03/08/2014
Reflections of an Ironman
It's now been a week since I completed the 140.6 mile trek around New Zealand by swimming, biking and running; race familiarly called an Ironman. These few days of rest and recovery post-race have allowed me to reflect on events over the past few years that have led up to the moment I crossed the finish line and became an Ironman. It all started five years ago...
..in January 2009, when I finished my first, and only, marathon race in Houston. Although it was a rewarding experience, I swore I'd never do another marathon again. However, I loved the gratifying feeling of crossing the finish line after months of training and and waiting in anticipation of race day. That's when I decided to do something more challenging and try out triathlons. Soon afterwards, I bought a road bike and was on my way to becoming a triathlete!
In March 2009, I started training for my first triathlon. I soon faced my first big obstacle: learning how to swim. It was about this time that I took swimming lessons for the first time and recall struggling to swim the length of the pool and having to stop and take a couple of breaths. I also had a fear of swimming in water where I couldn't touch the bottom with my toes and still have my head above water. I had a lot of work ahead of me!
In May 2009, during a training bike ride, I was coming from the Golden Gate Bridge and descending down Lincoln Blvd. when I ran over a metal object in the middle of the bike path. Upon impact, my bike stopped abruptly while my body kept going over the handle bars and I landed face first onto the asphalt. I laid there on the ground unconscious for a few minutes until some fellow cyclists called the EMT and I was ambulanced to the hospital. I escaped with only minor cuts and bruises, but the accident and a close brush with death definitely left me questioning whether this sport was worth it.
In August 2009, I participated in my first ever triathlon race, a sprint distance event in London. 100 meters into the swim, I freaked out and found myself not being able to swim. I almost quit the race right then but managed to pull it together with the help of a swim course volunteer and swam the rest of the way with a sidestroke technique that I had just invented. I persevered through the rest of the race, and although I finished at the end of the pack, I was so thrilled to have completed my first triathlon. I caught the triathlon bug!
In March 2011, after several episodes of heart palpitations and nearly passing out during some of my longer, more strenuous runs, I decided to get myself checked out. Since college, I knew there was something just not right with my heart but hadn't bothered to have it looked at. After what seemed like 100 different tests, a heart specialist diagnosed me with exercise-induced ventricular tachycardia. In laymen's terms, I had a heart condition where sustained periods of exercise caused my heart to short circuit and beat at double it's normal speed. This resulted in me getting lightheaded and increased the likelihood of blacking out if I didn't stop exerting effort immediately and allow my heart to calm down. After consultation with my doctor, I had a cardiac ablation performed to essentially zap the problem areas of my heart, preventing it from beating out of control and allowing me to continue triathlon training. A couple of months later, I posted my fastest time ever for an Olympic distance triathlon.
In September 2012, I completed my first ever Ironman 70.3 race (exactly half the total distance of a full Ironman race) in Muskoka, Canada, finishing in just over six and a half hours. It was about this time that I made the life changing goal of training for and completing an Ironman. A few weeks later, I made the plunge and signed up for the inaugural 2013 IRONMAN Lake Tahoe, a race that would take place the following September. I was so excited and nervous at the same time and couldn't fathom being able to finish an Ironman. I felt miles away from being ready.
In June 2013, three months before the race, I encountered the most difficult obstacle in my journey to become an Ironman. 30 miles into a training bike ride in Maui, Hawaii, I was cycling down a hill when a Tacoma truck coming from the other direction turns left onto a side road in front of me. The driver failed to see me and I did not have enough time to swerve or brake to avoid him. I smashed into the side of the truck, my bike crumpling on impact, and I fell hard onto the pavement. I laid there writhing in pain and shouting obscenities into the sky as I came to the realization that my dream of completing my planned Ironman was all but dashed. Moments later in the emergency room, I got the dreaded news. I had a fracture in my right tibia, located in a precarious spot right where the ligaments attach to the knee. I'd have to be in a knee brace for four to six weeks to allow the fracture to heal and then would have a few months of physical therapy after that. At that moment, I knew Ironman Lake Tahoe was out of the question.
And this takes us to the present day. A few months after the accident, I signed up for the next available Ironman race that I could be ready for. That race was the 2014 Ironman New Zealand. After a couple of months of intense rehab and physical therapy, I began a compressed Ironman training schedule in October 2013. In total, I logged just about 300 hours of Ironman training on the bike, at the pool, on the road, or at the gym since January 2013. When I entered the finish chute at 9:23pm this past Saturday in front of a boisterous Taupo audience, it felt like the whole world was cheering for me. I fought back tears as I called upon every ounce of energy left in my body to sprint to the finish line. I'm pretty sure that was the fastest I've ever run, ever. Then, as the five years of memories came rushing back to me in that moment, I heard the words that made it all worth it. "Conrad, you are an Ironman!"
