Scott Ragsdale

To me … it is incredible that the world we live in today, (arguably) the most powerful news media in the world, CNN’s major headline:  “is religion diverting our attention?”

Diverting our attention from what????

 buying shit we don’t need?

“THERE AIN’T NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH”

“TANSTAAFL…..indicates an acknowledgment that in reality a person or a society cannot get “something for nothing”. Even if something appears to be free, there is always a cost to the person or to society as a whole even though that cost may be hidden or distributed….” (wiki)

The week leading up to my first ironman had been enjoyable, with sightseeing in New Zealand and some resting, but I was ready to get this race over with.

My legs had been sore all week.

Mario told me it was my nerves, but secretly, I was very concerned I had overtrained the week leading up to the race.  On the tuesday before the IM, we did a 70km ride … and the next day we ran for an hour at 11km/h pace.

My legs were stiff and sore, not to mention tight - for the entire week.

However, I had taken 600mg of advil (ibuprophen) the night before the race which seemed to work a miracle because when I woke, I felt great and my legs were not sore at all.

I ate 4 pieces of organic brown toast, a large strong coffee and tried to relax.

After taking a shower and shaving my face and head (I decided not to shave my legs or arms) I got dressed and around 5am we walked slowly to the area where I would get my number written on me, drop my water bottles at my bike and then put my wet suit on for the swim.

I met up with two pirate friends, SP and PUP, however, I was too nervous to stand around and talk.

Mario and I left them to go sit in the tent and try to relax for the last 20 minutes before I had to go down to the swim area.

Up until a few days before, I had never swum in a wet suit.

I waited until I was in New Zealand to buy my wet suit and figured it was no big deal because I had been a competitve swimmer for a majority of my life, thus it would be no problem not having swum or trained in a wet suit (this was a stupid assumption).

Unquestionably, the most miserable memory I have of this ironman is the swim.

I got in the water around the time the pro’s started, 15 minutes before the amateurs.

I felt great in the water, and enjoyed the glide my “Orca” wet suit gave me.  I was pumped and figured I could go around 50-53 minutes on the swim … so I pushed my way to the front of the group in the water.

The swim was a water start, around 50 meters from the shore.

As I floated in the water in position to start the race, I felt good in my wet suit and my feel for the water was ideal … I was very excited for the race to begin.

When the canon went off, I sprinted as fast as I could to get into position, as well as get into the flow of the race.

Within 90 seconds….my shoulders were dead and people started running me over.

One guy swam completely over me.

Within 400 meters or so, I was absolutely dead tired and regreted very much my hubris, i.e. trying to be top 20 on the swim.

Although I had trained for the swim, my training was half ass and arrogantly, I figured I could “fake” the swim and swam once a week or so leading up to the race … also, I underestimated the fatigue my shoulders would have swimming in a wet suit.

Around the 1000 meter mark…. (dead tired) I was swimming well and into a rythm, trying to draft as much as possible off the guy in front of me when suddenly, like a band of wild horses, another group of swimmers swam over me.

This time, the pack of wild horses swam over me at such a pace, I could just barely stay above the water, and I swallowed a lot of water from the lake.

I figured 40-50 people were in front of me now …. I was dead tired, but still not even at the half way buoy.

Finally, I swam around the half way buoy….

The swim back was much easier because I was in my groove, focusing on my feel for the water, rolling my hips and swimming easy, still trying to draft as much as I could off the guy to my upper left.

The last 1,750 meters lasted forever …. finally, I arrived to the end of the swim and rushed out of the water.

I had swum low 55 minutes, which was much faster than I thought I had swum.

The first transition was 1/4 mile away from the lake … so I ran as quickly as I could, at the same time trying to unzip my wet suit and not get knocked over by other people who were running past me.

I wore my bike kit under my wet suit so the transition was simple:  I sat down and someone pulled off my wet suit, I grabbed my bike shoes and then ran to my bike, all of this took, less than 2 minutes.

But for some reason, I got lost in the bike transition and I could not find my bike (I guess I was dead tired and wasnt thinking) …

The beginning of the bike leg was great …. for about 3 minutes…. I enjoyed an easy ride, drinking water and resting after the battle in the lake.

Stupidly, although I had ridden the first 70km of the ride earlier in the week, and knew what was coming, I did not prepare my gears for the first steep hill …. and I started climbing the hill in too high (difficult) of gear.

Within 2 minutes I was dead dead tired … climbing a steep, long hill in the wrong gear.

Cyclist after cyclist raced past me.

10-15 minutes later (to be honest, I dont know how long it was, maybe much shorter, but it seemed a long time)  … I made it to the top of the hill, my heart rate must have been 200+ …. but once I got on the long, rolling ride everything changed.

The ride was a rolling 45 km out and back two times for a total of 180km (112 miles)

The course was on a small, two lane road through the country-side of New Zealand – and as I rode, I tried to enjoy the gorgeous scenery out of the corner of my eye.

I was very worried about dehydrating and not finishing so I drank something constantly.

I felt great and soon was reaching speeds of 35-50km/h …. although many cyclists flew past me, I felt good on the first portion of the ride —  I started to fantisize about breaking 12 hours ….

The wind seemed to be hitting me from the front side, thus I was excited to see how fast I was going … and I figured I would have the wind at my back on the 45 km ride back.

Naive.

As soon as I turned at the 45 km mark and headed back …. I discovered 31km/h of wind was nearly head on with me …. I went from averaging 35km/h to instantly, going not much faster than 23km/h.

The 45 km way back there were much more hills going up than going down…all into the wind.

One section of the bike, I was climbing a long hill with the wind hammering me head on….going just 8km/h.

My bike split for the first 90km was exactly 3 hours … which put me on track for my goal of 6 hour bike split, but the truth is my legs and neck were dead.

Stay in the TT position.

The day before the race, Mario told me to try and stay in the TT position as much as possible, even when climbing hills to conserve energy and give less resistance to the wind.

I stayed in the TT position 90% or more of the ride …. The last 45 kms …. which were head on into the wind …. I stayed in the TT position the entire time, not to sheild from the wind, but because it was like I was laying down; like putting my head on a table.

I was so tired that I would sit in my TT position and stare down at the road below me, only looking up every few minutes to make sure nothing was in my way.

The last 20km of the bike……  My neck was very sore and I could hardly, lift my head up to look in front of me….

I was so tired that I started speaking out loud to myself …. I even had a long conversation with my late best friend, Giovanni …. it was a very enjoyable conversation.  (giovanni died in a car crash in 99′)

God bless ibuprophen.

The night before the IM, I read up on taking advil before or during an ironman.   I learned that up to 70% of the participants in an ironman take ibuprofen before or during the race.

I tapped 4 x 200 mg tablets to my handle bars and around the 160km mark  of the bike (20 km left) I took them.

The last few km of the bike were down hill which helped me recover a bit …. I am not sure if it was the advil or not, but when I arrived to the run transition, I felt great.

I quickly changed and jogged to exit the transition … but I discovered I had taken off my race number when I had changed my shorts, and the lady wouldnt let me exit.  Thus, I  had to go back to the tent which took a few minutes to look for my number.

The run started well and I felt good — but upon reflection, I started the run in much too slow of pace.

Gorgeous run along the lake … but 50% of the run would have the wind head on and then 50% at my back … and in some cases the wind was hitting me so hard head on that I could barely run …

My goal was to run the entire marathon; to break 5 hours.  But the long hills into the wind killed this goal ….. At the 25km mark, I started to walk … I even fooled myself into believing I was walking faster than I had been running ….which later Mario proved to me was not true.

Mario had been sort of following me on a mountain bike …. and he rode up next to me as I started to walk and told me to stop being a pussy and run.

Flat coke.

I had never tried flat coke before this race.

Before the race, Mario told me not to start drinking flat coke until the 21st km of the run.

But I was very scared it would give me stomach problems and because of this, I didnt try it …. until the 28km when I was so tired, I figured I needed all the help I could get … and grabbed a cup.

Like something magic, as soon as I drank the flat coke, I started to run again and at a much quicker pace.

I felt great.

I drank flat coke at every aid station from then on and my run pace really picked up.

My last 10km was 27 minutes faster than the first 10km, I think I did 1:03 on the last 10km.

Although my goal had been to break 12:30, I was now battling to break 13 hours … and I ran and ran and ran with this goal in mind.

As luck would have it, the wind which had hit me head on going out, had died to nearly nothing going back, thus I didnt have the pleasure of having the wind push me the last 5km along the lake and up the long hill.

Finally.   I ran through the finishers chute and crossed the finish line 12:59.05 ….

A woman put the finishers medal around my neck and another woman escorted me to the finishers tent.
I sat down, put my feet up … they took my shoes off and brought me tomato soup.

I felt much better than I expected I would feel after my first ironman.

I had no blisters.

After resting for a few minutes, I stood up slowly, grabbed my shoes and walked barefoot out to meet Mario.

Mario took my photo and we walked 1 1/2 miles back to our hotel … I took a hot shower and then we walked to dinner.

Although my body was sore, I felt great.

I didnt sleep much that night … I am not sure if it has to do with excitement or the fact my heart beat was above 150-160 bpm for 13 hours straight.

The day after the ironman, Mario and I went for more sightseeing (New Zealand is the most beautiful country I have visisted) … although my body was sore, I felt great.

We went for a 90 minute bike ride which made my legs feel a lot better.

I like the focus and challenge of training for the ironman, thus I am going to do 2 more this year.
Nice, France Ironman June 27th and then the Western Australia Ironman Dec 7th ….

Things I need to improve by June 27th for Nice IM:

• swim — ensure I train much more on the swim in a wet suit, so I can swim in the front without getting run over.
• lose 8 kilo — I lost 10 kilo for this ironman (from 103 to 93) but I can still lose another 8-10 kilo. I will be much faster when I get down to 85 kilo.
• bike training — train in the mountains in Monaco/Nice for the month of April and May so my legs get stronger – I trained mostly in flat dubai, thus when the hills came, I was a total pussy.

Recently, one of the readers of my blog who knew me from University sent a comment reminding me about a good story….

The University of California at Berkeley is famous in America for being “leftist/liberal.”

At the time I was a student, in the early 1990′s, although I had no real understanding of “why,” I considered myself a Republican (this was before GW, Dick and their buddies from halliburton and the religious right had destroyed the republican party)

My Junior year, I attended a BCR meeting (Berkeley College Republicans) and I was sincerely shocked to see only 10 people attend and there was no “exclusiveness.”
The 10 people were sloppy and were not people you would want to hang out with …. at least I did not want to.

When I asked the President of the club (a big fat sloppy man) why there was so few attendees, he told me that Berkeley is very liberal and being republican was not popular.

On the walk back to my apartment I remember thinking to myself that Berkeley student population is 50% Asian American..and at the time 15% hispanic american, both groups are culturally conservative….

therefore, going off statistics, a strong arguement can be made that it is the unsilent minority of “liberals” who gives Berkeley the reputation for being liberal…..when in fact, the student population is made up of intrinsically, conservative people.

That night on my walk home, I decided this club was my next project.

A couple months later the club held elections, no one ran against me and I became the President of the Berkeley College Republicans (BCR).

I had never been involved in Politics…I had never in my life run for any elected position…I had no idea of what the republican party stood for …. all I knew was that most rich people are republicans and I wanted to be rich, therefore, I was a republican.

Anyways…

Immediately, I set out to relaunch the image of the club.

Every Monday was “club” day and all clubs would “table” (have a recruitment/marketing table in the square leading into campus)

All clubs normally had one small table with a couple people standing there passing out flyers, trying to get people to come to their table….most of the time, people walked right by without stopping.

To ensure an immediate presence … I bought three big, brand new tables and chairs where people could sit…I got balloons….we got cookies and drinks…I recruited good looking men and women to work the table. (I even paid them out of my own pocket to ensure they tabled)

Although our club was small, we looked huge….and our recruitment exploded.

My first BCR meeting….we had 100+ people in an auditorium and it was full, people were even sitting in the ailes…..I spent the day working on my speech … at the time, I had no idea of the bull shit and phoniness of politics….

I was super naive…

All I cared about was “winning” and winning for me was to build BCR into the biggest club on campus….I didnt think about the biggest in America…I was focused on making us the biggest at school.

so I stood at the podium that first day, gave a pep rally, motivational style of speech and mentioned “this republican club is going to be inclusive…we want all republicans….pro-life and pro-choice …everyone is welcome…” blah blah blah….

and of course the meeting was a big success and recruitment further exploded….

Every Monday BCR’s three massive tables and chairs and all the good looking men and women standing around eating cookies, drinking sodas and talking would crush the rest of the clubs …. it was something like out of a movie.

we got buttons and t-shirts and soon you would see them all over campus.  I spoke to every sorority and fraternity to recruit …even to the black fraternities so I got to know many people on campus.

Part of my job was to raise money for the club…so we could buy t-shirts, buttons, materials, etc….after my first meeting and going off recruitment numbers – the club was really doing well…I got invited to one of the rich alumni’s house for a “republican networking meeting” but I went there to raise money for the club…

During that meeting this super rich and some what famous business man shook my hand and held it very tightly not letting go and asked me in his southern accented voice…. staring me straight in the eyes “what’s this I hear about you making our club moderate????”

I was sincerely surprised… I remember thinking to myself, “who gives a shit if its moderate or not … all we want is the biggest republican club we can make…” Apparently, because I had mentioned the club would be “inclusive” … a club where pro-life and pro-choice are both welcome … I was branded a moderate.

He gave the club a couple thousand dollars, but under the condition I did not mention openly that I wanted “pro-choice” republicans….

Within the year, I was informed that our club had become the 2nd biggest college republican club in America….the biggest was USC.

When you are the President of the 2nd biggest college republican club in america you get invited to cool parties and you meet lots of people who have interest in you and your future….

I had zero interest in having a future in politics and I knew for certain that I was moving to Japan as soon as I graduated so this club was a hobby and nothing more…

One day I got invited and flown down to Los Angeles for a meeting with the President of the USC college republicans (the biggest college republican club in america)… he and a group of business men took me out to dinner (I was so naive …. I sincerely thought they just wanted to talk about our clubs) but the dinner was a big pitch….”Steve is running for President of College Republicans nationally and we want you to be his Vice President…”

I remember thinking to myself…”What?? such a club really exists???? why would anyone want to be the president of it?????”

They explained to me that being the VP of the national club will be a big step and I could become a congressman very quickly…..

I explained to these people that I was moving to Japan in a few months and that I had no interest in becoming a politician and or taking this further….

The business men pressured me for a good month or so, I got hammered and hammered to accept the nomination to run as Steve’s Vice President….the pressure was incredible and I nearly agreed — but I stayed firm and of course did not run.

I want to point out that I had no idea of republican politics….I was a good public speaker, an athlete, and a good salesman, but thats it…

Meanwhile “BCR” was getting a lot of attention nation wide… even Rush Limbaugh (a famous republican pundit) mentioned the club on his national radio program….

The clubs success had nothing to do with republican politics …. it was pure marketing.

We turned “BCR” into an exclusive club where people wanted to be a part of it. We held big recruitment and networking parties. We had good looking women heading up recruitment of the men … and we had good looking athletes heading up recruitment for the women….

The club became a full time job and my grades definately suffered, but I learned a lot.

All I cared about was the numbers …. the more people officially registered the more successful I considered my Presidency.

During my presidency …. I learned that Politics is predicated on lying, cheating, and phoniness. I was disgusted to see people that openly hated each other pretend to be best of friends and even come together and support one another when they were running for something.

I am too transparent to be a politician….I am not good at “small talk” and it is impossible for me to pretend to like someone when I do not.

Politics is nothing more than cheap sales and expensive marketing…

Ironman New Zealand 2010:  12.59.05

swim:  55.13
bike:  6:37.17
marathon:  5:14.47

I am too tired to do a proper blog, but I wanted to post a short one so my friends and family know I finished.

Although my time is 30 minutes slower than I wanted to go, the head wind was very strong on 90km of the bike, and I ran well the last 12kms to ensure I broke 13 hours so I am satisfiedwith my time.

I will do a complete race report tomorrow.