Posts Tagged triathlon
Ironman Florida part 3…
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on November 17th, 2010
This is the last part of my wrap up about my Ironman experience this year. Tomorrow I will share some lessons and thoughts about this event.
With about 5 miles to go on the bike I started making some strategy decisions. Last year I spent a lot of time in transition. Cutting that amount of time could have helped me get to the finish line in Kona in time. I debated on what to do. Last year I changed all of my clothes and put on different clothes for the run. It was again time to make a decision.
I had a complete change of clothes but decided to just put on a new base layer on top. It had been cold all day and temperatures were expected to drop into the 30’s by the time I would be finishing up the run. As I was running by the table I saw some cream that you can put on to avoid friction and the inevitable chaffing that comes with doing a marathon. I grabbed some and put it on my skin down my shorts thinking that it would be a good idea.
BAD! I had already gotten some chaffing going on and slapping that creme on felt like pouring salt in an open wound. I just thought to myself “This is going to be a long night!” As I left the shoot I heard nothing but encouragement and kind words. Even with the Achilles problem I felt pretty good.
After a few minutes the burning from the creme had subsided and got into a good running rythm. During the bike ride my watch had stopped working so I was doing this run with no way to tell how I was doing time-wise. I actually think it helped me because I was listening to my body and not worrying about the time. I made the first 6 miles in pretty good time. I really couldn’t believe how good I was feeling.
The first 13.1 miles were pretty anticlimactic and I began to think about what it was going to be like to become an Ironman. I was excited and still moving pretty good. Then it happened. At about mile 15 the old wheels came off. I was exhausted.
Just a few minutes ago I couldn’t believe how good I was feeling and now I could barely move. During the first lap I had met up with a woman who had done several Ironmans and kept pace with her because she knew she was going to finish with plenty of time. Now, I was all alone.
Within a few steps I started to realize that I had developed some blisters. One in particular was pretty painful. I had gotten a blister across the entire front pad of my foot. Right at the bottom of toes on the bottom of my foot I could feel the uncomfortable pillow of a huge blister. It hadn’t affected me much during the first 13 miles but now it was all I could think about.
There were little speed humps through the residential area of the run. Just going up those felt like someone was sticking nails in my foot. I was now at a slow walk. It was about that time that a camera crew came up to film me. They asked me how I was doing and I said “Not so good.” I also told them I had no idea how I was doing for time since I didn’t have a watch. One of them graciously offered me a watch.
When I looked at the clock I saw that I had to make 15 minute miles to get to the end in time to be an official finisher. I picked up the pace. After leaving the park which meant I had less than 6 miles to go, there were a ton of signs for other runners from friends and families. I saw one of a little boy about my sons age and lost it. It was the first really emotional time of the race. I imagined the “runs” that my sons and I had done on some of our “boys day outs”. When we do those runs my sons run along beside me and just look at me and smile. It is an amazing feeling to see their little smiles and the joy that they get from being active. It was even more amazing to visualize them running there beside me that cold dark night out on that course.
I got it back together and stopped crying. I was back to walking again. Any deviation in cadence made my foot feel like the bottom was going to rip off. Each speed hump that I crossed felt like I was walking up a mountain. Every now and then I would step on a rock that would shoot a piercing pain all the way through my body. I hurt.
With about two miles to go I could hear the announcer yelling “Congratulations, you are an Ironman!” It brought back a flood of emotions. I remembered being able to hear those same words last year and Kona but didn’t get to hear them myself. I thought about all the training and the time I had spent away from my family while training this year and last. Most importantly I thought about what it was going to be like to cross that finish line.
I had one hour to go 2 miles and I was going to need it all. As I got closer people were yelling conratulations and words of encouragement. Many were simply saying “You’re gonna make it!”
When I came around the last turn into the finish shoot I thought of how I was going to cross the line. Was I going to skip, do a cartwheel, or do a somersault? As I got closer I realized it would be none of the above. I simply walked jogged toward the line taking it all in, high-fiving strangers listening to the cheers and appreciating what I had just accomplished.
About two steps from the line I began bawling like a baby. As I crossed under the finish line I threw my hands in the air and gave thanks to God for giving me the strength and opportunity to do what I had just done. A medal was placed around my neck and I was an official Ironman.
The excitement quickly turned to relief and then pure exhaustion. One of the show producers handed me a phone and I called my wife. We cried together for a moment and she told me she was proud of me.
I have one state and national titles in wrestling and been the winner of The Biggest Loser. This moment topped them all. I was an Ironman!
See you tomorrow!
Ironman Florida…. Part 2 (The Bike)
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on November 16th, 2010
Here is the second part of my Ironman experience this year. If you missed yesterday you might want to go back and read it because I am simply picking up where I left off. Now it’s time for the bike ride.
As I exited the water, I quickly forgot about how tired I was when I felt the icy cold of the sand. The transition was a pretty good distance away so after a short run up the beach I ran between two buildings and into a parking lot. The parking lot was filled with numbered bags in long lines. Inside those bags was the bike ride gear. After finding my bag I was off to change. Again, it was a nice little jaunt to the changing building.
After changing I headed out for a “few” miles on the bike. Heading out of town I felt pretty good. Most of the ride through town was between large buildings that protected me from the wind. I must say that I was getting pretty excited at how I was cruising along.
When I got away from the buildings and made the turn out of town, my excitement turned to fear. The wind was blowing hard. In the first 12 miles I saw more than a few people get blown right off the road. In fact, I passed a pretty good wreck where the lady was being loaded into an ambulance.
The great thing about being a bigger triathlete is that although it is a struggle riding into the wind, when you finally get to go with the wind, you flat out fly. I made it to mile 56 feeling pretty good and in pretty good time. At the turn around is when I got to go back into the wind for about 40 miles.
As I rode into the wind, my mind started to get the best of me. I don’t remember if I have mentioned it or not, but you are not allowed to use headphones or ipods during an Ironman. It is 140.6 miles with only your thoughts to entertain you.
About mile 60 I began to think about how much fun I was no longer having. The more I dwelled on the negatives, the more negative I became. (Imagine that!) I fought through those emotions and just put my head down and began to pedal. I was already half-way done and each pedal stroke was taking me closer to home.
At mile 70 I had one of the sharpest pains I have ever felt in my life shoot through my Achilles tendon, up my leg and into my hip. I drove right off the road. As I stood there trying to figure out what had just happened to me I decided to call it quits. The pain went from a shooting sensation to just a solid burn. I wasn’t able to put full pressure into my pedal strokes without pain and it literally felt like my hip was on fire.
I got back on my bike and decided to tough it out and get home. I was also telling myself that I would call it a day once I got back. I could say that I was injured, call for a medic and let them pull me off the course. My mind was made up. I was just going to pedal back and end this misery.
It was tough going. The wind was howling straight into my face and my feet were now numb from the cold, not to mention my new injury. I was definitely feeling sorry for myself. I fought through the wind and finally saw the glorious flashing lights of the sheriff cars that marked the turn onto the road back into town.
Two thoughts crossed my mind. You are on the home stretch; this will be all over soon when the medics pull you, and you get the wind to push you now that it is at your back.
At mile 90, the fight in my mind was taking to a new level. I really wasn’t feeling that bad and I knew it. Sure, my leg hurt and my hip was burning, but deep down I knew that I could keep going. The thing was is that I had already made up my mind to quit. I had a perfect excuse, medical forfeit. It was at that time that I remembered how I felt at Kona last year and how tough it was to deal with not finishing in time. There was no way that I could just give up and not even try.
Although people probably would have said: “Good job, you did the swim and the bike, that is more than most people can do.” I would have known the truth…. I QUIT! I began to talk to myself. Yes, really talk to myself and out loud at that. I can only imagine what the riders I was passing must of been thinking as I rode by having a full on conversation with myself.
I began to tell my body how good it was feeling. I began to praise it rather than curse it. I told myself about all the training I had done and how quitting was something that “Old Matt” would have done. I began to think about all of the people that had helped me to get to this Ironman. I thought of my wife and sons wearing their IronMatt t-shirts back at home and how they believed I could do it. I thought about a saying that I took from my dear friends the Watson’s: He thought he could so he did! Most importantly, I prayed. I handed the whole thing over to God and asked for strength. He delivered.
I came into the transition and rather than calling for a medic and calling it quits, I ran to my gear bag for the run and went into get changed.
After all, after a 2.4 mile swim and a 112 mile bike ride, all I had left to do was a marathon!
See you tomorrow!
Finding Inspiration In Finishing Last…
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on August 30th, 2010
It seems more and more that winning is based solely on the position you finish. Anything less than first is considered sub-par. That is great for those who have the ability to achieve that high of a standard; but what about those people who no matter how hard they try, will never finish first?
Last weekend Suzy and I hosted a super sprint triathlon. It was fun and intended to introduce the sport of triathlon to those who may have never considered giving triathlon a try. The distance was relatively short, 400 yard swim, 8 mile bike ride, and a 2 mile run.
The race is over, but the memories I gained that weekend will forever be present in my mind.
My job at the triathlon was to be an encourager. It was also to come in dead last. We promised every person that entered our wave that they would absolutely not be the last person to finish the race. True to the promise, they weren’t. I was.
Nearly the instant the race started a noticed a woman struggling. I swam over to her and could hear her repeating over and over “I can’t do this, I can’t do this.” I assured her she would be fine and asked if she would like some help getting to shore. She said no and I treaded water with her for a while wondering what was going to happen. She regained her composure and began swimming again. A few strokes later she stopped and started telling me again that she couldn’t go on. She said she couldn’t breathe.
I know that feeling. When I first started doing triathlons, I experienced the same fear. Calmly I gave her advice that my coach last year, Jim Vance, gave me. “If you ever feel like you can’t breathe, lift your head out of the water and breathe. All the air you need is above that water.”
Again she got it together. Sure enough after a few more strokes she started telling me how she couldn’t go on. At this point I told her that we were half way done and it would take just as long to turn around and go back to shore than it would to finish the course. She kept going.
For the first 300 yards of the 400 yard swim, this lady was convinced that “she couldn’t do this”. When we rounded the last bouy she relaxed and began to enjoy herself. She swam the last 100 yards easily. She did it! We were the last out of the water but she finished. She just needed to relax and change the way she was talking to herself.
As I left the transition dead last, I thought about her swim and how awesome it was to watch someone do something they were assuring themselves that they couldn’t. I also figured that that moment was going to be my inspiration for the day. It wasn’t.
I started out on the bike figuring I would have a nice little ride. I turned around at the half way point and headed back to transition. On my way back I saw a teammate of mine named Sheryl. When I met her I turned around to ride with her. Sheryl holds a special place in my heart. On one of our first team rides of the year she caught my eye. She was riding a recumbant bike and didn’t look like a typical triathlete. That day I learned that she had lost a significant amount of weight and still had a couple hundred more pounds to go.
It had taken her hours that day to go 8 miles but she stuck with it. It was great catching up with her on our ride together at the triathlon. This lady, who could barely ride her bike, let alone walk, when I first met her had accomplished alot this summer. She had gotten up to riding 20 miles non-stop, ridden the Seattle to Portland bike ride, and was now doing a triathlon!
We rode the last half of the bike leg together. I watched her struggle up the hills and then bullet down the other side. At one time when I looked down at my speedometer, we were riding over 30 miles an hour down one long hill. As we were flying down that hill she let out a squeal like a school girl on a playground. I almost started crying. It was a moment of pure joy for her, and I must admit for myself as well.
Near the end of the ride I let her ride ahead of me and again I came in dead last. On the run I was all alone. I had time to think about that morning and what it had taught me. I caught up to my wife and together we finished in completely last place.
Being dead last that day was one of the best things I have ever done. It made me understand how hard some people work to achieve the same things that I often do with little effort. I learned that it isn’t always about finishing first, that it’s about finishing. Perhaps the most important thing I learned is that we should never take for granted our abilities.
Every now and then things may seem impossibly difficult to finish. Just remember that there is someone out there who is having an even harder time finishing the same thing you are doing. It isn’t about finishing first, it’s about finishing what you start!
See you tomorrow!
Where is Your True Starting Point?
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on August 16th, 2010
Yesterday I was out on a bicycle ride with a good friend of mine. As we were riding we started talking about the progress I’ve made over the past year in the sport of triathlon and how I am feeling as I prep for next Ironman in November.
I told him I felt unbelievably different. I am down several pounds, my cycling has improved, and so has my running. Most importantly, my mindset has improved. Last year when I took on the Kona Ironman I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know that carrying around extra weight could affect me as much as it did.
Last weekend I was flipping through the channels and caught the replay of the Kona Ironman on NBC. I watched the race and saw my brief segment once again. When I saw myself, I wasn’t disappointed, I was a little sad. The reason I was sad was because I knew that I had a false sense of how I looked and felt physically.
I was big, not as in pre-Biggest Loser big, but I was carying more weight than I should have been to be competing in a race of that magnitude. The thing is, is that at that time I didn’t realize it. I felt like “I can move 140.6 miles in one day. I am in pretty good shape.” That statement was partially true.
True in the sense that you have to have a pretty good level of fitness to do that race and make the cut-offs. Not true, in that I was definitely carrying too much body fat and failed to realize it. I saw myself as being better off than I was. It wasn’t until I saw myself on television that I realized just how big I was.
I am convinced that had I weighed then what I weigh now, I would have finished that race in under the cut-off time and would have been an official Ironman. That is neither here nor there now. I didn’t finish in time. Heavy or not, I have yet to become an Ironman in the true sense.
What does this have to do with the title of this post? As I was talking yesterday, I came to the conclusion that many of us have a false sense of where we are when it comes to weight. Some of us can think we are smaller and better off than we are, others think we are bigger and worse off than we really are.
In order to know where we really are, we must give ourselves a true starting point. By true starting point I am talking about where are TODAY. I don’t mean 5, 10, or even 20 years ago. The only way to gauge our progress is by having an official starting point and then using that point as a gauge.
For example. If I weigh 240 pounds today, that is what I weigh. In a year from now, if I weigh 200, I will say I lost 40 pounds. If on the other hand I weigh 245, I will say I gained 5 pounds this year. Here is why this is important. I could use my pre-Biggest Loser weight of 353 as a gauge and in turn be able to say that I have lost 108 pounds. Although this is true, it isn’t necessarily the whole truth.
I lost 157 pounds on the show then gained weight back. I then lost weight again. The reality is that If I use the 353 pound number than I am really just losing and gaining the same weight over and over again. This is why I am now using 240 as my starting point. By doing this I can have a clear number and place to begin.
What this allows me to do is wipe the slate clean. I can no longer play games like the “I use to weigh… and even though I have gained…. I ‘ve still kept off….” I know what I weigh and will use this as my starting point and lifelong marker. By doing this, I will have a realistic perception and gauge of how I am doing on this lifelong journey.
In essence, our true starting point is TODAY. Now, lets get started!
See you tomorrow.
Road Trip Time…
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on July 6th, 2010
I will be heading out soon for the San Francisco Triathlon soon. I love road trips so I volunteered to drive the equipment down from Seattle. The trip is scheduled to take 12 hours. That is a long time to be in the car alone; especially when you consider that in the past, that is where I turned my eating common sense off.
I have been doing really well. I have found that the more I plan the easier it is for me. Wow, what a revelation! Planning works! I will be packing my food and drink so that when I stop at the gas stations all I have to do is fill up and leave. Rest stops will be at the ever so clean confines of the interstate rest areas.
Gas stations make sense, but why the rest areas? Because for me, there is little enjoyment in stale candy from a vending machine. I know that if I stop at the rest areas I will be in a safe zone as opposed to stoping at a convenience store or restaurant. I’m not avoiding; I’m planning.
Another thing that I will be doing is listening to T.Harv Eckers Millionaire Mind CD’s. I have listened to them before and it is time to brush up on some things. What a better time to do it than alone in the car with no distractions. Car trips don’t have to be wasted time. I am going to use this time to make my mind sharper.
I feel like I have a pretty good plan in place now it is time to execute it. I will let you know tomorrow how it goes.
See you tomorrow!
Are You a Do-er or a Gonna Do-er?
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on February 5th, 2010
Yesterday I talked a little about how we can’t change others, only ourselves. I want to talk about how our actions speak louder than words. By changing ourselves we can encourage those around us to make changes without saying a word. I am going to share how I use to be a “gonna do” person instead of a “do” person.
For a lot of years when I was struggling I would tell people about what I was going to do. I was going to lose weight, I was going to quit drinking so much, I was going to go back to school. Let’s just say I was going to do a lot of things.
Nearly every week I was gonna start a diet. I was a lot like people you have seen or maybe even yourself. On Monday I would show up to work with my water and a salad for lunch. On Tuesday I would show up with a salad, a sandwich, and a water. On Wednesday I would have a sandwich and a pop. On Thursday a sandwich, a pop, and a bag of chips. On Friday I was like “Forget it, let’s just go out for lunch. I did pretty good this week.” This pattern would repeat itself pretty regularly.
The other thing I was always gonna do was cut back on the drinking. On Saturdays when I was good and drunk I would tell my friends that “After tonight, I’m done.” They would laugh a little and then say “OK Hoover, whatever you say.” I use to get upset and think to myself “Why don’t they beleive me? They should be encouraging me!” Again, I said this on a regular basis but never got around to actually doing it.
It never dawned on me that the reason people didn’t get excited for me is because they were constantly hearing me say things and never doing anyting. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to see me do things they just knew from my past that I probably wasn’t going to follow through. It wasn’t meaness, it was past experiences.
I don’t think I am much different from a lot of people in wanting praise for the things I want to do and not wanting constructive criticism for the things I say I am going to do and then don’t. We all want to look good in others eyes and not look like a failure. Unfortunately, when we don’t follow through we start to talk about what we are going to do next as though to somehow make up for what we didn’t do.
It’s a vicious cycle and it leads nowhere. We need to start small with the changes and then check them off as we go. More importantly, we need to follow through. It’s easy to set big goals and talk about all of the great things we want to do. It can be difficult to actually do them.
I rarely tell people all of the things I am going to do now. I just do them and let people see the results. One reason is that a lot of the things that I tend to do seem downright insane to others. For example, competing in the Ford Ironman World Championships having never done more than a sprint triathlon before. The other reason is that I have learned that my actions speak louder than my words.
In the words of the great Nike slogan, Just Do It! That being said, when we begin to take action more than likely those around us will too. If you want to encourage someone close to you to lose weight, lose weight yourself first. If you want to get a better job, start looking and preparing yourself. We can’t just sit around and wait for things to happen for us. We have to be do-ers instead of gonna do-ers! Have an awesome weekend and go do something!
See you Monday!
Kona Ironman 2009 part V
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on October 21st, 2009
When I could finally see the lights of the Energy Lab I began to get excited. I knew that the turn around was near. My excitement faded quickly when I realized that you didn’t just get to the corner and turn around. I had to run down into the area about a mile before the actual turn around. When I hit the turn around Joe and his friend Collin did some quick math. I needed to do under 14 minute miles the rest of the way in to finish. There could be no walking.
I jogged through another ice bath and caught up to another athlete. At the same time I saw him there was a flashing sign that said “Raise the Bar Matt!” I am a member of an awesome tri team in Seattle called Raise the Bar and my local coach Patty Swedeberg must have put that up there for me to see. I was literally getting words of encouragement in the most unlikely places.
After the sign I looked over and noticed that the man next to me wasn’t your typical athlete. He only had one leg and one arm. I realized that I didn’t have much to complain about at that moment. We stayed together for a while before he began to fall back. I found out later that his back began to seize up and he didn’t get to finish.
If it was possible for it to get and darker it sure seemed like it did as I got back on the Queen K to head back to town. At this point I began to pray for strength and an improved attitude. Thoughts began to enter my mind that were not helping my cause. Thoughts like “Hey you tried”, “Maybe that guy was right, you could lose some weight”, “Try again later”, and many others were flowing freely. It’s funny because right as I was starting to let some of those thoughts take hold, Joe said “It’s gonna hurt just as bad if you run or walk and you still have to get back to the finish somehow!” He was right. Even if I gave up right then I would still have to get back to town on my own two feet. I picked up again.
When I was about 3.5 miles out a crowd of people came running out and surrounding me. I couldn’t see who they were, but it turned out to be some of my friends and family. They had come out to encourage me at 11:30 at night in the middle of nowhere. They shouted positive words and stayed right with me. I didn’t show it, but I really appreciated what they did.
As I popped a hill I could see the lights of the finish and the announcer calling out finishers. Joe, who was in front of me yelling and thoroughly pissing me off now was screaming the time I needed to make and I thought to myself “Leave it all out here or you are going to regret this moment the rest of your life!” I took off. I ran as fast as I could, I don’t know where it came from but I know God was moving me forward. I didn’t hurt, my feet didn’t bother me I wasn’t breathing hard, I was just running. I was running to become an Ironman!
As I made the turn onto the famous Alii Drive, there were people lining both sides of the street going crazy. Two little boys ran beside me for a minute screaming that I could do it. I don’t remember much beside thinking “Keep running and don’t thow up right now! Keep running!” I saw the finish shoot and kept going towards it. There are to arches as you come through the chute. I stopped at the first one thinking that was the end. It wasn’t and I took off for the next one, the real finish. I raised my arms as I crossed the line and thanked God for the life I have and all he has done for me.
I looked up at the clock and saw a 16 with some numbers behind it as I fell into my wife’s arms and then sat down. I sat for a moment and then felt amazing. I had just become an Ironman, or so I thought. I got up and walked to the med tent to get some IV fluids. Several of my friends were there telling me what a great job I had done. I still thought I had made the cut-off when I asked where I should pick up my medal. That is when some one said “I don’t think you get a medal Matt, you have to finish under the 17 hrs. You were 17:03.” I was sad for a minute, I thought I had made it and was now an Ironman. I hadn’t.
3 minutes doesn’t sound like a lot. It’s not a lot, but it kept me from being able to call myself an Ironman. Although it kept me from being able to call myself an Ironman, it did not keep me from crossing the finish line like everyone else who did become Ironmen and women. I did the distance!
Over the next couple days I am going to share my thoughts on coming so close, what I really learned, and what’s next. I hope you will come back for what I consider the best part….
Kona Ironman 2009 part IV
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on October 20th, 2009
I’m not going to lie. I was hurting on the run before I even got out of the chute. In the tri’s I did this summer my feet hurt for a little bit and the pain went away. This was way different. I jogged out the chute and once again the crowd cheering made the steps manageable. As I made my way up the hill I saw Suzy and Rex. I stopped to give them a kiss, had a quick cry and headed out for what was about to be the longest night of my life.
After the first mile my coach came riding up on his bike and told me I was doing great. All I had to do was 15 minute miles and I would become an Ironman with plenty of time. I thought no problem, I had never been even close to that in my training runs. I was in or so I thought. I also had never had to run a marathon after riding 112 miles in any of my training runs either.
At the first aid station I grabbed some sponges and soaked my head and neck with cold water. I grabbed some Gatorade and water and chugged them down. About 20 steps out of transition I vomitted. I continue to vomit for several minutes. When I reached the next aid station I did the same thing. Again, several steps out of transisiton I began to vomit. This routine would continue for the next 20 miles. I know I threw up at least 80 times throughout the night. I was not able to keep anything down. We tried pretzels, powerbars, oranges, nothing would stay down. In attempt to stay hydrated and keep going I simply repeated the process the whole time. Aid station, drink, eat, vomit. Unfortunately vomitting was the least of my problems.
I reached the 5 mile turn around as the sun was going down. A guy came up to me and handed me a glow in the dark band that I had to wear so cars would see me. This was the when it really sank in just how much further I had to go. Jim had said that I only needed to do 15 minute miles to finish. It took me 1:45 to get to the 5 mile check point. You don’t have to be a math major to figure out that I was falling behind.
I was at around mile 6 when this guy came up behind me on a moped. He informed me that he was the sweep and that it was his job to pull people off the course who weren’t on pace to finish. If I stayed ahead of him I would be fine. If I didn’t, I was done.
It was about that point that I was going past a little beach area with a sea wall. I seriously considered jumping off the wall right then. I remember thinking “Maybe I’ll jump that wall, hopefully I will just break an ankle and this will be over.” It didn’t take much to talk myself out of jumping that wall, but at that moment it did seem like a viable option.
I kept going and got back into town. As I was passing a restraunt I heard some guy yell “Maybe you should try losing another couple hundred pounds fat ass!” I don’t know why it happened, but at that moment I became severly self-concious and started breathing hard, like I did when I weighed over 350 pounds. All of those old insecurities came roaring back into my mind. Here I was doing an Ironman and all I could think about was how out of shape I use to be and it was affecting me in this moment.
I gathered myself and realize that the guy was an idiot sitting in a bar drinking and I was out doing an Ironman. I had to get over it and I did. I came up on one of the last hills out of town and saw my wife walking along the side of the road crying. She knew I wasn’t doing good she asked me if I wanted to walk with me. I told her no even though I did, I was starting to get a little crazy in the head about this time. At the same time I saw her, a van with flashing lights came pulling up beside me and a couple gals got out to ask me some questions. You know you are going slow when you are the guy racing and the medics are walking beside you asking questions and not even getting out of breath. They let me continue.
Once I got to the top of the hill it was a left out to the energy lab turn around. I was still vomiting, but at least now it was dark enough that no one would see me. My coach Jim and good friend, Joe Lotus, magically appeared again and told me it was time to pick it up. Not only did they let me know, but the sweep scooter came up and let me know exactly how fast I needed to do my next mile in order to stay in the race and not get pulled. This act would continue for the next 9 miles. I was always just fast enough from aid station to aid station to not get pulled.
The darkness on the Queen K is like nothing I have ever expereinced. There are very few lights and you can’t really gauge where you are on the course. That may have been the hardest part for me. Not having a way to visually gauge where you are going can be frustrating and emotionally draining but so can throwing up over and over.
At about mile 20 my coach raced ahead to an aid station to tell them to dump a garbage can of ice cold water over me. I’m talking a huge can that most people use to put a week’s worth of trash in. As I came into the aid station two big huge Hawaiian guys picked up that big plastic garbage can full of Arctic Ocean temperature water and dumped it on my head.
It took my breath away and my entire body felt like it was convulsing, but it felt great and it seemed like my body woke up. I posted one of my fastest miles of the night after that and even better, I stopped vomitting! From there on out I got an ice bath at every aid station the rest of the night. I was the last guy on the course so it wasn’t like anyone else was going to be needing it.
Come back tomorrow as I take you with me the rest of the way!
Kona Ironman 2009 part III
Posted by Matt Hoover in General on October 19th, 2009
I came out of the water feeling really good. I had finished the swim well under the time that I had set for myself and was excited to begin the bike portion of the race. All year biking has been my strongest part and I was confident that I would be able to get myself even more minutes going into the run.
I have heard epic stories about how hard the ride is in Kona. According to most of the athletes that I had talked to who had raced Kona, I could expect some crazy wind and extreme heat. I was fully anticipating both.
I left the transition area and the could feel the energy from the crowd. It was the closest I will ever feel to being a rockstar. I could hear the announcer calling out my name and people were screaming encouragement. As I rounded a small turn to head up the hill I saw my wife and boys who were yelling support. I got a little teary seeing how much they supported me. Rex, my 2 yr old, had the most intense look on his little face. I know he may be too young to understand what was going on completely but he knew daddy was doing something important.
The first part of the ride is a loop through town in which my adrenaline made it seem almost easy. After town I headed out onto the Queen K Highway to make my way up to Hawi, the turn around. I didn’t really notice the wind or the heat that much until I made the turn up the hill for the last 19 miles to the turn around.
The hills are long and steady and I really began to feel it. The other thing that I was noticing is that there is absolutely no shade along the way. I remember going through stretches where trees lined the road thinking “How can there be no shade here?” I made the turn around at about 4 hours, nearly 40 minutes behind my goal. I swtiched out my water bottles and headed back to town. There was a pretty good stretch of downhill here I was able to coast and try to dry out my shoes.
I live in Seattle where it rarely gets hot. During my ride out to Hawi I was dumping water on my head at the aid stations. On the last stretch up to Hawi my feet began to hurt really bad and I couldn’t figure out why. As I was coming back down from Hawi I finally figured it out. Much of the water that I had been dumping on myself to keep cool had been running down my leg and into my shoe. The moisture was turning my feet into mush. You know that feeling you have when you stay in the hot tub too long, that raisin feeling? I had done that to my feet and it was beginning to take its toll. I kept taking my feet out of my shoes to dry them a little but it didn’t really help.
The thing that I really began to notice was the wind on the way back. It really didn’t seem bad on the way out, but on the way back it was brutal. On stretches that seemed like I should have been able to tuck and pick up speed going down hill, I had to pedal hard to keep moving. The way back seemed twice as hard for me as going out.
Every now and then a car packed full of my friends and family would drive by yelling support and holding up bright yellow signs with words of encouragement. For a moment I would forget about the pain in my feet and have a few seconds of joy.
I think it really set in that I had a long night ahead of me when I got to the energy lab and saw all the people who nearly done with their run. Here I was still on my bike and they were about six miles from becoming Ironmen and women. I kept plugging along knowing that I had to keep moving so that I would make the bike cut-off.
I came into transition at 5:02 the cut-off was at 5:30. My bike leg had taken me over an hour more than I had anticipated. Once again, the crowd urged me forward. I got to the transition area and my first steps off of my bike were some of the most painful steps I had ever taken. I didn’t really think about it at the time, but my feet were already numb before I had even taken my first step of the run leg. I walked and jogged through the transition are to the changing tent. Got changed and headed out for my first marathon ever.
I was excited to be starting the last leg and knew that it was going to be long night. I’m glad I didn’t know then just how long it really was going to be.
See you tommorow!
