Corey Nygaard: Ironman Boulder 2017

All I can say is: WHAT. A. SPORT.

Driving from Minnesota to Boulder, Co with my sister this weekend to race 140.6 miles, was a trip I will never forget. It would be the chance to see if the months of preparation and training would pay off. 1,000 miles of driving later we arrive at our home stay for the weekend, which was fantastic. Thank you Brad and Kayde for allowing us to stay in your home for the weekend, so grateful for your hospitality. We stayed about 20 miles from the race venue, which is a solid distance to cover, especially when it takes an hour to travel that far here! Being here 10 months ago, I sort of remembered how to get around... Sort of.

PRE RACE:

WTF are u guys doing here

every squirrel has their tree.

The days leading up to the biggest race of my life were perfect. 90 degrees and sunny, just how I like it. Friday I picked up my packet and the oh so coveted race bag (see above). Solid bag this year. We sat and listened to the athlete briefing, watched the pro panel, and walked around the Pearl Street Mall. Called it a day after that and ate Qdoba, (monster burrito), and finally made it to the house. It was so nice to be able to relax and have what feels like family now, making you as comfortable as possible. Saturday I got a short ride and run in, which is more difficult to do around Denver than I thought, and headed to the Boulder Res to say goodbye to my steed and drop the gear bag. We hung out a bit by the water and my god it was windy. Really hoped it calmed down. Next stop was to the high school, dropped the run bag and perused Pearl Street again. It was HOT, perfect. Chilled by the ripping boulder creek and enjoyed the sun and the farmers market. Decided to head back and I ate at Noodles. Made a stop at Lifetime and my sister and I got a quick swim in, we were amazed by the size of the place! Got back to the house and relaxed to get ready for the morning!

RACE DAY:
Just like that, it is 3 am and you are ready to go. If only it was that easy. I think I ate a picky bar and a banana? Maddie and I drove to the car to the high school, we parked on the same street every time, how lucky. Got on the buses and were shuttled to the res. Got to my bike and put my concoction of Herbalife Prolong/Drive and Powerade in a cage and put some clif bloks in the box. (that rhymed) And now the hurrying was done now it was the waiting part. Standing and watching everyone, knowing exactly what they are thinking, probs freaking out about something. Along comes Jerry Bartolome, first time meeting him and his contagious attitude. Oh about an Hour later, I was finally able to head to the swim start. Saying siyanara to mads and getting the good luck from her is all I needed to get into that water.

Calm before the storm

SWIM:

mads made me smile every time i saw her

Cannon goes off and we start rolling into the water, I can't wait for a mass start swim. The water was perfect for a wetsuit and I never felt uncomfortable. Having the times split up a few seconds was smart I think. They sent the sub 60 min swimmers first then my group, the 1-1:15 peeps. I new I would be at the front of this group, but not yet to under an hour. I'll get there! Walked into the water, I didn't roll, and just like that the day had begun. I had only swam in ope water once this year before an that was in Chattanooga. Did not seem to make to huge a difference. Rounding the first turn buoy seemed like forever, haha buddy, you've got a long ways to go. Maybe that was just the warm up, because I felt pretty good he rest of the way. No weeds out at the far end of the swim this year, so I did not have a wrestling match in the water, at least not with plants. Could not really find any feet this time around and swam solo the whole swim. Came around the second turn and picked it up a tad; I headed straight for the exit and managed a respectable 1:03:09
Good enough to be first out of the water for the 18-24ers this year.

Bike:

food goes in mouth right

Time for the real work to begin. T1 I took my time and made sure I had everything, slapped my shoes on my feet and awkwardly ran to the mount line with two mini clif bars in my teeth. The plan was to get progressively quicker over the three lap course. Two solid climbs that if you had not done them before would get you seriously frustrated. Damn you false flats. On the first lap, my legs felt like tight rubber bands or something like that. This was usually how my rides went, I always felt bad for the first hour or so, then loosened up. Such was the case today, the first lap was hard and then the following got easier. It was cool to come past all the spectators at the res three different times, getting a good boost each time I heard mads cheering.
On to lap two where things were quite a bit different that lap one. I'd say it was about 50 miles where the proverbial wheel fell off. I got a flat, rear. The biggest day for me and this gets thrown in. I had a replacement tube and co2 and I believe, this was the fastest I have every changed a flat in my life. I lost about 5 minutes total here which over the iron distance is less of an issue in my AG. OK, whew now that's out of the way. But after something like that I always get super paranoid. And keep checking my rear tire to makes sure its still inflated. fast forward 13 or so miles and things slow down again. The tiniest piece of metal has punctured my dreams yet again. This time I have no replacement, only the feeling of my hard work, out the window. I literally wanted to cry. The only good part of this was I was at an aid station where one volunteer radioed the sag vehicle to come save my life. He was only like 4 minutes away. I watched as the athletes flew by me, standing still. I have never felt this bad in a race. I hope nobody ever has to go through this. When he showed up, I had removed that damn piece of metal and was bleeding from it everywhere. He was like an angel that has been sent from heaven it seemed. He tried to make light of the situation as he changed the tube, joking about my wheels, which I probably tried to joke back. Now I was not even paranoid anymore, I was on a mission, to make back the time I had lost. Feeling like my race had already slipped away, I had nothing to lose. I came through lap two and heard maddie yelling again and that's what I needed to let it freakin rip on lap three.

getting down to bidness after two flats

I did my best to make time up on this lap and focused on staying aero. I saw lots of peeps out there and hearing their support was so cool. Rachael, Ernie, Steve, Aaron thanks! I caught a few of the people who passed me while I was at my funeral. And made it certain I was on a mission. The last little part of the bike was through a path and down through the city, the path was impossible to hold speed on so I just ate some stuff. Then I got to the bike dismount, thank god. That was over; every triathletes nightmare. My time was 5:27:34 which translates to 20.5 mph. Because of those two flats, I lost 16 minutes. My garmin shows 5:11:00 which is an average of 21.9 mph. I lost 16 flipping minutes.

sickk kit wattie

RUN:
Got off the bike with one thing on my mind, time to make that time up. The volunteer in the change tent helped get all my stuff out and ready. I used the bathroom, smart to do this before I got out running. I made it a plan to walk at least a little bit in every aid station, and I stuck to it. The first few miles went by fast, and I was keeping my pace consistent around 8:30. Through the whole marathon my pace did not deviate from the 8:30 - 9:30 mark. With a few outliers near the end. I never truly felt bad on the run until later on. The cheering was awesome, every time I saw someone I knew it gave me extra motivation. I saw maddie along the creek path right away. Then it was two out and back sections and back uphill towards the halfway turn. I knew this would hurt when I came back around the second time. Every time I passed a mile marker, made sure my legs were still attached. The first half went by smoothly and sucking down gatorade, redbull, water, sometimes cola at aid stations. I carried a salt tube with me and took a lick every mile before I reached the aid station. I kept it mostly liquid on the run other than a few clif bloks. Oh and some grapes around mile 23 or something, barely even remember that. Back for lap two and still managing a respectable pace I got to see team mate Matt Britton, hand slap and keep it up. He crushed it. By the time I got to the 19 mile mark it was all about beating the next mile, the next mile, one at a time. That would get me to the finish. Truly, seeing my sister cheering every time I ran by just as loud as she had the first time I saw her in the morning out on the bike, made all the difference. She said see you at the finish, and those words stuck with my the last 3 miles. Hearing all the go Wattie cheers was awesome too.

wattie love is real

Obviously the final miles are the hardest, but my hamstrings wanted nothing to do with running anymore and felt like now was the best time to make their thoughts known. I had to stop to stretch them out a few times, each time it was harder to get the struggle bus moving again.
This race though, it does something to you. I was not about to give up, fighting the legs every step. To finally run back down hill towards the finish was amazing. Thanks Kenny Withrow for pushing me down that last mile.

One last cramp in the hammys to make sure I did not forget, and I got across the finish. WOW. Gave everything I could. I squeaked in under 4 hours at 3:59:36

10:39:29

To say I went through all the emotions in one race is fair. It was all worth it in the end. I did not know my placing until about 3 hours later when my sister told me, she knows I don't like to know right away. How was that possible? With everything that happened and to win my AG? Never in a million years. I was so happy, pretty much speechless. All the hard work paid off and I could not believe it.

top 3

We are going to the place everyone dreams of. I know I do. KONA. The World Championship, I will be there along side the best in the sport. How unbelievable. I am so so so grateful.

To say the support everyone has given me is amazing, is not enough.

Maddie was there the whole race, cheering, motivating and getting me to the finish. I 100% hope to make you proud and we get to go to freakin Hawaii!!

she took all the pictures and she is the best sister in the world. love you mads!

Mom and Dad and family always give their support in loads, thank you so much for everything. I know you couldn't be at this race but mads made sure to make up for it. You are always proud of me and that makes me keep going.

Team Wattie Ink Has transformed me into a mismatched un-represented athlete to one that is lucky to wear the coolest stuff around and be supported by some amazing sponsors. Racing on course with a team is so cool.

Jerry, Matt and Becky. It was so cool to meet everyone and finally find out what this Jerry guy is all about, we are lucky to have his enthusiasm and love on the team. Matt, congratulations on making it back, can't wait to suffer out there with you.

Everyone who cheered out on course or from home, I heard every one of you. Thank you!

4 Months to become a stronger and faster athlete. ALOHA KONA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!