There
will not be another first Ironman or one just like this, so before the
crispness of these memories fade I want to get them down on paper.
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| Me & my Mom |
The
Important Stuff:
As I hope everyone knows I was doing this race in honor of
Ray DePauw and to raise money for the ALS Guardian Angels Foundation, which
assists families battling ALS. It is not
too late to donate but it soon will be. Shortly
I will be making my donation and ending this campaign. We will surpass $7,000 and exceed my goal by
40%. Thank you so much for everyone who
has donated thus far. Here is the link
to the details to donate for anyone looking to get in at the last moment; every
donation makes a difference: https://www.crowdrise.com/rayshopelives
The Numbers:
2.4 Mile* Swim: 48:15 1:14/100m pace* 16th in my age group
Transition 1 5:21
116 Mile Bike ** 5:47:29 20.03
mph fell to 49th
in my age group
Transition 2 3:16
26.2 Mile Run 3:10:51 7:17 mins/mile ran
myself up to 14th in AG
FINISH TIME
9:55:12 14 in AG
30-34 93rd Overall
*down river swim with significant current on race day
**4 miles longer than the traditional 112 IM bike
The
Training:
I registered for IMChoo a year in advance after a solid
performance in the Setup NC tri series, which was capped off by a 4:42 in the
Carolina Half Iron distance triathlon. I
had a long time to get ready and for the most part my training went well. The only issue was after running 2:43 at
Boston I was stubborn and didn’t take enough time off and strained/tore muscle
tissue in my calf. It was one of the
most frustrating injuries I have suffered because when it happened I was in
great shape but I couldn’t run for the vast majority of my IM training plan. I used that time to try and work on my swim
and bike. I was somewhat successful at
that. I made my own training plan and it
got the job done. The hardest parts were staying consistent week to week,
finding people to ride with and not running.
But my calf healed just in time to have a 5-week marathon-training plan
with long runs of 8, 12, 16, 20 and 12 fast-ish.
The
Swim:
The logistics of an IM race are completely different from
short/local tri’s. Thankfully I have had Danielle with me every step of the way
to help get things organized and set up.
She was amazing in the months leading up to the race and even more so
the morning of the race getting me to transition to do final tire inflate and
put my bottles on my bike. As it was a
downriver swim there was a bus ride to the start. The ride was longer than you would think and
particularly anxious. Then there was the
wait from about 6am until the 7:30 start.
The swim start was just a long line of people jumping off a dock. So once the pros went off I walked my way as
close to the front as I felt I could get in order to have a decent starting
position. I had two simple strategies
for the swim that went hand in hand.
One, protect my right shoulder and, two, get out toward the center of
the river as much as possible in hopes of benefitting from the strongest
current possible.
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| Waiting patiently at the swim star |
The swim start was glorious. Shortly after the cannon sounded I jogged all
the way out of the end of the dock and jumped in at the same time as maybe 5
others. I immediately swam somewhat
diagonally toward the middle of the channel while everyone else seemed to swim
toward the first buoy. I was pretty much
alone on the right edge of the swim toward the center of the river. Instead of sighting buoy to buoy I was
looking as far down the river as possible and in so doing took some of the bend
out of the swim course, essentially swimming the tangent. The swim was long but I took it easy just
trying to stay relaxed, long and smooth.
Only twice did I catch some feet to follow, and even then I wasn’t
willing to leave my pace or line to follow them so the drafting was brief.
I was happy to swim under the bridges,
along the boats and make my way to the stairs out of the water. I had no idea at the time but the river
current was strong and my swim strategy seemed to work as I had an incredible
swim getting out of the water 14th in my age group. I felt great.
T1:
As I ran along the water toward T1
the crowds were deep and loud but I spotted Danielle and my Mom, which was a
great feeling; they were so excited!
There was a steep hill up to transition and I just took it easy and
focused on being relaxed, deliberate and not making any mistakes. All day long the volunteers were terrific, they
found my bag of bike stuff, helped me transition and got me on my way
efficiently. I grabbed my bike and saw
my family again before mounting my bike.
The Bike:
I was probably most concerned about
the bike. The bike is my weakness, this
bike was 116 miles long and it was the one place where a mechanical issue could
ruin or end my race. Thankfully my bike
had been thoroughly checked and tuned up by the good people at Inside-Out
Sports (they even helped me with getting my rear wheel on and off, which was
totally different from my road bike.
Without their [James’] help, a flat would have been devastating).
My plan for the bike was also very simple: TAKE IT EASY. I had previously ridden 3 laps of the two-lap
course, I knew it wasn’t a hard course, but it was long. If I was going to err, it was going to be on
the side of taking it too easy on the bike.
When they changed the course one month before the race they actually
made it easier/faster with more highway sections and better roads. I had previously decided that based on my
training rides on the course, 20 mph (in good conditions) was my upper limit
and I wasn’t ever sure that would feel easy enough to maintain at my desired
effort level. This is all guesswork
since I don’t ride with a power meter.
I left transition feeling good and
taking it easy. My only issue was
dropping my flat kit as I went over a set of railroad tracks in the very first
mile. Picked it up and lost maybe a
minute and I was on my way. The bike was
really uneventful; I took it very easy on the first lap, drank a lot, eat a
good amount and was passed a ton. I
stopped at bike special needs at around mile 58 and swapped out two bottles and
took a gel. Danielle was there to cheer
me on which was amazing. I let her know
that I felt good and that if anything I needed to slow down (as I was averaging
slightly above 20 mph).
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| Max & Otis cheering me on from CLT. |
In the last 5 miles I was passed by
a huge and constant mass of riders squeezing the last few seconds of advantage
out of the bike course. I was so excited
to get off my bike, once on the run I knew that nothing could stop me from
finishing and I felt shockingly good.
Dismount was awesome there was a huge crowd and I caught a glimpse of
Danielle which was great. I got off my
bike and the next volunteer in a long line of bike catchers immediately took
the bike from me; it was a rock star feeling.
T2:
Once again the volunteers were
amazing. After dropping my bike I ran
through the T2 bags and the volunteers had mine in my hand before I got to
it. I wore my Castelli Body Paint tri
suit throughout so a quick stop in the tent to take an e-gel, put on my Karhus,
grab some water and my run belt with salt tabs attached and I was on my
way. It was a deliberate but efficient
stop with no mistakes.
The
Run:
I clicked my garmin into run mode
and departed on the run. The course took
us back along the water by the swim finish.
Before going down the big hill I saw Danielle and my Mom. Once again that gave me a big lift and I let
them know that I was feeling great. I
felt like I was moving well and was cognizant that I needed to keep my pace
reasonable starting out and not get too excited from the emotion. I was shocked that a half-mile into the run
someone smoothly started to pass by me. I
was relieved to see that it was pro triathlete, Patrick Evoe, starting his second
loop. I matched his pace as he slowed on
the hill. He gave me a look like “what
is this guy doing?” so I asked him how he was doing, he responded to the effect
of, ‘not great in 10th”. He
also accurately warned me of the difficulty of the run course and advised me to
take it easy before picking his pace up and passing me. I would later pass him back on the hills of
the north side of the river.
Not surprisingly the run was my
favorite part of the race. The
volunteers and spectators were incredible.
I don’t know that I have ever raced with my name on my bib so I was
shocked initially to hear my name over and over again, but it was great. The course was a loop on the south side of
the river going out on a greenway along the river and coming back along the
side of a highway. The highway crossed
over the north side of the river for a very hilly loop before coming back over
the pedestrian bridge to do it again. Starting
the run I did some quick math and it seemed a 3:15ish marathon would have me
finishing just after 5:30, which was 10 hours after the 7:30 am start. I knew that if I finished by (or just after)
5:30 I would break 10 hours. At this
point I didn’t know how lightning fast the swim was so I just kept doing the
math trying to figure out my mistake or why I was so far ahead of
schedule.
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| Real life or time for a salt tablet? |
The course on the north side of the
river did not disappoint as the hills were ridiculous and it was nearly
constant climbing or descending. On my
first lap I saw Frank on his way in and we exchanged high 5’s as I wondered how
far the loop was and how far ahead of me he was. I did my best to stay easy up the hills and
claw a little time back on the declines knowing that next time they would hurt
a whole lot more. I crossed over the
pedestrian bridge and looked down into the water thinking it was an eternity
since I was down there swimming.
Thankfully we didn’t have to go right by the finish before starting the
second loop.
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| Heath captured this great shot. |
I had been waiting a year for this
second loop and I was feeling good. I
was 100% under control all day to have something left here. I felt good; my only concern was the
occasional shooting pre-cramp. To fight
off the possibility of cramping I was taking a sip of water and perform at
pretty much every aid station. I was
also taking a salt tablet every 40 minutes or so. I had no nutrition plan for the run and just
began grabbing a gu at about every other aid station and either taking it or
carrying it a bit depending on how I was feeling. By the second loop there were people
everywhere and I was flying by them. Off
the bike I was in 411th place, I passed over 300 people to finish in
93rd overall.
My confidence on the run increased
with each mile. I was tiring but I was
holding pace very well. I have tracked a
lot of ironman’s and almost everyone comes apart in the last 6-10 miles, I
wanted to avoid that. Crossing back over
the river I knew that I just had to survive the last 6 or so miles in 7:30 pace
and I would definitely finish under 10.
The hills of the north side definitely hurt and took their toll the
second time around. I passed Frank as he
was stretching and patted him on the backside and told him to get moving. Once
he realized who it was he shouted encouragement to me and I returned the
support.
I gutted out the last of the miles
and hills and made my way to the pedestrian bridge where I could see and hear
the finish. By this point I was starring
at calves as I passed people looking to move up in my age group. I still didn’t understand just how fast
everyone’s swims were so all I could think to myself was sub 10 with a bike
that was 4 miles too long maybe that gives me a chance… My goals coming in were: (1) finish, (2) have fun, (3) Sub 11. I had previously said publically that I
thought sub 10 was possible but after the bike course became 116 miles I
figured that dream was dead. Also, I
wanted this to be as great an experience as possible so I didn’t want to blow
up chasing a relatively arbitrary goal.
But now I wanted to pass everyone I could.
I ended up not being close to anyone in my age group at the
end and was able to savor the finish just a little bit. I heard Mike Reilly declare me an Ironman and
glanced down at the word “Ray” written on my left forearm as I crossed the
finish line. There was a quick fist pump
and then the emotion of a year’s worth of training and 10 hours worth of racing
hit me all at once. I did it, I
demolished my goals, I broke 10 hours.
Some glorious volunteer wrapped me in a space blanket while another took
my chip and strap off my ankle (pro tip:
not the job you want). The first
volunteer walked me through the chute asking what I wanted or needed. I just wanted Danielle. She was there immediately and was going nuts;
she is the best Ironmate ever! Then I
wanted to know my time and place. First
the good news: 9:55:12!! Thanks to the swim I was still able to bust
under 10 hours even with the long bike, which ended up being a much
easier/faster course than expected.
Then Danielle told me I was 14th in my age group, 93rd overall, and I was shocked, I was too happy and relieved to be disappointed, but I was shocked. Pretty much at that moment I knew I was doing another one. The shock quickly faded away and I enjoyed what I had done. It never really felt like a long day and with all the things that could go wrong I definitely felt like I had someone looking out for me that day.
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| With my beautiful wife in the finishing chute. |
Then Danielle told me I was 14th in my age group, 93rd overall, and I was shocked, I was too happy and relieved to be disappointed, but I was shocked. Pretty much at that moment I knew I was doing another one. The shock quickly faded away and I enjoyed what I had done. It never really felt like a long day and with all the things that could go wrong I definitely felt like I had someone looking out for me that day.
Post
Race:
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| Don't I look happy? |
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| Herb finishing strong. |
Thank
Yous:
There are so many people to thank
for making this dream come true.
Clearly, first and foremost is my beautiful, wonderful, caring,
compassionate, patient, supportive wife.
There is absolutely no way I could have done this without her help and
support. She tolerated me when I couldn’t
run, she rode with me when she didn’t want to or have to, she handled all of
the logistics and details that would have derailed me. She made this possible and I am very grateful
to have her as my teammate.
I also have to thank Ray and Nancy
DePauw for inspiring me and giving me strength on the days my strength alone
wasn’t enough. In the same vein, I also
have to thank each and every one of the individuals and families who supported
me and donated to the ALS Guardian Angels in Ray’s honor. Your generosity is overwhelming. Special thanks to my Mom and Jim for coming
down to see me and my sister for understanding my absence this summer- I can’t
wait to get home for Thanksgiving. Thank
you to all the people who trained with me and made the hard days easier. Thanks to Inside-Out Sports for making me
feel like a pro and setting me up just as well (in spite of my bike ignorance, and
making me a little less ignorant along the way). Finally special thanks to Max and Otis for
always being willing to nap after a long morning bike.
Epilogue
(yeah this recap it so long it has an epilogue):
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| Beer tastes extra good. |
