Ironman Zurich Switzerland #15 HALF WAY!

Thursday July 12 2012

The original Dave

I slept in super late.  My body has needed a lot more sleep than it normally would.  The body does most of its repairing when asleep releasing the HGH (human growth hormone) which is key to me recovering and racing an Ironman week after week.  In the afternoon I drove down to the race site and got all registered nice and early.  To kill some time I picked up the program of events for the week and was flipping through it.  I came upon an article about a guy named Dave who just happened to be a guy I talked to about 15 minutes earlier.  Dave was one of the original athletes who did the Hawaii Ironman back in 1978.  I was 2 years old when this event happened.  I went back out to the lake and Dave was still there being interviewed by the media.  When they finished I walked up to him and introduced myself and blamed him for all the crazy stuff I and so many others are doing.  It was very cool to meet one of the guys who started it all.  I found it interesting that in the first event entry was $3, I can even get a water bottle with the Ironman logo on it for $3 bucks.   I spent the rest of the day relaxing and recovering from all the climbing in France last Saturday.  

Friday July 13 2012

Today was another lazy day.  I slept in nice and late again before heading out to the English race briefing.  I only go to the race meetings now to find out about special needs bags and parking or shuttle information on race day.  These differ from race to race and I want to make sure I can get to the race on race morning and I also need to make sure I get my nutrition.  The rest of the info is all the exact same.  After the meeting I waited around for the athlete dinner.  The food isn’t really that good at these but it is a free meal.  I would never take a spouse of children to one of these dinners as they charge $30 for over cooked noodles, red sauce, salad and water.  After eating I went back home and headed to bed.

Saturday July 14 2012

Their little boy that called me Jason all week.

Another day to sleep in.  The Viagas-Haws family has been very good to me all week.  They took me in and have treated me like a son.  I am very grateful to have been directed to them by my very first home stay of the year in Naples Florida - so thank you very much.  The event had limited to zero parking for athletes and spectators.  I did not want to have Julianna or Tony drive me early on race morning so we came up with a plan.  Tony works at a bank close (just over a mile) from the race site and told me I could park at his office and then take the trolley in.  Sounded like a plan to me!  So today I loaded up my bike and followed Tony and family to the bank where we both parked and they took me to lunch and to see some sites in Zurich.  Lunch was awesome.  Zurich is a very health conscious city with great food.  We went to an Asian restaurant where I ordered chicken and rice bowl - it was silly good!  I also had a fresh cucumber, celery, apple, and mint drink.  It was surprisingly good!  After lunch took in a few local sites and Julianna bought Sunny a small taste of what is suppose to be THE BEST chocolate in the world.  I will let Sunny be the judge of that.  The city has all these fountains everywhere that I saw people drinking out of.  I am not talking drinking fountains but like the kind of fountains you see in the US where people throw money into and make a wish.  Apparently all the water is super fresh spring water and they have these fountains all over the city and the route the run off water to them.  So I dove in and took a drink, and it was fresher than fresh! 

Custom MINI hummer.  

There is MONEY in Switzerland.  I took a picture of the first Ferrari I saw thinking it would be one of the only ones I saw.  This was a every 15 minute occurrence.  I saw BMS’s I had never seen before, a million Mazzaratis, unique Porsches, and I even saw a mini Hummer.  It has to be custom and the only one of it’s kind.  I also saw plenty of Lambourghinis and a few cars I didn’t even know what they were.  We looked into a few shops and pants were going for about $3200 and sometimes more.  It was insane.  Just watching the people was fun. it was a world I have no clue about.  Tony is an estate planner for the bank and deals with these people everyday.  He says it is a pretty fun job. 

I marked my GPS unit so I could find the parking spot again in the morning.  I rode my bike to check it in and then walked back to my car and timed how long it took me to get from transition to my car.  It was 23 minutes (this is important later).  I drove back home for dinner where Julianna had again prepared a great meal.  The family had recently gone vegetarian so I was getting to try all these new great recipes.... I think I liked it.... Off to bed.

Sunday July15 2012 

Race Day Zurich Switzerland

I set my alarm for 4 am and wanted to be out of the house by 4:40 so I could get down and make sure to get my chosen parking spot.  I was heading down a hill into town when flashing lights went off like I was a famous celebrity and the paparazzi was taking pictures of me.  Sadly it was traffic speeding cameras mounted high up on posts, hidden.  I bet I had 10 of more speeding tickets if these things are all over..... this was the first time I was driving int he dark.  Later that night I asked Tony about these and he said his first month here he got over $1500 in speeding tickets.  I laughed and said they will have to find me in the US - ha ha!  I drove right to my parking spot, grabbed my bags and heading to the race.  

The streets were empty and I was the ONLY one walking towards transition.  This was very strange.  I kept thinking and wondering if I had the right day.  A few volunteers were there and 2 athletes came up after me.  I was the FIRST person into transition which is amazing cause I am never there early and actually think it is dumb to go so early.  There is NOTHING to do race morning but wait.  Your bags are done and bike is already there, so there is nothing much to do.  So I sat there, in the rain freezing.  I was wearing the shoes I would be racing in so decided to go back into transition and lay them beside my bike as we only had 28 minutes to be suited up and lake side for the gun start.  The media had found me there and did a quick interview for a show being broadcast in Europe, hope I sounded smart;)  I laid out my shoes and took off my socks to put then in my bike shoes.  BIKE SHOES???  I had left my bike shoes in the car and remember I now know exactly how long it takes to get to my car and back.  I didn’t have enough time to get to my car, grab my shoes, get back to transition and then over to the water start.  With my wetsuit on and up to my waist I put my shoes back on and started running to my car.  I got to the car in about 10 minutes, grabbed my shoes and headed back to transition.  My calves were sore and tight from this unexpected 2 mile sprint in my wetsuit before todays Ironman race- DUMB!!!  I made it back to transition, set up both pair of shoes and socks and ran over to the swim start.  I got all zipped up with about 45 seconds to spare before the gun went off for race start!

Dock on the right for second lap, Dock on the left to exit.

I jumped in the water and again stayed way left.  I  started swimming about 10 feet inside of the mass of people and have had tremendous success finding my own space in the water.  Water temp was 20 degrees Celsius and was perfect.  We swam the first loop and I just settled into a nice rhythm.  I could see all the swimmer fighting it out to my left as I enjoyed all my own space.    We swam the first loop and looped under a bridge to a small island where we got out of the water, ran over the small island then swam diagonal out to the original first swim buoy, around it, across the top for a second time, back under the bridge and then out of the water towards the bike.  Another swim down safely!

Done with another swim.

The Bike-

I felt good going into this ride and felt that I could post a good time today.  I didn’t look like we were going to get rained on too bad and I race better when it is not too hot.  The course started out flat and fast as we raced towards the back side of the first of two loops.  I got to about mile 30 when I noticed my right foot starting to move around and float a little more than I was used to.  My cleat screws had striped and my foot became very unstable on the peddle,  An efficient bike stroke required and good down stroke and a solid up pull.  With out the pull you are just mashing your peddles and using mostly all your quad muscles when you could be using all of your leg muscles.  As the ride progressed my cleat became looser and looser.  I had high hopes of coming across bike support but NEVER DID SEE THEM.  By the mid way point the two back screws had come completely unscrewed and forced me to continue only pushing down on the peddles.  This cause my right quad to get really hot and knot up right in the middle.  I tried to take it easy and peddle more with just my left leg.  My quad were still tired from last week and not being able to engage the upstroke really put extra stress on my right quad.  I was in trouble.... I slowed way down in hopes to save my quad and not do too much long term damage.  I didn’t see how it was going to be possible to run the marathon.  To make matters worse I was freezing and despite my positive attitude it rained on and off throughout the entire ride.  I was soaked and then wind made me very cold.  I was grumpy and certainly not having a good time.  I finished the bike ride in 6 hours flat and pulled into transition deflated and discouraged with the possibility of a LONG LONG walk in the rain.  

Wet and cold but hanging in there.

On my way into transition I jump off my bike and started running towards my spot.  I always undo my chin strap while running through transition as it is one less thing I need to do when I get to my spot.  Apparently this is against the rules.  I was immediately stopped by an official and could not continue till I did my helmet strap up again.  I guess I COULD fallen while running with my bike....good thing we didn’t have to wear our helmets on the run course.  I took my time in T2 and stretch out both quads pretty good.  I started running and I was shocked to find that it felt ok, so I just kept on running.  I decided I would keep running and if I felt it acting up I was prepared to walk the entire run.  Thank goodness it held up the whole 26.2 miles.  The aid stations had these very tasty chocolate treats that I took to munch on after I had taken in my appropriate functional nutrition.  The run course was 4 loops around one side of the lake and through a park in the middle of town.  Despite the poopy weather the crowd were great.  The Viagas- Haws family eve came down with signs and all cheering on their IronCowboy.  They have 3 small kids in the family that is the same ages as my kids.  I was awesome for them to come and cheer me on, they even made big banners to motivate me to keep going.  On my third lap the skies opened up and poured on us.  This created a nasty rubbing situation between my top and my nipples.  I peeled off at the first medic station and they hooked me up with something called “second skin”.  They were magical and I need to see if I can find these in the states.  You never know when they would come in handy. 

Last lap and I managed a smile ;)

A happy finisher in the wet conditions

#15 in the books which marks the half way point of my journey!

The last lap and this Ironman as a whole was tough for me.  I was tired, cold and wet.  It was the first race where I would take the warm broth at each aid station.  This warm drink helped me get through and to the finish of my 15th Ironman of the year.  To get me through I thought a lot about Sunny, my kids, and all the incredible support I had back home.  On the last lap I just had to keep telling myself  “One foot in front of the other”  As I run around the course I look for my friends in Europe.  I look for the Ryan Grover of Europe, the Casey Robles of Europe, the Keena of Europe, the Andy Compass of Europe and so on.  It is a fun game I play to get me through the day.  Anyways #15 is in the books and I can’t wait to get back home.  One more stop in Lake Placid New York before heading home to Utah to see some friendly face.

I didn’t leave the house Monday or Tuesday till I left for the airport.  I was completely exhausted from the efforts of the last few weeks and didn’t have motivation to do anything.  I am in uncharted territory for my mind and body and this race in Zurich was my 6th consecutive race in this stretch of 8 in a row.  This is a tough month but I am learning so much about myself and others.  Thank you so very much to ALL the people who reached out and helped me on this trip and also ALL the people who helped Sunny out while I am away.  I means the world to us and your acts of kindness are not going unnoticed.  We also had a record high in the donation department for the charity Quiet Way.  If you haven’t already please consider donation even it is just a small amount, say $15 dollars for 15 Ironman races done ;)  You can donate at www.quietway.org  All the money goes to the work in Africa so don’t be shy.  See you in NY city!

Downtown with the Viagas-Haws family

Ugly and expensive, a bad combo.  Take a look at the prices below.

Stop it right now!

Cars like this were EVERYWHERE and the NORM

And this is how you pack a car - ha!

Tour De France

Monday July 9th 2012,

I headed down off the mountain from the race back to Perpignon today.  On my way up to the race I saw what looked like a castle or fort.  I figured I would stop and check it out on my way down.  Turns out it was a fort and behind the protected walls was an old city.  It was neat to see places like this in person.  People still lived behind these walls and it was also a place for tourists.  There were these super old ladies who were heading out for their Sunday worship.  They and their families must have been living here for generations.  

 I toured around the streets and tried to envision the people who used to live and rule in these streets.  So much history and stories of people who came before us.  I headed back to Perpignon and caught the last hour of church before heading back to the Benedetti home for my last few days in France.

I miscalculated the drive and distance and start time for the Time Trial day at the Tour De France.  I had wanted to head out the door early Monday morning but it was just too far away.  So I had a good few lazy days in Perpignon where I just chilled and relaxed.  I made sure to get out and walk around a bit.  I located a local bakery and enjoyed what is called a Religious (but said with a strong french R roll).  It is a tasty chocolate treat I remembered from my time is Paris many years ago.

Dinner France Style!

On Tuesday afternoon I packed up and headed to Jerome’s brother in laws house which happened to be on my way to where I would be watching the TDF stage.  It was a nice drive and I chose the NO TOLL option on my GPS unit.  I wasn’t in a huge rush as he wasn’t going to be home till after 5:30 pm.  I stopped off in Avingnon and toured "Palais des Papes"  (The Pope's Palace).  I did the audio toured and again marvelled at this time period.

Palaid des Papes

This is the chimney in the middle of a huge kitchen where the cook MEAT!

Always room for Ice cream!

I choose non toll roads today to avoid this feeling ;)

   The drive was nice and took me through small towns and fun windy roads.  It would be so much fun to come to Europe and rent motorbikes and just cruise.... One day Sunny Jo.  My dad would love to ride these roads.  I found a oven pizza place on wheels and it was just what I was in the mood for.  I headed over to my house for the night.  I was in a super small town, I mean a really small town.  Fernand was super nice and welcomed me into his home.  The place was quiet as his wife and kids were at her mothers for the night.  I spent the night talking with Sunny and my kids, thank you Skype.

Tour De France (Wednesday)

I woke up with excitement as today was the day I get to go to the tour and watch the big boys ride.  I drove to the part of the stage that I though would be good for viewing.  I didn’t want to go and just see all the riders together and blow by me in 30 seconds in one big peleton.  Stage 10 was the first stage that had some real climbs that would split up the riders for a little longer viewing of them.  The race started in Mâcon and finished in Bellegarde-sur-Valserine.  I found the biggest climb on the tour and wanted to bike up and sit about half way up.  I arrived with plenty of time and biked around town a bit, picked up a few souvenirs before heading up the climb to stake out my position.  I was there a few hours early but   found a great spot where I could see the riders go by and I could also see the road below before the riders got to me.  The side of the road started to fill up with people wanting to see the riders dominate this climb.  I passed the time by writing in my blog waiting for the riders.  Before the rider came by there was the parade of cars.  And I just don’t mean the bike support for all the teams, I mean an actual parade.  All the big sponsors decorate their cars and trucks and come by one after another throwing out toys, shirts, hats and treats.  This helped the time go by faster and was fun.  It built up the excitement for the big show of the day.  Soon after the riders started to come.  I got it right and I had climbed up high enough to where the peleton had split and the riders were more spread out into smaller groups and individual riders.  The crowd started going nuts as the riders went by.  It was a lot of run seeing these guys climb like animals.  Small upper bodies and monster legs propelled these guys up these climbs.  I was a rush and super fun to watch.  Before I knew it the race had gone by and everyone started back down the mountain.  WHAT AN AWESOME DAY!!  I biked back to my car and headed out to find my next stop just over the Switzerland border.  I was suppose to stay at a guys house who’s name is Tony.  I had Tony’s address and his first name but no last name.  I found his condo but I didn’t know which button to push on the outside.  I didn’t have an apartment number just the building number.  None of the name plates said “Tony”.  I asked a few people entering the building if they knew a Tony but no one did.  So I loaded back up in my car and headed to what would be my final European destination in Zurich Switzerland. 

Oh Ya, I'm here.

Grabbed a snack before my climb to stake my spot.

Found the perfect spot.

Here comes the parade

Here comes the big boys.

Wiggins.. The man in Yellow.

Proof I was there in the flesh!

There were a few bad car crashes on my way which slowed my journey.  I hoped to not arrive too late at my destination as they weren’t expecting me till tomorrow sometime.  I rolled into town just after 9 pm and luckily the Viagas-Haws family was still up.  They welcome me in and I settled in.  We stayed up late and just talked for a while.  Julianna and Tony are both super nice and I am grateful that they are letting me stay at their place for so long.  I will end up staying her for 6 nights which is the longest I have stayed anywhere.  This takes a lot of stress off of me knowing I can just settle in till race day and not worry too much about where I will be staying next and how I am going to get there.

This was the cause of sone major delays on the freeway.

Ironman #14 Les Angles France

Saturday RACE DAY!

Profile of todays bike ride

The alarm went off super early today as the race start was at 5:30 instead of the normal 7 am due to the extreme difficult nature of the course.  I put my bags and nutrition together and headed down.  The race start was going to take place before sunrise so the far swim buoy was all lit up.  As soon as the gun went off all the kayaker light safety flares to light the way.  It was a strange feeling swimming in the dark.  I couldn't see anything in the water and I couldn’t see the swimmers around me.  I only knew someone was there if I bumped into them.  I would go long stretched without hitting anyone and when I would make contact with someone it would startle me.  After the first loop run got out of the water and ran along a dock before getting back in.  The sun was starting to come up as I head out for my second lap.  It still wasn’t light out but it also wasn’t pitch black.  On my second lap I came up on what my have been Frances Olympic gold medalist breast stroker..... or I'm not that good of a swimmer.... He was going just as fast as I was.  Initially I thought he was just taking a break from freestyle, but he wasn't ;( I could now just barely see my hands and I could see white bubbles from my hand entry.  I was like I was falling through space and the white bubbles were the stars..... it was a pretty cool swim.  Both my laps were consistent and I exited the water in 1 hour and 13 minutes.  It was now off the the 200 K bike ride with well over 15 000 feet of climbing.

Far buoy all lite up

Taking off into the dark waters

I headed out on the bike expecting about an 8 hour ride time.... around 2 hours longer than my normal ride.  The hills started almost immediately and they just never let up.  I made the first climb and thought I would have passed more people with how far back I was in the swim.  I only passed a few and was passed by a different few.  The next stretch was some of the scariest of the whole day.  It was steep switchbacks on rough roads and sections of gravel.  Anyone who knows me knows I am a decent climber but a complete pansy (I call it being cautious) on the downhills.  This decent was like my worst nightmare.  I was slow, really slow.  I think most of the field past me on this section early in the race.  It was also freezing and it takes me forever to warm up after I get really cold like this.  It is still very early morning and this side of this mountain is still in the shade.  I made it to the bottom and was grateful to be climbing again.  Here is a video of my day on the bike.  Use this LINK to Facebook

The climbs seems to go on and on and on.  Later in the day I was like Jeckle and hyde.  When I was climbing I wanted to be descending and when I was descending I wanted to be climbing.  Good thing there was plenty of both.  If you could descend well you could make up some time from all the slow goings on the climbs... but when you descend like a four year old girl on a tricycle it makes for a long day.  I kept thinking how well my friend Jess would be as he loves to bomb down the mountainsides.  Up and down, up and down I went ALL damn day.  4 hours, 5 hours, 6 hours, 7 hours..... I wasn’t going anywhere fast.  The good news is I had tons of time to take in all the views.  The Pyrenees were incredible.  This is one race I would love to put together a tough group of friends and come back to experience on not so tired and time crunched schedule.  As per usual the video just doesn’t do it justice.  It was cool to ride the same road as some of the Big Tour De France names of the past.  You could see the names of the great (dopers) written on the roads on the way up up up!  Super cool moment for me!

This is an awesome shot of she of the climbs

More climbing

8 hours, 9 hours..... come on!  No way I thought this ride was going to take me this long.    I took in cookies and candies at the air stations but relied mostly on my bottles. I eventually burned through all my bottles, both special needs bags and was past the last aid station and was out of water.  I had fueled perfectly to this point but was now out of liquid.  I knew I had about 30 minutes left.  I just hoped that I had enough in me to get through the end of this ride.  The last section was fairly flat but as luck would have it was right into a nasty headwind, and why wouldn’t we be!  9 hours and 53 minutes later I once again found the transition area.  This ride was one of the best experiences I have had on a bike.  I felt strong throughout and feel that I paced well for a 10 hour ride knowing I had a tough marathon to run and another Ironman to take down in a weeks time.

Not me shown, but this is the top of the monster!

I made a quick changed, grabbed my fuel belt and headed out onto the run.  The run course started out flat through the treed camping area, out aver the dam crossing the lake and then up the first big climb of the day (which we would end up doing this stretch two times.)  We ran back past transition and then up up up into town.  I was feeling ok fueling with my liquid shot along the way.  I had to walk some of the hills and wasn’t interested in really pushing the pace after the already long day of work.  I was in preservation mode with long term big picture in mind.  I kept running, but nothing impressive.  Once through town we had a MONSTER climb which I walked every step and then down the back side down to another lake and the far turn around (we only had to do this section once, thank goodness).  So back up from the lake I went and then down the monster.  We ran through town and back to the camping area and transition and back over the dam.  On my way back to transition I missed a turn and added about 1 km to my run.  Just what I needed after such a big day!

The view from the run... Transition is down by the water and we ran around to the other side.  Legit marathon here boys.

Swim Course the day before

Steady steady I kept telling myself.  One foot in front of the other... come on now.  I didn’t bonk and I ran it all the way home.  In the last 5 km I passed back a few athletes who had passed me earlier in the day.  Today was truly a full test of endurance, both mentally and certainly physically.  You had to have and execute your nutrition to perfection.  With no tummy troubles and the entire day done on First Endurance products I truly think I have found an awesome product that really works for me!  I crossed the finish line in sixteen hours and 35 minutes.  What an amazing day.  The winner came through in just over thirteen hours and with no real cut off the last finisher of the day managed to come in right around 20 hours.  All day long I was cheered on with the chants of ALEZ ALEZ and Alez courage.  (go go and go with courage)

So happy with my finish I did a little dance on stage.

I felt awesome and was super proud of my day!  I enjoyed a post race sandwhich and an awesome massage.  It was way later than I had anticipated and with the help of race director Peter and his English speaking girlfriend Molly I secured a couch to sleep on in the referee’s hotel.  Much needed and definitely appreciated .