IronMan Wisconsin 2006 Race Report
By: BH
Executive Summary:
The swim was choppy and beat me up pretty good. The bike was ridiculous, seven hours in the rain and wind. On a hilly course. I had a fair run in a chilly rain. Madison is an interesting place, with an abundance of coffee shops, bike paths, and tattoos.
(full length version follows)
I went into this race in good shape, best ever shape probably. No last minute blood donation either. No aches and pains, which at 49 is no longer a given. I got to Madison 5 days early, so as to not be rushed, and to do some sightseeing. That was time well spent.
Race day forecast was a high of 59 degrees, with a 30% chance of rain. They got the temperature part right, anyway. 2300 of us were in Lake Monona with another 100 making their way in when they started the race promptly at 7:00, the pros having departed 15 minutes earlier. I took off at the back of the pack where I belong and had a decent swim to the half mile mark. Turn left at the buoy for 150 meters, then left again into the chop, which was a pain. Somewhere on the back half of that first loop half a dozen pros on their second and final lap flew by me, most impressive. I was 54:xx for the first loop, which told me I was a cinch to beat the 2:20 cutoff. The chop was worse on the second lap though, no question. Those of us in the back looked more like corks than swimmers as we bobbed up and down, sighting, breast stroking, backstroking, etc. I saw panic on more than a few faces during the several times that I flipped on to my back. When I finally got out at 1:53 or whatever I had my usual strong sense of relief. For as often as I swim, it's no fun to suck so bad. At least I "improved" from first percentile last year to fifth percentile this year. And really, I wasn't beat up *that* bad at the swim finish. How did I ever swim a 1:32 in Florida two years ago? Many thanks, by the way, to my fellow Lafayette area racers who spoke with me post-race and told me individually that they thought of me and prayed for me during the swim. I was and am genuinely moved.
Transition was uneventful, got out in 12:xx with arm warmers, gloves, and windbreaker on, and of course my trusty earmuffs. Broke a water bottle holder early and chain came off as well. The Wisconsin bike course is 16 miles to Verona, a 40 mile loop you do twice, then 16 miles back for your 112 total. I drove the 40 mile loop in the car Wednesday and it freaked me out. I called Smitty in New Iberia and told him "Save your money, don't bother making the trip, the bike course is impossible". Ha ha. Well, after doing it, I will say it wasn't quite as bad as it looked from the car, but it's plenty hilly (hillier than Great Floridian, but not by a lot). I would not have made it without the compact cranks, 50/34 instead of 53/39 up front, thank you Mark Miller. The story of the ride, though, was not the hills but the weather. Jeremy Johnson and I compared notes later and we both said about the same thing internally at the 5 mile mark "107 more miles of this - no way." But, I calmly said to myself, "Surely it can't rain for the whole ride. You know it'll stop eventually. Thirty percent, remember? You'll feel like an idiot if you bail, and then the sun comes out." Not to worry - it rained all through the bike (and run as well) and the sun never did show. One break of about 90 seconds, and that was it. I am not going to take the time to dissect the hills in great detail. They came in all shapes and sizes. There were of course some screaming descents to go along with the grinding uphills. I, a lousy and usually timid descender hit 41 a couple of times when I let it all hang out, but I feathered the brakes more often than not. With the wet and unfamiliar roads, I think we were all just a little cautious on the really steep downhills. I was sick of hearing over and over how "technical" the course is, but I must agree it is indeed that. A skilled bike handler and descender could really make up tons of time in places. The aid stations and volunteers and fans - yes, fans - were unbelievable. More on them later. There were far more flats than usual because of the wet roads, and a few crashes as well.
Anyway, somehow I got back to Monona Terrace after 7:09, the hardest and most miserable ride I have ever done. I had lousy rides at IronMan Florida in '04 and '05, but both of them were under 6 hours. In the conditions, this might have been a better ride, despite taking 1:15 or so longer. It was also the first long ride (80 miles plus, let's say) I ever did where I had absolutely no issues with tired legs, sore neck or lower back, burning feet, irritated crotch, or any other physical ailment. That's because I was 100% focused on how cold and wet I was, while trying to see the road through my rain-spattered glasses. And another first - I peed on the bike for the first time, and not just once either. I had no water to rinse off with but of course didn't really need any. I had tried before and just couldn't do it. I think it was a case of was "Screw it - who cares!"
Okay, so now I'm in the transition area inside the convention center and it's full of half naked grown men moaning and just being cold. But, man, more great volunteers were all over the situation. I had pretty much my own personal valet who was getting me towels, stuff out of my bags, and just trying to pump me up. I put on running shoes and a dry top, but after maybe 6 or 7 minutes I started to shake uncontrollably, as my core was cooling off. Not for the first time I considered how smart it would be to go outside and run 26.2 miles in the cold and rain. A neon sign in my mind's eye had been flashing "Pneumonia" for the last few hours off and on. In the end I decided it was worth a try to at least start the run, that the exertion would stoke my internal furnace and the shaking and shivering would stop accordingly. And that is about how it went. So after 20:xx in T2, it was time to head back out into the elements.
It's a good two lap run course, which goes through parts of the UW campus, including a lap on the Astroturf around the perimeter of the football field in Camp Randall Stadium. It also takes in State Street, one of the main drags, full of restaurants and such, and some nice wooded paths around the lakes. There are a number of out-and-back portions contained within so there are many opportunities to look at the racers ahead of and behind you and to see how your friends are doing. It finishes a block or so from the state capital building, very nice. My run was not fast, but I was moving well throughout. I knew about the hill on Observatory Dr., and I chose to walk it on both loops. I ran through all the aid stations on the first loop, grabbing water or Gatorade. I walked them all on the second loop, taking in cola and sometimes pretzels. No GI issues at all, thankfully. Ran 9:00 miles for the first 5 or so, then fell off gradually from there. My splits were 2:10 and 2:24 for a 4:34 total.
With no wind chill like on the bike, the run was more "comfortable". At the special needs station just before the 13.1 mile mark, I changed shirts and put on gloves, and that helped a little, but everything was wet again in a few minutes. And by this point the sun was almost down and it was starting to get noticeably colder. I was seeing more and more people with rain ponchos and I decided that looked pretty wise. So I asked a few "Where did you get your poncho?", and one person said they have them at the aid stations. So I asked for a poncho at the next station and they looked at me like I was crazy. Which of course I pretty much was by that time. I took off and a bit later asked another competitor where she got hers. "Just get a garbage bag from one of the aid stations" she said. Oooooh, now I get it. I picked one up at the next station. So there I was, in Madison, Wisconsin in the cold and rain, walking down a darkened street trying to stuff my body into an oversize garbage bag, while voluntarily urinating on myself. This would have seemed not at all out of place as a practicing alcoholic some years back.
It was good to see most of the guys on the run and exchange brief greetings. I saw Ken when he was at about mile 23 and me at 3, and he was really rolling, obviously, on his way to a 3:23. Pat and Smitty both looked great as well, as well they might have, since they both ran sub 4:00, outstanding.
The volunteers at this race deserve their own paragraph. On both the bike and run courses, thousands of people cheered and handed out food and drink. I was encouraged countless times, and I tried hard to return a "thank you" to each one. Their exhortations helped a lot, not to mention all the sustenance they served up. I may have taken in 4,000 calories during the race, something like that. I am much too selfish to stand in the rain for hours handing out Gatorade to and cheering for strangers non-stop; I don't know how they did it. The three steepest and longest climbs on the bike were not quite Tour de France-like, but there were a hundred or more people on all of them, yelling encouragement directly at you, and clanging their cowbells constantly.
I could write another few pages, but you gotta stop somewhere. Right now it's 96 hours post finish and I still have some residual numbness in all ten fingertips, and at the back of my neck. The race was a PW for me by almost an hour, but it's not about time (always a good thing to tell yourself after you race slow). I am pleased to have finished, obviously. I'd like to do the race on a good day, especially that bike course, but it'll be a few years, if ever, before I roll the dice again for a September Sunday in Madison.