by Tom Elliott
Editor’s note: Just one week after doing what you are about to read, Tom joined us at The Last Splash of Summer, and swam an excellent time! Truly an Ironman and truly a TWIMmer!
Ironman Wisconsin Recap
The cannon went off at 7 am. The swim went as expected. I’m a strong swimmer and finished the 2.4 mile swim in just over 58 minutes. I was 3rd in my age group at the time and 14th overall (of roughly 1,500 competitors). I Love the swim!
The 112 mile bike ride presented some challenges that I’m unaccustomed to. First, I just didn’t feel very good for the first 40 or so miles. Second, I was getting passed by more people than I had anticipated. Third, my heart rate monitor was definitely giving me a false reading so I didn’t really know how hard my heart was going. It was all frustrating, but I was still in the top 50 with many hours left.
Around the halfway mark of the ride I began to feel better and felt my pace quicken. My heart rate monitor started giving me data that made sense and I was only passed by roughly 10 more people (including a couple fast females) the rest of the ride. But three significant, all bad, things occurred as well.
First, I started getting a thigh cramp around mile 60. One I’ve never experienced. My hourly supplements would help but roughly 45 minutes after taking them they would return and each hour they came sooner and with more rigor. This was a nagging problem the rest of the race day.
Second was witnessing the passing of one of my race mates. At mile 70 of the bike I rode by as they were administering CPR. I heard an approaching ambulance and I hoped they could help him in time. That was the only information I had until long after I finished. RIP, Dax Bakken. I’ll forget a lot of the day’s details, but never this one. FYI, a GoFundMe fund has been set up to help his wife and daughter.
Third, I popped my chain around mile 90, I’m embarrassed to say. I actually had to get off my bike to fix it and the gears were all funky the rest of the way. The people I was riding around dropped me and I was passed by a couple more due to this issue.
I came off the bike in 5 hrs 46 minutes, which was 16 minutes slower than I wanted, and 31 minutes slower than I thought I was capable of. My average pace of 19.75 is slower than some of my long training rides. Not my best ride.
At that point I thought that my Kona chances were slim, but I was still following my game plan.
The run started OK, but I definitely didn’t feel as good as I had hoped. My first mile was right on pace, but my 2nd and 3rd slowed down. During the 4th mile is when it happened. I puked. A Lot. I watched what looked like 2 hours worth of water and calories empty my body. I decided right then to shut it down and began walking. I know from experience that it takes my body a month to recover when I race hard until the end, but only a week if I ‘chilled’ the rest of the way. I carry a water bottle with me so I began hydrating again. At aid stations I would drink every single, non-water, drink they had on offer, Gatorade and Coke and Red Bull to recoup some of the lost calories.
I tried some different things, like a walk/jog, to try to get some momentum back, but it never really happened. I started sweating again around mile 11 (I didn’t notice when I stopped, but not sweating is BAD!). The thigh cramping wasn’t feeling good. The only times I jogged continuously without walking was when I was downtown among the crowds, which brings me to fan support.
The fans were incredible. A couple hundred people were on the mile long steepest part of the bike course and they were LOUD. They were in costumes and had witty signs. The street was totally chalked up with motivations. One fan was playing Whip It (Devo) on a speaker and was in full costume, complete with the weird red hat and whip, and screaming WHIP IT!! I biked up this hill twice, 2 hours apart, and she was just as loud the second time as the first. She yelled that slogan more than 2,000 times. WHIP IT!!!The fans were sprinkled all over the run course, particularly downtown where it was hilly. I was in Wisconsin Badger territory and plenty of fans yelled GO Blue to me (and then say, “I can’t believe I just said that”.)
Yuko, Kaila, and Dad were all there and fabulous. Yuko mapped the bike course like a pro and saw me like 6 times on the bike course. I always rode a little faster when I would see them, and then have to slow down a little afterwards to catch my breath. Kaila had a megaphone which made her voice stand out. They had many signs. They created custom T-Shirts. I can’t wait to have the race of my dreams to qualify for Kona and make them proud. I just wish I knew if it would be in 2 month, 2 years, or maybe longer. Oops, I digress!
The miles ticked off. The coolest part of the run course is getting to run on the field of Camp Randall Stadium twice, where the Badgers play football. You take a lap of the field so you aren’t actually supposed to go on the field. During the second time in the stadium, I ran on the field around the 50, sprinted to the end zone, and yelled Touchdown! Ooooo! Once leaving the stadium, it took 2-3 minutes of walking for my heart rate to recover. Being a finisher athlete can be fun!
The miles continued to tick off and eventually my finish line strategy was formed. I mentally prepared to jog the last half mile, uphill, with no walking because the fans were thick and while my goal of getting a PR (10 hrs 11 min if you wanted to know, which on this day would have been good enough to get to Kona) was long gone, I had set a new time goal of 12 hrs 30 min a couple hours before (need goals to stay engaged) and jogging to the end would guarantee that goal.
I waited 14 years for this finish line and am grateful I got it. I celebrated to the line to finish in 12 hrs 23 min. My outward celebration was completely different than what I was feeling on the inside. All I wanted was good news about my race mate and was desperate to hear of any. My race day also didn’t go as planned. I see where I can make some significant improvements and gotta figure out what went wrong with my nutrition (Yuko and I think it might be because I ate breakfast at 4 am). Overall, a very very emotional day, but a day to be proud of.
What’s next? In 9 weeks I get to do this all over again in Tempe, Arizona!
What’s best is I have family there, it is a flat and fast course, and hey, if I don’t show up at the start line then someone else will get MY Kona slot!!
