Ironman Anders Christofferson
I have decided to include a guest blog from a good buddy, Anders Christofferson. This was his second Ironman before graduating college. Without anymore intro, here is his race report from Ironman Wisconsin 2006.Pre Race: Sept 7-10 2006
To start this off I will just flat out say that nothing leading up to the race went as planned. The plan was for my Dad to drive to Wisconsin with all of our gear and bikes and I was going to fly out Thursday night and meet him there. However, thanks to the beautiful process of airline travel, my connection was cancelled and I was stranded in Detroit until 6am Friday morning. This put me into panic mode and I did what any self-respecting 20 year old would do, I called Mom. Somehow or another my mom got me on a completely sold out flight later that night and I ended up getting to Madison, WI at about 11:30- behind schedule but I made it. (Thanks Mom!)
The next two days consisted of three things. First, race registration and preparation. This actually went very smoothly because I was registered in the collegiate championship. They had all of our supplies (transition bags, etc.) pulled so I zipped through the registration process with no problems. Second was the nutritional preparation, or more simply put, eating and drinking a lot. In those last couple days before the race I cant even imagine how many calories of pasta I ate and water I drank. Lastly, I spent the last two days before the race in bed because of illness. I’m not sure if it was the flu or a cold, but whatever it was it had me drained of all energy and just feeling awful. Saturday before the race I slept almost all afternoon and honestly felt that if I had to I would not be able to run more than a mile. All I was doing was taking a lot of vitamins and hoping that Sunday morning I would feel better. Sunday morning came and this was definitely not the case. After I dropped off my special needs bags and found a place to relax with my Dad I was just feeling awful. It was 6:30am (7am race start) and I was almost in tears. As any athlete would tell you, when you work so hard and put all your emphasis on one day and some goes wrong it is devastating. My Dad was telling me, “it’s just a race, things like happen, you already are an Ironman.” I honestly did not know if I was going to start, but at 6:40am it was time to head down to the water, my last chance to drop out, so I made my way down. Right before we got in the water I tried to pretend I was feeling good and told my Dad, “I guess I’ll have to Ironman this sickness out of me.” We exchanged good lucks, got in the water, and awaited the gun.
Swim: 2.4 mi. (1:17:37)
With about 2500 starters this swim qualified as the biggest mass start in Ironman history. Normally I’m not too worried about the swim, but this swim turned into a war zone. From the beginning it was elbows in the face, kicks on the back, people swimming into you and every other possible form of chaos in a swim. For the entire swim I was never able to get into a groove and just swim at a steady pace. I actually think I swam about an extra quarter mile to just avoid people in the turns. This made the swim very slow and completely un-enjoyable. I was hoping for a faster time, but I was happy to get out of the water and get on with the rest of the day.
T1: 9:28
Let me first say that this race is extremely well run and organized from the race route to the aid stations and everything else. The volunteers were also very friendly and helpful. However, T1 was absolutely insane. We had to get out of the water, run up 4 flights of a parking garage named “the helix,” run inside and change, then run outside across the top of the garage to get to your bike and finally bike out at the other end. All in all I had a pretty standard transition, just very slow.
Bike: 112 mi. (6:51:06)
I’m surprised I haven’t mentioned it yet, but the weather on the day played a huge factor in the race, especially the bike for me. It was 50-54 degrees with 15-20mph winds and driving cold rain. I can usually suck it up in any weather conditions, but the wind and rain just about killed me. Like the swim, I really found the bike to just not be any fun. It was constantly up and down and I found I could never get into a good rhythm and crank on my aero bars. Not only were the hills very challenging, but also the descents were terrifying. At many points I found myself flying down a hill at 40+ mph on wet roads with huge gusts of side winds. I definitely almost fell a number of times, and I saw at least 10 people crashing or laying on the side of the road. The rain and cold only made it worse. I was talking to one guy on the bike that said he had to brake on all the descents because he was getting to cold. The last 12 miles of the bike were mostly uphill and into a strong headwind. These were honestly the most miserable 12 miles of my life. By the end of the ride I was so happy to get off my bike and just be done with it. I looked at my bike computer and saw 6:50 and was very frustrated and disappointed. I do training rides faster than that and was hoping for well under 6 hours. I wasn’t happy, but I realized that everyone was dealing with the same conditions as I was and tried to just focus on my run.
On a positive note, the three tough climbs of the days were lined with fans as promised. For about a minute each lap I felt like a Tour de France rider on big climbs surrounded by tons of screaming people. Also, I nailed my nutrition consuming about 250 calories of gel/ shot blocks, 1 bottle of Gatorade Endurance, and a half bottle of water an hour.
T2: 7:34
T2 was relatively uneventful. I handed off my bike to a volunteer and went into get my T2 bag. While I was changing into my running gear I shared some thoughts about how bad the bike was with some of the other athletes and exited to start my run. I saw my family and they gave me a nice cheer and with that I was off.
Run: 26.2 mi. (4:33:14)
When I started the run I was not in the best mood. I was at around 8:30ish on my timer, it was cold and still raining, and I was thinking about my first IM when the marathon just killed me. However, I made myself learn from my mistakes and started the run slow and kept the heart rate down. The first half marathon went relatively smoothly. I was drinking water and Gatorade Endurance at every aid station and having GU at every other. I only walked for about 10-15 seconds each aid station to get my nutrition down and finished the first 13.1 miles in 2:15.
At the turnaround I decided to put on another shirt because I was almost shivering. Since I was so wet already it took me forever to get it on. I ended up putting it on backwards, but decided to forget about it and get on with the race (I’m sure I look ridiculous in my race photos, but oh well). I made a quick calculation and realized that if I ran the same split for my second half marathon I would be able to break 13 hours. I remember thinking, “yeah right, I’ll be about half and hour slower on this loop at least.” The next couple miles went just like the first and I was surprisingly not feeling too fatigued. At around mile 18 I caught up with another guy in my age group and we ran the next two miles together. It was pretty cool, this guy was in his first IM and we talked a little. It definitely took my mind of the pain for a bit.
Then came mile 20, my new friend and I looked at our watches and saw we were at 12:01, 59 minutes left to run 6.2 miles and break 13 hours. Now, up until this point I had been running about 10:20 miles and this would require my last 10k to be ran in a well under 10 minute/mile pace. I’m not sure why, but at that point we decided to go for it. Miles 21 and 22 were quick, both about 9:30’s with short stops at aids stations to get food and liquid down. During the next mile my pal told me he was starting to crack and he might need to slow down. I convinced him to push it though the next said station, but at around 23.5 miles he had to stop. I took a second to shake his hand and congratulate him, and then put in a big surge. I hit mile 24 and was just off pace, it was time to either cruise it in or dig deep for the last few miles. I felt decent, skipped the aid station, and started really cranking. During the next mile I must have passed at least 100 people and at mile 25 skipped the aid station again. I looked at my watch, 12:51. I had 9 minutes to run 1.2 miles. At this point I just let it rip, I figured I had nothing to loose. The crowds during this last mile were awesome and I couldn’t even hear anything it was so loud. I got to the last turn before the finishing shoot and was too scared to look at my watch. I began my sprint to the line and just before I got there I saw 12:58… Words cannot express how excited I was, but I’m sure my finishing picture can. I was screaming and as I crossed the line I gave the patented Christofferson fist pump. I didn’t hear it, you never do, but for the second time over the loud speaker came, “Anders Christofferson, you are an Ironman!” I got my finishers medal and found my family, gave them all hugs, and with that I was done.
Overall: 12:58:59
Given all the things I had to deal with this race I am extremely pleased with my outcome. I almost didn’t start but ended up improving by over 2 hours from my first Ironman. My bike was extremely slow, slower than most of my training rides, but it is something that I’m hoping to vastly improve before IM Florida 2007. My run and swim were both solid, for me at least, and I’m hoping to build on them in the off-season.
Some highlights of the day included my family who came out to watch me. My Mom, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt, Brother, and Sister ran around in the rain all day, which was very cool, there is nothing better than hearing your name yelled when you are really suffering. Another highlight, and one of my favorite parts of the sport, was being able to race with my Dad. We got to hang out before the race and it always pushed me when I saw him out on the course. He did a 12:05 adding another notch to the Ironman belt. It’s looking like its going to be a good one between us at IM Florida next year.
Stats
Swim: (2.4) 1:17:37 2:02/100m
Bike: (112) 6:51:06 16.35 mph
Run: (13.1) 2:15:48 10:21/mile
(13.1) 2:17:26 10:29/mile
Overall: 12:58:59 932/2439
