2019 Ironman Wisconsin
Training Cycle
With this race happening towards the end of racing season, my preparation was largely focused on building on the fitness that I already had from earlier races. The build to Ironman Wisconsin began after my Ironman 70.3 Ohio race in July. There was only six weeks between the races, so the plan was to take week to recover, then three huge weeks of training, before two weeks of tapering into the race.
The biggest change in my training regimen was a greater emphasis on longer bike rides. I had consecutive weekends of double long rides of 4 and 5 hours. The other weekend was a 5 hour ride plus a two hour run. Over the three big weeks, I averaged 17 hours of training a week. It sounds a lot, but I was in good shape and I really enjoyed it.
The only issue I was dealing with was plantar fasciitis. It had been a problem going into the Ohio 70.3 race but didn’t affect my run in that race and was getting better all the time. By the time, I left for Madison, it was basically a non-issue.
Pre-Race
My wife and I left Pittsburgh for Madison on the Wednesday of race week. I did a short swim session first thing in the morning and at lunchtime, we left to drive part of the way. Thursday was a day off from training, while we drove to Madison. We arrived mid-afternoon and it was great to see some teammates and my coach, who were already in town.
On the Friday, I did a quick 20 minute run on the hotel treadmill. After breakfast, I headed over to the Ironman village to complete race check-in and take a quick look around the expo. Late morning I went for an open water swim for 30 minutes in Lake Monona.
After lunch, I was fortunately to get a bike course preview from teammate, Jessica Jacobs. It was fantastic, which is not a surprise, because Jessica is a former professional triathlete and she won Ironman Wisconsin in 2011.
The Saturday before a Sunday Ironman race is typically a quiet day. On this occasion, our team gathered before breakfast for an easy 20 minute swim in the lake. I had another good swim and felt confident for the race the following day. The rest of the day was just mostly relaxing and completing my bike check-in. I went to sleep that night excited for the next day.
The Race
Race Morning
I slept well and woke up as usual around 4.30am. I ate my usual breakfast of a bagel and two pots of apple sauce, together with a couple of cups of coffee. As I got dressed into my race suit, I looked at my arms and saw my race number tattoos that I had applied the night before. I was starting to get excited.
We left the hotel and started the walk to transition. There were plenty of other athletes around and you could sense the anticipation in the air. It was still dark, but there was quite a breeze blowing. I thought to myself, that might make the lake a little choppy. I went into bike transition and got my bike prepared; pumped the tires, loaded all my nutrition, calibrated my power meter and made sure it had a signal. I then quickly added some nutrition to my transition bags and headed for the swim start.
The Swim
The light was starting to get brighter over Lake Monona when I arrived at the swim start and found my teammates. The lake itself was definitely a little choppy, much more so than during my practice swims. It didn’t look too bad, but looks can be deceiving.
My goal for the swim was very simple… don’t panic and, as a result, let a poor swim ruin my whole race. I knew that if I could just swim the whole way, then I would be happy with the time. My swim speed, while not the fastest, is also not the slowest. My previous slow swim times are all down to stopping and treading water/hanging on kayaks.
I took my time putting on my wetsuit, and as a result, I was a little late joining the line up for start of the race and so I ended up starting a little bit further back than I had planned. The line for the rolling start worked well and before I knew it, I was at the front. Mike Reilly was on the microphone pumping up the atmosphere and then I heard the beeps and I was off into the water.
I thought the start worked well and it wasn’t as crowded as I feared as I went around the first buoy after a few hundred feet. I started very controlled and focused entirely on my breathing. At one point about 300 yards in, I could feel myself beginning the process of starting to panic, but had mentally prepared for this. I went straight back to thinking only about breathing and got over the panic feeling within twenty strokes; the feeling of panic never came back.
The swim down to the first main turn buoy went well and as I got close I thought more about my stroke and less about breathing. I also moved closer to the buoy line to try and cut the corner quite close. Got into a little bit of contact but nothing serious – just brushed into or by other swimmers (this was the same for the rest of the race). When I got to the turn buoy, I let out a loud “mooo” sound, as is tradition for this race, and headed towards the second turn.
At this point it felt like someone had flipped a switch. The waves really picked up, there was clearly a pretty decent cross current, and sighting became very hard. Getting beat up by the waves didn’t bother me. I just kept a mental image that I was swimming in the ocean in Hawaii, because that’s what it actually felt like (minus the crystal clear water and sun). I made the second turn, again quite close to the buoy, and headed north.
Heading north, the waves seemed to get bigger and sighting was even more of a challenge. By now however, I was swimming with confidence, even if staying straight was really hard. After another hundred yards or so, I found myself swimming alongside a guy who seemed to be going strong. I thought “let’s try drafting this guy; he appears to be sighting well and I can use him to take the brunt of the waves”. I got settled in just behind him and was able to follow him pretty much all the way to the swim finish. I lost him both times at the turns but he had a distinctive wetsuit, so both times I found him again and was able to surge to get back on his feet.
The remainder of the swim went by uneventfully and eventually I could see the swim exit. I pushed quite hard for the last few hundred yards and swam all the way in, passing a lot of people wading up to the exit. I left the water, headed towards the wetsuit strippers and heard Mike Reilly call my name, which was really cool.
Swim Time : 1:28:10
T1
The run up the helix into T1 was one of my absolute favorite parts of the day .. just incredible support. It didn’t feel uphill at all. Obviously I’m frantically looking all around to find the C26 crew, that I knew would be somewhere and was so happy to see you all. Transition was uneventful; I was calm and made sure I had everything I needed before leaving. My only concession to being cold, was a custom made plastic sheet that I put inside my tri-top; it worked great and I left it in for the whole ride.
I ran to my bike, turned on my power meter, put on my bike shoes and headed out of transition.
T1 Time : 0:09:52
The Bike
My goal for the bike was to be patient, not to be aggressive going up the hills and to hit the power target that my coach gave me. The first few miles were very crowded and most riders were much slower than me. This was a consequence of not getting into the swim as early as I had wanted; now I was in the main pack on the bike. With the crowded course and not being able to push the watts I wanted, I took the opportunity to down a bunch of calories and hydrate.
The bike course at Wisconsin is a classic ‘lollipop’ with a ‘stick’ out of Madison and then two loops out in the country, before riding the ‘stick’ back into town. As I neared the first loop, the crowds had started to thin out, and I was able to settle into my race. I was very focused on controlling myself and staying with my nutrition plan; things were going well.
At about mile 30, I caught up to one of my C26 teammates; she shouted ‘Go Phil’ as I went past her, which really gave me a boost. She was the only teammate that I saw on that loop. Shortly afterwards, I successfully navigated the sharp downhill turn that Jessica had warned me about on the course preview ride.
Towards the end of the loop are three hills that come in quick succession; the ‘Three Sisters’. As I approach these hills, I was very slightly under my normalized power target, which was perfect; those hills would bump my power it up a little and I would be right on plan. My average power however was quite low. This meant that my efforts had not been even, so my Variability Index (VI) was going to be higher than ideal. I still have things to learn about minimizing VI.
The ‘Three Sisters’ are well known on this course, because of the incredible crowd support on them. I loved going up those hills. You feel like a cyclist on the Tour de France, the crowd is right on top of you and screaming at you all the way up the hill … fantastic experience. What made it even better was the surprise of seeing a huge number of teammates and their families at the top of the last hill. I spun up those hills in my lowest gear and didn’t find it hard at all; the crowd helped and it also helps that I train on hills like these, all the time at home.
Having navigated the hills, I made it safely through Verona and started the second loop with my power output exactly at my target level. Working my way around the second loop, I continued to focus on my nutrition and hydration plan. As a result of sticking to the plan, I was now ready for for the bathroom. As most know, it’s no secret that many triathletes don’t stop to use the bathroom; they just relieve themselves ‘on the go’. I’ll not go into details, but suffice to say that I really struggled to relieve myself; it got uncomfortable at times and it cost me time.
About ten miles into the second loop, I caught up with my good friend and teammate, Mark. I was really shocked to catch up to him; he started well ahead of me and is an excellent cyclist. It turns out he had a battery issue with his electronic shifting and had lost about fifteen minutes fixing it. Mark and I would stay within a few hundred yards of each other all the way to T2.
The crowd was a little thinner, the second time up the Three Sisters but it was still fun and once over the the top, I knew most of the course was behind me. I finished the second loop and then pushed hard on the ‘stick’ heading back into town. By the time I got back to transition, I was a little below my target power, but my legs felt good.
I was pleased with my bike overall. I had stayed very patient in order to save my legs for the run and had nailed my nutrition plan, taking in a hair under 300 calories per hour, which is what I had planned.
Bike Time : 6:12:29
T2
Entered T2 right behind my friend Mark, grabbed my transition bag, entered the changing room and got ready to run. I had a quick trip to the bathroom and began the long run through transition to begin the run course.
T2 Time : 0:08:06
The Run
My goal for the run was to stay controlled with a comfortable pace all the way through the first loop and a good piece of the second loop. I thought that once I got over Observatory Hill for the second time, I would let it loose and “go”. My other goal was to try and avoid walking through aid stations; I was OK with walking a few seconds in order to get a good drink, if needed, but didn’t want to walk as soon as got to a station and then not run again until after I left the station (I have fully walked pretty much every aid station, in my two previous Full Ironman races).
The first part of the run went really well. I got into a nice rhythm and soon caught up with Mark. We ended up running side by side for the next two hours. We talked about our targeted pace and we both had planned the run the same way. It was great to have the company and it helped because we could motivate each other along the way.
The whole first loop went exactly to plan until I got to State Street at about mile 12. That is when I started to feel a slight cramp building in my hamstrings. The last thing I wanted was a full on cramp, so I backed off the pace a bit and it went away. Shortly after I got to see my wife and the C26 crew which is always a lift for the spirits, even though I was in good spirits anyway. I’m pretty sure many of the crew were also full of spirits from the bars on State Street!!
After reaching the turnaround by the finish line, I started the second loop. It’s always a big psychological moment, turning around in sight of the finish line. You have to dig deep and ignore all the cheering and the sight of the fast athletes finishing already.
As the second loop progressed I was still feeling good and pacing quite well. I was still getting the occasional feeling of a cramp starting; sometimes in hamstrings but more often in my calf muscles. Each time however, I was able to stop the feeling quickly by easing off a little. I eventually got to Observatory Hill for the second time, ready to “go”. I ran up at a steady pace, bombed down the other side and got into a great rhythm. I was running well and feeling very strong. I was definitely running well under my target pace. I was smiling and surprised that I just completely dropped Mark (which was a real confidence boost, because I know how good he is). I remember thinking that all my patience had a paid off and was thinking I might even be able to negative split. Then the Triathlon Gods said “hold my beer”.
The cramps were back and more intense this time. I toyed with pushing through but chose to ease off, thinking I might be able to “go” again. Easing off helped but that uneasy feeling about severely cramping never went away. I had to accept that I must just have to run easier all the way to the end. At the next aid station I walked the whole thing taking in Gatorade, pretzels and chips. My thinking was maybe a good dose of salts would get rid of the cramps – it didn’t which was frustrating and mentally I struggled running through aid stations after that.
I eventually got to State Street again and the huge crowd lifted me. As I got within a mile of the finish, I decided to pick up the pace and risk the full cramp – it never came. The finish line was great. I saw my wife and embraced the red carpet as Mike Reilly called out ‘You are an Ironman”. I crossed the line and collapsed into the arms of the catchers – I was way more spent than I thought I was.
Overall I loved the run course. The out and backs meant I got see a lot of teammates and the crowd support was great.
Run Time : 4:07:21
Overall Time : 12:05:56 (18th in age group)
