Lake Tahoe Ironman

Lake Tahoe race report
September 23, 2013

“It was colder than…”

Why? Who knows? I have not been able to successfully answer that question.

My friend Mark Casey was hot on doing Ironman and him and Heidi decided to do that. Somehow I got sucked along.

Also I have a lot of stuff going on including starting a new business, which takes up a lot of time, so this would force me to be efficient. In the past when I throw an Ironman into the mix of the most busiest life circumstances, somehow it all gets done and I ended up being very much more productive

I also wanted to see what I can accomplish. I was not happy with the results of St. George two years ago and wanted to see myself improve.

My goal was to get through the race clean and then add speed and potentially of Kona qualifier in Ironman CDA next June as I would race as a 55-year-old.

Reviewing my records indicated that I did better under the Supervision of a coach so I had hired one and stuck to about 75% of the recommended treatment plan.

My summer of racing had many personal best in it so I was most Confident that I could do well.

The training

Lots of riding lots of running lots of bike fixing lots of time. Lots of discussions over speed, heart rate, time and strategy. Too many donuts and too many buffets!

I felt like I was totally ready and formulated a nutrition plan to avoid the catastrophes of the past.

Mark, my daughter Tiffany and I loaded up into our RV and headed south. We picked up Heidi on Friday morning as she flew down.

Pre-race conditions

Lake Tahoe is probably one of the prettiest places that I know. I was very excited after I got in the water for the first swim and saw how unbelievably clear the water was. I was concerned with what I had heard about breathing through a straw on the swim. All I noticed is that I breathe a little deeper and the swim felt the same as the lake I train on during the summers.

When we got down there it was 80, clear and sunny. By race day it was thunder storming and the temperature had dropped into the mid-20s.

Taking an RV down to Tahoe was a good decision as we are able to stay overnight in the parking lot and get a very good pre-race nights sleep.

When we dropped off the bikes it was raining heavily. Most people put plastic bags over their seats in the handlebars, which I thought was kind of funny. Mark and Heidi’s scrounged up a plastic bag for me which I opted put over my handlebars and not on my seat. When I arrived at my bike on race morning there was ice on the top of my seat. I snapped it with my finger figuring that would flick off but it simply remains there. I said to myself, “self, that’s interesting.”

The swim

I love the new rolling start that Ironman has implemented. Heidi and I got in the water right at the end of the group that expected a 1:20 swim. There was not the usual kicks to get head and thrashing. My goggles got a little messed up so I had to stop and fix my goggles several times. I was regretting not listening to Mark tell me that I should have gotten a new pair while we were browsing the Ironman merchandise on Friday.

I was hoping that he was not right and I was going to have to deal with leaky goggles through the entire race. I got them straightened out and proceeded on my swim and very much enjoyed it.

My swim time was 1:27, I am happy plenty enough considering the elevation and the delay fixing my goggles.

The ride

Coming into the first transition was mayhem. The tents were very crowded. I opted to change outside the tent which meant I was standing outside nearly naked in a wet tri shorts, trying to change my clothes in 26° temperatures. By time I got on my bike I was already shivering deeply. My bones were cold. Very, very cold.

There is a difference between it’s cold and being cold. Being cold means your core temperature is in danger. I felt like is very much in danger. With in just a few minutes my hands and feet were already numb.

How cold was it you may ask?

I heard my dad say one time that he said the dog out to go pee in Wisconsin and he had a go outside and chop Him loose because his pee had frozen mid stream… It felt colder than that.

I went skiing in Canada one time and the temperature was about 22 below zero. It felt colder than that!

The gel in my seat had frozen solid and it felt like I was sitting on a frozen popsicle. I was afraid to lift my rear end off my seat fearing that my privates with have stuck to my seat like my tongue did to a steel light post when I was a kid.

There were some benefits. The seat made my butt go numb so I was not at all uncomfortable sitting on it.

The interesting conversation of the day came with the lady from Los Angeles who was impressed that her pee did not run down her leg presuming that she thought it froze before it got there.

I told her that I found out that it warms up my foot for a little while until the windchill takes over and then makes it free solid

I was very concerned about Heidi on the bike portion knowing that she does not do well in cold. I was speculating I should have passed her early on in the ride but it took me in till mile 100 until I overtook her.

The ride course, however beautiful, was also extremely difficult.. I did my best to keep it my heart rate zone and ride my ride being conservative knowing that the day will be long.

I opted not to bring my computer so I didn’t know how fast I was riding. But Heidi told me that her ride time was six hours and 12 minutes at the 100 mile mark and she got on her bike faster than me, I just about died with discouragement.

The run

Heidi had chased me down at mile one and said, “Hey let’s run together! it’s not like we are going to qualify for Kona today.” I responded saying, “You got that right,” and then I tried to keep up with her. My heart rate quickly spiked before I realized that there was no way I could keep up with the running diva.

For the first 3 miles I felt like to meet on my legs was tearing off the bone. My knees started to hurt going up the last bike climb and when I got on the run the pain was nearly excruciating. I was reduced to a shuffle by mile three and very discouraged to see so many 50-year-olds passing me up. It was not supposed to be that way, I was supposed to be running 8:30s to 8:40s. For a while there I doubted my ability to finish the race. I did the best that I could do to keep running and keeping pace a reasonable. I needed to keep moving ahead picking them up and putting them down.

I saw Mark on the run course and at that time I was ahead of him, I actually thought that he was on his second lap and he thought that I was on my second as well.

Later I saw the running diva. She told me that I better get to work and get it done. Inside my head I laughed very loudly outside because I was already putting out as much as I possibly could and did not want to go on one step further. my mouth said, “yeah, okay…”

My nutrition plan held up as I did not break down, I was coherent, and even though I was slow and walking occasionally I was still able to keep pressing ahead, but since I only stuck to 75% of my training plan I finished at 75% of my goal.

Miles seemed like hours. It was cold, and I was miserable. I was discouraged and disappointed in how poorly my runtime have worked out. That was not my plan.

I mile 23 I said to myself, “self, I can either hurt walking or hurt running.” I decided that if I hurt running I would at least get it done faster resolved to not walk anymore, which I did not. When I did not stop to walk, I felt a little better.

I was very discouraged when I came down to finish his line it didn’t really want to look at anybody much less play with the crowd.

I do not know my run time, and I do not want to know as I am embarrassed over it.

Finishing time 13 hours and nine minutes

What did I learn?

My poor attitude is my worst enemy. When we went back to visit the finishers shortly before midnight they were a static that they were crossing the line. Not only am I a four-time Ironman but I finished before them and I am not happy about it. I need to learn how to put a smile on my face in all circumstances.

I do not want to go to Kona. I don’t understand why I would ruin a perfectly good trip to Hawaii by doing something as evidently excruciating as that ironman

Support is great, needed and greatly appreciated! My daughter Tiffany came with us and was supportive a all that we did by encouraging us, taking pictures, appreciating the opportunity to experience such a unique world. She countered my negativity and by race day we compromised by saying, “MAYBE we will make it to Kona.”

Race volunteers are supportive and encouraging. They tell you that you’re looking great looking strong and doing well! The wrong response is scowling back because you don’t feel very well. “No thank you” is a better response to a volunteer than, “I’m sick of this horse piss.”

My sister is also one of my greatest fans. Sometimes I feel obligated to keep going because if I fail I may disappoint them. They love Living my life through their eyes by my ability to get things done and write about it.

I have also gotten a lot of positive feedback from people who read my stories. That creates in me motivation to keep going so I can write more stories!

What’s next? To be determined……