Over the weekend I finished my third Ironman Wisconsin race. For those who are not familiar, an Ironman consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run.
For those who are not familar- yes, all in the same day.
Ironman Wisconsin is a great race. The spectator support is nothing short of amazing. The backdrop is perfect- riding out in the Wisconsin countryside, running through the UW Campus and of course finishing in front of the state capital. Your couldn't ask for a better setting.
Well, you could- but you have to qualify for Kona. And apparently that's not in the cards- more on that later.
Or right now.
I set some goals for Ironman this year. They were pretty lofty goals, but not out-of-the-question goals.
Here's what I wanted to do...
Swim: 1:20 (that's about 5-7 minutes faster than I've gone in the past, but I'm a much stronger swimmer now than I was then)
Bike: 6 hours or under (I can definitely do that distance in that time- but this is a tough course and I have to do this between a long swim and a marathon run)
Run: Somewhere around 4 hours (I never know what to shoot for on the run- because it's hard to predict how your body will react to that swim and bike)
Total time: Around 12 hours (again, it's hard to predict what's going to happen on race-day, so I keep that prediction pretty loose).
Here's the odd thing- I didn't hit any of those goals, BUT- I'm still very happy with my performance.
I'll get into the specifics of why I didn't hit those goals over the next couple days, but I'll say now that I had a good day, overcame some obsticles and in the end heard those words once again...
"Pat Gallagher...You. Are. An. Ironman!"
For the rest of this week I'll break down the race, event by event. Tune in tomorrow for all the gorry details of the swim.
Congratulations, Pat! I have a few more words for you:
Pat Gallagher...you. are. INSANE!!!!
09/15/2011 2:29PM
Terry S
Pat, I may have cheered you on at the top of the hill on Timber Lane. I will never understand why you folks like to punish yourself the way you do, but I also think its an amazing fete of endurance and will power. Congratulations!
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