Ironman Wisconsin 9/12/04 by Paul Weber

This newer addition to the Ironman North America family of events drew a
record crowd of nearly 2200 triathletes.  This race represented the
third year in the Madison, Wisconsin area.

The race begins and ends in the heart of downtown Madison.  What you
notice first is the Midwest hospitality; everyone is very friendly.  It
feels like you are visiting your favorite relative. 

For the second year in a row the weather brought above normal
temperatures-mid-80s and humid!!  Even at the body marking before
sunrise, I did not need any extra layers over my race clothes.

The swim was in bucolic Lake Monona.  Sunrise was about 15 minutes
before the race start.  It was really cool to be in the water with the
sun popping up brilliantly behind you.  The swim is a two loop
rectangular course.  The unique part is that after you finish the swim,
you must run up a spiral driveway to the top of the Monona Terrace
parking deck where all the bikes are kept.  Spectators also can see the
race from the roof of Monona Terrace.  However, shoreline space is more
limited versus Lake Placid.

The bike portion begins and ends on the parking deck.  You must be very
careful descending on the spiral exit road.  The stop and start lines
were STRICTLY enforced with penalties given.

The bike course can be easily underestimated.  While the elevation chart
shows no huge hills, it is a constant and steady diet of rolling hills
which eats up your strength over the two loops.  There is also NO shade
as you are mostly going through beautiful farmland that typifies
Wisconsin.  The heat and the lack of flat stretches led to a 10% DNF
rate for the field.  I personally dialed it down, conserved my energy
and hydrated a lot which worked well for me.  While my time was quite
slow, I was able to begin the run feeling strong.  Another good lesson
was that I had all the right equipment to change a flat.  I lost only 10
minutes rather than waiting for a support vehicle.
 
For the bike to run transition, you change inside the convention center
so you get the benefit of air conditioning which was a welcome relief
from the heat.  The two loop run course is really neat since it winds
through Madison and the University of Wisconsin campus.  There is a
stretch on a dirt trail along a another big scenic lake.  The trail felt
good to the feet and legs as it was a respite from the pavement.  The
students are also very supportive.  The course is very spectator
friendly.  I drew a lot of energy from the crowds.  I also drank
immeasurable amounts of chicken soup due to the heat and humidity.  This
worked for me because I avoided hyponatremia and ran a negative split in
my marathon.

Overall, I was very pleased to finish on such an unexpectedly hot day.
I would recommend this race to other Ironman triathletes particularly
because of the hospitality and the challenge of the constant rolling
hills.  It is very easy to burn out on the bike course!!  I am not
surprised that the contract for the site was renewed until 2009 after
only 3 years there.

My special thanks to my Ironmate & wife Ann Marie Weber, Doug & Kathy
Rice, Alistair McCrann, John Budzyna, Patrick Dorgan, Cliff Rigby, Cliff
Grossi, Tom Manzi, Greg Drury, Moira Horan, Mary Wheeler, Rob McKinley,
and John Bartram for their support during my two years away from Ironman
while I pursued an MBA.  They really helped keep me connected until I
could resume higher volume training this past summer.   I would also
suggest reading Jack Caucino's excellent write up of the 2002 race. 

P.S.-IM Wisconsin will be shown on OLN on November 14, 2004 at 4pm.

Best regards,
Paul