“To you Lord, I lift my soul. My God, in you I trust…” Psalm 25

Had a great time in my first Half Ironman. More than twice as long as any triathlon I’ve ever done. 1.2 miles is the longest open water swim I’ve ever done (and this was the first time I’d ever swam in heavy chop/waves). 56 miles is the 2nd longest bike ride I’ve ever done. And the half marathon was the first time I’ve ever run more than 3 miles after a bike ride of 25 miles or greater. Putting those things all together into my first Half Ironman event, I am pretty happy with finishing under 5 hours!

I want to give a congratulations to my buddy Riley who did the sprint tri and had a strong race, especially on the bike. He’s got at least 70 lbs on me, and I just can’t imagine how much harder that makes biking up hills, and running through those trails! Congrats dude!

I want to give a huge thank you to some people: Lindsey, for supporting and helping us before and after the race, and for being there to cheer us on. Matt, for waking up early and coming out to cheer for your old housemate. And Tim and Catherine for being the best spectating/cheering support crew of all time!!! Honestly it seemed like every turn I took on the bike course, Catherine was up in front of me jumping and waving her arms, cheering for me while Tim shot photos. Definitely gave a big morale boost for me. Then they used their bikes to jump across the course during the run and cheered me on there as well. That took a lot, and I really appreciate it! Best cheer team ever! I also want to thank every volunteer and the race organizers for making the event successful. I tried to thank every volunteer I saw out on the course, but I’m sure I missed some. The race wasn’t possible without all of you!

Pre-Race:

Dinner:  2 bowls of cereal and a ginger ale. Gatorade and water through the evening. Breakfast:  1.5 large bagels with honey and a cliff bar and a small coffee at 5 am. 7 am race start.

Friday afternoon I left work early to see my buddy Jaime get married. It was a nice wedding, and good to see him again! After that I packed up all my tri stuff, ate a big meal of cereal with a ginger ale out on my balcony, and headed north. Slept overnight in Little Chute, then got up early and headed down to the race with Riley and Lindsey. Had plenty of time to get my race packet and set up transition. I was fortunate to be starting in the elite wave, which also meant I had a lot of intimidating bikes and racers in my transition area. The only thing more intimidating was finally getting down to the water and seeing how choppy it was. I’d never swam in water that turbulent, and I’d never swam 1.2 miles in open water before. The buoys looked like they went on forever… Anyhow, I forced myself into the water for a short warmup, and managed to get some nice cuts on the top of my left foot from some zebra mussels. My foot was covered in blood as I stood on the sand waiting for the start. I prayed.

Swim:

I was in the elite starting wave, which meant I got to go out with the first batch of swimmers. Having learned lessons before, I had a plan to calmly place myself in the rear of the pack, and get into the water behind everyone. This seemed to go well. Due to the large pack, those of us at the back sort of walked the first 100 yards I’m guessing. There was no real way to swim at that point due to how slow everyone was going. Eventually it spread out and we were all swimming. For me, it was very difficult. I learned to swim only a year ago, and the distance alone was going to be a challenge but the added adversity of the wind and waves was troublesome. But I prayed Psalm 25 in my head over and over during that first third of a mile when the waves were worst. I knew God would use me however he planned, and I did not fear. By the first turn buoy I started to feel good, so I picked up my pace for the long swim back across the bay. Sighting was difficult, as many times all I could see was the wave in front of me. As a result I zig zagged a lot and ran into other swimmers. I swallowed more water than I wanted to as well since I breathe on my left and that’s the direction the waves were coming from. But I never panicked and just thought things through calmly. Eventually I made the final turn and was thrilled to be heading for shore. When I felt it was time to stand I put my legs down and took 2 steps before both legs were seized from top to bottom with charlie horses. I swim with zero kick, so my legs had just been dragging behind the whole time. Dropped back to swimming right away, and tried kicking my legs until closer to shore. When I stood up again I felt better. I exited the water a VERY happy guy! Not sure exactly how fast I swam, but it was just under 2 minutes per hundred. My 41:50 swim time also includes the run up the hill to transition, which felt like an eternity… Overall I was 215th out of 441…

I’m alive!!!

T1:

The worst is over! Super pumped to be out of the water!

Coming out of the water, we ran up a hill that I will remember as being much steeper and longer than it is in reality. It was a tough climb but I was happy to be out of the water. Lindsey got a nice photo of me, as did Tim. I was surprised to hear and see Matt as well as I ran up toward the transition area. The transition went smooth. I stripped my wetsuit off by my bike. Helmet on, glasses on, grab bike off rack, run out. Mount bike, pedal out, make first turn, get feet into shoes, begin race. My transition was 65.88 seconds, which was 14th overall on the day. If nothing else, my transitions on the day were stellar.

Bike:

Loving the rain!

The first mile of the bike course goes up a long, big hill. There were hundreds of people ahead of me from both the half IM and also the sprint race. Going up that hill in the first mile I just put myself at a high cadence 100 rpm on my 34/23 lowest gearing and sat upright until the grade lessened. It was easy going to keep my heart rate down, knowing I had a LONG day ahead still. Being light, however, I managed to pass a lot of people on that hill and anyone who races knows how exhilarating that is.

Once we hit the flats I picked up my watts and started picking off groups. There were plenty of people to pass in that first couple miles until the sprint/half courses split off. There weren’t many people in sight ahead once the courses split. We headed south along Lake Winnebago, straight into a direct headwind. Not sure how strong it was, but I’d say it was less than 10 mph? It made things a little slower, but I wasn’t too bothered since I knew the wind would be at my back later. I focused on not going too hard, staying aero, taking in fluids, and picking people off one by one. Affixed to my top tube was a bead bracelet I had gotten at one of Chelsea’s India mission team meetings. Every time I looked down I saw that and thought of her, which was why I put it there. Gave me an extra boost of happiness every time I bent my head down, and gave me the strength to look back up into my aero position.

Pumped to see more of Tim and Catherine!!

I got hit by a downpour about 8 miles into the race. Felt great to have the water cooling my body off. Others may have different opinions on it, but to me it was a gift from God! Tim and Catherine found me about 15 miles into the race, and got a great photo of me. It was awesome to have them out on the course supporting me, and my mood got much better. I thought they’d head back to transition from there, but they jumped around and I saw them several times after that–each one an awesome surprise. Nothing better than seeing Catherine standing in the road waving her arms and cheering as I came up the road! Thanks a ton you two! Nobody on the course was louder!

There is a saying that goes “nothing new on race day.” Well, I had several new things on race day. One being my dual bottle holder behind my seat, and the other being a makeshift setup to put a bottle horizontal between my aero-bars up front. I’d put some velcro on my aero bars along with matching velcro on each 24 oz water bottle so I could cycle the bottles up front where they were easy to access. I had accelerade in my first bottle, gatorade in the second, and plain water in the third. Everything went to plan with the first bottle. Made the first bottle exchange fine when I went empty. But the rain made my velcro come loose and when I hit a series of bumps my gatorade flew up off the aerobars and I caught it before it flew off into the road. I had left my frame cage on in case this happened, and just put the bottle down on my frame from there. No problem. Later, I hit a set of railroad tracks… hard. I heard something hit the pavement behind me and didn’t even turn to see what it was. I already knew it was one of my bottles. Where’s the best place to have a bottle ejection? At an aid station drop zone!!! I didn’t go retrieve my bottle since it landed inside the legal littering zone. Nothing new on race day, folks!!! Learned a lesson without the consequences.

After about the midpoint of the bike, I had passed lots of people and had very few left ahead who I was faster than. I managed to overtake a rider every few miles from there. Coming back north I was able to ride faster, hovering around the 27 mph range on the flats. There was a 2 mile stretch where I averaged 30 mph, a 9 mile stretch where I averaged 26 mph, and a 21 mile stretch where I averaged 24.5 mph. In the last 10 miles we had some upwind stretches that challenged me a bit, and I responded by trying harder–a move that I would take back if I could. Would’ve been better to focus on my position and conserve energy for the impending run.

Coming into the last mile I took a few opportunities to stretch out my calves. With the end in sight I got my fee out of my shoes and stood up to stretch out my pelvis and hip flexors. Overall I averaged 22.5 mph on the 56 mile bike course. 2 hrs, 29 minutes. On the day, I was 23rd on the bike.

T2:

Entering T2

Coming off the bike into transition, I was greeted by Tim, Catherine, Lindsey and Riley all there cheering for me! I was thrilled, although my expressions may have betrayed that fact. I was completely focused on getting off my bike and into my running shoes. I’d even thought about how I’d have to dismount differently with my bottle cage on the rear. Felt safest to stop first, then swing my leg over. Dismount, run in, rack bike, helmet off, glasses off, left shoe on, right shoe on, grab watch, grab race belt, run out. As I had been putting my shoes on, I remember hearing a “nice job, Nils” and responding “thanks Matt” without even looking to see who it was. I recognized the voice. As I exited the transition I was holding my watch strap between my teeth as I unbuckled my race belt with two hands. A girl was holding out a cinnamon apple gel packet and I grabbed that as I ran past, not knowing yet if I wanted it. I finished wrapping my belt around and buckling it, slapped some high fives as I made the turn onto the road, and got my watch on my arm as I started the long trek up the hill. My transition 2 time was 48.5 seconds–6th fastest overall. Like I said, my transitions went well.

Run:

Out onto the run course. Race belt on, watch and gel packets in hand…

That hill was a mood killer, as well as a pace killer. At the top I got a swallow of water at the aid station, then focused on the task ahead.

About to start the hill… of doom.

My watch hadn’t picked up reception yet until a mile in, so I reset my time at mile marker 1. I started taking small bits of the gel pack at that point–it lasted me about 4 miles. About 2 miles in I had passed one runner and caught a second. The guy in front of me missed a poorly marked turn with nobody else around, and I ran right past it too but noticed there were some orange cones down the side trail. I shouted at him that we might have missed the trail. We both ran back and sure enough there was yellow race tape, so we headed that way instead. A while later I heard my watch give its mile marker notification, which I thought was mile marker 6. I was devastated to see a trail marker that said mile 3 shortly after that. I thought maybe they had screwed up the numbering, or I had taken a wrong turn. I looked at my watch, and even worse… the sign was right. I forgot that my watch was chiming for every half mile, not mile…

Still feeling good…

The run course was rough, challenging, scenic, beautiful, and demoralizing… At times the footing was very poor, at times the view overlooked the lake below, at times we ran through 6 inches of hay, at times we ran through peaceful dirt wooded trails, at times we passed campers cheering us on, at times little kids gave me high fives as I ran past. High fives from the kids was awesome! The first time I saw Tim and Catherine I was excited to have them cheering me on, and I was surprised they made the trek up the hill to find me. They caught me again on the first loop, and Catherine was shouting “only 1 more loop to go”… I was chanting “I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die”… lol. I regrouped from there and focused on catching the next runners. Tim’s photos really capture how my happiness degraded as the run went on. By the 2nd loop, I was entirely submitted to let God carry me home. I knew I couldn’t be going on my own strength alone. Psalm 25…

Where’s the finish line?

I passed about 8 runners in the first 6 miles. During the 2nd loop, I have no idea whether I passed anyone or if I was passed because there were so many people heading into their first loop. I landed funny on a tree root at one point and felt a muscle spasm starting in my right hip flexor. I mentally ran through the pain that was going to come, and resolved that I would suffer through it no matter what since I only had about 3 miles to go. The full cramp never came though, it just continued to tease me the rest of the way. I saw Tim and Catherine again at mile 12 as I started back down the hill. They cheered me on from their bikes as I ran back down the hill. Coming down the hill I managed to hold a sub 6 minute pace without face planting. Coming into the finish, the announcer even pronounced my name right! I beat Tim and Catherine to the finish, so they missed it but they did so well everywhere else I won’t hold it against them 😉 Overall my run was a 7:42 pace, 1:40:44.

You’re still out here cheering for me? !!!

Post-Race:

Are you ready to do another one?

When all was said and done, I was spent. I sat in the grass for a while. I wasn’t winded, just drained. When I had crossed the finish line, the only racers ahead of me were the ones who were faster than me… My overall time was 4:53:51, good for 34th place overall. My swim and run were slower than anticipated, but I didn’t underperform. That was my best. Considering the inexperience I have 1 year into this sport, I feel like I’m doing fine, and I’m very satisfied with my time. Hopefully I can do this course again next year and see what improvements come. A year ago I did my first sprint triathlon (which was about 1/4 the distance of this half IM) in great weather, and was slower in every category of performance except the run. I have much to be grateful for.

Thank you all who have been a part of my triathlon journey. There is hopefully more to come in this story. I thank God for the many blessings in my life–triathlon being only one of them.