Ironman Wisconsin: Race Report

There is a lot to unpack from my race this past weekend, so get ready for a long read!

Finish time: 10:00:33    /    5^th place age group    /   51^st overall (including Pros)

Overall, I cannot believe my own performance. I hit every goal except for improved swim time, but I’ll dig into that later. The weather was perfect and favored some very fast times. I didn’t think I would be in contention for a Kona slot this race. It turned out that 3^rd place got a rolldown, and I was 36s behind him. A tough one for me to swallow, but it's additional motivation going into Ironman Louisville this October.

Race morning:

I learned from my race last year that I needed to get to the start sooner to self-seed for the swim. I arrived with plenty of time, but the gates opened up on the opposite side. I was boxed out from the faster swim groups and ended up starting with athletes closer to a 1:30 projected swim time instead of 1:05. With a few hundred slower swimmers seeded in front of me, I knew my swim was going to be affected.

Swim: 1:06:17 (115^th overall)

As I mentioned earlier, my swim time was affected by the poorly designed self-seeding. Aside from that, I thought I had a great swim under tough water conditions. With 2ft waves and slower swimmers in front of me, sighting was extremely difficult, and I accidentally swam to an orange kayak at one point.  Overall, I’m happy with that swim and know I can do better when properly seeded.

T1: 5:44

First transition is always long at IMWI with the parking garage helix. Looking through other T1 times, I was one of the fastest athletes through transition. Unfortunately, my bike was on the first rack in a 200 meter long transition area, so I had a long way to run with it. Last year, I opted to carry my shoes to my bike and put them on there. This year, I ran with my shoes and bike until I was closer to the mount line, leaned the bike against a garbage can and slipped my shoes on. This was a huge time savings since IMWI doesn’t allow flying mounts unless you are a pro.

Bike: 5:30:14 (83^rd overall)

This was where I put most of my focus all summer.  I interval trained to simulate hills and did everything I could to get my strength up and hit higher speeds. I went out a little strong at the start, but even by mile 40 I was still feeling fresh. It was also at that time that I discovered I was 5^th in my division! With that boost, I kept pushing and wouldn’t back off. Around 70 miles the hills started taxing my legs and started to become a concern for the run. I backed off slightly and just tried to maintain my goal of 20mph. The last 5 miles I backed off even more to prepare for the run and was very satisfied with almost breaking the 5:30 mark.

T2: 2:48

Once again, the flying dismount came in handy running barefoot and not removing shoes in transition. Something I hadn’t experienced before was lower back tightness and I couldn’t run. I did an awkward speed walk to the changing tent, got my shoes on and speed walked out until my back loosened.

Run: 3:15:30 (51^st overall)

Usually my time to shine is the run, but I had struggled the past 2 years running a 3:47 both times. Despite knowing not to go out too fast, I clocked back to back 6:45 min/miles out of the gate. I ran the first 8 miles around a 7:00 avg and knew I needed to back off to avoid walking. Once I calmed myself down, I tried to hold 7:45. Several times my legs started to lock up and I thought I was done. Each time, I pushed through and focused on form until they loosened. I finished the first half in 1:35 and knew I was well ahead of pace. As everything was starting to shutdown on me, I looked to Red bull and bananas at the aid stations. I also focused on getting to my family and other high energy places on course. My parents did not disappoint wearing an inflatable ostrich costume as well as my brother in his batman footy pajamas. Even though they barely got a smirk from me, it pulled me away from those dark places.  My last focus was to get within 5k of the finish and push it from there. It wasn’t until 1.5 miles out that I boosted my pace, and my last mile was around a 6:40.

Finish: 10:00:33

It’s amazing how much pain we are willing to put ourselves through. It’s even more amazing how all the pain melts away as that finish line comes into view. After the race I saw my final time and 5^th place age group. As friends and family surrounded me, I just broke down at the accomplishment and being with those who supported me through the entire journey. I wasn’t expecting to qualify for Kona at this race, but to come that close makes me that much more hungry for Ironman Louisville.