Life Lessons from St. George

5/10/2022

As you all know, the first Ironman World Championships in the continental US happened last weekend and 5 RTBers helped make history. Great work Casey Arbenz, Diane Haensel, Adam Heiner, Brent Mecham, and Doug Simms.

Here are their race takeaways.

Adam Heiner
M45-49, Seattle

Adam & Elissa Heiner - Cute couple you two!

"Every full Ironman that I’ve raced has had its own specific challenges. St. George was no different. Heat, wind, elevation, cold water, dry air, and hills, hills, hills. My biggest takeaway from this and my other experiences is that it is okay to stress over the details and to over plan for a race. Every bit of information you can get about a course is helpful. Any way that you can train to the expected race conditions is wise. Fussing over every piece of gear is okay. You can control your training and preparation and put yourself in a better place to succeed. With that being said, once you get to race day things move outside of your sphere of control. Don’t stress if it doesn’t go exactly as planned. Let the race come to you and use your experience to adjust along the way. When you inevitably encounter adversity, remember that you’re supposed to encounter adversity. It’s supposed to be hard, and you’re supposed to feel some pain. If you’re not, you’re not doing it right or living up to your potential. As they say, “pain is temporary, pride is forever”.

Diane Haensel
W50-54, Covington

Diane had one of our favorite pre-race Facebook posts. She agrees this sums up her thoughts on race morning.

"I do not take it for granted what my body allows me to do. I’m grateful for my health. Today will be a challenging day. More challenging as I have probably ever experienced before. This is why I am here. I am chasing the deep satisfaction of testing what I can do. It’s go time!

Doug Simms
M40-44, Lake Tapps

My big takeaways are 'Don't try new things' and 'If you don't feel right and safe to continue, follow your instincts.'

I had been fighting a sore back working from home and at my sister's house at the dinner table, hadn't been sleeping well, and was looking for relief.

I took a muscle relaxer the day before not knowing that it takes 2-4 days to exit my system. I experienced some of the side effects of high HR and extreme drowsiness and was unable to keep my eyes open while riding the bike. I was essentially riding impaired and didn't know it. Things could have turned out much worse with some type of cardiac event or crashing. What I thought was a safe medicine to take ended up causing a lot of issues. I'm safe now but man it hurt to have trained and sacrificed so much time to give up so easily because I tried something new.

It was the right choice to stop the race but the wrong choice to take the medicine. I've come to terms with it and there will be more races and more goals. I'm looking forward to Salem 70.3 with a goal to get a spot at Worlds 70.3. I need some redemption. 🤪

I think life has a funny way of teaching these lessons. All things considered it was a drag how it turned out but I'm safe and healthy and I got to spend time with a lot of my triathlete friends and my family. Seeing so many people overcoming their own challenges that day was inspiring and kept me realizing that there will be more time to tackle these challenges. The community was amazing. They really cared and several of them helped me out by calling the paramedics and staying by me to make sure I was okay. They even prayed for me. It was truly inspiring the way they served the athletes.

Lastly, I want to give a shout out to RTB swim coach, Erin Eronemo. for helping me with my swim stroke and providing great workouts. I was able to take 3 min off my PR for the swim on a full Ironman.

Casey Arbenz
M45-49, Gig Harbor

A little perspective on this one.... Bill and I went to spectate this race with a lot of memories of past races for both of us - dragging our kids around for long days and remembering how grueling and important it was to wait for each others' finishes. Casey's wife, Annie, also races. Well. She wrangled the kids at Worlds's on a hot day with their signs and their cowbells like a champ! Bill caught this video at the end of Casey's very hard run.

Watch closely for Annie's cowbell and the kids trying to keep up with her, Casey's smile, and a really cool family connection. We loved it. And BTW, the day before the race the Arbenz family kayaked, and the day after they hit Zion pretty hard. Well Done Arbenz's!

Brent Mecham
M45-49, Bonney Lake

The race was tough in a totally unexpected way. Sure the course was hard, at elevation, cold water, wind, sand, heat, lots of climbs late in the bike and a hilly run to top it all off. I arrived a week ahead to get adjusted and ready and felt really great. I thought for sure I could give the course a good shot for my 6th IM.

But the real challenge for me was waking up Friday morning with a totally unexpected stomach bug. It relieved me of all contents and nutrients and left me in bed Friday with only a quick exit to check in my bike and gear bags. Attempts to hold down some dinner failed in the middle of the night and I was ready to withdraw. It was my teenage daughter sitting next to me during one of the episodes who quietly suggested that I was here, I might as well try and see how far I could make it. She also reminded me of our family motto "We Do Hard Things" and I knew there would be no easy way out.

So I fidgeted through the rest of the short night and got up and headed into the race. Still feeling uneasy I slowly began taking in liquids, hoping they would stay down, and getting myself ready to go. Talking to my wife right before the race kicked off she reminded me that this was a choice and that there was no shame in opting out, I promised not to get hurt and headed to the swim start. I decided that I would keep going until I thought there was a risk of serious injury or until I missed a cutoff. And with that I was off.

The swim was relatively normal, but I knew it was going to be a long day when I tried to use my legs after the swim. There simply wasn't anything in the tank. So I set off trying to consume some food and liquid. I determined pretty quickly that instead of the usual "how hard can I go and still have something left to get to the finish line" I was thinking "how little can I do to make the cutoff and ultimately finish." For the first time in my IM experience I started trying to remember the cutoff times and doing math.

The bike was hard, as promised, with heat, wind and late climbs at elevation. And made worse with more emptying of my stomach and the recognition that attempts to hold down anything solid wasn't going to work. I even got hot with a getaway aid station tent as it was tossed unexpectedly by the gusts of wind. Could the day get any harder?

After the longest bike ride of my life, I was so excited to get upright and on my feet. I quickly learned that the gels I had used to supplement the water and Gatorade I relied on to get me through the bike were sitting angrily in my gut. So I decided it was time to walk it off and go natural and hope I could get things settled down with a few miles of walking it off and taking in only water and fruit at the aid stations. And it started to work so I started to jog and move my feet fast enough to get me to the finish line before the lights were shut off. It was a record long marathon for me but I made the cutoffs and my stomach pain stayed at bay and I continued to progress in the lowest gear imaginable. Finally I found the finish line and I was so glad to stop.

Sleep was easy Saturday night and when I awoke Sunday I felt wonderful. Go figure!

This IM helped me learn that the limits of our minds and bodies are far beyond what I've previously believed, that faith goes a long way, that good vibes, encouragement, and support of others actually does lift me up, and that given the will, We, can indeed, Do Hard Things!