Ironman Disappointment

Well we made it home from Lake Placid and I'll admit my ego is still bruised.  My body is fine and I'll get back on the horse Wednesday as I have other races this year, so I can't sulk forever!  Especially for the Wildwood Sprint Triathlon on August 18, and the Wildwood half marathon on August 26th.

Here is basically what happened in a nut shell without sending you to sleep or to the Grey's Anatomy/Physiology dictionary.  A medical withdraw is what it is called.  The medical staff termed it heat exhaustion with extreme dehydration.  I spent 1 hour and 7 minutes in the medical tent after completing the bike portion of the race.  The last 10-12 miles of the bike ride are pretty tough, and I really don't remember a whole lot about it other than pulling over for a few minutes and trying to cool off by dumping my water bottle over my head and body.  Obviously it was sunny and hot during the bike.

When I made it back into town and went to the tent to get ready for the run, a volunteer was there to help me, just like last year.  I got dressed and went to get up, took a few steps and almost fell onto the row of chairs.  The guy made me sit and got me plenty of water.  After a few minutes I said I was ok and tried to get up again, but almost went down again.  He said he had to get a medical person at this point, I agreed because I knew something was off.  The guy escorted me (held me up) to the medical tent.  There I was met by a few nurses and techs.  They weighed me in and I had lost 8 lbs since the weigh in on Thursday, not really that bad.

After 1 hour and 7 minutes of trying to pass a few basic tests, the Dr said he could not let me continue.  He was afraid I would only get worse with having to run a marathon still, and the fact that I had not gone to the bathroom since 6:30am, and it was now 4 pm (9.5 hrs later).  My skin looked like sandpaper from all the dried up salt from my body.  My race kit is green and black and was covered in a white powder, also the salt I had lost.  During the bike I drank over 160 ounces of water and gatorade, so I thought I was doing ok.  I ate plenty and even stopped at my special needs bag after the 1st loop so I could refill my bike with food and fluid.

Some days it is not meant to be.  I held it together pretty good in the tent until the Dr took my timing chip off.  It was also a horrible walk back to Cathy and the kids with all the participants running past along the street and me walking without a chip, what a total bummer.  Once I got back to the room I lost it pretty good.  The kids were great and gave me lots of hugs and kisses and told me how proud they were of me know matter what.  Conor even said he "wanted me to have a great day today."  Boy is that kid a suck up!

I looked back at last year and did a comparison because I thought maybe I did not do enough training.  After looking at it I am confident I did everything I could have.  I did 878 more miles and 46 more training sessions.  I am really confident that it was not my training and simply the heat.  My 2012 swim was over 2 minutes faster.  T1 was 2 minutes faster.  First lap of bike 5 minutes faster..thought all was going great.  Then the wheels fell off the last 12 miles!

The heat beat me down that day, but all the encouragement I have received from so many has made it more manageable.  The most important thing is that it looks like we have raised over $4,500.00 this year in our fundraising efforts.  We will be able to help so many children this year.  I will send out an official notice once the summer is complete.  In the mean time I hope to enjoy the rest of the races I have planned and the summer weekends at the shore.  

Thanks so much for your support, both from your donations and your helpful words of encouragement this year.  I will still update everyone as the summer goes along.

PS--before Lake Placid I had made Cathy a deal that I would not do an Ironman next year.....but I never said I still wouldn't race and raise money for special needs children.  She just smiled and said "I know."  How is that for team support on the home front!

I may sill aim for a half IM in the fall, maybe Pocono since I did it last year.

After I was feeling better we went t the Lake Placid Pub and Brewery and we met Logan Franks.  He finished 9th overall.  Kristina was happy to take this picture, just look at the smile on her face.