At the urging of numerous friends, I’m putting together a race report of sorts for my ‘11 IMFL race and season, which basically began some 12 months ago.  During race week in Kona of ’10, I began having some leg pain, very reminiscent of the numerous bouts of battling what I’ve always considered Piriformis Syndrome (PS). PS was nothing all that new for me, more annoying than anything, but this time it got progressively worse leading up to the race.  Having dealt with it numerous times in the past, I did all the stretches, got massages, foam rolled it, etc and it always “loosened up” by mid morning.  The week of Kona was no different. 

Race went off without any major issues (other than my performance, but I digress) and came home in about the same shape I went out there with.  For roughly two weeks after getting home this issue got progressively worse until I woke up on a Monday morning and couldn’t get out of bed due to tremendous pain going down my leg every time I moved.  Obviously this was no PS issue at all.  Don’t recall the specific timing of it all, however I was at the Dr. office within a very short timeframe and had a low back and hip MRI within a few days.  MRI revealed a herniated disc at L5-S1. 

The next 6 weeks were pretty much a blur due to all of the pain meds that I was on and offered, what seemed to be a new twist and turn every day.  Got myself into rehab pretty quickly, 4-5x per week for those first few weeks.  My wife and I were regulars there in no time and she always seemed to have to come with me early on as the meds I was on weren’t safe for driving.  That first week of rehab, all we worked on was trying to get me to stand up straight and lay down flat.  I went from a Kona finisher and the peak fitness of my life, just had completed 3 IM races inside of 11 weeks (Placid, Louisville, Kona) and now was battling the ability to just lay flat on a table without pain.  The pain was so great every time I got up that I just had had to stand there and lean against the wall or grab onto something so that I didn’t fall over from the pain.  By far the worst pain I could ever have imagined, BY FAR!!  I couldn’t really walk up stairs, couldn’t sit in a chair, couldn’t lay or sit on the couch, couldn’t lay on the floor because I couldn’t get back up, and could barely get into the car.  At some point in November my wife and I put a bed in our living room (main level) and made the height such that I could just walk up to it and sit/lay down without having to bend at all.  That bed ended up being there for maybe 2 months all told.

After about a month of rehab, I did start to see some progress.  Started standing up straight, did some minor core exercises, getting in and out of the car was done in 1 minute vs. 5, and even started walking on the treadmill for up to 3 whole minutes.  But very quickly, the progress started reverting backwards.  During this time, I was also seeing a pain doctor and had 3 epidural steroid injections which bought me temporary relief, but nothing lasting.  Surgery still wasn’t something I was considering, however at the urging of my PT, I started making appointments with Drs. to at least get on their list and so that should I change my mind, I could be ready.  Saw 3 different Drs. initially that all pretty much had the same opinion, basically that my triathlon days were over and my running days were certainly long gone.  After taking 6 years to get myself to the fitness needed to reach my ultimate dream of making it to Kona, in my mind, all was lost in the 6 short weeks following. 

Not happy with each those doctors’ prognosis, I convinced myself that I needed to find a Dr. that had some level of athletic back ground and had some understand of how an athlete thinks.  About a week later I had found a new doctor to the area that was a collegiate level tennis player.  Got an appointment within a few days with him and about the same time my symptoms starting getting worse.  Pain was moving the wrong direction on me, and all of the “red flags” with disc issues were popping up.  Within minutes of meeting him, I told him that long-course triathlon is something I want to get back to and he fully understood.  This was the first Dr. that actually not only understood what a triathlon was, but really knew what IM athletes are all about.  After an evaluation and a few days of deliberation on my part, I opted for surgery. 

Scheduled surgery for about 2 weeks later (2 days after Christmas) and went off without a hitch and pain was gone immediately.  Started up rehab in early February ’11 and was again going 3-4x per week initially.  Started walking 30 minutes by mid February, extended that to 60 minutes by the end of February.  I jogged my first three miles the first week of March (11:00 pace).  I also started spinning and swimming in February, but nothing too fast nor hard.  Basically went almost all of October due to the taper for Kona and then November through February with no exercise and was basically starting from scratch.  

During the early onset of this issue, before I really know the gravity of it all, I had a serious mental brain cramp and signed up for IMFL.  I thought that this issue would be like all the other injuries and I’d be better in a few weeks, so why not sign up?

As an aside, during these 5 months off I found myself sleeping a lot, way more than I had ever slept in the past, but my normal “zombie” feeling from all the training just never seemed to go away.  I had been tired for the 6 years leading up to this point and always attributed it to just the down side of training so hard, having a very busy personal family life,  and just going for so long and never really letting the body recovery.  I wasn’t exercising and didn’t do ANYTHING around the house for a few months and still found myself always tired.  Back to the Dr. I went and very quickly realized that I also had sleep apnea (thanks dad!!).  Got my machine, and after a few months, I started to actually feel “normal” again. 

During this time, I decided to make some additional changes in my athletic life.  I wanted to keep learning about the sport and made the coaching change from Adam Zucco to Scott Iott.  Although both are fellow TBC coaches, I was looking some different views and approaches.  Adam was a great coach for me for nearly three years, he pushed me to levels I never thought possible and set the stage for all my recent successes. 

I slowly built up my training and fitness throughout the year.  First “race” back was the Madison ½ marathon in May, ran a 1:41 (7:43 pace) and it was brutally hard.  From there I did the LITH sprint tri, along with the Racine and Boulder 70.3 races in the following months.  None of them overly impressive from where my historic goals and times had been, but was overly happy with the end results considering the months leading up to these races.

After I got back from Boulder (mid August), my training and fitness really started taking off.  The consistent training that Scott had built me up to along with my sleep apnea issues finally being behind me was starting to pay dividends, however my bike was still a problem for me as holding the aero position was nearly impossible for any stretch of time.  All the way up to IMFL, the longest I was ever able to hold my race position on the bike was 2 hours.  I did end up getting a number of 5 hour rides, but they mostly consisted of riding for 2 hours and then struggling with the back for 3 more.  As I progressed closer and closer to the race, my swim and run really took off to new levels.  Swimming times were much improved over prior years and more importantly my run was at new levels I’d never seen before.  The last 4 long runs leading into the taper included runs ranging from 20.5 miles to 26 miles with the slowest being in the 7:20/mile range and the important part was that I felt strong at the end of each of them.  4 weeks out from IMFL I ran a PR in the Chicago Marathon (3:08:54) as a training day and stayed in z2 for the entire run.  Last run before the race Scott challenged me to try to run 3x50 minutes at descending intervals of 7:20, 7:10, and 7:00 for each 50 minute set, which I passed with flying colors.  What a great confidence builder going into the taper that was!!

As I fast forward to IMFL, I’ll just give the highlights.

Swim – found my good bud Zucco at the swim start and my goal (as always) was to get on his feet and see how long I could hang on.  We chatted quickly about strategies and currents and agreed on a plan.  Gun went off, I jumped on his feet and just did all I could to stay on his feet for as long as I could.  To my surprise, I was there for about 90 seconds (that’s a new PR!!) before I looked up and noticed what appeared to be that we were #1 and #2 on the course.  I was really gassed so I decided to back off and get into my rhythm.  Very quickly I was swallowed up back into the masses, but at least had a good start and was with some fast swimmers.  Nothing really exciting, just steady tempo swimming.  Exited the water in 59:57, 104 o’all and 20^th in age group.  PR on the placing and just missed a time PR by about 30 seconds, and better yet, about 3 minutes faster than the goal.  Swam 1:06 here 2 yrs prior.

T1 – nothing of note here, just moved through as fast as I could as I wanted to limit the number of fast riders that were ahead of me.  T1 time of 3:57.  Goal of 5 minutes, so very happy with this.  More importantly, I was on the bike in under 1:04 (PR!!) and already 4 minutes ahead of goal and 7-8 minutes ahead of last time I raced here.  Moved from 20^th in age group to 8^th in T1.

Bike – got into the rhythm very quickly.  Found a few guys to ride with early on and seemed to hang with the same 4-5 guys all day until about mile 90.  Was pretty windy out and always seemed to be in your face no matter what direction you went. Wasn’t a brutal wind, but just enough to slow you down and test your focus.  Due to the limited bike fitness and bike issues, had a goal bike watts of 200 (20-30 lower than my normal goal).  With the wind, there wasn’t much of a legal draft benefit so it was pretty much a solo effort.  Hit the 3 hour mark and average watts were 230 and I was still aero and feeling pretty good with most of the real windy sections behind me.  Had some stretches where there was a slight tail wind so I let off the gas a little and focus on the nutrition and setting myself up for the run.  A few guys that I had dropped began coming back on me and my old self would have gone with them, but this year with my confidence in my run, I began “sizing” these guys up and making mental notes as to whom I thought could run and who couldn’t.  Got to the second out and back and marked Zucco at about 12:30 ahead of me; however I didn’t realize he was at the front of the race at that point.  I didn’t count, but there were only a handful of guys between Zucco and myself at me at this point and I began passing some of the pro men.  Very happy to at least see Zucco out there as that meant I was having a great day.  Balance of the ride was uneventful and I just tried to hang with the only guy that looked like he could run, but he was in a lower age group.  Final 5 miles was brutally windy and really zapped the legs.  Total ride time of 4:59:55 and approx. 220 watts.  Time was 17 minutes slower on 13 more watts than 2 years prior, however I came in to T2 and it was nearly empty and nobody really had passed me in those last 20 miles, so I was happy.  Missed the goal by 15 minutes, but somehow managed to make it through the ride aero the entire time (except a few aid stations) and well above my watt goals, so very happy.  Gained 1 more spot in the age group during the ride and got off the bike in 7^th.

T2 – pretty typical here, just move through quickly and efficiently.  Time of 2:54 including a quick bathroom break.  Passed one more guy in the age group in T2 so started the run in 6^th in the age group.

Run – legs felt like crap coming out of T2.  Had that feeling like a cramp in the quads was coming, kind of a twinge with every step, and immediately started taking the salt tabs and coke to keep the cramps at bay.  This feeling lasted for 17 miles!!  Prior to the race I asked my sister to find the #1 person in my age group and mark the time between him and myself coming out of T2.  About ¼ mile into the run I spotted her and she yelled that it was Zucco and he was 12 minutes up.  I had hoped to be within 8 minutes of the lead, but oh well, out of my control. For the first loop I felt great and was consistently holding 7 – 7:10 pace.  I could hear Iott in the back of my head yelling at me to slow down, but I told myself that if I really felt good, then I’d allow myself to run at close to 7:00 pace and trust my fitness and experience.  Made the turn at about 13.5 miles or so and saw Zucco coming back at me.  Almost immediately after seeing him, I passed 2 guys from my age group and then made the turn to head out for lap #2.  At this point, my sister said that Zucco was only 4 minutes up and I was in 5^th.  There’s no way that she had splits from the timing mat I had just crossed, so I figured that with the 2 I just passed, I had moved up to 3^rd position and was gaining on Zucco.  Held my pace until I caught him at somewhere around the 17 mile mark and we began to run together.  Running with him for that ½ mile was pretty awesome as I know how talented he is and that he’s probably the most consistently high placing age group athlete I know.  We chatted for a few quick minutes and decided that we had different strategies so went at our own pace.  At this point I began to slow to 7:30’s and held that until around mile 20 when the wheels began to fall off.

As I entered the park I thought I was in serious trouble.  Pace was slowing quickly, cadence had dropped, and I started seeing “stars” and had a hard time running in a straight line.  I gutted it out until around mile 22 and then began a run/walk plan just trying to hold onto a 6^th or 7^th place finish and hopefully make it through and get a slot.  Didn’t really have a time goal of the run/walk, but decided I’d run until I started seeing stars and then power walk until they went away.  Pretty much at my first walk break I got passed by someone in my age group, put me in 3^rd.  I knew that almost everyone will slow down in the last 6 miles, so my goal was to just try to hang on.  Pretty much kept this run walk strategy until the finish and to my surprise nobody else passed me.  Longest 4 miles of my life, getting to that last ½ mile finishing chute all by myself knowing I had a Kona slot in the bag was one of the best moments in my triathlon career.  All told, ran 3:16:31 (14 minute PR) and gave back probably 7-8 minutes over that last 5 miles.   Crossed the line in 9:23, a 4 minute improvement over my previous best on a way tougher day.

In hind-site I think I executed my race plan perfectly.  I think my issues late in the run were contributed more toward my effort on the bike and lack of bike fitness vs. going out too hard on the run. 

I’m a new triathlete this year than prior years.  I have a new appreciation for the word “pain” and my run is beginning to become a weapon. 

Obviously thanks to all my training buds.  Thanks to Zucco for all those years of coaching that set the stage for me on this day.  Thanks to Iott for all with work we did this year and turning me into a runner.  And a HUGE thank you to my wife and kids for getting me back healthy and for making so many sacrifices for me to be able to get back to this point.  I went from a Kona finisher, to someone forced to take 5 months off of training, and earning a slot back to Kona with a 5^th overall finisher in an IM.  What a year it’s been and I look forward to Kona ’12.