Looking Back and Moving Forward - Part 1 : 2013

My plan is that this will be a 2 part post.  I want to use the new year to be an opportunity for me to not only reflect on this past year, but to also look ahead at 2014.  This will be part 1 of my "Transitioning to 2014" post.  Because, I believe that you cannot successfully move forward, change, or improve, without examining, assessing, and learning from the past.  So here we go...

Yet another year has come and gone leaving me looking back at my year in 2013.  Just simply looking back at this past year, it was one of the greatest years I can recall.  My entire year revolved around Ironman Wisconsin.  Good or bad, literally everything else in my life took a back seat to the Ironman.  I put so much energy, focus, money, and time into preparations for the race.  I will touch on those sacrifices later in this post, but I would like this post to be a full encompassing review of 2013 and not just be another IM recap.  Also, I would be completely foolish to forget about my other races that brought me to Ironman Wisconsin and all the other experiences I was able to share with my family and friends throughout the year.

A few weeks prior to ringing in the new year, I found out that I was selected as a member of the inaugural TheTriShop.com Triathlon Team.  Over the past couple years, I have applied for many sponsorships with triathlon websites and nutrition companies only to get the, "thanks, but no thanks" letter.  This year, though, was different.  I was ecstatic to be selected by The Tri Shop and felt honored to be one of about 50 other triathletes across the country.  From the get go, I established a new goal along with my already ambitious endurance goals.  My new goal was to represent The Tri Shop the best I could and be an enthusiastic ambassador not only for The Tri Shop, but the sport of triathlon.

To start, Sarah and I were fortunate enough to bring in 2013 with our good friends from Minnesota, Dave and Liz, who came to the Fox Valley for Sarah's sister's wedding which was a couple days before the new year.  As we do each and every winter in Wisconsin, we just strive to survive the brutal months of January and February.  March 2nd was my 29th birthday this year and we spent the evening with Pat and Melissa and had dinner at Titletown Brewery in Green Bay.  I can still remember exactly what I ordered, since it was a rare choice.  I ordered a Peanut Butter and Bacon Burger (the PBB Burger).  The burger was soooooo good, The combination of the greasy salty bacon with the sweet nutty flavor of peanut butter matched perfectly with their high quality beef.  March is usually the turn-around month in Wisconsin for the transition from winter to spring.  March was also my first race of 2013 with the St. Pat's Day 5k which was bitterly cold.  My feet were numb in my light weight racing flats at the start of the race and never really unthawed.  I don't recall my exact race time, but remember it was nothing to go home and brag about, most likely due to a relatively poor, early season fitness and the bitter coldness of the race, but was still good enough that day to finish 3rd overall.  This was my first race which I placed overall.  

I was left with a new sense of motivation coming out of the St. Pat's Day 5k which propelled my training into the warmer weather.  I started to bring my cycling training outdoors on a more regular basis toward the end of March.  This was the earliest I have ever forced myself outside to ride my bike. I was going out for rides longer than 40-50 miles.  It was cold, some days were miserable, but I stuck with my plan and kept my eyes on the prize.  I then followed up my St. Pat's Day 5k with a new first for me at the Jailbreak 5k in April.  I won the race outright with a time of 19:07.  Regardless of the number of finishers that day, I was the fastest that day at that race, which I am still proud to say.  After the Jailbreak 5k, I raced my first multisport race with the Paper Discovery Duathlon in Neenah in early May.  After the duathlon, I started to focus on the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon which was just a couple weeks after.  The marathon had beautiful weather in the morning but got hot quick.  I didn't reach my goal time of finishing under 3 hours, finishing in 3:10.  I still remember driving home from the race and getting a text message from my brother saying that I had placed 3rd in my age group.  I couldn't believe it.  Not to down play any other place in a previous race, but to place in my age group at a larger scale race such as the Green Bay Marathon meant just a little bit more.  Immediately after getting home and showering, I headed down to Milwaukee to join up with my in-laws for my brother-in-law's graduation dinner.  He had his graduation ceremony earlier in the day, shortly after I finished the marathon.  

The spring continued and eventually turned to summer.  As the triathlon season got into full swing across the country, I started to form "friendships" with other The Tri Shop athletes.  We created a group online to interact with each other to give us a forum to motivate each other, ask questions, and just get to know one another.  As the season continued, our friendships continued to grow and we shared in successes, frustrations, failures, injuries, and life experiences.  It was special to have a group of people who share the same passion for triathlon and endurance sports as you.  There are team members who are younger, older, brand new to triathlon, experienced athletes, and are found all across the country from Alaska to Florida.  I have meet some great triathletes that I plan to stay connected with for years to come.  

I continued to race throughout June with a few more triathlons until my last triathlon before Ironman Wisconsin.  My last race was the High Cliff Half Ironman in mid June.  I had a great race and surprised the hell out of myself with a 2:30:48 bike split, or a 22.3 average MPH.  I finished in 4:45:06 coming in 18th overall.  Coming off this race I was left confident and excited for Ironman Wisconsin.

The remainder of my summer was filled with long training, longer training, and even longer training.  I missed family camping trips, nights out with friends, weddings, and family day trips that we have usually made in past years.  We had one big weekend which we got together with all of our old high school friends.  We got together on a Friday night for dinner and then spent the night around a fire sharing memorable stories from high school and college.  We then got back together on Saturday for a Timber Rattlers baseball game (Class "A" affiliate to the Milwaukee Brewers).  It was a fun weekend away from the usual weekend full of training. 

In August, Sarah and I each took a week's vacation from work and spent a full week at my family's cabin on Lake Poygan with my parents.  It was fun to get away from work, but still was not away from my training.  I spent over 22 hours that week either swimming, biking, or running.  I was even stung by a bee while I was biking early in the week and had a nasty localized reaction on my lip.  I was forced to cut a huge day of training short, but instead of a long bike and run brick workout, I just pushed my run back to a day that was set aside for rest.  Coming off of the week of vacation with my family, I was refreshed and re-energized.  

Shortly after our family vacation, I found myself down in Madison for the event I had been dreaming of for literally years - Ironman Wisconsin.  The entire extended weekend, Thursday through Monday, is an experience worth seeing, regardless if you are racing or not.  The entire weekend went by in the blink of an eye and was an experience I will never forget.  Race day was such a fun day.  It was long and challenging, but with out a doubt, it was literally one of the coolest days of my life.  I don't want to downplay my other big life events such was my marriage or the births of my children.  But as far as my selfish, racing life, racing my first Ironman Wisconsin will go down as the best day of my life.  The best part of it was the fact that I got to share that day with my family and friends who all came down to support me that day.  It still gives me chills thinking of that day.  

The Monday following race day, Sarah and I brought the girls to the Milwaukee County Zoo and then flew out to Mexico on Tuesday for a true family getaway.  Our trip to Mexico, although rainy, was much needed and extremely enjoyable.  It was the first time we brought our daughters out of the country and all 4 of us had an absolute blast.  The girls loved being able to swim every single day for the entire day. The trip was really all about them.  

After coming back from Mexico, it was back to reality.  I did continue to run, swim, and bike, but nothing anywhere near the volume I did the months prior.  Pretty much from September through December, I really let myself go.  I ate what I wouldn't before, ice cream, candy bars, chocolate, backed goods, doughnuts, you name it, I ate it.  I went through various states of what I called "post Ironman depression" shortly after returning from Mexico.  I had gone the entire year with a very strict plan to follow and followed it to a T.  I had a huge goal to keep me focused, but after coming home from Mexico, I had no goal.  I had no plan.  I had a rather large empty feeling inside.  I was different, I hated it.  But soon those feelings would subside, and I found a new joy of spending a lot of time with my daughters and Sarah.  It was great to spend so much time with them, especially considering all the time I missed out on the past year.  But much of my "depression" was cured when I was able to watch Maya run her first every real kids' race at the YMCA Freaky 5k in late October.

Just before the holidays came, we were able to get up to the Twin Cities and visit our good friends, Dave, Liz, Erik, and Dana along with their kids.  It was a much needed trip, as the last time we were able to get together was on New Years almost a full year ago.  The holidays had come and gone, as they so often do.  The 2013 holiday season will go down as one as the best I can remember.  Both Maya and Delaney are at that right age that makes the holidays so enjoyable.  I honestly think I enjoyed doing the "Elf on the Shelf" this year as the girls did.  I was lucky enough to get both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off from work this year, which allowed me to spend the entire holidays with my families for the first time since I stared working for Winnebago County.  With out a doubt, 2013 will go down as one of my best years yet.  At the same time, even though I accomplished my biggest goal to date this year, I promise 2013 will not be a peak.  I still want to accomplish many other things and want to use all my successes from 2013 to learn from and build on in the future.  

Why I Race

This past week I read an article written by professional triathlete, Chris (Macca) McCormack, entitled "Why I Race."  You can read the article here - "Why I Race" - it's a great read and I recommend it.  In it he discusses his personal reasons to why he participates in triathlons.  The discussion arises due to a conversation he had with a few young athletes at an Olympic Distance race in California.  The kids share their aspirations of completing an Ironman.  At first that sounds great, they are motivated and aspiring to do bigger and better things, but then Macca begins talking to the young athletes about why they aspire to complete an Ironman Triathlon.  The kids reply with a simple response, similar to the fact that you are not a true triathlete unless you complete an Ironman.  The kids also share their feelings about a World Triathlon Corporation, who own the rights to Ironman, and other races of the same distance.  They felt that a 140.6 mile triathlon that isn't trademarked with "Ironman" isn't official.  They felt as though no other race matters, regardless of the distance or name.  Even when Macca talks about half Ironman distance races (a 70.3 triathlon), the kids write off the idea of doing a non "Ironman," 70.3 mile distance triathlon.  It leaves Macca dumbfounded.  He then shares his passion for the sport of triathlon and the variety of races that he has competed in over the years.  Many of them were not owned by the WTC and were not Ironman branded races.

I have been a part of a similar debate on Facebook.  I am a member of a group on Facebook dedicated to the sharing of the infamous M-dot tattoos.  Within the group, someone posed the question of whether or not it was acceptable to get an M-dot tattoo for a non WTC triathlon.  In other words if someone were to complete a non-Ironman branded, 140.6 mile triathlon, would it be acceptable in the triathlon community for that person to get the M-dot tattoo to commemorate the accomplishment?  It's an interesting question.  Personally, I think it would be foolish to get the M-dot tattoo for a non-Ironman race.  The M-dot tattoo represents a brand, just as the swoosh is to Nike, the Golden Arches are to McDonald's, the M-dot is to Ironman.  I understand the idea, though, the M-dot is a world wide symbol for a 140.6 race, it's synonymous for the ultra distance triathlon.  Most people (especially those in the active community) know that the M-dot tattoo, means you completed the ultra triathlon.  But, in my opinion, getting the M-dot tattoo to represent a non-Ironman race would be like getting a swoosh tattoo, to represent your love and devotion of basketball shoes, even though you opt to wear Adidas shoes.  Instead of getting the Adidas logo, you opt to get the Nike swoosh since it is more widely recognized.  It just doesn't make sense.  

The heart of the matter for both Macca's article and the question posed in the Facebook group is the stronghold that Ironman has on the sport of triathlon.  Is it right?  Is it fair?  Personally, I'm not here to say whether or not the World Triathlon Corporation is good or bad for the sport of triathlon.  But, I would like to offer my feelings on Ironman, the WTC, and why I chose to race a WTC race.

Honestly, as I become more and more involved with triathlon, I was much like the aspiring triathletes that had talks with Chris McCormack.  I thought and truly believed that you were not a triathlete unless you finished an Ironman.  In my eyes, it verified you as a triathlete.  For what ever reason, if you hadn't completed an Ironman, you were just another "wanna-be."  On top of that all, just like the kids in Macca's article, It had to be an Ironman as well.  For some reason, an Ironman was different from any other 140.6 distance race.  Don't ask me why, it's just how I felt.  Before I ever signed up for my first IM, I new that it was going to be an Ironman branded race.  It definitely helped that Madison was home to one of the more popular IM races in the USA and is only a short 2 hour drive from my hometown.  But, if given the choice of traveling to an out-of-state 140.6 non-IM race and an IM branded race, I'm choosing the IM race, 10 times out of 10.  I don't know why and I'm not even going to speculate why that is the case.  But I do know that I am not alone with those feelings either.

Yes, the Ironman World Championship in Kona, HI, has been, currently is, and probably will always be the pinnacle of the sport of triathlon.  It's the supreme goal of so many athletes (myself included).  It's the Super Bowl of Triathlon, the Daytona 500, the Indy 500, I can go on and on, but I'm sure you probably get the idea.  But, does the fact that it is an Ironman branded race make it the prestigious race it has become?  According to Macca, not at all.  I tend to agree.  Ironman has a stronghold on the 140.6 and 70.3 distance races throughout the world.  Frankly, I don't see that changing.  Sadly, I wish our sport used a more generic term for the 70.3 and 140.6 distance races.  Much like a Sprint or Olympic distance are not brand specific, I wish we used something such as Long Course for a 70.3 and an Ultra distance for a 140.6 race.  That way, Ironman would be just a brand of triathlons, just like Rev3 is a brand that puts on numerous triathlon races across the country (including 70.3 distances).  Doing this would potentially rid us of the idea that only Ironman races matter.  In fact there are thousands of races that are not put on by Ironman throughout the country that offer so many great things to the sport of triathlon.  If you have read Chris McCormack's article, he gives quite the list of races to look into.

The root of this debate is each persons' reasons for racing in the sport of triathlon.  If you are one who thinks you are not a triathlete until you finish an Ironman, more than likely, you have a very materialistic view of triathlon.  Think of it this way, is a runner not a "runner" until they finish a 50k, 50 mile, or 100 mile ultramarathon?  At what point did our sport find the need to solidify individuals' existences within the community based on distances finished?  The fact of the matter is, you are a triathlete whether you finish a sprint distance race or multiple Ironman distance races.  We are a community of committed, driven, and motivated people from a variety of backgrounds.  At any start line at any given triathlon, you'll find a diverse population, with an even more diverse reason for being there.  You'll find triathletes looking to win and triathletes that are just looking to finish.  There will be recovering addicts who found a new addiction in exercise, you'll see individuals who have lost insane amounts of weight to reclaim their health through their dedicated training that brought them to the start line, and there will be first timers and athletes who have raced literally hundreds of triathlons.  Each person's reason for toeing the start line at a triathlon is as unique as the individual with the reason for being there.  I realized this first hand when I went to support my friend Bob and his wife at the Fox Cities Half Marathon this past September.  It was the first time I had been a part of a race as a spectator in a long while.  I saw a different side of the race.  Not only did I see the leaders, who had a fire in their eye to win the race, then there were the runners who had other goals, goals that were not tied to a time or a placing.  Their goals may have been just finishing the race or even as simple as just having fun.

Macca's article about the commercialization of the sport of triathlon and his reasons for being drawn to the sport of triathlon had me thinking about my love of the sport.  After reading his article, I asked myself, "why do I race?"  What is it that gets my butt out of bed at 4:00am to train on weekends?  Why do I go out for 3 hour runs in sub zero temperatures in January?  Why am I willing to sacrifice so much to train and race.  Why do I race?

It's a profound question.  I race for the love of the challenge.  That's it, it's that simple.  I race to compete against myself.  Regardless of the distance, or who puts on the race, every race offers a new and different challenge.  Even the same race offers new challenges each and every year.  No race is ever the same, no matter how identical they may appear on paper.  I love pushing myself to find new limits and then finding ways to push past those limits to reach newer and higher limits.  It's and on-going cycle, I am never satisfied with accomplishments, because anyway you look at it, there is always room for improvement.  There is always something that could have been done better.  This applies to any race distance.

I do not race for social approval.  I do not race to impress friends, family or co-workers.  I do not race to gain social acceptance.  There is no need for that.  I am who I am, and frankly I am happy with myself.  I race to promote health and fitness.  I want to show that there are benefits to be had by living a healthy and active lifestyle.  I want to show that a little work goes a long way.  One of the most common statements I've heard since training for and finishing an Ironman has been something to the effect of, "I could never do that!"  The truth is pretty much anybody (within reason) could finish an Ironman.  It doesn't require you to have a lower body fat percentage, it doesn't require a certain body type, you don't have to young, hell you don't even need to a super endurance athlete.  It does require an insane amount of work and dedication.  It requires a lot of sacrifices.  If you are willing to make it happen, you too can become and Ironman.  The same thing applies to a marathon, half marathon, 10k, or even a 5k.  If you are willing to put in the work, I guarantee you can accomplish anything.  

Ultimately, that is why I race.  I race for my kids.  I race for my health.  I race for the love of the sport.  I race to inspire.  I race to have fun.  I race for the challenge.  I race to find new limits and then to find a way to exceed those limits.  Oh yea....I also race to drink beer!  :)

Why do you race?

Reflections

It's hard to believe but I have already published 99 blog posts.  Now, I'm no genius, but that would make this post number 100.  As soon as post #100 was on the horizon, I started to think what my 100th post will entail.  Maybe a Race Report - that would require a race at the right time, maybe a great recipe - there really isn't anything special about that, maybe a family update - again, nothing really unique, or maybe a flashback post - maybe a Race Report of my first ever triathlon or first duathlon, that would be unique and flashy.  But, then I went out for a run this morning in the cold, windy rain.  As miserable as you would think running in the rain with 10-15 mph winds and 50 degree temperatures would be, it was actually a very thoughtful run.  I began thinking about my next blog post, which in turn, had me thinking about my blog and what it has become.  I then realized what my 100th post would be about - a refection post about where I have been, where my family has been throughout the past 14 months since I started this blog.

I originally started this blog with the idea that I would do it for a year, just while I was training for my first Ironman.  I wanted to document the journey, the ups, the downs, the successes, the failures, everything.  I wanted something to look back on after it was all done.  But, here I sit, 2 months after Ironman Wisconsin, and I still have my blog and I still write regularly.  When I started my blog it had a typical .blogspot url and a rather simple page layout.  Now, it has its own .com and along with a visually appealing layout.  My first post was back on September 11th, 2012.  It was simple, it explained my reasons for starting a blog and told my story of registering for Ironman Wisconsin.  It started out with minimal page views.  Today, I get about 1,000-1,500 page views per month.  I have received emails from complete strangers asking for training and nutrition advice, to which I gladly respond back.  I have even had complete strangers come up to me at races or while out training and say that they have been following my blog and introduce themselves.  It's actually rather humbling that other people have enjoyed my posts.  Thank you to those who read and continue to read my blog, especially if you have actually read all my posts, as I know I have the tendency to ramble.  :)

Since I began blogging, my focus has changed.  I still enjoy blogging about my training and racing, sharing recipes, and posting about my family life.  I have gained a passion for educating and inspiring others to make a change in their lives; a change for the better, a change to lead a healthier, more active lifestyle.  I have known since I was 16 or 17 that I wanted to have a career in health and fitness.  I loved working at the YMCA after college as a Health and Fitness Coordinator.  I was able to share my passion of health and fitness with so many people.  But, I was forced to change careers for financial reasons and now I am a full time Patrol Officer with a demanding job.  This blog is my way to stay connected with health and fitness and share my passion with others.

Over the past year this blog has been an outlet to share my life, both the good and bad.  I don't sugar coat my life, I don't chose to write about the positive and joyful things in my life.  I lay myself out there, I am me.  Hell, just recently I wrote about my dream to race at the Ironman World Championships (Operation Kona), which led to a huge disparity between me and the one's I love.  Within a week or two, I had to come back and explain how I let my emotions and dreams take priority over my wife and kids (Taking a Step Back).  Today, as I look back on those two posts, I feel as though they are the exact reason why I continue to keep up with my blog.  I have found a joy in writing, almost as a way for me to reflect on my life, where I have been, and where I am going.  Growing up, I despised writing, I hated it.  But then again, I also hated running in high school.  Writing has become a way for me to express myself and stay in touch with so many friends and family, as life has taken us in so many different directions.

As I look back on the time span since I started my blog, so many things have happened.  It's hard to comprehend everything that has happened over the past 14 months but in reality, a lot of things have changed, including me.  First, there's the obvious changes, Sarah, Maya, Delaney, and I are all another year older - duh.  Then there's life's big changes, this past summer Sarah and I learned that we will be having our third child, it still amazes me.  I still have to just sit and think to realize that I am a father, let a long a father to a 4 and 2 year old, and now Sarah and I will be welcoming another new born into our lives in just about 4 months.  Over the past year, I have spent a TON of time and money training to finish my first Ironman.  And, frankly, I have neglected many things during that time frame, including my wife and kids.  I am not proud of that, not at all.  Don't get me wrong, completing Ironman Wisconsin was a dream come true and is literally one of the greatest days of my life.  But, in the end, really who cares if I am and "Ironman" or not, what really matters is what kind of father I was and what kind of husband I was to Sarah.  Sure, being an Ironman has taught me a lot - the stereotypical drive, determination, and the never give up mentality.  But, at my funeral, who is going to sit there and tell stories of my Ironman journey?  Yea, no one.  It still is me, it's who I am.  But, over the past year, not only did I learn about myself during my journey to becoming and Ironman, I also learned the important of time.  Time with family and friends. Time spent teaching your kids.  Time relaxing.  Time enjoying your hobbies and passions.  There are only 24 hours in a day, everyone gets the same amount of time each day.  It's what you do with those hours that make you who you are.  It's what separates successful people and the unsuccessful.  It separates the good parents and the great parents.

Don't get me wrong here, I still plan on training and racing, it's me, it is who I am and most likely who I will always be.  Will I do another Ironman?  Yea, I'm sure I will.  Will I race Kona?  Realistically, probably not, but a man is still allowed to dream, right?  I am who I am.  I am constantly learning every day.  I am by no means a perfect husband (Sarah will be the first to tell you that).  I am not a perfect father either.  Everyday I strive to be good great, but I am going to make mistakes.  But I guarantee I'm going to learn from those mistakes.  I'm going to be a better person because of it.  I'll continue to write about it too, every step of the way.  So here's to my first 100 posts, and hopefully a hundred more!

Life's a journey, enjoy the ride!

2014 Sponsorship Video

Taking a Step Back

When I first starting blogging over a year ago, I did so to share my life.  I wanted to give others a view into my life.  I am a dedicated endurance athlete, who works a demanding 3rd shift job as a patrol officer, all while trying to raise 2 daughters, with a 3rd on the way!  I want to be completely honest with my posts.  I want people to know what I go through, how I do what I do.  How I balance work, family, kids, training, and my personal life.  I want to inspire others to chose a healthier lifestyle through some for of exercise and/or healthy eating.  With each of my posts I keep those goals in mind.  Now, I am sure most of you have read or at least heard about my "Operation Kona" post from a couple weeks ago.  It resulted in a wide range of thoughts and emotions from a variety of people.  Some people thought I was crazy, some thought it was motivating, while others thought quite the opposite.  In the middle of it all was me, the author.

I was 100% honest with my post, my feelings, and dreams.  I laid it out there for everyone to read.  Yes, it was extremely ambitious, but that's me - I get an idea in my head and I set out to achieve it.  As I said in the post, it may not be 100% realistic or obtainable, but it was my goal, it was my dream.  At the time of posting it, I was riding the heightened emotions from finishing my first Ironman.  Truth is, I never thought about what the cost and effect would be of setting out to actually qualify for Kona. I was putting myself and my dreams before what is truly important in life.  I was not being honest with myself, my wife, or my kids.  The truth is, I live in Wisconsin and work a very demanding 3rd shift job as a patrol officer, am a member of our County SWAT Team, which is an additional commitment outside of my regular work as a patrol officer.  I also decided 5 years ago, that I wanted to start a family, I wanted kids.  We have since added a 2nd and now have a 3rd on the way, which is due in mid-to-late March.  I am not like most Ironman Triathletes.  Truth is, many Ironman Triathletes are either single adults, retired parents, or successful business men and women who have both time and money to devote to the sport.  I am not at all pigeon-holing or being stereotypical, but it is the truth.  Yes, every year, many people who are far more busier than I and have more kids, with more commitments than I have.  But majority of those individual are one-time Ironman-ers.  They do it as a bucket-list item, a one-and-done Ironman.  There is nothing wrong with that at all.

I was heading down a road I really didn't want to go down.  My "Operation Kona Plan" would have had me loosing out on precious time with my kids.  I would not have been a part of their lives like I want to be.  I was completely ignorant to my family and the one's I love and their feelings and their wants and needs.  Truth is I was completely consumed in the world of Ironman Triathlon.  My priorities were completely out of whack.  It's sad that it took an ambitious post to realize it, but I'm glad I did.  This past year, I forced my wife, Sarah, and my two daughters, Maya and Delaney to make large, significant sacrifices.  I depleted our savings accounts to pay for races, gear, supplements, and nutrition for training and racing.  I was away for most of my free time training.  I missed family camping trips, 3 of them to be exact.  During out full week of vacation together, I spent 22+ hours during the week training.  I made Sarah live the life of a single parent, caring for 2 young and demanding children.  It was not easy for her at all.  When I made the declaration that I would spend the next 5 years of my life "devoted to qualifying for the Ironman World Championships," all Sarah could think is that the next 5 years of her life would be away from her husband with no help raising 3 kids.  And honestly, that's probably the truth. 

With all that being said, I am not giving up on my dream of making it to the Big Island of Hawaii for the Ironman World Championships.  I am simply putting it on the back burner for now to devote my time to something a little more meaningful - my family.  I am going to go back to racing half marathons, marathons, shorter triathlons (Sprint and Olympic distance), and a Half Ironman every now and again.  I still want to run a sub 3 hour marathon, become a stronger biker and continue coach and lead by example for those wanting to live a healthier more active lifestyle.  Someday, down the road, when my kids are older and more independent I may revisit my goal of securing a Kona Slot.  But for now, I am going to go back to racing shorter, less demanding races which do not require the extreme commitment and sacrifices that Ironman Triathlons do.  I will try to remain as competitive within my age group, especially now that I will be moving up to the 30-34 AG.  I also plan on remaining as dedicated and committed to being the best I can be, but at the same time keeping my life priorities in check and spending quality time with what is important in life...my family.  After all, I would much rather never race another triathlon or marathon again and have my wife and kids by my side, then cross the finish line at the Ironman World Championships and have no one there at the end to celebrate that moment with me.

Thanks to everyone who believed in me accomplishing my #1 goal, your love and support did not go unnoticed.  But at the same time, an even bigger thank you goes out to those who took the time to bring me back down to reality and remind me of what was truly important in life - you all know who you are!

Operation Kona

This past Saturday October 12th, 2013 was the 35th running of the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.  It is the dream of any ultra endurance triathlete.  It is the Super Bowl of triathlons, the Boston Marathon of triathlons.  It's the pinnacle of Ironman triathlons.  I don't need to sit here and explain my dream of racing the Ironman World Championships some day - it's probably pretty obvious, especially if you've been reading my blog.  I spent a good chunk of my Saturday glued to either my iPhone or our laptop following Ironman's coverage of the World Championships.  I knew a few people who were over there racing and there were a couple of famous people out there racing an Ironman for their first time.  Ex-NFL receiver, Hines Ward and Iron Chef Gordon Ramsey each trained all year for this years Ironman Kona.  I followed their race times on my phone and then later Saturday night I watched the live streaming of the race on our lap top.  I watched the last 1-2 hours of the race.  I was able to watch the top men cross the finish line looking so strong and fast.  Belgium's Frederik Van Lierde finished in 8:12:29.  About an hour later the top female finished.  Mirinda Carfrae, from Australia, finished with a new course record of 8:52:14.  It was inspirational and motivating just watching the athletes enduring the added challenges that The Big Island brings.  Obviously, you can imagine the hot temperatures that racing in Hawaii bring, but there are also challenging cross winds during the bike that come off the ocean.  During the run, you run right past a Natural Energy Lab which increase temperatures at a very undesirable time, right around mile 20 of the marathon.  Not only is it extremely challenging just getting to the Ironman World Championships, it's that much tougher just finishing the race.

Racing the Ironman in Kona has always been a pipe dream of mine, maybe even just a bucket list item.  If you have ever read my bucket list, you'll see that #1 and #7 pertain exactly to this goal.  But, since finishing Ironman Wisconsin about a month ago I have been dead set on getting to Kona.  Why?  First, there is the obvious draw - the race is in Hawaii, the most beautiful state in the US.  There is not a single soul that would turn down a week or two in The Aloha State.  Second, there is the awe of being considered one of the best triathletes in the world.  Lastly, its a new challenge - and extremely difficult challenge.  It will not be easy.  Practically improbable.  But, I am willing to do whatever it takes.  I have never been more determined to accomplish a goal.  For those who know me know how I get when I get a goal in my head.  The same thing happened when I made it known that I wanted to qualify to run the Boston Marathon.  I had just run my second marathon.  I ran the Green Bay Marathon in 2009 with a time of 3:29:03.  The weeks after the marathon I was riding the post marathon high and I began making statements of being able to qualify for the Boston Marathon - even though I still needed to take about 20 minutes off from my time.  I was determined to run a sub 3:10 marathon and qualify.  I did what was necessary and made it happen.  In 2010 I qualified with a 3:09 at the Green Bay Marathon and then a 3:03 a few months later at the Fox Cities Marathon.  Very similar to that story, I am just over a month past finishing my first Ironman and am still riding the emotional high from finishing.  I am making the statement right here, right now, that I WILL QUALIFY FOR KONA!

Is it realistic?  Maybe not, especially since I am now entering the prime age of triathletes.  I am no longer in the 25-29 age group, beginning next year I will be in the 30-34 age group.  When looking at data the 30-34 age group has some of the fastest qualifying times among all age groups.  The chart below shows average times in each age group of athletes that have qualified for the IM World Championships in each IM race.  If you look closely, I would basically need to run a 10 hour race at IMWI (one of the toughest courses) in order to put myself in a decent position to earn a elusive Kona Slot.

In case you forgot, I ran a 11:37:09 in the 2013 IMWI.  Yup, that means I need to shave off a minuscule 1:37:09.  Nothing to it!  Ha!  So, Matt, if it is so damn-near impossible, exactly how are you going to qualify for Kona?  On top of being in one of the most competitive age groups, only 1.8% of all entrants at IMWI are able to earn a Kona slot.  Yup, you read that right, less than 2% of every IM athlete get to say they are a World Championship Qualifier.  That ain't a lot....not a lot at all!  Plus, on top of all those stats saying that it would be damn near impossible just to qualify, the competition is always getting more fierce.  To think that I am the only one sitting here crunching numbers on what I need to do to qualify for Kona is just foolish.  There you have it, every stat I can find say it is highly improbable, if not impossible for a guy like me to straight up qualify for the IM World Championships - But, hey, if were easy, it wouldn't be so prestigious!

Well, let's take a step back and look at this goal realistically.  First, I realize, exactly, the toll training for IMWI took on Sarah.  I wrote all about the added stress I put on our family in "The Truth Behind the Training." - So there's no secret there.  Secondly, not only was the time away from the family hard on Sarah and I, but the financial commitment is often over looked.  For instance, check out this graphic on the right for a rough estimate on the costs of completing an Ironman.  So, what exactly is my plan to get to Kona?  Well, I'm glad you asked.  My plan is simple really.  First and foremost, I need to get Sarah's support.  Part of getting Sarah's support is her agreeing to me doing no more than 2 full Ironman races at one point or another.  Of the two IM races, one is Kona.  So, really she needs to agree to allow me to do one more IMWI - that's it.  I will not ask to do another IM race until I am retired from my job, I promise.  Once I get the stamp of approval, I will begin training and devoting my life to qualifying for the Ironman World Championships.  I will train within and around my life.  I will not fit my family and life around my training, but rather fit training around my family and life.  I will continue to run 1-2 marathons and 1-2 half Ironman traithlons in a season.  I will train my weaknesses and devote my training to turning my body into an efficient triathlon power house.  I know that my weakness is cycling.  It was exploited at IMWI.  Sure, I had a decent bike split of 5:50 (19.2 mph ave) but I worked too hard during the bike, causing my run to suffer.  I need to continue to increase my cycling fitness and grow that fitness much like I have done with my run fitness over the past 5-10 years.  I need to just maintain my swim form and technique over the year and I am sure my swim fitness will increase slightly over the years.  My run fitness is good where it is at, so I will just need to maintain my run fitness.  With some diligent, devoted cycling training, I feel I can do this, I can qualify for Kona.

I will continue to train until I feel as I am ready to run a 10:00 IM.  When looking at my splits from IMWI this past year (1:13//5:50//4:20) and comparing them to my projected splits (1:05//5:50//3:30) I figure that a 10 hour IM is a stretch, but obtainable.  If I am able to become a cycling powerhouse I figure I could put together a 10 hour IM with splits that break down like this: Swim: 1:05, Bike: 5:12 Run: 3:30, along with 10 minutes for transitions.  The projected swim and run splits are the same as what I was shooting for this past year and I still feel those were realistic, it's just my bike split did not match my fitness to allow me to run a 3:30 marathon.  In order to put up a 5:12 bike split, I need to average 21.5mph over the entire 112 miles.  Yup, that's flying!  Over the next 4-5 years (roughly) I will push the limits on my bike and ride more then I have in past years.  I will work in specific workouts such as tempo rides, sprints, and hill work.  I will also include long bricks and even try to do some long rides before marathons to increase my specific bike-to-run fitness.  Then, as soon as I feel I am ready and fit enough to do a 10 hour IM, I will register for IMWI and Operation Kona will be in full effect.  I will then train my ass off and devote that year to qualifying to Kona.  If everything goes well, I can secure a Kona slot and begin planning our trip to the Big Island the following year.  If it doesn't go my way and I don't earn a Kona slot.  I will step back and say I tried, I gave it my all and it wasn't meant to be.  Without questions, I would be crushed.  I am not saying I am a quitter, I hate that word, it's not in my dictionary.  I don't quit, I wouldn't ever give up.  But, I do not have the financial resources or the family dynamics that allow me to complete an IM each and every year until I qualify.  There is just no way for that to happen.  I need to be realistic and honest with myself.  If I were to fail at my qualifying attempt, I would simply rely on the slim chance of being selected in the annual lottery for a Kona slot.  These slots are offered to a very slim few each year.  As a rough estimate, only about 2% of entrants in the Kona Lottery get selected each year.

So there you have it - My extremely ambitious goal of qualifying for Kona.  All laid out in a few simple steps.  Now if only fulfilling my goal were as easy as planning it out.

Never, never, never give up!

A Simple Update

Just wanted to get caught up since I last posted about everything.  Not that there is a lot going on, but hey, pictures are always good, right?

Since finishing the apple cleanse this past Monday, my new diet has been a learning experience.  I have never eaten so few carbohydrates.  I have found myself staying satiated longer by eating more protein and fat, but at the same time, I am realizing exactly how much carbohydrate I have eaten in the past.  My goal is to get around 100g-150g of carbs per day, which sounds like a lot, but really, it ain't too much.  Trust me, they add up quickly.  I have cut out pretty much all fruits, grains, and any of my usual staples, such as bars, pastas, yogurts, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Majority of my carbohydrates are coming from avocados (about 10g-15g), carrots, and other vegetables.  My current weight as of Thursday morning is 173.8, not bad, considering I was just 180, but still a ways off from my goal of 155.  With Thursday being my first night off, I am trying to not eat anything other than a cup of BulletProof Coffee, which I had for lunch after waking up from my short nap.  I added a pinch of cocoa powder along with the usual cinnamon, grass fed butter, and coconut oil.  It kept me awake and alert, not to mention, full, until dinner time with the family that night.  I plan on using BulletProof Coffee more often as a way to stay satiated and energized while on this high fat diet.  I'm sure after a 2-3 weeks of following this protocol, I will figure things out and it will eventually become second nature.

I have still been working out sporadically as I see fit.  I did put together a simple training plan to bring me through Thanksgiving for the Turkey Trot 5 mile run.  My plan is simple, really.  I have a 5-6 mile fartlek run on Tuesday, a shorter easy jog ranging from 4-6 on Thursday, and a longer 6-8 mile aerobic paced run on Sunday.  I then sprinkled in some rest days, swim days, and bike days between the runs days.  I realize that a training plan isn't really necessary for an off season, but I need direction and feel at ease when I have everything planned out.  My workouts have been going good, pretty relaxed.  I have found that I feel a little different, not sure if it's the lack of carbohydrates in my system or just the fact that my training volume is a small fraction of what it used to be.  Either way, I'm enjoying the break from the insane high volumes and spending the extra time with my two beautiful daughters.  I can't lie though.  Not an hour goes by where I am not either thinking of my 2014 race season (schedule and goals) or my Ironman race day.  I've tried putting races out of my mind, just for a day, but for what ever reason, I just can't.  I guess there's worse things to be addicted to...

Maya's school has been going really well.  She absolutely LOVES it.  And I love it too.  I love having her come home and telling me all about what she learned about and seeing all her projects, it makes me smile from ear to ear.  Delaney, is still Delaney.  Rambunctious, active, creative, and constantly learning.  She loves coloring and playing with her Little People Princesses with their castle - and frankly, Sarah and I love watching her play.  But if Delaney knows we're watching, she locks up and gets shy.  Maya turns 4 on October 13th, which is crazy in and of itself.  We are having a joint birthday party at an indoor water park close to our home with her nephew (my Godson) Bradyn on Saturday.  She is super excited about getting to play with her cousin, and of course, get a lot of presents.  

Below are some photos from my morning trail runs on the Wiouwash State Trail.

I have waited WAY too long to have some good beer in my IM pint glass!

Inked

If you have ever done a triathlon or a running race, chances are you've seen one.  You might not have known what it stands for or what the hell it even is.  If you've never done an endurance race, you might have seen one at your local YMCA or health club.  It's the stamp only few are allowed to get - the sacred M-Dot logo of Ironman.  The M-Dot tattoo is damn near a must for any Ironman finisher.  Ask any IM finisher and they'll agree and probably show you their tattoo at the same time.  Even people who hate tattoos get the M-Dot.  It's more than a tattoo, really.  It's a symbol of accomplishment.  A tattoo is permanent, there ain't no going back after getting a tattoo.  Just as once you cross the finish line of an Ironman, you are forever an Ironman.  No one can take that away from you.  Personally, I gave up a year of my life, sacrificed time away from my wife and kids, missed out on time with friends, and spent WAY too much money on nutrition and gear.  Getting this tattoo doesn't change anything that happened over the past year.  It doesn't get any time back.  It doesn't solidify the fact that I finished the race.  It really doesn't do anything.  But it will be with me forever, reminding me of the amazing things we can accomplish if you are determined and motivated enough and willing to make the sacrifices.  It most definitely was not easy, hell there wasn't one easy thing about it.  But, I remained determined to finish and see my goal of becoming an Ironman to fruition.

Ever since I started in triathlon, I started brainstorming ideas for an Ironman tattoo, knowing one day, I would be in the position to get one.  I knew exactly where I would get it - my right calf, I purposefully left that space blank on my body for my Ironman tattoo.  Last year after registering, I really started to dig for designs and think about what I wanted to get.  I always had an idea of incorporating a bike cog and chain with the M-Dot.  I also knew I wanted something different.  As I said before, the M-Dot is a very popular tattoo, so I wanted mine to be different, but still have the M-Dot be the focal point of the tattoo.  My second idea was the incorporate a Mexican sugar skull with the M-Dot to symbolize the mortality of life and how alive I felt accomplishing my dream, yet at the same time, feeling like death during certain parts of the race.  An Ironman triathlon can be related to life, that it has it's ups and downs, the difficult times when you just want to quit and go home, yet it has it's great times, when you feel invincible.  It has a clear cut start and a certain and ceremonial end.  Plus, I have a fascination with Mexican art and skulls.  So below was my idea I came up with.

But after coming up with the design I felt as though the sugar skull had so much going on, that it took away from the simple M-Dot logo, which, like I said, I wanted to be at the forefront.  So I came up with a new design with the bike cog and chain.

Which evolved into this:

I took my design to my artist at The Bear Spot Tattoo in Kaukauna - and before you knew it I had this..... A kick ass tattoo, that incorporates all 3 sports, swimming, biking, and running.  The M-Dot is clearly the focal point of the tattoo.  I have the bike chain wrapping around my calf which is connected with a plate on the front with 140.6 stamped in, which is the total miles of an Ironman triathlon.  It turned out better than I imagined and am so pleased with the work done.  

Post Ironman Depression

In the months leading up to race day, I've done numerous hours of research from websites, training blogs, books, and talking to previous Ironman finishers.  I had direction in what I had to do in the time leading up to race day to be prepared for what it takes to become and Ironman.  I received advice from The Tri Shop Triathlon Teammates about preparing yourself for race day.  I even received advice for the couple days before race day.  What I needed to do, what I should try to do, and what I should try to avoid.  I even had advice on what products I had to buy at the expo before the race.  The one thing I never received advice on was dealing with the emptiness of the days and weeks following the race.

Since completing the Ironman, my life has not been the same.  We left for Mexico on the Tuesday following the race and returned home on Sunday night.  Tuesday night, I was back at work.  On Monday, it hit me, and hit me hard.  I was not happy.  My life was empty.  I had spent the last year with a clear cut goal.  A goal that was in my head for the previous 7-10 years.  Over the past 7-10 years, everything I did in my life was done to with one ultimate goal in mind, finishing an Ironman.  I started biking to do an Ironman.  I taught myself how to swim to eventually complete an Ironman.  I ran marathons, knowing I would have to be a strong running to complete an Ironman.  I race triathlons every year eventually work up to an Ironman.  My life had a purpose.

After September 10th, when I was officially registered for Ironman Wisconsin, I began working on my training schedule.  On December 11th, I began training.  Every single day was planned out.  I scheduled my life around my training plan.  It wasn't the other way around.  I sacrificed so much to train.  My family life was sub par.  My wife and I would argue or fight on what seemed to be a daily basis.  I adjusted my diet.  I basically stopped drinking alcohol.  I watched what I ate.  I stressed recovery and sleep.  Training was my life.  I had never been more motivated to do anything before.  I loved it.  Granted, I did not love my ignorance toward my wife and kids, nor did I enjoy leaving my wife to be a single parent, but I did love the challenge of training for something of this magnitude.

In a single day, I went from having all the motivation in the world, goals, and a planned out life, to nothing, a complete void.  I rode the post race "high" for as long as I could, but it would only take me so far.  I had a clear and defined road map leading up to the race, ever day was planned and measured.  Now, I have nothing....absolutely nothing.  I loved everything the Ironman was.  I loved being down in Madison in the atmosphere, surrounded by so many other athletes with the same goals, the same passions, and the same love of challenges.  We all made the same sacrifices over the past year.  I loved going to the expo.  I loved doing the bike check-in, the mandatory prerace meeting, I loved it all.

But now, here I sit with no goals, no races planned, no reason to eat properly, no drive, and no motivation.  Since returning from Mexico, I have felt...well, down.  I have felt like crying most days.  It was hard unpacking everything from the weekend.  I hated putting away my race outfit, not knowing exactly when I would wear it again.  It was especially hard putting away my race bib and finisher's medal.  It was difficult cutting off my Ironman athlete bracelet, which I wore for a full week following the Ironman.

I don't know when I will be able to do another Ironman, I just know I want to do another one....badly.  I know I can do better, I know I can train harder, be more fit, and race stronger.  I am like a well trained dog, who needs that proverbial carrot in front of them.  A highly trained dog needs the motivation and will do everything in their power to do their best.  That's me.  I just need a goal, something to work for.

I don't know how exactly I will get out of this funk.  I had a talk with on of my friends at work, laying out exactly how I have been feeling and that really seemed to help.  Writing this post also seems to help.  I initially thought I would take the entire month of September off, at a minimum, from any sort of training or exercise.  That only lasted a week.  I ran on Monday morning after coming back home from Mexico.  I plan on just doing what ever I feel like doing on a daily basis whether it be strength train, run, swim, or bike.  I won't follow a plan for a while.  I also want to do some trail running at local state parks and such for a change of pace from running in the streets of the Fox Valley.  Soon, I will eventually schedule a race and have a new goal to keep me motivated and focus.  Until then, hopefully, just random exercising and the added time with the wife and kids will get me out of my funk.

Videos from Ironman Wisconsin

The videos below were taken by Sarah throughout the day at Ironman Wisconsin.

Passing through Verona on the bike for the first time.

Passing through Verona for the second time.

Running on State Street at about mile 6 of the marathon.

The second time on State Street, at about mile 13ish.

Crossing the finish line of Ironman Wisconsin!

Ironman Wisconsin - Race Report

Ever since I got started racing endurance sports back in 2005 I knew I would eventual do an Ironman.  I still remember watching The Ironman World Championships from Kona, HI on TV while I was in college and would dream of running a full Ironman.  I looked up to people who finished an Ironman.  I viewed them in a different light and I wanted to be in that elite group.  I have a passion for competing, whether against other competitors, time, or just competing against myself to see if I can finish.  It's my personality, it's who I am.  I need to set a standard and then I need to challenge myself to do more, be better, finish faster, race further, or just push my limits.  It's said that it's impossible to know one's limits without pushing further to see how far one can go.  That quote pretty much defines me as a person and explains how I think.  When I first started to race on a regular basis, I would plan out my seasons with one goal in mind, finishing an Ironman.  I started at square one, with a duathlon in La Crosse (where I went to college) in April of 2005.  I knew nothing on how to train for a race.  The weekend before the race I drove out to the race course and did the entire race just to prove to myself I could do it.  I never even knew what a taper was, let alone how to implement one.  I did the race on a mountain bike and knew nothing about fueling before, during, or after the race.  I went into the race blind, but had a blast.  The next year, I ran a half marathon and did my first triathlon.  I slowly became more and more knowledgable on training and how to properly fuel, but still had a lot to learn.  I have never swam before, other than as a child in the annual swim lessons through the Appleton Parks & Rec Department and let me tell you, I was NOT a good swimmer and I HATED them.  My brother, who is 4 years younger then me caught up to me in swim lessons and even passed me.  So, obviously, learning to swim was one of the most difficult things I set out to do at the time.  I rented books from the library, I scoured the internet for resources, I even took a swim class in college to help learn.  I can only imagine how I looked in the pool, probably like a stray cat being tossed into a bathtub.  But, I stuck with it and was determined to learn.  For the longest time, I couldn't swim more than a single length (25 yards) without stopping to catch my breath.  I still remember after a 15-30 minute swim session I would come out of the pool feeling dizzy from motion sickness from all the rotation of the head to breath.  I was a disaster.  The next year, I stayed determined to improve my swimming and was determined to continue to learn how to better race.  It was my last year of college and 3 out of the 5 weekdays I would wake up at 5am to go to the local YMCA with a friend and we would swim together for a half hour before our 7:45 class.  Even back in college I was willing to sacrifice to better myself.

I continued to push my limits further from a sprint distance triathlon, to an Olympic, to my first Half Ironman.  I continued to go further in running races knowing that if I would ever want to do a full Ironman, I didn't want that to be the first time I run a full marathon.  In 2007, I completed my first full marathon at the Fox Cities Marathon in my home town.  I finished the race in over 4 hours, but was happy to have finished.  After completing my first marathon, I added a new goal to my life goals, qualify for the Boston Marathon.  Even with a non triathlon goal, I stuck to doing at least a couple multisport events each year to continue to grow as a multisport athlete.  In 2010 I had my best year of racing to date.  I ran a time that was fast enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon at the Green Bay Marathon and so did my father.  At that time, I knew I would get to run the Boston Marathon with my dad in 2011.  About a month after, I ran one of my best Half Ironman races at the High Cliff Triathlon.  Later in September of 2010, I ran my fastest marathon with a time of 3:03, which is still my PR.  After that year, I felt like I was ready to take on a full Ironman, but it didn't quite work financially along with the fact that Sarah and I just had Maya in 2009.  So it was going to have to wait...I thought maybe 2011 was going to be the year to register, but we just went out to Boston in April and had our second child, Delaney in June.  But, in 2012, I was able to convince Sarah to allow me to register for the 2013 Ironman.  It took a lot of "conversations," but she reluctantly gave in.  On Monday, September 10th, the day after the 2012 Ironman, I drove down with both of my girls at 5am and officially registered for the 2013 Ironman.

Training Plan

I have always designed each and everyone one of my annual training plans.  I am no a certified USA Triathlon Coach, I do not have my Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist Certification, nor do I hold a USA Track and Field Coaching Certificate.  I did have a Strength and Conditioning Personal Training Certification (which I let lapse after changing careers) and do have a degree in Exercise and Sports Science and an emphasis in Strength and Conditioning from UW-La Crosse, which is as much, if not more education than any of those certifications would offer.  On a side note however, I would still love to get the USA Triathlon Coach Certification and possibly pursue a side job in coaching.  Anyways, I have always made my training plans, based on my education, personal research, and years of racing experience.  With that in mind, I have never developed a training plan for some as daunting and challenging as a full Ironman.  Developing a training plan for a simple 26.2 mile marathon takes careful calculating and planning.  So, it clearly becomes that much more difficult when you add in the 2.4 mile swim and a 112 mile bike on top of a full marathon.  I did countless hours of research on Ironman training plans, and to be honest, there really wasn't too much out there, nothing in comparison to what you can find for half and full marathons.  I became obvious to me why so many, if not majority of athletes either pay $200+ for a "one size fits all" training plan, or hire a personal coach for the entire season.  

After reading several dozen articles about training and racing Iron distance races and looking at 2 (yup, that's all I could find without paying) generic Ironman Training plans, I began constructing my Ironman Training plan.  I began with assigning a pre-calculated training volume for each training cycle and built it from there.  I used excel, as I do for all my annual plans, for the ability to auto-populate and calculate equations to construct an annual plan.  I knew that my strength was running and had weaknesses in both swimming and biking, but was weakest in swimming.  My training plan reflected these weaknesses with added training volume in areas I was weak.  I then added races to the plan, with my key races being the Green Bay Marathon in May, the High Cliff Half Ironman in June, and then Ironman Wisconsin in September.  I also sprinkled in a few other shorter distance running races and triathlons just to stay fresh and to continue to work on race intensities.  I would say by the middle/end of November I finished my training plan, which was scheduled to start on December 11th, 2012.  

Looking back, I liked my training plan, to simulate the stress of running long after long bike rides, I would schedule a back-to-back brick works over my weekends with a bike focused brick (long bike/short run) followed by a run focused brick (shorter bike/long run) on the next day.  I usually found that I was pretty sore going into my run focused brick workouts, which was probably a good thing.  My workouts during the work week were shorter in volume and for the most part the training volume remained pretty consistent.  Majority of the training volume increases came during my long weekend workouts.  During the peak phase of my training I began implementing 1-3 two-a-day workouts, with a workout in the morning after work and a second workout in the afternoon after waking up.  I definitely had my hard weeks where I struggled, but I also had easy weeks, probably more than the hard weeks, looking back.  I did not have any specific speed sessions for either the bike or running and would have race paced workouts for the swim only.  My swim and bike workouts were based solely on feel.  I would usually go harder on shorter workouts and hold back on longer workouts.

In past training plans, I would not implement any sort of testing what so ever, but I wanted something to look back on to make sure what I was doing was actually working.  I planned a swim test based on a 400m time trial swim followed by a 200m time trial swim.  This swim test protocol was based on standards set forth by the coaches at the Swim Smooth Institute in Australia.  I bought their book and bought into their philosophy of swimming.  Personally, it worked for me and would recommend reading the book.  My bike test was a 40k time trial.  I only did one bike test throughout the training plan.  I scheduled a few tests throughout the year, but they were hard to fit in with finding days were I felt good enough to give 100% during the test and where the weather cooperated.  My run test was a 10k run.  I only did 2 tests for pretty much the same reasons for not doing more bike tests.  It just seemed that on days I was scheduled for a bike or run test, I would be very sore and felt as though I wouldn't be able to give an acceptable effort.  So, instead of doing a test, I would do the workout at a higher than usual intensity.  

As the race day approached, I began getting more and more concerned about my taper phases.  I planned my taper as I traditional would for a marathon.  I typically do a taper phase of 2-3 weeks with a 25% reduction in training volume down to a 60-75% reduction in the week before the race.  I was getting concerned that maybe I was doing to much before the race and would not be rested enough.  There is a saying about tapers that says "You're better off starting a race 10% under trained instead of 1% over trained."  I consulted some of my teammates from TheTriShop.com Triathlon Team for some guidance.  They suggested that if I do anything, I cut back my volume during the final week leading up to race day, so that was exactly what I did.  I originally had slightly over 8 hours of training in the final 9 days before the race, which I cut down to just over 6.  

Day/Night Before the Race

On Saturday, I was hoping to sleep in with hopes of getting enough sleep knowing I would not get sufficient sleep on Saturday night.  That was not the case.  I ended up waking myself up around 6am with impending excitement knowing that the race was just around the corner.  Plus, Saturday was bike check-in day.  I at least laid in bed for a half hour to an hour and just relaxed, figuring that had to count for something.  After waking up, I made my favorite breakfast or steel cut oats with banana and almond butter.  I packed up all my gear from my brother-in-law's house and double checked all my transition bags and special needs bags.  Everything was as needed in all my bags and I had all my belongings packed up and I was ready to head to the Monona Terrace for the final check-ins before race day.  I met my parents at the terrace around noon and first dropped off my bike at my assigned bike rack.  The bike rack area is a huge area on the entire top deck of the Monona Terrace parking ramp.  Just seeing all the bikes racked up is an impressive sight to see, not even taking in consideration what the area looks like on race day with all the added commotion.  I racked my bike, pumped up my tires to near full inflation, lubed the chain, set my proper gearing, and placed a bag over the seat to prevent the morning condensation from leaving my bike seat wet in the morning.  After dropping off my bike for the night, it was off to drop off my swim to bike gear bag and my bike to run gear bag in the assigned locations.  I again double checked the bags (for at least the 10th time) and put them in numerical order based on my bib number.  After dropping off all necessary items, I walked around the terrace with my parents for a little while since we had some time to kill before our 3pm check in time at our hotel.  We could only see the same things so many times before getting bored, so we that I would just go to the hotel and sit on a comfy chair in the lobby to relax while they did a little sight seeing around Madison.  I lucked out and they had a clean room in advance and I was able to check into my room early, around 2pm.  A short while later my parents arrived at the hotel and they also had a room ready before the scheduled 3pm check-in time.  

After getting into my room, I laid out everything for Sunday morning to all I needed to do was wake up and grab what was sitting out.  I then just sat in the bed and watched baseball trying not to get overworked with the impending race.  I was mildly concerned because of a splitting headache that developed after getting into my room.  I had no Excedrine on hand, which is my go to OTC headache medicine.  I decided to just relax and hope it went away over night.  I ate my usual night before dinner of pasta with peppers and walnuts, but could only stomach about half of it because of feeling nauseous from the headache and nerves.  I ate as much as could and then called it enough.  After dinner I filled the tub with warm water and my homeopathic aromatherapy bath salts and settled in for a relaxing bath.  My bath salts are supposed to assist with alleviating muscle pain and soreness.  After sitting in the tub for 15-20 minutes, I climbed in bed, set about 3 or 4 different alarms for between 3:55 and 4:00, and put on some mediation music and tried to relax and fall asleep.

Getting to the Start Line

I woke up on my own about 10 minutes before my alarms went off.  I slept pretty well actually, I was a little surprised.  I still had a headache, however.  I brewed a cup of coffee with the in-room Kureg to drink while I got dressed and ready for the day.  I had some extra time to hang out in the room after I was dressed and made a second cup of coffee hoping the caffeine would rid me of my headache.  I had scheduled a shuttle ride to the Terrace with my hotel at 4:55am and wanted to get to the lobby by 4:45am to be sure not to miss the bus.  On my way down, I stopped by my parents room to drop off my luggage and such and give them a hug and so they could wish me luck.  After the hugs and such, I was boarding the shuttle to get to the Monona Terrace.  We were dropped off in front of a sister location for Best Western which was located on Capital Square, just a couple blocks away from the Terrace.  This was actually a good spot to be dropped off since I still had to drop off my special needs bags at an off sight location away from the Terrace.  After dropping off my two special needs bags, I made my way to transition areas to add the final nutritional items to my swim to bike and bike to run bags.  My final stop was at my bike to add water to my on-bike hydration system and add my liquid and solid fuels to my bike for the first half of the bike leg.  After making my final additions to my transition areas, I made my final trip to the bathroom and then started making my way to the swim start which is about a mile East of the Terrace.  The crowds where starting to fill in all around.  It was about an hour until the start of the race and there were more people near the swim start then I have ever seen at any endurance event, including the finish line of the Boston Marathon.  At 6:15 I started to put on my wetsuit and at 6:40 I got into the water.  I stuck exactly to my plan of swimming out to the ski jump.  I stayed on the shore side of the ramp and held on to avoid treading water for 20 minutes straight before the longest day of my life ever.  While waiting in the water for the race to start I just sat and stared at the crowds in awe.  The Terrace was lined with people which appeared to be 5 or more people deep.  The infamous helixes of the Terrace were just as packed.  The shoreline was lined with people as well.  It was absolutely breathtaking seeing the crowds.  I got a little emotional waiting in the water thinking of how far I have come over the past 7 years and of all the sacrifices I have made during those years, not to mention the sacrificed I made the past year to get exactly where I was.  I was minutes away from the starting my dream race, Ironman Wisconsin.  It still brings a tear to my eye just thinking of the sight of the Terrace and the crowds from the start line of Ironman Wisconsin.

2.4 Mile Swim - 1:13:06

Before even starting the race I reminded myself of a question that was suggested by a renown Ironman coach on a podcast I listen to.  He suggested that before making any decision during the race, you should ask yourself, "How will this decision effect the last 10k of the run?"  After reminding myself of that final thought, the canon went off, signaling the start of the 2013 Ironman Wisconsin, I began swimming west along the shoreline.  I did my best to settle into a comfortable pace.  The start was not as congested as I had planned.  I was anxious about the start, since it was my first ever deep water mass start.  A lot of that had to do with the fact that started about 50-100 yards off of the inside line of the swim course.  Since I was not starting directly inline with the buoys I wanted to take a good angle to the last buoy as opposed to swimming directly to the swim line and then staying on the inside line.  I eventually settled in to a steady pace as the mass of swimmers began to spread out.  I was actually very relaxed and in a peaceful state during the first half of the swim.  I was comfortable and mentally in a good state.  It was nice starting the race with a long swim, as it gave me the opportunity to "zone out" and simply think about my stroke.  The fact that you're face down in the water means that you can not see any other swimmers, you can't see or hear the crowds of people...it's just you and the water...that's it.   Like I said, it's peaceful and relaxing, which is exactly what I needed at the start of one of the most hectic and inspirational race starts I have ever been a part of.  There is no one specifically looking at you, watching you, critiquing you, you can swim at your own pace with no worries - and that's exactly what I did...until I made it to the second turn buoy to start heading east.  This was the longest leg of the swim course and furthest from the shore.  The weather was not quite I was expecting for the day.  The forecast was mostly sunny with highs in the mid to upper 70's, with strong winds out of the easy.  The only thing that was accurate about the forecast was the winds.  The breeze produced some unfavorable swim conditions, especially on the final leg.  I struggled with my sighting, which made it difficult to swim a straight line.  I wasn't the only one who had that issue, because pretty much every swimmer was struggling to swim a straight line.  I had more contact during the second half of the swim then I did at the start.  I was swallowing a ton of water nearly every breath I would take because of the waves.  The combination of the constant contact along with the constant thrashing of the wave made me become rather irritated - NOT the feeling you need during the first hour of an 11+ hour day.  I continued to just push on and get back into the state of mind I was at during the first half.  Eventually we made the final turn and were heading back West (with the wind) towards the swim exit.  When I walked up the boat ramp to get out of the water the clock read 1:12, which I was extremely happy with considering the water conditions.  I nearly feel over as I took my first steps on land since 6:40.

Swim to Bike Transition - 0:09:20

After coming out of the water, the wetsuit strippers were right there ready to rip the suit off.  I struggled getting my arms out of the suit and the volunteers were there willing and ready to help.  I still had my swim cap and goggles in my hand when they pulled the suit off my upper body and my swim cap and goggles ended up in my arm sleeve.  I feel to the ground as quick as I could to allow them to pull the suit off my lower body.  After getting the suit off I had to run up 4 levels of the helix to get to the transition area.  Honestly it was rather taxing.  I took my time, trying not to over exert myself running up a steep helix style ramp.  The crowds at the swim exit again, where like I have never seen before, they were loud, very loud, and still 5 or more people deep.  The crowds where lined just as deep all the way along the route to the helix, the entire way up the helix, and all the way into the Terrace.  After getting in the Terrace I made my way into a large ball room to grab my swim to bike transition bag and then into the men's changing room.  I grabbed a seat in a foldable chair and was "assigned" a volunteer to assist me with preparing for the bike portion and putting away all my swim gear.  The volunteer made a world of a difference and made the transition that much faster.  After exiting the changing room it was back outside to the bike racks, I had to run down the aisle of thousands of bikes.  As I would run past volunteers they would yell out my bib number to notify the volunteer that was responsible for my bike rack to grab my bike and have it ready for me for when I ran by.  After a volunteer handed me my bike, I ran to the bike mount line, which was the exact spot my bike chain decided to fall off....great.  I had to take 30-60 seconds to quick throw the chain back on the big ring and finally, I was off for the 112 mile bike ride.  

112 Mile Bike - 5:50:15

The bike starts by going down the 4 levels of the helix that I had to run up after coming out of the water.  After coming down to ground level you start heading out along Lake Monona on a recreational trail.  The ride went by faster than any of my training rides, even my short rides.  The ride out to Verona was hillier then I anticipated as the first 10 miles of the bike course were the only part of the 112 miles I have never been on prior to race day.  The weather remained to be ideal, with temperatures in the upper 60's to lower 70's by the time I was out on the bike, with overcast skies.  The wind remained steady out of the East which was at our backs as we headed West towards the city of Verona.  Before I realized it, I was already 16 miles into the 112 trek in Verona and on the loop portion of the bike.  The crowd support became more scattered as you could imagine for a 16 mile ride to Verona before beginning a 40 mile double loop.  The bike course is just as challenging as advertised.  The stick out to Verona is hilly and the loop is even more hillier.  As I continued to ride on the loop, I stuck to my plan on riding easy on the first loop and just getting to mile 80 or 90 before I even think about pushing hard.  The bike portion continued to fly by.  The course had mile markers every 10 miles and I felt as though I was passing them every 10 minutes.  Before I realized it I has half way through the first loop at mile 36.  At this point I felt great, my legs felt fresh and ready to tackle the day.  I turned my Garmin watch to display only my heart rate and no time or distance.  I didn't want to deviate from my original race plan because of what my watch showed.  My goal was to keep my heart rate below 155 during the entire portion of the bike.  At least until mile 90, anyway.  In my opinion the loop has 3 major hills.  Yes, the loop (and the entire course for that matter) consists of constant hills.  But there are 3 major climbs which are extremely taxing.  These hills are located on Old Sauk Pass at about miles 40 and 80, Timber Lane at about miles 45 and 85, and then Midtown Road at about miles 50 and 90.  The climb on Old Sauk Pass is a long and gradual climb.  The Timber Lane climb is a short and steep climb.  In my opinion the Midtown Road climb is the most difficult of the three major climbs on the Ironman Wisconsin course.  The climb start immediately after making a left hand turn, so there is no hope for building any momentum at the start of the climb.  It starts as a gradual climb but then the gradient increases as you continue to climb.  The coolest part of the entire 112 mile bike course was the crowd support on all three climbs.  It felt as though I was wearing the yellow jersey in the Tour de France climbing in the Alps.  There were people dressed up as devils, super heroes, smurfs, and just odd outfits.  I saw way too many grown men wearing hot pink speedos.  But, no matter if they were wearing odd outfits or normal clothing, the one thing they had in common was their determination to make you forget you were struggling to climb the hill.  During all of my training rides, I dreaded the hills, each and every one of them.  But, during the race, I looked forward to getting to the hills just to be apart of the atmosphere the crowds created.  As great as the climbs were, by far the best part of the entire bike loop was the family festival in Verona near the end of the loop, just before starting the second loop.  This was the spot where families where shuttled to from the Terrace, so it was the first time I got to see my family since leaving the Terrace, nearly 3 hours ago.  The first time passing them, I was so motivated that I was probably riding too hard, I was going nearly 24mph when I passed them.  They were extremely loud and was exactly what I needed as I approached the halfway point of the bike course.  As I passed through the crowds in Verona, I heard the announcer announce my name, "Here is Matt Kohl, who is a Police Officer!"  It was pretty sweet.  I continued to push on and settled back into my pace that was more suited toward my race goals.

At about mile 57, I reached the bike special needs location.  At a minimum I needed to stop and exchange my liquid fuel bottle and get my second stash of Bonk Breaker Bars to make it through the final 55 miles of the bike course.  At this point in the race, my legs still felt fresh and my stomach was cooperating.  I was sticking to my race fueling plan EXACTLY as I had intended.  I was listening to my body and eating when my body needed food and drinking water when my body needed the hydration. I had eaten less then I had intended at this point in the race, but I wasn't concerned, because I felt that if I had eaten what I was scheduled to eat, I would have had stomach issues and been in rough shape.  As I approached the special needs station I yelled out my number and stopped to get what was needed.  Another great volunteer grabbed my bag and helped me with all my gear.  She replaced my water bottles for me and even applied a new layer of chamois cream to my crotch....ok that really didn't happen....but she did get the chamois cream out of my bag so I could apply a second layer before heading out on the second loop.  

After starting my second loop I continued to monitor my heart rate closely trying to keep it under control.  I continued to eat based on what my body was telling me.  All I wanted to do was get to the three climbs because they were the best part of the ride.  After passing the Old Sauk Pass climb and the Timber Lane climb, I made it to the Midtown Road climb.  I was surprise as hell when I saw my dad and uncle Dale waiting for me at the start of the climb.  In addition to the support from the numerous fans at this climb I had my dad and uncle running along side me as I completed the climb.  It is one of my favorite memories of the entire day.  Once I reached the top of the climb I set my sights on the next point of interest...my family in Verona.  I knew as soon as I made it passed them a second time I had just about 20 miles left on the bike course and that alone was motivating.  I passed through again and it was just as inspiring as I had hoped.  They again announced my name as I approached but this time gave my home town and state.  It was pretty neat.  After passing through Verona it was back on "the stick" portion of the bike course back to Madison.  This section of the course would prove to be the most physically and mentally demanding portion of the bike course.  This was the part of the course where I first questioned my intensity.  I could start to really feel my quads and hamstrings tighten up.  I really had no clue what my legs where going to do during the marathon.  Not only were my legs begging to come off the bike at this point of the course, my mind was wanting to do something different then pedal a bike.  At the end of the bike leg, I finished with an average speed of 19.19 mph which was slightly faster than I projected.

Bike to Run Transition - 3:55

After biking for just under 6 hours, my legs felt like jell-o and it took me a while to really get used to walking let alone running again.  After biking up to the top level of the helix, I dismounted my bike and handed it off to yet another great volunteer.  After ditching my mode of transportation for the past 112 miles, I ran into the Terrace to the bike to run transition bag room, grabbed the bag with #1128 plastered all over it and was back into the men's changing room.  I took a seat on the closet seat possible and again had a volunteer (see a pattern?) who helped me take off my bike shoes, took out my run nutrition, opened my can of V8, and even put on my running shoes.  My bike to run transition was pretty short and simple and was pretty happy with my transition time.  After finishing up in the changing room it was outdoors to the streets of Madison for the final and most difficult leg of any Ironman triathlon, the marathon run.  

26.2 Mile Run - 4:20:33

I had a similar goal for the run as I did for the bike, keep my heart rate at a aerobic level and do my best to maintain it.  I also had one primary goal for the marathon and that was simply to never stop moving forward.  The first few miles of the run were tough.  First, I had to get used to running, which isn's easy to do after biking one of the most difficult Ironman coursed in North America.  My plan going into the race was to go slow and steady for at least the first 4 miles and possibly the first 6 if I needed that many miles to get into a groove.  I first looked at my heart rate after the first mile and saw I was way too high.  I was near 167 or so and I wanted to be in the 150-160 range.  167 was way to high for mile 1 of 26.  I slowed down even more and my heart rate continued to hover over 160.  I slowed more and more and continued to stick to my fueling plan of just water at every aid station and a sip from my gel flask every 2 miles.  During the first two mile of the run I averaged a pace of 9:17/mile.  My heart rate slowly came back down to a manageable zone.

I continued to monitor my heart rate closely now that I had it where I wanted it.  I stuck to my nutritional plan the best I could.  Af about mile 3, I saw a tray of grapes sitting out and they looked wonderfully delicious, so I grabbed a few - it just felt right.  My uncle Dale (2009 Ironman WI Finisher) told me you just need to listen to your body, it will tell you what it needs.  At first, I didn't buy it, I have always just stuck to my plans and never really deviated, other than NOT taking something.  I would never take something new or in addition to what I was supposed to be taking.  But, I have also never been exercising for 8 hours straight.  My body wanted grapes and I was not going to deprive it of the grapes.  They seemed to have helped, as did the heavy amounts of water I was drinking.  My next 4-6 miles I averaged sub 8 minute miles, which is ridiculous.  I did not want to be running that fast.  Part of me thinks the main reason those miles were my fastest was this was my first chances at seeing my wife, kids, and family.  I first saw them on State St at about mile 6.  It gave me a huge lift, just what I wanted.  After seeing my family it was back to the back half of the loop.  At about mile 10 I really began to loose steam.  I started out walking through every aid station as was my plan, but by this point I was just trying to walk more than I was running.  On my way back to the half way turn-around point, I saw my family a second time and again, that gave me a huge boost in confidence.  But that boost only seemed to last so long.  Before I knew it I was back to walking.  

The run course was amazing and difficult.  It was hilly (imagine that - more hills!) but at the same time the community support was mind blowing.  On several of the main streets, the sidewalks would be PACKED with people, it reminded me of the busy sections of the Boston Marathon, but it was way more frequent.  There was one hell of a hill to run up on Observatory Hill.  I walked up this hill and each of the significant hills for that matter.  I chose to walk up the hills to conserve energy.  I knew I would be walking more of this marathon then I had intended to, but I did not want to walk the entire second half.

The genius who designed the run course thought it would be brilliant to have the half way turn-around point about 100 yards away from the finish line.  It's Ironman's way of saying, "screw you, buddy, you still have 13.1 miles to go if you want to be and Ironman."  It was bitter sweet, actually.  Part of me was motivated by it, thinking, "Hey, you already did a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and now have run 13.1 miles, I KNOW you can find a way to go just 13.1 more miles, so you can cross that sacred finish line."  While the other part of me thought it was demoralizing, thinking, "Are you F_____G kidding me?!  Can they rub in the fact I still have 13.1 more miles to go, why bring me so close to the finish line?!?"  Regardless of what I thought, I still did have another 13.1 miles to go.  After hitting the turn-around, I stopped to pick up my run special needs bag.  Here is were I made the best decision of the entire day - I put on a fresh clean pair of socks.  At this point in the race, I was still wearing the socks I had worn after getting out of the water nearly 9 hours ago, so my socks were soaked.  They were so wet, that I could hear my foot sloshing with every foot strike, so clean socks felt like heaven to my feet.  

I continued to push on for the last half of the marathon.  These 13.1 miles were the most difficult miles I have ever covered.  My body wanted nothing more than to just stop, even for a little while, but I wouldn't let it.  I continued to run until I could no longer run and walk until I felt like I could run again.  At around mile 16ish, I entered Camp Randall Stadium for the second time and made my lap around the field.  Only this time, I soaked in the experience and walked around the stadium to hopefully regain some of my mojo to run more frequently on the final 10 miles.  It didn't really work too well, because before I knew it, I was right back to walking just as often as I was before.  I saw my family for the final time before crossing the finish line at the State St turn-around at mile 19ish.  My dad ran with me again, and offered words of encouragement, but words could only do so much at that point.  After mile marker 20 I began drinking Coke, which was my intended time to make the change from gel to Coke for fuel.  It seemed to make a difference, as though to give me a little boost of energy.  At about mile 21 or 22 I began eating pretzels, which also seemed to make a difference.  What my uncle told me about you body telling you exactly what it will need and when it will need it, ended up being exactly true.  After I started taking Coke and pretzels at every aid station, I was able to hold my running longer and no walk nearly as much.  Granted part of it could have been the fact that I knew I was so close to finishing.  But regardless, after seeing the sign for mile marker 24, I decided that I will not stop running until I cross the finish line.  I stuck to my rule and push hard to the finish, I even made a couple passes over the next mile and half.  As I came around the corner from the Capital Building, I could see the sacred blue Ironman Finish Arch.  There were people lined up everywhere.  I don't honestly recall how loud it was coming down that finisher's chute, because it felt silent to me.  I stared in awe at the finishers arch as I approached, because at that exact point in time I knew, without a doubt, I was going to finish my dream race, and become an Ironman.  I saw my family about 25 yards away from the finish line up the chute right on the barricades.  I was as happy as I have ever been coming down that chute.  I may not have heard any of the crowd noise as I approached the finish line, but I know with out a doubt, I heard the infamous line, loud and clear, "Matt Kohl, You. Are. An. Ironman!!!"  Gosh, just typing that line and reliving that moment brings tears of joy to my eyes.  I did it, I finished the 140.6 mile journey.  I did not give up, I did not quit, I stayed the course, I persevered, and pushed on.  I finished in 11:37:09.

Post Race

Immediately after crossing the finish line I had two volunteers grab ahold of me and helped me along.  I got my finisher's medal, finisher's t-shirt, and finally a finisher's hat.  The volunteers continued to monitor me and ask me if I needed anything.  I got my picture taken with my medal and then immediately wanted to be by my wife.  I wanted to see her and give her a hug and kiss just to show my appreciation for everything I put her through.  The volunteer staff even let Sarah, Maya, and Delaney into the athlete area for a family finisher photo, which I can not wait to see.  After going out by my family, I was rushed with hugs and kisses from just about everyone in my support group.  It was an amazing feeling, finishing an Ironman, but being able to share it with the one's who have been there through it all from the very beginning was the best part of it all.  Words can not express how grateful I am to have shared that moment with my family, my in-laws, my kids, nephews, uncle and my co-worker, Bob.  We hung around the finish line for a while taking pictures and such and I even had a celebratory beer.  My dad brought a cooler along the entire day with a large Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in it just for the finish line.  It was the best tasting beer ever!

Other Notes

I would be foolish not to thank each and every single one of the volunteers who sacrificed their time to make that race what it is.  I have volunteered twice for this race but never on the actual race course.  The support and motivation you receive from the volunteers of Ironman Wisconsin is unlike anything I have ever experienced in any race before.  They were willing to do just about anything you'd ask them to and would do it while cheering you on with a big ass smile on their face.  Their energy was contagious.  So thank you to the volunteers, without you, there would be far less finishers to that race!

I also need to thank TheTriShop.com for all their support throughout this past year.  Without your support, knowledge and expertise, my year would not have been a fraction of what it was.  You and your employees always made sure I was taken care of and I know it was not just because I was a part of The Tri Shop's Triathlon Team, but because you know how to treat your customers.  You are a top notch company to work with and would love any future opportunities to work together again in the future.  If not, I know I will continue to shop from your site and will continue to spread the word about The Tri Shop.

Lessons for Future Events

The biggest lesson I learned from finishing the Ironman. without a doubt, is that anything is possible with a little determination and drive.  It may not be easy, it may not always be fun, but in the end it will be worth it.  I have become a new person over this past year.  One who appreciates his family for all they have been willing to do for me and my dream.  One who will never give up, no matter how difficult things may get.  One who knows that the human body is an amazing thing and can do so much more than most people allow it to.  It seems that every lesson I pulled out from this race and the journey to finishing this race can be directly applied to life in general and I would say that, more than anything, is my biggest take away.  

As far as triathlon specific lessons that I took away from this race, I took away a ton of knowledge as well.  For those of you who read my blog regularly, you'd know that I did not reach my goal or projected time.  Yes, my number one goal was to simply finish the race, which I did accomplish, but I also had a preset time of 10:45 in mind based on previous shorter races and my training.  Before I say anything at all, or continue to discuss why I did not finish in 10:45, let me simply say, I am not at all discouraged or disappointed with my 11:37 time at all!  But, there is obvious room for improvement.

First, I now know how the race as a whole is run, just the logistics of racing an Ironman takes some getting used to, no doubt.  As for my race execution, I wonder if I would have taken it easier on the bike, that it may translate into a faster run.  I wonder if I would have biked the course 15 minutes slower, that I may have been able to run the marathon 50-60 minutes faster for a net gain of 30-40 minutes faster.  I also think I should have taken the first 6 miles of the marathon easier, that I would have preserved some energy and been able to ultimately run a faster marathon split.  Lastly for race execution, I think I may be able to withstand more pain, now knowing exactly what the last 6 miles of an Ironman feel like.  I would be lying if I said I didn't hold back throughout sections of the race just to guarantee   that I would be able to finish.  I am not AT ALL saying that I had gas left in the tank after I finished.  But I am saying that it becomes easier to deal with pain after knowing what a pain feels like, especially when you are talking about dealing with pain over 10-12 hours straight.  

Looking back at my training plan, I would incorporate more running in my plan.  I would probably leave my biking volume near the same level and probably sacrifice some of my swimming volume to increase more run volume.  I felt weak on the run, granted so did just about everyone else out there, but I think I  should have had a faster run split knowing my strength in running the marathon distance.  

What's Next

First let me say, that, yes, I do want to do another Ironman.  BUT, I am not saying that I will do another Ironman.  I truly enjoyed everything about this past year, when it came to training, nutrition, and racing. I hated being away from my wife and kids so much.  I am a dad to two beautiful girls and this past summer, I did not go camping with them when they went on 3 separate camping trips, I did not go to the State Fair with them, I did not get to teach my oldest daughter how to ride a bike, I didn't get to take them to the local swim lake, and I could go on, but it's honestly kind of hard to admit all the things I missed this summer.  I also put a lot of added stress on my wife Sarah,  She did do all that stuff....without me, with out the help of a husband, without the help of a dad.  

I loved the race itself, I loved every inch of every foot of every mile of the 140.6 miles I traveled that day.  It went by in the blink of an eye.  I remember more from some 5k's that I run, that are over in under 20 minutes.  I hardly remember the day.  It kind of reminds me of my wedding day.  I was so excited for that day to come, and suddenly it's the next day and you sit there asking yourself, what happened?  That is exactly how I feel now.  I worked my ass off training my body to be able to endure 140.6 miles and then race week came, the meetings and check-ins came and went.  Then Sunday came and I was suddenly sitting in the middle of Lake Monona waiting for a cannon to explode so I could start the race and all of a sudden I am standing with my family and friends with a mylar blanket wrapped around me and a finisher's medal around my neck.  It is now Wednesday, 3 days after the race and I am still wearing my blue Ironman athlete bracelet and I will not cut it off since it is the last thing that says, it's not over.  I feel as though the moment I cut it off, it's over.

As for my future training and racing plans, my training plan is completely blank, hell, I don't even have one for next month let alone next year.  I do not know when I will start training again, my guess is late September, early October.  I may run in the Freaky 5k at the end of October, but then again, I may not.  Sarah and I have talked about what is an decent amount of training that will allow a successful marriage between my family life and my training.  We agreed that I will not race any race over a half marathon or an Olympic distance triathlon.  We also agreed that any training plan I develop will be completely flexible to our family and our trips.  With that understanding, I would like to do a couple sprint or Olympic distance races and try to qualify for USA Triathlon Age Group Nationals which are located in Milwaukee, WI next year.  I qualified the last two years for Nationals, so I should be able to do the same in 2014.  If I do race Nationals, there is a chance to qualify for Worlds and even possibly represent Team USA.  Granted that is a far stretched goal, but remember......

You can do ANYTHING with a little determination and drive!!!

Be fast, be strong, and carry on!