Darryl's Iron Man Experience...
From Injured to Ironman
by Darryl Sobering
It has been quite a journey; just over a year ago, in the beginning of 2009, I could barley jog. Every time I tried jogging I would get a sharp pain in the front of my left knee and then the pain would stay around for a few days making it uncomfortable to kneel or bend deep. This had been going on for about a year. Before you ask, no I didn’t go to the doctor or get a professional opinion on what was wrong. Spring was approaching and I was getting frustrated because I wanted to do some triathlons that summer after not having been able to the previous two summers. I finally started focusing on what was going on with my knee and decided I would get it fixed no matter what. I signed up for the Big Sky State Games triathlon with the confidence I would get better well before then, and I did.
After icing 4-5 times per day and doing rehab exercises I was finally able to start running again without pain, as long as I kept the runs under 15 minutes. The progress felt terribly slow but I had to keep reminding myself I had not been able to run for over two years so short runs were a huge improvement! The summer of 2009 turned out pretty good. I did the sprint triathlon at the Big Sky State Games and also did my first Olympic distance triathlon in Helena. My running was feeling much better but I felt like I needed to push myself more, so I decided to run my first ½ marathon in Vegas in December. At this point, I hadn’t put any thought into doing an ironman the next year; the distances were still pretty far out of my reach. My longest run was the Vegas ½ marathon, my longest bike ride was Peaks to Prairie which is about 45 miles, and I could barley swim 1500 meters in a row. But for some strange reason, sometime just before Christmas of 2009 I started thinking about it.
Christmas 2009, while visiting my family, I got into a conversation with my grandmother about wanting to do an Ironman (To my surprise she knew what it was!). I explained the time commitment and the fact that I didn’t think I could afford that amount of time away from work. That was really the extent of the entire conversation. A week after Christmas, I received a phone call from my grandmother saying she wanted to pay for my race and help me with travel expenses. I was really surprised at her offer, and that was it…that was when I really decided it was time to do my first Ironman.
For those of you who don’t know, an Ironman distance triathlon consists of a 3800m swim followed by a 112 mile bike and finishes with a 26.2 mile run. Taking my current fitness level at the time into consideration, I was a bit worried, especially about the swim. I knew I had to pick a race that was late in the summer in order to have time to train and I ended up choosing the Montreal Esprit Ironman distance triathlon. This race was close to my parents and I hoped my grandparents would be able to come and watch since they were supporting me. The race date was September 11, 2010, so I had 9 months to get ready.
2010 turned out to be a great year for me with races and triathlons. I started the year with another ½ marathon in Deadwood with a number of APEX clients and my wife Renee (who was doing her first marathon). Then, I did five triathlons over the summer: a Sprint and Olympic distance tri in Boulder, Colorado, the Big Sky State Games Sprint distance tri, another Olympic distance tri in Bozeman, and finally a ½ Ironman distance tri in Calgary about 5-6 weeks before my Iron Man in Montreal. Throughout the season I had no major injuries and felt like I was getting stronger and stronger. Something interesting happened over the summer as well; the swim went from being the most intimidating part of the race, to the part I feared the least! The time in the water is so short in comparison to the time on the bike and run that it made it mentally seem much easier.
Race day! I felt pretty good. One little nagging pull in my hip flexor was the only thing bothering me physically on race day. All the long hours on the bike, miles of running and open water swims (in Lake Elmo) were done and I was about to put it all together and see what I had in me.
Race Day Schedule:
4 AM up to have breakfast (bowl of millet rice cereal and a peanut butter and honey sandwich)
4:30-5:15 go over check list to make sure I have all my equipment together
5:15 leave hotel to head to the race site
5:25 arrive at race site (my parents picked a great hotel really close)
5:30-6:15 set up my transition area with my bike and run gear and have another snack and more water
6:15 get my body marked with numbers and get my timing chip for me and my bike.
6:30 put on sunscreen and then wetsuit
6:45 get into water for warm-up
7:00 start race
During the swim warm-up, there are people swimming in and out from the beach and as I was swimming away from the beach I had a head on collision with another racer coming back to the beach. Neither of us was looking up and then, CRACK! I looked up to see blood flowing from the other guys head right down his face and dripping off his chin! I thought, “Oh crap! I hope he’s not hurt too bad!” Then I think, “How is my head?”….I was fine, not a scratch. The other guy didn’t seem too worried about it, I saw him start the race with blood still dripping off his chin when the gun went off!
The swim went pretty well; the water was calm and smooth and there were great markers to help me swim straight, which is difficult when you don’t have a line on the bottom of the pool to follow! My goal for the swim was to get out of the water and be on the bike in under 1:30 and I made it! I was on my bike at 1:28. Woohoo….2 minutes ahead, now onto the longest part of the day - the bike. The bike course for this race was very different from any race I had ever done. It took place on the Grand Prix race track which was on an island in the middle of the St Lawrence River; actually, this is where the entire race took place. The bike course was 41 laps of this 2.7 mile race track…..yes 41. I thought this would get really boring but surprisingly, it didn’t at all. It was really nice to have fans cheering at the same spot every lap. It gave me a boost each and every time I passed them. My parents even made some friends who also started cheering for me as I passed, which made it even more fun. My goal for the bike was 5:30 and I hit that goal also, finishing in 5:28! Woohoo! 4 minutes ahead of my goal time…and on to the run.
The run was similar to the bike in that it was a looped course. 9 laps of the run course and I would be done!! Laps 1to 4 felt pretty good, I was still ahead of my goal time, I had even gained a couple of more minutes. Then it hit me, right around mile 13, my hips, ankles, and hamstrings started to hurt all at the same time. This made me a bit nervous because I still had 13 miles to go! Laps 5 and 6 were pretty slow. Early in the run I would just do a quick stop at each water station to get some water and fuel, but as I got father and father into the race the rest stops got longer and longer. I never stopped moving fwd but I would walk a bit longer each time. On lap 7, 8 and 9 my mother met me on the side of the course and jog along side of me for a few hundred meters. This really helped me think about something else for short period of time and got me revved up for the next lap. As I was coming around on my last lap my legs were in a lot of pain but I really didn’t want to stop at all so I just kept pushing. When I crossed the finish line, the most amazing thing happened… the pain literally all went away, gone in an instant, and it was then that I realized I was an Ironman!
Results
Darryl 11:11:19 2nd in Men 30-34; 20th Overall
by Darryl Sobering
APEX Personal Training
PART ONE
PART TWO
