The Race
Monday, November 15th, 2010
Starting off, it was COLD. Like 34 degrees for air temp. The water was warmer (65 deg or so.) The swim was not staggered, which made it quite crowded. I probably underestimated my swimming a bit, and should have worked to be closer to the front. It was very crowded (they didn’t do wave starts or anything) and lots of people were swimming on top of one another. Last year – the swim was a breeze, and only took me about 25 minutes. I was expecting the swim this year to be about an hour. Turns out, the current was either neutral or a little bit against us. The swim wasn’t too difficult, but it did take about an hour and twenty minutes, and I certainly got out a bit more tired than expected.
The run from the swim to the bike was cold – and I didn’t do well in T1. My number was safety pinned to my bike jersey, but was kind of messed up, so I lost valuable time having to redo that. All in all though, I got on the bike feeling very good.
Got out pretty quick, and after about 30 minutes I got into my rhythm. I ate a cliff bar, had some gu, and generally tried to settle in and get comfortable. That’s when I realized that my handle bars seemed to be just a touch off of alignment. It wasn’t a big deal, but it was hurting my back a bit on the right side from having to reach that much further. Unfortunately, the problem got worse, and pretty soon my handle bars were at least 15 degrees off center. I stopped, and straightened them, but was worried the whole time (of course, I brought everything to change a tire, and not an allen wrench.) The first rest stop didn’t have a wrench, but at the second rest stop one of the other bikers lent me one. Handle bars tightened, I was ready to roll.
A quick word about the rest stops, for folks who are unfamiliar with long, endurance events. They are spaced every 20 miles or so, and have water, Heed, gel packs and other necessities.
The other challenge I had on the bike was that my back was extremely tight, and I was having real trouble getting in to the aero position. For most of the ride, I was sitting up pretty straight, which is a problem any time, but especially with the stiff head wind we had. Riding into that wind really took it out of me.
After about 4 hours, we finally had the wind to our backs, and the last 50 miles or so was a cruise. I was tired though, much more so than I really expected. My legs started to cramp up with about 10 miles left, which had me a bit worried (doing a marathon on cramped legs would be tough.) I made it into the second transition area feel pretty good, and started out onto what one of the racers dubbed the Ironman Shuffle (because you’re barely picking up your feet.)
The run course was identical to last year, which was nice. I started to feel pretty good as my legs loosened up a little bit. The run was basically a 6.5 mile out-and-back done twice which meant 4 trips over a very tall bridge. Once I got the first 6.5mi under my belt, I had no doubt that I was going to be able to complete the course, it was just a matter of how long it was going to take. On the way back, I still felt pretty good, and was keeping a pretty good pace, only walking at the aid stations each mile. I made it back to the battleship, and then had to turn around and do it all over again.
By the beginning of the second lap, things were starting to fall apart. My pace was definitely slowing, and although I had stayed hydrated, I was simply exhausted. This was about 11hrs into the day. I was really looking forward to running past my fan crew, camped out front of Lara’s place. I was also able to talk Louise into running with me – she did the last 9 miles with me which was absolutely awesome! Having her really helped take my mind off the pain and exhaustion. After that, it was really just a matter of sucking it up, putting one foot in front of the other, and keeping going.
Needless to say, crossing the finish line I was elated. The announcer even commented, “Crossing the finish line, with a huge smile on his face, Erik Severinghaus from Chicago, IL.” AMAZING.
I have some more thoughts that I’ll write up in the next couple days. A huge thank you to all who were cheering for me. Knowing that so many people were rooting for me was a huge source of energy. Major thanks to the volunteers who work a LONG day supporting us. I’m glad to be an Ironman!
Tags: beach to battleship, ironman, triathlon | Posted in ironman | 1 Comment »
