So, I’m heading off to Ireland to race in Ironman Ireland 70.3. That “70.3” tells you that it’s half-Ironman, the full Ironman is 140.6, and in case you were wondering – those numbers refer to the distance of the race. The full Ironman is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run. Add them all up and you get 140.6 miles. Divide that in half and you have 70.3, a half-Ironman.
A friend touring through Europe on her bike recently noted that they do things differently in Europe. While we race straight through those 140.6 or 70.3 miles, they take breaks. For meals. Big meals. Admittedly, she wasn’t racing, but she found it a bit odd that the people she was riding with would stop for a big meal and then continue on their day’s journey.
I’m actually hoping that Europeans race this way too. It would give me a big advantage – especially considering that I’m not all that fast in transition from swim to bike or from bike to run. But if the rest of the field was stopping for a meal during transition – I might have a shot at this thing!
No, in America we don’t stop for meals in the middle of the race. But that’s not to say that meals aren’t important. And in particular, what we eat in those meals is vitally important to our performance. Remember that poster that hung in your first grade classroom – “You Are What You Eat!”
So, as me and a few of my friends prepare for Ironman Ireland 70.3 and a whole bunch of others prepare for Ironman Wisconsin (yeah, the full 140.6), I thought I’d share with you a little of what I’ve learned about nutrition over the past few years of training for Ironman (both 140.6 and 70.3).
So, as you train for your next big event, here’s a list of some of the things that you might want to eat and/or drink – some as you train for the big day, and some on race-day.
Chocolate Milk
This is a great place to start – or actually, it’s a good place to finish. Chocolate milk is the ultimate “recovery” drink, it has an optimal ratio of carbohydrates to protein to help refuel tired muscles. Its high water content replaces fluids lost as sweat, preventing dehydration. Plus it packs a nutritional bonus of calcium, and includes just a little sodium and sugar -- additives that help recovering athletes retain water and regain energy. Learn more about the wonders of chocolate milk here: http://www.gotchocolatemilk.com/
Bananas
Bananas are one of the best pre- and post- workout snacks. Loaded with potassium and vitamin B6, bananas help maintain low blood sugar, regulate digestion and re-stock your body with lost electrolytes. Vitamin B6 in bananas acts as an anti-inflammatory agent.
Wild Salmon
The most nutrient dense proteins, full of essential Omega-3 fatty acids (helps burn excess fat, restores health to the cardiovascular system, relieves arthritis pain and inflammation, strengthens the immune system, improves oxygen transport and muscle maintenance), as well as vitamins B12 and B6. A very high quality protein, salmon has been shown to decrease the risk of numerous cardiovascular problems, such as heart attack, stroke and high blood pressure also beneficial in cardiovascular protection.
Quinoa
(pronounced KEEN-wah), known as a "super food" for its high nutritional profile. It cooks in just 10-15 minutes. Quinoa is an ancient high-energy grain from South America, the Incas used it to increase the stamina of their warriors and allow them to run long distances at high altitudes. It is an ideal food for endurance. Quinoa is a complete protein; it has all 9 essential amino acids. perfect for vegetarians concerned with protein intake. It is also a good source of manganese, magnesium, iron, zinc, potassium and calcium. It’s also gluten free and very easy to digest.
Water
To quote Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which I don’t do too often) – “Does the word ‘Duh’ mean anything to you?” Water is an important nutrient for the athlete. Athletes should start any event hydrated and replace as much lost fluid as possible by drinking chilled liquids at frequent intervals during the event. Chilled fluids are absorbed faster and help lower body temperature.
Coconut Water
Nature's Gatorade, loaded with electrolytes. Coconut Water (coconut juice) is the juice of young coconuts- an almost clear liquid. Coconut juice is a low calorie drink, around 50-60 calories per serving, so you will need to get calories from other sources like energy gels or foods.
Coconut juice has most of the electrolytes needed for a good sports drink, including sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium; it’s also high in potassium- good for fighting off the onset of cramps. On the downside, coconut milk is low in sodium so you may need to supplement it by eating a few salty pretzels, salt tablets or by adding a bit of salt into your bottles to boost the sodium content. I have found coconut water easy to digest, making it ideal for long rides.
Boiled Potatoes
Boiled potatoes have one of the highest glycemic indexes out there, which means they rapidly increase blood sugar. Cyclists say they are like rocket fuel. I boil them the night before a big ride, put them in a zip-lock bag with a little olive oil, salt and garlic. If I have a good crusty bread, I will sometimes add some crouton-size pieces of bread to the mix. It tastes great, other riders are always jealous of this particular snack, it’s easy to digest and best of all- it wards off vampires (what’s my obsession with vampires today?).
It’s HOT outside, so maybe a long bike ride isn’t in your immediate future. Maybe instead, you have decided to sit down and watch the Tour de France on TV. If you’ve never watched a bicycle race in the past, it can be a bit confusing- starting with the fact that bicycle racing is a team sport…but has an individual winner????
That’s right, there are teams riding in the tour- and in most cases, those teams are working for one or two individuals on the team, in hopes that that someone on the team will win the race (that someone is referred to as the “GC” – or “General Classification” leader). They do this by a variety of tactics- starting with drafting. When you watch the race, you will often see a whole row of people from the same team all in a line. If you look closely- those guys are about 2 inches apart, making that pace-line extremely dangerous. The idea is, the person at the back of that line works much less than the person at the front of the line- so if they are doing things properly, the front person is constantly changing, and staying fresh. The GC guy on the team never comes to the front of the line, until the very end of the race- he’s got fresh legs, so he can then sprint to the finish.
Drafting behind just ONE other rider allows you to work 40% less. Imagine the advantage of being behind a whole line of people. At the Centurian race last Summer, me and my team got into a big draft line coming out of Cross Plains- the draft allowed us to easily ride up Garfoot hill (a BIG hill between Cross Plains and Mt. Horeb) at better than 20mph, at times coasting up the hill.
At the Tour- while the GC winner gets to wear the Yellow Jersey and gets all the attention, there are other competitions going on.
Polka-Dot Jersey: This is the award for “King of the Mountains” and as you would guess- it’s awarded to the best climber on the tour. Points are awarded with each big climb, at the end of each day the rider with the most cumulative King of the Mountain points is awarded the Polka-Dot Jersey.
White Jersey: This is the award for the best young rider- 25 & under. An American is currently wearing the White Jersey- Tejay van Garderen from the BMC Racing Team.
Green Jersey: This is awarded to the points leader. Points are awarded every day for various things along the way…mid-race sprints, hill-climbs, stage wins, etc. Again, the Green Jersey is awarded each day to the man with the most cumulative points.
Yellow Jersey: This is the big one. The one that gets all the attention. It’s said that a Frenchman who wears the Yellow Jersey for one day of one Tour de France will never have to buy another drink as long as they live. It’s a BIG deal. The Yellow Jersey is actually quite simple. It’s the overall race leader- the guy with the lowest cumulative time when you add up the times from all the days of racing. So, if I spent 3:45 on the course yesterday and 5:23 on the course today, my cumulative time would be 9:08 (if my math is right)- if that’s lower than all the others, I’m wearing the Yellow Jersey.
This all gets a little confusing with some of the nit-picky rules. Like the fact that everyone crossing the finish line in a big pack are all given the same time. Like, if there’s a crash within the last 3k of the race, anyone involved in the crash or effected by the crash is given the same time- no matter when they cross the line. So, if the guy in the Yellow Jersey can just stay with that main pack, he’s got a pretty good shot at keeping the Yellow- at least at this point in the race. Once we get into mountain stages (when that pack breaks up a bit) and individual time trials (when it’s truly INDIVIDUAL), he’ll have to watch some of his competitors a bit closer and work to stay with other top riders if they sprint ahead.
Speaking of the pack. That big pack of riders is known as the “Peleton”
At the bottom of the TV screen you will see some times scrolling across the screen. The first thing that scrolls will be a note as to how many riders are currently in the lead- usually anywhere from 2 to 5. After that you might see the word “chase” or “chase 1” and a time listed after that- that time refers to how far back the first (or second) group of riders chasing the leaders is. Next up will usually be “Peleton” and again a time- and again, that time refers to how far back the peleton is from the leaders. Next to any of those, you might see a picture of one of the jerseys- that just tells you where the guy wearing that jersey currently is racing. If the Yellow Jersey is in the peleton, there will be a picture of a yellow jersey on the same line as the word “peleton,” if he’s in the first chase group, you’ll see the picture there. Usually at this point in the race, the Yellow Jersey will hang out in the peleton- again, later when they hit the mountains and things spread out- you might see him up with one of the chase groups, but probably not with the leaders- as the leaders very rarely win the race- they don’t have the advantage of riding in a long pace-line and conserving their energy.
Some local connections to the Tour…
The Nissan/Trek/Radio Shack team formed this year after combining the two Trek sponsored teams (Radio Shack and Leopold Trek). Trek bicycles is headquartered in Waterloo, Wisconsin.
Christian Vande Velde rides for the Garmin-Sharp team. Christian has 2 top 10 overall finishes at the Tour de France (best finish- #3) and he lives near Chicago. Christian’s brother competed in the cycling events at the National Transplant Games a couple Summers ago here in Madison. Pat Gallagher was the race announcer for those races (with Christian looking over my shoulder the whole time).
Robbie Ventura is one of the television commentators for the Tour de France. Robbie also owns Vision Quest Coaching- which trains a lot of athletes, from the Midwest for Ironman Wisconsin and runs some very well-respected cycling camps. Had Chicago won its bid for the Olympics, all of the cycling events would have happened in the Madison area- Robbie designed those courses.
Robbie, Christian and Trek are all big supporters of cycling in Wisconsin.
The Midwest Log Rolling Championships are happening this Sunday, right here in Madison, on Lake Wingra.
I’ll be there!
About a month ago, I got an e-mail inviting me to join in the festivities and roll in the “celebrity” division.
Why not? I’m an Ironman. I can certainly log-roll.
Right?
Before I answer that question, let’s start with the competition. The other “celebrities” include…Barclay Pollak, Chris Woodard, Tim Elliott, George Dreckmann, Kari Woodall, Jason Huett, Chandra Lynn, Dustin Maher, Beth Botsford and Sara Carlson.
So, at this point I would ask that Barclay, Chris, Tim, George, Kari, Jason, Chandra, Dustin, Beth and Sara STOP READING. The headline and that whole thing about being an Ironman, so “I can certainly log-roll” – that was all there to psych you folks out.
Last night was my first attempt at log-rolling. My friend/training partner, Julie, is taking a log-rolling class that started last night. So, after our open water swim class, I weaseled my way into Julie’s log-rolling class. The class consisted of me, Julie, Julie’s friend Lauren, a couple more adults and about 312 kids, 2/3 of which were young boys (acting as obnoxious as young boys tend to do). One of the boys spotted my Ironman tattoo and asked if I had done Ironman? I told him I did it 3 times, Julie did it twice and Lauren did it 6 times! He was pretty impressed.
Then the kid got on the log…for 20 seconds.
Then I got on the log…
3 seconds!
Julie- 3 seconds!
Lauren- 5 seconds!
And the kid laughed at us.
And started talking smack!
We tried again and again and again……and again.
My record was 4 seconds.
So, to the kid, and the rest of the “celebrities” (except Kari- I already know you can kick my ass) – I challenge you all to a bike race. 1 loop around the Ironman course. Loser buys the beer for the rest of us (Root Beer for the kid) while we all watch the Midwest Log Rolling Championships this Sunday.
It's Bike to Work week! So naturally, I rode my bike to work this morning. I also rode yesterday. I didn't ride Monday because on Monday nights we shoot video for Project M, which means I could be in the office until 11pm or later. I didn't want to ride home at 11pm or later. I guess if I was really hard-core, I would have rode home at 11pm or later. I'm not that hard-core.
But I have given myself a little bit of a challenge for Bike to Work Week. Starting on Tuesday - it's "Car Free" week for Pat and possibly for the entire Gallagher household. Yesterday was the first of our car-free days, me by bike and Laura by bus and walking.
So far the challenges haven't been that great - Laura regularly busses to work and I ride to work on a fairly regular basis. For exercise Laura walks/runs the Pheasant Branch Conservancy and for exercise I ride, run and/or swim, all of which can be done without having to get in the car.
I did have to run a couple errands over the past couple days - dropping off some donations at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society office on my way to work yesterday, adding a mile or so onto my morning commute and dropping off the mortgage on the way in today, adding a couple miles to the commute.
Tonight I'm meeting my friends Matt & Julie to ride the ironman loop, which would normally mean driving out to Verona with the bike in the back of the car, riding the loop and then driving back home. There was a bit more logistics to consider this time out - with no car (ironic - it's easier to train on my bicycle if I have access to a car??). I will ride to Verona, where I'll meet Matt & Julie, then I'll ride the loop with them until I hit Cross Plains, when I'll split with them and ride home (no way would I have time to ride back to Verona with them and then ride home after). But before I made that the plan for the evening, I had to make sure they were BOTH going to be able to ride - not wanting to leave one of them to ride the last 1/3 of the loop alone - not that they couldn't handle it, it just seems kinda rude.
So, with that figured out, it's day 2 of the car-free week in the Gallagher household. Not sure if we can go the whole week, I've got an out-of-town meeting tomorrow afternoon and I have to be back in town for an early evening event, so I'll have to beg a ride from someone (hey - it still counts, I'm carpooling and not starting my car), and I know we can't make it through the weekend car free - we're headed to Green Bay to run the Green Bay Marathon with Team in Training. While I could ride to Green Bay, it would take a couple days & I don't think I would want to run a marathon and then ride back to Madison again.
This year, Madison's Bike to Work Week coincides with the National Bike to Work Week - May 14-20, so you'll see lots of cool things happening around BtWW. It doesn't matter if you are a daily bike commuter, or if you are riding to work for the very first time - there's something for everyone during Bike to Work Week.
And it doesn't matter where your ride to work takes you - the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin will be there to take care of you with Commuter Stations each morning next week so you can "fuel up" on your ride to work. All of the Commuter Stations will be open 7:30 - 9:30 each day.
WEST SIDE: On the Southwest Nike Path near Camp Randall Stadium
EAST SIDE: Ingersoll and Wilson on the East Isthmus bike path
DOWNTOWN: Capitol City Bike Path - just west of the Monona Terrace on all days except Tuesday. On Tuesday the Downtown Commuter Station will be on the Square, where Pickney and King Street intersect
So, what else is happening with Bike To Work Week?
Tuesday: It's a mass ride, with cyclists gathering at 8am on the Southwest Bike path at Glenway and riding to the Downtown Commuter Station for refreshments and a Press Conference.
Wednesday: Madison By Bike Neighborhood Rides. The neighborhood rides will become a regular feature on the cycling calendar this summer & will highlight different Madison neighborhoods with each ride. These rides will be very casual, intended to teach people some fun, safe places to ride in Madison. This first ride will start at 6pm at the Wil Mar Center and will feature a group ride to East Town Mall and back again. The ride will also include a short bicycle safety education presentation.
Thursday: Planet Bike's 6th annual "Bacon on the Bike Path!" They say everything is better with bacon...and that includes bikes! From 7-10a, the bacon will be sizzling and the coffee will be flowing. Pedal on over to the Downtown Commuter Station and join Planet Bike and the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin for "Bacon on the Bike Path!" The folks at Planet Bike will be serving up breakfast goodies (fruit, donuts, juice, coffee from Just Coffee andd Nueske's bacon) for all bicyclists. There will also be bike tech support provided by Willy Street Bikes.
Friday: The Madison Bicycling Party! Do I need to say anything more than Pizza, Beer & Bikes?!?! The party starts at 4pm in the parking lot at Willy Bikes West on W. Washington Avenue and goes until 7pm. Come on out and show the world how important (and fun!) bicycling is in Madison!
Sunday: Vermont Church Bicycle Breakfast - enjoy a variety of Vermont-style pancakes, fruit sauces, meats, rifle range coffee and other drinks. Proceeds benefit DreamBikes.
And there are a couple of deal for cyclists all week long...
FREE B-Cycle all week! Grab any of the B-Cycles during Bike To Work Week and the 24 hour member fee will be waived. If you use the bike 30 minutes or less, your entire trip is FREE. (after 30 minutes usage fees apply).
Join the Wisconsin Bike Fed! Become a member of the Wisconsin Bike Fed during Bike To Work Week and you'll receive a FREE annual membership to B-Cycle for FREE ($65 value). Join the Bike Fed online and use the discount code BCYCLE2012 or register at one of their events this week.
Finally, if all of that wasn't enough...Bike To Work Week would be a great time to join the Wisconsin Bike Challenge. Whether you ride your bike 1 mile a week or 50 miles a day, register your miles and you can earn great prizes during the Wisconsin Bike Challenge, May 1 through August 31, 2012.
Actually- it's a little Christmas romance, but I'm sharing this on Valentine's Day.
And if you want to get technical- it's a little romance that started in the '50s. When my parents were students at East High School. My Dad had a crush on the girl who would eventually become his wife and my Mom. My Dad was (and is) a pretty good artist- so he drew a picture of the girl he had a crush on...and presented her with that picture.
It worked.
They started dating, eventually married and had two kids- me and my sister Shannon.
Fast forward about 50 years and my parents are going through some of their old stuff. They find that picture that my Dad drew in high school. Yes, you read that right- they still had that picture all those years later.
But that's not the end of the story.
A couple years ago- a few weeks before Christmas, my Dad snuck that picture out of the house, had a high-quality copy made, added a little message to the picture and had it framed. He then returned the original picture and my Mom never knew.
Meanwhile- my Mom snuck the original picture out of the house and had it framed. And again- Dad never knew.
You can probably guess where this is going.
Christmas Eve- we're opening presents and Mom opens a gift from Dad- yep, the picture, all nicely framed. And then of course- Dad opens a gift from Mom- and again, the picture all nicely framed.
So, there you go- a little romance to take you through your Valentine's Day.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
I couldn't find that picture without breaking into their house to steal it- so, here is their Wedding picture.
The Bike to Run transition was another disaster. Good news is, I can improve my time by a good 10 minutes, just by having decent transitions. I fumbled around looking for stuff in my transition bag, spent way too much time deciding to change my socks, and then even more time actually changing my socks. Like I said- a disaster.
Once I got out on the run course, things were better. Just 26.2 miles to go! If I can do a 4 hour marathon, I can still reach my goal. I can do a 4 hour marathon. Just not after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112 miles.
The plan was simple. Run.
Well, there was a little more to it than that. I would walk through all the aid stations and up all hills. Part-way through the run I also decided that I would also walk whenever I came upon a friend/teammate who was walking. This should give me plenty of opportunity to stay fresh during this last, long stretch.
Seems like everyone makes the goal of getting out on the run before the first finisher comes across the line. I was able to do that- I was at least a mile into the run, when I passed the lead runner going the other way. There's one small victory.
Shortly after seeing the lead runner I noticed a pro racer ahead of me. As I got closer, I noticed that it was Heather Gollnick. Several years ago I volunteered at Ironman Wisconsin- my volunteer job was to ride my bike in front of the #2 female runner. Heather was second off the bike, so I got to lead her around the course for about the first 1/3 of the marathon. It was an amazingly cool experience and it was one of the things that inspired me to do Ironman. So I speeded up a little to catch Heather and I told her my story. She remembered that it was the second year of Ironman Wisconsin and she went on to win that race.
I was feeling good, so I continued on and left Heather behind (she was on her second lap- but I'll still take that as one of those little victories). Through the stadium, out to the lakeshore bike path, over Observatory drive, through the aid station where I worked last year and a bunch of my friends were working this year, up State Steet, turn around- back down State Street, back through that aid station and back out to the lakeshore bike path. On the bike path was were I finally ran into my training partner, Julie, for the first time all day, she was heading in the opposite direction, just about to hit Observatory. This was odd- in that last time she beat me off the bike and I caught her a little after the stadium. We expected that I would beat her off the bike this time- but not by that much. We're about even in the swim and close to even on the bike- I might be a little faster- or she might be- just depends on the day. Something must be wrong. As we passed- she jokingly asked me to wait for her, so I stopped and said I'd wait right here. Apparently some people around her actually thought I was going to wait there for her. Thankfully she knew I was joking. We passed again a little before I got to the stadium on my second loop- she was heading in on her first. This time we stopped and talked for a while- turns out something was wrong- she got kicked during the swim. So hard that she was fairly certain that she broke a rib. And I thought I had a bad swim,
For the rest of the run I was kind of in that in-between place- nat fast enough to catch the fast people and too fast for some others. So, I would run with friends for a while and then they would tell me to go ahead.
The Ironman Perform sports drink continued to bother me through the run- so there were unsuccessful stops at pretty much every porta-pottie. The sun went down with about 2 miles left in my race and I yelled out "Someday I will finish this race in the daylight!" to which somebody replied "Yeah, and someday they'll start the race at 5am!"
So, I came out of the water with a big smile on my face. As I said, it was a "that's finally over" smile, not a "wow, what a great swim!" smile.
It was also a "now I get to ride my bike" smile.
I am first and foremost a cyclist and was very much looking forward to getting on the bike. Although I would have to wait a bit longer than I had planned.
I got into transition- no wait, let me back up a little. I was walking up the helix (that curly-cue drive way that leads up to the parking in the Monona Terrace) when I got body checked by some guy sprinting up the helix- "Get out of the way!" is what I heard as he sprinted towards transition - "F--k You" is what he heard in return. Another local team did an experiment- walking the helix once and running it once- they compared heart-rates and times with each try. If I remember right, the difference in time was somewhere between 15 and 30 seconds depending on how briskly you walked. And it definitely was not worth the spike in the heart-rate for that 15-30 seconds.
So, on to transition. I grabbed my transition bag and headed into the men's changing area. The plan was to drink and Ensure, put on shoes and socks, grab my helmet and sunglasses and get out of transition.
The problem was, I couldn't get my transition bag open. I handed it to a volunteer and said "I tied as simple of a knot as I know how" and he thought I was done and started to take the bag away from me. I explained that I couldn't get into it, so he untied it for me and then was super helpful. "Here's how we do it.." he said, as he dumped everything on the ground- let me grab what I needed and then he packed everything up and sent me on my way.
Next stop- sunscreen. At Ironman, the volunteers do EVERYTHING for you. Everything except race. Yes, there was a volunteer to slather sunscreen on me. I reminded her to get the "tramp stamp" to which she replied- "oh, looks like you forgot last time." Yes- I have a very attractive tan/burn line on the small of my back.
On to the bike. The ride starts by going down the helix opposite from the one we just ran up. This is a no passing zone, so you can really take it easy in the helix. From there, out on to John Nolan and down around the coliseum and finally out of Madison, heading towards Verona. The main goal on the first lap of the bike course was to ride smart. Not too fast. If I feel good, I'll speed things up on the second lap.
I passed my friend (and training partner's sister) Angie coming out of Verona and probably confused her when I passed her again about 5 miles later. I had to stop for a bathroom break. The Ironman Perform sports drink wasn't sitting well, so there were several bathroom breaks in my future.
Other than the Ironman Perform problem, I felt good on the bike and rode exactly as planned for the first loop. The second loop started with a stop at the special needs bags (and another bathroom break, of course) where I had a bottle of chocolate milk and a bagel with peanut butter waiting for me. I downed that stuff and took off on lap two.
Lap two, pretty much the same as lap 1.- truly nothing to report here, just a nice smooth ride, with a few pottie stops. The only cramping came really late in the ride and I was able to back off just a little and it went away.
I didn't quite hit my goal on the bike. I was hoping to go 6 hours or under, I went 6:19, but I was still looking good for my overall finish at that point, so I was happy.
All the pregame festivities went well. Thursday morning I went for a swim with my regular open-water swim class, followed by a short run with a few members of the Endurance House team. From there we went out for breakfast and then back to the Monona Terrace for registration. I actually wasn't planning on doing registration on Thursday as a good chunk of the people I regularly train with were doing it on Friday- but when I got there, the line was short and I ran into a few friends, so I did it. And am I glad I did- the lines on Friday were long and slow moving.
After registration I made my way through the Ironman store, bought a couple of things and headed home to rest up.
Friday started with a swim with a few of my friends, including my training partner Julie- Julie and I spent the first few minutes in the water discussing where we should start on Sunday. That conversation freaked out a few of the others- as we were discussing how badly we got beat up in previous years and where we started for those swims and how from a completely different spot our friend Tara got her nose broke. I don't think anyone really wanted to hear about that- and I'm sure Julie and I made it all sound worse than it really was. It's kinda fun scaring people who have never been through that swim before.
Another post-swim breakfast and then the rest of the gang went through their final registration and from there we did a short (10 miles- on the nose) bike ride. Once again, the rest of the day was spent with my feet up, relaxing. Well, mostly relaxing- I spent some time packing up my transition bags.
Friday night was the athletes dinner. The Endurance House team met before the dinner for a few pictures and then went in for some pasta and to share stories of the year of training.
Saturday- 3 things on the agenda...1) Check in transition bags, 2) Check in the Bicycle, and 3) Dinner with my family at my sister's house. And again, as much of the rest of the day as I could, I spent with my feet up relaxing.
Sunday morning came quick- the alarm went off at 4am. I actually slept like a baby until that time- my wife said she got a good 90 minutes of sleep. I put down a big breakfast and then my cousin Brad and my friend Mike showed up for their ride downtown.
We checked our "special needs" bags and pumped up our bike tires. I have a ritual on race-day that also includes taping GU packets to the top tube of my bike and of course using the porta-potie 20 or 25 times. No- no nerves here.
O.K.- on to the swim.
We got down to the water and slowly swam out to our starting spot. We picked a spot about half-way between the corner buoy and the ski-jump and back just a little bit. There were a few rows of people right up front and then a nice empty space and a whole bunch of people back further- we went to the front of those people who were back a little ways- so we had a nice open space in front of us.
Good decision.
To start.
When the cannon went off, we started swimming and for about the first 50-100 yards had a nice clear path. I instantly got into the rhythm that I wanted- breathing very comfortably on both sides, no problems sighting, long-smooth strokes. This is going to be a great swim!
And then the entire field of 2800 swimmers descended on that nice clear area that I had.
I know that's not true- but that's what it seemed like. It seemed like everyone wanted to swim in the same place I did. And they were all willing to swim over me, push me under, kick me or do whatever it took to get to where they wanted to go.
I panicked. Bad.
I stopped swimming and looked around for a way out. There was no way out. And the swimmers just kept coming at me. I talked to a friend the next day who said at about that point he rolled over on his back and started crying.
When I realized that I couldn't get out of there, I decided that I would just have to swim. It wasn't pretty. The long-smooth strokes were gone. The breathing easy on both sides turned into gasping for breath on the right side whenever I could manage to rotate enough to do that. The easy sighting was gone- replaced by basically swimming wherever the rest of the pack was taking me.
My plan all along was to break up the swim into two shorter swims- swim one lap and then stop and rest for a bit, get my bearings and do another lap. I'm not the strongest swimmer in the world and I figured that breaking it up into more managable chunks would make sense. I didn't realize that it would be a necessity.
I finished the first lap and stopped- as planned. I looked at my watch and I was about 39 minutes in. Not bad, considering how rough that first lap was. I can still come in under 1:20.
But I didn't.
Somehow the second lap was just as bad as the first. Usually things start to calm down by the second lap- the swimmers start to get spread out and that creates a little more room. Not this time.
I finished up the second lap and headed in- looked at the clock as I exited the water...1:29. While I was disappointed in that time, I had a huge smile on my face. I was done with the swim and ready to bike. And...I was racing Ironman. That alone kept a smile on my face for most of the rest of the day!
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.
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