Mark Hickman's really long 2014 IMWI Race Report
2014 Ironman Wisconsin Race Report – 7 Sep 14 – Mark Hickman
Short version: (PRs based on 2013 IMCDA)
Swim: 1:09:21 (57 AG, 434 Overall) (3:28 PR)
T1: 10:07
Bike: 6:21:14 (149 AG, 859 Overall) (13:34 PR)
T2: 6:49
Run: 4:17:50 (109 AG, 608 Overall) (19:41 PR)
Overall: 12:05:21 (109 AG (26.1%), 608 Overall (21.5%)) (32:13 PR)
Really long version:
Prelude:
I decided to combine a trip out to see one of my best friends, Steve Patterson, with my long course race for the year. IMWI was also one of the key races for my team Endurance Nation, so sat at the computer hitting refresh, refresh, refresh to register as soon as it opened in 2013. The race normally sold out in minutes, so I wasn’t taking any chances.
I honestly trained very little over the winter, and was near 210lbs heading into February of this year. I still ran a bit, but nothing that could be considered actually training. (If I really want to improve going forward, I really have to have to some consistent out season training to maintain/improve a greater portion of my fitness) I jumped back into training in Mar/Apr, with a goal to get in a lot more work on the bike, loss about 30lbs, and maximize the training with solid workouts.
Over the next 5-6 months I lost about 28lbs, worked really hard in the pool, achieved many more miles/rides per week on the bike than in the past, and got back to my former running self. I’m pretty good at pushing it during swim and run training – I’m still trying to get the hang of working hard on the bike. Nevertheless, I felt confident that I was in better shape than IMCDA in 2013, and had learned a few lessons that would help me along the way.
Race week:
Bike shipped, pets with family, and off to Tomahawk, WI to stay with Steve and Jessica Patterson for a quick night. They hooked me up with wheels for the weekend, and headed down to Madison Thursday morning for quick check-in, bike pickup, wheel rental, quick ride on the 3 Bitches, and team dinner. I was great to finally meet up with folks that I had been following throughout our train-up. After dinner, had a few beers and shot some pool with the team while watching the Seahawks put a beat down on Green Bay. Made it out of the pub alive, and finally headed over to Jason and Tiffany Tobias’ house; they were very gracious in putting me, and Steve and Jess for a few nights, up – they were great hosts and can’t thank them enough for helping me out throughout the weekend.
Friday was a team swim in the morning, Endurance Nation 4-Keys talk, packing of the Run, Bike, and Special Needs bags, and the Athlete’s Dinner.
Steve and Jess made it down Saturday morning. Had a large breakfast, turned in the bike and transition bags, walked through transition, and headed out to drive the rest of the bike course. This was key as it really put a final exclamation point on the difficulty of this course. Subway for lunch, Caesar salad for dinner, and attempted to hit the rack at around 2130 – up about every half hour to use the bathroom, and finally got some decent sleep at about 2300.
Race Day:
Up at 0230 for breakfast #1; two packets of instant oatmeal and an Ensure. Up again at 0430 for breakfast #2 of two more Ensures. Hit the showers, got everything ready, and were out the door by 0515ish. Got the race site, set up the bike, Steve dropped off Special Needs bags, and met up with the team for our race picture at 0630. Had a quick Powergel and headed down to the water. Have to mention that once again, my race day luck with weather continued – what a perfect day. Temps in the low 50’s to start, very little wind, never got higher than 75-80, and humidity seemed low, all of which were in stark contrast to the days leading up to race day.
Swim: Goal: 1:05-1:08; Actual: 1:09:21 (57 AG, 434 Overall)
Gear: Xterra Vector Pro X3 full sleeve wetsuit, Kaiman goggles.
Probably the only thing I was nervous about going into the race. I’ve had issues with anxiety during starts, and this was to be my first mass start; only about 2600 new friends all heading out at the same time. Per coach’s advice, I lined up in the middle just to the right of the ski ramp, about 2-3 people back. Incredibly, I had clean water for about the first half mile to the first buoy. Tradition requires a loud “moo” as you turn the corner, then short distance to next turn before hitting the long backstretch. I think I had some meandering along this stretch, and reckon throughout the swim I swam an extra 100-200 meters or so. All in all, I had a great swim – comfortable, consistent, relaxed. Think this may have been a breakthrough swim for me and I will be able to push the open water swim pace in the future.
T1: Goal: ? Actual: 10:07
IMWI has a long swim to bike transition. You exit the water, run up a parking ramp helix (loopy thing) to the top level, into the convention center ballrooms to change, back out to top level of parking area (in short, it’s not a short distance). On the other hand, the helix is crowded with spectators so you are running by cheering fans the whole way – very cool. Saw Steve and Jess, let them know I had a great swim, and took off to go change. I do a full change-out in T1, but went pretty quick except getting the aero helmet on – bottom attachment kept coming out of notches, and couldn’t get it fixed the first time without taking it back off.
Bike: Goal: 6:10-6:20; Actual: 6:21:14 (149 AG, 859 Overall)
Gear: Cervelo P2, 50/34 crank, 11/28 cassette, Rear Zipp Disc, Front Zipp 808, Profile Design Aero Bottle between aero bars, bottle on down tube, bottle on rear cage, mechanical kit in keg in rear bottle cage, and quick-release Garmin 310XT. Wearing DeSoto 400-mile bibs, EN tri top, Injini toe socks, tri bike shoes, HRM, Giro Selector helmet, and Rudy transition sunglasses.
The IMWI bike course is considered by many to be the hardest in the US. Not because it has the greatest elevation gain, but because it is constantly changing. There is never a chance to put your head down and just go. It’s a wee bit of a rollercoaster, some more technical sections, and in my personal estimation, the road conditions suck – can’t imagine that there was more than 30 miles of smooth roads. The course consists of a 16 mile “stick” out to a 40-mile loop completed twice before returning on the “stick” to T2. The crowds on the roads, especially on the climbs of Old Sauk and Timberlane and in town of Verona, were amazingly cool and fun. It was great to see Steve and Jess in Verona, and apparently missed them on Timberlane on the second loop. Saw the coach on first time up Old Sauk, and it seemed he approved of the effort:o)
The execution plan consisted of just riding along for the first hour, low effort, get HR back to normal, then riding in zone 2 while flattening the course; hills, crests, downhills, and flats ridden at an even effort, though HR would spike when I ran out of gears. All day long was constant shifting. True to the 4-Keys talk, there were plenty of folks hammering up the hills all through the first half of the course. I figured I would either see them later on the bike, later on the run, or they were just way better cyclists than me – no reason to join the hammer crowd – just execute my plan. I believe I executed very well – patience and discipline with the goal of being able to increase effort after 80 miles instead of slowing down. My second lap splits were all slower, but not by a large margin, so believe I did execute according to the plan. I had at least 1.5 bottles of Gatorade/Perform or water every hour, gel every half hour, salt tab every hour, as well as some banana pieces every now and then. Peed on the move about 5 times.
Some side notes: This is a tricky course, and you can definitely get yourself into some trouble on some of the descents. There were multiple ambulances picking up folks who overshot the corners; witnessed one girl who endo’d into a ditch on the first Garfoot sweeping left. I almost joined the ambulance crew on the second Garfoot right, but thanks to the coach jokingly mentioning a driveway available as a runaway ramp, I was able to use this tip to save the day. Had an inattentive moment when filling my aero bottle; didn’t see a hard right until too late, and not sure how I didn’t crash, but bounced around quite a bit, fell down to the top tube, and as my cleats miraculously came out of my pedals, I was able to get both feet onto the ground and use my cleats as skates to control the bike and come to a stop – scared the ever-living bejeezus out of myself – my day should have been over. I had also apparently kicked or otherwise done something to damage the disc. It was out of true, and would later find out from the mechanics that it had a long crack in it as well – good thing I spent that $20 bucks on wheel insurance! Twisted up some other components, but nothing dramatic or that I couldn’t correct and move on…a few folks kept mentioning a squeaking from there on out, but since I can’t hear high pitch noises, I have no idea yet what it might have been.
Overall, bike was a success in my mind, but is clearly an area where I can make some significant gains in the future.
T2: Goal: ? Actual: 6:49
Bike to run transition was much smoother. Bike bibs to tri shorts, new socks, shoes, everything else in a large baggie to sort out on the run. Quick sunscreen lube and out on to the course.
Run: Goal: 4:00-4:10; Actual 4:17:50 (109 AG, 608 Overall)
Gear: Pearl Izumi tri shorts, EN tri top, IM Headsweats hat, sunglasses, Injini toe socks, Hoka One One Bondi 3s, Garmin 310XT, 20 oz bottle carried in Nathan hand held.
I felt great heading out on the run. Goal was to run 9:20-9:30 for first 6 miles, then see where I was – hopefully dropping into an 8:50-9:10 pace for remainder. I totally underestimated this course. Everyone talks about the hill on Observatory Lane, but the biggest headache of the course is the inability to get into any kind of rhythm. Multiple short out and back turnarounds, tight turns, stadium ramps, etc., made it difficult to find that sweet spot and stick to it. Nevertheless, I was able to run pretty well for the first 16 miles…and then it got hard:o) I got my special needs hook-up from Jason, and then received a time check from Steve and Jess again at the halfway turn around, which is cruelly 200 yards from finish line. Goal was to go sub-12 and I needed to just about even split the marathon. My plan was to just continue to run steady past the Observatory Hill and then give it all I could give for the last 8 miles. It’s easy to look back and think I could have ran harder, and I wanted to, but my legs were not cooperating. I still think I could ran a bit harder, but wouldn’t have made up the difference I ended up needing to go sub 12. I couldn’t handle the gels after mile 18, so just kept hammering the water with a few cups of Perform and Coke in there. The last 6 miles were really hard, focusing on maintaining a decent cadence, not stopping to walk, and remembering all the training that had got me this spot. The last mile up State Street, around the Capitol, and into the finishing chute were really cool. When I turned to the corner to the chute, I saw the clock already had a 12 on it, so I shut down the afterburners and tried to enjoy the crowd a bit – thanked and handed off my bottle, glasses and hat to Jason and Tiffany, found Steve and Jess and gave them a wet hug, and then cruised down the finish line. I heard Mike Reilly mention my name and Army affiliation, but really it was all a blur at that point.
Overall: 12:05:21 (109 AG (26.1%), 608 Overall (21.5%))
Post Race:
Grabbed by the volunteers, shepherded to a chair, handed water, chocolate milk, and emergency blanket. I can truly say that I was more spent at this point than I have been after any race/run I have ever done. I immediately went into my “exercise-induced hypothermia” (my term for it anyway), stopped shaking for a finisher photo, and hobbled over to see the coach for a quick congrats and thank you. Steve, Jess, Jason, and Tiffany witnessed a quick little emotional breakdown, and then helped me into some warmer clothes. Steve had already taken care of all bike check out, wheel turn in, shipping turn in, etc., and Jason and Tiffany ran down my transition bags. I lied on the grass for about a half an hour, called my Momma, and just stared into space as the sun set on the atmosphere. Met up with a few teammates for a quick beer and attempt to eat something solid. We thought about sticking around for the midnight finishers, and someday I will when I’m staying closer to the race site, but we packed up and headed for the house.
Thanks:
So many folks to thank:
- The incredible Endurance Nation team for training plan, advice, community, and support along the way. There’s a reason this team is the are the reigning champs!!
- My awesome lab Emmy, who still loves me even though she missed out on a ton of weekend activities while dad was out riding the steed.
- The I Corps G1 team for putting up with my constant babbling about all things triathlon and some leeway in few longer lunches due to swim workouts.
- My amazing friends and family for their constant support in everything I do – it’s never a question of whether they think I’m sane or not for doing these sometime insane challenges, but a matter of support in everything I do. It was awesome to know a bunch of folks were following me online, and it provided an extra motivation throughout the day.
- Jason and Tiffany for being great hosts over the weekend. I’m looking forward to following you when you get it done next year, and you are always welcome to visit in Montana when I finally get there.
- My 2014 Iron Sherpas, Steve and Jess. I understand how long and stressful of a day it can be to run around all day just to get in an occasional shout out of support. In addition to providing those key moments of inspiration, you happily did every other admin thing I asked of you all day – and that was a huge part to any successes I had during the day.
Until next time….
Comments
Mark, very well done, the Pierce County EN team salutes you! You mightn't have gotten ALL that you wanted, but you got the job done in splendid style, with a strong run.
Terrific effort! When you feel it at the end like you did, there is satisfaction in knowing you left it all out there.
It was great to meet you. You are a funny dude, and I enjoyed chatting with you.
Congrats!