Woke up Sunday morning around 4:30 am because Estuardo was knocking around the hotel room. Felt real good because of the amount of sleep - 7.5 hours which is more than I get on a normal day. Jumped in the shower and then loaded up my remaining gear. Big surprise - I went over everything again to make sure it was all there. You never know what may happen between now and the last 30 times I checked my stuff. Ridiculous. This stuff makes you take OCD to a whole new level. Which brings me to the next subject. I don't know how this happened but Les and I got real stupid on breakfast planning. We just assumed that the hotel would have breakfast for us at 4:30 am complete with bagels, fruit and coffee. I blame this on Les. He laid down the full fury of his charm on the front desk lady and managed to squeeze out of her a partial commitment to maybe talking to somebody about possibly having breakfast out sometime the next morning maybe at this hotel. Good job Les! Good job John on believing Les! The day before we had gone to the grocery store and Estuardo bought everything that had carbohydrates on the label. He even bought some gooey Strawberry meal supplement drink for old people. I don't know about that guy. Anyway, I managed to choke down a power bar, Gatorade, water and a PB&J sandwich. Honestly, I am ususally way more prepared than that. Honestly.
We hopped in the car and I drove the short ride to downtown Madison. I listened to the girls in the back chatter and giggle and talk trash about me getting used to driving because I will be doing a lot of it tomorrow. Whatever.
Monono Terrace was hopping when we got there. The Terrace was the hub of the race - changing rooms inside, the swim start outside, the run start on street level and the bikes on the 2nd (or the 3rd) floor. The Terrace faces the lake and is 3 stories high. On each side is a helix ramp similar to what you see in large airport garages. We were going to run up one helix from the swim and ride down on the other. All well and good but you also have to ride up the same helix after the 112 mile bike ride. That kinda sucks.
I don't remember too much from that morning. Everybody always talks about race morning and the "tension in the air" and you have folks meditating about "the life changing event of the Ironman". Not me. While all that stuff is certainly true I just don't focus on that stuff. I'll have years afterwards to contemplate the deeper mysteries of Ironman. I'll say my prayers and thank God for getting me to this point and ask for strength to maximize my abilities. I'll thank him for giving me the ability to take on such a monumental task. Other than that, I guess I'm not really a theep dinker.
We finalized our bikes and handed over the Special Needs bag. The SNB is an extra bag for the run and the bike. You put stuff in there you think you might need halfway during the event - dry socks, food, gu, etc. I had a PB&J, bottle of Endurox, Aleve and bandaids in my bike bag. My run bag had extra nylon socks, Aleve and bandaids. The Aleve is my secret weapon. I have a lot of IT band problems and ever since they outlawed Vioxx I've had to rely on Aleve. Great stuff. The docs tried to get me another Vioxx equivalent but the insurance company nixed it. Go figure. Anyway, I'll share my nutrition plan here. I know this paragraph is pretty boring (like the rest of the story is riveting) but planning is so key in these races that a lot of time is spent making sure everything is done right. My plan was for 32 oz of Endurox for the 1st three hours of the bike and then 16 oz of provided gatorade every hour. I was going to have either a gu or Power Bar every 1.5 hours or as need dictated. I would consume and hose myself down with water at every bike station. The run was similar but, in theory, I would do a gu every hour followed by 12 oz of Gatorade Endurance mixed in with chicken broth. Prior to the swim and after breakfast I drank a gatorade. I think I've dialed in on my body and know my nutrition needs. Isn't that exciting?
It's weird - I just don't remember much. We put our wetsuits on next to the latrines. I thought I was going to die from the smell of 2000 nervous athletes. Les was griping about not taking a gu shot and was rummaging through the planters looking for an open gel package or some type of carb fix. I'm pretty sure I saw him licking the inside of a Cliff Bar wrapper. Pathetic. The best thing I remember was the announcer talking about how the wind and heat had really picked up and then told everybody "to get over it". I guess we weren't the only tri-geeks stressing about it. Obviously the guy had heard enough. Soon afterward we walked down the 3 flight helix to the swim start. All of a sudden I started to get a little rumbly-in-my-tumbly and feeling nauseous. Perfect timing. I bitched about it and then decided to shut up because Les and Estuardo said they felt great. I don't dare show any signs of weakness.
I am not a strong swimmer and I anticipated approximately a 95 minute swim which puts me in the bottom third. Quick note on the swim. In previous Ironman swims I had problems in the first 10 minutes after the gun. I would have a panic attack and would be unable to move. Really bizarre because I've never had panic attacks in my life and I have no problems with open-water swims. I suspect it was the colder temperature and my body reacts by shutting down. I was a little concerned that morning but I spent enough time in the water the day before plus the temperature was close to perfect. Since I'm not a strong swimmer I tend to stray on the course because I don't sight well and I only breathe to my right. I made a firm committment to stay focused on the buoys and remain inside. The more you stray the more you swim.
I was really nervous and psyched now. This was it, finally. It felt like we had been training forever. Les and I hung back a bit to stay out of the way of the better swimmers which really meant the other 2098 athletes. I'm not sure where Estuardo was. We were chatting when the gun went off which caught us off guard. We wished each other good luck and that was it - we were on!
We hopped in the car and I drove the short ride to downtown Madison. I listened to the girls in the back chatter and giggle and talk trash about me getting used to driving because I will be doing a lot of it tomorrow. Whatever.
Monono Terrace was hopping when we got there. The Terrace was the hub of the race - changing rooms inside, the swim start outside, the run start on street level and the bikes on the 2nd (or the 3rd) floor. The Terrace faces the lake and is 3 stories high. On each side is a helix ramp similar to what you see in large airport garages. We were going to run up one helix from the swim and ride down on the other. All well and good but you also have to ride up the same helix after the 112 mile bike ride. That kinda sucks.
I don't remember too much from that morning. Everybody always talks about race morning and the "tension in the air" and you have folks meditating about "the life changing event of the Ironman". Not me. While all that stuff is certainly true I just don't focus on that stuff. I'll have years afterwards to contemplate the deeper mysteries of Ironman. I'll say my prayers and thank God for getting me to this point and ask for strength to maximize my abilities. I'll thank him for giving me the ability to take on such a monumental task. Other than that, I guess I'm not really a theep dinker.
We finalized our bikes and handed over the Special Needs bag. The SNB is an extra bag for the run and the bike. You put stuff in there you think you might need halfway during the event - dry socks, food, gu, etc. I had a PB&J, bottle of Endurox, Aleve and bandaids in my bike bag. My run bag had extra nylon socks, Aleve and bandaids. The Aleve is my secret weapon. I have a lot of IT band problems and ever since they outlawed Vioxx I've had to rely on Aleve. Great stuff. The docs tried to get me another Vioxx equivalent but the insurance company nixed it. Go figure. Anyway, I'll share my nutrition plan here. I know this paragraph is pretty boring (like the rest of the story is riveting) but planning is so key in these races that a lot of time is spent making sure everything is done right. My plan was for 32 oz of Endurox for the 1st three hours of the bike and then 16 oz of provided gatorade every hour. I was going to have either a gu or Power Bar every 1.5 hours or as need dictated. I would consume and hose myself down with water at every bike station. The run was similar but, in theory, I would do a gu every hour followed by 12 oz of Gatorade Endurance mixed in with chicken broth. Prior to the swim and after breakfast I drank a gatorade. I think I've dialed in on my body and know my nutrition needs. Isn't that exciting?
It's weird - I just don't remember much. We put our wetsuits on next to the latrines. I thought I was going to die from the smell of 2000 nervous athletes. Les was griping about not taking a gu shot and was rummaging through the planters looking for an open gel package or some type of carb fix. I'm pretty sure I saw him licking the inside of a Cliff Bar wrapper. Pathetic. The best thing I remember was the announcer talking about how the wind and heat had really picked up and then told everybody "to get over it". I guess we weren't the only tri-geeks stressing about it. Obviously the guy had heard enough. Soon afterward we walked down the 3 flight helix to the swim start. All of a sudden I started to get a little rumbly-in-my-tumbly and feeling nauseous. Perfect timing. I bitched about it and then decided to shut up because Les and Estuardo said they felt great. I don't dare show any signs of weakness.
I am not a strong swimmer and I anticipated approximately a 95 minute swim which puts me in the bottom third. Quick note on the swim. In previous Ironman swims I had problems in the first 10 minutes after the gun. I would have a panic attack and would be unable to move. Really bizarre because I've never had panic attacks in my life and I have no problems with open-water swims. I suspect it was the colder temperature and my body reacts by shutting down. I was a little concerned that morning but I spent enough time in the water the day before plus the temperature was close to perfect. Since I'm not a strong swimmer I tend to stray on the course because I don't sight well and I only breathe to my right. I made a firm committment to stay focused on the buoys and remain inside. The more you stray the more you swim.
I was really nervous and psyched now. This was it, finally. It felt like we had been training forever. Les and I hung back a bit to stay out of the way of the better swimmers which really meant the other 2098 athletes. I'm not sure where Estuardo was. We were chatting when the gun went off which caught us off guard. We wished each other good luck and that was it - we were on!
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