Road to Ironman 2013

Dan Wilson

Ironman Arizona, Tempe

November 17, 2013

Well Ironman Arizona 2013 is in the books, but before I give you the rundown of my first Ironman race let’s go back a few weeks. It’s two weeks before the big race and I get this serious pain in my upper right abdominal area. I’ve had these gallbladder attacks before, but damn the timing! This one is the worst one ever so I go to the doc. The find a polyp and say the gallbladder has to come out. I know the last thing I wanted to ask him is am I okay to do an Ironman first? Anyway the pain subsided slowly over the next week and I decide I’m good to go, not worried a bit right?

So off we go to Tempe, the whole family packed up for a road trip! I think I’m going to barf! We are staying at the Old Town Scottsdale Marriott again, the same place we stayed last year when I volunteered to work the race. You see the only way you can get into Ironman Arizona is to volunteer for the race the prior year. Registration opens on-line around noon the Monday after the event and last year it sold out in 15 seconds. Volunteers get an early crack as on-site sales start early in the morning and volunteers get to line up first. Also if you are participating in the race you can sign up for the next year’s race on Saturday, which I did so I’m in for 2014 too.

We went to Ironman village Thursday morning to check in and get the various necessities like timing chip, swim cap, transition bags etc. We stayed and listened to the mandatory athlete briefing then went on our way. Oh one other important item is the blue wrist band, which I am still wearing. The wristband gets you entry into all the places you have to go to race, mainly the transition area. Anyway, when the volunteer went to attach my wristband there was no little tab to secure it to my wrist, so off he went. He returned with an unmarked wristband and proceeded to hand write my race number on it with a sharpie. More on this later. I think I’m going to barf!

No required Ironman activities on Friday so I drag the family out to drive the bike course. There were lots of people out riding the course. It’s too much exercise for me. I’m in full taper mode. Taper is trying to rest up before the race but not lose any fitness. I have planned an easy treadmill run later. The Phoenix zoo is right between Ironman village and the hotel, so we treat the kids to a few hours at the zoo. Saturday is the day you must drop off your bike and all the gear you will need to bike and run on race day, which means Friday night is the time to make last minute decisions on what goes on the bags. Most decisions were made before we left California, but this is another opportunity to stress out over it all again. I think I’m going to barf!

Saturday is also the day to for a practice swim. So I load up the bike and all my gear and we all head back down to Ironman village. First off is Iron kids. It’s a 1 mile run for charity that the kids can do. They finish right on the Ironman finish line and all get medals and shirts. They loved it. Next is the swim practice. Don the wetsuit, Ironman cap, goggles and timing chip and show your blue wristband and you gain entry to the lake. I save a new pair of my favorite goggles for the swim. Something about the factory anti-fog that works way better on a brand new pair. Problem is that for some reason they are leaking, so I swim a lap around the greatly shortened course, fusing with the goggles without success; they leak! Out of the water I try to find my daughter, Danielle, who has my stuff and on the second look through the crowd I find the whole crew staring out at the water looking for me, ha! I grab a used pair of goggles, I brought two of anything small, and back into the water for another lap. Perfect, no leaks and the second time in the water made me feel quite comfortable in the Tempe Town Lake. Time well spent! NO MORE do I think I’m going to barf for the rest of the trip. Saturday night we found an awesome Pho place called Noodle House, yummy! I slept really well that night – Amazing!

Up at 3:30 am race morning. The kids are staying with Danielle and her Mom “auntie” to the kids, so I am free to traipse around the suite making myself oatmeal and finishing off the 4-pack of Ensure that I had been working on all night. Each of the two times I awoke in the night I downed one, than drank two more in the morning. No eating after 5am. Tina and I head off at 5 to the village. Pretty much everything I was told about street closures and getting to the free parking was wrong, but we got there and only got honked at by city workers twice. First, I need to check my tires and make sure I remember where my bike is parked. Then exit transition and find Tina. Change into my wetsuit and grab my cap and goggles, kiss for good luck then back into transition to wait in line to enter the lake.

I’m in the lake and I swim to the spot in front that I had planned on. I’m treading water, completely relaxed, I’m ready to go. I have no idea what I am capable of at this point. I haven’t allowed my body to fully recover from training in two years. Stick to the plan I tell myself. I start the timer on my watch with exactly two minutes to go and drift forward. Ever listen to the Star Spangled Banner while treading water with 3000 people? Pretty cool. I take one last glimpse of my family. The cannon fires and I swim. It’s time to go to work. I don’t care how many times I get kicked or pushed under water, my arms and feet will not deviate from the stroke I have worked so hard on the past four years. I remember the turns going smooth, I was expecting a bit more thrashing as we rounded the turns, but the thrashing was the same. I remember breathing to the left and seeing Sun devil stadium and thought about driving by a couple of hours earlier. I think that was about the only time I wasn't thinking about swimming well and fast. I swim hard for an hour and it’s over. Piece of cake! Official time was 1:12 and change, but my watch tells me I swam an extra .4 miles swinging wide. 1:12 for a 3 mile swim is an awesome time!

I exit the water easily, since I had done it twice on Saturday. I am way too slow for the wetsuit strippers, good thing I’m wearing clothes under the wetsuit cause these volunteers aren’t wasting one second separating me and my wetsuit. Awesome! I run down the path wetsuit in hand and there is another volunteer holding my bike gear for me and off I head to the changing tent. Before I get to the tent I see some folding chairs and take a sit outside and put my gear on. Another volunteer says leave your junk in a pile, I’ll get it, DONE! Thanks!

I find my bike and wheel it to the far end of transition up to the mount line, jump on in full stride and off I go. For the first hour I keep slowing myself down because my power meter tells me I’m pushing too hard. Stick to the plan! You see if you bike too hard you won’t be able to run a marathon afterward and it takes a long time to walk a marathon. I do a fair job of sticking to the plan, but the weather is beautiful the scenery is new and my legs haven’t felt this strong on a long time. After having to stop at the porta-poty for the 2nd lap in a row I decided I was drinking too much. The volume and color were the clues and I backed off my intake of water to half of what I normally drink in practice. The third and final pee went in my sock, I did not need to stop again for the rest of Ironman. Near the end of the 2nd lap of the three required the pros start lapping me putting them at least and hour and 45 minutes ahead of me. The third trip out the Beeline highway was a little windy, but not bad at all. For a while I was pushing to maintain my effort, but not for long, my legs came back quickly and I was again focusing on not going too hard. You see a lot of different people on the ride and at the same time you ride all day with some of the same people all day. I brought all my own nutrition on the bike. I ate one 2x salt shot block every 10 minutes and had four cookies stashed in my shirt. I has two bottles of water on the bike at the start so I only had to get 4 or 5 water bottles from the aid stations. This saved time and kept me away from the chaos at the aid stations. I think the bike handling skills are below average in triathlon, making me very nervous around the other athletes when cornering and at the aid stations.. I average 20 MPH on the bike, almost exactly to plan; I am happy.

At the end of the bike there is another volunteer to take my bike and a few yards later another one hands me my run bag of gear. This is first class service. I feel like a pro. So fun! I repeat my fist transition and take a seat outside another volunteer tells me to leave my crap in a pile, unfortunately I forgot to tell her the socks may have some urine in them; sorry? I get a quick slathering of sunscreen from a volunteer who is obviously someone’s mom as she makes me wait and extra second to get some on my ears too; thanks!

I am so glad I “saved some” for the run. The run is where you really feel like a rock star. That is if you can run. There were lots of people in pain only a mile into the run. That is going to suck. But I’m actually slowing myself to 7 MPH for the first 10 miles. Stick to the plan. Running down miles of pavement lined with spectators shouting encouragement. I must have high fived a hundred people and my long grey goatee was mentioned more than a few times. “You are rocking that goatee Dan” some said. All in good fun. I smiled at a thousand strangers and they smiled back!

I had slowed to 6.5 MPH at the start of the second loop, no longer needing to hold back and I knew that rough times were coming. At this point I calculated I would still make my goal of a sub 4 hour marathon and arrive at the finish line at dusk. Around mile 18 I started to worry that I might sustain an injury or cramp up, so I started walking the aid stations and making sure to get some salty nutrition and not too much water. Nobody ever died in an endurance event from drinking too little, but a few have from drinking too much. You see if you dilute your electrolytes (salt) too much your nervous system goes haywire and it can be fatal. I’m not worried about that, but there are some that think it is also the cause of cramps. Anyway it’s time to start drinking a cup of coke at each aid station and ask for the chicken broth, but it’s still too early in the day for that.

I run between aid stations getting a coke, pretzels and soup at each mile. It’s dark and it’s a bit depressing on the last mile. A very lonely mile for me. I pass a few people walking. There was a guy out there sitting on the curb like a bum. He was sitting alone in the middle of the loneliest stretch of the race. He was no bum, obviously an athlete I could tell from his definition. One of the pros he must be I thought to myself. He said the turn to the finish was up ahead and I should start to hear the crowd in about 500 yards or so. Told me I looked strong and I’m almost done. The bad feelings ended right there; thanks man; whoever you are.

The quarter mile run down the finish chute was effortless, lined with thousands. Many of them begging for a high five, you cannot deny them. My smile stretches to both earlobes, I’m an Ironman, I wait to hear the words “Dan Wilson you are an Ironman.”

Immediately at the finish two volunteers are at my sides asking me how I am. I couldn’t shake them they were genuinely concerned, but I felt great. Luckily my family was there on the sideline and I was able to divert and get some hugs and kisses from the family. I remember telling them “Ironman is hard.”

Swim 1:12:34

Transition 0:6:17

Bike 5:42:15

Transition 0:3:54

Run 4:19:50

Total 11:24:50

So what now? Move the bar higher. Concentrate on weaknesses. Play on strengths. Do it better, faster, stronger and of course have more fun along the way.

Ah almost forgot about the blue wrist band. The hand written wrist band worked all weekend until it tried to get my bike back. You see you must retrieve your bike by midnight after the race. Guess what? The guy making sure no bikes get stolen from transition has never seen a hand written wristband. He asked if I would stand to the side while he made some calls. Sure, I’m good, I was thinking I would go for a run right? Dude I just did an Ironman how long you going make me stand here? Anyway they took my picture with my bike to give to the police if I was a thief and let me go. That was the only hiccup for the whole weekend, so I am definitely not complaining!

The family met for Mexican food beer and margaritas in old town Scottsdale. A good time was had by all. I really slept well. I was up early and packed up the car for everyone and even helped drive home.

Huge thanks to my support team. Number one is my wife Tina who is my personal nutritionist and fan club. Without your support, Tina, I could not have done it. Congratulations, you are an IronWife! My daughter Danielle and my ex Mary Anne for making the drive, entertaining the kinds and cheering me on. I makes a difference when you know people care enough to be at the finish line waiting on you. THANKYOU XOXOXXOX!