2014 Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance Race Report by: Stuart Whitman 2.4 Mile Swim - 1:05:00 T-1 - 12:03 112 Mile Bike - 6:30:59 T-2 - 7:33 26.2 Mile Run - 5:26:17 Total Time - 13:21:52 What started on August 5, 2012, at my first Sprint Triathlon in Myrtle Beach, SC, culminated this past Saturday, October 25, 2014, as I completed my first 140.6 Iron distance race at Beach 2 Battleship in Wilmington, NC. As I reflect back to that early Sunday morning in August of 2012, I can remember thinking as I stood on the dock getting ready to jump in, what in the world have I gotten myself in to. I had only gotten involved in the triathlon scene due to foot surgery and could not run, so I took up biking and swimming. Scared to death, I made that leap of faith and jumped into the water and within about 50 yards I thought I was going to drown. I remember paddling over to one of the rescue canoes and holding on for a few seconds, then swimming a few more yards, then doing it again. I was last out of the water on that short 300-500 yard swim and said to myself, I will never do this again. Well, my addictive personality got the best of me and I did do it again, several more times to be exact, and the distances kept getting longer until I truly thought I had reached my limit at the 70.3 Ironman Raleigh event June 2, 2013. I was happy that I had finished that race under the conditions(heat) and surely thought that would be my last big event. Well once again the addictive personality took over and I decided I would try my hand at a full Iron distance race. 140.6 miles consisting of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, followed by a 26.2 mile run(better known as a marathon). I had heard great things about the Beach 2 Battleship event from some of my fellow triathlete friends, and it was in my hometown of Wilmington, NC, so I figured I would give it a shot. I needed a training a plan so I got with my good friend and fellow Ironman triathlete Brian Scully, and asked him what training plan he was using to train for his Ironman in Chattanooga. He showed it to me and it looked like something I could do. Brian was already a few weeks in as his race was 4 weeks prior to mine. I still had not signed up but figured I would go ahead and start the 20 week training plan and see how I would do, as I was concerned how my foot would hold up after 3 foot surgeries in the last two and a half years. For the first 14 weeks I didnt miss a single training session despite working 12 hour shifts at my job and my body felt great. Oh, and did I mention those shifts were 8PM-8AM? Not fun, but I figured it out and got it in. Brian and I linked up as often as we could to swim together and just having that extra push really made a huge difference for me. We even did a 70.3 training session on August 17th, that started at the Canal Street pool at 3 in the afternoon. We did the swim, transitioned to our bikes right there in the parking lot, then under the cover of darkness after our 56 mile ride transitioned to our running gear and ran the Blvd for 13.1 miles. We finished in about six and a half hours and I was exhausted. I did not fuel properly on the bike and my body wanted to shut down on the run, but Brian got me through it and it was the cheapest($5 to swim) event I have ever done. LOL! I was also able to get some of my runs in with the Grand Strand Running Club and Angela Robinette would ensure I kept a steady pace as she was training for the Myrtle Beach Mini. Unfortunately, due to the nature of my schedule most of my training was done alone and that was actually ok as it really gave me an opportunity to think. So, I was 14 weeks in and still at that point had not pulled the trigger and paid the entry fee just in case something happened and I got injured. I did not want to take that risk yet. During this first 14 weeks of training I also had a couple of events take place in my personal life that turned my world upside down. The first I will refrain from discussing on the advice of my attorney, however the second was a promotion at work that was going to require me to leave the Myrtle Beach area and move back to Greenville, NC, where I had gone to college in the early 90s. I was extremely excited about this and looked forward to the move and reconnecting with friends, however I was not excited about having to leave my children, but after 20+ years in the military and numerous moves and time away they understood. At this time in my life I knew the move was for the best so I accepted the job and packed up and moved to Greenville. Between packing, moving, unpacking, and starting a new job where the hours were much different than what I was use to, there wasnt much time for training, but I found a way to at least get my long swim, bike, and run in each week. It was tough because those weeks were suppose to be the peak of my training. Ironically enough while at work one day I met Scott Barker who is a cross county coach at one of the local high schools in the area. He turned me on to the local running group in town called GORUN(Greenville Organization of Runners) and a gentleman named Tim Garriss. This group welcomed me with open arms and I discovered that another member was also going to be doing B2B as well and his name was John Caracoglia. John and I exchanged several messages but due to my work schedule we were never able to meet to do any training sessions together. I was able to get in a good run, bike, run session with Tim and some other members of GORUN, but once again my schedule pretty much handcuffed me to training by myself which again was ok as I knew I would be alone on race day. So, after a weekend of a 90 mile ride and an 18 mile run I decided to go ahead and pull the trigger and register. My last couple of weeks of training were non eventful and I truly felt like I was prepared to be able to finish the entire 140.6 miles. I took the bike to the shop, got a tune up and some new tires, and ensured I had everything laid out days in advance. I drove down to Wilmington two days before the event and picked up my race packet. I stopped and picked up my parents along the way and took them with me to the expo as they had never experienced anything like that before, and I needed them around to help calm my nerves. I got all checked in, got my swag bag, and bought a couple of things at the expo then I headed back up to Greenville to watch ECU play their Thursday night game against UCONN. I figured this would be good therapy and take my mind off of what was about to happen on Saturday. I got home from the game around 11 and was in bed by 12 with the hopes of getting a good nights sleep since I didnt have to be back in Wilmington until early the next afternoon for bike and bag check. I woke up about 9 on Friday morning and double and triple checked all my gear. I loaded up and headed back down to the Port City. I went back to the expo where I saw most of the MBTC contingent and dropped off my T-2 bag, then headed to the beach to drop off my bike. So far everything was going as planned and I didnt feel rushed or stressed at all which was very concerning. I felt too comfortable for someone who was about to embark on a 140.6 mile journey. Then I remembered I had forgotten to put my race belt with my number in my T-2 bag so I had to go back to the convention center and take care of that. It turned out good as I was able to meet John from Greenville during this time as he was there dropping his bag off. We spoke for a few minutes then I headed out to go grad dinner. I had a good dinner and was in bed by my goal time of 8:30. It didnt take me long to get to sleep and when my alarm went off at 4AM I jumped right out of bed. The reality of what was about to happen finally sunk in and my nerves were going crazy. I tried to stay calm and ate my oatmeal and two bananas just as planned and finished off my last Pedialyte. I had had one bottle a day since Wednesday and truly felt well hydrated. I also took a couple of Tums to keep my stomach from going crazy. I left the hotel and arrived at the transition area around 4:45AM. They didnt open until 5 so I walked over to the dock where I would be exiting the swim and placed a cheap pair of athletic shoes that I had bought specifically for this purpose. I did not want to run the 200-300 yards from the swim exit to the transition area on pavement with my bare feet, that I assumed would have been in the water for two hours prior to this. I got back over to the transition area right at 5 and dropped off my T-1 bag in its appropriate location along with my bike and run special needs bags. I then went and pumped up my tires on the bike and ensured I had everything set up the way I wanted it. I had Gatorade in my Speedfill between my aero bars and a bottle of water in the cage on the frame. I also had 7 GUs taped to my crossbar so I could tear one off each hour. My goal time for this event was 14 hours. 2 hours on the swim, 7 hours on the bike, and 5 hours on the run. I felt like this was a realistic goal and correlated with my training times but ultimately I truly just wanted to finish. Once I knew everything was in place I put on my body glide and slid into my wetsuit and took two more Tums. I grabbed my swim cap, goggles, ear plugs, banana, granola bar, and water; then proceeded to the shuttle to the swim start. As soon as I sat down on the shuttle my nerves went crazy and stomach was in knots. The short five minute ride down to the end of the beach seemed like it took forever and all I could think about as I looked over at the water was I am going to have to swim all the way back up this. I know I was a white as a ghost and truly felt like I was going to throw up. The swim for me is my worst discipline and I just hoped I would make it out of the water by the cutoff time of 2 hours and 20 minutes. I got to the swim start at around 6 so I had an hour and a half to kill before we started. I sat down and ate my banana and granola bar and sipped on my water for about 45 minutes. I finally needed to go to the bathroom so I made my way over to the lines at the port-o-johns. After that ordeal was over I walked back to where I had been sitting and saw Danielle and Gage, the other members of the MBTC that were doing the full 140.6. Danielle was the life of the party and kept us all entertained for the next 30 plus minutes. At about 7:15 we made our way on the beach and as soon as the cold sand hit my toes it was like a calm came over my entire body. Danielle flagged down a bystander and had her take a picture of her, Gage, and I and she texted it to herself from the ladies cell phone. It was priceless. That was the last I would see of them until much later in the day as we got separated lining up to start the swim. The announcer had us all pause for a moment of silence and for the National Anthem then it was go time. At the minute countdown mark they started playing Lose Yourself by Eminem and everyone start jumping up and down dancing and getting hyped. I heard, “Look, if you had, one shot, or one opportunity, To seize everything you ever wanted, one moment, Would you capture it? Or just let it slip? His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy……….” The horn went off and there we went. All approximately 700 of us in the water at the same time. The water temperature was 72 and felt great. I relied on my training and just started swimming nice and easy. I remembered what Brian had told me after he got back from completing his Ironman in Chattanooga, just keep your head down and keep swimming no matter how many times you get kicked or swam on top of. Well, both of those happened but after the first 10 minutes or so everyone was pretty spread out and in their own little world. I knew that I naturally pull to the left so I did keep looking up to spot every so often to ensure I was at least going in the right direction. For the most part I stayed pretty straight and tried to get in the center of the channel where I was told the current was the strongest. I told myself I was not going to look at my watch until I felt like I had been swimming for at least 30 minutes and at that point I should be at least 1000 yards in if I was staying consistent to my training. Well I look at my watch at 35 minutes and I was at 1.2 miles, halfway there, and I almost started crying right there in the water I was so happy. I knew that as long as I didnt cramp, which I have done several times before on the swim, that I was going to make this swim and become an Ironman. For me, getting out of the water was my race. I knew that if I could just make it out of the water I could will my way through the bike and run with all the training I had put in. I made the left hand turn towards the marina and the swim finish, and didnt look at my watch again until I was coming up the ladder to get out of the water. It said 1 hour and 3 minutes and I let out the loudest hell yeah I possibly could. I exited the water and headed to the wetsuit strippers to get out of my wetsuit. The poor girl wasnt quite strong enough to just yank it off so it got stuck at my feet and I had to help her. Once I was out of my wetsuit I ran over and slid my shoes on and headed to the warm fresh water shower tent they had set up for us to run through and rinse the salt water off. It felt so good in there that I truly wanted to just stand there, but I knew I had to roll and the longer I waited the colder it was going to be once I got out. I ran the 200-300 yards to the transition area, picked up my changing bag and headed into the tent. I had decided since it was going to be chilly I was going to completely change out of my wet swim gear into fresh, dry clothes so that is what I did. I put on my tri suit, put 4 Honey Stinger Waffles in my side pockets, put on my arm warmers, made sure my feet were good and dry, then drank a bottle of Gatorade and ate a banana. While I was doing this all everyone in the tent could talk about was how fast the swim was. I just sat and listened and continued to eat, drink, and finish getting my gear on and read a nice card that had been paced in my bag. I spent 7-8 minutes in the tent and once I knew I had everything together I gave my bag to the volunteers and heading out to my bike. My helmet was already at the bike so all I had to do was put it on and head out on to the course. My total T-1 time was 12 minutes and I was completely fine with that. Once I got out on the course the first obstacle was the drawbridge at Wrightsville Beach. When I got there I saw an ambulance and Paramedics attending to a cyclist that had fallen on the slippery grate on the bridge. I remembered that they had recently made the spikes on the bridge bigger, so I made sure I just kept a steady pace and held on going across. Once I reached the other side it was all downhill from there. I got settled in my saddle and in a good aero position and just rode. It was very peaceful and felt just like my training rides in Myrtle Beach. Nice and flat. I got to the area where my parents had planned to wait but unfortunately I was running almost an hour ahead of schedule so they had not arrived yet. I knew my Mom would be worried so I hoped the website was working properly and had my swim time updated so she could see that I was ahead of my plan. I broke the ride up into hour segments and ensured that I ate one waffle and one GU each hour along with one bottle of water and a bottle of sports drink. The first hour was the Gatorade I had in my Speedfill then at each aid station I refilled with the Hammer Heed they had on the course. Everything was going as planned and I averaged 17.6 MPH for the first 54 miles which got me to the aid station where the bike special needs bags were. I got off the bike and the only thing I needed from my special needs bag was my replenishment of waffles. I had to pee so I waited in line at the port-o-johns and that took forever(will not do that again next time). My average pace went from 17.6 to 16.8 during this stop. Once I got back out on the course my goal was just to get back up to a 17 MPH average pace and maintain from there so that is what I did. I don’t remember how long it took me to get back to that point but I remember looking down and saw 17 MPH on my Garmin and just kind of smiled to myself. I kept a steady pace and just kept eating and drinking until the next thing I knew I was at 100 miles. The bike was all but over and I knew all I had left was one hill leading into the bridge at mile 111, and then had to navigate the grate in the middle of the bridge. I got to the hill, dropped down to my small ring and made it up with little to no effort. Once I got to the top everyone that was crossing had dismounted and was walking their bikes across but I felt pretty good and chose to stay the course and just keep things nice and steady going over. Once I crossed the bridge I could see the people lined up on each side of the road to cheer us in to the dismount area. I made it to the dismount area and handed my bike off to the volunteer who took it away and I proceeded to the area where my T-2 bag was, inside the convention center. I had completed the 112 mile bike in 6 hours and 30 minutes which was a half hour faster than I had allotted myself. So after the swim and the bike I was an hour and a half ahead of my goal time and I was feeling pretty good about things especially since I was going into my best discipline of the three, the run. I took my time in T-2 and made sure my feet were good and dry. I put baby powder on my feet along with a brand new pair of Swiftwick socks(love them) and made sure the Newtons were snug, and I was almost ready to roll. I read another card that I found in my T-2 bag, grabbed my hat and my race belt, and went to the bathroom again. I spent about seven and a half minutes in T-2 and my legs felt great as I headed out for the run. I knew that I needed to make sure I didn’t start out too fast as I knew the adrenaline would be kicking in so I did everything I could to hold myself back. My first 3 miles were a 9:27, 9:29, and a 9:05. I stopped every mile at each aid station and had a cup of water, a cup of Heed, a banana, and 2-3 Cliff Blocks. My goal was to try and stay at a 10-11 min per mile pace and after all of my training runs I felt that I would be able to do this with no problem at all. Well between mile 14 and 15 that all changed. I had just run past the start finish line and completed my first 13 miles in 2 hours and 20 minutes which I was happy with as I was right in that 10-11 min per mile window. I made it to the run special needs bag and grabbed my Gatorade and Snickers bar that I had frozen and wrapped in aluminum foil. Well, it was not frozen any longer and wasn’t really even cold but I drank most of it and ate about 3/4 of the candy bar. I went to start running again and that is when what had been a perfect day so far went to hell. Out of no where, with no warning, I got severe cramps in both of my hamstrings and could not even walk. I had to bend over to stretch them out and every time I would try and walk they would cramp back up again. I was in complete shock as I had never had any type of leg cramping during any of my bricks or long training runs. It took me 18 minutes to complete mile 14 and I honestly did not think I was going to make it. Miles 14-17 were the worst 3 miles of my life and I saw Gage and Danny a couple of times on the run both looking strong. At each aid station I was drinking chicken broth and water, and popping Endurolyte salt capsules like they were candy trying to get some salt back in my body as I assumed this was the cause of the cramping. I had resigned myself to walking and knew that if I could just keep a 15 minute per mile pace I could still beat my goal time of 14 hours since I had almost 90 minutes of extra time from the swim and bike. It was not how I wanted to do it but I really didn’t have a choice at this point. It was either quit or walk. I tried running a few times and could get about 100 yards in and the cramps would come back, so I would have to start walking again. I was power walking and the long strides I was taking was keeping my hamstrings stretched out so they werent cramping. I was putting in so much fluid that I was having to stop at every other aid station(every 2 miles) to pee. I felt like this was a good sign as I knew I wasn’t dehydrated, I just had a depletion of salt and potassium. Once I got to mile 25 I started a light jog and was able to complete that mile in 13 min. I had been doing the calculation in my head since mile 15 and I knew that I had a chance to finish in under thirteen and a half hours as long as I didn’t cramp back up again. I felt the signs of the cramps starting again as I started mile 26, so I started the powerwalk again and continued that until I made the final right hand turn and could hear the crowd at the finish line. I picked up a light jog and as I got closer, and the crowd got louder, my stride got a little longer and I was able to run it in across the finish line with a time of 13:21:52. I had done it. I had completed an Iron distance race and could now carry that title of Ironman for the rest of my life. When I stopped to have them put the medal around my neck and get the thermal blanket my legs cramped up again and I had to start walking to get them to stop. The cramps finally stopped and I was able to sit down, eat some food, drink a nice cold beer, and reflect on what had just happened sharing stories with other MBTC members. Looking back I should have incorporated salt tablets into my training and I should have taken them on the bike and at the beginning of the run. Definitely a lesson learned for next time….….….Yes that is right. Next time! None of this could have been possible without the support of my family and friends(mostly friends unfortunately). Thank you all for being there in whatever capacity you could. A special “Thank You” to Brian Scully who was my primary training partner and voice of reason and to Nichole Banks who was there every step of the way, from being my partner at work and covering for me so I could train a little longer, to being there at each stop on race day to ensure I had a familiar face to keep me calm. The support you provided during this entire process both personally and professionally is immeasurable and is appreciated more than you know.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 22:17:59 +0000
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