Ironman Wisconsin Race Report!

Well, for starters... I AM ONE. I am an Ironman! I finished and am beaming with pride this week as a result. Looking back on an entire year of preparing and training, then the day actually getting here, doing it, then having had a week now to let it all sink in, it doesn't seem like it was such a big deal... but it is! It SO is!!

Here is my race report, and since this is my very first Ironman race report... Sit back, relax, don't get a pillow or you WILL fall asleep, this will get long...

We arrived in Madison on Wednesday as we had booked our room at the Inn on the Park (3 blocks from Monona Terrace where all the Ironman activities are), and by the time we were able to book a room there (sometime in Jan.) they had upped the minimum night stay to 5 nights. I figured getting to Madison early would let me ease into the week and not at any time ever feel rushed. That worked. Thursday-Saturday I slept in, then did my workout when I was finally good and ready to. No rushing around this week, as per usual. It was AWESOME.

On Thursday we drove the bike loop. I was dying for Stacy to see it. I wanted him to know how hard this course was. He laughed when my *no where near as much balls as his car* Hyundai Tucson changed gears a couple of times and grunted up some of the hills. He was shocked at some of the climbs we had to do, and had to do twice at that.
I had my bike checked out and adjusted one last time at the little bike shop in Cross Plains, then it was off to get ourselves ready (in our Vikings jerseys!) to watch the Vikings game. That was nice to get my mind off the race for one evening. (Sad outcome by the way. We should have beat the Saints. Who dat? The Vikings not quite ready for regular season to start yet, dat who.) :(

Friday morning I had a 15 minute run. The shortest workout of the week! Felt good though and I even broke a sweat. (Really?) After the run I went to athlete check-in. Oh boy... That was the point where it became real for me. It's really going to happen now. Just standing in the first line, I started to tear up. So many things were running through my mind at that time. How much I'd been through to get here, that I was ready and actually going to do this, how many years ago it had been since I first shared this dream/goal with my dad next to me, and how proud my dad would be of me for finally making it here.

Check-in was fairly painless and since there were no women in line (apparently) at the time I checked in, I was able to jump through the lines of men and get it all done within 10 minutes.
Friday evening we had a P2 team dinner at Tutto Pasta Cucina. There were about 25 of us. Lots of fellow teammates were in town to cheer. A lot of teammates have done Ironman before, some having just come off finishing Ironman Louisville, then plenty of us who were anxious for our first shot at it. I really enjoyed having dinner with the team versus the athlete's dinner at Monona Terrace. I am never very sure of what will be offered at buffet style dinners and I wasn't going to mess with my sensitive tummy this week whatsoever. Here's a cool shot of some of us at dinner.

Saturday was another easy workout day. We got in a 15 minute swim, a 15 minute bike, then made the final checks of our transition bags before we had to hand them in. We dropped those off, checked in our bikes, then spent the rest of the day lounging and staying off our feet. Here she is in all of her speed weaponry glory (Thanks Jeff for lending me your sweet a** wheels!).

My cousins came into town on Saturday afternoon. I ended up eating my own food for dinner (thanks Mom!) that I knew would be 'safe', then joined everyone else for dinner at Noodles and Company. My dad had treated these two like his very own kids for the 12 years they were around before I was even born. It means the WORLD to me that they made the trip all the way to Madison for this special day! I love them both so much!!

Race day finally arrived. I woke up around 4am and started eating. I ate a (gluten free!) pancake (again, thanks Mom!), and an Ensure. Then I showered just to wake myself up and try to start the day relaxed. I drank another Ensure and ate a banana as a bunch of us headed down to Monona Terrace to put our fluids on our bikes and get our body markings. Once we were done with that we actually headed back to our hotel to take care of 'business', to get our swim gear, and to pickup Stacy and the other spouses so we could all head down to the start. Stacy had me open a card that was just perfect and everything I needed to hear at that very moment:

He wrote his own words in there too, which were so incredibly sweet. Once that all sank in, I suddenly realized what was going to happen in a few minutes, and it became so incredibly REAL. I got super anxious, was literally going bonkers inside and felt like I was going to throw up. It reminded me of the feeling I used to get before swim meets, where I was SO nervous, had SO much pressure on myself, and was SO panicked that I wondered if any of it was even worth it due to how scared to death I was feeling at that very moment. Nonetheless we made it down to the water, I got my wetsuit on, said my 'goodbyes' to our fans, and headed into the lake.

The Swim

2.4 miles - 1:07:49 hours, 1:48min/100m

Place: 15/139 age group, 384/2398 overall

I wanted to start in the front to try and avoid death as much as possible. The Ironman swim start is like nothing I could have ever imagined. It's insanity! The picture doesn't really give it justice, as there is no way to describe what it's like to be IN that mob of 2500 people. I am sure starting in the front helped a little, but I was literally playing defense versus swimming for the first mile. Making my way around the corners was insanity as well. The 2nd loop (the swim was a two loop course) was better. It had spread out some and wasn't quite as scary. Besides a finger in the cheek that hurt for about 5 minutes, I had NO fellow athlete induced injuries, and that was my main goal for the swim. As much as I wanted to kill the swim, I took it easy and just played it safe. The swim wasn't bad at all, it went really fast and before I knew it I was out, wetsuit was stripped, and was running my way up the helix to transition! I saw family, teammates and TONS of people cheering as I ran up, which was so exhilarating!

T1 (Transition 1)
7:36

Ironman transitions are fun as they actually assign a person to you who helps you get dressed. They grab your bag for you and get everything out and ready for you to head out onto the bike. I changed my shirt and got all my bike gear on and was off!

The Bike
112 miles - 7:07:16, 15.7 mph
Place: 78/139 age group, 1944/2398 overall

Here we go... onto the longest leg of the day, and on one of the toughest bike courses on the Ironman circuit. Oh... I believe I mentioned that like 2 to 25 times in previous blog posts?? I thought it deserved one more mention. :)
I hadn't been on the course from Madison to Verona so thought that would be semi exciting and new. I was just SO anxious to get to Verona to the part of the course I knew. On the ride out to Verona I started drinking water and a few sips of my Sustained Energy. By the time I got to Verona I had a pounding headache. Oh GREAT I thought, this is going to be a LONG ride. I had ibuprofen, but in my T2 bag! I wouldn't get to see it until I was off the bike. I was hoping I'd run into a teammate who might have some or an aid station. No such luck as it turns out.
Aside from the headache, the first loop went fine. I saw two teammates come by me before we got to Mt. Horeb, then all the rest eventually (oh the joys of being a fast swimmer and slow biker), so it was nice to see some familiar faces. The hills around the loop didn't feel all that tough so that made me happy. Actually, on every hill on the loop I ran into cheering teammates. It was awesome! They must have planned it that way. I hardly even remembered the hills, since I knew people cheering at each one. P2er's are THE BEST!!
There were a few moments out on the bike course where my emotions started getting the best of me, and I started thinking "I am doing IT. I am actually doing Ironman! I am going to finish an Ironman!" Then I'd snap back to reality that I was nowhere near done and to calm down as there was still plenty of day left.

The second loop went by, with somewhat less fan support, but still plenty. I still had a pounding headache and once I was getting closer to Verona started thinking "I have a MARATHON to run once I get off this bike. Oh gawd, what I am doing out here??" I gave up on the Sustained Energy awhile back as I was wondering if that was the culprit of my headache, so I started using the provided Powerade, which tasted pretty good.
The ride from Verona to Madison seemed to take forever, and my legs were starting to cramp. I stood up on one tiny climb to stretch out and my inner thigh suddenly cramped. I almost fell off my bike, but luckily caught myself and started rubbing it and keeping it straight as I tried to get the kinks out. Not a good sign when the cramping starts BEFORE you have to run a marathon. Riding up the helix knowing I was almost off the gosh darn bike was the best feeling ever. Overall, I was fine with how the bike went and think I paced it exactly how I should have in order to be fresh enough for the impending marathon.
Getting off the bike was unexpectedly tough as (it felt like) EVERY muscle in my legs suddenly cramped when I got off. They grabbed my bike for me then shouted "hurry up, run inside!" but I just stood there like a statue because I couldn't move. I wish I could see how I looked just standing there, still, as I think back now. I had to rub my legs and slowly try and stretch them out on the curb before I could even consider running. Once I knew nothing was going to charlie horse, I ran inside to change.

T2 (Transition 2)
9:10

I was finally to my ibuprofen!! My helper had my bag for me and I just had her dump it out. She was like "what can I get you first?" I was like "let's find my drugs! They're in a tiny ziploc!" (I felt like what a junkie must feel like.) I told her I had a 100 mile headache and have been looking forward to the Ibu for the last 6 hours. I had forgotten where exactly it was so after digging through socks and shoes, thought they were a lost cause until I put my shorts on I realized I had put them in the tiny FRONT pocket! Woo-hoo! I found my drugs! She got me some water and I took my Ibu. Ahhh, finally. Happiness again. :) I took the time to put my compression sleeves on, thinking that would stop ALL cramping in my legs the rest of the day (wrong) and was all set to run. After a potty break (2nd of the day, which I was proud of as I usually don't drink enough), I was off!

The Run
26.2 miles - 5:31:22, 12:39 minute/mile
Place: 81/139 age group, 1602/2398 overall

I started the run like a superhero. I felt SO good! Honestly I don't remember my head hurting ever again after the first two steps of the run, which made me so happy. I remember running and thinking "biking used to be my 2nd favorite, but now it's running, biking is 3rd! I love running! I have never wanted to run so bad in my whole life, I love this!" Talk about runner's high, I think I had the 'only one leg left Ironman high'. I was passing everyone, which wasn't my goal I just couldn't slow down at that point. I saw a bunch of people I knew cheering on the first mile or two which was also a big pick me up. I don't think it was until about mile 7 when reality set it that I was running a full marathon and I had a few hours still left.

I felt just fine until about mile 8. My calves and shins seized up and cramped. This was the same kind of overall lower leg cramping I had after the Chisago Half Ironman in July, where I'd get charlie horse's in my calves if I moved an inch the wrong way. I stopped to stretch and try to shake it, but there was no shaking the cramps. I started walking some. I also was dealing with a monster blister under my right foot, which popped over and over and eventually made it's way onto the top of my foot.
I ran and walked the rest of the way. The cramps hurt so bad, but there was no stopping me. Never was there a moment throughout the day where I thought of giving up. NO WAY. I just knew the cramping and blisters were obstacles to overcome, or as it were, to fight through. I also stopped 5+ times to use a porta-potty during the duration of the run. My tummy was getting a little messed up because I had decided to give most everything they had at the aid stations a shot; pepsi, chicken broth, gatorade, oranges, grapes. I was looking for the magic potion that would fix the cramps. I never did find that potion.
The last half I was WAY slower than the first half, but I enjoyed it, and it was very emotional having the finish line in my grasp. I knew I would get there and I could hardly contain my emotions. I also knew I was nearing in on the high 13's to 14 hours and was just fine with that time.

The Finish!
14:03:11
Place: 70/139 age group, 1615/2398 overall

When I was within a mile of the finish I got pretty emotional. I knew it was going to be the most amazing feeling to cross it and was just trying to calm myself down so I didn't cry myself through the whole thing and miss it. I did run most of the last mile and ended up catching up to a group of about five people. We all ended up finishing one right after the other, but I did get my own finisher shots!

I was half crying, but with the hugest smile on my face ever. It was SUCH AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE!! Stacy was right there at the finish (you can actually see his arm on the left in the first finisher photo) and my cousins. They all gave me a huge hug and in that moment I could feel my dad right there with me, hugging me along with them. Nothing will ever compare to the feelings I felt this day. It was truly everything I'd imagined it would be.  

Stacy even got a video of me crossing the finish line. Pretty cool! You can almost hear Mike Reilly say: "Christina Meier, you are an Ironman!!"

Never ONCE during the day did I ever think I would never do this to myself again. (Ok, maybe once, but I had a headache!) :) I would love to do another Ironman, but I did tell myself I would spend next year figuring this sport out some more and focusing on Olympic and Half distance triathlons. That could of course change if I decide to go for a 2011 Ironman Coeur D'Alene charity slot. Hmmm....

Injury Report

Ironman involved quite a bit of recovery for me, as it does for anyone. I mentioned the blister, that started on the bottom of my foot, but eventually made it's way to the front (1st hot pic), then there were the deep cuts on my butt I didn't know about until I took a shower that evening. These came from the gels in my back pocket I ran with the entire 26.2 miles (2nd hot pic. Yes, that's my butt).

Then after Wednesday night and standing for way too long at the Dave Matthews concert (we had floor tickets with no seats) my ankles and feet swelled up like balloons. I had developed cankles!? (3rd hot pic). 

The worst was not being able to bend or straighten my left leg for 3 days post race. I believe it was an inflammed tendon since I had to be overcompensating while running due to the blister on my right foot. That was the scariest thing for me, thinking I had hurt my knee or something. It's just not right to not be able to bend or straighten your leg. I was worried for the 3 days, but luckily all is well in post Ironman legville again.
Over this last weekend, I got sick. There is no better way to come down from an Ironman high then hacking up a lung and blowing snot. Bodywise though, I am feeling pretty great again and can't wait to get back out there.

Now I know stiff leg issues, blisters, cankles, and colds will pass, but I will always be an Ironman! :)