Ironman Cozumel - Post-Race Thoughts

Before

After
Iron Brothers!

If you've been keeping up with my blog, you know that normally I'd write a short play-by-play on the a race I just did.  However, this blog isn't my official race report for myself and I don't really want to write that up twice so I'll just give you a link to it.  I feel that, for this post, it's more appropriate to let you know how I feel about and what I've learned from training for and completing an Ironman.  I'm sure that most of you can go out and train your butts off to get to an Ironman finish line, but what makes Ironman special is different to each and every one of us. It's the "why" that really drives you through this, not so much for a finishers medal or simply to be called Ironman.  

Like I said, Ironman can be many things to many different people.  To me, it truly was a journey, to others, its a lifestyle.  At this point I don't know if I can or want to make a lifestyle of it.  Getting to the point that I can finish this race was a huge undertaking that with other things going on with my life and how I hope paths I choose lead me, I don't know if I can sustain it.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed every minute of it.  Thing is, I won't recommend nor dissuade anyone to do a race of this magnitude.  However, I do encourage you to at least once in your life do something that pushes you physically and mentally further than you had ever thought you've gone or will go.  If ironman is the vehicle you choose, great!  It will definitely satisfy that need to test your limits.  You'll learn so much about yourself you'll wonder if you ever knew yourself at all.  You'll learn about your physical and mental limits and how much you can push them.  You might learn some time management.  Put it this way, I work 40hrs a week, go to school and drive 80mi on Fridays in traffic to pick my son up from school, try to maintain my social life, all on top of an average of 14-15hrs a week training for ironman (often more than that!).  You might figure out what you really want in life, or what you don't want.  You learn who are those that mean the most to you.  Those are the people that stood by you along the way, cheered you on, encouraged you, and helped you when you were down.  They are the ones that supported you when things got rough, they loved you when you were mad at yourself, and they are the ones that gave you a reason to keep going.  

Marty on the run!

As you can see, its so much more than finishing a 140.6mi race.  The race itself is a celebration of everything you've gone through.  The journey is the tough part and the race is just you saying thank you to everyone close to you and also thanking yourself for not giving up during your journey.  As of right now, I'm happy its over and I don't really have plans to do it again in the near future.  Not that I don't want to (not that I do either!), but there are more important parts of my life that need my attention right now (family, school, etc.).  Its funny because I'm the type of athlete that wants to keep getting better, faster all the time, but with all the time thinking to myself during those long hours on the bike and sometimes on the run is when this hit me the most.  My mind doesn't wander much when I train, I'm mainly focused on the workout and what's going on at the moment.  I don't even listen to music!  But on those long rides and runs you just have no choice but to let your thoughts go elsewhere.  Go out for an 80, 90, or 100+ mile ride and you'll know what I'm talking about.  This is when your thoughts will go deep and you may figure lots of things out about yourself.


Training day in and day out really is the hard part.  You have to sacrifice a lot and if you don't warn family and friends about the upcoming months, they may just get mad at you for it.  But the race...oh my gosh, the race!  Even though training is the longest and toughest part of the journey, the race is so physically and mentally exhausting.  I have never sustained so much effort in my life and there were definitely some dark moments that I had a hard time getting out of.  If you remember from my last post that I have those that would eventually help me cross the finish line, without them I really think I would have kept falling into those dark moments during the race.  I'll admit, I almost quit.  Somewhere with 8mi left to go I was sitting down on the side of the road with my head in my hands.  But it really is amazing how much you can learn during training if you use your training time wisely and focus on all aspects of the race.  I knew that my son wanted me to finish (he asked if I got first place!), my parents wanted me to finish (alive), Marty and I of course wanted each other to finish (can't beat doing your first IM with your brother), and friends wanted me to finish (and watch me Gangnam Style it across the finish line, which I did and thank goodness there was no video of it!).  So yeah, not getting up to go another 8mi seemed like a really feeble Idea.  This really goes for anything in life, do what you do for a reason and you'll always find a way to accomplish your goals.  And make those reasons special, not something arbitrary like a medal or an M-dot tattoo.   

Get this bike away from me!

Ok, I can probably go on and on but I'm sure you don't have all day to dedicate to read my blog!  Thank you to everyone that read this and followed us on our journey to Ironman.  I think I may just keep up this blog for races that we do.  Oh yes, I will continue to race, just no Ironman for now!  Well, maybe you were expecting a race report, but I felt that this was meant more for my feelings, emotions, and experiences I've had during this whole thing. But if its a race report you want, here you have it, enjoy!  Until the next race!

Tim's IMCOZ Race Report

Us and the boys
Thanks for coming guys!

Nothing like a post-race Cuban
I didn't inhale I swear!

The All Too Short Moments Before Ironman Cozumel

Outside of our room

It all started Thanksgiving morning, packing our things and going over checklists to make sure we have everything.  Triathlons of any distance can be a little nerve wracking since there are so many things you'll need for the race, but Ironman is definitely more hectic.  There are some things you can forget for other races and it won't make a huge difference, however, Ironman is such a long race that one of your primary concerns is comfort throughout the day.  So, forgetting the little things like hats, sunblock, or Body Glide can make a pretty big difference in your race.  We made sure at least three times that we had all of that stuff packed away.  Before we knew it, it was time to head over to get Quinn.  We ended up leaving my car at his place and getting a ride from Dan to the airport.  I would have to say that leaving was pretty tough for me since I was still really nervous, but we said our goodbyes to Neda and Dan and headed off to our stop in Houston.  We ended up staying in a hotel that night since 12hrs in the airport didn't sound too fun!  Next morning, off to Cozumel!

Marty back there getting
his race packet

Friday over there was pretty crazy since we were mainly just figuring the place out.  After checking in and dropping off our bags we went to the expo, got our race materials, picked up our bikes from Tribike Transport (great service by the way) and headed back to the hotel.  I have to say, Ironman athletes are some funny people!  There were a lot of them at the hotel and most of them were wearing triathlon race clothes, bike jerseys, compression gear, you name it!  You can definitely tell them apart from the rest of the crowd.  Anyway, we went snorkeling that afternoon and it's pretty amazing how clear the water was, but it was my first time swimming in the ocean and it was really salty and took some getting used to!  Getting back to our room we started sorting out our race gear into the bags they provided us.  It's a completely new process to me since all of the shorter distance triathlons just have the athletes put all their gear next to their bike in transition.  For Ironman you have a bag for after the swim (T1), one for after the bike (T2), one each for during the bike and run called special needs bags (we didn't use them), and then one bag for before the race that you put your morning clothes in.  So yeah, that was another time going over checklists like 3 or 4 times!




Saturday morning we had to bring our bikes and T1 & T2 bags and drop it off at Chankanaab which is where the swim start and transition 1 was.  We had specific times that we were suppose to go, but went a little early anyway just in case it took long.  Good thing because they weren't checking if you were coming in at your scheduled time and we got there when it wasn't too busy.  I think we ended up finishing around 2 hours earlier than we were supposed to so we headed back to the hotel to enjoy the rest of the evening and TRY not to worry about the race in the morning.  It was nice and relaxing, which really wasn't hard to do at the resort we were at....c'mon, it's Mexico!  Later that night two more of our friends, Mark Garcia and Mark Kurosaki, arrived and we got them situated in their room and headed off to pasta dinner the resort put on for the Ironman competitors.  If you ever do an Ironman, make sure you stay at a host hotel since there will be extra things for you like pre-race pasta dinner and shuttles to the race in the morning...just lettin' ya know!

My bike ready in transition

Marty's bike all set

Dropping off
our T1 bags
at Chankanaab

After dinner we went back to our rooms and tried our best to sleep as early as possible.  I was afraid I wouldn't be able to sleep but I ended up getting enough.  We woke up at 3:30am and went to have breakfast (yeah, they had breakfast that early for the athletes!).  I estimate we took in about 1000 calories as I had planned to including 450 liquid calories...yum!  All we had left to do was get the last bit of gear we needed for the race and head over to the shuttle bus to get to Chankanaab.  It was very surreal being there!  I think it was about 12 or 13 years ago that I was introduced to what Ironman was by a fellow lifeguard who was/is also head of the dive team for the Chicago Fire Department.  His name is Ron Dornecker and back then he qualified for Kona a few times.  Since then it was always a dream I never knew I'd realize, but there I was with my brother in our race suit and all marked up with numbers on our arms and legs signifying that we were competitors for that days event.  Excitement had taken over most of my nerves at this point, even though it was going to be a long day, because I knew this is what I trained for and I'm not here for nothing.  

The calm before the storm

One thing I was sure of was that I was going to finish this race, no matter how long it takes.  I was aware going into this thing that Ironman is not a completely physical race.  After having finished it I would argue that it's pretty much half physical and half mental.  If you want to have a good Ironman race, you really should have something special you're doing it for.  If it's simply to have the title "Ironman", or to get that nice M-Dot tattoo to prove you've finished, good luck out there battling it with your mind whether you should quit or not.  Don't get me wrong, having the title is quite nice and definitely something worth going for, but I don't feel it should be the main reason.  Why did I do it?  Well, if we go back a few years ago, Marty and I started our Facebook fitness group called Fit Lifestyle.  We put that together to help motivate our friends to live healthy lifestyles through exercise.  It's actually become more than we'd hoped.  We wanted to inspire them and watch them do things they didn't think they can do themselves.  I have to say that I'm am really proud of the things I've seen them accomplish in the past 2 years from first time 5k's to first time marathons, from tri-babies (a term coined by Quinn!) to full on triathletes, you name it.  We did this for all of you guys, and you know who you are!  Even if you aren't in Fit Lifestyle and you are inspired by this blog, we did it for you, too.


 But, that morning going into the race I knew I had to narrow down my thoughts to a special few people that will eventually carry me to the finish line and will have their names pretty much written all over that finishers medal next to mine.  I thought of my son Timmy whom I hope one day will see this day as an example that if you try hard you really can accomplish anything.  I thought of my parents who raised me to be the person I am and that gave me the drive to push through tough times to get to where I want to be.  I thought of my brother, who is my best friend and will be toeing the start line with me, and how far we've come together in life (and in this crazy sport).  Whether you guys know it or not, you were all there with me that morning before the gun went off for the start.  It was a good thing because I knew I'd need you later on when things got tough, and it did so thank you!

Ok, so I went off a huge tangent on my thoughts before the race but I feel they were necessary to this post.  Where was I?...Ah, just getting to the race site.  Well, not a whole lot went on but time sure did fly when we got there.  First thing we did was go over to our bikes and attach our shoes and put in our water bottles.  From there we went over to the buses that were taking our morning bags and we put the clothes we were wearing in it and handed it to them.  We didn't have much to do so we stood there for a while before deciding to go head to the starting area.  We got a pretty good spot near the front but it was still packed full of triathletes.  We didn't realize how far up we were until we were walking down the pier and seeing all the other racers behind us which was a pretty cool site.  While we waited there on the pier, which was enclosed and 3-sided and the open end was the beach, they had a little dolphin show which was really cool.  I don't think I've ever gotten that close to dolphins before!  And, before we knew it, people were jumping off the pier into the water.  It was a pretty nice jump down to the water and we hesitated a little but we held on to our goggled and finally jumped in.  The only thing left to do was wait for the gun to start the race!  We were ready to go, no more nerves, just excitement.  The gun went off, Marty and I high-fived and wished each other luck and swam away.

An Unplanned Half Marathon Race

A few months back, Marty and I were having this Idea about trying to get the group together to do the Monster Dash Half Marathon.  I was hoping to get at least 15 people to all dress up as Spartans and reenact the scene from 300 where Leonidas and his Spartans meet up with the Arcadians.  Oh, it would have been hilarious if it worked out!  But, in the end we only had 4 of us from the group and a few other friends running it.  Those that were from Fit Lifestyle were Cat Yabut, Melissa Pizarro, Dan Ly, and myself.  So, we didn't do the 300 Spartans reenactment and Dan and I didn't even wear a costume.

Carmen, Cat, Dan, and Tim

Since we were situated somewhere in the middle, it took me about a mile a fighting through people to get to some open, uncrowded running.  Glanced at my heart rate, that looked good.  Checked my pace, seemed to match up with my effort.  I felt great and I was haulin' at about 6:50/mi.  It was actually a pretty uneventful race. After making a loop around Grant Park and meeting up with the lakefront path, the race headed south to about the Museum of Science and Industry ad back.  When I made it to the turnaround, I decided to try to keep an eye out for Cat and Dan and for some reason while I was looking for them, I didn't feel the pain of the race.  My breathing wasn't bad, I felt calm, and kept chuggin' along at that 6:50/mi pace.  Once I saw them, though, I put all my focus back into the race and started to feel it again.  At this point I was looking for the 10mi mark since I decided I'd crank it up a little bit for the last 5k.

The 10mi mark came so I brought my pace down to about 6:30-6:35/mi.  That was tough!  It was ok for the first mile, but I started really feeling it for the second mile.  I started running out of gas and started slowing down on that last mile.  I couldn't let myself fade too much because the finish line was so close so I just held on for dear life!  I always go back to Armstrong's quote about pain only lasting for a little while and then it's over.  So in the last quarter mile I pushed the pace as much as I could and finally went under the bridge that lead to the finishing chute.  

Once I finished I knew I hit a PR, but I wanted to see my official time to see by how much.  After waiting around a little bit I pulled up my results and killed my previous best by about 1min 45sec!  This is huge especially since I raced on tired legs which included an 11mi run just the night before.  I was pretty excited to see the gains keep coming from training for this Ironman, I really didn't expect this much improvement in single sport racing.

From that point I waited a little bit for Cat, Melissa, and Dan who all did very well.  A special congrats goes out to Dan for completing his first half marathon that day.  Nice job Dan!  And, of course, Melissa and Cat also ran a great race...keep it up you two!  After that we head out to O'Shaughnessy's for a good wind down from the race and some awesome recovery food!  Ok, for real this time, next stop....IRONMAN COZUMEL!!!

Half Iron Distance Training Race in the Bag

It's been a pretty crazy month...well, I guess it's been crazy since the beginning, but it just keeps getting crazier!  Training volume is at an all-time high for both Marty and I and we are definitely feeling it.  As of right now, we are in the final ramp up in the peak phase with about 5 more weeks of volume increases.  I still remember before  even starting this training program and looking ahead to the longest week and being quite intimidated.  We still are intimidated, but it also seems more doable as things start falling into place, namely this last race we had in Ohio.  What a race it was!  We sure did surprise the hell out of ourselves on this one!

Marty and I actually did this race last year so we knew what to expect and made some reasonable goals.  Personally I wasn't so sure how I was feeling going into it.  I had gotten sick the week before and took a couple days off and didn't swim for a week.  But prior to that, training was in full swing with 4hr bike rides and 1.5hr runs on top of some lactate threshold work during the weekdays.  There wasn't really much of a taper for it, just some lighter volume for a week instead of the usual 3 week schedule.  Basically, we weren't going into this fresh, which was new for us for a Half Ironman.  

The lake we swam in

The good thing is the race started at 9am, so we had a good amount of sleep having to wake up at 6am.  I think we took in about 600Cal right when we woke up to kind of simulate Ironman race day nutrition.  Turned out to be a pretty normal race morning leaving the hotel and getting to transition.  Setup was quick and when we finished it was time to head down to the beach.  It was chilly outside, definitely not as chilly as last year, though, but we still went in the water to warm up since it was warmer than the air temp!  It came time for our wave, wished each other luck and ran into the water at the sound of the horn.  The swim was significantly shorter than it should have been, but was otherwise uneventful (i.e. no kicks in the face or getting swam over!).  Getting out of the water I decided to take my time and do a slow run to the transition area.  I brought my arm warmers to put on for the bike but ended up not using them since it wasn't that cold and I figured I'd warm up in the first few miles anyway.  Transition was decent, but I always think I can shave off a few seconds to help my overall race time.

The bike was fun as usual with a good amount of tailwind at certain sections and enough hills (well, hills to me!) to make it interesting.  It was a three lap course with some nice smooth, open roads.  The thing is the wind kept getting stronger at each successive lap so the hilly part actually had a good amount of headwind and made it pretty tough.  It wasn't horrible, though, and I ended up almost averaging 20mph for the 56mi ride, which is pretty fast for me.  In the last few miles there was a guy the kept passing me on the flats and I kept getting him up the hills (I'm light so it's easier for me!).  At one point we ended up side by side and had a little conversation...something about having no hills in Chicago and that he used to live here.  Well, we ended up with enough flat riding for him to leave me for good and I couldn't get him on the last really big hill.  Transition was coming up and, of course, I was getting excited to run!  Ok, so as I'm writing this it's been quite a while since the race since I've been really unmotivated to do anything after work, training, and school so I don't really remember what happened in transition.  It was quick enough, though, and I still wish that there was port-o-potty IN transition, and about that...

On to the run!  The port-o-potty is right outside of transition, probably about 20 feet away once you cross the timing mat.  That sucks because the time I took in there, which wasn't terribly long, is included in my run time.  I really should email them and suggest that they put that in transition where I'd much rather see the time taking a pee break added to.  Oh well, I got out of there and took off.  I saw a young guy that had a pretty good gait and was looking strong so I decided to pace with him a little.  After a few minutes with him I caught up to the guy I was talking to on the bike and talked to him for another minute or two.  I sped up a little and told him to have a good run.  He said "ha, we still have 12mi to go!"  He never caught back up.  After another few minutes I dropped the guy I was running with after checking my heart rate and saw that I can put a little more effort into it.  Around mile 3 I noticed I was taking in too many fluids since my stomach was feeling pretty sloshy so I ended up sticking to gels and small sips of water especially since it wasn't that hot and dehydration wasn't really a concern.  I finished up the first of two laps and was feeling great so I just kept pushing the pace and keeping my heart rate where I wanted it.  I was hoping I wouldn't hit a wall because I really wanted to put the hammer down on those last three miles.  Once I got to the turn-around I took some sports drink because I was tired of taking gels and with a little over 3mi to go it wouldn't make much of a difference anyway.  On the way back on the 2nd lap I was watching my watch, waiting for the 10mi mark and once I hit it I cranked the pace.  I don't know how fast I was running but it was a pretty hard pace and I could only keep it up with every physical and mental strength I had left.  I was even angry at one point!  It must have been when I saw Marty and told him it was time to "embrace the effing suck!", he thought I was swearing at him lol.  

They were a little slow getting the times in and we were eager to see ours.  While we waited we raided the food area while talking to this guy in his 60's or early 70's, I forgot, who had did a few full Ironman races at his age, just phenomenal!  After a while we decided to go check the times and we were just blown away.  Marty took off about an hour from last year and I took off about 45min and ended up 3rd in my age group!  Love taking home hardware, can't get better than that!  Well, next stop is Cozumel and as of this writing it's in 10 days!!  I actually can't believe it's here already and still can't picture myself there on race morning.  The nervousness has finally set in, it's such a long race and we have no idea of what to expect even with all the training we've put in.  One can't really compare a training day to racing 140.6mi non-stop.  It's here, though, and I'll sure be posting up about it afterwards.  Let's do this, Ironman baby!