Camp Journal

Tommy Thompson trained over the past two months in preparation for his first Triathlon. He competed in the Whirlpool Ironman 70.3 Steelhead event this past weekend, finishing in about 6 hours and raising over $1700 for Flying Horse Farms along the way. This is his last blog entry about his experience.

Well, I did it. I completed the entire 70.3 miles and it was awesome. I not only completed it but I did not have to stop once. I am still grinning from ear to ear. A little sore, mind you, but still grinning.

After a long drive up to Michigan, the excitement began at the registration table. So many people and so many bikes; the reality of the event really sank in. I picked up my packet and got my number marked on my body – in less than 24 hours I would call myself a triathlete.

My alarm went off at 4:15, about 4 hours after I was finally able to fall asleep. I had a breakfast of oatmeal, coffee, and a lot of water and was off. I tried to stay focused on my training, making sure I had everything and picturing the race and my transitions.

I tried to think of everything, but even so, I did not leave myself enough time. The line for the rest rooms was really long, and because I didn’t know what I was doing, everything took me longer than I thought. None the less, I left the transition area on time and made the long trek down the beach where we would begin the swimming portion of the race.

The race started at 7am, but my wave did not leave the beach until 8:07, so I had time to walk, watch, and take it all in. There were so many people, about 2,500 racers. The weather was perfect for all the participants and for my first race I couldn’t have been more fortunate. The morning was cool and sunny and the high was predicted to be around 80 or so. I have been training in the heat of the day to prepare my body and 80 or so degrees would feel cool in comparison. Yea me!

The swim start for me was pretty calm. I chatted with another competitor before the start. We were both at the very back of the pack. I wanted to stay out of the way of the seasoned competitors. The water was pretty wavy and after only a few minutes, it hit me: “I am in Lake Michigan swimming a mile and then some!” I had to stop a lot to get my bearings, big swells made it challenging see the next buoy. Stopping often to look around slowed me down, but I was afraid of swimming off course even though there were a lot of safety personnel to keep me on course. I planned to finish in one hour, hoped for 45 minutes, and finished the swim in about 43 minutes. It was a great start and I was stoked about the rest of the race. My family was at the finish taking photos, cheering me on, and my brother, Chris, gave me a high five and a smack on my back to keep me going. It was great to see them in their Flying Horse Farms t-shirts.

My first transition was slow, but I planned for that. I figured it was a good idea to take my time, make sure I had everything. I did not want to forget my food or drink, especially the protein bars that my daughter, Allysyn, made for me to eat while I was on the bike. As I ran my bike out of the transition, there was Chris, running with me and cheering me on as I left to start the bike.

My training for the bike could not have been more perfect. The conditions I trained in were the same or even a little worse than the race route. It was on regular country roads with some hills and for the first 30 miles or so I was at a 20 mile per hour pace which was going to be great. Unfortunately, the fast downhill portion of the course was marred by a strong headwind that was difficult for me. I finished the bike portion in 3 hours 8 minutes, which was more than I hoped, but felt great, especially with the conditions.

At the last turn I saw my son, Jesse, looking out to tell the rest of the family that I was on my way. My wife, mom and brother were ready to take photos and cheer me on.

My run transition was about the same as the first. A pit-stop at the porta-john to reapply some body glide, change my shoes, and I was off. The run started off great and the time I lost on the bike I was able to make up. Again, the training that I did could not have been better – I ran a lot of hills and in the heat. By this time of the day, however, it had turned cloudy. The only mistake I made was eating a banana at the first aid station. I NEVER eat bananas on my run but I had misplaced my electrolyte drink and was hoping to make up for it. I struggled with my stomach for several miles but was able to work it out and maintain my pace for a while, still passing a lot of runners. There was one bigger hill that we had to climb twice and at the top was my family, rooting and cheering.

My new favorite thing is the wet sponge and ice, both of which were very helpful. I had plenty of gels to eat, but in the end, not having the electrolytes made the last couple of miles hard and may have led to the cramp in the end – several feet from the finish, I had a maddening calf cramp. There was no way I was going to go all this way to come up lame in the end so I ran on my heel to the finish line.

My family greeted me as I crossed the line. I raised my arms, heard my name called as a finisher, and as they handed me my medal, I was struck with my new title: TRIATHLETE. It was very emotional for me and my family and there were tears all around. In just over 2 months I had done what most said I could not complete. I finished the run in less than 2 hours and I completed the entire course in 5 hours 51 minutes, plus 17 minutes of transition We raised $1735 for Flying Horse Farms, I met some great people, and accomplished a physical feat that I couldn’t have imagined a few months ago.

Thank you to everyone who helped and donated money, but especially to my family. I could not have done any of this without them. I love you all. And yes dear, I will start that honey-do list you have let me ignore. Until next year….. thank you and good-bye.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 6th, 2009 at 10:39 am and is filed under Team Hole in the Wall, Tommy Thompson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.