Overcoming Obstacles

I've returned from Madison, the host town of Ironman Wisconsin.
Overcoming obstacles was clearly the reoccurring theme emphasized by my coach during our two day clinic.  Ironically, we faced a few obstacles, namely extreme heat and humidity.

Our clinic started with a 60 minute swim start and transition walk through followed by a general discussion of the race flow.  We then mounted our bikes and rode the course stopping often to discuss race course tactics.  40 miles into our 112 mile ride the group naturally split into those that wanted to hammer the ride at high speed and those that wanted to dissect the course and work on best practice race strategy.  Three of us chose strategy over speed although I was eager to pick up the speed.  Based on the good judgement of my friend Scott we stuck to the tactical plan.

Jeff, who has ridden the course some 12 times was excellent at providing his recommendations and insight to what worked for him during the race.   Along the course every ten miles or so, my coach met us in the support vehicle to refill our water bottles and provide additional nutrition.

Never have I ridden so far in such extreme conditions.  Unfortunately we discovered later that one rider on the speed ride was overtaken by heat exhaustion and was taken off the course at mile 80 in the support vehicle.      

Nutrition plays a significant roll in the successful finish of an Iron distance event.  Seemingly, the plan that I executed is solid and will be pretty close to what I'll use on race day.  I'm happy about this!

In the end, our ride was cut short by 11 miles due to the time it took to talk tactics throughout the day.  We rode 101 miles marking my first "century" in what was arguably worst case scenario conditions of extreme wind, heat and humidity!  Side note:  I felt vulnerable to the effects of the sun and yet felt safe and protected by God's grace and love...and knew we would prevail on the course!

We followed the ride with a 4 mile run through the streets around the state capitol while talking run strategy.   I felt good the entire way!  What a day!

The following day we rode 40 miles of the course.  This day, my coach encouraged me to give it my all.  

This experience has provided a great confidence in my ability to compete in this event.  I'll share with you several take-aways in strategy, but the overriding theme was to save your energy for the run!