Official Race Report

It was 2:00 am and a wedding party awakened me outside my hotel room. Normally I would be upset but today was the day- the day I thought about for the last 2 ½ years now. It had finally arrived. I wasn’t ready to get up yet, so I just lay there thinking about the past year and all I have gone through. All of the ups and downs I have endured – all for today. Finally 3:45 am came around and I hear Till I Collapse by Eminem and it is time to start my day. I got up and did my “new” pre race breakfast – a bottle of Ensure, a bagel with peanut butter, and a banana. The Ensure was the new part. I had only used it before my longer training days and seemed to work well. The morning of an Ironman is easy. All of your gear is at the race site with the exception of special needs bags. Once I got to transition, I put all of my nutrition on my bike; double checked my gear bags, dropped off my special needs bags and made the ¾ mile walk to swim start. At swim start, I met up with my friend Thomas’s wife who was so kind to get up with us and save our spot in line as it was over a mile long. After about an hour, they asked everyone who was not a participant to step out of the line and all of the athletes to step up. The next thing I know they are playing the national anthem and the pros are off. After this, I look over at my friend Thomas and say to him “Can you believe we are actually here doing this?” The line begins to move very quickly and the next thing I know I take the plunge. The race is officially on.



As my race began, I felt great. My swim stroke had been feeling awesome during my last two weeks of my training and today was no different. I was cruising – actually gliding effortlessly. I would occasionally sight forward to not run into anybody, but for the most part, I had clear water as we made it through the channel. As we made it the turn into the main part of the Ohio River, I took a quick look at my watch and it said 24 minutes. I knew it was a little slower than I had hoped, but I was going again the current and now I was going the rest of the swim with the current. I picked a large building in the distance to sight off. After a couple minutes in the main part of river, my mind started wandering and I started thinking about everything – all of my training, my wife, my friends at BT, and my trip to Tortola earlier this year. All good thoughts - I was in a good place. After a few minutes, I remembered I needed to sight, and I am glad I did. Not because I was off line, but because I noticed a bunch of hot air balloons in the air over the riverbanks. How cool was that! As far as the swim, I was right on, swimming dead straight. I started to sight about every five minutes. As we approached the swim finish, the entire Louisville side of the river was lined with people screaming, cheering and yelling. The next thing I know, the volunteer grabs my arms and pulls me up the steps. My ironman swim was done! As I am running to transition, I feel like a million bucks! There are people four and five deep lining both sides of the gates. They are awesome. What energy!



Transition was pretty uneventful. I grabbed my bag, headed into the change tent and threw some Body Glide on my feet, put on my sunglasses, helmet and shoes and I was off. As I was running out, I saw Jeanne and Bill, but unfortunately missed Sara.



It’s time to start the part that was my biggest fear – the bike. Sara and I rode the course the day before and it was hilly. When it was all said and done, my Garmin had just over 4100 feet of climbing. When people say big, endless rollers, with a few hills, they aren’t kidding. As I head out, again the crowd is amazing! People everywhere. Yelling, screaming, cheering holding up encouraging signs. It was so invigorating. I started on the only flat part of the course – River Road. It should have been a good time to let my heart rate come down, but it stayed in the 150’s and wouldn’t come down. I think it was just from the adrenaline flowing. I felt like I was barely pedaling, but was averaging around 20-21 mph. River Road lasted for about 10 miles, and then intersected with Hwy 42. I made a left on 42 and enjoyed the last few sections of flats before the first hill. It didn’t feel too bad. I just put it in a low gear and spun up it. After a few miles of constant rollers, I made the left onto 1694 where the real “hill” was. The fun part was that the first section is flat, and then goes into a screaming downhill, I tucked in my aerobars and hit 48 mph. That was scary, but so much fun. What a rush. Once we hit the bottom, we had our first sustained climb. It was steep and about a mile and half until we reached the turn around before doing it in reverse. As I was climbing, I saw some guys coming down the other side who were still pedaling in a full tuck. I bet they hit close to 60 mph. The downhill section was white knuckle scary, but so much fun. As I climbed out, I was still feeling good. My heart rate only went up about 8 bpm on the climb. I was just sitting and spinning. Once we finished up 1694, we made a right hand turn onto 42, which took us to 393 where the loop began. Again, it was just endless rollers – big rolling hills. Nothing major happened here. At this point, we were about 30 miles into the ride and my legs felt great. After another turn onto 146, we made the ride into LaGrange. They have an “Ironman Festival” during the race. They entire downtown area was lined with people three and four deep screaming, yelling and cheering as you went flying by. As I was going by, I heard the announcer say “And here comes Chris Dill from South Carolina. Let’s hear it for him!!” The crowd went nuts!! What an experience!! The good thing was that I got to do it again on the second loop! The next turn took us to Old Ballard School Road. It was a narrow road that was barely wide enough to fit one car on, never mind two. It was a shallow grade climb which lead to a steeper climb near the end. During this entire time, I have been right on schedule with my nutrition. I was taking Infinit, which has all I need (calories, carbs, electrolytes, etc.) and chasing it with water. I was consuming about one full bottle of water every ten miles. I was feeling great. OBS Road eventually ran into Old Sligo where there was a nice hill. I actually had to get out of my saddle for this one and climb. Of course, that’s where the Ironman film crew was set up – right where everyone was struggling. No big deal. The rest of first loop was uneventful. There was a pretty significant headwind on 42 on the way back in that made things tough. The second loop began great. I was feeling awesome. I flew through LaGrange – same crazy crowd. Again, they were very invigorating. All things were great until I reached the aid station around mile 75. I passed the people handing out Perform and Powerbars looking for water. Then I hear a volunteer say they were out of water. What???? It’s almost 100 degrees and you are out of water???? On the second loop, I probably saw at least 50 people sitting on the side of the road. I assume because of the heat. At the last table, I grabbed a PB Perform, which I can’t stand. It doesn’t sit well in my stomach to begin with and I was already at my maximum calorie limit with my Infinit. Oh boy. This could be trouble, but I needed fluids. After a few sips of the Perform, I could tell things were not working out and by mile 80, I felt like somebody just grabbed my stomach and was twisting it like a wet towel. Then, to top things off, my left knee began to hurt. This was the same pain that caused my to stop running for five weeks back at the beginning of my IM training. It hurt so much I had a hard time pressing the pedal down. I was praying this would just go away, but it would not. If this hurt now, how in the world am I going to run a marathon? After about three miles of this, I began to have thoughts of not finishing the bike. I actually began to get tears in my eyes. Other than my knee and my stomach, I felt like a rock star. The doc said it could come back at any time and it did – at the worst possible time. After a few minutes someone named Chris riding the same bike I was riding pulled up beside me and asked how I was doing. I told him not well. We chatted for a few minutes and he told me to keep pushing and I did. I did my best to just put the pain out of my mind. Eventually it went away. As I make my way past 1694, on my way back into town, my I feel my left groin muscle begin to cramp. Luckily there was one aid station left which had water. I took two bottles, hoping to get them both down before the end of the bike. I tried taking in more Infinit. It wasn’t working. As I hit mile 101, my leg is cramping even worse and at mile 110, it locks up. My leg is stiff as a board and I can’t even bend it. I pull over to try the rest of my water. I just had two miles left until I can hit up my electrolyte pills. As I am sitting there, on the side of road, I had about five guys ask if I was ok. I told them yes. I knew I only had two miles left so I decided to try to pedal with just my right leg and my left leg just hanging. I did this for a mile then my leg relaxed. I slipped my feet out of my shoes and cruised into transition.



Once in transition, I took my time. The first thing I did was pop three electrolyte pills with water and waited a few minutes for them to kick in. I finally made it out and felt a little better. I didn’t have any more cramps, but my stomach was getting worse.



As I made it out on to the run course, I was able to jog. Just as every other part of the day, the crowd was so supportive. During the run, your number is facing forward and in an IM, your name is printed on your bib. I probably had one hundred people say “Good job Chris. Keep it up.” It felt good to have people say your name after 8 long hours. The first part of the run took you out then over a bridge and back. I walk / ran most of this section. I was doing ok. I was making it. Not fast, but I was going forward. At the second aid station, I had a strange feeling. I actually had to use the bathroom. Holy cow! How great was that! The run / walk continued for the first four miles, then it turned to mostly walking. My stomach was hurting, but I knew I was not as bad as others. From this point on, I heard ambulances about every five minutes. At each aid station, I tried everything from chicken broth, coke, water, pretzels and gels. At mile six, I started walking with a guy named Matt. He and I chatted for a while discussing the race. This was his third IM and he said it was by far the hardest. As we made the turn at mile 8, we decided to run between the aid stations and had some success. At mile 13, I told him to go ahead. I could not keep and did not want to stop him from reaching his goal of sub 13. As we made our way back into town, the crowd was crazy and really got me motivated. I started to run again, but once I started my way back out, my stomach had enough. I stopped at the aid station and asked the volunteer if it was okay if I could use her trash can. I had to throw up. She said, “Do whatever you need and let me know if you need anything.” There it goes. After about five minutes, I started to feel better and the lead volunteer for that aid station asked if I was okay. I told her, “Yes. I will be fine. I’ll make it,” She said, “I know you will. You are a true inspiration. My name is Jen. Let me know if you need anything” Man did that make me feel good. As I approached mile 15, I came upon one of the scariest scenes I have ever witnessed. The paramedics had just arrived to a guy who had a full seizure and collapsed, hitting his face on the road. There was blood everywhere. It really put things into perspective. At mile 16, I noticed some people walking, but they were walking faster than I. So I dug down and tried to pick up the walking pace. Immediately I felt nauseous. By the next aid station, I was vomiting again. After all this, I could tell I was getting very dehydrated, so I tried everything – Coke – nope. Chicken broth – nope. Water – nope. All caused nausea with one sip. Finally I tried just sucking on some ice cubes. It worked the best of all, but then at mile 21 the ice stopped working. I vomited again. I still had five miles to go and it was going to be a long five miles. During my training, I used to think “Good, only five miles to go”. Now, it’s “my gosh, another five miles of walking is going to take me another two hours. How am going to finish this?” Then, at mile 22 I heard something. I heard my name. It was my dad. He knew I should have been finished over an hour ago and walked four miles until he found me. I can’t even begin to tell you how good that was to hear his voice and see him. He immediately called everyone to let them know I was in rough shape, but was okay. We walked and chatted. I was so out of it, once I reached the motivational mile, I almost missed the mat to pull up the message my wife left for me. Luckily I crossed it and read her message, which brought a smile to my face. As I made it to mile 25, I came to the final aid station where I saw Jen, the volunteer who helped me earlier. She said “Hey! I remember you” She gave me a hug and told me to go cross that finish line because I earned the title of Ironman. Right before I made the turn on to Fourth Street, I saw my friend Ann. She was laying on the ground with the three other guys from Greenville’s cell phones wait to report to their families, but she had not seen them yet. Walking down Fourth St, a guy told me to try and run. I told him I would vomit on everybody and that was not the way I want to remember my race. He said just try. I did and I was able to run down the shoot through the finish line to the song “Running on Empty” by Jackson Browne. How ironic.



After the race, they took me straight the medical area where I received 3 IV bags, was able to get some chicken broth in my system and able to keep it down. The doc who was with me said she estimated approximately 1200 people had gone through there today. She said that she loved fitness and is an avid runner, but didn’t know why we do this to ourselves and our body was not made to do those types of things. At that time, I didn’t have an answer, but told her I might see her at the same time and same place next year.



Overall this was such an amazing experience. It is one I will never forget for as long as I live. With the exception of the water issue, I thought everything was awesome. In the pre race meeting, Mike Reilly mentioned that there were over 3,000 volunteers for this weekend. This race would not exist without them. I tried to thank every single one I saw that day. Also, the people of Louisville were incredible. What a great city. There were all different people everywhere during the entire race. There were people who lived in big mansion size houses to smaller mobile homes sitting out in front cheering and holding motivational signs for the entire race.

Race Week

Well here we are. It is finally here - race week. All of the training is done. Now there are just a few easy swims, bikes, and runs. I am going to pick up my bike today as it was in the shop for it's final tune up. I am a little nervous, but have a busy week at work to keep my mind focused.

We will be leaving for Louisville early Friday morning. The plan is to get checked in, then go to the athlete's welcome banquet and rules briefing. Saturday will involve a swim at the Powerbar practice swim and maybe an easy bike ride before I have to check my gear in by 5:00. At that point, most of my family will be in town and we are going to head to load up on some pasta. (I still like it for carbo-loading). After dinner, it's an early night. I plan on being in bed by 9:00 for a 3:45am wake up.

This time next week, I will be waking up after my race and will probably be as sore as I have ever been. Maybe even a little sick and my body will be completely stripped of all nutrients and vitamins. After check out, it will be a long drive home.

It's been a while

Well, well, well. So it's been a while- almost six months to be exact. How do I know this - I only have 17 days left until I take on Ironman Louisville. During this time, I have been on such an amazing journey.

On April 12, 2010 I began training to take on the world's most difficult one day endurance event - an Ironman triathlon. To date, this will be the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life. It is so difficult, less than .1% of the worlds population would ever even consider doing one, nevermind actually paying the fee to start the race. Besides, what do you get? It's not a check for $50,000 or a new car. Actually, I get a medal, a hat, a tee shirt. What a deal!! So the question I have been asked probably hundreds of times now....... why? Why would you do that? You know that have cars that go that far right? Yeah, I've heard them all.

The reason why I am doing this is to see how far I can push myself - both physically and mentally. For me, it is more of the mental challenge. If I don't finish this race, because my legs aren't strong enough, I didn't train hard enough. I can train harder and do it again another time. I can get my legs in shape to do this, but if I quit because it is too hard, I can't train for that. There is no need to train my body if my mind proves to be the stronger of the two and I quit swimming, biking running, walking or crawling, whatever I may be doing at the time. Through the past six months of I training I have already acheived about 80% of my goal. I have discovered that I am not one to quit when challenges present themselves. August 2 comes to mind. I had my biggest training day planned. 1 hr 15 minutes in the pool, 6 hrs 30 minutes on the bike and 6 mile run - almost the entire day minus a shortened run. Swim when great. No issues. The bike started out great. At 20 miles into my ride I got a flat. No big deal. I changed my tube and off I went - for another 10 miles. Flat again. No more spare tubes. Here's the question - go home or go to the bike shop. I drove 30 minutes to the bike shop, changed my tube and continued my ride. I ended up going 90 miles that day in 5 hrs 15 minutes (I cut it short to see Sara). So, after the ride, I get home and see Sara has some work to do, so I do my run. I start out great - 9:00 min / mile pace then just die... Bonk city. No energy. Totally lightheaded. Bad, bad place. Not to mention I am over 1 mile from home. So the question is.. what do I do? I have a six mile run scheduled. So I walk home. Get a gel and make my way back out on the course. I ran my six miles. That's why I am doing this. I am not a quitter. I will not give up.

Again, I began my training on April 12, 2010 and since then I have faced many challenges including several injuries. My first injury occured on March 23 with Illiotibial band swelling which caused me to delay my running for several weeks including my first couple weeks of my training. When I began my half iron training last year, I started with Achilles Tendinitis in my right heel. This year, it has been in both feet and won't stop. I am currently on my second physical therapist this year. I wish I had gone to him earlier. This guy, Kent is great. Unfortunately in this case, great also means pain. Kent does Graston work. Basically getting blood to flow to the tendon by scraping scar tissue that has formed around it away. Yes it hurts. Actually, I almost cried it hurt so much - the things we do. It has been a rough year. Both of these injuries have really slowed my running pace and kept the distance lower than I had planned. Therefore I don't really know where I hope to finish. I guess just finish is a start.

Finally, I've mentioned a few times how hard this race is and why I am doing this, but what I did not mention was even though this is going to be a physical challenge, the biggest challenge is fitting in all the training. I can't even begin to express how lucky I am to have a spouse who never once asked "do you have to" or "can't you skip it" or "why do you have to ride another 6 hours" because she was nagging me about time. Now she has said it as in "you're crazy for riding your bike for six hours" - and I can't say that I disagree. It was said best by the narrator of the 2008 Ford Ironman World Championships who said "Ironman is a family sacrifice" and he is 100% right. It is selfish and you have to have the right person with you to go along. Otherwise, you will regret it. I am fortunate enough to have found that person.

When I toe the line on August 29, 2010, I will be prepared both mentally and physically to take on the biggest challenge of my life. I will take what the day gives and work with it to the best of my ability. I will not fail.

I was checking a tri website and somebody posted this about doing an IM. I think this sums up what I am trying to say:

So here is the promised perspective. When you cross that line, at that exact moment, whether you break the course record or if it takes you 17 hours, there will be a feeling that will come over you that there is NOTHING IN THIS WORLD THAT YOU CANNOT ACCOMPLISH. So although you do not have anything to prove to yourself anymore, or to anyone else for that matter, you will strip back layers of yourself that you were not aware existed and when you emerge with the hat, shirt, and medal, you will be a better stronger you. To let you know how powerful it is, I volunteered at IMLV last year because in the 3 years that I have done IMFL, I have not felt up to going back to the line and watch the last finishers. I cried everytime someone crossed the line, because you could immediately see the change in their eyes the moment they crossed and it made me live my own experience again. Although I can tell by your words that you feel like this is a journey that is coming to an end, I wish I could be at the line when you cross to see that look in your eyes when you realize that it is only the beginning!

Overall a good week

Overall, I had a pretty good week. With the exception of two days, I was right on track. I missed one strength training workout, which is the one to miss if I needed to. The other workout was yesterday. I stayed at work longer than I anticipated. I was giving a golf lesson to a student who was really struggling with his game. We made a pretty major breakthrough. Because of this, I felt the need to take a little more time to make sure he was on the right track. My workout went from an easy 45 minute ride on the bike to an easy 20 minute ride on the bike. Oh well. Better to get in some time than none at all.

Today is going to be a tough day. I've got a 2.5 hour bike planned followed by a 30 minute run and some strength training. My plan was to go early this morning, but this changed because of wine I drank at a wedding last night plus the cooler temps. It was only 45 degrees when I woke up, but it is supposed to get up to 72. I'll just wait for it to warm up a little later.

Ironman training has officially begun

On Monday, I began my training for Ironman Louisville. It is going to be a long journey, but I am going to do my best to enjoy my experience. Everyone I have talked to has told me you don't become an Ironman by crossing the finish line of the race, instead when you getting up for those 6 am swims and days when you ride bike for almost the same amount of time many people are at work (6-7 hours). That is when you become an Ironman.

When doing this, there is nobody checking on me, making sure I am getting in my training. When I comes down to it, it's all about me. How much do I want this? Now is the time to step up to the plate. I said I want to do this to test myself both physically and mentally. The test began two days ago.

To catch up the past few days:

Monday - Day 1 of training

Began the day with a 2 hour bike ride. For me, that equates to about 35 miles. Following the ride, I had an MRI scheduled for my left knee. Three weeks ago, I woke up to a sharp, stabbing pain in the side of my left knee. Since I didn't twist or bend it incorrectly, I had no idea what I had done. The MRI showed no major issues other than soft tissue swelling - that was a huge relief. The initial thought of the doc before the MRI was a possible tear in the meniscus. Luckily, NSAID pain relievers and ice should help the pain.

Because of this my running has been very limited. I have only been able to run one time in those three weeks and that was on the Sunday before my training began. Everyone I have talked to said not to worry about it as I have plenty of time to build my run base. When I ran Sunday, I made sure to take it slow. Actually, I walked 1/2 mile, ran 1 mile, then walked 1/2 mile. Things went well. No pain.

Tuesday (Day 2)
Due to my schedule, I had to schedule my swim before work. This wasn't going to be easy because I have to be to work by 7:30am. Well, I made it. Everything was great. Swim went well. I covered 2500 meters in the 55 min I was there. It is crazy when you are out at 5:30 am. It is like an entirely different world. SportsClub was packed!!! There were people everywhere! During the day, I was a little tired, but I think that may have been more because of the allergy medicine and not sleeping because I didn't want to miss my alarm, as opposed to actually getting up early.

Wednesday (Day 3)
I had planned to get in a swim and weight workout right after work, but forgot about a meeting I had scheduled at 3:00. Because of this, I moved my swim until tomorrow and did tomorrow's workout today. I started out with a run. My plan called for 50 minute run, but because of my knee, I went for 30 and covered 2.2 miles (walking and running again). I felt an occasional twinge in my knee, but nothing serious. When I got home, the plan called for an hour on the bike. Since it was 5:00, I jumped on the trainer and went to town. I am proud of myself because I had enough after only 20 minutes. I kept looking at my watch but the time seemed like it stopped. I told myself that I was not getting off until my watch said 1:00:00. I made it the entire way. I know there are going to be days that I just don't feel like working out, but I just have to suffer through it and get it done. Today was one of those days. First test - passed.

Back to running

I went back out today in an attempt to do a short run (3 miles at 10 min/ mile). I was close 3.5 miles at 9:30 / mile. Following my run, I did some good stretching for my achilles / soleus and calves. After stretching, came some ice on the achilles. I really need to get better with the ice following my runs. Pretty good overall.

Bike fit

Yesterday, I went to Carolina Triathlon to get my bike and body in the best possible aero and power producing position. Everything felt great until I got home and jumped on my bike on the trainer. It felt terrible. I could not get comfortable. My arms, legs, butt, everything. My hour ride lasted 45 minutes and that may be pushing it. I was not happy at all. I couldn't stay in my aerobars more then 10 minutes at a time before getting up because my triceps hurt. Secondly, I felt like I was using my calf muscles way too much. They were extremely fatigued.

Today I went into it with an open mind with hopes for better results. I decided to go with my old bike shorts since I used the my new ones yesterday. They were much better. I made it for one hour on the trainer. My triceps and calves are still way too fatigued. I am making notes of how I feel everyday so in a couple weeks, we can make a few more adjustments. After my hour ride, I decided to put on my new bike shorts and continue for another 15 minutes to get used to them. I did not even notice when I put them on yesterday, but the padding is the same shape as my saddle. No wonder I couldn't get comfortable. Once I found a comfortable spot, I was good to go. Once Sara gets home it's time for a little Biggest Loser.