2026 Ironman 70.3 Rockford Race Report

DATE: June 14, 2026

WHERE: Rockford, Illinois

RESULTS: BIB # 154 5:45:37 finish time

What a difference a year makes! Last year was a fight for survival (link to 2025 race report), and I struggled to finish in 7.5 hours. But this year was almost a perfect day for racing a 70.3. Not only did I achieve my arbitrary goals of running a sub-2-hour half-marathon, but I also got under 6 hours for the race – by a lot, setting a new personal best for myself, too!

Training went really well for me this year. My doctor advised me that my blood work showed a very low amount of vitamin B-12. Once I added B-12 to my day, it made a huge difference. My muscles recovered more quickly and were less sore, and overall, I had more energy.

I stuck with my usual training plan, Don Fink’s IronFit Secrets for Half-Iron Distance Success, which has served me well for my three half-iron races. 16-weeks of training made me well prepared.

Prerace Notes

Kari and I got to Rockford midday on Saturday, and I was able to get checked in and put my bike into transition. We had a nice dinner at the same restaurant we ate at last year, Tavern on Clark, and I opted to not overindulge. Our same hotel (Home2) had its act together this year, and check-in went very smoothly. The only issue I had was not getting a good night’s sleep. Lots of tossing and turning, and dreaming.

Race Day

The alarm was set for 4:30am, but I got up at 4 and took a shower. Even with giving myself some extra time, Kari and I lost track of it and realized we needed to hustle to get to the Ironman Village to set up transition and catch the bus. Kari pulled up to the parking garage, and I hopped out with my stuff and headed to my bike. I set up my stuff, covered in a plastic bag as it was sprinkling, which would end by 6:45am or so. I then walked to the line to catch the shuttle buses to the swim start. Upon getting there, I realized I had not left my eyeglasses with my bike, so I ran back and put them with my helmet. That might have been bad for me. I could have dropped my glasses off at Swim Start, which the IM people would have then dropped off at Swim Out, but I’m glad I didn’t have to do that.

Although I was relieved to have remembered the glasses, the line back at the shuttle buses was now double in length, and I worried that I might have to hoof it down the 1.2 miles or so of trail to get there. I stuck it out and was able to get on a bus, fortunately.

Last year, I got a push notification from IM that the water was 79 degrees, which meant no wetsuit for me. This year, the water was 72.4 degrees! Plus, the dam upstream of Rockford had been opened, which created quite a current. It was going to be a great day for swimming.

I was a little hyped up with adrenaline at Swim Start, but somehow was able to calm myself down, talking with others and comparing notes. We were waiting in our predicted swim time groups to enter the water (I entered the water about 38 minutes after the 7am start time), and the Race Announcer was telling us that the first swimmer had exited the swim in under 20 minutes! This guy was going to be way into the bike ride before I finished the swim! Crazy.

The Swim – 28:40 / 26th M60-64 / 1062nd overall

As it turns out, 72.4 degrees is pretty damn cold! It was a little bit of a shock to the system. I swam in my new sleeveless wetsuit, and although my arms were cold, I slowly got used to it and worked my way into a good pace. After going under the first bridge, I had gotten a little off course when I swam right of this red buoy that marked the halfway point, and I was now struggling to slow down my breathing. I saw a paddleboarder and held on to it for just about a minute to reset myself, then I proceeded to swim back to where I needed to be.

I could see the Swim Out and made a beeline for it, and was shocked to see that I clocked a 28:40 swim. I’m the world’s okay-ish swimmer, typically swimming a half-iron in about 43 minutes. This was a shocker. The Rock River was certainly rolling and in our favor today!

Happy as always to be done swimming and off to the bike.

T1 – 6:40

I wasted over 8 minutes in T1 last year, and I was determined to get out of there faster this year. Due to construction in a park where the athlete village was last year, transition was moved a couple of blocks north of there on the road. There would be no quarter-mile run to my bike this time. I was lucky to basically jog 100 yards to my bike, which was right near the entrance of T1. A wetsuit peeler stripped me of my wetsuit, and I quickly sat down, tried to dry myself off, and struggled to get my socks on. I knew the bike would start with me being cold and wet, so I opted to put on a long-sleeve (and super small – 😂) cycling top. Being super close to the Swim In meant I had a long haul to the Bike Out. I stopped and had a guy add some sunscreen to my neck and face, and he shot a bunch into my ear, and we both laughed. I pushed on to the Bike Mount zone and began what would be a great ride.

Me chuckling at the sunscreen volunteer guy who had just filled my ear with sunscreen. Also, why do I look like a stuffed sausage? *Photo credit Chris Farrell*

BIKE – 3:06:32 / 18th M60-64 / 802nd overall

Most of my training rides of 56 miles took me about 3:20 or so, building up to the race. With the day we were going to have – cool temps and what I considered to be a favorable wind direction – I figured I might be able to pull off 3:10 possibly. I reminded myself not to redline leaving Rockford, as it is uphill for maybe a mile or two, but my heart was pumping hard. We got to the first turn, and it’s a super fast downhill with a sharp turn at the end. Just as we were flying down it, the referee motorcycle rode very slowly past. I wasn’t more than a couple of miles into this race and was afraid I was going to get a penalty for drafting, as there was a pretty big group that hadn’t spread out yet. But he kept going, and people tried to behave when they saw him, and I quickly settled back in.

I was so glad that I had put on the extra layer, as I was somewhat cold for the first hour. Hardly anyone else was wearing an extra top, and I thought I was the crazy one. I’m not regretting it at all.

The ride north was into the wind, but fortunately, I was pretty fresh at this stage and feeling good. It seemed to me that the cross/headwind we dealt with when we started heading west was worse than the headwind we had heading north. At the first aid station, I had a near miss when some dumb rider passed me on the right as I was pulling over to the toilets. She got an earful from me, and I wasn’t nice about it. She could have really messed both of us up. There were lots of people riding out of position. Anyway, I escaped the one close call and put it behind me.

About 32 miles into the course, I turned south and started reaping the benefits of a strong tailwind and some speedy downhill sections. My watch clocked a 35 mph max speed, which was more than likely in one of these sections heading back. I was passing riders a lot heading out, but now I was passing people very consistently and with speed.

At about 46 miles, I looked at my speed and realized that if I managed to keep up this 20 mph-plus average, I might get pretty close to three hours. So I started pushing pretty hard.

The fast hill early on leaving Rockford, was now the last beast I had to overcome before rocking Rt. 20/State Street back into the city. Shocked to see my bike split at 3:03 on my watch, which still had autopause running, and the two stops at the porta-potties cost me a grand total of about 3 minutes. Pretty amazed at that.

This is either coming in to finish the bike or just heading out. Take your pick.

T2 – 4:49

As I dismounted from the bike and started jogging to my transition spot, I wasted as little time as I could. I took off the cycling gear and put on my shoes, grabbed my arm sleeves, bib belt, and visor, and I was off to hit the run course.

RUN – 1:58:56 / 14th M60-64 / 738th overall

I told myself to not go out too fast, but I felt good and was ready to beat feet. About a half-mile into the run, I saw a guy rocking a Rush cycling jersey, and I asked him if he was going to see them in Chicago. He said that he was going to all of the shows (four, I believe!). I’m going to the Monday show, so we talked Rush for a brief spell, and then I kept trucking.

First mile of the first loop. Feeling good.

I started to feel the headwind, and I was starting to feel my effort was way too strong, so I dialed it back and tried to run comfortably. At times I was cold, other times I was hot, depending on whether the wind was at my back or in my face. I walked through most of the aid stations, stopping at one or two to pee, but I was still managing just right around 9-minute miles, which I knew I had to maintain in order to get a sub-2-hour half-marathon.

My wife, with her broken foot, was undeterred in being the best supporter for me out on the run course. She positioned herself in the same shady park area as last year, and I had no trouble finding her and letting her know I was doing okay.

I really like the variety of the run course. It kept things new and exciting. Plenty of cheering fans all along the course. The guy ahead of me had just given five to the kid.

On the second loop, I pulled the arm sleeves out of my back pocket and pulled them on because I was now getting pretty chilled in the wind. I told myself to wait to kick until about 10.5 miles, and then I started picking off runners ahead of me. I got lots of “looking good” and “you got this” from spectators, so it wasn’t just me thinking I had a good pace going.

In the final stretch, trying to pace with this much faster youngin’. *Photo credit Kristy Suriano*

I got to the final stretch and hit the gas, and then floated down the chute to the finish line. I couldn’t believe my eyes – not only did I go sub-6 hours, I also finished in 5:45, a minute and some change faster than my previous personal best from 2014, twelve years ago!

It was a race of a lifetime for me. Certainly, the swim played a role in my overall speed and time. But I earned that bike split and that run split, as they both had equal portions of hard work into the wind and help with the wind at my back. The results will show 5:45:37, and that’s all that matters.

Post Race

Not a pose I generally strike, but I had the towel and water bottle they handed me in my hands. I kind of like it.

I stood in line to get a finish line photo, then focused my attention on recovery. Recovery is always hard for me at this distance (and most others, too), and I could sense that I’d better keep moving and get out of the finish area. I found Kari, and we walked to the backside of transition. Fortunately, the race official there said I could enter, but advised me that I couldn’t take my things out of transition until 1:45pm, as people were still on the course. I made a beeline for the toilet, as I was starting to feel a strong urge coming on. But inside, after unzipping my onesie trisuit and sitting down, I couldn’t do anything. So I made the best use of the time in there to warm up a little and kill some time.

I made it to my bike, grabbed all of my stuff, and walked to the exit where the staff checks your numbers to make sure you aren’t taking what isn’t yours. I passed through, and Kari and I walked to the IM Village to possibly get some post-race pizza. Ironman makes you walk through the IM Store because they want you to buy overpriced stuff, and I decided to see if I could pick up a name t-shirt and a new visor or hat. I got to the checkout and realized that I didn’t have my phone or wallet, but she said I could use my watch to make the payment. Great! But it wouldn’t work – it kept getting declined. So I cut bait and said I’m better off not spending $140 on three items anyway.

We almost forgot about picking up the morning clothes bag, and I asked someone who was carrying one where they were located. Fortunately, it was in the village, so I made the trek back through the store, this time ignoring the temptation to buy anything, and got my bag. At this point, I was starting to crash.

Kari and I sat for a while until I could find the energy to begin the two-block walk to the parking garage, and as I made my way up the sidewalk, I began to sort of hyperventilate as I walked. I made it across the street, and I sat on a concrete barrier while Kari went to get the truck out of the parking garage. I wrapped the finisher’s towel that I received at the finish around me, and also wrapped myself in my trisuit and sat there waiting. Kari pulled up, we tossed the bike onto the carrier, and my junk into the backseat, and off we drove. I turned my heated seats to high, put on the heater, wrapped myself with whatever towels I had in the truck, and slowly began to feel better. I’m not sure why I get so wrecked post-race (I have had some doozies), but it’s not like you can train for that. I probably needed some food/sugar/liquid, but I didn’t feel like I could stomach that at the moment.

We made it home okay, got unloaded, showered ourselves, and then went to my favorite post-race restaurant for some much-needed dinner.

Conclusion

If you are interested in some of my gear, I used the following:

Zoot one-piece trisuit
Xterra Vortex sleeveless wetsuit
2012 (purchased new in 2013) Specialized Shiv Pro bike
Garmin Fenix 6X Sapphire watch
Hoka Ceilo X1 shoes

Many thanks and love go to my wife, Kari, for always being there for me. This lady had a broken foot in a walking boot and still shuffled around after me. She won’t let me do these things by myself, and I got a feeling that if she were sick with the flu, she would be there to make sure I was okay. I’m forever indebted to her for putting up with me.

Thanks to everyone who posted kind words on Facebook about my race. I was just as awed by my finish as many of you were. I hope that maybe you all can join me in racing this race someday.

Thanks to all the other racers, volunteers, locals, and spectators/fans along the course. You truly make racing at Rockford a special day.

Thanks to local friends Chris and Kristy for taking a few action pictures of me today. And congrats to those locals in the Manhattan Tri Club (which I sorta associate with and follow). Chad, Karen, Dan, and several others did a great job!

And always, thanks to my Number 1 Fan, Carl, for always taking an interest and following my adventures. I appreciate that you are entertained and impressed by my performances.

Thanks for reading and all of your kind words.

Team Gunners (me) placed 123 out of 189 tri teams at the race! Go Me!

Race Week Taper Time

Race week is finally here! It always surprises me that I still get nervous with a race coming up, even with having done over 130-something races over the years. Ironman Rockford 70.3 is on Sunday, and I’m pretty excited for it this time.

The weather last year played a significant role in the inaugural race, with super-hot temperatures and a reliance on the locals in what was dubbed “Sprinkler Alley” to keep us cool by hosing us down with garden hoses and making it to the finish line. The weather watchers are already back at it again this year, and although we will have some warm temps this week, race day is looking to be a wonderful mid-70-degree day. Man, that is such a welcome relief. My only concern is that the warm week leading up to the weekend may heat the water up some, pushing us out of a wetsuit legal race. Fingers crossed that the additional rain will also help cool it down.

On Monday, I was already starting to plan out my weekend, thinking about what trisuit to race in, what nutrition I would need for the three events, and trying out my new sleeveless wetsuit for the first time in my pool. It’s a little tight around the neck, so putting anti-chafe lotion on my neck will be a must. Glad I pre-swam with it.

With the weather being cool, that means I might need to add another layer for the bike ride, or at least add some gloves and arm sleeves. Being wet after the swim will make 60-degree temps feel even cooler while riding the bike.

One thing I have learned while training this past 16 weeks is that I have been a little underhydrated and behind on nutrition on my bike training rides. That is mostly due to my bringing just enough on those rides and not anything extra. The race will have plenty of extra water and nutrition for me on the course.

I have an easy week to finish out and hopefully get to Sunday to let it rip instead of hoping to survive like last year. So, here’s to a good last week of preparation! Up next is race day!

I’m Proud Of It, So What?

I was on an ultramarathon Reddit page when I made a comment on a post about underestimating ultramarathons, mentioning how I felt ultras were more difficult than Ironman was for me. Then there was this reply to my comment:

“How do you know when someone has done an Ironman? Don’t worry, they’ll tell you.”

This is an old joke, and probably pretty fitting for most of us Ironman finishers. The guy thought that he was pretty witty I guess, even though it wasn’t even an original joke. Some people just feel the need to belittle others. I initially took his comment as an insult and then told him to stick it, and he then confirmed his insulting nature by trying to belittle me some more. A bully hiding behind his keyboard that I didn’t waste any more time on.

But it got me wondering if it was true? Could I be a little over the top with Ironman pride? Yeah, guilty as charged. I’m proud of being an Ironman, damn proud of it actually. It was something that I never thought was possible for me. I couldn’t swim 100 yards in a pool without stopping, and the thought of biking more than a century and then running a marathon after all of that – used to boggle my mind. I would watch the Ironman race on television and think that these people were superhuman.

Most finishers feel the accomplishment is worthy of celebration. We buy the gear – and wear it. We refuse to take off the athlete wristband for weeks after the race is over. Some follow a long-held tradition of getting the “M-dot” tattoo, usually on the right calf. Talk about telling others that you are in an elite club.

But this is not the first time I got the feeling that I need to dial it back. After my first finish, I took to wearing my new Ironman Wisconsin hoodie, the one with the athlete names on the back of it, every chance I could. Another dad, who liked to raze me, mentioned that I was wearing that hoodie – AGAIN. Touché, but did I dial it back?

Heck no! One Ironman finish became two, then three, four, and currently I am up to five. I wear the finisher jackets, the Ironman hats, t-shirts, and hoodies. I drink my coffee from my Ironman race mugs. I started this blog to document the training and the racing, but there’s definitely some level of pride going into it. I want the memories to be there for me when I am older. Although I write them for myself, others visit the site, looking for race insights and maybe some inspiration. I like to write about running, triathlon, and Ironman, I’m not making any excuses for bragging a little.

At home, it may even be worse. I have a room dedicated to running medals, race posters, and memorabilia. I have a similar shrine to myself in my office at work. Guilty, guilty, guilty.

My shrine to myself at work.

I’m not sure if there are many more races in the cards for me. I may not earn another Ironman finisher medal, jacket, name t-shirt, hat, or plaque with pictures of me working hard to earn those things and that title of Ironman. I’m going through some injuries right now and realize that I will get over them, but at 60 it’s not getting easier. So I will look back on those five Ironman finishes and cherish them, and maybe brag a little about it.

As they say, “Suffer for 140.6 miles, brag for a lifetime.”

Top 5 Best Running Days Ever!

I was reading a race report in which the blogger talked about a race being in her top-five favorites of all time, and it got me thinking about what my top-five races would be. I call my blog “an amazing run” because most of my runs are pretty amazing, but if I could choose my favorites (oh boy, this will be difficult!) here they are:

NUMBER 5 – WINNING MY FIRST-EVER TROPHY

I grew up in an era that didn’t give out participation trophies, you had to earn them. Now, I’m not against participation awards, medals, or trophies, especially when it comes to running and triathlon. I’ve got dozens of them proudly hanging on my wall. I appreciate them for what they represent to me – a reminder and reward for the effort I gave to be handed one. Those that say that anyone can have one are simply mistaken. You have to at least get off your butt and complete the task. But when I was a kid, I never earned a trophy. But on July 4, 1993, I ran a 5K in a local race and decided to hang around for the post-race award ceremony. I don’t remember much about the race other than it was hot, and my wife and in-laws were there. But my name was called as the 2nd place winner in the Male, 25-30 age group category. I was 29 years old when I earned my first-ever trophy.

NUMBER 4 – THE DAY I RAN 5 MILES

I had toyed with running for a few years, but it was hit or miss for me. Like everyone else who tries running for the first time, it can suck, and I was no different. I just never stuck with it. After graduating college and finding a job, I relocated about 75 minutes north of my hometown and found myself living in an apartment bored out of my mind. My friends were back home or away at college, and I was too broke to afford golf or bowling. I bought a pair of cheap Macgregor running shoes at Kmart (remember, I was broke) and decided to try running again. The first few efforts were around the apartment complex. I was a fair-weather runner and my runs were typically after work and not any longer than a mile or two. But one lap turned into two and I also was getting a little faster. One day I decided to branch out into the neighboring subdivision and meander around. I felt great and I knew that I was going farther than I had before. When I got back, I jumped in my car and retraced my route, and I was excited to see that I had gone 5 miles! But the most exciting feeling was not just covering 5 miles, it was knowing that I could have run farther. I look back at this day as the day I became a true runner.

NUMBER 3 – WINNING A 5K RACE

You really never know what can happen unless you show up and give it your best. The Lindenhurst Police and Park District 5K was being held for the first time in Lindenhurst, Illinois, the town in which my new bride Kari and I had bought our first home, and was being held along with a little fall festival the town was having. I found this race listed in the local weekly newspaper, as the internet hadn’t really taken the world over yet. Most local racing was listed in the local papers. Since it was being held in our town, I figured why not run it?

When I got to the start line I could sense that not many people had seen the race listing in the paper, with only about a dozen runners nervously pacing around. I started to wonder if I had any competition. The girl in her twenties looked pretty fast, and so did the guy in his thirties. There were a few others, but I keyed on these two for some reason. We toed the line and off we sped, following the police chief in a police car. A weightlifter-type dude shot out to the lead like a rocket, which was somewhat surprising, as I had written him off prerace. But by a quarter-mile into the race, the girl, the guy, and I had reeled him in. My plan was to pace with them for a little while and it wasn’t long before I realized the pace was too slow. I hit the gas around mile one and took off. As I ran I actually overtook the chief in the pace car and I got a little nervous because I had no idea where the course was heading. No worries though, as he quickly got ahead and stayed there. There was a left turn about a quarter-mile from the finish and I took one quick glance back and saw no one within a distance that could catch me. I glided downhill, turned right, and broke my first finish line tape in first place overall. Show up and race all-comers, you might find that you are the best of the field that day.

NUMBER 2 – QUALIFYING FOR BOSTON

Early in my running days, I knew what a marathon was but it was never on my radar. I was happy to get around the block a few times. Marathons seemed impossible. But I finally got the urge and ran my first marathon in 1991. The Lake County Races Marathon ran from Zion to Highland Park, Illinois and it was very local for me, seeing that I worked and lived in Highland Park at the time. When I finished that first one, my reaction wasn’t the euphoria that I had anticipated, I can clearly remember thinking “That’s it? Where’s the fanfare?” I was handed a medal, which I have since misplaced (I’ve looked everywhere!), and ended up in the medical tent getting an IV.

The finish didn’t kill my enthusiasm for marathons, and I ran many more. But there was one that I wanted to do but figured I would never be able to, and that was Boston. Boston has a qualifying time requirement, and I was more than a half-hour away from it in my 30s. It seemed unreachable. But I got older, faster, and wiser, all of which would lead to me getting within striking distance of getting that elusive Boston Marathon qualifying time.

In 2015, I qualified by just a few minutes, but it wasn’t enough. When I crossed the finish line I was elated and deflated at the same time, because even though I had just run a personal best of 3:28, I knew that my cushion time might not make the cut. I missed it by 28 seconds. You can read about it here: 28 Seconds…

The following year I was much better prepared and had an awesome weather day. I cruised to a 3:25:08 finish and felt pretty good about my performance. Now the wait began.

After applying the following year, I got notice that I was in! That’s when the run became special. It took a while to get it validated.

You might ask why isn’t running Boston the high point? The 2018 Boston Marathon was miserable – I was overtrained, and it was a day of constant rain, wind, and cold temperatures. All of that makes for a great memory, but what I cherish most was accomplishing the hard part – qualifying.

Enjoying the latter miles of the race, kind of knowing I was doing well.

NUMBER 1 – CHRIS HEDGES – YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!

I had watched the network coverage of Ironman for many years and was always in awe. I couldn’t even imagine what it took to do what they did. My experience taught me that marathons were hard, how do you do that after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112 miles?! Fortunately for me, I have friends who pushed me into it. It’s easy to say that you can’t do it when you have never even tried. So I tried. Swimming was hard, but I eventually got it down. Biking had its own struggles, but I became a better rider. And running just had to be adjusted to make sure I didn’t push too hard.

I had no idea what crossing that Ironman finish line would do to me. It was empowering. Ironman’s motto is “Anything Is Possible” and that is a sentence not lost on me. After finishing an Ironman you do feel like anything is possible.

Each of my five Ironman finishes are special, but I will always remember that first Ironman in Madison, Wisconsin in 2013. It sent me on a path of new adventures and gave me a feeling that I could do anything.

2021 Ironman Chattanooga Race Report

September 26, 2021

How did I end up back here?

After doing this race in 2019 and nearly melting from the heat, my buddy Dave and I were in agreement about not wanting to ever experience that again. I definitely tried to avoid Chattanooga, but fate pushed me there.

I had signed up for the 2020 Ironman Louisville race but it got canceled due to some social unrest in the city and of course, a worldwide pandemic. Ironman gave me four options to transfer to, three of which were also fall 2020 races and clearly not going to happen. The only other option was to go back to Chatty in 2021 and hope that the world would settle down. Thankfully, we had a better knowledge about the virus, and the vaccine helped keep the option for racing open in 2021. Things still aren’t ideal, but it’s getting better.

So I opted for a return trip to Chattanooga and I was soon joined by my Gunner buddies Jeff, his sister Jan, and eventually Dave. A few local friends also opted to give Choo a go – Susan, John, and Charlie, as well as first-timers Angela and Daniel. At first I thought that this race was going to be a solo affair for me, but now it was a full-fledged party!

Training thirty weeks for an Ironman is an awfully long time.

Once again I broke out the old trusty Be Iron Fit training book and followed the plan. 30-weeks broken into base, build, and endurance phases that has prepared this self-coached triathlete well in four previous Ironman races.

I follow the plan pretty closely with a few changes that I have found over the previous training cycles to be beneficial to me. First, I reduced the swim from the hour-plus swim, 2-3 times per week that the book dictates, to two 30-minute swims per week. I’m not the greatest swimmer, but once I had the technique down, I found that the swim training that the book wants me to do is INSANE. Plus, I get so bored swimming that I just can’t take much more than 30-minutes. I did get in a longer open water swim in Minocqua at my lake home, and I did one 4200 yard swim in my pool in the closing weeks of training just to prove to myself that I could do the distance.

Biking was more of a group thing for me this time around, and I often joined the locals for the rides out to Elwood. My coworker Tom, who had caught the triathlon bug and signed up for Ironman Muncie 70.3 was also a training ride partner. A couple of weekends I was joined by Susan, which were much needed in order to help each other get over the mental struggle of training. She won’t take any credit for turning me around mentally, but she deserves some none-the-less. Overall, it was a pretty good year for cycling leading up to the race.

As for the running – oh boy. I foolishly signed up for a “last runner standing” format ultra which also got postponed to August. I just used my Ironman training and it got me through 8-loops and 33 miles, completing my first 50K distance ultramarathon. After that, it was back to the plan and doing the work with one exception – I also foolishly signed up for the Tunnel Hill 100, an ultra-marathon in November. I’m pretty dumb. So I decided that even though I wasn’t going to increase my mileage, I did adapt to doing some run/walk long runs. I learned that a ratio of about 4.5 minutes of running with a 1.5 minute walk break on my Sunday long runs was working pretty good for me. Since I was doing Chattanooga, I figured that I was going to be walking most of the marathon anyway, so why not get used to that style of running.

How hot is it going to be this year?

Summer was hot here in the Chicago area again this year and I could sense that race day might be ugly once again. Boy was I wrong. I generally avoid looking at the weather forecast until it gets closer to race day, but it was shaping up to be beautiful. How beautiful? How about mid to upper 70s, no rain and no wind. If you could pick the perfect day, this might have been an ideal race day forecast. And if that wasn’t good enough, it rained for several days leading up to the race which cooled the water temp down below the wetsuit legal temperature of 76.1. I think this was a first for Chattanooga – a wetsuit legal swim!

What can go wrong will go wrong.

Race week meant one final check of the bike and I decided to give the drive train one last going over. That’s when my 8-year-old rear derailleur decided to die.

That spring thing isn’t supposed to be showing.

I drove the bike up to Spokes in Wheaton, Illinois and begged a guy named Chris to fix it for me. He said I was screwed. Actually, he said that they don’t stock 10-speed parts as they aren’t being used anymore. But he searched through an old box of spare parts and found a lesser level Sram 10-speed derailleur in workable condition. He bolted it on, I took it for a test spin, happily forked over the $70 bucks, and then thanked my lucky stars. The next day the bike was in the car and I was headed to Chattanooga.

When Carla wasn’t involved in picking out our lodging, things can get weird.

Since Dave was a last minute sign up, his wife Carla wasn’t doing all of the work finding us lodging. I didn’t mind our last hotel that we stayed at in Chattanooga, but I was hoping for something closer. I settled on the Marriott Residence Inn, which I totally picked because it was a block away and it had a little kitchenette thing. When I checked in I got some attitude from the guy at the front desk about not canceling our second room soon enough, and then I made my way to the room. It was a little dirty and smelled a little, but I was glad to have plenty room for my stuff. It got a little weird when the toilet wouldn’t flush and they had to call a plumber in to remove the travel-sized deodorant that someone had flushed down it. Fun times.

Kari flew in and soon the whole Gunner gang was in town. The next couple of days were spent checking in for the race, organizing our gear bags, and then dropping the bags and the bikes off. Gunner Jeff, a four-time Ironman, for some reason could not remember the bike/bag drop-off procedure, which I found highly entertaining. Race week anxiety does some weird stuff to your brain.

My friend Angela checking out her bags for her first Ironman.

We typically try to find a restaurant to eat a prerace meal at, but since we couldn’t find something at such a short notice for our big group, we opted for a family-style spaghetti dinner, courtesy of Jill and assisted by her daughter Emma and my wife Kari. It might have been the best prerace dinner ever. We had such good conversations and the meal was delicious.

Why am I nervous? Prerace anxiety sucks.

After setting a couple of alarms I was ready to hit the sack. Except there was no way I was going to fall asleep. At 10:30pm or so, I got back up and took a portion of an Ambien and tried again. According to Kari, I was soon asleep. According to me, my brain was active all night long.

Race day is finally here!

The alarms went off and I got up and showered. Dave always showers before the race but it’s a sometimes for me. I felt like the shower might wake me up more and needed a shave, so I took one. Next up was getting dressed and grabbing some food. Then off to meet the gang to walk down to the village and into transition to check the bike and bags.

I think Dave needs another shower. He never was a morning person.

We hopped onto the school bus for the shuttle ride to the swim start and then settled into to await the start. I heard that the kayak volunteers were late getting into the water for some reason, which delayed our start by about ten minutes, but we heard the pro racers start and we would be next.

I had made a Facebook friend, a guy named Marc the Shark, and had missed seeing him at Louisville in 2017 and so far for this race too, but as I was looking around there he was just a couple of people away. I said hello and we wished each other well.

Next thing I knew I was walking down the ramp and jumping into the Tennessee River with hardly any performance expectation other than to finish without getting too worn out.

59 MINUTES!?!? THAT CAN’T BE RIGHT!

The swim went swimmingly. I drifted to the right, away from the shore and more toward the middle of the river in order to take advantage of any current that was pushing us along. The kayakers will only let you get so far away from the buoys, so I found myself pretty much between them and the kayakers. It seemed like I was swimming by myself, once again enjoying the almost 100% contactless swim. I had a little hint of a foot cramp happening, but I was able to kick it out of my system.

As the buoys turned from yellow to orange at the halfway point, I found myself getting closer to them and eventually looked up to find them on my right side for the first time. I got past the island in the middle of the river and the three bridges were dead ahead. The next thing I knew I rounded the red turn buoy and swam to the ladder, and that’s when I glanced at my watch – 59 minutes. That’s insane. I know that this course could give me a quick swim, but never in my life did I think I could swim 2.4 miles in under an hour. 00:59:43 officially. A swim PR for me.

Still wondering how the heck I swam a 59 minute Ironman swim.

Thankfully a volunteer yanked my wetsuit off for me or I would still be sitting there trying to remove it.

SWIM: 00:59:43 – 52nd in Male 55-59 Age Group / 529th Male / 679th Overall

Why do I suck at the swim to bike transition?

My plan going for getting through the first transition was to not waste time like I usually do. So what did I do? I found a way to waste time.

As you can see in my swim photos I still have my swim goggles on. That’s because they are prescription and I need them to see where I am going, find my bag, and go find a place to sit down and get ready for the bike. All that went well enough but as soon as I put my eyeglasses on, they fogged up. Nice. Now I couldn’t see much at all. I couldn’t find my socks at first, but then I remembered that I had put them into one of my shoes. I found my towel and dried my feet and got some Skin Glide on them and then struggled to get my socks on. Next were the arm sleeves that went on okay thanks to me rolling them on, but then I realized that I hadn’t put on any sunscreen yet and I was sure that I would take the arm sleeves off when I warmed up. So I started looking for my spray can of sunscreen and couldn’t find it. Since I knew that they had a sun screen table at the exit of the bike corral, I stopped looking for my own and got all of my swim crap into the bag. The helmet got strapped, my nutrition, consisting of five Payday fun size candy bars, a Stroopwafel, and my gel flask, got thrown into my back pockets, and off I clopped to find my bike.

I walked the bike over to the table with the sunscreen and took off my gloves and started hitting the most vulnerable spots heavily. The gloves went back on and off I clopped again to the mount line to begin my tour of a sliver of southern Tennessee and a big chunk of northern Georgia.

T1: 12:34

They say this is a beautiful and scenic bike course. I’ll take their word for it.

Almost all of the Ironman bike courses are listed as “scenic” and I’m sure that they are. But when you are riding along at 18 mph or so, with others jockeying around you on roads that sometimes aren’t in the best shape, you tend to spend more attention to not crashing than the beautiful scenery. But this time I did actually take a few moments to gaze at the mountains and the local picturesque landscape. I did notice some low lying fog in the early stages.

Apparently most of the sunscreen I put on went on my face.

I had a long sleeve shirt that I intended to put on when I started the bike but I opted not to use it and I was fine. I rode with the arm sleeves and gloves for more than half of the race before tossing them.

First loop fun. At least the sunscreen had faded by now.

Earning my Pathetic Triathlete Badge. Had to do it.

Heading out of town was at a fast pace. It was that way in 2019, too. I didn’t feel like I was pushing hard or anything, but after about an hour of a pace faster than I normally train at, I knew that I would be pushing pace all through the bike. The first 56 miles was under three hours by a lot, a time that I would have been really proud of if it was just a 70.3 race.

Like usual, I was glad to be getting off the bike at the end. I didn’t feel as miserable as I normally do, but 116 miles and a little over 6 hours is a long time to be riding a bike. I handed my bike to a kid volunteer to put away and jokingly told her to change the oil and give it a wash and I would be back to pick it up in five hours. She looked at me like I had two heads. Tough crowd. I guess comedy isn’t my thing.

My Garmin had me at 6:06 with the autopause turned on. That’s a huge PR for me. Garmin also has a 18.9 mph average and a top speed of 39.1 mph.

BIKE: 6:18:27 – 55th Male 55-59 Age Group / 544th Male / 662nd Overall

Time for the emotions to kick in.

As I walked from dropping the bike off with the kid, I got hit with the feels. Usually this hits me around the last mile or so of the marathon, but I was pretty proud of what I just did on the bike, as well as the swim. It didn’t last long. I was handed my Run Gear bag and off to the changing tent to waste some time.

I sat down and pulled the cycling gear off and looked for the Dude Wipe (basically a big wet wipe) and wiped my face off, as well as the bugs that I had accumulated on my sweaty shoulders. It always makes me feel a little fresher to clean up a little.

Amazingly enough, I had a sun screen can in my bag. It’s less necessary at this part of the race, but I sprayed my bald head and arms anyway. With the bib belt, shoes and visor on, I grabbed my nutrition and started out of transition.

T2 – 7:11

This marathon is no joke. I’m not going to crush this.

On Friday, I approached a first timer as he was talking with his wife about the run course and I told him that the run starts on the sidewalk about 300 yards back there and the walk starts here, pointing to the hill not even a quarter mile into the course. I was joking, but not really. I saw a photographer and gave a half-hearted effort at running for the picture but it wasn’t going so well for me.

Just starting the “run” and trying to contain my blazing speed.

I felt hot, which is not uncommon for me. Yes, it was still sunny and later into the day, but when you are riding you have that constant wind blowing on you to help cool you off. I walked about a half-mile before I even started thinking about running.

After the first couple of aid stations, I started to get more hydration and sugar into me and started to come around. By the time I got four miles into it I was feeling better.

It wasn’t long and Gunner Jeff caught me. I knew he would. We would leap frog back and forth sharing the run lead for the rest of the way, but seeing that he had made up the difference in what little lead I had with the swim and bike, I knew that he was ahead of me by chip time even if he was standing right next to me. The same thing happened last time as well, it just happened sooner this year. He’s good.

Jeff and I walking to the top of Battery Hill and seeing Kari, Jill, Emma, and Maxwell.

Feeling good here on the walking bridge finishing the first loop.

In 2019, I made it a goal at the start of the second loop to try to get through the wooded park along the river walk before it got dark but didn’t get it done. This time it was no problem.

Second loop and second time up Battery. This isn’t even the hilliest part of this marathon. ~ Mile 18 here.

I caught Jeff again and we walked up the dreaded Barton Avenue hill together and for most of the rest of that north side of the river portion of the course. I recognized my local friend Daniel just as we were turning off of Barton. He seemed to be somewhat doubtful about finishing, but I tried my best to encourage him to keep moving forward. He was in a rough place mentally, but he overcame it and finished in plenty of time.

Jeff and I also saw Dave heading up the hill as we were heading down and knew he was also going to finish not far behind us.

As we approached the walking bridge I told Jeff that I was going to walk the uphill portion of it and not to wait for me. I could have jogged with him, but I wanted him to go get his glory and cross the line first. He finished about a minute ahead of me according to the time of day, but he bested me by about 11 minutes.

As I got over the bridge I was forced to run through a gauntlet of fans that crowd the run course and one guy got an extended evil eye from me and got out of my way. I ran down the hill and turned onto the road to finish. As I approached the finish chute I kept checking in front and behind me to have a good finish for myself and things were looking good. But all at once this dope comes screaming past me and spoils my finish. And to add to that disappointment, the announcer didn’t even call me in! WTF? Oh well, it’s not my first Ironman finish, and it probably won’t be my last. But the photos still prove that I had a great race.

RUN: 5:04:47 – 50th Male in 55-59 Age Group / 476th Male / 612th Overall

FINAL TIME: 12:42:42 – 2nd fastest Ironman Finish / Swim & Bike Ironman PR’s / 5th Ironman Finish

But wait, there’s more!

Loads of thanks to go around. To my wife Kari – you’re my Iron Rock. Thanks for supporting me not only once or twice, but five times now. I promise to take next year off!

To my Gunner teammates Dave, Jeff, and Jan – thanks for being on the journey with me once again. Doing a race without you would never be as fun.

To my local friends Susan, John, Charlie, Angela, and Daniel – WELL DONE! You are all IRONMEN! And let’s not forget Casey, who magically appeared at the finish line as a volunteer and handed a much surprised me my finisher hat, medal and shirt! That was unexpected and a great way to finish.

Until next time, thanks for reading. – Chris

One Week To Go!

2021 IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA TRAINING

WEEK 29 – September 19, 2021

29 weeks down, 1 week to go! I’ve gone from Week 1 back in March and doing my workouts inside, to seeing farm fields go from untilled dirt, to not being able to see around turns due to the corn being fully grown. I’ve gone from being mentally burned out, to being very atuned to how great I feel. I’ve been so far from being ready, to feeling like I’m ready to rock this race. All it took was a day to day effort, following a great plan for the fifth time, and having the support of my Gunner teammates and the local friends that have been very instrumental in making this training block pleasurable. Let’s roll!

Last “long” ride of the training before the race. I had to wait for a choo-choo while training for Choo.

I try to plan out a race day plan for myself and in 2019 it became very clear that the day would be about surviving the heat. It was a scorcher and I won’t ever forget it. I don’t really try to worry too much about the weather or water temperatures for race day, but after 2019 I’m not ignoring it either. So when a couple of casual checks of the long-range forecast revealed that the temperature might be in the 70s and sunny, well that changes my mindset a little. I may be going from planning to pace an Ironman to racing it instead. It means instead of a 16.5 mph average on the bike to maybe an 18 mph average. It means that I may be able to run a sub-4.5 hour marathon instead of something over 5 hours. I’m definitely bringing the wetsuit, like always. But last time I knew I wasn’t going to be using it. This time? There might be a wetsuit legal swim for the first time in Choo history. We’ll see, I’m not holding my breath, but it would be awesome if it was.

So, let’s wrap up these 29 weeks and get ready for race week. Here’s a summary and a link to all previous weeks. I’ll give you a virtual medal for going back and reading all these blogs.

Week 1 – Getting pumped for Ironman #5! PUMP IT UP!

Week 2 – Yeah, I eat junk food. Who doesn’t? I’M SHOCKED!

Week 3 – A little optimistic that I was 1/10 done with training. One Tenth Done

Week 4 – Ended March with some unexpected motivation. Inspiring Motivation

Week 5 – A cold ride brought out the MacGuyver in me. Three Plastic Bags and a Popped Balloon

Week 6 – Trying to recall some meaningless training info. I Can’t Remember

Week 7 – A calf injury had me a little concerned. Running Injury? A Minor Inconvenience

Week 8 – Feeling guilty about inspiring others to join in this dumb sport. (not really) Regretfully Inspiring Others

Week 9 – Roared into May with a light-hearted post. I’m In The Cool Kids Club

Week 10 – Glad to hit the 1/3 done mark. One-Third Into the Training

Week 11 – Back soreness had me worried. I Was Spineless, But Now I’m Back

Week 12 – Wondering and thinking can lead to some crazy ideas. I Wonder… About Week 12

Week 13 – I had to remind myself that you can’t have the reward without the journey. Work First, Brag Later

Week 14 – Sort of an odds and ends week. Week 14 Hitting Hard

Week 15 – Not a great finish to 15 weeks of training. Limping It In At The Half-way Point

Week 16 – I gave myself a gold star for this week. Grading Myself

Week 17 – Torch Run with the coworkers, and the start of vacation. Ins and Outs of Week 17

Week 18 – Foot injury and vacation meant let the training slide a little. Vacation Overrules Training

Week 19 – I had issues this week, some good, some bad, some ugly. The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Week 20 – An off-road tri, and things we triathletes fear. Fear, Part… III

Week 21 – My friend Tom takes a licking and keeps on ticking. Rub Some Dirt On It

Week 22 – Couldn’t do this dumb sport without her. My Coach Wife

Week 23 – Swapping the weeks around. An Easy Week?

Week 24 – My first 50K ultra; thinking less about Ironman. Field of Dreams

Week 25 – Trying to get something out of training instead of doing the opposite. Yielding a Better Return

Week 26 – I know I don’t have to do this dumb sport, but I still do it. By My Own Choosing

Week 27 – Had a pretty good training week to round out the endurance phase of training. A Not So Dreadful Week 27

Week 28 – Some bike maintenance and the welcome of the taper. Bring on the Taper!

And there you have it. I’ll wrap up Week 30 in the Ironman Chattanooga race report. Time to start packing and getting ready for Choo!

SWIMS: 3 – 3780 yards

BIKES: 3 – 67 miles

RUNS: 4 – 22 miles

Bring on the Taper!

2021 IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA TRAINING

WEEK 28 – September 12, 2021

The taper is here! I’m finally winding down the training and enjoying the feeling of accomplishing what I needed to do to get myself ready for my fifth Ironman. I’ve trained on cold days, hot days, windy days, rainy days, and beautiful days as well. I think that it’s okay to start celebrating the work that I have done even if I haven’t got to the starting line yet. So, after 27 weeks of building up to long bike rides and long runs, it’s time to start pulling back.

The band Boston certainly played a huge part in the soundtrack of my youth, and I still enjoy their music today. Of course, the first two albums were what made them, but their third album Third Stage was a big hit as well.

I’ve been hearing the song We’re Ready quite a bit lately on SiriusXM’s Classic Rewind and I find one verse of the lyrics very fitting for this third stage of Ironman training. I certainly feel like I’m ready.

We’re ready now
Catchin’ a wave to ride on
Steady now
Headin’ where we decide on
And I know that there’s something that’s just out of sight
And I feel like we’re trying to do something right
Come on make it if we hold on tight
Hold on tight
We’re Ready! C’mon we’re ready
We’re ready

There’s another song on that album called Cool The Engines, which is also very appropriate for the taper. I took advantage of the cooler weather this week and the lighter training load to push my pace a little bit. Maybe I just wanted to rev the engine somewhat. But in the back of my mind, I could hear my brain reminding me to not overdo it.

Take me for a ride
Take me all the way
Take me where I’ve never been
Someplace I can stay
Don’t get yourself too hot
Don’t get yourself too high
If we don’t take it easy now
We can kiss it all goodbye

Cool the engines
Red line’s gettin’ near
Cool the engines
Better take it out of gear

I’m no fool
Gonna keep it cool
Take it day by day
We won’t know where we might go
‘Til we make it all the way

So, it’s time for me to cool the engines and bring on the taper! We’re ready!

~~~

I took the time on Friday to fix my rear brakes and to put on new tires and throw on Conti 5000’s for the first time. The brakes are working well again, and the new tires were like floating on air on Saturday’s ride.

I rode with a group on Saturday and by the time we spread out I found myself riding mostly with Julie, whom I had never met before at these rides, but her pace and mine got us through Elwood and I enjoyed getting to meet another local rider. Julie is an Ironman, and said she was training for Ironman Waco in October. Good luck, Julie!

I have to take a moment and brag on my son Ben a little. He ran a local half-marathon called the Hidden Gem and nailed a PR for himself – 1:16:34, a 5:51 pace! My kid is smoking fast! Great job, Ben!

I’m also excited to hear that another Gunner fence-sitter may have committed to joining Jeff, Jan, and I on this dumb idea. YESSSSSSSS!

On Sunday I wrapped up my week with a 2-hour long run on mine and my wife Kari’s 29th wedding annniversary. I’m so lucky to have shared 29 wedded years with this woman, and I look forward to many more! I’m also very lucky she tolerates these adventures I go on.

SWIMS: 1 – 1500 yards

BIKES: 3 – 105.5 miles

RUNS: 5 – 32.5miles

A Not So Dreadful Week 27

2021 IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA TRAINING

WEEK 27 – September 5, 2021

I usually refer to Week 27 of the Be Iron Fit Ironman training plan as the “Dreaded Week 27.” It’s the toughest week in the 30-weeks of training, ending in a 6-hour bike ride with a one hour run right after it on Saturday, and a 3-hour long run on Sunday. But I took a little sting out of it by basically doing that workout at the end of Week 26. I did that for a couple of reasons. First, the opportunity presented itself last Saturday to ride an extra half-hour when I rode with Susan and we were managing our effort very well, staying hydrated and fueled on a very hot day. So as we got closer to getting back I just committed to it and it worked out fine. Same with Sunday, I was feeling good and figured I would just go an extra 15-minutes and make it a full 3-hour run. On the Friday before those two days I was somewhat dreading the weekend, but after getting out there and doing the extended portions and feeling good afterwards, it was a huge confidence builder for me.

Secondly, my wife Kari and I planned to head north to our lake home to enjoy some lake life and take care of some fall house and yard needs, and I thought that if I did the workouts a week ahead of time, I might not be so pressed for time or be so wornout if I swapped the planned workouts. I may even cut the long Saturday ride and long Sunday run down and start my tapering a little earlier this time around.

Here’s how the Dreaded Week 27 went for me.

Monday is usually a rest day, and I usually putter around the house and do the things that get neglected during the week; catch up on laundry, mow the grass, get groceries, etc. But after a couple of walks I was bored and thought why not do a swim. So I put on some tri shorts and jumped in. 30-minutes is my typical swim workout, but I was feeling good so I pushed it to 60-minutes. When I got to sixty I was still feeling pretty good, so I pushed it another half-hour, and before I knew it I had swum 4300 yards – covering the distance of an Ironman swim. There was no tiredness, no calf or foot cramps, and really no boredom, which surprised the heck out of me. Knowing that I can easily swim the 2.4 miles in my own backyard pool in 1.5 hours was a good feeling. Oh sure, I have done the Ironman swim four previous times, so I know that I can do it. But I still needed to train for each one of those previous attempts, and prove that it can be accomplished with smart training. Could I actually be enjoying swimming? Let’s not get carried away.

Tuesday ushered in a little bit less heat for the day and I ran at a time when there was a coolish breeze and it was overcast. I did the 10-minute warm-up and then started in on the five 6-minute repeats. I was pacing them pretty well. My legs were a little sore at the start, but when I picked up pace I did so easily. My turnover felt smooth and comfortable. I felt like I was rocking it! I skipped the swim due to the previous day’s effort, and opted to vacuum the pool instead.

Wednesday was quite a different day weather-wise than what I had last weekend. Much cooler, with a strong northeast wind. I hopped on the bike and was flying along heading south on my usual route. I saw my buddy Charlie attempting to run on his two injured toes and wished him a good run. I must have been averaging over 20 mph heading south, but turning around and coming back north was not fun. The ride ended with a 18 mph average, so I guess I was doing okay. A quick change to running shoes and it was off on a 30-minute run. I didn’t feel the wind as much, but the cooler temperature had me running with a good tempo. I like to use the Wednesday bike/run brick as a hard effort instead of staying in a Zone 2 heart rate zone. It’s the one day I like to hit the gas.

Thursday ushered in another cooler day and the winds were better for me as well, which caused me to push myself a little more than I should of. I could feel my calves tightening, but the 1.5-hour ride went well. I jumped in the pool afterwards and tried to swim, but I was getting some calf cramps and called it a day after 21 minutes.

Friday I got in my 1.5-hour run and then jumped into the car with Kari to head to Wisconsin.

Saturday was rainy of course, but it wasn’t too bad, and after a hearty breakfast with Kari at Tula’s in Minocqua the rain was turning to a misty drizzle on its way to ending. I planned to do a 5-hour ride and I stuck to it. I headed down Hwy J towards St. Germain to pick up the trails and head into the beautiful Northwoods. I hadn’t even gotten a few miles into it and the wet road and what little leftover sprinkles had me pretty wet. But it was bearable and I kept pushing on. I had never went further than Boulder Junction before so I continued onward and found the trail toward Manitowish Waters to be beautiful.

I took a couple of minutes on the way back to stop and enjoy some scenery just west of Boulder Junction. The trail here was beautiful.

I was thinking of how much fun I was having and four hours of the ride was just perfect. The last hour, not so much. Back onto Hwy J I was greeted with hills and headwind and an overall lack of energy. At one point my thigh muscles started to cramp, which had never happened to me before. I decided to slow down and fuel and hydrate more and limp it home. I got off my bike and sat down and took a minute to watch my calf muscles twitch uncontrollably. Good times.

I decided to not do the 60-minute run after the bike after watching the twitching going on.

Sunday was beautiful. I had recovered enough from yesterday’s bike ride that I talked myself back into doing a long run after talking myself out of it during the latter portion of yesterday’s bike.

I headed to the Bearskin Trail in downtown Minocqua and before I realized it, I was was crashing a marathon and half-marathon in progress. It was fun to see the runners coming back in with determination on their faces. I ran out seven miles and turned around and headed back. There were spectators cheering me on, as they didn’t realize that I wasn’t in the race. I said, “I’m not in the race, but I love your enthusiasm!”

It wasn’t long and the 3:45 marathon pacer caught up to me as I was walking and taking a gel. He was encouraging everyone to join in, and after telling him that I was on a training run he still wanted me to pace with him. I ran with him chatting about my Ironman and ultra coming up and I then took a detour to avoid the finish line, as I already felt awkward being on the trail with the others. I made it home with an extra mile added due to the detour, making it 15 total miles and some fun memories of running with those runners. Maybe I will join them for real next year.

Time to enjoy some lake life one last time before pulling the boat out of the water for the season.

SWIMS: 2 – 5312 yards

BIKES: 3 – 130 miles

RUNS: 4 – 36 miles

By My Own Choosing

2021 IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA TRAINING

WEEK 26 – August 29, 2021

My coworkers are kind people and take a passing interest in what I do outside of work. As I train for my fifth Ironman, it’s pretty obvious at this point that my weekend will be filled with a long bike ride and a long run. This weekend would be no different, but the kicker is that it was going to be hot outside, with temperatures in the 90s. So when my coworker Tracy asked what I was doing this weekend I replied that I was biking for 5.5 hours and running for an hour on Saturday, and running for 2.75 hours on Sunday, with somewhat of a “not too excited to do this” tone in my voice.

Then Tracy went full mom mode – YOU KNOW YOU ARE DOING THAT AT YOUR OWN CHOOSING. YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THAT!

I closed my eyes and shook my head. I almost felt like I was being scolded for doing the things I like to do. Yes, I know that I choose to train for an Ironman, and yes I know that it is hard sometimes, and yes I know that you mere mortals find it somewhat perplexing as to why any of us training for an Ironman would put ourselves through such miserable efforts and give away our weekends doing it. But I choose to do it because I like riding and running (swimming, not so much), and being an Ironman is a goal that I pursue because it empowers me. It changed my life.

Later that evening my family and I met my son Ben and “kind-of daughter-in-law” Emily (just get married already!!!) for a birthday dinner for Ben and I mentioned once again that I was dreading doing my long bike and run this weekend. And although Emily didn’t chastise me as harshly as Tracy did, she said the same damn thing – You know, you choose to do it – or something to that effect.

This time I chuckled, hearing the same admonishment twice in a single day, but what was surprising was that it was coming from Emily, who as a runner herself knows full well what it takes to do amazing things. Maybe the empathy I was expecting and didn’t get was the amusing part for me.

Oh well, I guess nobody cares that I choose to do this dumb sport in an extreme way on a very hot two weekend days. And sometimes the only person to impress worth impressing is me.

Another good ride with Susan on Saturday, and it was pretty much a repeat of last weekend except we both decided to add a little extra, and instead of doing the planned 5.5-hour ride, I ended up doing 6.25 hours and reached 100 miles. I followed up the ride with 6-miles on the treadmill because, well, I’m not dumb. It was insanely warm and humid outside. Smart move and I felt great after that long day.

On Sunday, I parlayed the success of Saturday into Sunday, adding some extra time to the run, running an extra 15 minutes to hit 3-hours. I’m still playing around with a run\walk ratio, and I added 15-seconds to the walk interval. I think that is a pretty good option right now, and I will keep toying with it on my long runs.

On to the dreaded Week 27, which won’t be so dreadful because I pretty much did that week’s workout this weekend. Getting closer to race day and feeling more ready every day.

Swims: 2 – 3000 yards

Rides: 3 – 146 miles

Runs: 5 – 42.3 miles

Yielding a Better Return

2021 IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA TRAINING

WEEK 25 – August 22, 2021

Every year or so the bank sends us a note about one of the CDs we have sitting in their bank making them money but hardly doing anything for us, and informs us that it’s maturing soon. My wife will say “we should put this into something else and get a better return.” I always reply that I’m good with that. Then in a year, we get the same note telling us that our same CD is maturing again, because WE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT LAST TIME! Then the wife and I will have the same converstation again. It’s pretty funny, actually.

This week my friend Susan, who is also doing IM Choo, was looking for someone to ride with on the Saturday long ride. I didn’t hesitate to offer to ride with her for a couple of reasons. First, I was tired of riding alone and welcomed the company, and secondly, every long ride that I have done recently has ended in me overdoing it and bonking pretty hard at the end. I was getting tired of that, so I decided to ride with Susan, provide her some company, and use her to keep me from riding out of my comfort zone. There was definitely some give and take in this arrangement.

Now Susan is no slouch, she’s an Ironman and a good rider. Both of us have been struggling with the mental aspect of training lately, and the physical aspect of training is partly the cause of that. So I thought why not ride along, enjoy having company and good conversation with someone other than myself for a change. And I’m so glad I did.

We decided to head west toward Elwood, Illinois, and play it by ear as to which direction to go once we got there. I had only been over Route 52 into Elwood once before, and I was glad to have her show me the route to Brandon Road that everyone seems to love doing. It was a nice ride with new things to look at for a change, and I certainly was enjoying that. We turned around at two hours and headed back to the BP to refill our water bottles, and saw some more friends there doing the same thing.

Leaving the gas station, we headed back to the usual route east and Susan wondered where the road we were leaving actually headed. I said, “I KNOW!” and I suggested that we can loop back around that way. Now I had a chance to show her an alternative to always going down Hoff Road. We rode that way back to Elwood, stopped at the BP to refill our bottles once again, and then I decided I needed a bathroom break. The BP staff told me that the bathrooms were unavailable at the moment, so no worries, we hopped on our bikes and rode ten minutes or so back to the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery to use the facilities there.

Then the trip home started and I needed to add on a few more minutes so I did, and then worked hard to catch back up with Susan. We rode back to where she parked her car, took a selfie, then I rode home and for the first time in quite a while, finished the ride feeling pretty good. I quickly switched from biking to running gear and followed up the nearly 90-mile ride with a 6.25-mile run. It was so nice not finishing a long Saturday workout and needing several hours of recovery. It was a good day for me.

My friend Chalie was nice to praise me for “helping” Susan with her ride. And even though I would do that for anybody, I was also doing it for myself, to be honest. I realized that sometimes you might have to do something a little different than what you are used to in order to get something better. Change it up and get a better yield.

Maybe I should do something about that CD this time around.

The creepy old guy and Susan. I’ll let Susan take the photos from now on. All smiles after 5+hours of riding. Thanks for letting me join you, Susan!

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The Sunday long run went pretty well for me, too. I started early to beat the heat of the day, and it wasn’t too bad of a morning. I decided to try using a 5-minute run/1-minute walk interval to see how it went. I’m starting to do these last few long runs in training for IM Choo with a nod to the ultramarathon that I will be attempting in November. It was nice to break-up just straight running with a one minute walk break every five minutes. That produced an average pace just under 10 minutes per mile, and 6 miles per hour. That would be a pretty good pace, but I was running out of gas at the end, mainly due to the heat and the hills as I got closer to home and finishing the 2.5-hour run. I may drop it to a 4:1 ratio and see how that goes. I’m not sure that I can handle the pace needed for a sub-20 hour hundred mile run.

Swims: 2 – 3030 yards

Rides: 3 – 135 miles

Runs: 5 – 41.5 miles