15:13:46
This was a race that was all mental for me. I was never able to swim, ride or run at what I knew I was capable of, which was very frustrating. Some times it was due to other people like during the swim, but mostly it was due to me not being able to buckle down, focus, and just hold the pace like during the ride and run. Overall though I felt I really did learn a lot about how I handle long races and what I need to work on.
My race started at 4am. I got up and had a full breakfast: pancakes, eggs and hash browns with extra salt. I got to the terrace around 5:30am pumped up my tires, said hi to Jim Kaiser at body marking and went off to check my bags. I then got in a very long line for the bathroom, I donned my wetsuit at 6:30 and quickly made my way down to the swim start. As I was about to get in the water I realized I still had my glasses on; in my mind I had put them in my T1 bag. I had to wind through the throng of athletes back to the glasses table. The glasses issue settled I got back in line and inched toward the water ever so slowly. The cannon went off for the pros. I finally got to the water and as I jumped in the cannon for age groupers went off. I had a goal for this swim of sub 1hr and to beat the family record for an IM Wisconsin swim of 49th overall but I had started way at the back of the pack and practically 5 feet from shore. I’d start to approach my goal pace but as soon as I did I’d find a wall of slow swimmers blocking me from every direction. It kept happening all the way around the first loop, I kept telling myself I would soon find clean water but I looked at my watch as I began the second loop; it said 48 minutes! I could not believe it. I was furious. I was determined to do the second lap faster. I got aggressive, and I stopped being nice. If someone was in my way, and swimming slower they could move out of the way or get run over! Unfortunately I only had limited success, I still had a lot of slower swimmers in my way, It was only on the back side of the swim course that I finally found clean water and could crank up the pace. It was a frustrating swim because it was SO much slower than anything I’m used to. I was ready to go Sub 1:30/100m, I ended up with a 2:08/100m.
I got out of the water and ran to the wetsuit strippers. Those guys were quick, before I knew it I was on my feet wetsuit in hand, running up the helix. I got to the top at realized I forgot my glasses, so I sprinted back down to the glasses table, the back up again and into transition. I got into transition and as I was putting my jersey on all my gels, and bars spilled out all over the place. I picked them all up and reorganized, soon I was running out of Monona terrace. My bike was all the way by the exit so I ran as fast as I dared in my cycling shoes down to the end of parking lot, grabbed my bike, ran a few strides to the mount line and down the helix I went.
Bike Madison to Mt. Horeb:
The first 30 miles of the bike could be considered conservative. I couldn’t shake the feeling that if I tried to pass, a marshal would come up and get me for drafting. I should have been aggressive, then I would have been up with people who were going closer to my goal pace. Instead for some reason I just decided to stay calm, keep the heart rate low, and just cruise for a bit. I don’t know why but I just was not in a rush to get the bike over. Unfortunately the “cruise for just a bit” turned into the whole bike. I wanted to save my legs for the last loop of the bike and the run but I should have just gone for it from the first pedal stroke. I might have ended up with a bike split closer to my usual pace for the bike course of 6:15.
I knew that my best opportunity for speed was during the first part of the loop, but I just couldn’t get myself to take advantage of the first of the two flat spots on the course. As I approached Mount Horeb I knew I had to prepare for the hilliest section of the course. I inventoried my bottles, and food. I swapped bottles and was good to go. I came through Mt. Horeb and headed for the hills.
Bike Mt. Horeb to Cross Plains:
I actually surprised myself in this section. The hills from witty rd to the bottom of garfoot rd usually are the slowest part of the course but I flew up and down those hills. On the downs I would pedal until I got up to 40mph then use that momentum to fly up the next hill, it worked extremely well, and I started to pass lots of people. It was amazing, everyone would be grinding up these hills and I would just fly by them and still doing about 18mph by the time I reached the top. I realized that I needed to make up serious time and I would have to push even harder if I was going to make up for my super slow beginning. Garfoot rd was the fastest part of the loop for me, and I took the down hills as fast as I could safely go and still corner.
I tried to remember the advice Thor wrote about staying smooth and steady but I just needed to blast the hills to make up time. I rode the second flat section into cross plains at about 20 mph, took some salt, a few gels, and some Gatorade I got from the aid station in Cross Plains. As soon as the Gatorade hit my stomach I had stomach problems. I would have stomach problems until the return trip to Madison. I came into the cross plains aid station and did my first bottle swap.
Bike Cross Plains to Verona:
I knew the big hills after cross plains would be a challenge, and that I would be slow. It was really great to have everyone lining the road and cheering. As I went up the second big hill this Italian guy started running along side and screaming Forza, Forza, Forza!!! It was great. I finally got to the top of the second hill and thoroughly enjoyed the super steep down hill south of mineral point road, I hit 46mph on that! I had one more hill to tackle before coming into Verona. I kept trying to take in nutrition, but the only thing my stomach could handle was Gu and water. I doubled my sodium intake to make up for not being able to handle a sports drink, the water and salt did work well. I stopped for a quick bathroom break and I was off to begin the second loop.
The second loop was more of the same with the exception that from Verona to Mt Horeb was into a headwind. I was kicking myself for taking it easy during the first loop because the wind was strong enough to keep me at around 14mph. It was around this time that I started to force myself to eat, I knew that I needed to take in as many calories as I could before the run, during the second loop I managed 4 gels. I had planned on taking much more nutrition during the bike but I ended up about 2000Cals, below where I wanted to be. From Mt. Horeb to Verona I was slow. My knees had begun to ache and I was worried about saving them for the run. Going back to Madison was great I was excited to get to the run, but I was hungry!
Going up the helix was cool, I got to see my family as I went up. I think I scared a volunteer though, because when I came screaming up to the dismount line the poor guy was getting ready to dive out of the way! I hoped off the bike and ran into T2.
I came out of T2 and ran down to the first part of state street, right then I saw the first Male come flying up the road!! As soon as everyone saw him there was this huge roar from the crowd. It gave a good boost!! My goal for the first lap was to get calories I focused on keeping my Heart rate low enough that I could take in enough calories to get me to at least 13 miles. For the first couple of aid stations I ate every solid food they had. My stomach was tolerating it well, and I finally had some energy. The first lap of the run was great everyone kept shouting that I looked really strong, and it spurned me on keep my pace up.
I had never run some of the streets it went on so it was great to discover some new roads! One of the most memorable parts of the run course was at the bottom of state street. Everyone was there and It was so crowded! I heard the music and I upped my pace, I saw my family again and soon I was running along the lake.
For me this was the hardest section of the course, there were no fans, no music, nothing to feed off of except your own determination to keep moving forward. I passed the big ford sign by the hospital, some anonymous person kept putting up these crazy messages for me to see, and a few of them really cracked me up!! Soon I was heading away from the lake and back to downtown. It was going slowly but at least I was moving forward. Soon I was by the capital and as got close to the turn around I saw Kaiser’s parents, DW and a few other family members of LITers cheering for me!! I rounded the turn around and headed out for the second loop. I was starting to run out of energy again, I tried the caffeine gels, and coke but I’d start feeling like I could pick up the pace and then I’d have no energy again. The second loop was a war of attrition, my body just didn’t want to run anymore. I’d try to run and as soon as my focus would slip just a little bit I’d find myself walking again! I know it was a mental problem because I could run, but I couldn’t concentrate; it was frustrating! Slowly I made my way to the turnaround at the bottom of state street. This time there was no sprinting to the music, just a slow jog.
By this time it was dark and I was so relived when I got to the aid station by the lake! They had bright lights, and 60s music, and go go dancers, it was a hippy themed aid station, and going through there lifted my spirits! As soon as I was out of the aid station it was dark again. The rest of the loop was spent running to the lighted areas, that meant aid stations and people! As I came by the ford sign I heard “oh, hey! that’s Derrick!!” I turned around and it was a friend I had not expected to see out volunteering. I said a quick hello and got back to the business of moving forward.
At this time it started to rain. It was dark, Cold, and raining, but it wasn’t going to stop me from finishing. By now my the run was reduced to a medium fast walk. I really wanted to run but I just could not concentrate enough to do it. I finally came to state street and as I came around that capital, I heard Hey Rambler!!, It was LRR!! That was totally unexpected, I had figured everyone would have been in their hotel rooms by then! It was great to see him, and the quick hello shook me out of my tunnel vision march to the finish, and I realized hey, I’m going to finish this thing! Soon I was at the top of the hill, then I was by the drop bags, I started to get excited, I see the finishing chute and the next thing I know I’m sprinting down the chute feeling like I could do another marathon. I kept thinking where did this come from! I can’t believe it I’m finally running!!! The next I knew Wipaddler was hanging a medal around my neck, and I was being ushered out the back to get my photo taken and get some food. It was over so quickly, that last loop felt like an eternity, and as soon as I rounded the last corner it seemed like I blinked and was at the finish line.
After I got some food my next thought was I can do this much better next time!!
