Ironman CDA 2010 - It’s never easy!

Ironman Finish #6 is in the books, but like all of them this one was a struggle…but not for the reason you may think.  Despite the fact that my very busy travel schedule this Spring hampered my training slightly, I felt I was in good condition and ready for the race. 

The swim, like all Ironman swims was very crowded.  My time was 1:24.  Not earth shattering but average…for me.  It is always such a relief to get out of the water.

The first half of the bike was very good, just under 3:00 hours.  I was on pace for my fastest Ironman CDA bike split.  Then, at mile 75 my blood glucose dropped to 80.  It was above 200 for the first part of the day, then out of nowhere it was 80.  Way too low, especially since I still has 37 miles on the bike and a marathon still left.  In the past, my blood sugar didn’t get low until half way through the run, but never that low.  I had to slow it up a little, going barely faster than a coast, AND I started loading up in Gatorade and Gel in an effort to bring my blood sugar up.  For two hours, it would not budge above 100.  I was facing the prospect of either not finishing, or best case scenario having to WALK the marathon.  So the second loop of the bike took over 3:40…and most of that was over the last 37 miles.  Needless to say, all the get and gatorade was making me feel very sick!

I managed to keep the blood sugar at around 100 and I finished the bike.  It was very frustrating to feel strong, and like I could have ripped up the course, but instead I had to watch as hundreds of people rode by me.

I got into T2 (transition are between bike and run) and although I felt sick from all the junk in my stomach, my blood sugar was finally starting to rise…150.  I left transition and ran into a volunteer I knew, I told him my issues and he handed me an ice cold can of coke.  Obviously I don’t drink Coke on a regular basis but I was in survival mode.  I downed half the can and started running.   A few hundred yards up the road was the Special Needs Run are, where at about mile 14 of the run you are allowed to get into the bags with the “special needs” (stuff you put in the bag the night before - gel, drinks…in my case an extra blood glucose meter and a few bottles of glucose gel.)  I downed a bottle of gel and kept running.  At mile two I tested again and my blood was 426…higher than I have ever been in my life.  Not only is that too high, but it meant that I could not take in any carbs/energy….which would make it very hard to run a marathon.  I decided to give myself a small bolus of insulin to bring it down a little.  But by the time I got to mile four, I was back down to 150.  SO…I spent the rest of the run with my blood sugar hovering around 100.  I had to run slow because of it…and once again very frustrating since my legs felt very strong.

The good news is - I finished.  My time wasn’t great, but considering what i had to deal with I am very satisfied and relieved.  Someone asked me today “why I do this, the other triathletes out there don’t have half the battle you have?”  What I said is the same thing I always say - If it was easy, no one would be inspired!”

Next stop - Ironman Wisconsin in September…but for now I will take some time off from traning and bask in the glow of my 6th Ironman finish in four years!!!

IRONANDY

Finally!!!

This past weekend I was in Memphis and Jonesboro, Arkansas for the HMG Health and Fitness Expo.  Aside from the fact that I was travleing on my birthday, this was one of the best work trips I have had since the “Living Without Limits” tour began. 

First  - was a very good (and longer than normal) morning show interview on WREG CBS in Memphis.  Then I drove to Jonesboro, Arkansas for a radio interview on “The Mix” (part of the Jonesboro Radio Group)  I was in Jonesboro to take part in the HMG Health and Fitness Expo ( http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/hmg.md?ref=ts )  This was a GREAT event.  Friday night I was recognized at the Sponsor reception as being part of the Good Neighbor Pharmacy/Soo’s Pharmacy sponsorship.  Then on Saturday I was to participate in the 5k Race before helping with the Kid’s Run and the Trophy Ceremony…but wait, here is where I explain the Title of this BLOG - “Finally”  Finally refers to the fact that in the 5k Race I came in FIRST PLACE in my age group!  OK, I know a 5k Run isn’t exactly an Ironman…but if you have been reading my BLOGS over the years you would know that my youngest son (now 5 1/2) has grilled me after every Ironman and Half Ironman as to why I never win - “Daddy, how come you never come in First Place?”  Obviuosly he is too young to “get it” but nonetheless, he wants a First place medal or trophy.  So you can imagine my JOY (and surprise since I was the person holding the trophy responsible for handing it to the rightful owner)  when they called my name.  As soon as I retruned home my son grabbed the trophy and displayed it prominently on my desk in my home office (in the shadows of the the FIVE Ironman Finisher medals and about TEN half Ironman Finisher medals.)  So, I know it was only a 5k Run, but putting things in perspective (my sons perspective) “Daddy FINALLY came in First Place!”

Thanks to the folks from GNP, Soos Pharmacy, HMG, Jonesboro Radio Group, The Jonesboro Sun and WREG-CBS Memphis,  for making this a terrific trip, I hope to return again next year!

IRONANDY

Team Iron Andy in Boulder, CO

THIS PAST WEEKEND TEAM IRON ANDY WAS REPRESENTED IN BOULDER, CO IN A ULTRA DISTANCE RACE. JERRY ARMSTRONG AND JASON CHILSON TOOK FIRST PLACE IN THE 12 HOUR DUO RELAY. FOR MY REGULAR BLOG READERS, THESE ARE THE TWO GUYS WHO WILL BE RUNNING FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO SAN DIEGO (www,runthecoast.com) TO RAISE MONEY FOR THE IRON ANDY FOUNDATION…HERE IS JERRY’S RECAP OF THE RACE IN BOULDER:

“We ran repeat loops of a 7.1 mi course from 9am to 9pm. We traded off every other lap so after each 7.1 mi run, we each had about an hour to recover and prep for the next. Our goal was to run 84 miles but we came up one lap short w/78.5 miles. We covered more miles than any other 2-person relay and the only relay team to go further was a 5-man team. Overall, a great performance. Another great thing about running repeated loops was the exposure for Team Iron Andy. Everyone out there saw us in our shirts every hour and 24x on the course. And, then we had our team name announced after every lap. Of course, then took 1st place and that is also great for IAF.

Jason ran 35 miles and I ran 42. We can run much further as individuals but we had to maintain a much higher pace than was comfortable because that mileage had to be completed in the time line. We suffered a little but had a great time ”

NICE WORK FELLAS…AND THANKS FOR GIVING THE IRON ANDY FOUNDATION SOME GREAT EXPOSURE!

IRONANDY

It really is harder on the Big Island!

First of all, this BLOG site has been experiencing some technical issues so my entries from the past 3-4 weeks have not shown up, sorry about that.

I just returned from Hawaii where I raced  in Hawaii Ironman 70.3 (actually, “race” is an over-statement)  This Half Ironman consisted of an absolutely beautiful swim in the ocean, a swim where you could see the ocean floor the whole time and at points were swimming over coral reefs and tropical fish.  This was a non-wetsuit swim, which in most cases would have caused me some anxiety…but the combination of me being a better swimmer and the beautiful calm water, lead to a pretty good “non-wetsuit” split of 39 minutes.  39 minutes is about my usual half Iron swim time WITH a wetsuit, and they say you are at least 10% faster in a wetsuit.  So I was very happy with 39 minutes.  My blood sugar was abnormally high about 30 minutes prior to the swim start, over 300.  So I decided to give myself a little bit of insulin prior to disconecting my pump and heading down to the water.  I was a little nervouse about doing this since the swim would cause me to drop…and combined with the insuilin and the fact that have never had to do this before a race, lead me into un-charted territory.  But normally before a race I like to be 200, not 350!

When I got out of the water my blood sugar was still high, about 260.  I got through transition and on my bike and headed out on the famed Queen K highway…the same road that is rode on during the Ironman World Championship.  I was excited to be riding the Queen K and thought about thousands of people who have rode before me.  But my day dreaming ended 20 minutes in when I tested again and was still over 250.  I decided to skip my first 20 minute meal in hopes that I would start to come down.  I did however, make sure I stayed hydrated as I had never raced in this kind of heat before.  Usually for a half Iron bike I will consume 6-8 20 oz. bottles of fluid.  On this day I must have had 15!  Anyway, in addition to the Heat (picture riding and running inside a pizza oven for 5 hours) the Headwinds and the Hills, my blood sugar remained high for most of the bike.  I was able to settle in around 150 at mile 30, but was startin to worry that the high blood sugar would lead to de-hydration and make for a miserable day on the run course.  At about mile 50 my blood sugar was high again, 250.  But the good news - I was about to get off the bike.  This was by far the most difficuilt bike course I have ever ridden…and apparaently the winds were mild compared to what they usually are.  My bike split was a slow 3:12, where I generally do beween 2:30-2:50.  So no PR (personal record) this day.

I got myself into transition, put my run gear on, visited the port-o-potty (too much info?) then began to run.  Without the wind from the bike it now hit me just how hot it really was.  Also, a friend once told me that racing in Hawaii is like racing in the moon.  There really is no place to hide from the sun, and the terrain made up mostly of black lava rocks makes the heat just short of un-bearable.  So, head down…left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot. 

I figured my blood sugar was still high since 10 minutes earlier on the bike I was 250, but I decided to test anyway and not wait until I got to the first aid station  - I was 70…YIKES!  I actually blurted out a different word.  I stopped running to collect my thoughts.  Here I spent three hours trying to get my blood sugar down.  Now, at the start of what would most likely be the most challenging 13.1 miles I have ever run, my blood sugar was low…very low.  I ate a gel, and walked a half mile to the first aid station (footnote - this walking and the rest of the walking I will discuss, was  NOT because I couldn’t run.  My legs actually felt great as they normally do coming off the bike).  I tested again and was 100, so I downed some cola and gatorade and started running.  I knew the problem with this strategy  - the cola and gatorade are simple sugars and would cause my lood sugar to spike, then drop just as fast.  But my new strategy was simply to get myself from one aid station to the next.  At mile 2, I was back down under 100.  More cola and gatorade and I kept running.  This went on for a few miles, at times I walked if my blood sugar was in the 80’s.  A bigger problem was ahead of me.  I figured I only had enough strips in my blood glucose meter to get me to about mile 9.  Normally for a 13 mile run I would test every 20-30 minutes…six times at most.  But since I was having these low’s, I was testing every mile and would soon run out of test strips. I made some “race-day” friends along the way, most people seeing my insulin pump and asking if I was OK.  I was runing and walking next to a doctor from Colorado for a better part of the last 6-7 miles.  He know my situation and I felt some comfort that if something went awry, I had a Dr. with me (thanks David).  Sure enough, mile 9 brought me to my last test strip - 90.  I drank more gatorade and decided to walk to mile 1o.  Now, I was thinking about my wife at home and my colleague/friend Clare from Good Neighbor Pharmacy who was at the race.  Since I was slower than I expected due to the walking, I knew they would be worried.  I asked a spectator on the side of the road if I could borrow their cell phone to call my wife, which I did to explain the situation - I said I was fine, but slow and would finish soon.  At mile 10, frustrated that I had to walk and wanting the get this race over with I decided to run again.  I ran to mile 11 downed more gatorade and walked for about a half mile.  I said “see ya” to my new friend David and decided to run to the finish.

There is something powerful about the last mile of a race, especially one as challenging as this was.  No matter how tired you are, how much your legs burn or how horrible your stomach feels…during that last mile when you know you’ve made it and you can hear the race announcer bringing people in…you feel like you are floating on air. 

Despite all the problems with my blood sugar and the RIDICULOUS heat, I actually felt pretty good.  I crossed yet another finish line and although I was not at all happy with my time of 6:35…what I will take from this race is that once again I dealt with challenges and I overcame.  I will take that with me to Coeur d’ Alene Idaho in two weeks for a FULL Ironman.

I will write more about my Hawaii trip tomorrow.

IRONANDY

Racing blind…literally!

This past weekend was Ironman California 70.3 (70.3 referring to the miles of a half Ironman).  It was the third year in a row that I raced this event.  It’s a nice course -usually a very cold swim, a challenging hilly bike, and a flat run.  My times for the past two years have been 5:35 and 5:34 respectively.  This being my first race of the year, and first race since doing Ironman Coeur d’ Alene last June…all I was hoping for was an improvement in time over last year and to feel good after finishing.  However, I was NOT planning on having to swim the 1.2 miles with my head completely out of the water and my eyes closed for most of it!  That’s right…eyes closed. 

At the start of the swim, you have to swim about 100 meters out to the start buoy.  This is when I noticed that my goggles were leaking on the left side.  When I got out to the start buoy I tried to tighten them and noticed they were broken, this is when a slight panic set in.  A few seconds later the gun went off and I was amidst the melee of arms and legs that comes with a triathlon swim start.  I put my head in the water hoping for the best only to have salt water fill the goggles on both sides.  My eyes were burning so much that I decided to do the swim with my head out of the water…not exactly an ideal body position.  When your head is up, your body is down, creating a tremendous amount of drag.  Even with my head up and out of the water I was still getting a lot of salt in them, so I decided to swim with my eyes closed, only opening my right eye every once and awhile to see where I was going (as a side note, I wore glasses as a child and my right eye is still slightly weaker than my left)  A few hundred meters in I swam up to one of the swim volunteers in a canoe asking if they had a pair of goggles…no luck.  At the half way point I noticed I was WAY off course, so I stopped to get my sighting back.  Half way there…I knew I could make it!  With my head out of the water I was rotating my neck excessively, causing my wetsuit to dig into my neck.  I knew that would come back to haunt me.

I managed to finish the swim, although about 4-5 minutes slower than I was hoping for.  Also, my eyes were burning so much that I took some extra time in T1 (transition between swim and bike)  THEN, I noticed that my heart rate monitor was not reading my heart rate.  I got myself “transitioned” and took off on the bike.  Since heart rate is so important to my pacing, I reset the watch hoping to pick up my heart rate again, no luck.  Yikes!  There is a big hill right away so I stopped fooling around with my watch and focused on riding.  Once up the hill I tried to remedy the heart rate monitor, it reset itself back to zero and was still not reading my rate.  Great, no heart rate and no accurate split time…once again - BLIND!

So I decided to ignore the watch, ignore the burning in my eyes , ignore the fact that the back on my neck was raw and now about to spend 5 hours in the sun, and just race…trying to enjoy the beautiful day.  I also had some blood sugar issues, flirting with lows on the bike and the run but I managed to get through the race.  My time was a disappointing 5:43, but considering all the above, I was happy to finish.  On the bright side of things, I felt better than I ever have after a race and my eyes stopped burning.

All in a days work!

IRONANDY

“Claremont High” kids are at it again…

A few months ago I wrote about the kids at Claremont High School in California who raced in a triathlon representing Team Iron Andy.  Not only did they impress the crowd and the race director with their stellar performance on the course but they also drew attention with their really cool Team Iron Andy triathlon jersey’s.  Well, they are at it again…this weekend they are competing in a triathlon in Hemet, CA.  It’s the Tinsel Reverse Triathlon - 5k run, 12 mile bike then a 150 yard indoor swim.  Please join me in wishing them luck and also thanking Corner Drug Pharmacy for their help and support this weekend. 

IRONANDY

Kona!

Here it is, a little late…but I promised a second BLOG this week.  I wanted to share my experience at the Ironman World Championship in Kona a few weeks ago. 

I arrived on the Island on a Wednesday night.  I attended a pretty cool party put on by Triathlete Magazine (who by the way will be doing a story about me in the coming months…stay tuned).  Thursday had me in the ALCiS booth at the athlete village, then I was on stage speaking to the crowd about Living Without Limits.  It didn’t seem like I had much of a captive audience but apparently I “reached” one woman who has a pretty cool story of her own.  She was recently diagnosed with MS, after qualifying for Kona.  She heard me speak, sent me a great e-mail and I will be chatting with her soon..no doubt sharing her story about how she will continue to Live Without Limits.  Friday had me in the ALCiS booth again and as race day drew close, even though I wasn’t racing I could feel the nerves, anxiety and excitement that was in the air. 

Having raced in three of these myself and witnessed a half dozen more, for the most part it was just like every other one…at least from a spectators perspective.  The coolest part and what was VERY different from the races I have experienced was the swim start.  First, you had every top pro in the world competing.  In other Ironman races you will have a hand-full of pro’s, some names recognizable but most not.  But this race had them all..the best in the world.  Secondly, there was the Island Breeze  band that began the race with very cool luau music.  Then the coolest part of the start was when three Navy SEALS parachuted into the water, then after taking off their “gear” jumped back into the water to compete in the race. 

The race it self was very cool…and very hot.  I remember at one point thinking to myself, “I’m glad i am not out there today.”  Also, it was great to cheer on my new friends from ALCiS Racing.  Congratulations to all from the team who competed, especially Heather Jackson and Lauren Swigart - who came in 1st and 2nd place respectively in the Female 18-24 age group.

I will tell you one thing that never gets old (pun intended) no matter how many of these Ironman races I witness - and that is the AMAZING people who are in their 50’s, 60’s even 70’s who are able to accomplish this unthinkable goal.  If you have ever made an excuse for why you can’t exercise or get in shape, get yourself to an Ironman event and just watch the senior citizens stroll on by…it’s pretty amazing.

In closing, it was great to see this race firsthand.  When I do get there someday (notice I said WHEN) it will be a little less intimidating, that is until I get into the water with the other 1800 people and realize that I have to swim 2.4 miles (one loop) without a wetsuit…YIKES!

Happy Halloween, easy on the candy!

IRONANDY

Team IRONANDY represented in Massachusetts

I would like to congratulate Mike Burns for tearing it up at the Greenfield Triathlon in Massachusetts a few weeks ago.  Mike “proudly” represented Team IRONANDY by placing 8th overall and 2nd in his age group (M 35-39).  Thanks Mike for representing our team…you can wear the team colors anytime!

I am off to California tomorrow for a number of exciting speaking engagements…check back next week for a full report.

IRONANDY

Winds of CHANGE in Benton Harbor

A funny thing happened on the way to the swim start at the Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 this past Saturday.  I was scheduled to do the 1.2 mile swim leg of the half Ironman, but due to strong winds causing large swells and a riptide…the swim was cancelled.  This caused the race directors to CHANGE the triathlon into a duathlon.  The sensible remedy for Team Living Without Limits would have been for me to do the 2 mile run that replaced the swim…leaving the bike and run legs unchanged.  However, since I left my running shoes back at the hotel, Scott Robinson, our original runner (the 13.1 miler) had to do the shorter 2 mile run.  Andy Clarey still did the bike, and he did it in just under 3 hours, a pretty impressive performance for a guy who has never rode more than 20 miles before!  So it was up to me to tackle the 13.1 mile run.  Since I was not planning this run, and hadn’t exactly been training for it (the weeks prior had been post Ironman recovery weeks) I began running at a leisurely pace.  I was not interested in breaking any records and since it was a very hot day I thought I would take it easy…Yeah Right!  As soon as I got going, at about mile 3 or 4, my competitive juices began to flow.  By mile 6 I was going at it pretty hard.  By mile 10 I was in an all out sprint…my legs felt better than they have in awhile, I felt like I was running down hill.  I must have passed 500 people during those last miles and by mile 11 I realized that I was in range to come in under 1:50.  Not that that is any great feat, but you always look for small milestones to give you incentive.  So, at mile 11 I was at 1:35, and with 2.1 miles left I really has to sprint to break 1:50…and sprint I did.  I came in at 1:49:52.  And as predicted in my BLOG last week - I came nowhere near the medical tent.  Thanks to Scott and Andy for racing on the TEAM!

IRON ANDY

Where have I been?

Sorry about that.  A family trip to the beach then a work trip to Las Vegas, both without my computer.  But here I am!

Congratulations to Jonathan Rigby from Danville, CA.  This past weekend Jonathan became the 6th Team Iron Andy member to complete an Ironman this year.  In torrential downpours that lasted all morning, day and into the evening, Jonathan finished Ironman USA (Lake Placid) in an impressive 13 hours and 41 minutes.  Having raced Lake Placid myself -with it’s “white knuckle” descents and insane climbs on the bike, I can imagine how nerve-racking it must have been with heavy rains and mud all over the street.  Jonathan also had to abandon his blood sugar meter because they usually don’t work when they are soaking wet…forcing him to race “blind” all day (blind meaning he had no idea what his blood sugar was).  From what I hear, the medical staff was very busy that day and there were a large number of DNF’s (did not finish).

Congratulations Jonathan…you made Team Iron Andy very proud.

IRON Andy