Ironman 2010 - The Day After

Despite weather reports to the contrary, the 2010 Ironman lived up to its reputation for having absolutely awful weather. Our group consisting of Scottie O, myself and 6 others headed out in 15-20 mph winds, cool temperatures and rain at 7:30 in the morning.

The first 23 miles took us from Lakeville to rest stop one in Jordan and it went really well. We had a pretty good tail wind at our back so holding a 20-22mph pace was no problem. The bad part is the route did not continue to the southwest all day long.

From Jordan we had a 24 mile ride down to Le Sueur. This leg of the route continued to go well, despite the rain, with 18-20 mph averages as the wind was still at our back most of the time. An added bonus was the 1-2 mile downhill that takes riders into the town of Le Sueur. However, for every downhill there seems to be two climbs to make up for it. One was the very steep climb to the rest stop at Le Sueur High School followed by another tough climb out of town to start leg three.

The climb out of town marked the beginning of my struggles. I started suffering from leg cramps anytime I got out of my saddle to peddle. That coupled with a nasty head/cross wind and I knew the next 23 miles to Montgomery were going to be a struggle. Within 5 miles or so of leaving Le Sueur my riding companions were long gone in front of me and I could suffer alone in peace.

Similar to last year the Le Sueur to Montgomery leg was a huge mental challenge. The leg is pretty flat, goes straight east and at times it feels like you are in the middle of nowhere. A couple times the thought of "why the heck am I doing this again" entered my head.

When I finally got to the Montgomery rest stop, I wasn't quite to the point of wanting to quit as I was last year, but I was in tough shape. Scottie O and the rest of the crew were just about to head back out as I got in. I choked down a Snickers bar and tried to rehydrate with a couple bottles of Gatorade. I hung out at the rest stop for 15 minutes or so and started to wonder if my legs would hold up for me to finish.

Leg four of the ride is a short 10 mile jaunt to Lonsdale. Ten miles is the good part, the bad part is this is where the route turned dead into the teeth of the wind. For some reason this is where I started to feel a little better again. I was still struggling with cramps but I had found my wind battling rhythm, so I sat in and spun. My average speed went from 18-20 mph in the first 50 miles down to a mind numbing pace of 10-12 mph. That pace gives you a lot of time to contemplate the pain you are in.

Before I knew it though I arrived in Lonsdale just in time to wish O and the crew good luck on the remaining 20 miles. I sucked down another two bottles of Gatorade and two orange slices and headed back out into the soul sucking wind determined to finish the ride.

The final 20 miles went by fairly uneventful. The cramping feeling was still there, but I figured out ways of peddling to avoid full-on cramps. Thanks to my experience last year I didn't fall for the finish line mirage of Lakeville South. I finished the ride in 6 hours and 45 minutes and with an average speed of 15.1 mph. That is a full hour and 1.5 mph faster than last year.

Despite the suffering, it was still a great ride and an awesome feeling to be able to do a Century so early in the season. Now I am looking forward to putting the road bike away for awhile and hit some dirt.

P.S. And now for the real reason people check this blog!



Little Miss Independant



Mom looks terrible in this picture, but we love Isabel's "thinker" pose so we had to post it.





My first bath in my tub...I love it! And the ducky wash cloth that keeps me warm during my baths rock!



The Hoen cousins: Elias (9), Madeline (7), Isabel (almost one month), Josie (11), and Ava (5)



A goofy face picture upon Ava's request...we don't think Isabel has that figured out yet.