Ironman Wisconsin 2018 - Race Story

Mad Town

Madison is only 4 hours away from home and it took until my fifth full distance race to go and check it out. I am glad that I did. You would be hard pressed to find spectator support that surpasses the level of Mad-Town. The Badgers won the day before the race, so that made the people even more amped up. The race had been in question for the month leading up to it because of the insane amount of rain the area was getting. The lake we would be swimming in was over 100 year flood stage and sandbags were everywhere. I am thankful that we were able to do the whole race in the end!

 If anyone knows me, they know I am not the biggest fan of the cold (or anything below 70 degrees to be honest) but for some reason running a marathon in the 60s seems to maybe have been a good thing! I guess I am from MinneSNOWta anyways. 

My Love

You got some work to do Olive Garden

Staying in Columbus with my family made it feel like home and all the pre-race madness went smoothly. We had dinner at Benvenutos which is an Italian kitchen, and it was incredible. Something about that bread I tell ya. The only thing that was disappointing was the fact that my Garmin 520 Head unit crapped out on saturday so I would be riding with no heads up display and going on feel. Thanks a lot Garmin.

The morning of, was simple and stress free as we made our way to Monona Terrace, where all the race happenings were, and I went to my bike and threw a bottle with Herbalife Prepare in it, on the bike to last until the first aid station. I use the aid stations, for Clif bloks, Gatorade and water on the bike. The fam and I popped a squat for about 30 minutes inside and then I found my pal Garrett and we headed down the the swim start together. Unfortunately got caught up in the 1:20 area in the corral and knew this swim would not be fun, as I would have rather been at the hour mark, but I guess that is what I get for lolly gagging around. 

Although I had to work around hundreds of swimmers, It was a rather uneventful swim. I never felt like it was too choppy but the sun did blind me a couple times. I bet it was a pretty awesome sunrise for the spectators! I kept my line the whole swim and came out a little behind where I wanted to be. But it is a long day and I was ok with it.

#wattieink

Riding with arm warmers on, because I was not about to get cold again, I headed out of town and onto the course that everyone said had terrible roads. Ok, Well these were not terrible in the simplest sense of the word, there were a couple stretches that were a little bumpy but nothing that would make you white knuckle or have to scooch around on the seat. I can easily say that most of these were better roads than at home! The hills were pretty manageable. It was the wind that seemed like it was in your face the whole day. Back to those three hills that we climbed, the crowd was insane, like this is Wisconsin tailgating at its finest. Then come through Verona and have that humongous crowds cheering as you go by was another great feeling. I had imagined that the hills were a lot bigger. The difference was that we were never really on a flat for more than a few miles at a time. It was always up and down this way and that, turning all the time. No rhythm was possible. The hardest part of the ride for me was the last 12 miles back to T2. Here I thought I was at almost mile 108 or so just to see the 100 marker and already want to be off the bike. Ultimately making it back thankful to be off the bike and ready to run. I went through my Herbalife bottle by the 2nd aid station and consumed 2 bottles of gatorade and 2 of water while mowing down 4 packages of clif bloks. Probably still not enough, but I am getting there.

For the first time ever I felt as if I could maintain an ok run and finish the race strong. Taking off and into town, the crowd support was once again apparent as there were people everywhere, on state street, around the capitol, along the lake and everywhere in between. I got to the state street turn around and the fam was there along with teammates cheering us on. Cory caught me here and motored on ahead and had a stellar run. I am glad that we got to share a bit of time on course, just a little! Taylor was also losing her mind for us at this point and that was awesome, Joe gave me some splits and then it was off to the next 20.

 After seeing them at about 6 miles, we ran past the school, in Camp Randall (soooo silent), along the lake, back through town and onto the second lap. I started the second lap with the mindset of counting down each mile since we were halfway done now. I walked at the end of every aid station to make sure I get everything i need in me, and it was surprisingly easier than ever before to pick it back up again after I stopped walking. The pace was pretty consistent and it never felt too out of control. I chomped on more bloks throughout the run and definitely could notice a difference, since before I had usually just gone for liquid calories during the last leg. My mom did remind me to keep up on the nutrition the first time through state street and I am glad I did, it was not a miserable finish like usual. Back into downtown and around the capitol building I gave it everything I had for the last 5k. Coming down the carpet with the capitol in the background was a great way to end a solid day. I am so thankful to have been able to run down the finish chute and not feel like complete death. 

 5 Ironman Down, a zillion more to Go!

Sometimes you don't finish where you would like on the results list but in the end, I got to enjoy the day with awesome teammates, great friends,an amazing family and wicked crowds all day! 

Ironman number 5 is complete and I have learned something from every one. Some day I will be able to put all the pieces together and have a day I am truly proud of. 

Lover every one of you

Until then... Thank you to team Wattie Ink for allowing me to be part of something very special. I am so thankful to have met so many rad people through this team and hope to continue to grow with it! That was my last race of 2018 and I am glad it ended that way. Here's to team wattie ink rocking 2019!

Team!

Thank you Mom, Dad, Rene, Jim for all the help and love and support every single day. Mads I know my good luck charm was not there but I never forgot about you!

Taylor, Cory, Rosanne, Joe thanks for being awesome teammates and friends! 

I promise to keep ROCKIN THE W as long as I can!