Boulder Ironman Recap

On 8/7/16 I completed my second triathlon and first Ironman distance in Boulder.  It took over 14 hours (which is longer than I wanted) but I am still happy with it as I finished! 

First thing here is a picture of the hardware:

The weeks leading up to this were a bit nerve wracking because I had never attempted this distance.  I can honestly say that with the exception of competing in bodybuilding in my early 20's that this was the hardest training cycle I have ever done for anything.  Every day would be a mixture of running, swimming, biking and weight training.  In addition getting my nutrition in order to finish this (and not waste away or get injured beforehand) was more of chore than I thought it would be.  Also I have been traveling every other week for a project I am working on in Atlanta so I had to figure how to effectively train there.

I was lucky enough to not have to travel the week of the triathlon and the week after so I could recover at home.   I had my bike tuned the week before the triathlon so I would not have to worry about it at the last minute.  

I am not sure if the other Ironmans have this but Boulder did have a Facebook page and the race director posted informational videos for each part of the race weeks before the race itself.  These were really helpful as I was able to go up to Boulder and ride the bike course several times before the race itself.   There were also videos on the check in process, transitions bags, the swim and run course and even for spectators that were coming to watch.   These were extremely helpful.

I checked in on Thursday and sat through the orientation session.  The expo was outdoors on the grounds of the Boulder High School.  There was a good selection of vendors as well as Ironman gear.  The only bad part is getting to that part of Boulder and parking is hassle but that is Boulder.

My brother came out from Wisconsin to do this Ironman (his 6th!) so I met up with him on Friday and Saturday.   He checked in a day later but we went together on Saturday to drop off our bikes and transition bags on Saturday.  It took a few hours as we had to drop our bikes and bags off at the Boulder reservoir then go over to the Boulder high school again to drop off our run transition bags.  After that it was time to head home and rest until the next morning.

Sunday was race day and I was up extremely early (didn't need an alarm as I was ready to go and didn't sleep much) because our swim start was at 6:20.

Everything is extremely well organized with these races, you end up at Boulder High School so you park near there and you get on shuttle buses to go up to the reservoir.   They don't have enough parking so competitors and spectators had to take the bus. 

I lined up with the 1:45-2 hour swimmers to start because I really had no idea how long it would take me.  We started the race 20 minutes or so after the triathlon started because they staggered the start to eliminate crowding.  This was the only part of the race that I was nervous about not making the time limit.   Once I got going the nerves went away and I swam from buoy to buoy.  It was a bit difficult to navigate as it was cloudy out and my goggles are tinted.  The far end of the swim course had a large amount of algae but I just kept swimming through it and never stopped except to pull my swim cap back down on to my head because it kept sliding up.  I ended up finishing in 1:38 which was a happy surprise!  Here are some pictures at the end of the swim:

I headed into transition 1 and the hardest thing was getting the darn wet suit off!  It slides off my upper body easy enough but my legs and feet were another thing.  I got changed into my biking gear chugged a bottle of water and jogged to the mount area (you can't just hop on your bike you have to be out of the bike racks and in a safe area to get on your bike, you get on early or don't have your helmet buckled you get a time penalty).  Once I got on the bike I started riding at a good pace.  I had an advantage over most of the competitors who are not from here in this race as I knew where all the hills were because of riding the course so many times.   I passed a fair amount of people (including my brother!) in the first 20 - 30 miles.  I also noticed there were people who would pass me on the downhills but I would pass them back on the uphills.  I figured out these were people that had high dollar triathlon bikes with race wheels so better equipment does make a difference.

There was an accident during this event in that a competitor got hit by a car about 30 miles into the race (I found out afterwards that she died).  I passed by the scene of the accident after the police had arrived and were directing people around site and people were assisting the person on the ground.   It was really sad to hear about this afterwards because she was a mom with a 4 year old son.  According to news reports she went outside the cones which separated the biking lane with traffic and that is when she got hit.

I settled into a rhythm biking where I got fluids of some sorts at every water station and would force myself to eat a bar or GU pack or Clif shot every 30 minutes.  The sun came out and it warmed up a lot (it ended up being in the 90's that day).  

I made it into the last 20 miles skipped the last water station (I had fluids and was tired of orange Gatorade) and sped up to finish.  I finished the bike and got changed (my body glide melted sitting in a bag in the sun) chugged down some fluids and set off to run.   This is where things got tough.  My core was sore from being hunched over for so long and kept getting a cramp in my back so I would run whenever I could until the cramp flared up then I would have to walk it out.   I made the situation even worse by trying cramp relieving item they were handing out that is named Hot Shot.  Hot shot tastes like a mixture of battery acid and cough syrup that they carbonated.  It did nothing for my back cramp dissipate but it made me nauseous so now I would run until I felt like I was going to throw up then have to walk.  To add to it the heat was over 90 degrees (luckily we have low humidity in Colorado!) which got me a bit dehydrated. 

The race course is two laps of the same route and I was so incredibly slow in the first half (over 3 hours) because I just could not get into any running rhythm.  I saw my wife at about the half way point and told her I would be back in a few hours.   I started to feel better after the halfway point so I was able to run more and walk a lot less.   After I got to 20 miles I really started to pick up the pace.  At no point in this did I ever think I wouldn't finish it was just a matter of how long it would take.  What really made me feel better was one of the aid stations gave me a glass of beer at mile 21.6!    I ended up running a negative split and finished the 2nd half of the marathon faster than the first!

This was my first view of the finish line

Just before nearing the finish line

Finally done!

I was moving at a good pace at the end and actually ran up on the person n front of me when I finished (it ruined any good finishing pictures for me!). 

The end result:

People have asked if I will do another one and I tell them possibly.  It is huge time commitment to train for one of these (at least it was for me).  I do have an advantage now in that I know how to swim and don't have to learn how to before doing another one.   Right now I am going to recover some and prepare for my next marathon in September.  I plan on running more, biking and swimming less but still doing some and trying lift weights more.  I lost some muscle and strength during my training and would like to gain some back so I will be increasing my protein intake.  In other words I will be grilling out every weekend and eating more!

If you have ever thought of doing an Ironman I highly recommend the Boulder one.  It is very well organized, the swag is awesome (hat, shirt, backpack and other stuff).  The only thing I will warn you about is the altitude and heat.   It is over 5500 feet altitude so it will effect you during the bike and run.  My brother ended up getting a bit dehydrated but he did finish over an hour and a half after me.  He was expecting to finish before me (heck so did I) but I think the altitude and low humidity made it harder than expected. 

Until next time happy running!

Boulder Olympic Triathlon review and thoughts on triathlon training

Every year I like to try some new type of race or running distance.  This year that new race is a triathlon.  I signed up for couple triathlons this summer and did my first one (an Olympic distance ) on 6/4 in Boulder, Colorado (http://www.withoutlimits.co/).  Note: For those that don't know an Olympic distance is: 1500 meter swim, 40 k bike and 10 k run.  If you are curious about other triathlon distances look here: https://totaltriathlon.com/triathlon-distances

I decided to do this one as my first triathlon because it is not that far away from my home and I had heard this race is well organized and a good one first time triathletes.   Also the second triathlon I am doing is also in Boulder the first weekend in August and is in the same area so this was a warm up race.

The end result is I finished in around 3:15, I was hoping for 3 hours but am very happy with my time and not needing a water rescue during the swim!.  Some of the highlights and how I approached training for this event:

- I rented a sleeveless wet suit (they recommended them because we have had a cool spring and the water temp was supposed to be cold, it turned out to be perfect!).  Always try on your wet suit before hand and make sure it fits right.  Mine did fit but it was a bit snug in the neck, I got badly chafed but didn't notice it until after I was done and for the next few days (because it hurt like hell!).   I will be renting a size bigger for the next triathlon.

- Before I started training for these triathlons I can honestly say my swimming ability is best described as "It would be hard to drown me".  I have no background in swimming (in fact I had never taken a swim lesson until I started training for this!),  so I watched lots of videos on You Tube and took some swimming lessons from a Masters swimming group coach.  All of this really helped because it was the event that I was the most nervous about.  The swim was my slowest event but I expected it, I just did not want to burn up a ton of energy trying to complete this portion of the race.  When you first see how far you have to swim in open water (almost a mile) it can be kind of intimidating.  But I took the approach of swimming from one buoy to the next so I wouldn't go off course.  The course is a huge rectangle with 4 buoys on your right, then a right turn, swim to another buoy, turned right again, then pass 4 more buoys on your right back to about 50 yards down the beach from where you started. The only issue I had swimming is near the end I got a cramp in my calf which made it difficult to transition out of the swim to the bike as I was trying to shake it out.  I ended up taking 4-5 minutes which was a bit too long.

- You set up your transition area so you have everything out that you need as you need it.  I had my bike gear on top of my bike and my running gear on top of towel next to my bike.  This worked out perfectly because I didn't forget anything.

- My goal on the bike was to finish in about an hour and not let anybody pass me.  Nobody passed me but my time was a bit over an hour although I was happy with the result.

- Transitioning from bike to run was another place I ended up wasting time.  I tried to use the Triathlon mode on my Garmin watch and ended up trying to get it to work right because you have to hit the right buttons for it to go from each event to transition mode then on to the next one.  Next time I will just use a specific event mode so I won't have to worry about it.

- My running goal was to finish in under an hour and not have anybody pass me.  I finished right around an hour (part of it was me getting my watch to running rather than triathlon mode because I could not get it to time things right) and I passed a lot of people with nobody passing me.  

- Overall it was a great experience and I have no bad things to say about this race because they are really well organized.  If you are interested in doing a triathlon and are a first time this company runs some really good races: http://www.withoutlimits.co/ . 

- Race swag was a hooded sweatshirt and a pint beer glass which is great because I have a ton of race t-shirts.

After finishing

So far I have learned a few things about triathlons: 

 - Ask triathletes, swimmers and cyclists for advice, most of them will give you lots of helpful training and competition tips that really do help.  

- You can spend a lot of money on equipment in no time, figure out what you want to spend on and what you want to save on.  I bought a road bike at the end of 2015 from a triathlon shop and they fit it out for triathlons.  I saved a bunch by going when the store wanted to clear out inventory during their slow time of year.  I am renting wet suits because I just don't feel the need to buy one.  I swim in pools most of the time so there isn't a need for one and the only open water we have in Colorado are reservoirs and lakes and doubt I will be swimming much in them.

- Get your biked fitted by a professional.  It does make a difference in comfort and speed particularly as you go longer distances. 

- Learn how and what you can eat while biking because that is when you refuel. 

- You don't have to wear a tri suit, shorts or shirt, wear what works for you.  I found out out that most triathlon gear does not fit me right or is uncomfortable (seriously do any of these guys lift weights because the tops are sized for someone with no upper body muscles).  I have found some tri shorts and one top that will work but the rest of the time I wear standard running or biking gear.

- There will be good and bad training days.

- You burn a large amount of calories training so you have to raise the amount of fuel (food) you are eating or else you will lose strength and size and your training will suffer.  Just make sure you are eating good protein/carbs/fat and not junk.

- Brick workouts are the foundation of triathlon training.  Most days I get at least two of the three events in and sometimes all three, some weekends I will do the a complete swim/bike/run workout to simulate a triathlon so I can get used to moving from one to the other.  

- I feel much more comfortable in the water now but don't know if I will ever really like swimming.  I have started to like road biking and am glad I got a good road bike that I can use even if I no longer want to do triathlons (previously I was into mountain biking but I don't do that barely at all anymore).

- You will need more sleep and rest when you are in hard training mode.  It can't be very difficult to fit it all in but luckily my family understands the time commitment this takes and are supportive.

 
My next triathlon is this one: http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/events/americas/ironman/boulder.aspx#/axzz3oemWGVgt

I decided if I was going to do triathlons I was going to train to eventually complete a full Ironman (I run marathons so I figured this was just adding a swim and bike ride on before them, yeah great rationalization there!).  Most of my time the last few mnonths consists of: working, training, nutrition and trying to get enough sleep. The training for this takes up most of my free time (I am a golfer but have not played or even hit a golf ball this year because I don't have the time and don't want the distraction from preparing for this race).

My goal for the Boulder Ironman is to finish within the time allowed, that is all.  I have no illusions about an overall time other than making the cutoff times in the swim and bike.  My brother has done a few different Ironman triathlons and he is going to come out to Colorado to do this one so it should be a fun event weekend.  Personally this as one of the bigger challenges I have undertaken due to the swimming involved and my lack of experience in that area.



    



  

2016 Anarctica Marathon Recap

This is race recap for the Antarctica Marathon & Half Marathon along with a trip recap.

The Race
The original course for this was supposed to be 3 laps going out and back with the start/finish in the middle on King George Island around research stations.  You run on a road/trail connecting the research stations for various countries (Chile, China and Russia).   Unfortunately in one direction the trail was washed out too bad on the steep parts so they had to make it 6 laps in just one direction.  There are two boats (we were on a boat for this whole trip) full of runners so a day before us the other boat ran and they had good conditions, on the day my boat ran we were supposed to have good weather but it did not turn out that way.

The weather was supposed to be a chance of rain/snow, mild temps (20-30) and low winds and that is what we started in.  The trail was rocky, wet in spots and even had parts with soft gravel.  It wasn't bad running as long as you dodged the numerous puddles but it got progressively windier, colder and with heavier precipitation.  The first 4 laps were not hard and I took off my sunglasses and changed gloves at the turn which would turn out to be a bad decision.  The wind really picked up in lap 5 and the snow was coming in sideways and blinding me (because I had no sunglasses).  I got through lap 5 and got my sunglasses back from my wife (she wasn't running but volunteered to help out with the race and by the end they really needed the help).  The last lap started off with me getting hamstring cramps and it took awhile but I was able to work them out and was able to finish.  I can honestly say the last lap was some of the toughest conditions I have ever run in.  By the end of the race my hands and feet were soaked and numb.  My hands were so numb that I could not turn off my Garmin until I had changed and was on the way back to the boat.

As soon as you finished the volunteers would get you out of your shoes and into your wet skin (basically a waterproof parka) and boots because you had to get on a zodiac (inflatable boat with a rigid bottom) to get back to the boat.  The wind had picked up so much the waves were getting pretty high but I got back where more volunteers helped you into the boat and your cabin (I stood in the shower for 20+ minutes trying to thaw my hands and feet). 

Early in the race (I know this because I am still smiling)

 

Later in the race

Finish line (I am just glad to be done here)

During the time all of this was going on the captain of the boat had contacted the race director and said the waves were getting too high and people had to get back to the boat because it kept getting windier (we got an estimate of 45 knots which is about 40 mph).  The race director called the race because he was legitimately worried about people getting hypothermia and in the end he has to answer to the boat captain. There were some marathoners on our boat that they would not let finish and they were upset (understandable, some could have continued, others it was for their own good).   Some of the people who didn't finish were after their 7th continent (running a marathon on all 7 continents).

In the confusion of the the horrible weather there was nobody counting the last laps for the race because they pulled the volunteers and race people from the course.  There were several runners who claimed to have finished and it turns out they did not.  The race officials looked into this afterwords and figured out they had given some age group awards to people who did not even run 6 laps. It had to be embarrassing to the race organizers (Marathon Tours & Travel) that during the awards ceremony they tried to award 1st place in the female 60-69 age group to an incredible woman I met named Kathy (an article about her:  http://www.pjstar.com/sports/20160315/peorian-kathy-jones-runs-marathon-on-her-seventh-continent ) who stood up and said "That isn't right I didn't finish".  There were others that did not have as much integrity and accepted awards even they they didn't tun the full distance.  I guess I always expect a bit more out of runners because most are good people. In the end I believe the race officials did correct the situation somehow because on unofficial results we had 127 finishers between both boats and later the official results had 124 finishers.

Pros
If you like nature and want a tough challenge this is an awesome experience!
It is a long trip (15 days) but to me it was worth it.

Cons
They need to tighten up the race to prevent the people claiming to finish when they did not.
If you are prone to seasickness you are going to hate the 2 days on the way there and back on a boat through the Drake Passage.  It is extremely rough waters and things fly off of tables all the time as you are making the trip.



The race is only part of the story, the rest of the time we were off on zodiac excursions to various islands and the continent itself.



The rest of the trip in pictures

Penguins and seals

Chinstrap penguin

In front of penguin colony

This one came right up to me and pecked on my boot

Fur seal - don't let the look fool you the adults can be aggressive and chase you and they move pretty fast on land!

Fur Seals - the aggressive ones will chase you but if you turn and yell at them they usually stop

If you sit still long enough penguins will even come sit on top of you while checking you out.

Glaciers and iceberg formations

A seal hanging out on a floating iceberg

Neat looking iceberg

Yes it is very clean ice, people picked up ice chunks and used it to make drinks in the bar on the boat.

A hike to overlook a glacier

Polar Plunge

Some of us did the ultimate polar plunge by jumping off a rock on the continent into the water.  The hardest part was getting out of the water because the rocks were slippery. Then you had to dry off and put your clothes back so on before you took a zodiac to get back to the boat.