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Written by Vince
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Wednesday, 12 November 2008 16:27 |
Silverman is branded the "toughest course in North America" by "The Man" himself, Dave Scott. When I first heard of the race, I thought, "toughest course", I want to do that! It makes perfect sense because that's the point of doing Ironman... right? So why wouldn't I want to do the toughest iron-distance course?
Bang! The race started and I was off in the water. Crap! I'm dreaming. Back to sleep. The alarm went off at 3am and I was up immediately. I could've set the alarm for 3:30am but then I wouldn't have been able to wander around in circles for as long as I did. Despite the hotel not having a coffee maker in the room, I was still able to complete my morning ritual thanks to the 24 hour café in the hotel lobby. After slightly waking up, I jumped onto the bus for our road trip to the race start.
Upon arrival at the race start, the first thing I noticed was the American flag flying as stiff as can be. I had expected wind so I wasn't really surprised it just caught my attention. The weather report had said winds 20-25mph and a 20% chance of rain. The sky was dark but it wasn't raining so I thought we were going to fall into that 80% chance of not rain.
I walked over to my bike and did a once over to make sure my tires were inflated and everything was just like I had left it the day before. Everything was so I wandered into the transition tent, dropped my pack on the floor and took a 45 minute nap. Hey, if you're going non-stop for the entire day, I say you might as well take advantage of all the napping possibilities that present themselves to you.
My wife showed up not soon after I finished my nap. I grabbed my bike pump which she brought along, checked my tires, loaned my bike pump to the two dozen people who wanted to be my friend and then started to liberally apply Body Glide to my appendages. Following that, I donned my wetsuit and started walking towards the water. I wanted to wait until the last possible minute to do a warm-up and did a short out and back just to feel the temperature more than anything else. About the time I reached shore, the gal started singing the national anthem and BANG! the race started. And this time it was for real.
My plan for the swim -- to find feet and hang on. I kept finding feet but they kept trying to kick me so I looked for others. I eventually found a pink cap (female) and thought she's not going to kick me and fortunately for me, I was right. I got along the side of her at first and she and I were about the same pace so I decided to jump on back and enjoy the ride. About half way through the swim, she seemed to slow a bit. I started to feel a bit guilty and decided to move ahead and let her take the back position. She hopped right in as well as (at least) one other. I then started to bridge the gaps on the feet of those in front as we made our way through the swim.
As I was swimming along, I noticed something. I couldn't quite figure out what it was but I knew something was going on. I then realized what was happening... it was raining. The water started to get choppy as well but I continued on my way. On the way back to shore the wind was coming straight at us and it appeared like we were not making forward progress. I kept as low as I could in the water and continued on. I noticed my passengers had fallen off the back but I continued forward without them until I arrived at the shore. Time - 1:20:40 (37th)
Upon exiting the water, I was immediately met by a pair of strippers (the wrong kind) who removed my suit and pointed me to my transition bag. I ran into the tent, tore open my bag and blazed out of T1. Time - 2:24
It was windy, raining, and my wheels were catching a noticeable amount of air but I made it out of the water and thought the worst was over. I was wrong. When we entered the long section of the bike leg, the crosswinds were downright scary. I watched a rider in front of me get blown off the side of the road. She was ok but definitely unhappy and cautioned me about the wind as if her departure from the solid surface wasn't warning enough.
I experienced high winds and rain for the next 2.5 hours and at one point started to think I would fall over from hypothermia. I was chilled to the core and I couldn't feel (pick a body part and insert HERE). In one of the darkest moments, I just started laughing and thought... well, you wanted to do the toughest race... here it is! This seemed to relieve some of the stress which was more of a safety concern than anything else. I was reaching speeds in the 40's on some of the descents and the crosswinds felt like the bike was going to come out from under me. It's a little unnerving to say the least. About the time I started to accept the conditions for what they were, it started hailing. But at that point I just started to laugh some more and kept moving forward.
The rain let up about 4 hours into the race and the sun peered out from behind the clouds. I finally started to feel a bit of warmth in my core and that added to my somewhat delusional confidence. I proceeded to tick away at the miles ahead of me and the rain and winds would come and go throughout the rest of the leg but never again did I reach such a low as I experienced in the beginning of the race.
At the turnaround, I knew I would have to deal with the three long climbs but I welcomed them for the warmth they would provide. After getting through that section, I truly believed I was home free but while the climbs decrease, the headwinds increase. It's almost laughable when you're confronted with over 30 miles of road ahead and you know it's all going to be straight into the wind. I just pressed forward and eventually made it back to civilization.
The final stretch back to town is on a bike path which we were unable to pre-ride. This is where the steepest climbs are located on the course. And while they are steep, there's nothing here that is anything longer than a short burst out of the saddle but I did see some walkers along the way so be warned if you're not a climber.
You would think I would've been excited to find the last 7 miles were mostly descents. You would be wrong. After never really warming up and not being able to eat because my hands were too cold to open my food, I was not looking forward to chilling descents. I did however take the descents at top speed despite wondering whether or not I was going to stay conscious. I did however remain conscious and finally arrived at transition. Time - 6:54:23
The thought of being able to run was so exciting to me because I knew I would finally warm up. I entered T2 and again was out in a flash. Time - 1:39
Before I started my run, I threw my plan out the window. With the rain and the wind, this race was completely different than what I had originally anticipated. I wanted to make sure that I was even capable of running let alone taking in some much needed nutrition. It had been at least two hours since I last ate and I just decided to settle in on a pace and take in some calories. Surprisingly, my legs felt ok and I settled into a nice rhythm. After taking in some warm chicken broth at the first mile marker, I looked down to see I had clocked an 8:45 mile. Not exactly what I was hoping for but I thought I was in "damage control mode" and didn't want to press my luck.
The next mile marker popped up and I grabbed more chicken broth and looked down at my watch again. I was around the same pace and decided that would work for awhile until I determined whether or not I would even be capable of getting through 14-26 while still running. At this point I realized I had still not taken in any nutrition but the thought of eating didn't seem appealing. At the third aid station I decided I wanted chips and shouted for them and was handed a bag of Doritos. They tasted good to me so I decided to continue eating them and continued to pick up bags along the way all the way to the finish.
When mile 13 had come and gone it was starting to get dark and I attempted to pickup the pace but no such luck. While I was still able to run, I was not able to get any more speed and in fact, I was starting to fade a little. I guess the long ride and the series of ups and downs on the run had pretty much taken the spunk out of my muscles. Looking back, it's hard to imagine that I was even capable running considering the lack of nutrition, weather, and the difficulty of the course in general.
When I arrived at the 20 mile marker, I knew I was home free and had about an hour left to go. I broke down the remainder of the race mile by mile and when I hit 24 I knew the rest of the course was a cakewalk. I decided to push the last two and was able to increase the pace to what I think was below a 9 minute mile. I say "think" because at that point it was too dark to get a good glimpse of my watch. In fact, that's the first time I've actually finished a race in the dark. I was expecting a glow stick but never really needed one since the course was well lit... just not enough to see the small numbers on my watch.
I caught a couple of guys in the last mile or so. I'm not sure they were on their first or second lap but it revitalized me enough to push through to the end for a strong finish. I was cheered on by the various spectators at the outdoor mall as I ran through and was high-fived by the various kids watching. As I crossed the final street making my way to the finishing chute, I was relieved to finally have completed what I think is by far the hardest race I've done so far. In a semi-incoherent state, I crossed the finish line. My wife who was waiting on the other side said I stopped in front of her and I just stood there. I remember standing there but I don't know what exactly was going through my head. I think I was just glad to be finished.
Numbers:
Swim - 1:20:40
T1 - 2:24
Bike - 6:54:23
T2 - 1:39
Run - 4:01:54
Finish Time - 12:20:58
I finished 14th overall and 5th in my age group.
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Last Updated on Monday, 24 November 2008 18:26 |
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