Pre race

When we arrived at our hotel in Louisville I ran into Brian Boyle, the author of Iron heart (http://brianboyle.wordpress.com/iron-heart-can-be-ordered-onlin/) in the elevator who has been on The Ellen show. 

In every race report I have ever read or written, there is the “Boy was the volunteers great” comment. I have to say the volunteers were simply out of this world.  They were the most pleasant and helpful I have ever encountered.  They actually were thanking us for being in the event.  My wife, Suzanne, actually heard two volunteers talking and one said to the other, “why are the athletes thanking US?” Simply amazing.  Another thing that was amazing were the spectators in the neighborhoods, they too were thanking us for being there.  Here we are disrupting their lives, they were pretty much prisoners on their own streets for the day, couldn’t drive in or out, and they were thanking us.  I kept saying, “No, thank you for having us!”  Amazing!

Athlete check in and the Expo was smooth and an experience in itself.  First they weigh you and get your body fat and percent water content, they use this information in case you need medical attention during the event.  Then they go over everything in your packet and affix your athlete wristband and send you on your way, efficient pleasant and of course they thanked me for being there!

I participated in the morning Gatorade swims Friday and again on Saturday.  After the Saturday swim I dropped and broke my iPhone which took much of the day and a large sum of money, to get fixed.  Later  I felt a little sick to my stomach and wasn’t sure if it was pre-race jitters or if the  nausea was caused by a little bug.  I had been fighting a cold for a couple of weeks, but this was different.  I assumed pre-race jitters and after checking in my bike, I decided to not pre-drive the bike course, get a light early dinner and chill for the evening.  At the bike check in you are assigned your own personal volunteer (mine was Debbie) who walked you through everything, where to put the bike, where your gear bags are , walked you through the changing tents and answered any question you might have,  this was absolutely awesome.  We went back to the expo and Suzanne and Reese made some signs to hold up.  After dinner, Reese and I ended up going to the pool for a little bit but my stomach never really calmed down.

 

 

 

Race morning. I woke at 4:15 am to get ready I had a bagel with peanut butter and a cup of coffee from Einstein Brothers Bagel in the hotel and got down to transition by 5:00.  I was still a little nauseous.  The walk to transition was uneventful and I put my nutrition on my bike and filled the water bottles, and then walked the mile to the swim start.  I got to the swim start at about 5:15 to find a very long line.  We were told at the athlete meeting that camping was not allowed and no-one would be allowed in line before 5:00 but this clearly was not enforced.  I figure I was about 1000^th athlete in line.  By 6:00 I had to hit the port-o-potty, a tree would not due for what needed to be accomplished.  Only problem was there were very few facilities.  I found one that had the shortest line but after 30 minutes of standing, I had barely moved.  At 6:30 the line for the swim start started moving and I didn’t want to lose my place so I decided to hold everything until after the swim. Yay this was going to be fun.  So I have an upset stomach and need to go the bathroom, but will have to swim 2.4 miles first. 

 

2.4 mile swim. At 6:50 the canon was fired for the Pro start and our line started to move again in preparation for our canon start at 7:00.  This race is a bit different in that it is a Time Trial start, meaning that swimmers go off one after another, run down the dock and jump in and start swimming fast because there is another swimmer coming in right after you.  They did divide us into two lines so at least the line moved pretty fast.  So we run down a gauntlet of spectators, who were really cheering, we turned and ran through the start arch and down the dock.

 

 

It was crowded swimming up the channel but I was able to pass many other swimmers and my stomach seemed to settle down a little bit.  Once we passed the island we got a small taste of the head current, but it wasn’t too bad, actually hardly noticeable.

 

 

 

After about 1/3 of a mile we hit the turn buoy and I expected to pick up a bit of speed swimming down river.  Unfortunately my stomach started acting up again and I thought I was going to lose the morning bagel mid river.  This couldn’t be good so I started looking for a kayak in case I need to grab on to something.  I needed to breast stroke a bit to find one and once I did both feet cramped, all of my toes, man that hurt.  It did take my mind off my stomach though so I went back to freestyle to try and get rid of the toe cramps, only to have my left calf cramp.  What the heck?  I haven’t had these problems in a while.  I finally get my left calf eased and my right one cramps.  Then the nausea comes back.  Holy cow I actually thought about a possible DNF.  If it was this bad and I’m not even half way through the swim, how will I survive the rest of the day?

I kept sighting on the first bridge because that would mean I was 1.7 miles into the swim and on the home stretch.  It took forever to get there, I’d swim and sight and the bridge seemed no closer.  Finally I’m past the first bridge and stroking for the second bridge.  Now I have a screaming headache, Holy Cow what else will go wrong.  I need to breast stroke again to adjust my goggles and try to ease the head pressure, at least I didn’t cramp again.

Now I’m just about 100 meters to the swim exit and we are close to the bank and it is very choppy from all the swimmers coming back together to make the exit and there goes my stomach again.  I got worried that if I threw up at the swim exit that they’d pull me from the race.  Finally I’m on the steps out of the river and keep everything down.  A nice volunteer got my speed suit zipper started for me as I made my jog up to T1.

 

 

T1: The run to Transition was long but at least my stomach calmed down.  My friend Kevin Kunkel came in behind me which was pretty unusual but he is fast in transition and came out well ahead of me, especially since I took a much needed bathroom break

 

 

 

112 mile Bike.  This actually mostly felt pretty good, I kept to my nutrition strategy, eating every 30 minutes.  On the out and back, I saw Kevin again looking great after the biggest climb of the course.  It was great screaming down the hill at 42mph, but it was an 8 mph slog back up, then another screaming descent followed by the second slog up.  Now the hardest part should be over after 30 miles, well yeah but that doesn’t mean the rest of the course was easy, just not as steep.  At least my stomach is feeling ok during the ride.  Again the aid station volunteers were fantastic  Some stops built targets to toss our empty bottles at and man if you hit a target, the place went wild!  I hit the one mid way through the second loop and you’d have thought I scored the winning basket at the NBA final from a cross court!

I missed seeing my family in La Grange, twice, partly because I was slightly ahead of pace on the bike, by .2 mph and partly because they had long lines at shuttle bus (they also went back to the room to get the signs so that didn’t help)

 

 

I was told that the last 30 miles were all downhill, well, not so much. But at least we were nearing the end.

 

 

T2

I step out of my shoes about .5  miles to the bike finish and ride the tops in my socks.  Take the final right hand turn and do a flying dismount.  A volunteer grabbed my bike while I jogged to get my run gear bag.  As I’m running next to another guy, he says “man it’s good to be off the bike” and I told him “yup, but I can’t feel my feet!  Turns out neither could he so I didn’t feel too bad.  Then I could feel my feet and they didn’t feel good but at least it was better than sitting on my butt for 6 hours !

 

26.2 mile Run:  I really only have one goal for the run and that is to finish while it is still daylight or as Joanne Kunkel put it so succinctly “No Glow Stick for You!” My plan here was to run no faster than a 10:30 m/mi for the first 5K and then run between each aid station and walk through them to get as much hydration and nutrition as possible.

 I ran a bit fast out of transition, and spent most of the first mile trying to slow down.  We ran up for a short out and back on the bridge and I got my speed in check.  But then around the three mile mark I began feel dizzy and the nausea is back, my HR rate numbers are all wacky, soaring up to 190+.  Usually my highest HR numbers are around 180 and that is during the last repetition of a track workout. I try to lower my HR by walking but it doesn’t lower as much as it should so I’m getting worried that there is some real bad stuff to come.

Unfortunately,  Suzanne and Reese missed me again at the 3^rd street as I start my first loop but I did see Joanne and Kurtis Kunkel. I think Suanne and Reese only missed seeing my by a minute or so.

My plan of running each mile and walking the aid stations is now shot as I have to walk between the stations too.  I ate a ton of grapes at the aid stations, it was about the only thing that felt like it was going to stay down.  One aid station had chicken broth and that felt pretty good, hot but a couple of ice cubes got the temperature just right.

I kept seeing this guy on a bicycle who kept saying “go Kevin, go Reston”, but I had no idea who he is.

I continue running and walking and focusing on getting the HR back down during the walks.  If I can get it to <125bpm then I’m in my aerobic range, but I just can’t seem to get it below that.  When I start to run it immediately soars back to the 190s, it doesn’t creep, it soars.  So I think that maybe there is something wrong with the HR strap, but since I’m still nauseous and a bit dizzy, I want to be extra safe.

I finally see Reese and Suzanne at the 14 mile mark as I start the second lap.

 

 

I feel much worse than I look.  I tell Reese that the next lap could take well over three hours and that they should go ahead and retrieve my bike and bags from transition as they will have plenty of time to do this and get back for the finish.  I tell Suzanne the same thing, and she says “You’re going to finish this thing, Right?”  I tell her yes but that it may take longer than planned, she repeats the question but it really isn’t a question, it is more like an order, it is the extra push that I need.  I now know I can finish, no matter how hard it will be. I will finish before the cut off at midnight if I have to crawl. 

 

 

 

I continue my run/walk routine, running when I can, which usually is form one set of spectators to an intersection that has a blinking light, I just kept focusing on the “blinky light”  run to the blinky light, run to the blink light.

 

As I got up to the 20 mile mark and the final u-urn, I saw noticed that my HR was starting to get back to normal but man I was getting plain ole tuckered out.  Coming back down 4^th street the final time I saw that people coming up the street where now wearing Glow Sticks.  I am still ahead of being handed the glow stick but not by much.  I kept calculating out the slowest possible pace that would have me finish in the daylight and tried to stay ahead of that pace.  I’m now planning on walking as much as I can to try and reserve the last mile, I really want to run the entire last mile as fast as I can.

 I saw DonnaR a few times during the run and I each time she kept getting a little closer and we would high five each other.

Just before the 25 mile mark I feel a tap on my shoulder and Donna who asks me if I’m ok.  I tell her I’m fine, but just tired and I almost believe it when I say it.  Now my strategy is to use Donna to pull me through the last rough spot and finish strong.  So I start my shuffle run and just try to not loose sight of her back.  At mile 25 I pick up the pace a little to try and close the gap.  By mile 25.25 I’m running a 10:50 m/mi pace, at 25.5 it is 10:30 m/mi.  At 25.75 I’m at a 9:45 and I ease past Donna and tell her, “let’s dig it in and finish this thing”  I look to the left and see the sky is still orange, so I made my number one goal of finishing in the daylight, but not by much.  All I could think of was “No Glow Stick for Me!” From mile 26 to the n 8:50 pace and finish strong and on my feet. 

 

The finish is simply amazing, two levels of spectators, crazy cheering and Mike Riley saying the words “Kevin Shaw from Alexandria, Virginia, You … are … an … IRONMAN!”  There is simply nothing like it and it made all the pain of the day more than worthwhile.

 

 

 

Donna came in right behind me.  It turns out that he guy on the bike was her friend Scott who took this picture of us with a nice cold bottle of water.  It turns out the guy on the bike who kept calling out to me on the run is Scott a friend of Donna

Fantastic!!!   Hard enough to finish a race like that but to do it with the stomach flu, WOW.   It takes so much mental toughness.  You wouldnt have made it without the mental training.  Great job.

 

DB

That is an awesome report.   Congratulations!

Awesome job!!  Congrats.

That was totally awesome! A great report! What and inspiration you are.That is a life time achievement. You should be so proud of yourself.  Congratulations!

AWESOME!! Congratulations.