Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Justin's Race Report
I don't remember how exactly I ended up getting on this road to Miami, but I am pretty sure someone tricked me into it! After many months, hundreds of miles, and a whole lot of complaining (sorry to Nick and Chris who heard it the most) it is finally over. This past Saturday Nick and I finished our goal race Miami 70.3 - It began in the dark. When I arrived at my transition area to setup and I couldn't see much. I knew what I had to do but the paranoia that I forgot something was really making me nervous and got my stomach turning. This is actually something that I was hoping for, a good cleaning out before the race. Two problems: one - the line to the 7 porta-potties was about a 30 minute wait, and two - there appeared to have been a shortage of TP. This was the first glitch in what proved to be a very interesting day. After sorting out this first issue I went to say goodbye to my cheering section/support crew comprised of my dad and went to find Nick and start moving towards race start. Now normally I would have started my race at 7:20, but since I opted to use my wet-suit they moved me to a new, 'wet-suit wave' starting at 8:00. This was a big decision for me - to wear or not to wear (a wet-suit that is). Wearing it would mean that if things went bad in the race, I would have 40 minutes less to complete to it. After some convincing from Nick that I wouldn't need that extra time I decided to go ahead. After being forceably thrown into the water to get ready for my wave start I was feeling good and ready to swim. The guys around me didn't look as threatening as the 25-29 age group crowd that I was supposed to be with so I was not too nervous. After the gun sounded I was off, and quickly found myself getting ahead of the other wet-suit people and catching up to the other swimmers. So far, so good. I rounded the first buoy, and when trying to sight the second one I ended up swallowing a gulp of salt water which almost resulted in me losing my breakfast. And on top of that I couldn't even find the next buoy, or the one after that. 3 buoys over 1900m is not enough. Long story short, the swim went well after I decided just to follow the crowd. I finished in about 44min and ranked about 555 out of over 3000 which I was pretty happy about. Onto the bike. Man I was feeling great for the first 45k, then after a quick stop at the turnaround to check to see if I had any penalties I started back on down the course. But something was missing... I was starting to run out of liquid and realize that the empty pickup truck and tables I passed a few km back was the second aid station... but it was apparently closed for business. Unbelievable, 1/3 aid stations does not actually exist. Despite this I am pleased with myself for not listening to Nick, and taking an extra energy drink on my bike from the get go. Even with this extra bottle, I am running very low by the time I hit the third aid station. I see a traffic jam as I approach, and as I get to the tables I quickly find out there is nothing but melted ice and bottles thrown on the ground. I yell for water and they give me a bottle with no lid, full of disgusting water from a garbage can. The clock is ticking so all I can do is ask for a cap for the bottle and take the vile liquid. The volunteer picks up a cap off the street and hands it to me - gee, thanks. The rest of the bike is against a strong headwind and my legs are starting to hurt, especially my right hamstring. I am starting to feel really low. The kms are passing very slowly and just to make things even better, Nick FINALLY passes me yelling 78kms! How ya feeling!? I'm pretty sure he was so happy and charged up that he caught me that he took off before I even could answer! Ok, finally the bike was over, I made it - took about 3:15 which was not bad considering the conditions. In transition my dad was waiting for me and had a nice cold bottle of water waiting! Thanks Dad! I used the warm ones that I left on my mat to hose myself down with and got ready to run. As I was almost ready to go my dad said "So it'll take you about 2 hours?" ummm no... not even close! I was still feeling low from the end of the bike, and knew what was waiting for me - 21.1km of running, and the cherry on top (or should I say the 8 cherries on top) was that I had to run across a long, steep bridge EIGHT TIMES. I have to admit I had my doubts that it could be done, but I managed to run up the bridge about 6/8 times. Not too bad. Overall the run was ok despite the intense heat, and with a combination of running and walking I made it. The first time I came into the home stretch it was misery, this was a two loop course and not being able to hit that finish line, with the crown cheering was heartbreaking. I was forced to go left to the turnaround instead of right to the finish. About an hour and a half later the finish was finally in sight and I rushed the line! I easily overtook a few old people and crossed the finish. Waiting there for me was my coach and training partner who gave me a Big 10 (up top!) and sweaty man-hug! And that was that... now its time to forget the triathlon world for at least a couple of weeks. So leave me alone about Louisville until at least mid November! (You know who you are). Thanks to all who have supported this crazy endeavor of mine especially my riding buddy Chris who taught me that 'Spinning is Winning'; Lisa, who let me train without too much grief - even on those rare days that we in the same city; my local cheering section (dad) who supported me all weekend during the race and for everything else; and finally thanks to Coach Niko who taught me everything I needed to know about training and racing - even about nutrition if you can believe it - which was more of a 'do as i say, not as i do' kind of thing, without his help, I never would have made it. That's the report, see you next year!
Niko's Race Report
Before I begin my ranting, which I've been known to do occasionally, I have to tell everyone how immeasurably proud I am of Justin for his accomplishment at Ironman Miami 70.3 this past weekend. We'd developed a race and nutrition plan for him to follow and he followed it perfectly and performed awesomely on race day. And when you take the brutal conditions we had to race in (more about that below) into consideration it was an even greater accomplishment on his part. Well done Justin, you ran an incredible race and should be extremely proud of yourself. I know I am.
And now on to my experience. From the moment we signed up for this race back in December 2009 my excitement started growing in anticipation of this past weekend. There were always concerns and questions. Was I training correctly? Training enough? Would my groin hold up? How would my recent bout with pneumonia affect me? Answers would only become evident on race day. But there were also positives and high points that gave me confidence throughout my training. Two great race performances and results in Solana Beach and Los Angeles, great training days during the summer and amazing training partners in Chris and Justin that made the going that much easier. But as race day approached there was some growing concern. Not so much for participating but for the race organization itself. Normally the race organizers deliver all kinds of information to the athletes about pre-race activities and logistics that make the athlete's lives a little easier for race day. None of that was being made available to us for Miami until a few days before race day. We flew out Thursday to Fort Lauderdale and drove to Pompano Beach where we'd rented a 3 bedroom house for a week. Our group included Tammy and Justin's dad, Peter. The first thing to greet us was a big green iguana in the backyard but he didn't hang around long and we haven't seen him since. We settled in and Justin and I set off to assemble our bikes. Once we finished that we relaxed for the rest of the day. Friday was registration, the expo and bike and gear drop off. We headed into Miami with our bikes and gear that we were to leave in transition accompanied by our official support crew/photographers, Tammy and Peter. It was great to have them along on the trip not only for their support but they also took care of all the little things that you just wish you didn't have to deal with when you're trying to get ready for a race. They made life easier for both of us. Registration had an air of excitement about it. We lined up to get our one day USAT racing license and pick up our timing chip and swag bags as Tammy and Peter hung on to our bikes. Afterwards we wandered around the expo and purchased some things while we waited for athlete race briefing. At the briefing they went over the rules and courses and then hit us with "There won't be any racked T1 and T2 bags or a changing tent, you'll have your own transition area". Typically at Ironman races you place your biking gear into one bag and your running gear into another bag and they're hung on racks in the transition area. As you finish one element of the race you run into transition, grab the appropriate bag and head to the changing tent to put on your gear on and head out to the next element. Now we would have to have everything set up at our spot where our bikes would be. No big deal other than I didn't bring my transition bag because I didn't think I'd need it. I wasn't happy but I'd make do. We were then told that the athletes that wanted to wear wetsuits would be moved out of their original waves and placed into a "wetsuit wave" which would start at the end of all the waves. Swimming is not my strength so I opted to wear one as did Justin even though I didn't think he needed to because he's a very good swimmer but it would be neat to start together. This moved me from a 7:08 am start and Justin from a 7:20 am start to a 7:48 am start. We left the expo and headed over to where the transition area was so we could drop off our bikes. Even though the area was supposed to be open at 10:00 am it didn't open till around noon and there was a nice sized crowd going in. Apparently they were still setting up bikes racks. Really? The day before the race and the bikes racks weren't ready? Well it gets worse. During the night they had to move some racks around so they removed the bikes from them, moved the racks and replaced the bikes. Only they lost one lady's bike. Oh my God! I would have been livid. I'd have gone ballistic. I don't know if they found her bike or if she managed to get her race in but I can't imagine being in her situation. After dropping off our bikes the rest of the day was spent just wandering around a bit and then relaxing back at the house. Race Day. I slept surprisingly well considering and woke up at 3:50 am raring to go. Now for those of you that know me well you know that nutrition is not my forte but it was on my mind the whole week leading up to race day. I'd carbo-loaded on Wednesday and Thursday and had a light early dinner on Friday night and woke up with nutrition on my mind. I started hydrating right away and grabbed 2 cans of tomato juice for the drive in to Miami. Tomato juice is really high in electrolytes and I knew I would need a constant supply of them during the race so I wanted to get an early boost. The drive in was pretty quick considering the time of morning and we lucked out and found parking no more than 100 m from the transition area. We got all our gear and bikes together and headed to transition. The atmosphere was electric, there was music blaring and hundreds of athletes converging which was getting me pumped and anxious to get the race under way. Justin and I split up and went to our transition spots and I was happy to see my bike waiting there for me. It was actually a great spot right on the end of a rack and great for getting in and out. I was just finishing a bottle of water so I grabbed a litre bottle of Powerade that I'd brought and continued to hydrate. I checked my tire pressure to make sure no air had leaked overnight and then started across transition to bring Justin the pump in case he needed it. His tires were fine so I handed the pump to Tammy to eventually throw back into the car and I headed back over to my spot. Tammy wandered over to the fence which was 1 rack behind me and I started setting up my shoes, some gels, my sun glasses, towels and helmet and filling my bottles and bento box (nutrition carrier on my bike). I filled my front aero bottle with a Hammer nutrition mix and Powerade in my 2 rear bottles. My original plan was to only fill my one front aero bottle and resupply at the 1st aid station with a couple of bottles but I decided to start with as much as I could carry from the get go. I talked with Tammy a little and a bit later Justin found his way over to use the port-o-potties that were close to my spot. We were all being kicked out of transition at 6:40 am so we agreed to meet at a spot outside transition at 6:40. I eventually grabbed my wetsuit and headed out to the meeting spot and when Justin arrived we made our way to the swim start. We had an hour to kill, we hydrated some more and split a Clif bar and the time went quick. We got in to our suits and made our way to the starting area which was unique. It was a dock that ran parallel to the shore with swim entry being at one end, the swim course was a big loop out and around to the opposite end of the dock where the swim exit was. The start was a water start and entry into the water was not exactly by choice. It was a 5 foot drop from the dock to the water and when you'd worked your way to the dock edge you were grabbed and tossed in. How nice. These guys had no regard for wether you'd land on someone that had just been thrown in, they just grabbed and pushed you off the edge. Well not me. I got to the edge and threw myself in off to the side where I wouldn't do or encounter any damage. I started swimming towards the start line keeping my eyes open for Justin and when I saw him I waved him over towards me and we treaded water and waited for the horn. We gave each other the thumbs up, the horn went and it was on. The water churned, bodies crashed into each other and arms were flailing. I wanted to start at a pace that wouldn't tire me out and that I could reasonably maintain for the whole swim. I approached the first buoy and made the turn and headed for the long "out" portion of the swim. I was feeling good and had settled in but everytime I looked up to sight for a sighting bouy there weren't any. I swam in the direction I thought was correct but I think I veered out too far before I realized it and adjusted my direction. My biggest problem was keeping in a straight line because there were no sighting buoys on the whole course, only turn buoys and the turn buoys were tiny. They were the size of what the sighting buoys normally are. So here I was swimming and searching for this tiny buoy about 800 m away. 800 METRES away! I just followed other swimmers and hoped they were going in the right direction. I finally caught a glimpse of it and headed for it. I made the turn and realized I had the same dilema, the next buoy was 800 m away. At that point I decided to use the support kayaks as my markers so I found one and kept it in sight and to my left and swam till I could find another one to mark on. I soon realized that this kayaker was slowly moving across my path from left to right and in using him as my marker I was swimming at about a 45 degree angle from where I wanted to go. Why would he be moving at all? He wasn't rushing to anybody's aid and I here I was following him. I reset my sights, found another swimmer and started following him. After a while I caught sight of a red object and aimed for it. It wasn't the buoy, it was a red cap on a swimmer but a couple of minutes later I did see the buoy and made a beeline for it all the while cursing the the ridiculous course setup and markings or more appropriately, lack of markings. I made the buoy and turned and headed for the dock. I reached it a few minutes later and was set to make my way up the temporary steps that they'd placed leading down from the dock except ..... there were no steps down where our feet were, they ended about 6 inches below the top of the water and stopped. Come on, give us a break, really? They couldn't have extended them another 4-5 steps? So here we were pulling ourselves up out of the water onto the steps before being able to stand up. I got up and trotted up the steps and checked my time and ..... yuck, 53 minutes. What the heck happened? I know I swam in the wrong direction a couple of times but this was slow. Well I heard later that there was a pretty strong current on one of the longer stretches of the swim and also that the course may have been mis-marked, that it was likely longer than it should have been. I found out later that Justin's time was slower than normal as well so I didn't feel as bad for mine. I ran to transition, found my spot and stripped off my wetsuit. I put on my bike shoes, helmet, sunglasses and grabbed my bike and headed for the exit to start my ride. The bike course had been changed from its original layout and now included a total of 46 turns so any thoughts of maintaining a high average speed went out the window. The first 20+ km were uneventful, my legs felt good and I was able keep up a decent pace. I was drinking plenty and went through my aero bottle drink and refilled it with one of the bottles in my rear carrier. It was my plan to eat half a Clif bar every half hour and I did so at around the 18 km point. Everything seemed to be going well and I was feeling pretty good as I approached the first of 3 aid stations on the bike course at km 24. I threw away my empty water bottle and yelled for a bottle of Perform, the sport drink they were using for the race, and a volunteer held one up for me to grab as I rode by. I yelled my thanks to him, slapped it into the bottle carrier and continued. That was pretty much the last thing to go right for the rest of the race. I continued following my nutrition plan; half a Clif bar every 30 minutes, a bottle and a half of fluids to replenish electrolytes every 30 minutes, a salt tab every hour. I made my way towards the second aid station and turn around point. At around km 48 I started keeping my eyes open for the second aid station. It was hot and I'd gone though 2 more bottles and needed to resupply soon. I got to the turn around spot but didn't notice any aid station there or leading up to the turn around. There were a bunch of volunteers about 100 m before the turn around but no water or Perform or even a table setup anywhere. After a few more km I pulled up beside another rider and asked if they'd seen aid station #2 and they told me it was just before turn around. HUH? Ya, that group of volunteers. They'd run out of everything, water, Perform, gels. Well I'd have to stock up at the last one then. I drank my remaining bottle slowly to make it last but this was not good. I'd now turned into the wind and it was tougher going as well so I was starting to work harder. I'd averaged about 32.5 km/hr on the way out to turn around but now I was going at around 27-28 km/hr. At around 55 km I took a look at my arms and shoulders and they should have been drenched in sweat but instead they were barely moist. Not a good thing, not good at all. On top of that I didn't have to pee and by this point I should have been. Again, not good. Aid station #3 was at km 72 and as I approached I was really ready to load up with a couple of bottles of Perform. I needed electrolytes badly. I pulled up and there was a crowd of cyclists stopped which seemed strange and a volunteer extended a cup of water in my direction. I yelled for Perform but all I saw were a series of arms reaching out and offering cups of water. What was I supposed to do with cups? I was steamed. I was livid. And I was concerned. I'd ridden the last 22 km nursing 1 bottle of Powerade I'd luckily added to my carrier this morning and I still had another 18 km to go to transition. I stormed away and headed on the last stretch. At 78 km I caught Justin. I yelled "78 km baby" and asked how he was feeling but didn't really hear what he said because I sped away. 12 km later I was jumping off my bike and running into transition to my spot where I racked my bike, took off my helmet and shoes and pulled on my runners. Tammy was at the fence and I yelled that they'd run out of fluids on the course and I felt done. She threw me her bottle of water but the rules didn't allow outside aid so I left it but I had a bit of Powerade left over in a bottle at my spot and I drank it. I ran to the exit and began my run and there was an aid station just outside transition so I grabbed a couple of cups of water and downed them. It was a short stretch to a quick turn around and back in front of the transition area and through the same aid station. This time I grabbed 2 cups of Perform and downed them. Now it didn't click at the time but I later realized the cups were filled with ice and the amount of Perform in the cup was minimal. I assume now that they were low and were rationing it. I headed out towards "THE BRIDGE" and I was feeling really good so I took a quick look at my watch and saw that I was running faster than I wanted to be so I slowed down a bit. The good feeling was about to end. I got to "THE BRIDGE" and started my first of 8 x 500 m long ascents I'd have to do on the run. I was doing good till I got near the top and that's when my right quad and hamstring went into all out cramping. I stopped dead and grabbed my leg and started trying to massage the cramp out but it wasn't working. I worked it for about 5-6 minutes but every time I straightened up and took a step it just kept cramping and hurt like hell. I thought I was finished. I was ready to stop and limp back and DNF. What the hell, where did that come from? DNF because of a cramp? No way. I stretched it out and eventually the cramp stopped and I headed down the other side of the bridge. It hurt but at least wasn't cramping. I came around to aid station #2 and I was really ready ,for some Perform but what I found was one volunteer with a bucket of water, no Perform and a group of athletes grabbing cups and filling them by themselves out of the bucket. I scrounged 2 cups, filled them and left pissed and in pain to face ascent #2 on "THE BRIDGE". I made it up fine and down the other side and came around to aid station #3 where I was able to grab a cup of ice with a touch of Perform in it as well as scoring a bottle of water. I held on to that bottle for the rest of the race and kept filling it with water from cups whenever I could. I got to the turn around and made my way back to the "THE BRIDGE" for my 3rd climb, the last one I'd do running because when I came around for the 4th time both my calves cramped. I stopped for a couple of minutes and stretched them out and began walking up. By now I was pretty much out of electrolytes and pretty dehydrated and nothing I could have done could have corrected things. I was getting cups of water but what little Perform I found was in ice filled cups so I really wasn't getting any electrolytes. At the top I started into a run and descended, came around in front of transition and began the second run loop. Back around to "THE BRIDGE" for the 5th climb and my calves and quads and one hamstring all cramped. I walked that climb as well as the 6th, 7th and 8th times but I was determined to run the rest of the course which I did albeit much slower than normal. I came down the last 500 m in pain but running and as I turned into the finish line chute I wanted to finish strong so I tried to put on a little spurt of speed. Well just at that moment both my calves cramped and I nearly did a header but I caught myself and crossed the finish line. I'd done it. It was brutal but I'd finished. I was enraged with the organization but that anger was one of the things that kept me going. I was damned if I was going to let the race organizer's incompetence prevent me from finishing the race. There was no way I would stop, I'd crawl to the finish if I had to. I wasn't about to disappoint all the people who'd supported and encouraged me. Tammy had put up with months of my training and I wasn't going to let her down. Chris had coached and helped me with my nutrition and he, Justin and I had trained together for months and I wasn't about to disappoint them either. But mostly I'm a stubborn old goat and whereas "Pain is Temporary, Quitting Lasts Forever". I waited at the finish line for Justin and about 5 minutes later he crossed in a burst of speed with a big smile on his face. We gave each other high tens and hugged and turned to try and find Tammy and his dad but before I knew it Tammy was right there with a kiss and a hug. A few minutes later though I began feeling light headed and nauseous and I new I should get my butt to the medical tent. They lay me down and took my vitals and brought over an IV but I hadn't told anyone where I'd gone so I got up to go find Tammy to tell her. I found her and started feeling the same so I made my way back to the tent and lay down again. They would have given me the IV but said if I wasn't throwing up I should just start drinking plenty to rehydrate and I started downing bottles of water. I started feeling better and got up to get something to eat and then made my way to transition to pack up. While the race was organized horrendously I was proud that both Justin and I were able to deal with everything and finish it. Big thanks to my training buddies Chris and Justin and especially to Tammy for all her support and encouragement throughout my training.
And now on to my experience. From the moment we signed up for this race back in December 2009 my excitement started growing in anticipation of this past weekend. There were always concerns and questions. Was I training correctly? Training enough? Would my groin hold up? How would my recent bout with pneumonia affect me? Answers would only become evident on race day. But there were also positives and high points that gave me confidence throughout my training. Two great race performances and results in Solana Beach and Los Angeles, great training days during the summer and amazing training partners in Chris and Justin that made the going that much easier. But as race day approached there was some growing concern. Not so much for participating but for the race organization itself. Normally the race organizers deliver all kinds of information to the athletes about pre-race activities and logistics that make the athlete's lives a little easier for race day. None of that was being made available to us for Miami until a few days before race day. We flew out Thursday to Fort Lauderdale and drove to Pompano Beach where we'd rented a 3 bedroom house for a week. Our group included Tammy and Justin's dad, Peter. The first thing to greet us was a big green iguana in the backyard but he didn't hang around long and we haven't seen him since. We settled in and Justin and I set off to assemble our bikes. Once we finished that we relaxed for the rest of the day. Friday was registration, the expo and bike and gear drop off. We headed into Miami with our bikes and gear that we were to leave in transition accompanied by our official support crew/photographers, Tammy and Peter. It was great to have them along on the trip not only for their support but they also took care of all the little things that you just wish you didn't have to deal with when you're trying to get ready for a race. They made life easier for both of us. Registration had an air of excitement about it. We lined up to get our one day USAT racing license and pick up our timing chip and swag bags as Tammy and Peter hung on to our bikes. Afterwards we wandered around the expo and purchased some things while we waited for athlete race briefing. At the briefing they went over the rules and courses and then hit us with "There won't be any racked T1 and T2 bags or a changing tent, you'll have your own transition area". Typically at Ironman races you place your biking gear into one bag and your running gear into another bag and they're hung on racks in the transition area. As you finish one element of the race you run into transition, grab the appropriate bag and head to the changing tent to put on your gear on and head out to the next element. Now we would have to have everything set up at our spot where our bikes would be. No big deal other than I didn't bring my transition bag because I didn't think I'd need it. I wasn't happy but I'd make do. We were then told that the athletes that wanted to wear wetsuits would be moved out of their original waves and placed into a "wetsuit wave" which would start at the end of all the waves. Swimming is not my strength so I opted to wear one as did Justin even though I didn't think he needed to because he's a very good swimmer but it would be neat to start together. This moved me from a 7:08 am start and Justin from a 7:20 am start to a 7:48 am start. We left the expo and headed over to where the transition area was so we could drop off our bikes. Even though the area was supposed to be open at 10:00 am it didn't open till around noon and there was a nice sized crowd going in. Apparently they were still setting up bikes racks. Really? The day before the race and the bikes racks weren't ready? Well it gets worse. During the night they had to move some racks around so they removed the bikes from them, moved the racks and replaced the bikes. Only they lost one lady's bike. Oh my God! I would have been livid. I'd have gone ballistic. I don't know if they found her bike or if she managed to get her race in but I can't imagine being in her situation. After dropping off our bikes the rest of the day was spent just wandering around a bit and then relaxing back at the house. Race Day. I slept surprisingly well considering and woke up at 3:50 am raring to go. Now for those of you that know me well you know that nutrition is not my forte but it was on my mind the whole week leading up to race day. I'd carbo-loaded on Wednesday and Thursday and had a light early dinner on Friday night and woke up with nutrition on my mind. I started hydrating right away and grabbed 2 cans of tomato juice for the drive in to Miami. Tomato juice is really high in electrolytes and I knew I would need a constant supply of them during the race so I wanted to get an early boost. The drive in was pretty quick considering the time of morning and we lucked out and found parking no more than 100 m from the transition area. We got all our gear and bikes together and headed to transition. The atmosphere was electric, there was music blaring and hundreds of athletes converging which was getting me pumped and anxious to get the race under way. Justin and I split up and went to our transition spots and I was happy to see my bike waiting there for me. It was actually a great spot right on the end of a rack and great for getting in and out. I was just finishing a bottle of water so I grabbed a litre bottle of Powerade that I'd brought and continued to hydrate. I checked my tire pressure to make sure no air had leaked overnight and then started across transition to bring Justin the pump in case he needed it. His tires were fine so I handed the pump to Tammy to eventually throw back into the car and I headed back over to my spot. Tammy wandered over to the fence which was 1 rack behind me and I started setting up my shoes, some gels, my sun glasses, towels and helmet and filling my bottles and bento box (nutrition carrier on my bike). I filled my front aero bottle with a Hammer nutrition mix and Powerade in my 2 rear bottles. My original plan was to only fill my one front aero bottle and resupply at the 1st aid station with a couple of bottles but I decided to start with as much as I could carry from the get go. I talked with Tammy a little and a bit later Justin found his way over to use the port-o-potties that were close to my spot. We were all being kicked out of transition at 6:40 am so we agreed to meet at a spot outside transition at 6:40. I eventually grabbed my wetsuit and headed out to the meeting spot and when Justin arrived we made our way to the swim start. We had an hour to kill, we hydrated some more and split a Clif bar and the time went quick. We got in to our suits and made our way to the starting area which was unique. It was a dock that ran parallel to the shore with swim entry being at one end, the swim course was a big loop out and around to the opposite end of the dock where the swim exit was. The start was a water start and entry into the water was not exactly by choice. It was a 5 foot drop from the dock to the water and when you'd worked your way to the dock edge you were grabbed and tossed in. How nice. These guys had no regard for wether you'd land on someone that had just been thrown in, they just grabbed and pushed you off the edge. Well not me. I got to the edge and threw myself in off to the side where I wouldn't do or encounter any damage. I started swimming towards the start line keeping my eyes open for Justin and when I saw him I waved him over towards me and we treaded water and waited for the horn. We gave each other the thumbs up, the horn went and it was on. The water churned, bodies crashed into each other and arms were flailing. I wanted to start at a pace that wouldn't tire me out and that I could reasonably maintain for the whole swim. I approached the first buoy and made the turn and headed for the long "out" portion of the swim. I was feeling good and had settled in but everytime I looked up to sight for a sighting bouy there weren't any. I swam in the direction I thought was correct but I think I veered out too far before I realized it and adjusted my direction. My biggest problem was keeping in a straight line because there were no sighting buoys on the whole course, only turn buoys and the turn buoys were tiny. They were the size of what the sighting buoys normally are. So here I was swimming and searching for this tiny buoy about 800 m away. 800 METRES away! I just followed other swimmers and hoped they were going in the right direction. I finally caught a glimpse of it and headed for it. I made the turn and realized I had the same dilema, the next buoy was 800 m away. At that point I decided to use the support kayaks as my markers so I found one and kept it in sight and to my left and swam till I could find another one to mark on. I soon realized that this kayaker was slowly moving across my path from left to right and in using him as my marker I was swimming at about a 45 degree angle from where I wanted to go. Why would he be moving at all? He wasn't rushing to anybody's aid and I here I was following him. I reset my sights, found another swimmer and started following him. After a while I caught sight of a red object and aimed for it. It wasn't the buoy, it was a red cap on a swimmer but a couple of minutes later I did see the buoy and made a beeline for it all the while cursing the the ridiculous course setup and markings or more appropriately, lack of markings. I made the buoy and turned and headed for the dock. I reached it a few minutes later and was set to make my way up the temporary steps that they'd placed leading down from the dock except ..... there were no steps down where our feet were, they ended about 6 inches below the top of the water and stopped. Come on, give us a break, really? They couldn't have extended them another 4-5 steps? So here we were pulling ourselves up out of the water onto the steps before being able to stand up. I got up and trotted up the steps and checked my time and ..... yuck, 53 minutes. What the heck happened? I know I swam in the wrong direction a couple of times but this was slow. Well I heard later that there was a pretty strong current on one of the longer stretches of the swim and also that the course may have been mis-marked, that it was likely longer than it should have been. I found out later that Justin's time was slower than normal as well so I didn't feel as bad for mine. I ran to transition, found my spot and stripped off my wetsuit. I put on my bike shoes, helmet, sunglasses and grabbed my bike and headed for the exit to start my ride. The bike course had been changed from its original layout and now included a total of 46 turns so any thoughts of maintaining a high average speed went out the window. The first 20+ km were uneventful, my legs felt good and I was able keep up a decent pace. I was drinking plenty and went through my aero bottle drink and refilled it with one of the bottles in my rear carrier. It was my plan to eat half a Clif bar every half hour and I did so at around the 18 km point. Everything seemed to be going well and I was feeling pretty good as I approached the first of 3 aid stations on the bike course at km 24. I threw away my empty water bottle and yelled for a bottle of Perform, the sport drink they were using for the race, and a volunteer held one up for me to grab as I rode by. I yelled my thanks to him, slapped it into the bottle carrier and continued. That was pretty much the last thing to go right for the rest of the race. I continued following my nutrition plan; half a Clif bar every 30 minutes, a bottle and a half of fluids to replenish electrolytes every 30 minutes, a salt tab every hour. I made my way towards the second aid station and turn around point. At around km 48 I started keeping my eyes open for the second aid station. It was hot and I'd gone though 2 more bottles and needed to resupply soon. I got to the turn around spot but didn't notice any aid station there or leading up to the turn around. There were a bunch of volunteers about 100 m before the turn around but no water or Perform or even a table setup anywhere. After a few more km I pulled up beside another rider and asked if they'd seen aid station #2 and they told me it was just before turn around. HUH? Ya, that group of volunteers. They'd run out of everything, water, Perform, gels. Well I'd have to stock up at the last one then. I drank my remaining bottle slowly to make it last but this was not good. I'd now turned into the wind and it was tougher going as well so I was starting to work harder. I'd averaged about 32.5 km/hr on the way out to turn around but now I was going at around 27-28 km/hr. At around 55 km I took a look at my arms and shoulders and they should have been drenched in sweat but instead they were barely moist. Not a good thing, not good at all. On top of that I didn't have to pee and by this point I should have been. Again, not good. Aid station #3 was at km 72 and as I approached I was really ready to load up with a couple of bottles of Perform. I needed electrolytes badly. I pulled up and there was a crowd of cyclists stopped which seemed strange and a volunteer extended a cup of water in my direction. I yelled for Perform but all I saw were a series of arms reaching out and offering cups of water. What was I supposed to do with cups? I was steamed. I was livid. And I was concerned. I'd ridden the last 22 km nursing 1 bottle of Powerade I'd luckily added to my carrier this morning and I still had another 18 km to go to transition. I stormed away and headed on the last stretch. At 78 km I caught Justin. I yelled "78 km baby" and asked how he was feeling but didn't really hear what he said because I sped away. 12 km later I was jumping off my bike and running into transition to my spot where I racked my bike, took off my helmet and shoes and pulled on my runners. Tammy was at the fence and I yelled that they'd run out of fluids on the course and I felt done. She threw me her bottle of water but the rules didn't allow outside aid so I left it but I had a bit of Powerade left over in a bottle at my spot and I drank it. I ran to the exit and began my run and there was an aid station just outside transition so I grabbed a couple of cups of water and downed them. It was a short stretch to a quick turn around and back in front of the transition area and through the same aid station. This time I grabbed 2 cups of Perform and downed them. Now it didn't click at the time but I later realized the cups were filled with ice and the amount of Perform in the cup was minimal. I assume now that they were low and were rationing it. I headed out towards "THE BRIDGE" and I was feeling really good so I took a quick look at my watch and saw that I was running faster than I wanted to be so I slowed down a bit. The good feeling was about to end. I got to "THE BRIDGE" and started my first of 8 x 500 m long ascents I'd have to do on the run. I was doing good till I got near the top and that's when my right quad and hamstring went into all out cramping. I stopped dead and grabbed my leg and started trying to massage the cramp out but it wasn't working. I worked it for about 5-6 minutes but every time I straightened up and took a step it just kept cramping and hurt like hell. I thought I was finished. I was ready to stop and limp back and DNF. What the hell, where did that come from? DNF because of a cramp? No way. I stretched it out and eventually the cramp stopped and I headed down the other side of the bridge. It hurt but at least wasn't cramping. I came around to aid station #2 and I was really ready ,for some Perform but what I found was one volunteer with a bucket of water, no Perform and a group of athletes grabbing cups and filling them by themselves out of the bucket. I scrounged 2 cups, filled them and left pissed and in pain to face ascent #2 on "THE BRIDGE". I made it up fine and down the other side and came around to aid station #3 where I was able to grab a cup of ice with a touch of Perform in it as well as scoring a bottle of water. I held on to that bottle for the rest of the race and kept filling it with water from cups whenever I could. I got to the turn around and made my way back to the "THE BRIDGE" for my 3rd climb, the last one I'd do running because when I came around for the 4th time both my calves cramped. I stopped for a couple of minutes and stretched them out and began walking up. By now I was pretty much out of electrolytes and pretty dehydrated and nothing I could have done could have corrected things. I was getting cups of water but what little Perform I found was in ice filled cups so I really wasn't getting any electrolytes. At the top I started into a run and descended, came around in front of transition and began the second run loop. Back around to "THE BRIDGE" for the 5th climb and my calves and quads and one hamstring all cramped. I walked that climb as well as the 6th, 7th and 8th times but I was determined to run the rest of the course which I did albeit much slower than normal. I came down the last 500 m in pain but running and as I turned into the finish line chute I wanted to finish strong so I tried to put on a little spurt of speed. Well just at that moment both my calves cramped and I nearly did a header but I caught myself and crossed the finish line. I'd done it. It was brutal but I'd finished. I was enraged with the organization but that anger was one of the things that kept me going. I was damned if I was going to let the race organizer's incompetence prevent me from finishing the race. There was no way I would stop, I'd crawl to the finish if I had to. I wasn't about to disappoint all the people who'd supported and encouraged me. Tammy had put up with months of my training and I wasn't going to let her down. Chris had coached and helped me with my nutrition and he, Justin and I had trained together for months and I wasn't about to disappoint them either. But mostly I'm a stubborn old goat and whereas "Pain is Temporary, Quitting Lasts Forever". I waited at the finish line for Justin and about 5 minutes later he crossed in a burst of speed with a big smile on his face. We gave each other high tens and hugged and turned to try and find Tammy and his dad but before I knew it Tammy was right there with a kiss and a hug. A few minutes later though I began feeling light headed and nauseous and I new I should get my butt to the medical tent. They lay me down and took my vitals and brought over an IV but I hadn't told anyone where I'd gone so I got up to go find Tammy to tell her. I found her and started feeling the same so I made my way back to the tent and lay down again. They would have given me the IV but said if I wasn't throwing up I should just start drinking plenty to rehydrate and I started downing bottles of water. I started feeling better and got up to get something to eat and then made my way to transition to pack up. While the race was organized horrendously I was proud that both Justin and I were able to deal with everything and finish it. Big thanks to my training buddies Chris and Justin and especially to Tammy for all her support and encouragement throughout my training.
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