to have their support. I was so happy to see everyone at the end… it really made it into a perfect day for me. In a race like this, which is so mental, having the support along the way makes all the difference.

Closing Thoughts

After all the training, I couldn’t have asked for a better performance, or a more perfect race. People have already been asking me if I’ll do it again. I have to say, it’s tempting… but for the foreseeable future, the answer is no. I am really happy with my race, and I don’t have anything left to prove to myself. I’ll probably do it again at some point, but right now, I have other goals I want to focus on. I’m so happy I did this. It was a huge undertaking and I am ecstatic that everything came together so well.

Afterwards, at the mandatory athlete race briefing, they took all our questions. Although I learned the most from the guy next to me, who is an old hat at this. Some key notes:

• Wear a race belt, and attach your number to it. Then just switch it from the back to the front when going from the bike to the run.
• An all, or mostly liquid diet the day before helps prevent any gastrointestinal distress issues.
• Standing up and leaning to the side of your bike, while going downhill is the best position to release any excess fluids you’ve taken in.

It is bordering on 100 degrees today. If it rains tomorrow, it should be down to the high 80′s on Sunday. Either way, it’s going to be a hot and slow course. Usually 5% don’t finish. In Wisconsin a few years back, it was really hot and nearly 20% didn’t finish.

I will finish.

Today we had an open practice swim in the Ohio. A few notes about the Ohio in August.

• It’s just as gross as you would think. Brown water that you can see about 6 inches in, and just overall, doesn’t feel clean.
• It’s HOT. The YMCA pool, which they keep exceedingly warm for the elderly is usually at 81-82 degrees. The Ohio was 86 this morning. I take showers that are much cooler than that.
• The current, due to storms upstream, was at 0.6 knots yesterday. Fast enough that it would be tough to swim upstream like in the original course. So they have changed the course to be a majority downstream.
• Today, one day after the swim course change, the current was twice as fast, at 1.2 knots. I tried swimming perpendicular to it, and got pushed so far downstream, a guard in the kayak had to come to my aid. Then I tried to head back to shore, and ended up 85 meters downstream.

Because of the high water temperatures, no wetsuits (which aid buoyancy and make you faster) will be allowed.

Therefore, the next best option is to shave. Come Sunday, I’ll be slick as a little baby seal.

I signed up for an Ironman Triathlon. My parents don’t understand why I signed up for it. While at first I could understand their concern, lately I realized that it was more than that. They really just don’t understand why I want to do it.

I’ve been running marathons for a few years now, and have done fairly well, although I haven’t finished one that hasn’t absolutely kicked my butt. However, I don’t find marathons a real challenge anymore. Not because they are not a worthy challenge for me, but because all the work that is needed in order to complete one, I did when I was in college. Sure, I have to put in a few miles leading to the race, but there’s no nervousness in wondering whether I can finish. Sure, I could concentrate on dropping my time, but there is something about just trying to get to the finish line that is appealing. It’s a bit more primal than trying to see who can get there first.

But marathons are child’s play in comparison to an Ironman. The Ironman is different animal. It starts with a 2.4 miles swim, then 112 miles bike, and then a marathon (26.2 miles) running. I’m getting back into swimming shape, I’m getting into biking shape for the first time, and for the first time in a while, I think I’m going to be really challenged mentally.

To understand an endurance athlete, I suppose you must understand that it’s not really about the sport or time. It’s about pushing the limits to fulfill an insatiable curiosity: the one that wonders what I’m really made of.