by Eric R.

As people and as athletes we tend to like to be able to anticipate life’s events as much as we can. Naturally, we get surprises, but, overall, we like things best when they go about as we expect them to. This is especially true for the morning of races. Athletes have their plan for what they are going to eat, wear, and when to leave for the race site. This predictability helps us to stay calm and focused as the start time nears. I raced Ironman Wisconsin this year and, while overall things turned out well, there were many unexpected twists throughout the day.

Let’s start with race morning. I’m awake as scheduled, well before the sun is up, and I start prepping my (first) breakfast. I have had the same pre workout breakfast for awhile now-OJ, bagel and egg white sandwich, and either yogurt and granola or peanut butter on frozen waffles. This gets me the fuel I need to have a successful workout or race. But when I went for the OJ race morning of IMWI, it had become frozen solid in the hotel refrigerator. Ok, no biggie. I’ll have water with my breakfast and let the OJ thaw and drink it before going in the water. Next up, I go for the egg white. This too was frozen! I let out a sigh and immediately started thinking of alternatives. I decided to have peanut butter on my bagel, being grateful that my wife basically packs a mobile kitchen when we travel for races (thank you!!!) Yogurt was fine, so was my banana, so at least part of my regular breakfast was unaffected. Surprisingly (shockingly?)  I managed to keep my emotions in check during all of this. I could have very easily let myself get upset, adding to a naturally nervous feeling the morning of an Ironman. I kept my head clear as we headed to the race venue.

Fast forward to the swim. After the debacle of what was left of my typical race morning, I was quite calm in the swim chute, hopeful that the curveballs for the day had already happened and been dealt with. I am also confident that being around my wife, my ET teammates, Coach Christa, and Coach Joe aided in that relaxed feeling. Nothing like having a great support crew with you on your Ironman journey.

The swim itself was more of a wrestling match than a swim. I lost track of the number of times that I was hit in the head, the goggles, my mouth, or had my arms and legs grabbed or pinned against me. I anticipated some of this, but the level of craziness in this year’s swim seemed much higher than normal. I was able to keep my breathing sequence on track so I was able to keep my technique going and I avoided any sense of panic. And when I got out of the water and saw that I swam the course 5 minutes faster than last year I was pleasantly, and definitely, surprised!

My bike was pretty much on target. I did a decent job of climbing the three B’s, I kept my goal of stopping only 3 times, instead of 4, and my fueling and hydration were locked in. It’s a relief when the longest part of the day goes as planned, and resulted in me being about 9 minutes faster than last year.

My focus during my training over the past year was to improve my mental skills on the run and run at a more controlled pace out of T2. In 2024 I ran the first 13.1 really well, perhaps too well, and then my mind gave in leading to some disappointment post race. During my training I worked on hitting my goal pace, and designing my long runs so that I would run past my car, but then need to go back out. Thank you, Coach Joe, for suggesting run loops for the long run training. I was hoping by starting slower that I was going to be able to drop a bunch of time off of my run.

The run on race day began well. I felt great out of T2 and I was closely managing my pace. I really wanted to go faster, but I thought back on my training and last year’s race, and forced myself to stay at my target. The miles went by, and soon I was approaching the end of the first loop by the Capitol. I began repeating, “slow and steady,” focusing on keeping an even pace. I was very happy as I turned back onto State Street for the second loop and I was still feeling good. The mental skills training had paid off.

Things were still good up until about mile 18. That was when I began to feel my back tighten up, something that hadn’t happened to me before. I was doing what I could to stretch it out, but ultimately I felt I had to walk a bit to see if I could work it out. I ran and walked from there until the finish, certain that my run time was going to be way past last year. As it turned out, it was about the same, even 16 seconds faster this year!

They say, “nothing new on race day.” Well, IMWI 2025 threw a few unexpected surprises at me. Some of them were good-faster swim, and bike, others could have prevented me from finishing-frozen OJ and egg white, the royal rumble during the swim, and my back issues on the run. My overall finish time in the 14:50s was about where I thought I would be, but I didn’t get there how I thought I was going to. We set our goals and we plan out how (we think) we are going to achieve them, often forgetting the alternative ways that we might wind up going, but still able to find success. This race will be memorable for me for all of the wacky things that played out. I’m going to call it, “Ironman Wisconsin 2025-The Year the OJ Froze But I Still Finished!”