And Then It Happened: Ironman Santa Rosa – A Race Report

Yes… It’s been nearly 3 years since my last post and for a good reason but finally, I’m back. As always should you only want race details scroll down to Race Day.

PRE RACE:
Leaving our house I did double inventory of all the things I would need for a successful race in just a couple days. The trip is only 2 hours up the 101 Freeway into Santa Rosa. Assured I had everything I needed, I soon pulled into downtown, walked to the race expo and quickly registered. I was able to spend time with one of my athletes I coach, also was racing on Saturday. Though a couple weeks prior he wasn’t sure he would be healthy enough or ready due to some personal setbacks leading into the race, I assured him all the data revealed he’d have a good day.

Since my wife, Joy was taking this Mother’s Day weekend as an opportunity to be with her mom and our oldest daughter in Kansas City, I was alone and chose to stay in a room through Airbnb. My host greeted me at the door and proved to be host extraordinaire, making sure I had everything I needed to be ready race day!

Friday morning, I prepped all my bike and run gear, went for a quick 30 min ride to be sure everything was working and feeling good and then threw on my running shoes to air the legs out one last time before resting up the remainder of the day. Then I dropped off my bike at Lake Sonoma, which had a ridiculous hike and bike having closed off the two lower parking lots! What was that all about Ironman organizers? Then I sped off into Healdsburg for lunch at the Wurst, and on to T2 to drop off my run gear. Like clockwork, all was done with no incident and I was back at Joe’s place by 4pm.

Ever since 2009, the evening prior to my race, I have a salmon dinner. I know Santa Rosa and the surrounding towns and their restaurants pretty well but was nudged by my host to consider the Santa Rosa Fish Market. YES!! Of course! They often are at local farmer’s markets in the wine country and I’ve always found their fish the best. I didn’t know they had a little grill attached and with that recommendation I made the 10 min drive over to Santa Rosa Avenue. While sitting at the bar, I pulled out my phone and proceeded to watch the Warriors Game… Made it through the first half and finished off the last half of my salmon… Dang, that was good!

Back at the house Joe and I watched the last quarter of the game. Warriors defeat Houston! I feel good! Now time to see what kind of night it will be… toss and turn or mostly sleep? The alarm is set for 4:10. Joe’s made some hard boiled eggs for me and cooks up a link of chorizo that I got from Whole Foods so it’ll be ready in the morning, telling me he makes his own chorizo and had he known because his IS the best… No bravado, stated as simple fact. But more on that later! I thanked him for all he was doing for me and his calm response was, “You’re gonna win this thing, right?” I assured him, I’d do my best!

RACE DAY:
I’m up… maybe 4 times total all night before actually having to get up at the alarm. Quietly I head downstairs with all my gear in hand, eat my breakfast of hardboiled egg/avocado toast and most of the sausage. Joe made some banana, chocolate chip bread and I have a generous slice w/ cream cheese! Stomach full, fully hydrated, keys in hand I walk out into the mild night air. There’s a quiet in the neighborhood reminding me what we do is incredibly rare and not to be taken for granted. As I drive to downtown to catch the 50 minute ride to Lake Sonoma, I begin to visualize the entire race… how the swim will feel, my pace and timing coming out of the water, running up the boat ramp, the several markers I chose on the bike course and what my wattage should be, the positive mindset I’ll need coming through T2… No walking, just running… crossing the finish line… arms up, smile on!

I drop off my run special needs bag and get on a bus. Here, while many choose to chat and let conversation distract them from nerves or awkward silence, I’m the opposite. I want quiet. I want to talk to myself. It’s the most important conversation of the day, one that needs to be positive and a conversation you look back on during the rest of the day when it’s easy to think otherwise. Here I begin the dialogue… “Daniel, how bad do you want it?” I don’t answer right away. I just let the question sit there for a bit. Then again, “Hey! How bad do you want it?”

“Really bad.” I tell myself. “Then don’t settle, do your best, you know you’ve done all you needed to do. Now… go do it!”

For the remainder of the day this question would repeat itself over and over again… “Dan, how bad do you want it?”

Transition – My number is 149. I’m staged right in front of the bike exit. I check my tires, gearing, brakes are clear and not rubbing (had a little issue with that at Oceanside 70.3 a few weeks prior). My T1 bag is accessible, I get body marked, visit the porta-potty, throw on my wetsuit, grab goggles, drop off my morning cloths bag… let’s get in line!

Swim: I stage myself in the 1:10 corral and do the foot-shuffle as we waddle our way to the front. Next thing I know, the 1:20 corral marker steps in front of me and I wonder what just happened? Regardless, I just think it’s you and the water. Time is time. Checking my watch, it’s just about 6:45am and I’m three people back at five second intervals, sending 5 people at a time. Goggles on… beep, beep, beep, beep, boooooop! Running, I’m in. Horizontal, arms begin the windmill motion. Water feels great and is fairly calm. It’s a two-loop swim, I sight every sixth stroke, keep it steady don’t go too hard, relax, reach, roll. Every 500 yards my watch buzzes to let me know progress. I won’t really know how things are going until I exit the water after the first loop before jumping back in on the second. There’s a thick marine layer blocking the sun. I’ve chosen my Roka R1 amber lenses that are perfect. No leaks, no fogging, great choice. As I exit my time is just at 33 min. Good!! Right where I want to be. I hear Eric, the race announcer mention my name as I run by him to dive back in. For the next 1000 yards it’s smooth and calm… then we start to run into all the slow swimmers who started last in the rolling start: Lot’s of back stroking, breast stroking just treading water. Ugh! This is frustrating to navigate around objects (people!).

As always just in the final 200 yards I’ll tell myself to enjoy this last little bit of the swim because it’s the calmest part of the day. Once you’re out of the water, it’s on! Total Swim time: 1:10:28

T1: As I start up the boat ramp I’ve already removed my goggles and cap but I cannot seem to get my wetsuit off of my left arm. It is stuck on my watch. This is a first! I’m tugging and tugging. I have to stop and put down my goggles and cap to free my hand to surgically get under the watch… what the heck!? Finally free, I run up to the wetsuit strippers and gladly let them do the rest. Running up I grab my bag (myself… with a volunteer just standing there. I guess the guy on the bullhorn calling out my # had no impact on this high school girl). I run into the change tent and get a chair right in front of the exit. It’s the driest surface allowing me to put on socks and run out without them getting wet. I put my shoes on at my bike and head out. Total time in transition: 5:45

Bike: I had arm warmers ready incase the temperature was still in the low 50’s but it felt warm enough, however the decent out of the lake IS cold enough but over quickly. It’s the slow climb over Dutcher Creek that warms you up… first marker! Check watts… nothing over 265! That’s threshold plus 10… I’m good. Quickly forming a group of people trading positions… no cheating! Keep your distance everyone! Drop back if passed. Of course there are always folks who violate this. Into Alexander Valley there’s a slight tail wind, the clouds start to reveal some blue sky. On to Chalk Hill Rd. I know this like the back of my hand… marker 2… Watts will spike on the steep kicker up… 300 no more! Here’s where it got interesting… There were two ladies on the Zoot team riding up the hill together as I passed them. Then on the decent they came by me, wheel to wheel. From here on out I refer to them as 39 and 42 (the ages written on their calves). It appeared that 39 was doing most of the work! There was no attempt to even mask this blatant tandem. Watching my watts and riding my race plan (sustained avg. power on flats 210-215) we stayed together; occasionally I’d pass them, occasionally, they’d pass me. Once on Shilo Rd. 42 took a pull, it’s also where the penalty tent was where I noticed a marshal listing violations. I thought. “I wonder if they saw that too?” Here the road gets really rough! So rough you have to get out of aero bars and hold on for life! It wasn’t until Westside Rd, heading back up valley I saw the sisters again. First 39 and then 42 flew by! Hmmmm? I thought, did she just get caught for drafting? Well, now with this burst of power off they went. Still riding my power plan, I’m taking in nutrition and water, 200 calories and 32 ounces per hour respectively. My legs feel good. Nothing seems fatigued. “How bad do you want this?”

Now finishing the loop on the bike it’s time to take Slusser Rd. over to Sebastopol. But wait… the penalty tent! Yup, as suspected… 42 is there waiting out her 5 minute penalty (I will pass 39 in just a few more miles)! Out here there is a really strong cross headwind. I watch my power and check my legs for lactic acid buildup. They feel loose and I’m already starting to think about the run. Just a few more miles through the neighborhoods, we roll into town, I exit my bike shoes I as I coast to a stop at the dismount line and hand off my bike to a stranger! Total bike time 5:34:12

T2: It’s at least a 10th of a mile to the change tent. This time my bag IS handed to me and I make my way into the tent… I grab nutrition, electrolytes, my visor, race belt and glasses and start my run… “Alright!” I literally say out loud as I make the right hand turn out of transition, “Let’s go get em.” Transition time: 2:57

Run: One of the good things about racing for as many years as I have, is you get to know who your competition is. Coming off the bike I pretty much had determined there were two guys ahead of me because they are faster swimmers and would have seeded themselves well ahead of me at the start. But I knew I was the better runner of the three of us. It wasn’t a matter of if, in my mind, it was a matter of where I would pick them off! Then no more than a quarter of a mile into the run, just approaching “Hot Corner” I look down and see “61” on a calf. He’s definitely not going fast. Without a word, I breeze by. One down, one to go!

The one to go, is a multiple Kona Qualifier, I had just bested him in Oceanside a few weeks prior and I figured if I could catch him between mile 7 – 12 even if we ran together, I’d still win on overall time since I started later. At the first mile marker my watch buzzed, I looked down to see I was running at 7:35 pace! Whoa there Nelly! Slow down! My heart rate was at 140 and I needed to drop it to 137 but I was happy at that pace it wasn’t much higher… this was a good sign.

The run along the river trail is awesome. Mostly gravel, tree-lined and shaded. The sound of the creek, soothing… the sound of the aid stations, not so much! Passing through the second aid station just after mile two, I look up and there’s my “one to go!” I’m still running sub 8 min pace now at target heart rate. I can see he will not be able to match my pace and I pass him with the kinda pace that says, “notta chance buddy.”

Between mile 4 and 5 there is a little out and back section that’s a little over 4/10s of a mile. Here, I tell myself will be an opportunity to see how much distance I made on him. I make the 180-degree turn and start looking for him. I run all the way back and see him just having entered. I’ve made some serious ground. Again, back in town at the turn around and start of the 2nd loop of the marathon, as soon as I pass the entrance to the river trail I check my watch, make the turn as Eric the race announcer let’s everyone know the “Running Reverend, Dan Perkins from San Jose, just killing out there today!” I start watching again and as I see him just before entering the river trail, quickly calculate I’ve now a 4+ minute lead on him.

My pace has dropped my heart rate steady at the out and back of loop 2 no sight of my nearest competitor. Same at the turnaround where I grab my traditional Gummy Bears from my special needs bag. (for those of you who don’t know… Gummy Bears do not have any nutritional value but they are an attitude adjuster. Why? Because you can’t eat gummy bears with a bad attitude!) Now, I don’t see him at all. So, as my hips are starting to ache and I’ve dropped to a 9 minute mile pace I realize that the shorts I’m wearing are really loose and I can feel discomfort in places you don’t want to be uncomfortable. So, I decide to walk the aid stations, stretch, adjust a few things and make sure I get plenty of fluids. At the final out and back I decide to start drinking Coke and Red Bull for a pick-me-up. Kinda does the trick and when it starts to feel good in the 50 yards I’m walking I start asking, again and again… “How bad do you want this?” Very bad! I tell myself and begin the run again.

As I come back off the trail and now onto the street with a half a mile to go, I am thinking of so many people; my wife, my girls… my athletes I coach, all my coworkers at WestGate, people I’ve trained and raced with these past 17 years. All the folks at ZERO Cancer cheering me on… and I think of all the conversations with folks I’ll have after this race. The pain slips away, the pace picks up. I remember to zip up my race singlet and enjoy every step into the finish shoot. I can hear Eric’s voice… “And here he comes!” I throw my arms in the air, not having to put a smile on my face; it’s already there. I cross the line. Hit my watch and tell myself, “That’s how bad I wanted it!”

It wasn’t my fasted time (still 10 years after my PR I’ve only lost about 30 minutes) but it was my favorite time!

My friends Pete and Cindi rush up to me. They’re so happy for me and… they let me know, “You’re in first place!” What I thought I knew was just confirmed and I knew this time… no one would change that in the minutes to come. I had raced my best race, knowing that everything I put into the physical and mental preparation had paid of. Total Run time: 3:55:13

Total Race Time: 10:48:35

POST RACE:
Pete and Cindi helped me get warm, collect my gear, waited for me to get a massage and walked my crap to the car… They were awesome. Later they suggested and met me at the Russian River Brewery facility in Windsor and bought me dinner (tradtion is, a Cheeseburger and a beer!)… Thank you!

I got back to the house and Joe was there… “Well?” he asked. Casually I state, “I got 1st.” He fist bumped me. I tell him to not laugh at me as I attempt to walk up and down the stairs! He obliges.

The next morning I pack (w/ Joe’s help) all my gear into the car. I head to the awards ceremony wearing a TEAM ZERO jacket only to exit the car and be confronted by two blondes wearing Team Zoot jackets… Oh my, it’s 39 and 42! I want to say something so bad but I bite my tongue!

The awards ceremony was awesome. When it came time to receive my trophy, I waited to be the last person announced onto the stage to take the top spot. This has happened for me in Olympic and 70.3 races before but THIS is my first Ironman win! While standing there… Mr. One to Go asked me, “Are you taking the slot?” Later getting the first right to refuse the one and only Kona slot in our age group, I gladly raised my hand when Eric said, “Dan… Going to Kona?” With a nod and thumbs up, his response was, “Good. I know how much you wanted it.”

A couple last thoughts… My athlete who wasn’t sure about whether he could actually do the race, but did… finished! And PR’d (personal record) by an hour! Then today, I left for a trip to Dallas. Last week, post race, I had to go to Denver. This morning I had a mid morning flight and enough time to make a big breakfast. I pull out Joe’s chorizo! I’m not gonna lie. He said his is the best. So, next time I see him… He’s gonna get a fist bump from me!

Next up Hawaii 70.3