Who would have guessed that when I saw a bunch of crazy people on TV doing Kona back in the 80’s, someday, I would want to be one of them.  If I were completely honest, I would even tell you, I’ve had Kona in the back of my mind every time I’ve raced, including my first time at IM Wisconsin.

Yeah, it was a complete long shot, but I felt like, on some level, I was in the ballpark, and during Ironman, anything can happen.  Even last year when I went to Louisville, I was secretly anticipating pulling a miraculous rabbit out of my hat, though I was way undertrained in the run.  This year, I actually put it out there, and once again, it wasn’t really that close.

Anyway, watching KONA really gets me jacked, and here were 8 Things that caught my attention.

1.  THE MASS SWIM START IS AMAZING – The online video coverage of KONA is so incredibly cool.  They helicopter and underwater cameras were great, but for me the coolest thing ever was the tight shots from a boat that rolled along with the pro swimmers.  I could literally watch that scene for hours.  They are just hammering through that water with the smoothest form and power.  The fact that I find that so exciting is kind of weird, because watching swimming seems boring, but not when you have “been in that situation” and understand how it feels.  At one point in the broadcast, the announcers mentioned something like, “It looks like Matt Chrabot is escorting Lionel Sanders through this swim,” and that little line set off a firestorm of debate on the internet.

2.  THE RACE INSIDE THE RACE – About a week or so before KONA, I interviewed Ironman Chattanooga runner-up, Matt Chrabot about what was one of the closest finishes in Ironman history.  That race was two weeks before KONA and Chrabot had qualified and planned on racing.  To mortals, that seems impossible, so I was very interested how he would handle KONA.  Most assumed he would use it as a chance to do recon on the course.  I actually asked him a swim question in my interview:

8.  You’re clearly a great swimmer, do you change your game plan at all for a downstream course? 

Not really. Just get in that front pack and hope the deficit on the other contenders is sizable.

Not much there, but during KONA some accused him of being a Domestique (servant) for Sanders in the swim because they had the same swim time and Chrabot is typically a much faster swimmer.  Drafting in the swim is technically legal, but the debate is over whether or not Matt purposely compromised his race to help Lionel.  I’m not sure what to make of it, but there’s tons of fodder here if you want to dig in.

3.  I GOT TO TRACK FOUR PEOPLE I KNEW – The first couple times I tracked KONA, I knew “of” a few people racing, but this year I actually knew four people.  Dave Richter, Arlo Hartley, Vicki Updike, and Emily Rollins.  Dave is from Wisconsin, and we met through a mutual friend (my race body guard, Pete) while I was watching Chattanooga last year.  Ironically, he wound up scooping the last KONA slot from another guy I know, Brad Rollins (Emily’s husband).  Arlo Hartley was a year ahead of me in high school back in Beloit, Wisconsin.  I actually beat him by a couple places at Ironman Wisconsin, but he came back the next year and kicked ass on his way to landing a KONA slot.  Vicki and Emily are both from Nashville and I see them all over the place.  By all of their accounts, KONA was a completely different beast.

4.  THE POWER OF THE BIKE – I didn’t get to watch much of the bike stuff, but the power these pros drop on the course is mind boggling.  10-15 guys in the front pack going back and forth in devastating heat and wind, holding a 25 mph pace for 112 miles.  The race seemed wide open as they neared the end of the bike, but Jan Frodeno had other ideas.

5.  BIKE FOR SHOW, RUN FOR DOE – Jan was second out of the water and first off the bike.  He then decided to lead the run from start to finish with an average pace of 6:34/mile.  I can barely stand the pressure of holding off friends in training, but here he was squashing dreams of some of the best triathlete runners in the world.  Just an impressive day for Frodeno.

6.  THE CELEBRITY OF KONA – Every year there are a couple celebrity types that pay big bucks to race KONA.  This is always a sticky topic with Ironman traditionalists because most people have to earn their way to Hawaii through other races.  That was not the case for celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and everyone’s favorite football underdog actor, Sean Astin, otherwise known as “Rudy.”  I definitely have mixed emotions about letting guys like this in, but there is usually a big time charity donation component that’s hard to argue with.  Somewhere in all of this may be the answer to one of my biggest questions about KONA:  How does this race have all the best triathletes from around the world, yet often people don’t finish (see Gordon Ramsey’s result) or even make the swim cut off.  Rudy finished with a 15:30.

7.  THE FINISH LINE CELEBRATIONS ARE A BIT MUCH – I was in Louisville watching random KONA finishers cross the line on my laptop, and had to turn it off after about 20 minutes.  The over-the-top posturing is really kind of embarrassing.  I mean, I get it, you finished KONA, but allegedly most of you have had pretty good success in Ironman races.  Do we really need the “rolling across the ground finish,” or the “fake bow and arrow shooting” pose?  Stand tall, be proud, and act like you’ve been there.  That said, I’ll probably juggle flaming torches or something if I ever get to that point.

8.  I BLEW MY KONA PREDICTIONS – A few days before the race I went on record with my KONA predictions for the pro men.  They were at best random guesses, but non-the-less, I could have done much worse.

Prediction      Actual Finish   Net                               Comments
Sebastian Kienle                      1st                     8th            (-7)            Had a great swim, maybe it took a little too much?
Jan Frodeno                             2nd                    1st            (+1)            Just a solid year and a great race.
Brent McMahon                      3rd                     9th           (-6)            Solid race, really rising in the ranks.
Frederick Van Lierde             4th                     31st          (-27)          Was right there, but obviously had major issues on the run.
Ivan Rana                                 5th                     12th          (-7)            Great run and race, just a little too far back off the bike.
Matt Hanson                            6th                    DNF                            He may have been ready to run, but a bike accident ended his day.
Andy Potts                                7th                      4th          (+3)           May have heard my advice to hold back a tinge on the swim.
Andraes Raelert                      8th                      2nd         (+6)           He’s always there and put together a beauty.
Ben Hoffman                           9th                     36th        (-29)          Had a big target on him this year. Too much on the bike.
Tim Don                                  10th                   15th          (-5)             Right there all the way through.

BONUS:  Here’s a picture my friend Dave Richter sent the day after the race.  Only in KONA.  [follow_me]

After Ironman Louisville last year I was defeated.  The last thing I wanted to do was another race.  But a week later I drove to Wisconsin to spectate and it put a little jump in my step.  Then I went to watch Ironman Chattanooga and the bug was back.  This year I left my race in Chattanooga feeling pretty good, not only about the race, but in body, mind, and spirit.  One of the first things I did was look to see if Ironman Wisconsin registration was still open.  It was.  And I signed up.

Yes, I’ll be going back to where it started.  The race is on September 11, 2016 and it will be my fourth full Ironman.

It goes without saying that I am excited to get back.  It is home.  I’ll be surrounded by friends, family, and familiar settings.  It is also just a great race.

I love the energy of crowd support and I have seen nothing like Wisconsin in any of my other races.  From the grandstand-like atmosphere of the Swim Start to the seemingly endless parties on the bike course, to the cafe settings packed with people along State Street, Wisconsin brings it pretty hard.

Madison, in general, is just a beautiful city.  The massive Capitol looms over the finish line with genuine political nostalgia.  The Saturday before the race houses a huge farmers market on the Square.  Of course, the football Badgers will play that day as well, and not many atmosphere’s get in my blood like that one.  The lakes, the architecture, the progressive attitude.  It all makes for a great weekend, Ironman or not.

The thought of treading water with 2,500 others as we wait for the mass start gives me chills.  

The thought of re-tracing my favorite bike ride (including the beastly climbs surrounded by encouragement) to date gets me pumped.

And the memory of running in and around my favorite college campus gives me content.

It’s a year away, but I’m already thinking about how great it will feel to run around the Capitol and cross that finish line.

Hopefully there will be a zero after that one this time.

[follow_me]

This is my list of 20 Things at Ironman Chattanooga 2015, which will serve as a race report.

1.  It was no easy task, but I met my buddy Corey in the hotel lobby at 5:45 am.  No wonder I have given up on this corporate lifestyle.  Getting to sleep can be tough enough for me, but before an Ironman, forget it.  My total rack time was about 3 hours and I was fresh off a questionable oatmeal, banana, rice cake with peanut butter breakfast. I was also battling a minor head cold but–armed with B12 tongue drops–I soldiered through pain with way too many water bottles on the mile-walk to transition.  Corey’s friends were supposed to be waiting in the darkness on random street corners, but they were nowhere to be seen.  We were there in plenty of time to meet Jim around 6:15.

2.  I took my time filling bike tires and stocking transition bags, but Corey was getting anxious.  At one point he yelled at me, “Just put your stuff in the bag and let’s go!”  He didn’t really yell, but there is a crazy energy the morning of your race.  It feels like time is draining from your life.  Then, we got in our first line of the day while waiting for the bus, and it was still an hour and a half before we’d be in the water.  And speaking of water, I needed more!  Seems like a simple thing, but no one knew where to find water.  Finally, I saw a tent selling some, but didn’t have any money.  Thankfully Jim’s girlfriend, Rebecca loaned me 3 dollars.  Pro tip: bring a few bucks cash to transition.

3.  Next, I’m sitting next to Jim on the bus to the Swim Start and realized I forgot something fairly important: my timing chip.  That was a weird feeling.  By some stroke of Divine Intervention the girl next to me on the bus forgot hers too and assured me we could get one at the start line.  I did indeed, and the kind folks synced it up to my bib number.  Good to know.  If this happens to you, you still have to turn in your original chip to someone at Ironman or send it in a bubble pack per the email you get the next day.

4.  The swim line was remarkable!  I mean, I’m a little delirious in the morning as it is, but I couldn’t tell which way was which.  People, stretched for miles, laying around on the greenway in lycra suits, some with air mattresses and many with lawn chairs.  Thanks to my timing chip debacle I saw them all and walked about 2 miles in the process.

5.  Around 7:30, volunteers started shouting, “Wetsuits to the right, family please leave the line,” and we started moving.  I was shocked by the number of people in wetsuits.  It was a “wetsuit optional” race, meaning the temperature was over 76.1 but under 78 degrees (or something like that) and anyone who opted to wear a wetsuit wasn’t eligible for prizes or Kona qualification.  The air began to get heavy.  The race had begun and it humbles you on the spot.  In mere minutes we would begin a brutal challenge by jumping off a pier into the Tennessee River.  I swang my arms to wake up my body, but in the back of my mind I knew we had the assistance of a nice current and it should be the nicest part of the day.  Around 7:45 we were close enough to hear the announcer sending people off the pier.  We exchanged our “good lucks” before filing into our own desolate worlds.

6.  I dropped into the water around 7:50 uncertain if my timing chip would work.  I decided to trust people better at this stuff than me and swam toward the first buoy.  This course is “straight” downstream.  No turns, no trickery, just swim.  The only thing I had to do was stay near the buoy line and keep my arms moving.  About a thousand yards in I decided the current wasn’t whisking me away like I hoped, but felt pretty good.  Next thing I know, I looked to my left and realized I was 50 yards from the buoy line.  Sometimes this happens.  I get a little discombobulated and lose myself. I dug a little harder to get back into the line and realized I was losing some steam in my arms.  I kept looking for the first of three bridges, but it never seemed to come.  Suddenly, what I thought was an “easy” swim was feeling difficult. Wetsuit swimmers all started after non-wetsuits got into the water and around 2500 yards into the swim, I was smothered.  It was almost laughable watching this neoprene army glide by.  And those that didn’t glide by me simply swam over me.  It was the first time I TRULY realized the power of a wetsuit.

7.  I completely underestimated this swim and it bit me hard.  Five hundred yards from the finish I was struggling to keep form and holding on for life.  The final RED turn buoy was a dream come true, but those last 50 yards might have been the toughest part of the swim.  It was suddenly a free for all.  Wetsuits coming from every angle beating the crap out of me on their way to the stairs.  That is when I officially called “wetsuit optional” bull shit.  Either it’s wetsuit legal, or it’s not.  At the very least anyone who wore one should have an asterisk next to their results.

8.  I looked at my watch and saw 1:11 in the swim and was not surprised, but disappointed.  The year before I watched almost everyone I knew come out of the water in less than an hour and I thought I botched any shot I had at my dream of Kona.  Little did I know, most of the top racers in my age group were also over an hour in the swim.  But I was still 158th in my age group out of the water.  Clearly a huge chunk of guys wore wetsuits, and not only does that get on my nerves, it had significant implications on Kona slots because they based the allocation on the number of people who didn’t wear wetsuits.

9.  So, I get out of the water and saw my buddy Whitney, but missed my mom, brother, and Rebekah.  That kinda blows when you are wandering off into the sunrise of a 6 hour bike ride.  After a disappointing swim it would have been easier to sort of give in to the day and focus on finishing, but I have a tendency to want to redeem myself.  And that’s what I set out to do.

10.  About 5 miles into the bike I’m zoning in on hydration and food when a bike slows down next to me and the guy says, “What’s up dude?”  It was Corey.  He quickly apologized for yelling at me in transition and we chatted about the swim for 15 seconds before he passed me and I dropped back into legal formation.  My plan was to chill, but Corey pulled away with some early energy.  About 10 miles later I pulled up beside him and took the lead.  That’s when it dawned on me how nice it was to have someone in the same power range that I actually knew.  For the next 70 miles or so we worked together like pros, typically staying within 50-100 yards of each other, flopping back and forth to keep each other focused.

11.  This seems like a great place to bring up the topic of drafting at Ironman Chattanooga.  First of all, let me just say it was nearly impossible not to draft.  And what will I blame this on?  Yes, wetsuits.  The congestion is just undeniable.  Everyone gets out of the water around the same time because of the nature of the swim.  Then you add a bike course that is relatively flat and all hell breaks loose.  I’m not saying there were people riding on each other’s wheels, but there was just nowhere else to go at times.  I mean, I genuinely saw two people drafting right past a penalty tent.  I am pretty sure Ironman just looks the other way on this race because I honestly don’t remember seeing one motorcycle official on the course.

12.  The ride itself was no picnic, but felt pretty good.  There are some really fast sections and at some point I decided to shoot for a 20 mph ride.  I was right on pace when I hit the split back to town at about mile 104 but I genuinely thought I went the wrong way.  That really threw a wrench in my day for a minute.  I was a bit fuzzy and it took 3 miles before I looked back and saw the Mile 10 sign going the other way.  That’s when I settled in and cruised toward town. I don’t know about you, but this is the time I start freaking out about getting a flat.  I was uber cautious going over several railroad crossings and any other disruption.  There’s sort of a weird echo as you get closer to dismount and it’s arguably the sweetest sound in triathlon.  You know you’re about to get your ass off that hard seat and for me, it’s nearly as nice as crossing the finish line.

13.  I was a little confused coming out of the run because we didn’t go down the swim-run-up-hill like they did in 2014.  Instead, we ran to the bike out area, then down the River Walk from there, which was a little longer, but gave us a short downhill before the climb on mile one.  That first hill is actually kind of a good thing because it reminds you to slow down a little, but everyone I talked to had a super fast Mile One (.9) splits.  My plan was to start at a pace that felt super easy, then pick it up a hair around mile 6, and I think I did pretty well averaging between 9:01 and 9:36 for the first loop. Then, on the second time through, I was hoping to move that pace down on the flat sections, but I just couldn’t get my legs to move any faster.  My pace fell back into the 10 min range for most of the 2nd loop.

14.  Speaking of the back half, it was a grinder.  I ran it a month before the race and deluded myself into thinking it wasn’t too bad, but after a 116 mile bike the hills were tough.  The most surprising hill was the first short, but steep one out of the River Walk.  For some reason I missed that part when I test-ran the course and it was humbling.  That’s where my support crew spectated and they witnessed a lot of carnage.  Once I started the second lap I threw away my pace targets and focused on one thing:  Not walking.  If I’ve learned anything from three Ironman races, it is this:  You are almost guaranteed to hit your race goal if you just run the entire marathon.  It’s not easy, but it’s the most obvious solution.

15.  I finished Chattanooga in 11:28, thirty minutes faster than I did Ironman Wisconsin.  Chattanooga’s bike course is 4 miles longer, so that’s 12 minutes more, and could technically mean a 42 minute personal best. In comparison, Wisconsin has a harder swim and bike, but Chattanooga’s run is definitely king.  That said, my marathon times in both were almost identical.  I’m not sure what any of this means, but sometimes it’s interesting to reflect.  I think the difference in my bike times happened because I rode up AND down the hills at Chattanooga.  In Wisconsin I coasted most of the downhills.

16.  I’m a big fan of pizza, but it never tastes as good as it does after an Ironman. Some of my best work of the day was done in the athlete food tent.

17.  I’ve written about volunteers before, but they never cease to amaze me.  I think I saw there were 4,500 at Chattanooga and that is just a tremendous number of people joining hands to feed the cattle.  Every aid station was totally stocked and well organized.  Bottle exchanges were clean, and in a world where you can run into a lot of dicks, these people were uncommonly selfless.

18.  Chattanooga is the perfect city for an Ironman.  The layout is simple, and aside from the fact that I personally knew 4 people who got jobbed on hotel bookings, everything ran like a top . . . even in the rain.  The locals embrace the active lifestyle and expressed genuine interest in the race.  I never got the feeling people were pissed that we screwed up their traffic for a day.

19.  The biggest thing I learned this year was that I’m still not there on the bike.  I had a good ride, and pushed the edge of my capability, but it stole just enough from my legs to hamper the run.  I really hoped to run an 8:30-9:00 pace, but couldn’t get there.  The analogy I thought of is that your bike should be like driving a Cadillac.  The engine should be huge and let you go 70 miles an hour without feeling like it’s working very hard.  I went 70 miles an hour, but I was in a Kia.

20.  I am happy, but humbled.  I put out Kona aspirations a while back, but have a long ways to go.  I’m not ready to say I didn’t work hard this summer, but it wasn’t enough.  I didn’t build Cadillac miles.  I was faster and more explosive, but didn’t have the chassis to pull it off at this distance.  Lesson learned, and it was a brutal, but lovely experience.

[follow_me]

When I got to Ironman Chattanooga I was feeling a little head cold coming on, so I didn’t much feel like doing more than resting with my free time.  But, while I wasn’t posting my domain name expired because of an old credit card (which I found out last night).  Talk about a pit in your stomach!

Anyway, I wanted to make a quick post to let you know that we are back in business.

Quick Ironman Chattanooga Summary

I didn’t sleep very well Friday or Saturday night, but found myself on the Swim Start shuttle at around 6:15 Sunday morning.  Halfway up the road I panicked because I forgot my TIMING CHIP in my beautiful new backpack.  I was freaking out for a second until the girl right next to me said she forgot hers too and they had extras waiting at the start line.  I walked up to the very front to get one, then walked all the way to the back of the line which felt like 2 miles of walking.

We got into the water around 7:50 and it took me about 10 minutes to realize that I underestimated the swim.  I had this stupid vision in my head that the current would sweep us away and drop me off at the exit in no time.  Wrong!  Two point four miles is a long ways.  I was swimming hard and that first bridge just never seemed to come.  Right before the bridge I started getting really tired, and thankfully this was about the time people who opted to wear wetsuits started swimming over the top of me (more on this later).

I didn’t feel great getting out of the water, and there’s nothing more refreshing than knowing you have 116 miles waiting for your bike wheels.  Somehow I got it going and felt pretty good as we rode into the loop.  I did NOT underestimate the bike course because I rode it a month earlier.  I basically rode with average speed as my guide and hoped I could hold it around 20 mph for the race.  There were some really fast sections and I came into transition a little above my goal.  Running through the finish line arch is the best feeling, but getting off the bike is a close second.

I ran it about a month ago and it didn’t seem “that” bad, but this run course is tough.  The hills on the backside aren’t devastating if you just run them, but after that bike, they get in your head.  I ran the first half at a little under a 10 minute pace and hoped to pick it up a little, but my legs said no.  It was all I could do to just keep running, but I’m pretty happy with that scenario, too.  That’s always sort of been my thing, run the entire marathon.

My swim split disappointed me a little: 1:11.  I felt great about my bike split: 5:45.  And was content with my run: 4:23.  TRT 11:28, which was 30 minutes better than my best at Wisconsin.

I have a ton of thoughts on this race and my brother shot some great video that I’ll be posting.  So, please help me spread the word so I don’t lose any search engine reads after this domain debacle.

Great seeing everyone in Chattanooga!

[follow_me]