Ironman New Orleans 70.3 Race Report

Ooops... So... uhh, yeah... it's been almost a month since race day... to say I've been slacking is an understatement... It's been a combination of the "long exhale/post race comedown", school wrapping up, and the gutting of Ttown by an F4 tornado a few weeks ago... It's not that I haven't thought about writing, cause I have, it's just that I haven't been able to bring myself to put time into it... whatever...

So anyway, here I am, almost one month since my first Half Ironman... Hard to believe that a month ago, I was all a twitter, obsessively going over in my head what I thought was going to be the biggest sufferfest of my life to date, checking and rechecking my bike, packing and repacking my transition bag... It was like I had never done a race before... haha...

I'll do my best to remember what I can from the race... looking back now, and as much as I hate to admit that Kendrick was right, but looking back now, I think to myself, "Uhh, that wasn't that big of a deal..."... But it was, and still is, and for me, always will be...

So here we go, the Ironman New Orleans 70.3 race report:

Load up on Friday and hit the road for NOLA, planning to stay with my friend from college Michelle Purchner... Michelle was my fraternity's sweetheart when I pledged back in '98 and ended up being my "Big sis" during pledgeship... She's still as gorgeous as she was in college, with this confidence about herself that makes you feel good about yourself... Michelle was always very good to me in college-- very "Mother Hen" to me during pledgeship and my college years... we fell out of touch for several years after college, but have managed to reconnect over the last few months... It's been good for me to reconnect with people from my past so they can see who and what I've become-- and that I'm proud of who and what I've become...

Anyway, load up Friday and hit the road for NOLA (Gretna actually)... Spend most of the drive down obsessing about the race (as usual)... "What if I have a bad swim?", "What if I go out too hard on the bike and end up tanking the run?", "What if I don't finish in my goal time of 6 hours?", "What if Austin and Lauren have to leave before I get to the finish line?" (My best friend, Austin, and his wife Lauren made the trip to NOLA to watch me finish, but were having to leave at a certain time for Lauren to catch a flight out of Baton Rouge... I'll mention this later)... So these questions are flying around my head and I do my best to not worry about it...

Get to Michelle's around 6:pm or so and we spend the next several hours just catching up... I hadn't seen Michelle in about 4 or 5 years so it was nice to just hang out, hear how her life has gone over the past few years, and talk triathlon... She's been racing for several years now and looks at triathlon much the way I do-- it's empowering, it's an outlet, it's a method of maintaining health... all that good stuff... We end up not doing much else for the night and turn in pretty early...

Up on Saturday to hit the expo/check in, get a quick spin/run in, and check in the bikes... We took the ferry over to NOLA, which I had never done before, so that was cool... End up meeting up with Kendrick, Sara, Chad, and Sam Mazer at the expo, grab lunch with Kendrick's parents, and then head back to Michelle's... Quick change of clothes and we're headed to transition to ride/run and check in the bikes...

My parents and sister (Susan) had gotten to NOLA late that afternoon... Kendrick had managed to find a pasta place close to their hotel, so we decide to hit dinner with them... Scoop up the parents and sister and we're all off to dinner, which proved to be a less than awesome experience... the service was horrible, but the food was decent, making it a semi-tolerable meal...

Back to Michelle's to pack the transition bags and start praying...

At this point, I have to mention something that happened early on Saturday morning that practically brought me to my knees it humbled me so much...

So, I had been talking this race up for months-- saying it was a big deal to me and "egging" my friends from Ttown to come to NOLA that weekend to see me finish, knowing full well that they wouldn't and that it really wasn't a reasonable request (laughs)... So I just told people that they could track my splits on ironman.com and that I'd holler at them after the race... (this of course went out mostly to Shayne since he's my training partner on the bike)...

I wake up Saturday morning to see Shayne's fb status saying something about a tree falling on he and Chad's house (it's Chad's house), but that everyone was safe and whatnot... I shoot him a text and ask what happened, if everyone was ok, if there was anything I could do... He responds, "Yeah, we're all ok, but it sure did put a damper on our weekend plans"... I respond, "Yeah, I'm sure Mallory (Chad's gf) is pissed because this is supposed to be her birthday weekend"..... Shayne: "Nah man, Chad and I were gonna wake up early on Sunday and drive down to NOLA to surprise you and watch you finish... Sorry man, I don't think we'll be able to make it now"

Silence... jaw on ground...

These guys were gonna drive 5+ hrs, on a Sunday, when they didn't have to, just to watch me cross a finish line? Wow... I was humbled.... All I can say is that I have awesome friends...

(Back to our regularly scheduled long winded race story)

Sunday morning... Alarm goes off early, and as usual, I didn't sleep well at all...

Both Michelle and I are moving slow... it's too early for this shit... we're communicating in a mixture of nods, hand gestures, and hushed tones... I couldn't really hide much anymore- I was really on edge about the day... I was worried about everything- how choppy the swim would be, how I'd do on the bike, if it'd be really really hot on the run, if I'd make it in time to see everyone I wanted to at the finish line... all that stuff...

We're in the car on the way to the race... still dark out... then Michelle gets a call.... All I hear is, "Are you serious? Oh no... well what does this mean? Ok we're on our way now, we'll talk when we get there"

"Everything ok?", I ask.
"Umm, well... The swim is cancelled... something about high winds and it being too dangerous to put people in the water."
"Oh... great..."

So yeah, the swim of my first 70.3 gets cancelled the day of... Bummed is an understatement... Relieved is also an understatement... I wasn't so much worried about the swim- I knew I'd finish... I was more worried about the first hour or so on the bike and going out too hard...

Get to the race site and it's confirmed- no swim... The race effectively became a long course biathlon, consisting of only the bike and run portions.... Age groups were sent off as a whole, 2 racers at a time, separated by like, 15-20 seconds... Great, this kinda throws a kink into my race plan... Speaking of, my race plan was simple: Finish! Finish, and if possible, go under 6 hrs... I had fleshed out goal times for each of the portions of the race, including paces/splits... I had also, as part of my plan, resolved to walk through every aid station on the run, basically to ensure that I'd finish without blowing up... I walked on purpose and was completely fine with it... In fact, it probably saved my race....

So here we go...

Hop on the bike and it's already windy... End up passing my family (which was a surprise since I didn't think they'd make it to the race site) and felt a tinge of a smile come on to my face... I'm riding well, probably a bit too hard going out, but everyone was going that hard... I knew I'd have to lay up a bit to be able to make it the full 56 miles...

The bike course was fairly uneventful... going out, you pass through some neighborhoods and what I presume to be some sort of warehouse/industrial areas... Nothing great to look at... THEN you hit the real bike course... totally flat, totally open, totally in the middle of nowhere... the headwind going out was brutal, but I managed to average about 19mph going out... Just tried to keep the HR down as much as possible and stay hydrated/fed.... I had borrowed some race wheels from a friend in Bham, and felt like they helped (when I wasn't getting blown all over the place)...

Due to the TT start on the bike course, it was really really congested... like, dangerously congested... there were times were I'd be riding in a line of people 4 deep across because everyone was trying to pass everyone else... it got a little hairy a few times, having to slam on the brakes so I didn't crash...

The winds change exactly at mile 28 and from there on, it was an absolute HAMMERFEST! Peaked at mile 43 with a 1 mile speed of 27.8mph! Needless to say, I was moving... but still feeling fairly fresh... cadence was good, was breathing well, staying fueled... I figured, "Give this return trip hell and if you have to, walk the whole damn run, this is feeling too good!"... So I lay down the hammer the entire way back and felt great doing it! Managed a great bike split at 2:41, avg. 20.8ish mph...

Roll into transition and realize that yeah, I just rode 56 miles... and the legs were feeling it... got off the bike and trotted a little slower than usual to my rack... I was fine with it though, the goal was to finish!

Out of transition in 3:20 or so and on to the run course... I kept telling myself, "Just two more hours, take your time, don't blow up, just two more hours".... I was feeling pretty good on my first mile, minus the part where I had to hop off the course to answer the call of nature ;)

What I had heard about the run course was true... It was flat... and hot... but not as hot as it could have been! Again, with the TT start, the run course was pretty crowded... I never got hung up, but had a bunch of people blow by me like I was in their way... Kendrick passed me at mile 2.8 and gave me a fist bump and a "Roll Tide"...

I took my time on the run course... I just ran, no pace plan, no time to beat, nothing... I just ran to run... As planned, I walked through every aid station, easily losing 10+ minutes on my run time (plus an additional 2+ when I had to make the pit stop before mile 1)... I never really felt "bad" on the run... I fought off some hints of cramps (both early around mile 1-2, and late around mile 11-12), but was overall very happy with how I ran... Without killing myself, I still managed a 2:17 run time, avg 10:24 a mile...

Then we took a right onto Decatur...

I knew the finish line was close... having spent so much time in NOLA growing up, I knew exactly where I was in relation to Jackson Sqaure/Finish Line... So, naturally, it's time to pick up the pace! I'm clipping along pretty well, fighting off some toe pinching discomfort on my left foot, but knowing that I'm about to finish this damn thing! I pass my family, and Austin and Lauren, and they go crazy, holding up signs and yelling for me... I see the finish line and book it... Like an idiot, I start flapping my arms in the air, trying to get the crowd pumped for me ;)

Run down the chute, cross the finish line, go beastmode (finish line pics to come later)

I'm acting like an idiot, hooping and hollering and jumping up and down... I look at my Garmin... 5:02.... 5:02!! Even with the swim, I think I would have made it under 6 hrs... Both goals accomplished!

As I cross the finish line and am celebrating, I hear the announcer over the loudspeaker, "Hey Dave, lemme guess, you're a first timer?!"

I yell out, "Yeah, how can you tell?!"

And that my friends, ended my first Half Ironman race... well, at least my first 69.1 race ;)

And, at that point, I broke down...

I was a mess... I sorta teared up, had the quivering bottom lip, the whole nine... Yes, I was emotional... and still get butterflies when I look at the finish line pics... I ended up finding my parents and pretty much collapsed into my Mom's arms and bawled like a baby... Mom cried, Dad cried, and Susan cried... it was a big deal for me, and our family, that's pretty hard to describe... But I'll try...

Having battled my weight and subsequent unhappiness that it brought for so many years, finishing this race was a milestone for me... It's sorta like I was making this statement that I really am no longer the person I used to be... Sure, I still battle the "inner demons" of being a bigger guy on a daily basis, but finishing this race was different... It brought with it even more confidence in myself and what I can do if I work hard enough... I wanted, more than anything, for my family (and Austin and Lauren-hell, they're family) to be there to share the experience with me-- and them being there was probably more special and more memorable to me than finishing the race itself...

For a long time- a really really long time- I felt as if I had nothing to be proud of to share with my family... Nothing I could really hang my hat on and say, "I did that"... Since coming back to school, I've worked really hard to give my family something to brag about... yeah, that's probably totally selfish, but since I've gotten closer to my family over the past several years, I want them to be able to have something to tell people when they ask how I'm doing... that make sense? Sure, school is one thing- and don't get me wrong, I'm proud of myself and how I've worked during my doctoral program, but school isn't the only thing I do... It doesn't define me (well I'd like to think it doesn't)... So by inviting my family to NOLA, I had hoped that they'd be able to see what I have become-- and be proud of it.

A few days after the race, I was talking to my Mom on the phone and she was still gushing about the race and how proud they were of me... What she said concerning my Dad is probably the most important outcome of this race...

"Dave... your Dad finally gets it... He finally sees how important triathlon is to you and that if you ask us to come to a race, that's it's really important to you. He never had parents to come to stuff, so sometimes he just didn't get it when you or Susan would ask us to come to stuff... But now, he understands... And he's already committed to making every effort to come to stuff that you want us at."

Sometimes racing isn't about the calories burned, crossing the finish line, or a medal...

And people wonder why I'm so dedicated to this "triathlon thing"...

Thanks for reading