IRONMAN Wisconsin 2017

September 10, 2017

Madison Wisconsin

I have written, erased, and rewritten this report many times over.  It was a day full of highs and lows that are not the easiest to put onto paper.

Last September, I crossed the finish line on the 15th anniversary of September 11th 2001.  The following day, I had multiple conversations about the race.  I would be back, but when?  I returned to work on Thursday and all was normal. I handed off to the next shift on Friday, scheduled to be back on Saturday morning.  Early Saturday morning I awoke to my phone ringing.  My team had been involved in a helicopter crash! What was "normal" instantly became a whirlwind of events.

The next couple of months were a blur.  About a month after race day, I had an emergent appendectomy.  My last "normal" was training for Ironman.  It took a little convincing/negotiating, but I signed up to race IMWI again in mid December.

As I pulled into Madison on Thursday afternoon, I was home.  All of the necessary check-ins at the hotel and race were completed. Let me tell you how much nicer it is to check in to the race on Thursday!

8 years from the time of injury, I was being banded for my 3rd IRONMAN.

After dinner, it was back to the room to start getting things organized. To cap the evening, I met a couple teammates for an evening listening to Mike Reilly and "Fireman Rob" talking all things IRONMAN. 

Friday was spent volunteering at Athlete Check In. The afternoon was packing gear bags and getting ready. We had an OutKast Team dinner and had a great time. Late that evening, my family rolled in.

Saturday is a lay low and rest type of day.  After breakfast with my LAMS team, it was off to the IronKids race with my son.  It was so much fun to watch him run and see him get a high five from Mike Reilly as he crossed the finish line! The rest of the day was very low key! The biggest effort of the day was catching up with a teammate to get him TriTats for race day!

LAMS Crew

IronKids Finish

The guy behind me in this picture during bike check in crashed early in the bike in 2016. He was back to finish this year. Unfortunately, his race was cut short about 4 miles into the run with a heart attack. 5 weeks later, he crossed the finish line at IM Louisville. As I have said before, half of IRONMAN is the people you meet and their inspirational stories!

Race day was an early morning, but I was ready.  I was in my zone! Bag drop offs, check my bike and put all my nutrition, etc on board, walk through my transitions, then found a quiet area to “relax” and get ready.

The swim start changed this year.  It was a wave start by age groups.  I was in the fourth corral.  It was very anticlimactic compared to the mass start format.  The cannon went off for the preceding wave. You then had about 5 minutes to enter the water "warm up," get to a starting position, and wait for your cannon. I'll bet I didn't get 90 seconds to tread water.

As the cannon went off, the line seemed thin. No contact off the start, clean lines, and a pretty good flow. At first, I kind of liked this format.  Well, that lasted for the first few hundred yards and disappeared rapidly!  Once we started hitting previous waves, it became a slugfest.  The slower swimmers were struggling as the strong swimmers were trying to navigate the crowd.  My contact for the remainder of the swim was worse than any of my previous.  I spent the back stretch navigating around previous waves of swimmers. Sometimes having to be creative with finding space to squeeze through.  I would take the Mass Start back any day.  I felt much safer when the crowd self seeded that having to navigate through that volume of waves.

Transition 1 was as advertised! I went to see the strippers to pull off my wetsuit. The run up the helix was just as I remembered!  The energy is phenomenal!  I quickly grabbed my T1 bag, changed, and ran out toward the bikes.  As I ran down the long rows of bikes, my friend Shawn was the volunteer at my bike rack and was already pulling mine off the rack and had it ready for me.  A quick grab and keep running.  Just before the mount line, a volunteer grabbed my bike so I could put my bike shoes on.  Away I went.

The first part of the course was much more crowded than I have previously experienced., I relate that to the bell curve of the swim.  Rather than being out front and passed by stronger bikers, I was now in the middle of the crowd.  I felt great for the first part of the loop!  I held my own window and focused on staying on my goals.  My race changed drastically (unknown at the time) as I came down the "S-Curve" on Garfoot. As I entered the left turn, I felt a sharp pain just above my glasses.  I watched a bee in slow motion come right at me and strike.  I am not allergic to bees, but it was painful and a nuisance.  A short distance later, we turned onto Barlow.  Again, last year I was in a thin group of riders at this point. This year, I was in a crowd.  Lots of people were walking up the hill.  I had to dodge a few slower riders and a couple that were falling or decided to bail and walk.  At one point, I was shoulder to shoulder with cyclists climbing up that hill the entire width of the road.  There was nowhere to go! I tried to pay attention to as many of the costumes and signs as I could during the ride. 

As I came into Verona, I heard and saw our LAMS Crew out cheering. After the aid station heading into town, I saw my Dad and sister enjoying the party.  I made a quick stop at special needs to grab my second half nutrition and headed out on my way.  Loop 2, we didn’t get to do the big climb up Barlow, but Emery’s Midtown Party did not disappoint!  By that time though, I was feeling some of the effects of the bee sting.  Some LAMS teammates were cheering (or partying) at the top of the hill.  I was able to ask them to forward a message to my wife to pick up benadryl for the night. As I made my way back to the helix, I was ready to be off the bike. My handlebars became loose n a bump going around the Alliant Energy Center.  I didn't need any more hills!  The ride up the helix was not bad at all.  As I approached the line, the volunteers grabbed my bike and I ran inside.

I later found out that David knew his wife was (very) pregnant 

T2 was uneventful for me.  A quick change and I was on my way. I transitioned a little slower than normal because my forehead was starting to throb.

My run started slow just trying to get things in line.  Around mile 3, I started wheezing (not normal).  After some experimenting, I found that as long as I kept my heart rate  under 135, I was fine.  Above that point, I would start wheezing and difficulty getting air.  I was relegated to a (fast) walk.  As I hit State Street, I saw my family  and got a slight boost, but also let them know what was going on.  It was going to be a long marathon, but I was going to keep pushing.  I did calculations constantly in my head.  I would try to pick up the pace, but would immediately have to back off.  This was the toughest mental battle I have faced in a race! My body wanted to go, but I got in trouble when I tried.  I knew I could go faster, but If I pushed too hard, I would not finish.  It always helps the mind when you pass a Pro that is walking slower than you (mind you, he was 13 miles ahead of me at the time)!

My second loop I spent leapfrogging other athletes that were running then walking.  I know I frustrated a few every time I would pass them. The calculations continued. I had no doubt I would finish, but how long would it take?  It was fun to encourage the other athletes out on the course.  Today was not going to be MY day, but it could be theirs!  On the back stretch, I passed a couple Team Triumph teams on their first loops.  I gave them as much encouragement as I could during our time together.  It was amazing to see these teams working toward that finish line!

As the sun set and the air temps cooled, I was able to pick up the pace slightly.  The trip back toward the Capitol was a push, but as I rounded the Capitol and made that last turn, nothing else mattered!  I spaced myself out form the other athletes around in the final couple blocks so we could each have our moment running down the carpet.

“Josh Duda, You are an IRONMAN!”

What an amazing sound!  I was able to celebrate with my family as I exited the chute.  We grabbed my gear and headed back to the hotel.  After a quick shower and change of clothes, some food, and it was back to the finish line.  I still had work to do!

After hanging around the finish with Greg for a while, he headed back to his hotel. I found a few OutKast teammates in the stands and finished out the night cheering from there. The emotions of the last hour are incredible.  We saw the Team Triumph crews cross.  We saw a proposal. We saw Sandy give Mike Rielly a hug and plant a huge kiss on his cheek.  The last hour is something I am glad I stuck around for!

This was my slowest, most challenging, but yet my most rewarding Ironman finish yet!

Thank you to all of my family and friends and sponsors that made this day possible!  I am truly blessed to have such an amazing group of support.

Lakes Country Triathlon

August 2, 2017

Baxter, MN

The first triathlon I had ever done was the Lakes Country Tri. When I started increasing my distances, this race fell off my schedule. After the 2013 event, the organizers shortened the distances. At that same time, I was looking at longer events. It was also too close to my "A" race of Ironman Wisconsin.

A couple of my LAMS Teammates were looking for a swimmer to complete their team. I could do a 400 yard swim! I was in! This would be my first triathlon relay. I was excited!

It was a strange race morning. No bike to load. No run gear to pack. I just needed my goggles, my wetsuit, and a swimming mindset.  As I pulled up to the park, Matt was all ready set in transition. Jarrett arrived a little later with his running shoes ready to roll. 

After the meeting and a brief warm up, it was GO time! relays were in the second wave.  I eyed up the competition, picked my line, and we were off.  I was only swimming 400 yards. No bike. No run. Just an all out swim.  It was hard and fast to the first turn. We were already into the first wave.  At the second turn, I ran full steam into someone treading water. The home stretch I stayed wide trying to avoid running into more people. As I started grabbing handfulls of sand, I stood up and started running. I sprinted up the hill past the timing mat. I didn't have to save anything for the bike or run, so it was an all out sprint. I was dodging people left and right as I was running. We were one of the closest spots to bike out. When I got there, Jarrett took off the timing chip and placed it on Matt, and away he went! We were 1 second out of first! 

Matt hammered the bike. The other team hammered even harder...it all came down to the run. At the start of the run, we were 2 minutes back. Jarrett ran hard, but their runner crossed first by a large margin. One heck of a race. Then an issue was discovered. Their runner had run off course and came up short on distance (the same thing also happened fo the overall winner). This ended up resulting in a DQ for not completing the course . We moved into the top spot.

What a fun race! Thank you to my teammates Matt and Jarrett for letting me join them for this event.

Graniteman Big Lake Olympic 2017

The final event in the Graniteman Triathlon Series is the Big Lake Triathlon. Coming into this event, I was sitting in 5th place.


I love that this event is less than 2 miles from my sister's front door! When I got up and was ready, I just hopped on my bike for a short warm up ride to transition. I arrived in time to secure a premium spot.

As we were departing WIBA last weekend, I found out that one of my new friends was going to be in town this weekend. A little peer pressure & I  convinced Kelsae to bring her bike and join me for her first MN Tri!

Photo by Phreeance Fotography

I was In the second Olympic distance heat. My swim was unremarkable. The long turns were marked with white swans that I had difficulty sighting, but my bigger mistake was spotting off a SUP that I thought was the inflatable Graniteman marking the swim exit. I swam about 150 yard long, so nothing too bad! As I came in toward swim exit, we rejoined the sprinters in a fight to the finish.

T1 was fast and efficient for me.

Photo by Phreeance Fotography

The bike started out quick dodging a few sprinters as we headed out around the lake. I struggled to find my rhythm. My quads were screaming with fatigue from last weekend. Coming into the turn, I had about 10 in front of me, but had no idea which heat each was in. I just tried to buckle down and hold a steady pace, power, and cadence. My ride back along the shore became interesting as I had to keep dodging vehicles pulling out of driveways. One pulled out and stopped right in front of me! Fortunately, I was able to safely pass and keep going (rather than find an abrupt stop in their backseat).


T2 was a quick turn and burn for me. Nothing too exciting to report.

On the run, I just kept pushing forward. I knew I was just behind PR pace and did my best to hold on without the wheels falling completely off. By the turn, I knew it would take a miracle, but kept pushing. About a quarter mile from the finish, my PR time came and went. As I entered the park, I took a quick glance back and then let off the gas. I had put in my effort, there was no sense hurting myself in the last few hundred yards.

I missed my PR by 2:18. Scouring over my results, I lost all of that and then some in my bike effort. It was not meant to be today! I finished the day with a 22nd overall, 17th Male, 3rd in my AG, and 4th in the series...by 18 seconds! I am happy with my efforts. It was a hard fought series with some great racing from all! Never count yourself out!!!

Wisconsin Brick Adventure 2017

How do you finish the month of July? Well, WIBA Weekend of course!

Back last fall when the registration for WIBA opened, my arm was twisted to join a teammate for this training weekend. Honestly, it didn't to take much twisting. Who cares that I was not racing IMWI, it is great training on an amazing course with inspiring athletes! I was In!

Between October and July, many things changed.  The week we were supposed to leave, my teammate fell ill. As difficult as it was to not share this training opportunity, I still attended solo.

I arrived in Madison Wednesday evening set myself up for a huge training weekend. Thursday morning I met up with the OutKast Triathlon Team at Rocket Bikes Studio in Verona to get the party started!  As we kicked off the ride, I caught up with some of the group I rode with last year plus met many more in the group. Thursday I saw 2 loops of the IMWI bike course. The first loop was with the big group. The second was solo.

Friday was an early start as we met in the hotel parking lot for a planned 105+ mile ride. We rode the course from the hotel out "The Stick" to " The Loop." We proceeded to do 2 loops on the course as the race day course, then took the stick back to the hotel. This day served as a race rehearsal for many on the team. On the way back into Madison, there is an infamous hill know as "the white picket fence" hill. Any normal day, this would be no big deal, but after 100 miles of hills, it has a tendency to bite. That is exactly what happened to me this Day! As I approached the hill, my vision started to narrow, I started to feel dizzy, and my legs started to fade! I backed off of the group, took in some GU Energy Gels, and continued to soft pedal myself forward. It took about 2 miles to get myself  back to where I needed to be. I had been following my on bike plan, but had not accounted for a couple stops we made along the route. By the last couple miles, I was 100% back and cranking away on the bike.

Saturday I awoke with very stiff shoulders. I had shrugged off an invite to swim from the night before. I was already awake and my shoulders needed to loosen up. The peer pressure kicked in and I joined Josh and Kelsae at Fireman's Park for an "easy" 2.75 mile swim supported by SBR Coaching. My shoulders felt AWESOME afterward! Then I looked at my Garmin...how did I pull off 1:28/100 when it was such a relaxed swim!?!? From there, it was back to hitting the loop with the bikes.  Two more loops conquered on Saturday. On party with last year, I couldn't escape the ride without breaking a spoke! Fortunately, I had a spare wheel with this year!

Sunday kicked off with a quick run around the IMWI run course. It was "only" a half marathon.  About halfway through, I took in HEED mistaking it for water.....oops! About a mile later on the UW campus, I felt like a frat boy after a bad night. I was in the trees forcing a bad decision from my stomach. After the next aid station with a few glasses of water and some GU Energy, I was back on my Way! When we got back to the hotel, it was a quick cleanup, pack the car, and farewells to friends both old and new. Why is this such a great weekend? Because when you surround yourself with people on the same mission as you, you are pushed, challenged,                                                                        inspired, and walk away stronger for it!

A special thanks to Jessica an Peter from Rocket Bikes Studio, the OutKast Triathlon Team, Tammy and Mark from SBR Coaching, and my friends at GU Energy!

Graniteman Clearwater Olympic 2017

Graniteman Clearwater Olympic Race Report

July 08, 2017

After a long hike to the swim, I got in a quick warm up and headed to the start.  I was in Heat 2.  As we got underway, it was a mostly clean start. I had mostly clear water to the first turn. There were 4 of us that took off from the group right away.  By the first turn, we were in the previous wave &  fighting through traffic.  By the midway point, I was starting to regret my wetsuit.  I was getting warm!  I hit the shore running and feeling good.

T1 was uneventful and I was able to slide out with the 2nd fastest transition for the day!

As I headed out on the bike, there was a head wind on the out leg.  I struggled to get my heart rate back under control and was frustrated with my speed (or lack thereof).   When we took the first tun, it got better.  On the return leg, I was hauling.  I got a little shook up when I took a rock kicked up by a passing car, but once I figured out what had hit me and that I was fine, it was all good.   Lap 2 mirrored lap 1.  This was my best bike on this course by far!

 T2 was mostly clean, but had some issues with people loitering in the transition zone.

Photo courtesy of Kyle Kreamer

As I headed out on the run, my legs felt great! The trail had 2 way traffic with those headed back to the finish.  Thankfully I was only seeing yellow wristbands for the sprint!!!  At 2 miles, I saw the first Olympic athlete on their return trip By mile 3, I wasn’t quite feeling “right.”  After the aid station at mile 4, I began to realize how hot it was and that I had a salty crust on my skin and my stomach started to slosh.  Shoot!  I was behind the eight ball!  I took a couple licks of BASE Salt as I was coming into the last aid station.  As I looked at my watch, I knew I needed to push hard to stay on pace. A final push into the finish and I was done!  I missed my course PR by 20 seconds! So close, but not today.

A top 10 Swim, Top 15 bike, 2 top 5 transition times, 4th place in my Age Group, 18th Overall Male, and 22nd Overall still is not a bad day!

LAMS Clearwater Ambassadors
AKA: Me with the Sprint Champion

Buffalo Olympic 2017

Buffalo Triathlon Race Report
June 4, 2017

Today was event 1 of 3 of the Graniteman Olympic Distance Race Series.

With the new age group, I now “got to” in the 3rd heat 6 minutes behind the elites and 3 minutes behind the “young” guys.  By the first turn, I was already fighting my way through the previous heat.  I had a great swim that was very relaxed.

T1 was uneventful.

The first half of the bike I just tried to find my rhythm and attack the hills.  When we rejoined the sprint course, I felt like I was flying....and dodging around others! I knew I was on PR pace, but had to remain focused.

T2 Everything went smooth racking my bike & transitioning to the run.

The run course was the same as last year & followed the same course (and hills) of the first 3 miles of the bike. The 1st 2 miles didn't feel horrible, just hot. I settled in and just

maintained my rhythm. Once we were clear of the sprint turn, traffic lightened up and it felt like I could pace better.  On the return trip, I kept pushing myself to stay on the right side of PR pace.  At the Sprint turn, I ran  by an ambulance attending to one with heat related issues.  As I turned back into the park, I saw the guy just ahead was in my division. I picked up the pace a little. As we hit the downhill, I started to stride out.  Last year I kicked it a little to early & was caught. This year, I ran away. It's always great to receive a shout out at the finish when Jerry is announcing!

After finishing, I knew I had another new course PR!  2 races and 2 PR, each greater than 4 minute improvements!

UMM Tinman 2017

UMM Tinman Race Report

April 29, 2017

Pre race: This race always forces me to round up all of my race stuff from its winter hiding places.  With Ironman as my last event, some of my gear had been in storage for a while! I packed gear bags, then had an early bed time. My alarm went off at  about at 04:00.  I was out the door by 04:45. 

I arrived at the U of MN Morris at 07:00 to quickly grab a transition spot.  I got things set up, got checked in & body marked.  A quick warm up & bike check then off to the pre-race meeting.  The field was smaller than normal. 

1100 Swim Time Estimated: 15:30  Actual: 16:22

We were seeded by estimated swim time with 2 per lane.  The entire Olympic field started in the same heat. I was paired with the 2015 winner. I maintained a comfortable swim pace, but was unable to stick with my lane partner. The pool deck makes for a large leap out of the lane with the assistance of the starting block & run to transition while putting on my jacket.

T1 Time Estimated: 0:40  Actual: 0:34 (Fastest T1!)

I had a great (fast & organized) T1. 

19 Mile Bike Estimated Time: 1:00:00  Actual: 0:59:09

#1 was about 90 seconds ahead of me and I had a few people right on my heals.  I had placed my gloves over the bar end shifters & got them on in the first mile or so.  The wind was “calm”….at least by Morris standards.  I just tried to focus and stick to my plan.  As I approached the turn, #1 went by on his return trip about ¾ mile from the turn.  After my turn, I was over ¾ of a mile into the return before I saw #3 &4!  I put my head down and “ran” with it the rest of the way in.

T2 Time Estimated:  1:00   Actual: 0:39 (Fastest of the day)

Again, I had a smooth, organized transition.

6.2 Mile Run Estimated: 57:00   Actual: 53:56

The first mile was hard on the legs I couldn’t feel my toes until about mile 1.5. It felt like there was something stuck in my shoe.  After my toes warmed up, the feeling went away. After getting my running legs & feet back, I was feeling good, but could tell my break from running due to injury was taking its toll. My entire run I kept repeating “4 seconds.” This is what I lost by in this race last year.  Anytime I thought about backing off my pace…”4 measly seconds!” At around mile 3, I was passed by the first female runner. Just after mile 4 was the first relay. I had not seen # 1 since the bike turn.  On the home stretch of trail back into the stadium, I was passed and moved into the 3^rd overall male space with about a half mile to go.  This is where I stayed to the finish.

Finish Time Estimated: 2:12:00  Actual: 2:10:38   A NEW PR!!!