The Road to the Ironman – Jim Ristow YOU ARE AN IRONMAN – Swim

Again I like to thank you for all those who followed me on that perfect day. It has been about 48 hours since the race has finished and I still am receiving facebook posts, emails and personal inquiries and well wishes from many. I am humbled not only by the Ironman itself, but to those that seemed to be inspired by this experience.

Swim:

Well Kim and I were up around 4 am to get the final items prepared before the final stroll to the swim start. Everything opened up around 5 am allowing for plenty of time to stock the bike with food and fluids, checked the tires, and get the body marked (race number on both shoulders and age on left calf). Kim found my in-laws and my side of the family up on the fourth level of the Monona Terrace, from this vantage point they had a great view of the swim start plus easy access to see the swimmers run into transition and run back out to get their bikes. They all said they enjoyed the start. A SIDE NOTE: there is very little in sport that takes a persons breath away like a mass start of an Ironman. To me beside the obvious distance of the race the mass swim start is what makes the Ironman different to most triathlons.

The morning was cool, I am guessing somewhere around the 58 degree mark, so taking off my clothes to put on my wetsuit was the first test of this Ironman’s will. See putting on a wetsuit is not easy and it usually involves me laying down on the cold pavement to inch that stupid thing up my body. My first task is to make sure I put it on correctly. I know it seems so simple, right? You put one leg in, then the next, roll it up to your arms and insert one arm in and then the other and zip up the back. I cannot tell how times I have put that stupid thing on backwards when practicing. My second worry is that zipper. The zipper is a “pop” zipper. Which means as one exits the water all one has to do is take the string hanging off the back give it a tug and the zipper “pops” making it easier to get out of the stupid thing. Well I have had the zipper “pop” after I am all zipped up and it always “pops” from the bottom. Which means taking the whole suit off, fixing the zipper (not easy just ask Kim) and the putting it back on. Well, I am happy to report everything went well.

After the suit was on I began walking down the helix. What is a helix, you might say? Simple it is the parking ramp to the parking structure that the Monona Terrace sits on. THREE STORIES down! You know what that means after the swim I had to run up that stupid thing. Transition #1 sits on the roof top of the parking structure.

I got down to the swim start about 20 minutes before the pro went off or 30 minutes before the regular folk start. As the time approached I slow made it into the water, swam around a little to get use to the water temp (67 degrees) and found a rock to stand on. A majority swam out to the start and treaded in the water to the start. My rock was close to the start line, but near the shore. There was no way I wanted to be a part of the big crowd and waste all that energy treading water. I might have to swim a little farther but I was willing to do that.

I remember waiting in the water and watching a great sunrise come up over Lake Monona and the calming feeling that I had been feeling over the past couple of weeks came back. I remember they were playing Don’t Stop Believing, from Journey and Beautiful Day from U2 and everything seemed a peace with me. The first cannon went off and the pros were on their way. From where I was I couldn’t see much and truthfully I didn’t care too much. At some point in the swim I knew they would pass me being a two loop swim, but again I was focused on what I needed to do. I stayed in the moment.

The swim course is a rectangle, 1.2 mile rectangle to be exact. Ten minutes later the second cannon went off and it was officially time. No count down or anything, it was actually surprising. In I went. From the angle I started I knew I would be swimming a bit longer than most, but hopefully I would stay out of the washing machine. My goal was to stay out on the fridge of the washing machine the best I could. This meant a longer swim, but less elbows, knees and feet and I was willing to take the extra distance versus the abuse. I am amazed how many swimmers cannot swim in a straight line. It is pretty simple take a few strokes, look up get your bearings and swim straight. BUT NOOOO! I had so many swimmers cross in front of me zig zagging left and then right, but it was still better than the washing machine. As you approach the first turn in the rectangle it has become a tradition to moo around the turn. Yes I did say moo. Right on Que the mooing started. The support people in the boats and kayaks played it up by wearing cow’s hats. Ah my Wisconsin heritage! Oh yes I did moo. The toughest part about the swim was the turns. Everyone bunched up, thus elbows, knees and feet but once we hit the straight away it opened up a bit. At times I did find a rhythm and was swimming very smooth, but there were other times I simply had to do the breast stoke to get through a rough period. I noticed people starting to get out of the water as I finished my first lap (pros) and was grateful the second lap opened up more. The second lap I moo’ed once again around the first turn of the rectangle and it remained uneventful until the final turn. There must have been some type of speedboat out on the lake, because these big swells came around and tossed us like fishing bobbers. I actually saw someone quit even though we were almost done. I made it through the swells and was on the home stretch. I came out of the water around 1:25 which was great. I was thinking 1:40 to 2 hours was going to be great.

As I exited the water I came up to the strippers. NO not those kind of strippers, the wetsuit strippers. I had two girls scream at me “ON YOUR BUTT”, I am sure I looked a dazed, but I followed orders. One grabbed one side of my rolled down suit (remember the zipper popper) and the other grabbed the other side and in one huge tug the wet suit was off, needless to say I am glad I tied my swimsuit on and I was very impressed in their technique. They stood me up handed me my wetsuit and I was off to Transition #1 (T1).

Now the person who decided to put T1 three stories up is very cruel, but the run up the helix was fun. The crowds were huge and that easily pumped me up to run up most of the parking ramp. At the end I saw everyone, gave then a wave and ran inside the transition area. I was handed my bag by a great volunteer and off to the changing room.

To be continued…

FINAL TOTALS:

Running Miles: 826.2

Number of Hours: 130:25

New shoes: 265.00 miles (for my record keeping)

Newest New shoes: 49.7 miles

Biking Miles: 1,955.00

Number of Hours: 116:05

Swimming Miles: 81.95 miles or 144,232 yards

Number of Hours: 36:00

Swimming laps (25 yard pool): 5,579 lengths or 2,790 laps

Weightlifting hours: 26:00

Stairs in Cancun: 1:05

1 pathetic game of volleyball: 1 hour

TOTAL HOURS – 321 hours and 50 minutes