Iron Family

Physically grueling, Emotionally draining, Endurance testing   

…are three phrases to describe it.

Severe cramping, Difficulty breathing, Uncontrollable vomiting

…are three ailments caused by it.

What’s your pain tolerance?,  Where are your limits?,  How much do you want it?

…are three questions answered by it.

Unbelievably rewarding, Beyond miraculous, Life changing.

…are three feelings resulting from it.

I’ve written a lot about the Ironman Triathlon over the last 9 months and all the above could certainly be used to describe it…

But the “it” I’m referring to here has much greater meaning.  The “it” I’m proud to discuss was truly the most incredible moment of my life. 

“It” was the birth of my son this past weekend.

…And like an Ironman, “it” wasn’t easy.

September 15, 2012 7am:

Sue awoke with severe pain striking off and on in her lower abdomen.  Despite not knowing exactly what contractions feel like, it wasn’t a tough mystery to solve given she was 2 days past due. 

After a few contractions, I decided to start timing the intervals using an Android app on my phone (real men have pregnancy apps).  She was already between 3 and 4 minutes apart with each one lasting more than a minute. 

To prove I learned something from my 7 Sundays of childbirth classes, I’ll share with you a good rule of thumb for heading to the hospital called 411.  You’re looking for contractions that are less than 4 minutes apart, lasting for at least 1 minute, and continuing for at least 1 hour.  I’m pretty sure I didn’t retain anything else from the 18 hours of classroom time but I did remember that tidbit.

Anyway, I was definitely getting excited about everything but have to admit it didn’t really sink in at first.  In fact, I actually watched a few Epic Meal Time videos on YouTube in between contractions so evidently I wasn’t taking labor very seriously at this point.  

In the middle of me watching the creation of a 100,000 calorie meal, Sue ran into the bathroom and got sick.  Just to be clear, I wasn’t actually showing her the disgusting video when she puked so the record books will score this one to the pregnancy and not me being an ass. 

9:30am

My instincts told me that Sue projectile vomiting (and missing the toilet) while having continuous contractions at full term was further confirmation she was in labor.  I’m amazingly intuitive.

Plus, the vomit was exactly the attention grabber I needed for this all to set in.  If there was even 0.01% doubt left in my mind, it was now abundantly clear that today was the day. 

Sue toughed it out at home for a few hours but the pain seemed to be getting much worse quickly.  I’m no doctor, but was smart enough to call one and confirm what to do.  No surprise, but the doc was much calmer (is it calmer or more calm?) than me.  I’m guessing it was because she has fielded a similar call 932,000 times in her life and I’m just a rookie.  We chatted for a bit and decided it was time to roll. 

I threw our bags in the car, pulled Sue from the bathroom and off we went to the hospital.  I drove directly to the emergency room entrance at Duke where Sue hopped out and immediately got sick all over the sidewalk.  She either didn’t like my driving or this labor was moving full speed ahead.  Most likely both. 

She was immediately put in a wheelchair and brought up for her first examination.  She was about 5cm dilated and progressing quickly with the pain becoming excruciating.

“I didn’t know it was going to hurt this bad!” she kept saying…or screaming I should say.

Sue did not want an epidural and was determined to fight through it.  Each contraction kept coming stronger than the previous and she was getting very little in the way of breaks between each. 

I saw a friend of mine tear his Achilles tendon in business school but can’t remember seeing anyone else with a look of pain like this in their face.  I would have done anything to take some of her pain, but I was pretty useless aside from trying to massage her a little.

Minute after minute she was screaming, unable to move, and repeatedly getting sick in a little bucket.  She was absolutely miserable and I wasn’t sure how much more she could last. 

After hours of fighting, Sue asked for the epidural for the first time.  The problem was she told me not to let her get it no matter what pain she was in.  That’s a very delicate spot for a husband.  Do you listen to what your wife said before or listen to what your wife is saying currently?  I think this is known as a lose-lose situation. 

I did what I thought was the most rational thing…each time she requested it I kept saying “let’s just see if we can make it through one more contraction.”  We played that game over and over for about 30 minutes with it getting harder and harder for me to see her in this much pain.

Finally, it was obvious she couldn’t continue any longer so we moved forward with the epidural. The doctor thought she still had several more hours of laboring to go and I was worried she wasn’t going to get through the next few minutes.  Honestly, at that point, there really wasn’t much of a decision to be made.  Keep in mind this is before the real pushing even started!

The anesthesiologist came in and saw the pain she was in and ended up giving her first dose directly in her spine.  Literally seconds later, Sue was fine.  Talk about working wonders.  It was the first time I saw her smile and stop to realize what was actually happening.

The next few hours progressed well with Sue getting to 9 cm dilated and our nurse predicting the baby would be here before 4:30pm.  Unfortunately, 4:30 came and went and progress seemed to grind to a halt.  In fact, it actually started to reverse.  By about 7:30pm Sue was down to only 7cm dilated.  Apparently the baby’s head was bumping against the cervix and making it swell.  This made a previously difficult situation become impossible.  The physics of what needed to happen just wouldn’t work.

At about 8pm, after 13 hours of laboring, the doctor informed us that the only way this baby was coming out was Sue going under the knife.  Uggh.  This was the absolute last resort after we tried every conceivable position and option to get the baby to come out naturally.  In the end though, it wasn’t a tough decision.  We didn’t want to put the baby through any more stress and his heart rate was already showing signs of dropping quite low repeatedly which was worrisome.

I’ll skip the surgery details other than to say at one point I caught a glimpse of her body and it looked like she had been attacked by the Predator.  It’s also never a good sign when the official report contains phrases like “cord presented first with difficult extraction requiring vacuum,” “baby with no respiratory effort at delivery”, etc. 

I’m so glad I didn’t know about the complications at the time.  So scary.

9:18pm

Finally, at 9:18pm on Saturday, September 15 I got to meet my son!!

Do you remember my 11 naming principles from my post “Extra Credit:  A 36^th Achievement?”  Well, Sue and I found the name that sat perfectly at the intersection of all the principles:  Grant Michael Schmeiser. 

He’s just a little guy at 5 lbs, 14 ounces and I think 3 lbs of it may be his hair.  He honestly has more hair on day 1 of his life than I've ever had in 35 years.  Not sure whether to be happy or depressed about that!

Anyway, he also definitely came out focused on Schmeis35for35.  Here was one of the first pics of him only a few minutes old.  He was holding up 3 fingers clearly trying to communicate something to me about Triathlons. 

But which race was he talking about?

Maybe he was wishing me luck in my Half Ironman this Sunday.  He must know I will be making my 2^nd attempt to break 6 hours despite a ridiculously hilly course and getting absolutely no sleep this week from taking care of him. 

Then again, maybe Grant wasn’t talking about the half and was instead wishing me luck in my full Ironman on October 20.  After all, looking back on the day, the parallels between an Ironman and labor become obvious so maybe he recognized this.

Sue labored from 7am until 9:18pm on Saturday…14 hours and 18 minutes in total.  

On Saturday, October 20 I start my Ironman at 7am.  I guess I now know my time to beat.

Today:

I learned a lot last Saturday about Sue and Grant and couldn’t be more proud for our family.  Like an Ironman, not everything went as planned and some things were out of our control.  We kept fighting though and the outcome couldn’t have been more perfect.  I love them both very much.

As for the Ironman vs. labor comparison?

All year, I’ve been so anxious to say the 4 words that come with an incredible sense of satisfaction and pride:  “I am an Ironman.”

While I still want that honor next month, I now know I can already say a different set of 4 words that gives me infinitely more satisfaction and pride:  “I am a Dad.”

Schmeis

True Tale: The Triathlon Triple Try

The sports world is filled with “triple” accomplishments.  

Horse racing has the Triple Crown.  Basketball has the Triple Double.  Baseball has the Triple Play.  Track & Field has the Triple Jump.  And Diving has the Triple Lindy! (Rodney Dangerfield’s phenomenal final dive in Back to School)

So how can Schmeis35for35 be a legitimate athletic blog without some sort of “Triple” achievement?  It can’t.  That’s why I’m officially creating my own “triple” accomplishment:  The Triathlon Triple  

To be clear, I’m not adding new goals to my list of 35.  Instead, the Triathlon Triple is my attempt to accomplish 3 of my 35 goals in one day…in one Triathlon.  

Achieving the Triathlon Triple would propel me from my current weak performance of 10 completed goals to a much more respectable 13.  If I make this happen, Vegas odds makers would need to scramble and reassess the over/under for how many of my 35 I’ll accomplish this year. 

So what exactly is the Triathlon Triple?  It’s my attempt to check off these 3 Schmeis35for35 goals in one race:   

1. Finish top 30% in an Olympic distance Triathlon
2. Bike 1 mile in < 2:15 (26.7 mph avg)
3. Compete in 6 triathlons for the year

Let’s see how I did on Saturday in my try for the unprecedented:  The Triathlon Triple

Pre race:

Another attempt at a goal, another 3:30am wakeup call!  I never thought that 5am would be considered “sleeping in” but that’s how I feel at this point.  I texted a few friends at 3:30 and heard right back…they were still out on the town in NYC having fun.  Why am I doing this again?

On the plus side, it seems my body should be prepared for crazy wakeup times whenever the little one decides to enter this world in a few short days.  On the other hand, maybe I shouldn’t be voluntarily depriving myself of sleep when that situation is going to be forced on me in the near future.

Anyway, Sue and I made the 2 hour drive to the race site and a check of the weather showed it would be another blistering race day.  Shockingly (sarcasm), the next day was supposed to be 15 degrees cooler with very little humidity.  I’d say I can’t catch a break on the weather but that would be an understatement.

A few days before the race, I decided I should stick to my usual plan of trying to make people think I’m a good Triathlete without actually being one.  That meant I should buy fancy new Tri shorts for the event.  This technique has treated me well in the past so I assumed this would be no exception.

After setting up my transition area, I started to loosen up with some hamstring stretches.  My left one felt very tight for some reason. [HINT:  not so subtle foreshadowing of things to come]

Swim:

The start of the race was a 1500 meter (just under 1 mile) open water swim.   Before the horn, I talked strategy with my buddy Penn Holderness.  We both agreed that finishing with a fast time would be a good idea.  

Judging by my hand signals, i guess I was also saying, "go that way."

Anyway, I had my worst performance in the lake of any race so far so I guess we needed a better strategy. 

My goggles were constantly foggy which caused me to literally stop swimming several times and lift my goggles to see.  Buoys were on the lake to keep racers on the right track but I found them very difficult to spot. 

To make matters worse, I wasn’t swimming straight at all.  I was having pain in my left hamstring when kicking so I basically started to just drag that leg.  I think that contributed to me not swimming very straight and made my lack of visibility even more of an issue.

You know how the shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line?  Yeah, me too...I just didn’t take that route.   I’m surprised the race officials didn’t pull me out of the water and make me take a breathalyzer…

No joke,  my GPS watch said I went 1.07 miles which means I ended up swimming  ~200 meters further than I should have if I went in a straight line.  It literally cost me 4 minutes…ridiculous.

As a result, my time was 35 minutes which is about 15%-20% slower than I normally am at that distance…not exactly a good start.

Bike:

I was determined to make up time on the bike after my pathetic swim.  Plus, this was a portion of the race where my Triathlon Triple came into play.

I came out of transition flying with each mile getting faster than the last.  I was trying to find the perfect spot to drop the hammer and push for my goal of a 2 minute and 15 second mile.  The problem was that I didn’t know the course so wasn’t sure where the hills were, where the road conditions were bumpy, if the wind would be in my face, etc. 

After ~4 miles, I was making really good time averaging over 22 mph.  I took a look at my watch and had gone 4.3 miles when I looked ahead and saw nothing but flat road in front of me.  It felt slightly into the wind but thought this was as good a place as any to make my move.  The only problem was that I was .3 miles into the mile split so would need to really kill it over the next .7 miles to have any chance at making the goal and have it officially record on my watch.

I decided to go for it.  I shifted into my Cervelo’s hardest gear and pushed with my quads as hard as I could while pulling with my hamstrings on the way up.  My left hamstring was very tender but I went for it anyway.  I just kept pushing and pulling the pedals as quickly as possible. 

At the 5 mile mark, my watch beeped and I knew I was probably close.  Unfortunately, there was no way to tell whether I made it without flipping through the settings on my Garmin.  I had to wait for the end of the race to know whether I made the goal.  Was the Triathlon Triple still in play?  I wasn’t sure.

About 12 miles through the bike portion of the race I was averaging 22.5 mph.  The twinge in my left hamstring started getting worse and I got very nervous I was going to really pull it.  Going that hard early in the bike may have been a bad idea.  I ended up backing off substantially on the last 16 miles and only averaged ~18.5 mph for that portion.

I finished the bike in a very disappointing 1 hour, 23 minutes which was about 10 minutes slower than I was expecting…

Run:

As you can tell from the relatively empty transition area, I made it back from the bike before most of the racers.  

As it seems to happen to me every race though, the sun came absolutely pounding down during the run.  It was in the 80s officially but the heat index was well into the 90s.  

To make matters worse, the run course was on newly paved black top.  My running shoes were literally sticking to the road.  It felt like running in a steam room.  With the black top soaking in all the sun’s rays, it had to have been 100 for us along the road.

My left quad and hamstring both felt like they were close to cramping for most of the run.  I ended up sticking to a steady 9 minute pace the whole 6.2 miles.   I felt like I was a step away from tearing a muscle or having severe leg cramps again so was content with the slow pace.

I crossed the finish line and headed straight for the waterfall tent.  As its name suggests, it’s basically just a tent with some hoses along the top that spit down cold water.  Phenomenal feeling…

The Triathlon Triple Results

I finished in 2 hours, 59 minutes, and 13 seconds.  I was expecting to do 2:50 at the worst and closer to 2:40 if things went well…so much for those estimates.

Anyway, by successfully crossing the finish line I checked off one part of the Triathlon Triple and another Schmeis35for35 goal.  I had already completed 5 Triathlons before this day so this marked my 6^th…another goal done!

If you think that goal was pretty weak, you’re basically right.  My only defense is that it was far from certain at the beginning of the year given my injuries so setting the goal ensured I stuck with the Triathlon training throughout the year.  Finishing the race brings my total to 11 out of the Schmeis35for35 complete!

While I waited for overall results to be posted, I flipped through my watch statistics to see if I accomplished the 2^nd of my Triathlon Triple and 12^th goal overall…biking 1 mile at > 26.7 mph. 

I knew I would be close but this was pretty painful…I missed it by 8 seconds.  My 5^th mile split was 2 minutes and 23 seconds…just 8 seconds from making my goal of 2:15.  That was good for a 25.2 mph average but short of the 26.7 mph I needed.  Some combination of a weak hamstring, a slight headwind, and me starting my push too late cost me. 

The good news is that unlike some of my goals, attempting the fast mile on my bike can be tried anytime so I’m confident I’ll do it one of these days. 

The bad news is it killed my dreams of the Triathlon Triple!

That being said, I still had a chance for the Triathlon Double if I finished in the top 30% overall. 

On the official participant list posted online, there were 405 individuals entered.  30% of 405 is 121.5 so I needed to finish 121^st or better to make top 30%. 

A big screen TV was streaming at the finish line with results.  As I stared and watched the names scroll by, I was in awe of some of the times.  The winner did the race in 2:02 (57 minutes faster than me).  I thought that was absolutely insane but felt better when I found out he was an All-American swimmer at Auburn and an Olympian. 

Despite being impressed with others, I was really focused on seeing where I placed.  I was hoping the weather took a toll on the rest of the racers and I somehow snuck into the top 121.

The names seemed to take forever to scroll across the screen…50^th, 51^st, 52^nd…I was nowhere to be found…73^rd, 74^th, 75^th…still didn’t see my name.  108th, 109th, 110^th…still no Schmeis anywhere.  119th, 120^th, …and BOOM! 

Right there next to the #121 was my name.  I finished 121st which was exactly top 30% to the number.  

When do I ever have any luck?  Finally I was on the right side of a good break.  12^th goal achieved! 

Or was it?

Later that day, official results were posted online.  As I was going through the numbers I clicked and saw that 93 out of 214 men and 27 out of 158 women beat me.  This was consistent with the previous results I saw that I was 121^st overall.

But wait a minute?  The official results showed only 214 men and 158 women.  Adding those together means there were only 372 participants instead of 405 as the official participant list indicates. 

Why does this matter?  Because top 30% of 372 means I needed to finish 111^th instead of 121^st! 

So here’s the question?  Did I actually achieve the goal or not?  On the one hand, I could argue that if a team is supposed to play a game and doesn’t show up they forfeit.  When there is a forfeit, the other team gets the victory.  On the other hand, it’s tough for me to keep a straight face by saying I beat people who didn’t even start the race.

As always, the final judge is me.  Looking at all the evidence, I have no choice but to rule the goal of finishing top 30% in an Olympic Triathlon NOT complete.  I’m not counting it. 

Painful.  Even worse is when I saw I needed to be only 39 seconds faster over the 3 hours and I would have checked it off with no caveats.  Brutal.

So Where Does This Leave Me?

My Triathlon Triple didn’t exactly go as planned.  I got 1 goal out of this race but missed the other 2.   I moved from 10 Schmeis35for35 goals complete to 11, but my potential for step function change ended with only incremental improvement.

In any event, I’ve knocked off 2 of my 5 Triathlon goals from the list and still have 3 remaining:

·         -  Top 30% in Olympic Distance Tri  (~1500 meter swim, ~25 mile bike, ~6.2 mile run)

·        -   Finish Half Ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) in < 6 hours

·        -   Finish Full Ironman (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run)

I’ve looked at the calendar and have 1 more shot in 2012 for each of the three and have registered for all of them.  Here are the dates and my upcoming schedule:

·      

             - September 23 – Half Iron Distance at Jordan Lake (Finish Strong Half)

·         - October 6 – Olympic Tri in Pinehurst (Pinehurst International)

·         - October 20 – Full Iron Distance in Wilmington, NC (Beach2Battleship)

Wow, that means I have to do an Olympic, a Half, and a Full (3 major triathlons) in < 1 month with each being incredibly important for my goals. 

3 Triathlons in < 1 month?  That’s a feat crazy enough to need a name.  

I think I’ll call it The Triathlon Triple.  Maybe we can pretend the first version didn’t exist.

Busy Notepads,

Schmeis