TLDR:

After several years away from triathlon, I signed up for 2 IM races in 2022. By the time of the IMWI Hurricane race, I’d lost 25 lbs and was still the heaviest I’ve been for an Ironman. The weather was a big story for IMWI 2022. Although it was a day which will long be remembered in Ironman lore for the challenging conditions, my experience was pleasant overall. Swim was rainy and windy. Bike was cold, windy, and rainy, but I went pretty fast. Run was even colder, windier, and rainy. Didn’t PR the race, but got my best placement overall and had the best race of my life.

The Very Long Version:

Shortly after the 2022 new year, I made a few healthy changes in my life. One of those changes was to start triathlon again, with the expectation that I’d eventually do a race. My last race had been the Ironman Chattanooga in 2018. I stopped triathlon training in the spring of 2019 when my 2nd child was born, and basically gave up running, biking, and swimming for the next 3 years. I wasn’t totally inactive — I had done some crossfit for a while, sporadic mountain bike riding, and garage gym workouts. I also picked up more mountain biking and some running during the 2nd half of 2021. I mention all of this for two reasons: (1) I basically felt like I was starting out from scratch again with triathlon training, and (2) I’d gained a considerable amount of weight, breaking 195 lbs. For these two reasons (and the fact that I’m a single dad now half of every week), I wasn’t sure I could do an Ironman within a year, but I still wanted to set a challenging goal.

About a month into my training, I signed up for Ironman Florida, which would be in November and give me a chance to train myself into shape. A month after that, bolstered by the loss of 15 lbs, I signed up for Ironman Wisconsin which is an early September race. This was definitely a stretch goal, but I love the IMWI course and fans, and it would give an opportunity for my parents to come watch a race. Amplifying the stretch goal was the fact that I’ve never done two Ironman races in one year. I’ll write more about my training experiences, but for now let’s talk about IMWI!

Travel:

I loaded up my things on Weds of race week for an early Thurs morning departure from east Tennessee. I had roughly a 12 hour drive to Madison, which included some rest stops to stretch and move about. Madison was pretty busy on arrival, and beautiful weather.

Madison:

Friday morning I did a ride on my trainer in the hotel room at the Best Western on the Capitol square. I then did athlete check-in, and followed that with a 1-lap swim of the course in the early afternoon. The wind was pretty strong from the SSW, which meant pretty nasty chop/waves on the swim course. The first half of the swim was into the waves, and was 5 min longer than the 2nd half. Pretty nasty. But I got to test out my new sleeveless wetsuit and that felt great.

Following my swim, I drove the bike course in my truck. I noted that many roads have improved in my time away from Wisconsin. On my way back into town I stopped at Dick’s Sporting Goods to find an under armor shirt, as the weather forecast for Sunday was solidifying into a pretty cold and wet day. I then stopped at walmart to buy some nitrile gloves and plastic garbage bags… more on that later.

Friday evening I met my parents at their nearby campsite for some dinner. They’d just arrived from Michigan.

Saturday morning I got up early to watch the swim start of the 70.3 race. Afterward I did a nice run along the lakeshore, and returned to my hotel to finish packing my gear bags. The big question for me was how to adjust my outfit to handle the forecasted rain and cold. For my hands, I elected to wear a pair of standard cycling gloves for warmth, but to also wear nitrile gloves underneath to cut the wind. I cut the last knuckle off each finger of the nitrile gloves to help with the squishy feeling that comes from sweating. I also packed my new long sleeve UA shirt, and fashioned a very simple vest (almost more like a bib) out of a black plastic garbage bag, which would help cut the wind to my core. I applied rain-x to the visor of my helmet. Also packed a pair of calf compression sleeves. All this went to the bike and gear check-in with me.

Saturday afternoon I drove to Bluemound State Park with my parents, and took in the views from the 2 towers. It was pretty chilly already up on the hill–much colder than back in town–and rain storms were making their way across the western landscape. I was chilled standing on the western fire tower, watching the rain clouds stretched north and south as far as the eyes could see. I had a bit of an uneasy feeling about Sunday morning, knowing I’d be spending the day under those clouds, soaking wet. I was already cold, and tomorrow would be much colder.

Pre-Race:

Saturday night, I laid out my items for morning, and wrote out notes to guide my morning bottle prep. I also put a bowl of oatmeal (1 c) with water into the fridge to soak overnight.

I set my alarm for 3:30 AM. Transition was opening at 5:30. I awoke as planned and ate my oatmeal with 2 eggs which I brought from my chickens in TN. I also had 1 cup of coffee. I filled my water bottles, gathered my last gear, and headed for transition right about 5:30.

The weather was cold, windy, and rainy. Wow. What a change from the day before. Thankfully my walk wasn’t far. I first visited my bike to fill my speedfill reservoir, attach my concentrate bottle and garmin, and to air up my tires. I put about 90 psi into each tire. I then went into the building (already soaking wet) and visited my transition bags to drop off last items and bottles. Eventually I made my way to the lower level of the terrace–a place few athletes know about, meaning I could relax in peace for a bit. A bit after 6 I got my wetsuit on, and meandered my way outside to face the elements.

Swim:

https://www.strava.com/activities/7968683291

I made my way to the swim start, and did my best to squeeze through the crowd of athletes and find my preferred starting group — 1:10 to 1:20. I realized there really was no organization to the way athletes were lined up thus far, everyone seemed confused about where they should be and we all stood together waiting for the corral gates to open. We did a lot of waiting in the cold rain–long sleeves would’ve been nice but I knew I’d warm up soon enough.

Once the gates opened I squeezed along the left fence line. I was exposed to the wind there, but wanted to be on the outside once I got into the water. Soon enough, it was nearly my turn to enter the water, 5 at a time every 3 or so seconds. We had to pause suddenly to wait for the pro men to complete their first loop. More waiting…

Finally, my turn was up! With an anticlimactic electronic beep, I was shuffling my way down the ramp into the water. The water was wonderful. It was a bit choppy, but felt pretty good to be out of the weather–sort of. It was still windy and rainy, but I was finally off. My goal on the swim was to be calm and just get it done.

There really isn’t much interesting to say about the swimming. Doing 2 loops was new for me. I liked it, although it did perhaps make things more crowded. I swam easy and enjoyed myself. I wasn’t going fast, but I wasn’t wasting energy either. The water was choppy, but not as bad as Friday afternoon. Overall it was pleasant.

I exited the water in 1:20, feeling the best I’ve ever felt after an Ironman swim.

T1:

I came out of the water with energy. No stomach issues! I bolted up to the wetsuit strippers, found an open spot, and quickly stripped my own suit off. There were strippers trying to help me, and I’m sure they were going to do a great job, but I had it off in 2 shakes of a lamb’s tail and was running up the helix. In prior races, this was a difficult run with GI issues and/or exhaustion. This time, I felt strong and ready for more.

Inside the change room I took my time getting properly clothed for my next adventure. Calf sleeves and socks, check. Long sleeve under armor shirt, check. Make-shift vest from a garbage bag, check. Tri jersey over top, check. Nitrile gloves with finger-tips cut off, check. Lightweight cycling gloves, check. Helmet, check.

I carried my cycling shoes as I ran off to find my bike, again with lots of energy. I felt awesome. It was cold, windy, and rainy, but I felt good. Got my bike, got to the mount line and nearly forgot to take the plastic bag off my seat. A few moments later, I was off.

Bike:

https://www.strava.com/activities/7793845055

Once I was out on the highway riding away from the 2nd helix I double-checked my 2nd garmin which I had along mainly to function as an alarm to trigger my fluid intake every 10 minutes. I had a plan, and this was it. But my edge computer had a message on the screen about multiple sensors detected, and I couldn’t clear it to see if my timer was running. I spent several miles monkeying around with it before getting the screen to clear and verified my timer was now working.

Once past the logistical nightmare parts of the course, I settled into my aero bars and let my legs go to work. I could tell pretty quickly that the bike ride was going to be epic, and I hoped simply to not crash or malfunction. The wind was pretty bad, with driving rain making conditions pretty sketchy. I rode hard, stayed alert, and tried to make good decisions. And I passed a lot of people, steadily. There was one guy who passed me around 20 miles in. I passed him for good with about 20 miles left in the ride. Nobody else passed me that I can recall.

I saw many racers on the side of the road throughout the course. Many with flat tires, some with hands so numb they couldn’t use their brakes, others simply not wanting to continue. Conditions were pretty tough. I kept thinking things would improve, but the cold wind and rain were relentless. My clothing decisions were spot on. I felt great the entire ride–cold and wet, but totally functional and able to ride my hardest.

Leading into each aid station, I would dump 1/7 of my pre-mixed Infinit into my Speedfill. Then I’d grab a water bottle in the aid station, and dump that in as well. I would bite the tops off the bottles to make them easier to dump in. It worked well. Every 10 minutes, my alarm would beep and I would take around 8 swigs of the mixture, which I’d practiced enough to know was close to 7oz. My plan was to drink 40 oz/hr. I followed that plan very well, and peed about 6 times…

Over the final 30 minutes I drank predominantly water to give my gut a clear start for the run. The wind really made things tough in those final 10 miles, which were mostly upwind. I felt strong, real strong, and rode hard. I passed many people in those final miles, slicing the air in my aero position. I’ve never been able to finish that course with such energy, nor to stay on my aero bars in the final miles. In my 3 previous IMWI races, I finished exhausted and wanted nothing to do with my bike anymore. This time, I felt like I could keep going, and would’ve been willing to do so.

Up the helix again, and to the dismount line. Stopped my watch and glanced at it… 5:50:26. What!!!!! I felt like I had just ridden 5 hrs flat! I ended up with the 4th fastest bike ride for my AG. The fastest biker in 35-39 males was 5:46:10, a mere 4:16 faster than me. Obviously I didn’t know any of this at the time, but in retrospect I do feel much better… 5:50 was pretty good for the day.

T2:

Arriving into T2, I was surprised to find the place mostly empty. It was calm, just a few athletes sitting around prepping for their run. One guy was sitting to the side with a blanket, shaking uncontrollably. One look at him and I knew there was no way he’d be able to do the run… The weather was formidable.

I stripped off my under armor shirt and plastic vest, putting my tri jersey back on. Part of me thought this would be a mistake, but I grew up in the north and figured I should be able to handle the cold and rain for a little marathon. I put on dry socks and my shoes. Grabbed a hat, and off I went.

Run:

https://www.strava.com/activities/7794107804

To my surprise, the first half mile of run course had changed since my last IMWI but everything was well marked and easy to follow. Running through the bike lot, the cold wind and rain was upon me again and I nearly decided to run back to find my under armor shirt… It was cold!!! But no, I pressed on.

The next thing that surprised me was how empty the run course was, in terms of athletes. There was one pro woman who ran out ahead of me, but I otherwise saw hardly any athletes until I’d reached mile 11 coming back toward the Capitol. Based on my finishing times, I’m guessing there may have been only a couple dozen athletes on the course ahead of me when I started the run. It felt very strange, particularly with the weather conditions and very few spectators. A very lonely run in comparison to other years.

One additional notable fact about the run is that it was somehow even colder, windier, and more rainy than conditions had already been. Many parts of the course I spent hopping through or around giant mud puddles. At times the rain came hard enough to overwhelm available drainage, and parts of the roadway were flooded. The worst of the rain seemed to end when I was near mile 7 or 8. The wind, however, was relentless along the lakeshore path. On my 2nd loop there were many more athletes on the run course, and many of them wore plastic ponchos, garbage bags, and whatever else they had available. Every one of them looked like a loose tarp that hadn’t been tied down properly before the hurricane struck. I was chilled, but glad I didn’t have any loose clothing on.

My first mile clicked by in 7:40 despite the climb over the capitol square. Feeling good, I began collecting miles: 7:42, 8:10, 8:20, 8:18, 8:13, 9:07 (Observatory Hill), 8:24… And then my bottle of Infinit ran out, meaning I had to start stopping at aid stations. I dutifully stopped at each aid station beyond mile 7, sticking mainly to coke but also experimented with some boiling hot chicken broth (and for some reason stood around long enough for it to cool off so I could drink…). I had become incredibly hungry (something that has never happened to me during an Ironman) and began also downing potato chips every chance I got. The extra time for stopping began to add up. Miles splits continued: 8:50, 8:54, 10:05, 9:06, 8:33, 9:35… Then the halfway point! Through half-way I was averaging 8:43. Having a lack of motivation to go harder, I continued the slower pace through the second half, averaging just over 10 min/mile for a overall pace of 9:25 for the marathon. Finished in 4:07:59.

Overall I felt really good upon finishing. No injuries, no blisters, no problems really. I was able to walk down with my parents to collect my gear. Walking down steps was very challenging but beyond that I felt good.

My total time was 11:42:56, which put me in 10th place for 35-39 males, and 75 overall (46 overall if excluding the pro field). My best finish yet, although not fastest time.

Post-Race:

Post race meal included a trip to Portillo’s. I ordered 3 large italian beefs, 4 jumbo dogs, and a slice of cake. This turned out to be a little much. The next morning I met my parents to say goodbye, and began my 12 hr drive home to Tennessee. I stopped around noon to pick up a Portillo’s chocolate cake I had pre-ordered. A whole cake, yes, which I began to eat immediately and which took me 3 days to consume (had to finish off before I got my kids Weds!!)

Several Weeks Later:

Within 1 week I was exercising again, without issues. I certainly got lots of rest and ate lots of candy. I did some easy mountain biking and treadmill running. About 3 weeks post-race I began a normal training schedule again, attempting to extend my fitness another month for IM Florida. My fitness has definitely felt down, though it is slowly coming back. I don’t expect to be at the same level for IMFL as I was for IMWI, but if I’m healthy I will race and have a great time (I hope).

Praise God for health leading up to IMWI, and for the opportunity to do something challenging. The glory is His.