Wolf Gottschalk 2015 Ironman Maryland Race Report
Sorry this is so long! It'll make great bed time reading for those with insomnia. 
Background:
2nd IM (first IM in 2013, IMAZ). Lead-up to this
race: 2014 was an abysmal year for me. No time to train/race, etc. Only had
time to get about 50% of the workouts done under the EN advanced plan this year
due to (again) work/family/travel/schedule/life, etc. Did two races this year
to get “back into the game”. Challenge Atlantic City Half and the Diamond in
the Rough (local) Oly. Only got the chance to do one Race Rehearsal, which I managed
to do in Cambridge out on the bike course (huge help!). Spent the whole day in
Cambridge either biking or I also videotaped the entire bike and run course.
Managed to get one long run in (19 miles, 2:43) about two weeks before the
original race date.
As others have written, the original date for Ironman
Maryland was October 3rd. However, the race was cancelled about 3
days prior to that date because of impending bad weather conditions that were
forecast for that day. This was an excellent call by WTC! Saw pictures of the
bike course from that weekend and it was non-existent (completely flooded). The
race was then rescheduled to two weeks later, October 17th. Again,
very cool move by WTC and also amazing that they were able to pull this off as
a rescheduled event.
Torn rotator cuff in August of 2014 in a rugby game,
self-rehab and finally got a chance to get back into the water in March of this
year. Healthy otherwise with no significant orthopedic concerns.
The Numbers Really Quick:
I wasn’t focused on numbers in any way for this event (see below),
but I’ll include them here anyway for the sake of posterity.
Overall: 10:41:38, 26th AG, 138 OA. Swim (3000m):
42:19; Bike: 5:40:23; Run: 4:04:35 T1: 7:53; T2: 6:28
Goals/Objectives (in no particular order):
-
Since this was my last Ironman for the
foreseeable future, I really just wanted to go out and have fun. I didn’t have
fun training (very stressful trying to cram in IM specific training into any
particular day when your workday starts at 4:30a and sometimes doesn’t end
until 9:00p), so it was important to me to feel as if the race was an
accomplishment in celebration, not celebrating an accomplishment. -
My son was really bummed that he couldn’t be at
IMAZ in 2013, so I wanted to spend time with him during the race as much as
possible (see below). -
Raise money for Team IMF (Ironman Foundation).
This was a highlight for me (see below). -
Race with, and especially cheer on, my fellow EN
athletes. -
Be a positive example/reflection on the team and
this sport.
The Race:
Ready…Set…Psyche!
This was a phrase that could’ve described the race for me. I had peaked
(with what little fitness/race prep I had banked to that point) right on queue…for
a race that was supposed to happen on October 3rd. The fact that it
got cancelled and postponed/rescheduled took a toll on me. Not mental in any way,
but physically. Unfortunately, life/work/family continues to roll on with or
without the race on a specific day. So, all the work projects, home things,
travel etc that had been sidelined with the anticipation of the race happening
on Oct. 3rd all launched that following Monday. No time to train in
the two weeks to the reschedule date. Had time to swim once for a little bit,
ran some short runs, biked a couple of times for about an hour and that was it.
I felt my fitness slip away, but I was very upbeat. Honestly, from a mental
perspective, the rescheduling of the race didn’t phase me a bit. This, I think,
was in large part to the mental training I started working on in 2014 (thank
you DAVE TALLO for the recommendation on the book “Mental Training” and videos
by Jim Taylor).
Race Day: the weather was pretty tough. High winds and
chilly air temps made for some interesting challenges for me.
The Swim:
Again, Ready…Set…Psyche! We were lined up and ready to go
race morning, but the weather chose not to cooperate. Shortly before the swim
was supposed to start, they announced that the race was going to be shortened
to ~1500m due to the winds (15mph sustained, gusting to 25mph) and the small
craft advisory that had been issued. WTC rocks! They scrambled to
redesign/reconfigure the swim course and hustled to move buoys. Very cool to
watch! Then, right before we were set to start a second time, they announced
that the wind had died down enough for us to do two loops of the new course
they reconfigured, which meant we still got the opportunity to swim ~3000m.
Woohoo! Admittedly, I was disappointed that it was truncated to 3K instead of
3800m, but still felt blessed to be able to get in and swim at all. I lined up
at the front and then we went. Went out to the first turn buoy and there was a
lot of contact for some reason. I couldn’t understand why people were swimming
so frenetically (we have a long day ahead of us, folks! Calm down!). So, I did
what I did in IMAZ and simply flipped over and started swimming easy
backstroke. Did that for a few minutes, let people wear themselves out and then
flipped back over and got to swimming smooth. First lap was fine, but when we
(the front pack) came around to do the second loop we met a wall of people! It
was all the people who had just started swimming their first loop. More arms
and legs, woohoo! I took a calculated risk and swam to the outside of the fray.
In speaking with others who were upfront after the race, this was the right
call since the inside/buoy line was crazy. Ended up coming out of the water
feeling very relaxed and joked with the official that I thought the chlorine in
the water was a bit off. (4th
AG, 11th OA). Extrapolating my time from :42:xx, I think my
projected finish time for the 3800m would have been around :54-:56. Bummed that
it was a shortened swim because I believe I am a sub 60 IM swimmer, but I guess
I won’t get the chance to find out anytime soon.
T1:
Out of the water, stopped off to give Beth (my wife) and
Wolfi (my 12 year old son) a big kiss and high five (respectively) and stopped
off for a family picture. Off to the wetsuit strippers, then into the tent. My
feet went numb almost instantly, but no big deal. Had my EN tri singlet on with
DeSoto tri shorts, so just kept those on and through on my long sleeve
compression shirt and long tights over them. Shoes on, helmet/glasses on,
gloves on out the door. The way the transition was set up, you had to run to
your rack, snag the bike, then run to the far end of the transition corral and
down a chute to get out. They set it up this way so that it was equidistant for
everyone to get out. However, that made for a somewhat long jog with the bike
and hence my slow T1 time (I think).
The Bike:
“Time keeps on tickin’, tickin’, tickin’, into the future….”
Steve Miller Band
So, no sooner am I over the bike mount line that I try to
get on my bike and my left hamstring seizes up on me. I mean, completely locked
and pulled my heel to my glute. This was very uncomfortable. It took me a long
time (minutes upon minutes, “Time keeps on tickin’, tickin’, tickin’….&rdquo
to get
it to where I could get my leg to go straight again. I have no idea why this
happened to me since I’ve never, ever had this happen to me in a
race/training/anywhere before. Stood there for a while trying to get on my
bike, but anytime I bent my knee my hamstring would seize again. Had a race
official come over and ask me if I needed medical and I abruptly replied “No
thank you” (sorry for being abrupt with you). Wolfi was yelling at me “Daddy, why
are you standing there? Look at all the people passing you!!”. I reply “Yes, I see
that, but I’m trying to get on my bike without my hamstring seizing on me”. He
replies “Well, you gotta figure it out and GO!”. I started cracking up…what have
I created? I yell back “You are absolutely right! I just haven’t figured it out
yet! Give me a minute!” I manage to lay
the bike down, step over it, bring it up underneath me, big push off, clip in
with my right leg to start pedaling and leave my left leg straight. Managed to
get my knee to bend just enough to clip in with my left leg, couple of pedal
strokes to focus on pushing with my quad instead of wiping with my hamstring and
I’m good to go. Off to the races!
Bike portion was tough. My hamstring proved to be my limiter
for the rest of the day.
Goals: NP = 210w. Once I saw what the conditions were going
to be like, I dialed it back to 200w on race morning to save myself for the
run. Hamstring then brought me to a final NP = 192w. IF = .67; VI = 1.01 (AP =
190w, HR = 136bpm). My moving time was 5:30:xx, final time of 5:40:xx. I
stopped off twice to visit with Beth and Wolfi at the high school, check in
with them to make sure they were okay and having fun, quick selfie pictures.
Stopped 3x to pee at the porta-john (felt good at this point to stand and
stretch my hamstring as well)… I’m the poster child for why you should learn
how to pee on the bike…it’s interesting to hear all these bikes go “whoosh,
whoosh, whoosh!” past you as you’re standing in the porta-john taking a leak.
Overall, I think the porta-john stops in total were less than 2-3 minutes tops.
There were only a few instances where we caught a tailwind
(or it seemed that way, anyway). The rest of the time, it seemed like it was
either a headwind or coming at you from the side. Spoke to a guy who did IMAZ
last year (2014) and he said that this was much worse than IMAZ was (and I remember
hearing about how significant the winds were at IMAZ). One of the best
decisions I made for myself was putting my long sleeve and compression tights
on! I didn’t get cold, even though my feet were numb (had socks and toe covers
on) so I was happy (and having fun, see Goal #1!). Got a chance to meet fellow
EN teammate STEVE BEYER out on the bike. He rocks!! Looked absolutely ninja and
was rockin’ the Castelli EN tri suit. Man, that thing looks bad ass and he was
doing that suit and the EN colors proud! I got caught up with some yahoos who
were yo-yoing their speed (they would speed up, then slow down, repeat). So, I finally
just pulled over and stopped for a minute to let them get away from me since
they were affecting my positive mojo.
Stopped off to see Wolfi and Beth again (woohoo! Fourth kiss
of the day! One lucky man!) at the lollipop stick at the end of the two loops
to head back to transition. Challenged them to a race to see who could get back
to transition first. BestBikeSplit put my projected time for my 210w at 5:05.
With repeated stops and the wind, I’m pretty stoked on the 5:40 but again it
would be interesting to see what I could actually do on this course if I was
racing….
T2:
Came back into T2 and high fived Wolfi. This is where things
got interesting. Tried to run on my left hamstring and it reminded me that the
gremlin was still lurking. Walked through transition to the bike rack and into
the tent, trying to coax my leg to play nice. Saw STEVE BEYER in the tent and
we commiserated about the wind and conditions. I took off my tights and decided
to keep my long sleeve compression top on (SMART DECISION #2, I’m on a roll!).
Popped out of the tent and out of T2 and stopped off to see Wolfi and Beth
(kiss!) again and also stopped off at the porta-john.
The Run:
This was a blast! Even though my hamstring was a bit
bothersome (every time I tried to push a little it would seize), it was great
to see the other EN teammates out on the course. I was bummed that I was hiding
my EN tri top under my compression top, but I was warm. The wind was tough
here. I mean, 20-30mph winds, often times head on. Steve quickly passed me
again and was rockin’ it. It was great to shout out encouragement and positive
vibes to my fellow EN teammates. What was also fun was I got the chance to see
Wolfi and Beth 8x during the run! We had strategically mapped out where/when we
would meet during the bike and the run and it worked out great. All in all,
they logged almost 11 miles that day! You’ve got to be in great shape to be an
Iron Sherpa and future Ironman athlete when cheering your old man on! They
rocked it! Stopped off each time to either steal a kiss, throw the football
with Wolfi or call my daughter (made the judgment call to have her stay with
Grandma due to her age (8 years old); totally the right call even though I was
missing her like crazy) on the cell phone to chat.
At mile 23, I saw Beth and Wolfi for the last time and got permission
to race a little. I only wanted to go fast so that I could see them again at
the finish line quickly. Managed to log my fastest mile splits at that point
(funny what not stopping will do to your pace….) and also managed to negative
split the IM marathon (according to my Garmin).
Saw Wolfi and Beth at the finish line, stopped off to get my
final race course kiss from Beth and a big long hug from Wolfi and cruised
across the finish line. My final time was 4:04:xx for the run. All in all, in
looking at my data in WKO+, it looks as if I added close to 18-20 minutes to my
total time by stopping along the way throughout the day .… and that’s totally
cool with me.
Post Race:
This was the best part of the day! I quickly wiped myself
down, grabbed some rice and beans and chicken broth (nectar of the gods!) and
then we went to a local restaurant (RAR brewing) that was situated along the
race course. We grabbed some food and suds and stood out on the sidewalk and
cheered people on from about 7:00p – 10:30p. Saw some fellow EN athletes and
cheered like crazy! We went to Run Aid Station #4 and handed out GE to people,
stopped off and got coffee for the cops who had worked the same intersection
all day (those guys rock!), and then hopped into the car and drove the run
course to look for JIM EBERT (nicest guy ever!!! Great having dinner with him on
Thursday night before the race at Portside Restaurant). He had stopped posting data on the EN tracker
after his mile 20 and we were concerned as to his whereabouts. I was going to
run with him if he needed some support, but we never ended up finding him as we
saw the sag vehicle tracking the final finisher about two miles out from finish and hadn’t seen him. We headed to
the finish line to cheer people on from the stands and then headed back to
Salisbury a little after midnight.
Summary:
I would highly recommend this race to anyone! The course is awesome, the people
and volunteers are awesome, and it was a really cool vibe. In the future, should
I ever be lucky enough to have the time to do another full distance IM, I will
only do it by raising money through Team IMF. Whitney (IMF coordinator) and the
rest of the Team IMF athletes I met were awesome, and it is VERY COOL to see
how the money raised impacts the local community. Felt great to have the race and
effort be about something other than me. We met some really cool local people
at the restaurant we were at after the race and it was cool to hear how the
race impacts the community and how important it is for them to have the race
there (read: Cambridge is not a wealthy town. There are blocks and blocks of
Section 8 housing less than a ¼ mile from the race course) for their economy.
We went and shopped at some stores and ate at another restaurant the next day
to make sure we were doing our part (albeit small) to help people out.
Thank you:
Huge thank you to my amazing Beth for putting up with my
ill-fitting spandex, to Gretchen for encouraging me to do better and to serve
others every day, and to Wolfi for inspiring me to have fun and to have him
start his 6 year training plan to do his first Ironman when he turns 19!
Something fun for dad and son to do together…as long as I can keep up! A HUGE,
MASSIVE, ALBEIT VIRTUAL THANK YOU TO THIS AMAZING EN TEAM! Although I’m a
lurker and just simply don’t ever have time to contribute, post, etc, it is
this team that makes things like this fun and rewarding!
Comments
I would say I'd love to "race" with you again, but I think it's safe to say that with a 5:05:00 predicted split from BBS, and cranking out what was obviously for you a casual 4:04:xx run split, that if you show up and actually race, I won't be seeing you on the course again like I did this year!!
Man, you really had one heck of a great day! And for those of you reading, when I asked Wolf in T2 what his goal for the run was, he just humbly said, "to finish"! Well you finished alright.....and sounds like you had a lot of fun and made some really great memories with your family along the way.....good for you!
Congrats on the great day...
Great race to start your sabbatical from IM racing. Nice feeling of closure, it seems.
(Side note...I don't get how, if it's too windy to swim 2.4 mi, and there is a small craft advisory, 1500 meters is safer than 3800 meters. Unsafe is unsafe.)
Sorry I didn't recognize you during the run. I did hear you! Sounds like you made the best of a poor weather day. Your positive attitude shows in your report, at our dinner and with your race results. Glad I got to you in the EN texting after the race. Still working on my race report. I have a lot of things I learned to get into it for others to learn...but not the hard way. I've already signed up for IMMD 2016 and I'll do other IMs. Hope to see you and the family at one of them. Thanks for the great dinner talk.