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| Took almost 16 1/2 hours to get it done, but I got it done! |
A little more than a week before my Ironman event was very stressful! Laarni had been dealing with several health issues. We just continue to pray that she’ll be ok!
The Thursday before I was supposed to leave for Phoenix, I decided to do a short swim and try some new drills that I had learned. The next morning, I was hurting pretty bad and my shoulder got totally inflamed! I had been seeing the guys at TEAM Clinic in Santa Clara to help me keep loose and injury free. They worked on my shoulder and it felt a little better. I iced my shoulder all weekend and took some Advil to try and settle the inflammation. It worked, but by Monday, the pain had migrated from my shoulder blade to the top of my shoulder. I saw the guys at TEAM Clinic again on Monday so they worked on it again! They also explained to me how normal it was for athletes to feel injuries during taper and right before an event. Uh, I think they were trying to tell me that I was freaking myself out and that the pain was all in my mind! Either way, it hurt like hell and I didn’t mind paying them to help me!
These guys are great. Dr. Chevalier and Alex Lopez really helped me to stay loose, suggested some exercises to do at home and helped me to find ways to prevent cramping. They have worked with and have successfully helped professional, collegiate and even amateur athletes. Good guys at TEAM Clinic!
Not only did I have this new pain, but I also felt a little under the weather! NOOOO!! I was in denial and really tried hard not to think about being congested or having a sore throat! I drank Cranberry juice and did my nasal flush the next few days just to try and stay healthy. But by Tuesday, I was feeling really lousy and had to leave work early to try and get some rest. By now, I’m freaking out internally, but I didn’t want to tell anyone that I was feeling lousy…I wanted no excuses…not at this point and I really tried hard to stay positive so close to my event!
Many know that I attempted IRONMAN Canada in August and didn’t quite make it to the run because of some severe leg cramps. I decided that I needed a lot of help so I hired a personal coach (Coach Tom) 4 weeks prior to my event who gave me a ton of tips that proved to help me tremendously. He suggested that I eat canned soup during the week leading up to the event. It would supposedly help to keep my salt levels high. Perfect, I loaded up on Progresso’s Chicken Soup with Wild Rice. I used it not only for the sodium, but to help me feel better from this cold.
I flew out to Phoenix on Thursday morning (11/15) and arrived right at noon (Laarni and the kids would follow later). I got my rental van and went to the hotel to check in and was able to get a room early so I dropped off my luggage. I then headed straight for packet pickup and registration at Tempe Town Lake.
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| Getting my assigned Bib #206 |
Since I was a late entry for this event, I didn’t have a pre-assigned bib number so I got assigned #206 when I arrived. Cool, I really didn’t care and was just glad I got an entry into this event that has been sold out for a year! To give an idea on how popular this event is, the 2013 event sold out in 40 seconds when it opened up to the public just one day after my event!
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| Raceday Transport - Attention to Details |
I got all my registration stuff and went to pick up my bike from Raceday Transport. I have to give props to this new company! Their attention to detail and the fact that they got me a spot in their truck just weeks prior to the event was much appreciated! I got my bike and went back to the hotel to drop it all off.
I had scheduled a sports massage with a local massage therapist that afternoon. When I arrived, the massage therapist asked how I was doing and I did tell him about my shoulder as well as my cold. He discouraged me from getting a massage because he said that getting a massage would probably make me feel worse before I got any better. It would allow me to recover faster but he obviously was skeptical that I would feel better prior to my event on Sunday. Since I was starting to feel better on my own, I decided to take his advice and skip the pre-event massage. I was very impressed with this young man as he could have easily looked the other way to earn some money for a massage but he too was looking out for me.
Now that I had some extra time, I decided to go to Walmart and shop for the things that I needed for the event and the rest of the week. PB&J, bread, bananas, water, pickles, etc…
I then went into downtown Tempe and had an early dinner at Gordon Biersch…weird going into a brewery without actually ordering a beer!! But their flatbread pizza’s are so good!
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| Kids and their mentors getting ready for the swim start |
Got to sleep early on Thursday so I could wake up early on Friday to go check out a kids triathlon put on by Chances for Children. This organization is a non-profit that helps underprivileged children obtain the opportunity to a healthy lifestyle and on-going fitness. In fact, this is the organization that allowed me to get a last minute entry to Ironman Arizona in exchange for doing some fundraising for them. With my awesome friends and family, we raised over $3,000 in just 4 short weeks! Amazing! But in reality, the kids are the ones who were amazing! I had so much fun watching these little athletes do so well! The best part was that one of my good friends, Chacha, who also did the IM event, and her sister, met me out at the kids’ tri so we could watch it together! Fun times for sure!
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| Transition and Special Needs Bags |
After lunch, it was time to put some of my transition bags and “special needs” bags together. For those unfamiliar with IM events, each athlete is given 5 large plastic bags. All the stuff you need to change into for the bike and the run has to fit into one large plastic bag. Then during both the bike and the run, you are allowed to have one special needs bag that you could put anything you want into it so you could have it at the halfway point of each the bike and run. I’ve seen people put things like pizzas or sandwiches or coke bottles in there! Probably one of the weirdest things I put in mine? Pickle juice! I’ll explain later why I used it. The 5th bag was called our morning bag and would be used to put my morning clothes into it after I changed into my wetsuit first thing in the morning.
I’m telling you, putting these bags together takes several hours…if you forget one important thing it could ruin your day. Or how would it feel if you went to your Transition #1 bag and you opened it up to find your run stuff when in fact it should have been your cycle stuff! I made several checklists and labels to make sure I had it all right!
Friday night dinner was supposed to be an Athlete’s dinner in Tempe with the race organizers. They also take this time to go over the race rules and the race circuit. But I got a better offer from one of my good friends Kristy. She invited me over to dinner at her place and since several folks I knew were skipping the dinner put on by the race organizers, I decided to bail on it as well. It proved to be a good choice since dinner and time with Kristy and her family and friends was a lot more fun! Ironically, Kristy was my very first coach who helped me when I joined the TNT Cycle Team back in 2009. I had no clue what I was doing (not that I do now) but Coach Kristy helped me to fall in love with the sport. Kristy also did her first IM back in 2009 and I remember how crazy I thought she was for doing one…it happened to be IM Arizona too!
It was a quick dinner at Kristy’s house since I had to go to the airport to pick up Laarni and the kids. They arrived around 7:30pm. Went to the hotel and hit the sack early!
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| Loved having the kids with me at the event! |
Saturday morning was the practice swim at Tempe Town Lake plus I had to check in my bike into transition (this has to be done the day before event day). Hana and Marcus came with me to help watch my stuff while I did the practice swim. In the meantime, Laarni went to the airport with Zachary and Kailie to pick up our good friend Danielle and my mom! Funny story, my mom got to the van, opened the door and saw Danielle sitting there. My mom said with her Hella Pinoy accent, “Oops, I’m sorry, wrong car”! Ha ha!! I forgot to tell my mom that we adopted another kid named Danielle!
The practice swim was good…I had heard that the lake was cold so I wanted to see how cold it really was. You can’t really tippy toe in…you have to jump into the water since the only entrance into the water is a set of bleachers. I got in at around 9:45am and it definitely gave me a shock when I first jumped in. But once I started going, it wasn’t that bad. I went out for about 10 minutes and then headed back! There were already a lot of people in the lake during the practice swim so all I thought about was how race day would truly be like a washing machine! But hey, I’ve made it this far, no turning back now! Stay positive is all I thought!
By the time I got out of the water, got the bike and gear bags to transition, it was around 11AM and Laarni was on her way back from the airport to Tempe. She picked us up and we went to lunch. We had a great lunch at Red Robin. Well, I had a light lunch and was very tempted by the fries that everyone else was eating! But I was good and stayed away.
It was time to head back to the hotel so that I could get off my feet. Very good advice given to me by all my TNT coaches. Laarni and Danielle decided to go and check out the IRONMAN Expo back in town.
I got all my nutrition stuff together and made sure I marked everything so I knew where each item would go first thing in the morning on event day. I’m so glad I did this because so much is going on in the morning that having everything marked made it easy to put stuff in my transition bags and reduced the risk of me putting something in the wrong bag.
I can’t even remember what I was watching on tv, but I was pretty much kicking back the rest of the afternoon. My brother and his family made it into town by around 3pm. They got a room right across from ours so our kids and my brother’s kids got to hang out together. Laarni made me a light pasta dinner that I ate at around 5:30pm while everyone else ate pizza. I tried to go to sleep at around 8pm but that never works. But I have learned to relax before an event and simply just lie there and rest even if I can’t sleep. I tried to avoid looking at the clock but I do remember peeking and seeing the clock say 9:30pm. That’s the last I remember until I woke up the next morning.
Sunday, event day – alarm clock goes off at 4am. Our goal was to be out of the hotel by 5am to go pick up Martin from his hotel in Tempe. I changed, got my stuff together, ate breakfast at 4:30am and headed out on the nose at 5am. All 11 of us! Yup, my kids, my mom, my brother and his family, all headed out! I am so lucky to have so much great support. Laarni dropped off Martin and I right at transition while she and the rest of the gang parked the cars. I got to see Coach Ron and Danielle that morning…they stayed at Coach Kristy’s house the night before and I knew Coach Kristy was going to be at the event with her family as well!
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| Family shot right before the swim start |
I had a checklist/schedule that I followed that morning. I’m so glad I did this because so much is going on and I wanted to stay efficient that morning! I put my nutrition in the appropriate bags, got air in my bike tires, went to the bathroom, got my wetsuit on, stretched a little bit, posed for some pictures and then it was time to get in the water. We were allowed to get in at 6:45am for a start of 7am. I decided to get in right away to get used to the cold. I started to second guess myself since I felt like I was treading water for a long time. I also noticed that there were so many people who had not jumped in yet and had decided to simply wait on dry land.
Even though I was starting to second guess my early entry into the water, I was pretty calm about it and decided to have fun. I looked around at all the people watching and just took it all in. The National Anthem was sung while many of us were in the water and we would be off in just minutes. Funny thing is, it was a game-time decision as to where I was going to start the swim. I had one coach who told me to stay towards the buoy line on the left side and then another coach gave me the advice to stay way to the right away from the buoy line (it was a counter-clockwise rectangle that we had to swim). I got in and EVERYONE was so spread out. I found a little opening right in the middle so I decided to stay there. I also noticed that I was literally about 5 rows from the front row racers. So, I was a lot closer to the front than I thought I would ever be! Oh well, we’ll see what happens.
The countdown begins…the cannon goes off at 7am sharp!! GOOOOOO!!! It was definitely a rough start but that was to be expected. I didn’t get punched during this swim and I found myself drifting off to the right. I can only breathe to my right side so I guess it made me comfortable to see shore on the right as well as all the tall buildings so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that I drifted to the right. To my surprise though, once I got to the right side, I felt like I had a ton of room and no one else around. I got so comfortable that I did feel like I wasn’t getting the benefit of drafting other swimmers so I decided to try and drift towards the middle. I went for it.
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| Swim at Tempe Town Lake - 63 degrees |
Ok, I saw the big triangle buoy ahead so that meant it was time to make a left turn and I would soon be heading back to the start. I love this because I know I’m going back…so much easier and a confidence booster! I got behind some other swimmers and tried to draft but I did find it difficult because I couldn’t get a good rhythm behind anyone. I must have been picking swimmers who were even sketchier than me! One guy was just all over the place and I was following him at first. I decided I better just stay on the buoy line. That was the right thing for me. I stayed on it and I coasted all the way back into transition!
I finished the swim in 1 hour 46 minutes…super slow, but faster than any other 2.4 mile swim I’ve ever done so I’m good with that. Most people who got out of the water seemed to get help with their wetsuits right after getting out of the water…I decided to get away from the crowd and ran a little bit towards transition where I found some volunteers who stripped my wetsuit off for me. Funny thing is that I happened to pick a spot right where my mom was standing in the spectator area. I got to see her cheering me on! Very cool!
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| Big smiles all day long! |
Got my cycle jersey on, cycle socks, cycle shoes and of course some butt butter to get me through the 112 mile bike ride. As I was leaving transition, I saw Laarni and my brother and I remember looking at them smiling and yelling, “See I’m still smiling”! I really was having fun!
Ok, bike time! I was so ready for this! I wanted so bad to prove that the bike ride that kicked my butt in Canada just three months prior was not going to happen again! I was not going to cramp and even if I did, I was going to beat it! I did! First of all, the bike ride at Arizona is VERY different from the bike ride in Canada. Arizona was 3 loops. It was about 9 miles on city streets and then there was about a 9 mile easy climb through the desert. I say easy because it didn’t get very steep…but it is well known for swirling winds. I was on the hill and felt like I had a tailwind and then halfway through, I would feel like I had a headwind. I just kept the bike in a low gear and just tried to spin in a high cadence. I admit, I had to use my granny gear (lowest gear) on a simple 2% grade. I wanted to save my legs and really tried to prevent cramping.
Hmmm…speaking of cramping. One thing my friend Martin taught me was to “Embrace the Suck”! Why do I get so worried if and when I do cramp. Why not just accept that I’m a “cramper” and then embrace it and welcome the cramp to the party! I did! I didn’t cramp but I did feel spasms starting around mile 50. I started to laugh and even welcomed the cramp to the party like Martin suggested. I couldn’t wait to get to my special needs where I knew I had one of my tools in my toolbox. Pickle juice! I got to about mile 60 where special needs was and I got off the bike and wow, almost locked up! A volunteer held my bike while I dropped to the ground and I immediately started to massage my legs and used a topical lotion called Cramp 911. It’s simply a magnesium roll-on that helps keep the muscles loose. The volunteer asked me what was wrong and I said I was starting to cramp. He was nice enough to get my water bottles filled for me while I took in my pickle juice. I also ate half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I got up and got back on my bike. The volunteer asked me, “Are you still cramping”? I quickly replied, “What cramps”? I was so proud of myself on how I was handling this familiar obstacle!
Twinges would come back once in a while but nothing really bad. I got used to putting the Cramp 911 stuff on my legs, both my quads and my calves, while I was riding the bike. I also started taking some salt tabs but I was cautious with the salt tabs because I think they adversely affected me when I was in Canada. I got through the bike in much shorter time compared to my Canada time. I was off the bike after 7 hours 36 minutes. Again, super slow, but I was happy because I knew that I would have around 7 ½ hours to get the marathon done! Let’s do this!!
Holy smokes!! A marathon??? I’ve never run a marathon before. I had no idea how my body would respond to such a long run. But again, having 7 ½ hours took the pressure off. I knew I could run and walk and still get in before the 12 midnight time limit! My plan was to walk the first mile out of transition no matter how I felt. I wanted to let my legs settle after the bike ride and then start running after a mile. The run was also 3 loops but it was really 3 figure eight loops which meant that I would see my family multiple times during the run. Fun times!!
I got to about 3/4 of a mile and decided to start running slow. My watch tracks my average minutes per mile so I tried to keep it under 14 so that when I needed to walk, I could maintain at least 15 minute mile. I got to about mile 5 and kept a good pace and I saw Laarni and Danielle sitting and cheering me on. I asked Laarni, just to confirm, that if I maintained a 15 minute mile, I should make it right? Danielle yelled at me and said don’t even think about that and just keep going! LOL!!! I cracked up because she was so right! Why was I even worried about that at this point! Thanks Danielle!
I must say that the funnest part of this grueling day was the run! I had so much fun seeing and cheering others on. I felt really good as my energy level was very high! I had my tools in my toolbox and they were working. I had another flask of pickle juice at the start of my run so the spasms were under control. I did feel pretty hungry on the run for some reason. I didn’t feel like eating the Gels that I had so I actually ate some potato chips from the aid stations. I also had some sunflower seeds that I ate. Coach Tom recommended the seeds since they are high in sodium and I love sunflower seeds!
If there was anything negative on the run (and it wasn’t really that negative) was that I had to go pee…a lot! I probably stopped at every rest stop after the first 5 miles to use the restroom. There was a rest stop about every mile or mile and a half. I’ve heard of some athletes going pee while they run…sorry, not this dude. I used the facilities each and every time. But again, I didn’t feel pressured since I had time. It wasn’t until later after my event when going over my notes that I had taken from Coach Tom that maybe I was in fact low on sodium. I was drinking a lot but it was just going through me. I probably didn’t have enough salt in me to absorb the liquid. Again, I was gun shy to take too many salt tabs because of what happened to me in Canada. Oh well, live and learn.
At my special needs about half way through the run, I actually sat down and went through my special needs bag. I decided to take my shoes and socks off so I could dry my feet with a towel. I applied some Glide to my toes and the bottom of my feet and then put on a fresh pair of socks. I have heard of people getting blisters because their feet were wet so I decided I wanted to prevent that. Plus it gave me a chance to sit and relax and take it all in! I had a personal cooler in my special needs where I had ice packs and I stored half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a half bottle of frozen Coke and some frozen pickle juice. I thought I was so clever to do this to keep this stuff cold. Uh, I think I outsmarted myself because when I grabbed my coke and pickle juice, to my surprise, they were both still frozen! Ha! Oh well, I decided to just take it with me and hold it in my hands to let them melt over the next couple of miles. I also had some mustard flavor pretzels that tasted oh so good! Plus the mustard supposedly helps in preventing cramps because of an ingredient called Tumeric.
Coach Kristy ran the last 4 or 5 miles with me towards the end of the run. It was so awesome! She asked me if anything was hurting and even though I was feeling some spasms, I said, “NOTHING”! I was having too much fun at that point! I even told Kristy that I didn’t want the night to end and wanted to take my time and maybe come in right at 12 midnight. She said I better not because she and others wanted to go home to go to sleep! Ha ha! Ok, I guess I shouldn’t milk this feeling too much! But I was having fun!
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| High 5ing Mike Reilly in the Finishers Chute |
The spectators were amazing! Strangers rooting and cheering me on while I ran in the darkness. I could hear the folks at the finish line and I could not believe that I was so close to finishing this race! The finisher’s chute was so much fun, people going crazy, I heard Danielle yelling my name, I saw Mike Reilly (the voice of IRONMAN) swinging his white towel trying to get the crowd into it!! I heard him call my name! As I crossed the finish line, I looked up into the clouds and thanked two very special people who I was thinking of and I knew they were looking down on me and helping me cross that finish line! Run time 6 hours 39 minutes…not bad for all the stops I made, including my little picnic that I had (that's what Laarni called what I was doing at Special Needs)! :)
Total time = 16 hours, 23 minutes, 46 seconds!
Total time = 16 hours, 23 minutes, 46 seconds!
What an AWESOME feeling. After working so hard and training since November 2011 to get this done. The journey certainly didn’t go as planned as I thought I would be an IRONMAN in Canada…but like so many people tell me, not everything could go as planned during an event…it’s how you handle it that will get you through. Well, I think that same advice applies to everything! I could have easily given up and not try another IRONMAN. But with the help of my coaches, with the support of my teammates and my family and friends, I can now say that I DID IT! I AM AN IRONMAN!
Can’t wait until the next one!!
If you’d like to view the more than 100 pictures that we got of this event, you can view them here:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AbsWjFk3YsWr6g
You don’t need to sign up to view the pictures, simply hit View Album after clicking on the above link. Then you could “Play Slideshow” to see the captions that I added to each picture!
H
If you’d like to view the more than 100 pictures that we got of this event, you can view them here:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AbsWjFk3YsWr6g
You don’t need to sign up to view the pictures, simply hit View Album after clicking on the above link. Then you could “Play Slideshow” to see the captions that I added to each picture!
H
