Thursday, December 01, 2011
Dave Kellermanns completed the Arizona Ironman course in 18 hours and 58 minutes...
I've had the pleasure of coaching Dave for the past year+ toward his first Ironman. Despite spending over 100 days on the road, thanks to his demanding job, Dave did a fantastic job of getting his training done, staying healthy, and losing weight, and was 100% ready to complete Ironman Arizona on November 20th, 2011. It turned out to be an incredibly challenging day (really, about 24 hours total from wake to sleep), but Dave got the job done and his coaches, family, and friends are incredibly proud of him! Here's the story...
A perfect day – Ironman Arizona Race Report
In November 2010 I volunteered at the Ironman Arizona (IMAZ) to get one of the slots for the 2011 race (the race sold out online in less than 30 minutes). With that, a whole year of training and practice races started – those that know me, know that I travel a lot for work and the last year was not different – 111 nights in hotels and ~ 100,000 miles in the air.
I traveled to Arizona on the weekend of November 13th with a rental car and got to Tempe the afternoon of the 14th. My home base was the Courtyard on Ash Avenue – about 5 blocks from Tempe Beach Park. Nothing was pointing to the Ironman at that time and I spent a few days with short training runs, bike rides and swims around the race site.
On Thursday I did the usual pre-race chores such as registration, merchandise tent as well as picking up Mom from the airport that evening. Friday got a little bit more serious with Jenn Downey and Katherine Dean joining the race team and the Athlete Dinner and Meeting in the evening. The remaining crew joined us (Scott Fliegelman, Jen Szabo and my wife, who probably endured the most challenging 52 weekends up to that point) during the dinner. Saturday was a practice swim in Tempe Town Lake, which was our first opportunity to enter the water. After the swim I was relieved that the water was not too cold (once you get over the first shock). The afternoon program featured double checking the race bags, bike and bag check-in at the transition area and trying to stay off my feet 
Race Day
Weather report 73 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny – what more can you ask for?
Final bike check – filled the bottles for the first 3 hours and topped up the Speedfil. Checked my tires and inflated them to 110 psi. You make a lot of new friends with a good pump in the transition area on race morning and at some point you just have to leave, otherwise you are the pump buddy for hours. Said my good byes to the team and headed for the water.
Swim (2.4 miles – 1:26:30) The swim was great – the gun went off and I settled into my rhythm. Mostly breathing to my left, as the sun rose to the right and reverse on the way back. The most interesting moment was as we approached the bridge, I could not see a turn around – well it’s 150 to 200 meters past the bridge. During the swim, I got a few close contact hits but nothing major. As I got to the stairs a volunteer helped me up and my wetsuit was stripped.
T1 (13:21) Had to enter the tent (no public nudity allowed at an Ironman) and boy – they are all so serious. Put on my bib shorts, jersey, socks and shoes and was out of the tent. Got sunscreen and went towards my bike, which was “parked” in row one. A volunteer was already grabbing my bike and handing it to me – full service.
Bike (112 miles – 7:51:13) Given that IMAZ is a three-loop course, the first loop was uneventful and fast – I averaged 15.2 miles over the first 38 miles and the weather was great.
On loop two, winds got added into the equation – it was a tailwind going out, which was nice given that there us a slight incline going out and a headwind coming back. I stopped for a bit at the special needs aid station to grab some Coke and Snickers from my bag. Trust me – that combination at mile 63 tasted like heaven . I also refilled my gels, blocks and salt for my nutrition strategy, which was ~350 cals per hour, plus one salt stick tablet every 15 minutes.
Loop three was a bad one – right around mile 90 a spoke broke in the back wheel. You can prep only so much (new tubes, new tires, race day tune up), but at the end of the day, we all are at the mercy of our equipment. I had to wait about 20 minutes for a new wheel to arrive (thanks to my angel on the scooter) and those were a long 20 minutes. I was so upset, that I went the remainder of the bike course at such a speed that you cannot tell the bike issue from the splits.
T2 (7:43) Much funnier group of people Had to use the tent again and switched into running shorts and shirt. I also put a special blister band aid on a hot spot on my feet. I also put on new socks. To show you how mushed up your brain is, I had to remember what I had to put on after socks (if you guessed shoes – that’s the correct answer).
Run (26.2 miles – 9:20:08) The run is also a three-loop course, which makes IMAZ very good for the spectators. Loop one was one of the best runs in my life – coming off the 112 mile bike ride I averaged a 15:23 min/mile. For me that is very fast (I was hoping (!) for a 16 min / mile). Everything felt good – I applied the same nutrition strategy as on the bike, something that had worked throughout all the long workouts during the season.
Loop two was where I started to have issues on the forefoot area of both feet. Since I left my blister band aids in T2, I did the next best thing and asked the medics on the course. That proved to be a mistake, as they put a gauze pad on my feet and wrapped the whole foot in a elastic band aid so that the band aid would not move. What happened in the next few miles was that I developed massive blisters under both feet and all over the heel cup.
We are talking golf ball size … every step became more painful as the run went on. I was overtaken by Katherine on the run course and tried to keep up with her (congratulations to her amazing finish), but I just couldn’t. Even Scott’s negotiation approach did not help. My feet were done and eventually we realized midnight was out of the question.
John Collins (the “creator” of Ironman) once said, “you can quit and they won’t care – but you will always know”. That was embroidered (thanks Mark Blackmer for an amazing job there) on the shirts I had for Mom and Esra and it became my mantra for the next & final 5 miles.
Scott Fliegelman, Mark Loehr, Joel Carabello (and later Jen Szabo) were walking / shuffling alongside me and we averaged a 25 min/mile (or even slower). Guys – I can never repay that debt.
I also had to give back my timing chip and sign a waiver that I’m officially not on the racecourse anymore.
The last 300 meters though made it all worth it. As I was heading for the finish line, Dave Downey from Boulder County Communications caught up with me (based on my speed not too difficult) and asked “what are you doing” – I explained I’m here to finish the 140.6 and that I’m heading for whatever is left of the finish line. His entire team had been working that event since Thursday and was breaking down everything at 1:50am, but they all came to the finish – thanks so much – that meant a lot.
Esra, Mom, Katherine, Jenn, Scott, Mark, Joel and Jen –they were all there. It made for a truly magic moment.
So – I might not be an Ironman by WTC standards (you have to finish sub 17 hours for that), but I did the whole distance (140.6 miles – 18:58:30). I’m a finisher …
After the race Once back at the hotel, Esra was kind enough to take photos of my feet – just to give you an idea how my last miles were.
The next morning I went (ok, I was driven) to the awards banquet and met Dave from BCC to thank him and the crew for their late night support. Dave said they took a video of my finish and would like to show it – wow – I did not expect that – he even introduced to “The Voice of Ironman” Mike Reilly who introduced the video onstage. As I found out later they also showed the video at the volunteer dinner, where it inspired a few people, too.
The “IronYear” in Review: Bring a blister kit with you on the run – the boy scouts weren’t kidding when they said “be prepared”.
You cannot go it alone – you need a team with equal dedication perseverance and pain threshold (for different reasons). In that my thanks go out to my coach Scott Fliegelman from F4, Jen Szabo and others from the F4 team. Jenn Downey and Kathrine Dean – my training buddies for making some of the long bike rides very enjoyable and so many others along the way. My mom for making the trip to Arizona – it doesn’t get easier to travel for her, but she did it anyway.
My wife, the most amazing person I know (after her morning coffee). I could have not done it without you. With me being on the road so much, you never once “barked” at my long workouts. You were there to help me along the way and to share the finish. I love you more than you know.
