Ironman Wisconsin 2015: Dotty's Report

by Dotty Johnson Ironman Wisconsin 2.4 mile Swim, 112 mile Bike, 26.2 mile Run Madison, Wisconsin Sunday, September 13, 2015 I am truly blessed to have a supportive family, God in my life, supportive race team Outkast, Facebook team, and a heck of a coach, Carl Noftsger! I have had the opportunity to race Ironman Wisconsin for my second year in a row. Last year was my first ever doing a full Ironman and I really loved it. I was offered to race the same race again this year and decided I really wanted to train my hardest and go for my dream of Kona. Wow, what an amazing race I had in Madison Wisconsin this year! I am truly blessed with everything that happened for me to achieve my goal! I could not have done my race as well as I did without soo many people supporting me! My coach has believed in me for four years now and pushed me to my limits to achieve my dream! I had learned soo much from racing IMWI from last year that I was really focused on doing my best and seeing what would happen on race day. I had become vegan over the last few months and was the strongest I have ever been. So here is my amazing story for my race to get my dream of Kona!

Swim

My coach let me use his wetsuit for the swim, told me to get to the front on the line in the water 3 rows back. So I did knowing that I was not as fast as a swimmer as all of them, but knew I had to do this to get out of the water the fastest. Dammm the swim was a blast, lots of contact. I love the challenge and for the first time I really understood how to draft off someone! It totally worked and I finished the swim about 1:11, compared to 1:23 last year. So a great wetsuit sure makes the difference!

T1

I had meet Kecia Place-Fencl and her husband Tim the day before and talked with her about going for Kona and that she would look for me in transition to help me get in and out as fast as possible. It was amazing I was yelling her name and she was busy but another volunteer came up to me and told me that she was her friend. She totally helped me and off I went on to the bike! T1 was around 8:50. Last year it was almost 12 minutes.

Bike

On to the bike I go. My coach Carl handed me my bike and told me to get going. It took me about five min before I realized that was him. It was amazing having that support. I was truly blessed again with someone letting me use his race helmet for the race, Brad Muckerheide. I had several athletes offer and I chose the one that fit me the best. So I had ridden the IMWI bike course several times over the summer and was soo ready to really enjoy the day. I had been training with power again this year, but truly understood what I needed to ride to have a great run. My goal this year was to run a four-hour marathon, so I knew that I had to really hold back on the bike for the day. It is soo difficult for me having so many people pass me. I rode back and forth with another female that was really strong and told her so glad she was not in my age group we both laughed. Plus I knew if I was going to go for Kona I would have to pee on my bike during the race. I had never done that before and it was a challenge. The other female gave me ideas and boom I did it! It was a moment in which I knew that day was going great. My nutrition was feeling great and I finished the bike course in 5:48. My my goal was 5:30. Last year I was 6:04.

T2

I wondered would Kecia be in there, and this time she helped me. I was feeling great, changed my bike shorts into my tri shorts, and grabbed my stuff: water bottle with Infinit, base salt, and base amino. I had just met Matt Miller on Wednesday and talked with him about my goal. He told me about his stuff which I had been using the base salt and loved it!

Run

I was focused on getting a four-hour marathon and talked with my athletes about my goal, My new race buddy Jeremy Scherbert gave me the idea to write down my race paces for each mile on the back side of my bib number so I could check on my paces for each mile. Best idea ever! Now for the run, again I saw my coach and he told me to stick to my paces that I had trained all year. After about mile 3, another supportive friend Bob Zinkel, who was having phone contact with Carl, told me that I needed to go faster than my pace I was going. I was like really???? Okay, I just decided to stay at a consistent pace to finish the run until mile 18, then I knew I would have to run faster. Then I saw another buddy cheering me on. I asked him if I continued my pace of 9:15 would that get me four-hour marathon. He told me yes, but then I yelled back at him, don’t lie to me! After seeing him he found me again and told me that I need to do under 9:00 miles until mile 18. I believed him and then just started running. Boom, the next mile was right at 9:00. I could not believe it. I had to stop one time on the run to go to the bathroom! The rest of the run, when I had to pee I just let it go on each water station, I could not believe I was just walking and peeing, but I wanted to Kona! The volunteers were amazing, giving me Coke and ice when I asked. Several of them run it to me when I missed it a few times. Loved all the support. I had an article that was written about me on the Ironman page that was posted to Facebook on Thursday before the race. I had soo much support walking around Madison before the race. People would say, "Ohh, are you Dotty from Facebook?" Wow I truly loved meeting so many athletes! So during my run, soo many people would yell my name by just seeing me. I wear my race number backwards, so I knew they were not reading it. So I started to count each time I hear my name, just to get my mind of off running, dammmm could not believe it; it was over 50 times I heard my name. I almost cried from all the support. So last three miles of the run, I knew I had to go faster again saw my coach, and he told me that I had to passs the number two athlete in my age and she was just four minutes ahead of me. He asked me let him know when I was in pain but I needed to hurry up. I told him I was already in pain, and he said no I wasn’t. I needed to dig deep and go for it. So I threw everything I had in my hands and just started to run faster. It is amazing, when someone tells you to do something in that state of mind, you just do it. He told me that he would take me to the ER if I needed to at the end! So I gave it my all, finished at 11:15 and my garmin said 3:59 for the marathon, as I crossed the finishing line I tried to sit down! No, Eric Knight was there to catch me, and I loved it! I came in 3rd and was told I was going to Kona! Wow what a race!!!

Thoughts

So I feel, for myself, racing full Ironman events is soo amazing for everyone who trains and races one. I believe everyone that finshes an Ironman is an Ironman no matter what finishing time they complete. For myself I love pushing myself to my limits, which I call ballz to the wall, when racing and training! I continue to do them because I want to be my best that I can be and I am so thankful to have the opportunity for racing Kona! There were only two slots for my age group and the second place finisher did not take it. I am truly thankful to have this opportunity. I look back on all my training and the support I had during the year was just amazing. The amount of encouragement that I received from athletes around the world pushed me to be my best too. I have found what works best for me with nutrition and being mostly vegan. Trust me it takes a lot of hard work, lots of sacrifices, and truly believing in yourself to get the goal that you have for yourself. I love the Ironman Wisconsin race so much because of the challenge of the bike course, all the amazing athletes that race, and all the volunteers. I will be there every year! Next year I will be there volunteering as much as possible to return all the favors that I received this year!!! THANK YOU ALL SOO MUCH FOR HELPING ME ACHIEVE MY DREAM!!! Racing Kona October 8, 2016 on my 47th birthday!!!!

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Complete results for Ironman Wisconsin are on the Ironman website. Learn more about Dotty by reading the article about her on Ironman.com. Image Credits: Dotty and her friends