Gary Lewis IMAZ RR
WARNING – This may be a little long
In week 14 of the training cycle, I was hospitalized with a kidney stone and underwent two separate surgeries to resolve the problem. I was concerned that my race was over. Thanks to Doug Sutherland, I was empowered with the knowledge necessary to deal with the problem. Thanks also to the IMAZ Team of Betsy Kantor, David Richmond, Clark Mitchell, Bruce Thompson and Francis Picard in the forum for their encouraging words and support. Without the Team I could never have accomplished this and become an Ironman.
Since this was my first IM distance race, and I had never completed a marathon distance run before, completion was the primary goal. Having confidence in my training, I set my secondary goal to finish in under 15 hours.
Swim Goal 1:30:00 Actual 1:25:28
T1 – Unknown Actual 8:48
Bike Goal 7:00:00 Actual 7:07:35
T2 – Unknown Actual 5:55
Run Goal 6:00:00 Actual 5:57:11
Total 14:44:57
Race morning was a little more hectic than I wanted. I left my house with plenty of time to get to the parking garage and walk to transition and set things up. The problem was, that someone forgot to tell the garage attendants that parking was free. This backed up traffic for .75 miles from the garage. After sitting in traffic and worrying about being late, I decided to just pull into a lot farther away and walk the extra distance. I didn’t have my wallet, since my wife Ronda was coming a little later, so I parked without paying, hoping that it didn’t get towed and figured she would deal with the car.
Made it to transition, pumped tires, turned on Qollector and attached to my bike, Turned on Garmin 520, filled BTB Bottle and put other bottles in cages. Went to T2 bag and put my go bag in with watch, gels, etc. Went to T1 bag and put toe warming packs in bike toe covers. My original plan was to use chemical warmers taped to a bag under my kit for the bike. Since there was a threat of rain late in the afternoon, I decided to put a light cycling jacket in the bag instead.
Okay, everything is settled, now I have time to go back to the car, put away my pump and get a picture of the parking spot so Ronda could move the car. Now the GroupMe text comes, its picture time. Oh crap, I need to walk all the way back. Made it back about 2 minutes late for the group picture, but still got to see a few teammates before the start. Rich and Mariah were nice enough to hold my stuff until Ronda got there.
Put on my wetsuit and went over to line up at the 1:30 section of the swim start. I didn’t read this part of the athlete guide, but apparently the faster you swim, the later you should get to swim start. This way you can push and shove all of the slower people that you don’t get to swim over before the start.
Finally, the gun goes off, people are moving and it’s time to jump in and swim. Started out on the left side closest to the buoys. Things were pretty clear for the beginning. I was glad I was wearing the clear goggles that Clark recommended. It was overcast in the morning. Swam about .25 miles and ended up next to a guy doing the same pace. As he got closer, he just kept hitting me. He ended up knocking my goggles loose. Word on the street, it was Dougie Bob, but he should have been much farther ahead. After that it was pretty uneventful without much contact. Made the turns, swam to the stairs and got out. Found a wetsuit stripper, sat down, they pulled it off and I jogged to Transition.
I ran right to my bag (the colored tape was great), ran to a chair by the tent. I put on my arm warmers, jacket, cycling shoes and helmet. I was doing all of this right next to the pile of bags the volunteers were bringing out of the tent. I stuffed my wetsuit and the towel I was using in the bag, dropped in the pile and went right through the tent. I got my bike off the rack and started jogging with it to the mount area. I pushed the start button on my 520 and it showed low battery. All I could think was OH SHIT, now I have to ride without a power meter.
I rode away, going through the 4 Keys, thinking about riding easy and remembering all of the many podcasts, race reports, webinars, that I had tried to absorb in the last year. Coach Rich’s voice was playing back from one of those that said “put your head on your pedals and ride easy”. I started thinking about the multiple training rides I did with Betsy on the Beeline. What they felt like power wise and what gear I should be in. I decided that I would ride in one easier gear that what I thought I should. “Ride the should split and not the could split.” One trip to the top and I needed to pee. Originally, I planned to pee on the bike and save the time. I decided to stop this first time so I could take off my jacket and tuck it in the back of my kit top, to have for later if necessary. Made the first loop, and getting back on the Beeline, Betsy passed me said hello. Stopped three more times to pee and stretch during the ride. On the final stop, I took the Qollector off my bike put in my pocket, so I wouldn’t forget it at T2. It was great having David Richmond’s family cheering each time I went by them. The last trip back the road was much less crowded, and the wind had switched directions and was blowing into our face on the way back. The price you pay for being slow. I saw my family cheering at the return chute to T2 and was happy to be done biking for the day.
I handed off my bike to a volunteer, ran to my bags and put on my socks, shoes, grabbed my go bag, stopped to pee in the Porta-John and was out the other side of the tent. At this point in the day, I had no real idea where I was time wise. It was overcast, and without a bike computer I didn’t know how long the bike took, I started to worry a little about time. I stuffed my gels in my pockets, swallowed two Tylenol, started my watch and started to run. Carefully watching my heart rate, I walked a few times to keep it down to about 140. The first few miles were great. I was running a good speed with no problems, my heart rate was good. That’s when I started thinking it was all going to work out. 5 miles into the run, my feet were starting to itch/burn and the front of my ankle was hurting (high ankle/low shin). I had no idea how I was going to deal with those issues. I figured I would change socks at special needs, but that was not for another nine or so miles and that wasn’t going to help my ankle. Made the turn to aid station 5 and saw people getting leg massages. I thought why are you wasting time people, you should be running. Saw Clark going the other way. My Boy Scout Troop was manning Aid Station 6 so I got high fives from everyone there. At about mile 7 Doug ran by, said hi and he was gone. At mile 13, my ankle was really hurting and my feet were really burning. A volunteer asked if I needed any Vaseline. YES. Stopped, took off my shoes, spread it between my toes and felt great. Shoes back on and on my way. I was running along good until I saw the mile 17 sign. I though “here comes the line they all talk about” and man is my ankle hurting and my quads are pretty sore too. I looked at my watch, did some mental math and figured out I was probably ahead of schedule. Over the bridge and started remembering the leg massage volunteer. As I got to the aid station, I read the sign. It was pain relieving medicine. HELL YEA. I stopped she applied it to my quads, and my ankle. Felt great on my quads, but I wanted to scream when she touched my ankle. Okay, down the path I ran. I stopped at the Porta-John at mile 20. My brain started to fog. I remember thinking “it’s nice in here, it’s warm” Then I came back to reality, told myself to snap out of it and go running. I ran until mile 22 at the hill. I allowed myself to walk the hill, my ankle was hurting too much to run that. I knew I was going to finish and one mile of walking wasn’t going to kill my time. As I came down the hill, my family and a friend were there to greet me. It really lifted my spirits. I decided at the bottom of the hill I would start running again and told them I would see them at the finish. I could never get it going again after that. Everything hurt too much. I walked the final 2.5 miles until the finish. Ran the chute, stopped to kiss Ronda, crossed the finish line and got to hear Mike Reilly announce “You are an Ironman!”
What a great experience. I’m not sure I could have executed much better with my given fitness level. 2017 will not be an IM year. I have other commitments, but I think a year of training will get me ready for 2018. Now I just have to decide where. Wherever that is, I hope to have as much fun and team support.
Comments
@ Gary...You are an Ironman. That says it all. Congratulations!!! Awesome job getting to the finish line given all the kidney issues you experienced in training, You managed all the curve balls the race threw at you, and finished with a very respectable time. Well done. I'm so happy for you. Good luck in the future.
As for your race.. the people going over 14h always amaze me as much as the sub10, you guys are bad asses to keep going that long! I am also happy that you went under your targeted time, considering your health issues you had during that build.
Now time to rest !
Enjoy it, you made it dude !
@Tim, my ankle was black/blue and swollen but is almost normal now. I have no idea what happened. On my Garmin 520, it was my fault. I made sure to charge it a couple of days early to be sure it was charged. On that model it turns itself on when you unplug it from charging and you need to power it down. Someone else in the house unplugged it and I never checked. Next time I will only charge the night before the race.
I do have my Qollector data that I downloaded, but my power meter wasn't linked (thought it was) so it's not very valuable.
The first time is special. Enjoy your success and let us all know when/where you decide to go next.
It was great training and racing with you.
I agree. I've gone under 11 hours and over 16 hours, and everywhere in between, and the longer the race, the harder it gets. That, on top of doing this 6 weeks after a kidney stone with surgery...well, hats off to you, Gary.
@Al. I have been playing back your words of wisdom for the past year in my head. "Ironman is easier to do and harder to get right than most people imagine. And the only way to get on the road to getting it right, is to actually race the dang thing." Thanks for the encouragement to go for it. I hope to race with you some day.
You had a fantastic race, congrats on the gritty finish - with the ankle, it just doesn't get any better than that. Sorry I could not wait at the finish, I had planned to, but my wife surprised me with a 6am flight the next day, had to pack the rig.
I had a great time meeting you, thank you for the beers. I will hit you up if I ever find my way to Phoenix with the clubs. Congrats again Ironman!
The obstacles of the day you dealt with well and gritted through the run, which we all know goes from suck to major suck!
You are an Ironman! I hope you will join me in some long rides next fall.
Enjoy your time off!
Gary, that was all you baby! Wake to shake off Dougie Bob on the swim!
Ankle issue.......the way you described it, sounds like you rolled the ankle early in the run?? Can you remember that happening anytime? You can run on a rolled ankle but it will swell and hurt like a bitch for the remainder of the time. Rolling the ankle stretches the pereneol tendon that connects the lower leg muscles to the bottom of your foot. That tendon (there are two of them on each leg/foot) runs under the ankle and attaches to the bottom of your foot. When you roll the foot/ankle, the tendon(s) get stretched and swell up like a baseball/pain.
How is the ankle today?
Just a fantastic, amazing job of hanging in there despite the issues during a very long day and moving it across the finish line Ironman! What is your next adventure?
SS
@Shaughn, your encouragement on Strava was a real boost, thank you, you're a great asset to have on the team.
It was the front of my ankle, where the shoe meets your ankle. I never rolled it twisted it or anything and it has never hurt before. That's why I couldn't figure out why it was so sore. I believe I figured out today what the cause was. I went on a ride with Clark, before he heads home, and within 5 minutes my ankle was hurting in the same spot. I think I had that shoe strap too tight during my ride and it just aggravated it for 7 hours. Seems crazy, but I loosened it and everything was good. Time for new bike shoes. How idiotic is that?
I have a 12 day/100ish mile backpacking trip planned in July with my Boy Scouts that I need to spend some time training for, but there is a lot of fitness to be gained for me.