Race Result

Racer:	Mike Guzek
Race:	Duke Blue Devil
Date:	Saturday, October 8, 2005
Location:	Durham, NC
Race Type:	Triathlon - Ironman
Age Group:	Male 30 - 34
Time:	11:43:40
Overall Place:	22 / 145
Age Group Place:	5 / 20
Comment:	To enhance your reading pleasure, please consume this race report with an alcoholic beverage.

Race Report:

The Blue Devil is a small IM distance race in North Carolina benefiting the Duke Cancer Center. This is the 4th running of the race and my 4th time participating. This is also be my friend David Glover’s 4th time at this race. He has won it the previous three years. Sadly, I was without another training partner and regular at this race, Brady Dehourst who had managed to get himself into that other race down in Hawaii. This year, there were just under 200 age group competitors and relays.

In previous years, I have done 8-10 races with at least 2 IM distance races mixed in. This year, after getting married (wedding, honeymoon, bachelor par-tay) and moving to Boulder from Virginia, the only race I did was back in April. My training had come in bursts, with blackouts of inactivity, so I was as unsure as ever about my fitness going into this race. I didn’t even sign up until the week before the race. My biking mileage was down about 10% from last year and my running mileage was down just about as much. My swimming was comparable, but about 4 weeks out from the race I realized that I had not been in the water at all in almost 3 weeks.

Four weeks before the race I settled into Boulder. I decided to try to log two really good weeks of training to see if I could get to a point where I felt like I could be competitive at the race. I got on my bike for a handful of consecutive 3 hourish rides in the first week to try to “build my base” back up (are you suppose to be building your base 4 weeks out from your race?). Even at altitude, I felt like I got back in pretty good form quickly and by the second week, the consistent long bikes and runs had me feeling pretty comfortable again. I planned for 3 key final workouts: long hard swim, bike and run. If I could do them and do them pretty well, I would do the race. The run was the first to go. Then my long bike ride. I stumbled across what turned out to be nearly a 24 mile climb (with two short descents) and I felt as good as ever. Finally, I logged my long hard swim. I completely crushed it and felt like I’d do well in the water. A week before the race, I signed up. I knew I was pushing things a little…my hard swim was about 10 days out, but prior race experience showed that was fine. My last big ride was about 2 weeks out….a little closer to the race than most would advise. My last long run was about 2.5 weeks out. It was a 2:20 run broken up into a 1:40 run (3 hour break) 40 minute run. Again, a little close to the race, but I felt I had to log the run.

Pre Race
I flew in from Boulder on Thursday and met up with David at the hotel to catch a ride to the pasta dinner. You can read my previous race reports on this race to get a better idea of who David Glover is if you don’t know him already, but in sum, he is a cancer survivor (at a race for the Duke Cancer Center) and he is a 3-time champion of the race. One of the spokes ladies at the race kept calling him “our Lance Armstrong.” No pressure dude.

The forecast called for rain all weekend. Rain at packet pick up, rain at the pasta dinner. Rain on race morning….rain on race afternoon and evening. And mother nature didn’t disappoint. Dave and I did our pre race bike ride inside the park….you guessed it…in the rain. The only time it didn’t rain is when we got in the lake to swim (come on Ma Nature….you messing with us?). I forgot my wetsuit and Dave forgot his goggles, so I swam slow and Dave swam all zig zaggy while trying to swim with his eyes closed. At one point he swam right past me and had no idea. It was like two submarines passing at sea. For the second year in a row, we stopped in the middle of the lake to try to touch the bottom. I thought for sure with not wetsuit I could do it. Nope. Dave came up empty too. Someone said if you went too far down you’d end up in China. Part of me was expecting to see a dude from China come bursting to the surface all out breath with a shocked look on his face.

The night before the race, I was up late getting my bags packed and going over my bike multiple times to ensure it was assembled properly. It was 10:30 before I was in bed and about 11:00 by the time I fell asleep.

Race Day
The phone rang a 4:30 a.m. It was David. It was time to get up. It wasn’t raining as we drove the race, but you could tell that very recently it had poured in a big way. Fortunately it didn’t race during the pre race so we didn’t have to set things up while getting drenched.

Keeping with tradition, I discovered a last minute bike problem. After noticing some sloppy shifting that I was unable to resolve, I figured a quick trip to the mechanic could straighten everything out. After several “oh boys” the anxiety set in. It turns out that the little thing-i-ma-bob on the rear derailleur used for tweaking the shifting was stripped and the gears could not properly get there they needed to be. To make things worse, the bike tech lackey holding my bike accidentally ripped off my aero bar pad. I looked over and he is just holding it in his hand with this little grin. “Thanks dude! I didn’t need that.” I wrapped several layers of electrical tape around both pads and they seemed to be secure. For the shifting, the mechanic recommended turning off the index shifting which I agreed to and a quick spin indicated things were, ok. I was ready.

The weather was supposed to be in the low 80s with overcast skies and rain.

Swim
The 2-loop counter-clockwise swim features a beach run at the midway point. The water seems pretty clean, but there is definitely a brown film that covers your body when you get out. I’m not sure of the water temperature, but I was slightly warm in a sleeveless wetsuit, but not enough to matter at all. The big change in the swim for me this year was opting for my clear goggles in lieu of the Seal Mask. I can’t recall ever swimming an open water swim without the Seal Mask, but the one I brought was tinted and made it nearly impossible to see the buoys. With a few minutes before the start, I spotted David on the beach. We exchanged a quick good luck hug and positioned ourselves for the start. He managed to remember his goggles and I was wearing my wetsuit, so we were off to a good start. Dave has typically managed to find his way on to my feet for good portions of previous races, so I expected the same today. I denied his request to wear reflective tape on my toes and tassels on my ankles so I would be easier to follow.

When the cannon fired, I came out at what felt like a comfortable pace and rather quickly found myself behind the lead swimmer, distancing ourselves for the rest of the bunch. “I’m doing pretty good” I thought. He swam very wide of the buoys, but I opted to follow him. We rounded the first turn and headed down the backstretch. Eventually he drifted so far out that I decided not to follow. I found things a little hard while not in his draft and when we came together on the final turn to the beach, he had gapped me. As we exited after the first loop, another swimmer was on my shoulder and moved away from me rather easily early into the second loop. I had a hard time getting my heart rate in line after the beach run and really had to coast all the way out to the first buoy. Around the back stretch of the loop, I noticed a handful of swimmers gaining on me and I felt myself drifting into a funk. With no one in front of me to chase, I found my pace slowing. I decided to make it a goal to hold these folks off, however improbable it seemed at the time. I thought about long powerful strokes and imagined myself in the pool trying to make an interval. They stopped gaining ground and held back about 10 yards. I continued to push and came out of the water third overall. I was the first AG (non relay) swimmer out of the water which is a first for me. I have been close, but never been first.

T-1
I was pretty sure David was right behind me in the water, and I expected to see him in T-1. However, as I was leaving the tent, I still hadn’t spotted him. I thought for a moment that perhaps he had been one of the first two swimmers out? T-1 went good, but as I was running out, I realized I left my salt tablets in my transition bag. It was overcast so I decided it wasn’t worth going back to get.

Bike
The bike route takes the first 4 miles to work its way back out of the park. There is a short out and back and I noticed my friend (doing a relay) Rob Weitzel, in second place. I realized that their swimmer who was supposed to swim “about an hour” had actually kicked my ass and swam considerably less than an hour. On my way out of the out and back, I saw David heading in about 2 minutes behind me.

The course is a lollipop format with a number of turns. There is a good mix of hills, rollers and flats that make the course an equal opportunity muscle drainer. There are plenty of chances to get aero or to get out of the saddle and climb. It’s a really enjoyable ride.

The roads were wet, but it wasn’t raining. My goal coming into the bike was to take whatever time needed to get comfortable, but ultimately to get down to business as quick as possible. Last year at this race, I negative splitted by 11 minutes on the bike. I think this represents good pacing gone bad. Additionally, with a very unsure outlook of my overall capabilities on this day, I wanted to go at a steady effort and see what would happen. Basically, I didn’t want to come all this way to this race and post mediocre splits across the board and have a mediocre finishing time. I wanted to roll the dice a little and ride a good tempo and see where that took me.

I quickly passed two riders and moved into second behind Rob (relay). I was leading the AG race, but I felt like a bleeding surfer in the ocean waiting for the shark attacked. I knew “he” was back there. An hour past and I still hadn’t see David. And then, I looked back and saw his white helmet sandwiched between the two riders I had recently passed. I couldn’t help but think of the Jaws theme song as he slowly rode up to me over the course of about 10 minutes. Da da….da, da…..da, da….da,da,da,da,da…..ahhhhhh, it’s Glover and his gummy bears!!! At this point, I was 1:20 into my ride and I decided to try to stay with him until special needs as long as I felt good. Over the next 30 minutes we rode together but he eventually gapped me on a climb. It took about another hour for him to completely get out of sight, but he gave me the boost I needed. I passed over the midway point of the ride in 2:39.

I started smiling at the thought of 3 northern Virginians in the lead (I am still a Virginian at heart). Almost immediately after special needs I entered into another funk. I think it started because my “rabbit,” Dave, was no longer in eyesight, but it quickly moved into a major slowdown. It didn’t help that we got our first real bout of rain. It was raining pretty hard and it quickly chipped away at my mental state. The problem was worsened when two cyclists passed me in the span of about 10 minutes rather quickly. On the first loop, I had been working pretty good to hold off other cyclists and now I was being put in my place. Was this the end? I reached back and felt for the Red Bull in my jersey. A surge of electricity shot through my body and off in the distance, a chorus of angels sang. Help was on the way. I told myself to wait until at least mile 75. The miles ticked by slowly until I could finally release the beast. I took two good swigs and dropped the rest into the aero bottle. I diluted it with water and planned to slowly sip on it and finish it with one hour to go. I felt better. I actually felt like I could push again. Some of it was mental, some of it was physical and some of it was the fact nobody was passing me anymore, but regardless, I just felt better. Periodically, I could see another cyclist about 2 minutes behind me, but that’s the only other rider I saw on the second loop. I maintained a steady pace for the rest of the way and felt strong over the last few miles. I was the 4th AGer off the bike and 5th overall. My first half split was 2:39, my second was 2:44 (the total for you guys counting on your fingers right now is 5:23). I was extremely happy with the balance between the two loops’ times. I felt really good.

T-2
Things in T-2 went fine. I nearly ran out with CO2 on my jersey, and I forgot my planned trip to the port-a-potty, but I was in and out in a just a little over a minute. An interesting factoid: Dave and I had the two fastest T-2 times, 1:04 and 1:19 respectively AND we had the two fastest transitions last year as well at 1:05 and 1:19 respectively. If Blue Devil Transitions ever shows up as a Jeopardy category, you are really gonna kick some ass.

“What is, he forgot his trip the port-a-potty, Alex?”

Run
The run is 5-loops in the park where the lake and transition area is. Each loop is 5.2 miles. It has got to be the or at least one of the hardest (or at least hilliest) IM distance run course in the world. It’s all either up or down, but there are aid stations everywhere so that really helps.

I felt great headed out on the run. I was 6:20 into the race and a 4 hour marathon gave me a 10:20 finishing time. That’s a personal best for me and would likely put me into the top 5 overall. Even a 4:10 would give me a 10:30. I decided to start off conservative and not blow my chance at greatness. About 50 yards short of the second aid station I saw Dave’s parents and girlfriend. Before I could even blurt out “Cytomax!” both hamstrings locked up in pretty tight cramps. I was just the 5th person to arrive at this aid station, and I saw every volunteer looking at me…holding grapes, coke, water, bananas, E-caps….everything…..just waiting for me to make it that last 50 yards. “Give me a minute” I said in a strained voice. It was sort of like someone froze the frame because everyone froze in place until I was done stretching and then things picked back up again. I took a couple E-caps and headed on my way. As luck would have [sarcasm] the Mr. Sunshine decided to make his first appearance of the day, warming up the course for us. You could feel the life being sucked out of every racer each time the sun peaked through the clouds. I made it through the first loop in about 45 minutes, I was not feeling so good, but I was still running ok and decided to try to keep my tempo going. Towards the very end of the second loop, I began to deteriorate. I saw my sister and niece near the lap finish and they had all the volunteers in the area screaming “go Uncle Mike!” Well, Uncle Mike just purchased a first class one way ticket to Crushedville. All Aboard! I managed to post about a 50 minute lap but I could tell I was starting to fade in a big way.

Coach Jay (not my coach, but a coach who is a friend) yelled out “eat something!” That sounded like the right thing to do, so I decided to spend the next mile eating and drinking whatever I could and to walk as needed to let it digest. I was going to regroup. Looking back on it now, I think my die had been cast several hours earlier. Eating WAS the right thing to do, but I think I too little too late. It was hot on the bike and just didn’t take in enough sports drink or fluids at all because it was so wet and I didn’t feel like I was sweating. I had two Accelerades and one Cytomax. I had a bunch of gels and some Extran, but ultimately, not nearly enough fluids and sodium (the salt I forgot in T-1). I didn’t realize how much I was sweating. To try to recover, I ate bananas, gels and oranges. I drank coke water and Cytomax……but I started to feel even worse. Looking back again, I don’t think fuel was my issue as much as simple dehydration. E-caps probably would have been better than the feast I “enjoyed” on lap three. After the 3rd loop, I could tell I was in really bad shape. I began to question, for the first time in any of my 9 IMs, if I could even finish. Somehow, I was still in 4th place, but I wasn’t even worried about that anymore. Well, maybe just a little bit worried about that because at this pace, I was quickly gonna be passed by the first place female who was starting to run me down!!! The 4th loop was marred my major stomach distressed. I was unable to run more than 20 yards before I had to bend over and dry heave. Finally, about 17 miles in, I stopped and I booted. I booted my guts out. I was amazed at how much liquid was ejected from my body. The sound echoed through the park and took comfort that other racers heard the sound of serious distress and probably felt better knowing that at least one chucklehead on the course was in worse shape than they were. One heave after another, massive amounts of liquid poured out. I was ok with this because I knew that I would at least feel better when it was over. Nearly everyone that passed offered words of encouragement or assistance. I was genuinely touched by their compassion, despite the fact they were enduring their own sufferfest When it was all done, I attempted to run again and realized I felt just as bad as before except, now, I had no calories in my body. I doubted if I’d be able to run at all again. I wasn’t even able to walk up the hills without stopping to take a break.

At this point, folks started to pass me and I was quickly falling down the rankings. I stopped caring at some point during this loop and just focused on trying to finish. About the only person I passed on this loop was one of the guys who passed me earlier on the bike. However, he was walking to his car after he had DNFed. I considered it as well. I had never ever considered even for a moment DNFing at a race, but I found myself wondering if this might be my only option. As I headed out on my final loop, I had both happiness and sadness in me. I was happy that I was 5.2 miles away. I was sad that it would take about 1:45 to walk that distance. I tried to run and managed it with some success, but not much. Even 2 miles out, I wasn’t sure if I could do it. I became very dizzy at times and actually stumbled off the course. I thought to myself “this is what it’s like….this is what it’s to want to finish but to simply not be able to.” With about 500 yards to go, I started throwing up again. Some volunteers in a golf car came to help. I told them I was on my last lap and just need to make it 500 yards and they waited with me. He actually started asking me questions about how I like Colorado and what the job market was like. “Dude, can’t a man barf in peace??” It was actually good to have someone there. About the time I was done puking a guy headed out for another lap said “Hey!” and pointed at me while crossing the road in my direction, Looking me in the eye he said, “You’re going to finish….you’re going to do this.” I got a boost from that and started moving forward. The guys in the golf cart shadowed me on to the finish line and (thank god for a down hill finish) I at least manage to run across the line.

I finished in 11:43 with a 5:20 run. I was 3 minutes shy of making it into the club where your run split is longer than your bike split. I have had some tough runs, but that was by far my worst both in terms of time and the feelings of complete despair. I was 22nd overall. I had the best swim, the 7th best bike and the 65th best run….sing with me, which one of these things….doesn’t belong…..which one of these things is not like the other…..can you tell me before my song is done….

Looking back, I think my biggest mistakes were not consuming more fluids on the bike. I lost 15lbs during the course of the race (210 down to 195) and urinated once during the run and not again until around 3:00 a.m. The other mistake was doing a long run 2.5 weeks out from the race. I felt great on the bike and great coming off the bike, but my legs were gone in a way they have never been gone before on the run. I am still extremely happy with my race. I had great swim and bike efforts. I can at least walk away with a little more confidence from that.

Dave finished second overall, relinquishing his three year stranglehold on first place. He had a sub par run for him, finishing in 10:07. The Reston Area Triathletes relay team took first in the 3-person relay. I still manage to secure 5th place in my age group and had the pleasure of drinking more than a few celebratory beers with race announcers Brad and Gretchen the following day before my fight. Thanks guys, I hope you enjoy your gift ; )

Full results can be found here: http://www.set-upinc.com/dukebluedevil/results.asp

Thanks Jess and Allison for showing up and thanks Dave and Laura for driving me everywhere!