by Scott McDermott
Racing is, in some senses, a hilarious and ridiculous passion. Hopes, dreams, intentions, training, planning, all culminating in a race that rarely, (if ever) matches even the most basic of intentions.
After the most intense preparation in my nine year racing history, I stood in Kailua Bay in Kona, Hawaii, ready to start my journey.
With two of my best friends in the world as my crew for the bikes and run, and two wonderful paddlers from the island ready to guide my swim, I was anxious to get going. The swim started as planned, and after 1:19 I was at 4 kms: perfect! Soon I began to notice though, that I was not moving forward any more, as the buildings and coral no longer seemed to be moving. The current had picked up, and to boot, a one metre (three- to four-foot) swell was also moving us around as the tide came in and wind picked up.
My paddlers asked if I could feel the current, and decided to take me out to the right into deeper ocean to try and ease the current. Once the water got so deep I couldn’t see the bottom, just deep blue water, the little floaties were moving near and far and swirling around, and I began throwing up violently. I threw up about every 15 minutes for the next three hours by swimming over to the boat and hanging on to the outrigger.
I would try and drink some water and electrolytes and then slip into the water and continue swimming but I had no energy at all. I felt helpless and weak, but a voice in my head just insisted that the only way out of this, was to finish the swim, so I just kept going. At one point one of my paddlers asked if there was anything they could do: “Yah, let’s get me to my bike...”. I exited the water exhausted a full 90 minutes later than my normal 10 km time (turns out the swim course was nearly a kilometre long as well - oops!).
I was exhausted, but with my crew’s help, I got on my bike and started the 145 km ride. At first I wanted to just lay down and have a nap, I had absolutely no energy, and the start of the bike is a 1,000-foot climb over a span of only 10 kms. After that it gets hilly! My crew worked hard at making sure I had food right away, and we used whatever we could manage: Coca Cola, Hammer gels, bars, electrolytes, bananas, doughnuts, whatever I could keep down! We managed to get my energy back up and I finally started to ride really strongly again and felt good. Right after that, the tropical storm hit.
Powerful headwinds and rain that felt like needles in my face; awesome! After that storm ended, and I managed to ride through all of the slippery wet pavement on the only real downhill section of the course, without crashing (like several others did), I got to start the big climb up to Volcano National Park. At about 110 kms in, we knew I was risking missing the cutoff of 12 hours, and it had started to rain HARD. Running up to me on the side of the road, “You need to find another gear!” shouted my crew chief Darren.
So in the pouring rain I managed to dig harder than I have ever dug before, throwing any plans of saving anything for the next two days out the window, I absolutely suffered. Darren and my other crew, Lyle, started sprinting along side of me for about 300 feet screaming encouragement at me and taking turns for interval after interval as they leap-frogged up the highway in our van.
I passed eight riders and both my crew and I tried to cheer on the other riders and help them to find another gear as well, for we were all in trouble. In the dark and pouring rain, with my lights on full intensity, we made the cutoff by 18 minutes. Five riders failed to make cut off on day one, it was heart breaking! Exhausted, soaking wet and ecstatic, we ate, changed out the van, repacked the gear and settled in to prepare for the second day.
The 276 km bike starts with a huge downhill and while riding with the leaders (we are allowed to pack ride for the first 30 kms of downhill, as it is safer), we all heard a loud POW! Fzzzzz...
Everyone looked down at their bike and sure enough, it was me: a rear flat tire at 60 kms per hour. I pulled over quickly without incident, being grateful it wasn’t a front flat! I had it fixed quickly, frustrated at the loss of momentum and five minutes, but just tried to put it behind me. After I learned that one of the other riders (Lars from Germany) had stopped and pulled over at the bottom of the mountain to tell my crew I had a flat - I love the attitude of this race!
I was able to stay pretty steady for all sorts of climbs and amazing scenery, but after around 90 kms, I was almost falling asleep on the bike. The day 1 fatigue was catching up with me! Once again, my crew started working hard to bring me back to life with anything I could stomach! Thankfully, a tail wind helped us ride a big section after the town of Hilo, and before long we had made the big left turn at Honokaa - starting a massive 30 km, 2,000 foot climb.
The effort required to keep going was unreal. I was so tired, and my crew pulled me over to stop for a five minute rest, seeing how hard I was struggling. We put my feet in an ice bath and I ate as much as I could while sitting in the truck, then got on my bike and was able to start riding well again. Finally we made the summit of that climb and got a flat section into the town of Waimea. The reward for that climb was another big climb up and over the Kohala mountains!
This is the toughest climb of day two, a 14 km, 1,000 foot sustained climb of around 12 to 14 per cent in the direct sunlight. The great thing was, I had ridden this climb in training and knew it well! I was mentally prepared, and now that the boys had me fueled up again, I could taste the finish line! I was able to power up the mountain, passing three other athletes and after seeing my family cheering me on, I flew down the 20 plus kms of the other side at 60 to 70km/hr to the town of Hawi. I managed to finish in 9:22, and we reset for day three: the 84.4 km run!
The run started out as per plan for the first half marathon (1:55), but at around 25 kms, my left piriformis seized up; a leftover consequence of the hard ride in the rain of day one. This is a muscle in the glute (bum cheek) where the sciatic nerve runs through. This made my left leg muscles stop firing, so I started to run like Terry Fox, and had to walk a few large uphill sections. Soon the heat rose to mid 30û°C (92 F), and 43°C (110 F) at the pavement, plus the high humidity.
I was limping for around 20 kms, stopping often to roll on a foam roller on the highway, and try to stretch or massage it out. At about 46 kms Lyle managed to help me stretch it out and it started to fade, so I was once again able to run normally, and pick up my pace. My crew had kept my energy up and my body well fueled, as well as cool using bags of ice in my front and back plus ice water on my head and down my back. With my body mechanics functioning again, I was soon running near normal pace, and dealing with new problems: blister.
At one point, the blisters on my left foot were so bad, my foot no longer fit in my shoe - so we had to cut them open. Yah, that didn’t feel good at all. My family and friends were soon at the side of the road in a few spots cheering us on, and with the incredible help of my crew, I was able to finish the double marathon in 10:17:34 and complete the race! We even did 5 burpees at the finish line in honour of all my clients and friends back home!
My total time was 31:20:21, placing me in 21st overall, and top Canadian, finishing just ahead of 10 time athlete Marty Raymond. Apart from losing seven toenails, and a lot of skin on my feet, I have recovered well and can honestly say it was by FAR the hardest thing I have ever done, and without my amazing crew, I never would have finished!
If you would like to read more, there is a full blog at www.yourbodycar.com and in January I will be doing a powerpoint slide show and answering questions at Best Body Fitness.