Yesterday, I completed the Ironman Switzerland race in Zurich in 11 hours and 5 minutes. The Ironman race is comprised of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and a 26.2 mile run for a total race distance of 140.6 miles. Or, in the European metric style, that’s a 3.8 kilometer swim, 180 kilometer bike and a 42.2 kilometer run for a total of 226 kilometers.

I’ve spent a considerable amount of time training for the race this year. According to the training program I followed (LINK), I spent approximately 460 hours in the 36 weeks leading up to the race swimming, biking and running. That doesn’t include the time spent getting ready for workouts, traveling to the pool, gym or ride location. And, it doesn’t include time spent getting gear, food and other supplies needed for the training and race. Competing in an Ironman race is certainly difficult, but deciding to spend the time training for the race changes your lifestyle months in advance.

Training for and competing in Ironman Switzerland has definitely changed my life this year, so I wanted to share (and save) some thoughts and musings from the race. Without further ado -

Race Day Report
I participated in the race with my friend Sean Kevelighan. I met Sean while working at The White House, when he was serving as the Press Secretary for the Office of Management and the Budget (OMB). He now works for Zurich Financial. While he lives in New York City, he has traveled numerous times to the Zurich Financial headquarters in Zurich and has a sense of the city. That was helpful in the few days leading up to the race.

On race day, we gathered up and took a cab with our gear to the start/finish/transition area at 5:30. It was just a couple kilometers from the hotel, but we decided we’d need to use all of our energy for the race and decided not to walk.

After arranging all of our gear in the transition area, it was time to get ready for the swim. With wetsuits, goggles and neon yellow Ironman Switzerland “powered by EWS” swim caps on, we just had to wait on the beach for the opportunity to get in the water. Amusingly, the race director said at the briefing that the EWS logo side of the swim cap had to be on the right side of your head so the media cameras could capture it). The professionals started their race at 6:55 and we were then allowed in the water at about 6:57.

At 7 a.m., the gun went off and chaos ensued. The swim is always a mass of swinging arms and kicking legs, but this start seemed to be more of a battle than the Ironman Wisconsin swim last year. The water in Lake Zurich is incredibly clear and tastes like bottled water. The clarity allows for a pretty good picture of all of the bodies swimming in a pack. It wasn’t until the first turn (approximately a half mile into the swim) that I felt that I had some space to swim and wasn’t getting kicked, swam over, grabbed or shoved.

In an open water swim, you don’t have the luxury of looking at the lines on the bottom of the pool in order to stay swimming in a straight line. So, sighting to the turn buoy is the way to judge if you are going in the right direction. Some people are pretty good at doing that, while others are not. There was one swimmer who was particularly disruptive in my area. He was in a bright blue wetsuit, so it was easy to pick him out from most of the other triathletes wearing black wetsuits or ones with a few bits of color. He swam just a bit faster than me, but was swerving back and forth. Imagine Dale Earnhardt Jr. leading a NASCAR race after downing a 12 pack of Budweiser. Bluesuit was careening from left to right, causing swimmers to veer into and swim over each other in an effort to keep moving forward. It wasn’t until the halfway point that I was able to get a good distance from Bluesuit and the mayhem he was causing.

In my view, the swim is the easiest leg of the Ironman, but it is also where the race can be made or broken. If you panic and spend quite a bit of time jostling around, you’ll expend precious energy that you need for the bike and run. While the swim in Zurich was chaotic, I felt like I developed a good breathing and stroke pattern and was able to keep consistent progress. I had hoped to beat my time of last year’s Ironman swim (which was 1:13) and was happy to come out of the water in 1 hour 7 minutes and 56 seconds.

After a quick transition (some transition practice and a concise transition layout helped me eviscerate my T1 – meaning the transition from swim to bike – time from last year), I was out on the bike. The bike course was two loops near Lake Zurich with a portion heading into surrounding hills. On the bike, my mindset is to go as fast as possible with the least effort expended. The first portion of the bike was a fast, flat ride along the east side of Lake Zurich. I was really surprised that I was getting passed by nearly every biker. I was going about 22 miles per hour in that first stretch (my goal was to go about 19 miles per hour for the entire bike – I averaged 19.4), but was getting passed frequently. Resisting the temptation to “race” every triathlete who passes you is important to having a consistent race that goes according to plan, so I just kept reminding myself that they were blowing through their energy reserves and I’d have the opportunity to pass them later in the bike or run.

The turn to head away from the lake and into the hills is a critical gut check point. I was sticking to my food and hydration plan of 100 calories of food (Gu, Gu Chomps, banana, PB&J, etc) every 45 minutes and almost 200 calories of Gatorade or PowerAde every hour. Along with the food intake, I planned to take one Endurolyte electrolyte capsule (LINK). The first serving went as planned, but a problem arose when I went for serving two at the 1 hour 30 minute mark of the bike. I realized I had dropped my Ziploc bag of Endurolyte capsules (which had been in the little pouch near the handlebar stem of my bike). That’s bad news, as the Endurolytes help me prevent cramping by replenishing lost electrolytic material while not having to force my stomach to digest even more food or Gatorade. More on that later.

The ride in the hills southwest of Zurich was very pretty. Smooth, rolling roads through small Swiss villages and farms made the time go by quickly. I particularly enjoyed the farms, with the brown Swiss milk cows and fields of corn. It reminded me of home and the whole purpose of the “Tri for Ned” (LINK).

“The Beast” was a long, steep climb during the hill section of the bike loop. The switchback road was a challenge and I wish I would’ve switched my cassette to the lower-geared version that I used for the hilly Ironman Wisconsin ride last year. On the second lap, “The Beast” gave the first glimpse of the leg cramps that would come later in the race.

After “The Beast,” the steep downhill was a welcome rest and a way to make up considerable time lost during the slow climb. If you didn’t watch your speed, you could easily get a bit out of control. As the race organizers said during the informational briefing, “don’t ride faster than your guardian angels can go.”

During the ride, there wasn’t as much chatting between riders as there had been during Ironman Wisconsin. I suppose the variety of languages and the stoic nature of the Swiss contributed to the silence. However, I did talk off and on with a couple of riders. Pete from the UK rode up beside me and startled me when he said, “with freckles like that, you must be happy with the cloudy weather.” Pete was a redhead with similar complexion. He was a strong rider and I ended up running for part of one of the four marathon legs with him. Another rider I spoke with was Andrew, who was also from the UK. He pulled up alongside me during the second bike loop to inform me that he planned to follow Andrea, an attractive and speedy German woman who had just passed us both, for the rest of the ride. True to his word, Andrew did his best to follow Andrea until she pulled off to go to the bathroom later in the ride.

At the end of each of the two bike loops, “Heartbreak Hill” was the final challenge. The steep, winding city street which rises above Lake Zurich was lined with screaming spectators cheering on the riders as they slowly climbed the incline. It was pretty impressive and reminded me of the mountain climb scenes from the Tour de France. At the top, an announcer with a loudspeaker called out each rider by name. “Scott Stanzel, from THE Seattle, Washington, USA!” greeted me as I reached the peak. It was a nice energizer heading into the final few miles. I had hoped to break six hours on the bike (last year did 6:33) and was very happy to come in with a bike time of 5 hours and 45 minutes.

My transition to the run was quick, as I didn’t change clothes other than shoes and swapping a hat for the helmet. This is probably too much information (but it is actually important to the course of my race), but I hadn’t taken any bio breaks during the day. During the bike, I had consumed about 100 ounces of Gatorade, PowerAde, water and Coke. Still, I was not hydrated enough to precipitate a bathroom break. Hydration management is one of the most critical aspects of completed an Ironman race. I once read that the best guide on hydration is that if your urine (I know, TMI) looks like water, you are in danger of overhydration (LINK) problems (rare for an Ironman). If it is lemonade colored, you are in good shape. If it is comparable to apple juice or something darker, you are running the risk of dehydration (LINK). Unfortunately, I was in the last category. That, coupled with the fact that I hadn’t been taking the Endurolyte capsules that I accidentally dropped early in the bike, meant that I was on my way to cramping problems.

To combat cramping, you have to take in enough electrolytes to replace the ones lost during exercise. That means drinking Gatorade and PowerAde, as well as eating the Gu gels or Chomps. The problem arises when you’ve consumed so much liquid and sweet gels that your stomach cannot digest it quickly enough to keep up. So, you end up with an upset stomach and electrolyte deficit that you aren’t able to fend off because it is difficult to consume anything more and you risk throwing up all of the fluids you’ve taken in.

On the first lap of the run, I worked to drink plenty of water and PowerAde – while ignoring my upset stomach. It didn’t really work and I soon had to back off the sugary Powerade. During lap two, I tried to have some of the warm chicken broth (they actually have it at aid stations for this very purpose) to calm my stomach and provide some liquid with high sodium content. It wasn’t very easy for me to drink soup while running, so I switched to munching on pretzels (also at aid stations) for some salt without the sweetness of Gu or PowerAde. During lap two, the cramps materialized. Both thighs, hamstrings and calves locked up. A fellow triathlete saw my issues and handed me an Endurolyte tablet to help. I took it, but knew it’d be a battle for the last 14 miles.

During lap two, the battery on my Garmin 405 died (the life is only about 8 hours, which is partly why I ordered the new, 20 hour battery life Garmin 310XT [LINK] – which I had hoped would arrive before the race). So, I didn’t actually know how fast I was running. I didn’t ask anyone else, as I just figured I’d try to complete the race as quickly as I could. This became a blessing and a curse. I didn’t obsess about how I was slowing down in the second half of the marathon, but I also didn’t know how close I was to breaking 4 hours in the marathon. A few more minutes shaved off the marathon would have also led to me breaking the 11 hour mark for the entire race. Psychological and meaningless barriers really, but ones I still noted.

The run became a real struggle. Striding out in a way that didn’t cause cramps and taking whatever I could keep down became the mission of the last 10 miles or so. I ended up having more Coke towards the end of the race. It was a different taste and I think the caffeine helped wake me up and mask some pain.

As I kept moving through the last lap, I just kept telling myself to put one foot in front of the other. I only looked down so I couldn’t tell how far I had to go. On any normal day feeling the way that I did, I wouldn’t have probably walked from the living room to the kitchen. But, training for the Ironman helps you learn how to compartmentalize nagging pain and perceiver through the miles. I couldn’t wait to get to the finish line and feel the satisfaction of completing the race.

My friend, and now fellow Ironman, Sean passed me during his second lap while I was on my fourth. We joked about who came up with the idea of doing Ironman Zurich, which provided some much needed levity.

In the final mile, I tried to pick up the pace and come in strong. My fourth lap was faster than my third, as the finish line motivation is strong even when you are feeling awful. In this video (LINK coming soon, technical difficulties), my brother asked me how I was feeling. My answer of “like dirt” was the polite response.

During the final paces, running through the gathered crowd and knowing you’ve accomplished something significant brings a wave of emotions. As I ran towards the finish and saw my time for the first time (I assumed I’d be closer to 11:45 because I thought I’d slowed down more during the run than I actually had), I was surprised and elated. The sacrifices made in order to complete hundreds of hours of training, the support from friends and family, and the memories of my Dad overwhelmed me. I sat in the recovery tent for quite awhile soaking it in. It was an incredible day I’ll never forget.

Note: I couldn’t have finished this race without the unwavering support from friends and family. I’d like to thank everyone contributed to my “Tri for Ned” (LINK), read/endured my posts on Twitter (LINK) and Facebook (LINK), cheered me in person (Mom, Ken, Steve, Allen, Tony, Julie, Marilyn, Alex) and sent gifts to help me with the training and race (Veronica, York). You made this Ironman journey very memorable and special. I can’t thank you enough.

The official results from Ironman.ch (LINK) are below. There were 2136 people who started the race and 428 men in my 35 to 39 age group.

Scott Stanzel
BIB – 1223
AGE – 36
Seattle, Washington, USA
PROFESSION – Public Relations

TOTALS
SWIM – 1:07:56
BIKE – 5:45:11
RUN – 4:04:27
OVERALL TIME – 11:05:00
OVERALL RANK – 762/2136
OVERALL M34-39 DIVISION POSITION – 200/428

SWIM (3.8 km) – 1:07:56
PACE – 1:47/100m
SWIM OVERALL RANK – 522
SWIM M34-39 DIVISION POSITION – 124

BIKE (180 KM) – 5:45:11
BIKE SPLIT 1:
90 km (2:46:35)
32.42 km/h
BIKE SPLIT 2:
90 km (2:58:36)
30.24 km/h
TOTAL AVERAGE PACE – 31.29 km/h
BIKE OVERALL RANK – 930
BIKE M34-39 DIVISION POSITION – 240

RUN (42.2 km) – 4:04:27
RUN SPLIT 1: 10km 10 km (54:43) 5:28/km
RUN SPLIT 2: 21km 11 km (57:49) 5:15/km
RUN SPLIT 3: 31km 10 km (1:03:31) 6:21/km
RUN SPLIT 4: 42km 11 km (1:08:24) 6:13/km
TOTAL RUN 42.2 km (4:04:27) 5:47/km
RUN OVERALL RANK – 746
RUN M34-39 DIVISION POSITION – 188

TRANSITION TIMES
T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE – 3:59
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN – 3:27

In order to maintain the energy needed to complete the race, it is necessary to replace some of those spent calories. Fueling up while exercising can be tricky. It is important to choose things which are easily digestible and won’t upset your stomach. Imagine trying to eat will exercising full bore. It’s a bit like trying to refuel a car at highway speeds — one wrong move, and things could get ugly.

There are many different products on the market to help athletes fuel up while competing. In addition to Gatorade (which has 150 calories per bike-sized 24 ounce bottle), there are numerous energy gels, bars, jelly beans and other products on the market. Of the energy gels (GU, PowerBar, Hammer), most have about 100 calories per packet serving – which is about a one ounce mouthful. They all have slightly different amounts of sodium, potassium and carbohydrates.

My favorite is GU Energy Gel in the “vanilla bean,” “lemon sublime” or “just plain” flavors. Last year, GU Energy launched a new gel called Roctane. It has more of some ingredients (like sodium, potassium and caffeine) designed to help ultra endurance athletes stave off muscle damage and recover more quickly by adding Ornithine Alpha-Ketoglutarate (made from amino acids). I can speak from experience, these Roctane gels really work. Right now, they only come in two flavors (Blueberry Pomegranate and Vanilla Orange), neither of which I’m wild about. So, I tend to use one Roctane for every two or three normal GU packets.

I also mix in Clif Shot Bloks and Jelly Belly Sport Beans to add some variety. They also have 100 calories per serving and provide a mixture of sodium, potassium and carbs. Both can provide a nice departure from the gels, but can also be a bit sugary.

During the race, I plan take in approximately 250 to 300 calories per hour. Most of those calories come in form of Gatorade Endurance Formula, which is essential for hydrating and replacing the electrolytes lost from sweating. (See: Chris Legh Gatorade commercial) Approximately every 45 minutes during the bike and the run, I’ll have a packet of Gu Energy Gel, Sport Beans or Shot Bloks. From time to time, I’ll also have a banana (which are handed out by volunteers at aid stations and are about 100 calories), a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (300 calories) from my special needs bag at the halfway points of the run and the bike or even some pretzels, chicken broth or flat soda (also at aid stations and can really hit the spot late during the late stages of the run).

Even with all of that ingesting, I’ll still only take in between 3,000 to 4,500 calories during the race. That leaves a deficiency of approximately 7,000 to 8,500 calories, which is why pre-race meals are so important. Eating well by taking in carbohydrates and proteins in the days prior to the race is essential. A pasta feast the night before the race? That’s fine, but loading up two days prior to the cannon going off is more important.

For assistance with muscle recovery, immediately after most long workouts I drink a Boost Nutritional Energy Drink. I prefer the vanilla-flavored high protein version of the drink. It provides 240 calories of protein, potassium, sodium and other vitamins and minerals to help get some fuel back to those muscles that are still in a bit of shock from the hours of testing.

Finally, as a reward for completing a long workout, I tend to down a whole pizza. A Hawaiian from Belltown Pizza is my Seattle favorite. Eat up, folks. There are many miles to go.

The Ironman triathlon, most commonly known for the iconic world championship race in Kona, Hawaii, is a 140.6 mile endurance test comprised of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and a 26.2 mile run (or for those metric fans out there – 3.8/180/42.2 kilometers). In 2009, there will be 24 Ironman races around the world. At those races, competitors can qualify for the championship race in Kona, which is held every October in the lava fields of Hawaii’s big island.

The training for an Ironman race is time consuming (hours per week average between 12 and 20 in the months leading up to the race) and can be somewhat expensive for an athlete just getting into the sport. The gear tab for three different disciplines can get long and the entry fee for an Ironman race, at $525, is significant.

In a story published in September, The New York Times reported the slowing economy hadn’t dampened demand for the Ironman races. In her story, “When Iron Is a Precious Metal,” reporter Christie Aschwanden wrote that the limited entries for the Ironman races (most are capped at 2,200 athletes) are snapped up in hours and seemed impervious to the downturn. I can attest to the demand, as I was only able to get into the 2008 Ironman Wisconsin after purchasing a “community fund” entry by making a charitable contribution in addition to the normal fee. I had tried to sign up during the standard registration online, but those spots sold out just 45 minutes after online registration opened. For some races, the Ironman organization sets aside a small number of slots for competitors who aren’t able to register in the normal window but are willing to make a contribution to a charity in the race host community, as designated by the Ironman organizers.

Following Ironman Wisconsin, I decided I wanted to sign up for an Ironman race in a foreign country. Because I had missed the registration window for the two races I was most interested in (Ironman Switzerland and Ironman Austria), I emailed the race directors to see if they offered the charitable slots. Unfortunately, neither race had implemented the community fund program. However, the contact at Ironman Austria responded to my message indicating they’d be willing to create a charity slot for me – at about three times the normal entry fee (the standard community fund contribution is not that hefty).

After breaking through a bit of a language barrier with Ironman Switzerland, I learned they planned to open registration again to sell the slots for triathletes who had registered and then decided against doing the race. In January, I signed up for Ironman Switzerland during their second registration period, securing one of the last available slots according to my contact.

The New York Times story may have been a bit premature. Obviously, economies around the world have slowed in recent months. The economic downturn has now impacted Ironman races, as the Ironman Switzerland website is now pointing to the credit crisis and job losses as a reasons for “deregistrations.” The site specifically notes economic conditions in “England and overseas” as factors in now having slots to offer to athletes.

So, even the desire (however sane) to swim, bike and run 140.6 miles over the course of a day can be tempered by slowing economic conditions and thinning wallets.

(Note: For triathletes still interested in signing up for a 2009 Ironman race, the website triathlonbusiness.com reported in March that community fund slots were still available for some of the races here in North America. A handful of the overseas races are still accepting normal applications and a few of the listed 2010 races are open, as well. For more information, check out the event listings on the Ironman website.)