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Ironman Ready
Winston-Salem triathlete to dive into the punishing competition in Hawaii
Journal Photo by Jennifer Rotenizer
Bicycling 112 miles will be a third of Rick Wimmer’s challenge in The Big Hula. The competition also requires swimming 2.4 miles and running 26.2 miles. Wimmer has finished three Ironman triathlons.
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Published: October 10, 2008
He is … Ironman.
Rick Wimmer is 54. He lives in a big house, deep in the heart of upper-crust Buena Vista. He is beaming-proud of his pretty and supportive wife, Ashley, and his three kids, Daniel, Collier and Lawson. He works a time-devouring, globe-trotting job that he loves -- he is an office-management partner at Ernst & Young in Greensboro. The job is a snug fit for his zip-zoom personality.
"Type A, all the way," Wimmer said, recently, smiling. "It works for me."
Wimmer looks a bit like Harry Shearer, the actor and comedian, when he smiles, which is often.
He looks nothing like Robert Downey Jr., who starred as Iron Man, one of this year's big blockbuster action films. This is important because Wimmer, unlike Downey, who simply played a role, actually is an Ironman, three times over.
In the past seven years, Wimmer has completed three grueling Ironman triathlon competitions, two at Lake Placid, N.Y., one in Wisconsin. At each competition, he has taken home the coveted finisher's T-shirt -- the formal attire of the Ironman triathlete -- as well as the pain that stems from pushing the human machine to depletion in the course of a day of open-water swimming, biking and distance running.
His best time for the 140.6-mile Ironman course is 15 hours (the cutoff is 17 hours). That's operating at 9.4 miles per hour for 15 hours. No rest. Lots of ouch. Nullifying fatigue.
Wimmer doesn't look textbook tough. He is relatively small and thin, free of the bulging muscles that the uninitiated might assume illustrate the moniker of Ironman. But looks can be, and in the case of Wimmer, are, deceiving. He is fitter and tougher than most people half his age.
Granted, odds are that he wouldn't win a Toughman boxing match -- pugilism is not germane to Ironman. What Wimmer does have is a high threshold of pain and the extraordinary stamina that stems from swimming 2.4 miles, then biking 112 miles, and then running 26.2 miles.
Participants call Ironman the ultimate endurance sport. Couch potatoes sniff that it's masochism. Whatever the reason, lots of people -- pro triathletes, the guy or gal next door, physically disabled competitors -- are participating in official Ironman events. The number is 88,000 this year, up from 40,000 in 2003.
"For me, it's about finishing the race, about crossing that white line," Wimmer said, perched on a footstool in the den of his home, ready to sweat in Lycra training gear, surrounded by magazines dedicated to triathlons. "You have to drive your body harder, longer, than you ever imagined."
The physical demands are monstrous; even champion competitors have succumbed. Wimmer stressed the key importance of being mentally prepared. "The demons in your head will, at some point, generally late in the competition, amplify your doubts and fears and try to turn them into reality," he said. "They tell you that your body, which is hurting, which is out of fuel, has had all it can take.
"If you are confident in your training… you push past that point. It takes knowing your body and learning how to discipline and maximize your abilities.
"To finish an Ironman takes a combination of all you have been, and all you can do."
Wimmer was a distance runner in his youth. As an adult, he ran the Boston Marathon in 3 hours, 28 minutes. He said that the Boston Marathon was challenging, but the Ironman competition is pure punishment. In fact, Wimmer had trouble articulating exactly why he is eager to repeatedly put himself through such a taxing experience.
"Part of it, I think, is that I am addicted to the energy of feeling fit -- and you never feel more fit than when you compete in an Ironman. It becomes a lifestyle," he said. "It really doesn't matter that I won't win. It's that feeling of accomplishment when I finish. Not many people in the world can claim to having finished an Ironman. For most of the competitors, finishing is winning."
At 1 p.m. EST (7 a.m. in Hawaii) Saturday, Wimmer will compete in the most difficult of the Ironman competitions -- the Ford Ironman World Championship ("The Big Hula") held in Hawaii in the Kona region of The Big Island. He will be one of 1,800 diverse competitors from 49 countries and 45 states.
Wimmer will not arrive at the race as a qualifier. His is one of 150 slots, pulled from 7,127 entries, awarded through a lottery. It was Wimmer's fifth stab at the lottery.
"I don't have the genetics to qualify, so I've known the lottery is the only way I would get into the championship," he said. "So you have to be ready when doors open. When I found out in April, I almost wasn't ready. But I've worked hard, and I'm in the best shape of my life."
He grinned. "It would be great to finish under 15 hours." His smile faded. "If I finish."
Wimmer is confident. Wimmer is also worried. "How could I not be?" he said. "I know the reality."
The first Ironman competition was held in Oahu, Hawaii, on Feb. 18, 1978. It was devised by Navy Commander John Collins and his wife, Judy, to settle a "who's the toughest" argument between Navy Seals stationed on the island. Three existing races -- the Waikiki Roughwater Swim, the Around-Oahu Bike Race and the Honolulu Marathon -- were combined. The winner would be "ironman."
Fifteen people competed, including Collins. Twelve finished. The cocksure Collins downed half a beer and ate chili during the race -- "big mistakes," he later said. He finished fifth, five hours behind winner Gordon Haller, a cab driver, not a Navy Seal. Haller's winning time -- 11:46:58.
As the competition got bigger, the winning times grew faster. The top men's time in Ironman Championship history is 08:04:08, posted in 1996 by Luc Van Lierde of Belgium. The best women's time -- 08:55:28 -- was posted in 1992 by Paula Newby-Fraser of Zimbabwe, an eight-time Big Hula winner.
The men's winning time last year was 08:15:34, posted by Chris McCormack of Australia (who, fueled by Red Bull, ran the marathon in a blistering 02:43). The women's winning time was 09:08:45 by Chrissie Wellington of England. Joe Bonness of the United States won for men aged 50-54 with a time of 09:46.
The elements add to the difficulty of The Big Hula. Swimming in the crowded, choppy sea has been described as like swimming in a running washing machine. Bikers and runners navigate wind gusts up to 60 mph. The temperature hovers around 95 degrees, with 90 percent humidity. A good chunk of the bike ride and the run is in lava fields, where ground temperature can swell to 130 degrees.
Wimmer knows well the toll that Ironman can take on body and spirit. His first triathlon was a half-Ironman (half the distance) in Panama City, Fla. The Gulf of Mexico, where he had to swim, was calm when he went to bed. He awoke to rough sea on the morning of competition.
He got sick during the swim; he never fully recovered. "After it was over, I lay in the shower for two hours. I couldn't get up," Wimmer said. "When I went to bed, the sheets felt like pinpricks."
Wimmer has since adopted a strict and personally tailored training regime. He spends at least 1½ hours a day during the work week alternately running, biking or swimming. On the weekend, he cranks up the intensity, working longer and harder, building stamina.
Wimmer knows that he is capable of finishing all segments of the Ironman -- he has done it three times. But he hasn't faced Hawaii. He understands he can't train for the unknown and the unpredictable. Plus, he said, "some days your body just doesn't want you to swim, bike or run."
Wimmer said that the fierce reputation of The Big Hula, combined with the mental and physical uncertainty that accompanies this daunting task, is already a nagging presence in his psyche. To combat that, he concentrates on what can be done to keep his body in check.
He knows he will be sick at some point. It happens to just about everybody as the body becomes depleted. He said that he plans to eat about three hours before the swim. Post-swim, he will stick to a strictly timed liquid regimen to keep him hydrated and to counter calories burned.
If he has to use the bathroom….
"During the swim, you go in the water," he said. "There is an art to relieving yourself while continuing to ride the bike, but I'm not good at that, so I will get off and go. During the run, if you have anything left that needs to be eliminated, there are Port-O-Lets."
Wimmer stressed that it is crucial to keep your mind off the physical demands/torture. "If you really think hard about an against-the-clock 140-mile race, you will never start."
Competitors try to stay focused on the tasks of monitoring their physical well-being and staying well-fueled. "On the bike, I will go through a 24-ounce bottle of water with Carb/Pro, which is 300 calories, in a hour," Wimmer said. "I drink every 15 minutes to keep tabs on my electrolytes and replace the calories. I want to burn 50 percent fat and 50 percent carbohydrates.
"On the run, my body will become depleted. My stomach will begin to really hurt and my nutritional system will shut down. Then I get sick. I will have to finish the run sucking ice. I am prepared for this."
Wimmer has trained for three years with Karen Buxton, 46, a certified triathlon trainer who lives in Greensboro. Buxton has completed seven Ironman competitions -- her best time is 11:29. She has competed in The Big Hula. She knows what Wimmer will face.
"Once you are properly prepared, it's mind over matter," Buxton said. "Your mind can talk you out of a lot of things, so it's crucial to understand what you want to achieve, and to understand that you will have to adjust, and readjust, during the day. Slow and steady wins the race. It's like that for everybody. Everybody will be feeling bad, so the playing field is level.
"If you misjudge, you lock up and burn out. And that can get ugly."
The Web site www.youtube.com has a trove of clips from Ironman competitions, ranging from overviews of the competition to profiles of winners and various competitors of note. The site also has dramatic video of competitor meltdowns that show the enormous personal toll taken during the competition, and the courage and the determination of the competitors.
One of the most common maladies -- dubbed by wags as the "dance of the thousand headless monkeys" -- happens to competitors in the marathon when depleted bodies and cramped, exhausted muscles turn a graceful runner's gait into a dazed, rubbery, stagger-step shuffle. Go to You Tube and search for "Julie Moss" and "Sian Welch and Wendy Ingram" for two memorable examples.
Wimmer's close friend, Martin Gilmore, 47, is a veteran of multiple Ironmen competitions -- his best time is 10:15. He has twice competed at Hawaii and has been helping Wimmer mentally prepare.
"Misery loves company," Gilmore said, laughing. "This race is brutal, and you are never alone. You will see lots of people burn out. So it is important to stay within yourself and continue to monitor body and mind. This race is the biggest time-management thing a person will go through.
"You can't experiment out there. You have to know what you need, then stick to the plan. There is a real art to becoming an Ironman. Once you make it, nobody can take away the bragging rights."
Wimmer is nervous, but ready. He flew to Hawaii on Oct. 6, bike and fluid-replacement products in tow, to acclimate himself and focus on the race. His family joined him yesterday.
Buxton couldn't go with Wimmer, but she plans to periodically check on him throughout the day by using an online tracking monitor provided on www.ironman.com, the official Ironman Web site.
"One of the things I enjoy about an Ironman competition is that it is an opportunity to escape the realities of regular life for a day," Wimmer said. "I have nobody to answer to but myself.
"There is just the knowledge that if I can get through an Ironman competition, I can get through just about anything."
■ Ed Bumgardner can be reached at 727-7365 or ebumgardner@wsjournal.com.
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