Guest Post from "DH" - Ironman Wisconsin

"DH" aka dear husband aka Adam, asked if I would put his race report on my blog. He wants to share his experience of the Ironman, and thought this might be a good way to do it. Enjoy!

Hi friends,

Finally getting around to my Ironman Wisconsin race report. Thought
you might be interested, as many of you were aware of my training this
year.

Age: 30
Weight: 63.2 kg (139 lbs)
FTP: 270ish W
Vdot: 60ish

Overall: 10:22:01
Swim: 1:04:52
T1: 5:34
Bike: 5:32:00
T2: 3:54 (most of which was peeing!)
Run: 3:35:41

Background:
I've told a few others this already, but I was dealing with a lot of
"friction" from everyday life going into this race, some good and some
bad. The robbery in late July threw us a curveball and set me back at
work, and then we had to try to deal with an apartment move while
simultaneously packing and preparing for a 9-week trip that started 2
days later. The trip was taking me from Denmark to (in order)
Toronto, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Madison, Houston, Hot Springs
(Arkansas), Boston, Amsterdam (where I am now), back to Boston,
Washington, and finally back to Denmark...most of it with Amber and
our 4-month old Wesley. My last big weeks of training and taper were
a bit compromised, being out of any routine whatsoever. I think I
actually lost a little too much weight during the taper, a time when
most people are concerned about the opposite--gaining weight!

Race:
The swim was 2 loops on a rectangular course in a lake. I was
concerned about 2400+ people starting in the water at the same time,
but thankfully the start line was very wide. I lined up near a ski
ramp in the middle of the start line, about 2 people back. Pleasantly
surprised at the space there. Started ok, about as much contact as I
expected. After a while the contact died down and I would just hit
"swim jams" every few minutes where people bunch up. Kicked harder in
the jams to get through and maintain space, but one of my legs started
cramping. Fought off one huge cramp 40 min in that had me worried, so
I played it conservatively for the remainder. Came out of the water
right about on target, a bonus given the relatively easy effort the
last 25 min.

Had a good transition, taking advantage of the wetsuit strippers and
then running past a lot of folks on the relatively way to the bikes.
The bike seemed to be okay for the first few miles, but once I got to
some of the bigger hills something started rubbing everytime I
switched to my easier gears. It got worse and eventually I had to
stop. Couldn't figure it out. Stopped again 3-4 times trying to
resolve it. Almost gave in to a nearby race marshall offering to call
official bike support for me at one point, but decided to ride there
(about 10 mi away). Avoided the easier gears on the way and had to
grind up some hills. Eventually hit the official bike support tent
and had them readjust the set screws in my dropouts, which did the
trick. I'm probably making a bigger deal out of this than it was, but
am interest to see how much time I spent stopping the first 50 mi (am
without the software to analyze my Garmin file for 2 months). Still
felt rough for miles 50-80 despite the fix, probably due to heat, but
nailed miles 80-112 of the bike trying to make up time.

Run was too hot (over 85 deg F) for a pale dude who trains in Denmark,
and the grinding on the bike came back to haunt me. Wasn't able to
punish 'em on the run as planned. Still a respectable finish, right
ahead of aging pro and former winner Heather Gollnick, who comes in
right after me:
http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event_video.asp?EVENTID=75734&BIB=1140&S=230&PWD=

I can't complain about the season I've had and my fitness level.
Podium finishes at nearly every race, a sub 4:30 half ironman, a sub
17-min 5k, and a sub-34 10k run in an Olympic distance triathlon were
some of the highlights. Normally I would be a bit down because I
really think this should have been the race to get me to the Ironman
World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. I missed a qualification slot by
about 10 minutes. Lots of questions...what if I did not have problems
on the bike? What if I had paced the run more conservatively? Etc.
Thankfully, having my entire family (wife, baby, parents, sisters,
their boyfriends, etc.) at the race for support totally made up for
all of it.

Not sure what my plans are for next year. I need a break from Ironman
to focus on some career-related goals, but trust me, I'll be back with
a bang in late 2012 or in 2013!

-Adam