Ironman Wisconsin Part 5 6 Ironmans in One Year is complete

As you all may know we have begun our last race now.....it's 7 AM....the gun has sounded...2406 bodies are churning the water in a symphony that can only be witnessed as one of the most moving experiences you can tap into at any one live moment. To get here these athletes and their families, friends and others sacrificed allot to have this day arrive. 30 weeks of training at a minimum and much of it alone has brought everyone here together to the wonderful sounds of Mike Reilly sending us on our day. It is a Magical Moment. I would hope that anyone reading this that has not experienced an Ironman Race to try and do so as it will change their life in a positive way. Now the symphony may be how the spectator views this but for the athlete it is a very different experience. For most of us in the water the first 10-15 minutes is a maddening churning of a washing machine and your are the towel. sometimes you are in control of that middle throttle pushing folks from side to side and sometimes you are the receiver of another ebb and flow that sends your rhythm out of sync and fighting to get beyond the madness. The wetsuit definitely helps when others push down on you as it helps you float back to the top. You now understand how a school of fish feels sliding around off of each other and all heading in a similar direction. I haven't shared this fact with everyone until this point but one of the nagging injuries I have had to endure over this past year is my left shoulder (from overuse)which has now already begun to flare up and I am only maybe a half mile into the 2.4 mile swim. As I begin to free myself from the crowd and just get into a good rhythm I find myself thinking of the man just a few nights earlier that decided to swim at 9 PM in a drunken haze. I was feeling bad for him and his family and thinking this must be a very difficult day for them as they had not discovered his body yet. I gave a moment of silence to them and prayed they would have some peace in their difficult time. I then focused back on technique and getting to the finish of the 1st leg of 3 for me. That's how I break up my day. I take it One Leg at a Time and try and save energy and body parts for each one. I am not the fastest swimmer yet so I try and conserve my legs more for the bike where I seem to be better at lately. But today was going to change that a bit as about 1 1/2 miles into my swim I was in trouble. My left arm would no longer get out of the water to execute a good stroke. I was almost doing a weird version of the side stroke for the remaining mile and my time out of the water reflected that. As I exited the water y shoulder had pain I had not felt at any of my previous 5 Ironmans so I was not sure how being in the aero position on my bike was going to feel. All in all I am happy 1 leg down and only 2 more legs to go!

Out of the water and help from the infamous volunteers who peeled off my wetsuit and sent me towards transition to change into my bike gear. This venue was quite interesting as we had to run quite a ways towards a helix which went up 4 stories to the top of the parking garage where the transition area was to change and also where our bikes are to head out on our 112 mile journey throughout Madison and the surrounding communities. All up the helix were spectators cheering you on the way to help you trudge up bare feet on the concrete to the top! They were also very loud because of the echoing of the concrete surrounding us. It was interesting to hear that after absorbing half of Lake Monoma in my head. It was actually pretty cool!

Changed up and took my time as I wanted to be sure to get my gear on straight and then head out to the Porta potty and take care of some Number 1 business then off to grab my bike and head out onto one of the most scenic rides on the circuit......

As I got on the bke my shoulder started to feel like it was loosening up and feeling better so I pushed along at a good pace and kept an eye on my speed as I usually do to maintain a decent pace to finish. One day soon I will push at 1 Ironman and rewally kick ass but today is not the day for that. Today is a day to finish our journey by getting to the finish by midnight and that will be just fine with Keith & I. The bike I was told would be worse than Lake Placid which I find hard to believe at this point as they say it has more elevation gain overall but those hills(mountains) in Lake Placid were brutal and long......as I rode along through the first loop I did notice there were definitely more hills but the grade wasn't near as bad to me as Lake Placid so I was pretty pumped and feeling pretty good. The town of Verona has a special chute you ride through as well lined with thousands of spectators cheering you up Mt Herob and then off to make your second loop. The only down thing hat happened through here was a wasp or bee flew into my shirt right to my chest and as I tried to squish it it stung me. Luckily I didn't feel a swelling so I just brushed it aside. Memories for Madison I guess. I guess when I left Louisville from 13 days ago their hometown boy Mohammed Ali decided to float like a butterfly to Wisconsin and sting me like a bee in Verona. One thing I noticed about this course was that it was extremely bumpy and unforgiving to the bike itself. There were times I could not go aero just because you hit so many bumps in a row....As I rode along past a large mall area I heard Jim & Bonnie Whetstone shouting out my name as they drove by in the car. They were excited to find me and took pics as I rode and I think even some video. They also called ahead to my wife who was with Bernadette, her boyfriend and Brad awaiting my second loop turn. I stopped to say hi to them briefly and checked out my chest to be sure there was no swelling and then headed out onto the second loop. As I neared the final hills wich were pretty steep and brutal the scond time through I noticed smething I had never witnessed and any of the 7 Ironmans I have done (including Lake Placid) and that was people walking thei bikes up the hills. I was not about to be one of them. As I pushed up one of the last big hills the gal in front of me slipped out of one of her pedals and twisted her bike right in front of me and I was forced to stop or hit her which meant I had to get of my bike and took two steps walking and jumped back on again and continued up the hill. I may have to walk part of the marathon but I was NOT going to walk up any hill with my bike!!!! .............and I didn't.....As I headed back into Madison I felt a great feeling for the first time along this journey that I was almost 2 legs down and only one more to go with plenty of time left on the clock. As I neared mile 108 I had my first mechanical issue of the Ironman.....a flat tire.....and then as I looked at the other tire it was low....as I refilled the first hoping it would hold air a nice lady on a scooter with a pink Ironman helmet pulled alongside of me and hurriedly got off her scooter and grab her tools and within 5 minutes had changed my bike tire and got me back on the road. She was amazing! I am sure with all of the bumps on these roads she had a busy day along with the other mechanics on the road. They do allot of the work and get little thanks! Thanks Mechanics! As I came along the beautiful city of Madison along Lake Monoma I could see the next helix I would ride up and dismount and get to transition again to change into my run gear and finish this Amazing Magical Journey! I may be Nutz but I can tell you now there is no greater feeling in the world to know you are so very close to completing something most thought improbable or impossible altogether. I also knew that Keith was out on the marathon course so I was very excited that we would both have a great shot at doing this together............................

to be continued............

p.s. I will be writing soon about our friend Joe who is our Coach, Mentor and Original IronNut who is at this moment in Kona Hawaii perparing for the Super Bowl of Ironman Races the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii....and also our great friend and Professional IronNut Swen Sundberg from Germany will be there too......oh and did I mention that I am on a plane at this moment heading over there on Virgin America to cheer them on! ......and Keith will be there too! Its going to be awesome The 3 Original IronNutz in Hawaii together to cheer on the man who lead u down this path to begin with. This is an Amazing Magical and truly Spiritual Journey we are on together and I for one am grateful to witness and be a part of good guys doing good things for one another......see more of Joey's story and donate at www.joeturcotte.com