Tom Glynn's 2015 IM AZ DNF Report

Tom Glynn

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A rather comical first DNF to my 14th Ironman. Came out of the water with a completely swollen face, blood shot eyes and an enlarged head. Soon after I developed a deep smokers hack. My head was so big my helmet hardly fit and it gave me a massive headache, which I never get. Every time I went aero my eyes would blur and I'd get dizzy after a few minutes. 50 miles of riding upright to the end. 60 miles in it started a very cold rain. By mile 100 or so I could hardly brake anymore my hands were so cold. I made it to T2 and was shaking so bad a volunteer had to take off my bike shoes and put on my running shoes and belt. We had a good laugh. Off I went shaking and coughing uncontrollably. 3 miles in I realized my day was done. Home, shower, a few good laughs and a margarita (with extra salt!) Upwards and onwards.

 

As of Monday evening most of the swelling has now gone down, my forehead still hurts from the very tight helmet, but the healing and recovery is coming along well.

 

Never really knew the cause.  Most likely the awful water quality of "Lake Tempe".  Possibly a reaction to the latex cap? Not sure it was something I ate. I had nothing new in the diet that morning that had not already been tested multiple times.  One of life's many mysteries I guess.

 

Next up, IM TX 2016.

 

Tom

Dino Sarti

Wow! I feel you on the cold. At Tahoe and Canada the cold was a total game changer....

tim cronk

Tom, Scary stuff but so glad your OK... The biggest suck of all is not knowing the cause to prevent from further events... Great attitude, treating it as a "one off " and moving forward... Looking forward to your IMTX :-)

Nate Parady

Sorry to hear...
maybe worth seeing if you have a Newly developed Latex allergy??? Not sure it works that way with developing such an allergy later in life.

Nemo Brauch

Posted By Nate Parady on 17 Nov 2015 08:21 AM


Sorry to hear...

maybe worth seeing if you have a Newly developed Latex allergy??? Not sure it works that way with developing such an allergy later in life.

X2.  It's worth checking out just to be safe.  I'm so glad you are OK.  

Tom Glynn

Morning Update:

I've kept my swim cap. Told my wife I was going to wear it around the house today to see what would happen - she yelled at me . I seriously thinking of an allergy test.

Also, weighed myself this morning for the first time in a week. I'm up 8 pounds! My scale didn't recognize me. For 24 hours or so after the race I urinated a lot, almost all clear, so there was lots of extra fluids in me. Nothing unusual several days before or race day; bottle and a half of sports drink before the race, one bottle every 45 minutes on the bike. Emptied bladder several times on the race course.

Definitely less exercise during taper week, had a large meal and a few drinks after the race and the day after, but 8 pounds is just a lot of weight.

I feel good and the swelling in the face is gone, forehead is still sore but getting better. Unusual.

Al Truscott

Couple of comments focused on racing in the "cold" (looking at the weather history, this was more like "cool and wet", conditions which I encounter year round here) - 55F and raining is normal in Pac NW July 1- June 30. June 31 tends to be nice. Today, eg it is ... 55F and raining!

• In ANY IM, I plan on getting the bulk of my calories from two 5 oz flasks of EFS gel and 2 26 oz bottles of Infinit, on on bike @ start, and one in SN. On a course like AZ, any calories from GE would be a bonus, and any additional fluids I need come from combo of GE and H20
• I dial the total amount of fluids WAY DOWN when its under 60-65. Like 12-14 oz per hour MAX. Your excess weight gain and multiple urinations were a sign you took in way more fluid than your body needed.
• One thing I learned from my medical days ... flooding the body with cool fluids via an IV will really affect the core temp and sensation of being cold. Same thing applies to the Cool/cold fluids you were taking in orally on race Day bike. That, combined with wind chill @ 22 mph and from evaporating the rain falling on you may well have led to slight hypothermia.
• A friend of mine here in Gig Harbor, Paul Berlin (my age) also happens to be the Medical Director of the Med Tent @ Kona. He raced in AZ last weekend. He spent 40 minutes in T2 trying to get warm. If anybody should know how to handle adverse conditions, it would be him, but he had problems...
• I still vote for allergy to...SOMEthing causing your swim/post swim symptoms. Who knows if it was your gear or something in the water. If you do put the cap on, have an epic pen ready.

Tom Glynn

Al,

Thanks for the insight, that is very helpful.