A bit long, but for anyone interested here is my report on the race. Race Report: My First 140.6 Challenge Atlantic City June 29, 2014 Training I had a solid base of smaller distance events over the past few years, to include sprints and 3 half iron distances. I competed in Ironman Raleigh 70.3 last summer (2013), in some serious heat. I felt ready to step it up. In preparation for the Challenge, I did a lot of research. I also consulted with other athletes who have completed an iron distance. I reviewed training programs and read Don Finks book Be Iron Fit. The intermediate program seemed to fit with my professional and family obligations. I feel the program prepared me well. I am a therapist for my day job, so the mental prep was second nature for me. My plan was simple. Whatever challenge arose, I was ready and I would adapt. If it was windy, I would tell myself I love the wind. I practiced for wind. If it was hot, I love heat. If it was raining, I love the rain. I am fortunate that I never hit an emotional wall. I never had an I cant do this thought during the race. I attribute this to my training and visualized the finish line with my boys. Family Support Before making the decision to take on 140.6, I had to be sure my family was on board. Training effects everyone. It takes resources and time away. Everyone has to step up and contribute more to the team. My children did extra chores. My wife also picked up my slack. I can not say enough about how much they did for me. They set up aide stations on long rides and runs, often with cowbells and cheering. My 9 year old enjoyed dumping ice into my post work out baths and watching my reaction. Community Support I live on the Outer Banks of North Carolina in a small community. I could not ask for a better cheering section than the OBX. I have been blessed with a lot of support from other athletes and friends. We have a few ironmen and women locally. They shared a wealth of knowledge with me. Even our local running store posted this before my event: Roanoke Island Running Company Today is the big day for our buddy Christopher Roberts as he embarks on a journey that will be most likely a life changing event! Chris has been training hard to complete his first full distance triathlon of 140.6 miles. This includes a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride and then to cool down, Chris will run a full marathon of 26.2 miles! Chris, We wish you the best of luck! We watched your progress, you have the absolute best family and support system you could ever need and you are going to crush this challenge! We are already so proud of you and what you are going to accomplish today!! Go Get it!!! There was an online Challenge Family support crew as well. I was able to get a lot of information from others and found it incredibly helpful. I hope we will stay in contact after we all get home. After the event, I was overwhelmed with the texts, phone calls and Facebook messages. It was surprising to see how many people tracked my progress and showed me love. I owe everyone a big thank you. Event The event is a full distance triathlon, 140.6 miles, commonly known as an Ironman, or iron distance tri. It includes a 2.4 mile swim, followed by 112 mile bike ride and a full marathon, 26.2 miles. This was an inaugural event put on by Challenge Family USA. The tri was hosted by Caesars, who owns several hotels in Atlantic City. Most of the events took place at Ballys, next door. The location was great, right on the boardwalk. I did not stay at a host hotel, however, everything was easily accessible. There were several days of activities leading up to the race, including swim practices, athlete dinner, welcome beach party, sports medicine symposium, kids run, professional athlete meet and greets etc.. I did my best to limit my walking on those days and rest up. Check In Process I attended the check in and expo on Thursday. It went quickly and was a lot of fun for the kids. Race swag included a Challenge bag, bike bottles, tire irons, shoe clips, etc... Athlete Dinner The athlete meal was billed as a carb dinner. I was expecting pasta and it was much more. I enjoyed turkey with dressing, fish with shrimp, eggplant parm, salad bar, ziti and desserts. Ballys did a nice job on the meal. My son was thrilled to get a picture with pros Mirinda Rinney Carfrae and Tim ODonnell. Family Focus Challenge offered a free kids race and provided great swag. My boys enjoyed racing with pro Timothy ODonnell. He was friendly and encouraging to the kids. The boys got t-shirts, a bike bottle and a cowbell. Thank you Challenge for including my kids and making them feel important too. Race Morning I set three alarms and still had a dream about over sleeping. I did get a decent nights sleep overall. I was up at 3 am and ate my usual oatmeal, bananas and coffee. My wife applied my body marking tattoos and we arrived at transition in plenty of time. Swim My first surprise of the day was hearing I could not use a wet suit for the swim. You want to wear a wetsuit for this distance, it helps with buoyancy. The USAT official water temp reading was 80 degrees, too high. I chose to start in my wave at 6:08 am with no wetsuit instead of waiting 25 minutes to start later with a suit, as non competitive. The second surprise was a very strong current half way through the swim. It made it difficult for many of us to sight the buoy and make forward progress. I felt like a salmon swimming upstream. I was not alone. Several athletes said their swim times were 10-20 minutes behind their expected times. I never practiced the I love the current mantra, as it was unexpected. I had to dig deep and think of crossing the finish with my boys to push through. I was able to finish the swim in 1 hour 33 minutes. Transition (T1) was quick and well laid out. I grabbed my bike gear, changed and was on my bike in just over 8 minutes. This included posing for a picture for my wife. Bike The course takes you from Atlantic City to Hammonton, NJ via the Atlantic City Expressway. I enjoyed riding through toll booths with out paying. The ride out was quick and smooth, except for a couple rumble strips. I slowed down each time to cross them safely. I was drinking Gatorade Endurance, water and getting in nutrition via Roctane gel and Fig Newtons. The ride through Hammonton was beautiful. They had a huge crowd cheering us on. We rode the loop two times and the crowd energy really helped. I accessed my special needs bag on the second loop. I consumed a protein bar and chicken broth. I feel the sodium in the broth really helped me. The ride back to Atlantic City on the expressway was tough. We had 10-20 mph headwinds. Thankful for my rides on the OBX for the wind training. I love the wind. I love the wind. It helped me tremendously. I had minor cramping on the bike ride back but it went away as I took in more sodium and fluids. My total bike time was 6 hours and 1 minute. My second transition (T2) was just under 11 minutes. Racked the bike, dropped the gear, applied more sunscreen and I changed out of my bike shorts. Now I get to run a marathon. Run We ran from Bader Field to the boardwalk. Most of the race was in the full sun. It was hot and I was getting tired. I was thankful for the ice and volunteers at the aid stations. They did a great job, especially the Jersey Girls station by Revel. My kids saw me at mile 10 and 12. I welcomed them spraying me with their super soaker water guns. There was also a girl with a water hose down by Lucy the Elephant. Keeping cool was essential. I started off running at a 9:30 pace and then forced myself to slow down. I needed to make it 26.2 miles. I ended the race with a 12 minute run pace overall. My total race time for 140.6 miles was 13 hours and eight minutes. The best part of the entire event was the finish. Challenge Family encourages your family to cross the finish line with you. I saw my boys, took a deep breath and we grabbed hands. We entered the finish chute and the pictures are priceless. This is a memory to last my lifetime. Post Race Challenge provided nice finisher shirts and huge medals. We were able to go into Boardwalk Hall for recovery and refueling. They had free massage chairs set up and I could have stayed there all day. Upstairs there were sandwiches, salads, yogurt, pretzels and drinks. I do not think my stomach could have handled anything much heavier. I got my bike and bags and headed back to the condo. The boys set up a celebration table for me. I had an ice bath and two Tylenol before sleeping like a baby. Athlete Breakfast Ballys did another great meal for the awards and breakfast. It was nice to share war stories with other athletes. Reflections I am very happy with the training program I chose. I feel it prepared me well and it is the reason my body felt relatively ok after the race. I expected the pain to be far worse. Thank you Challenge for making triathlon about families and not just about the athlete. I could not have gotten to the start line with out my family. Their support and encouragement over the past year has been incredible. This event was just as important to them as it was to me. I am still very thankful for all of the support I have received. I had a goal to finish in under 14 hours. I crushed it.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 15:31:53 +0000
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