On September 18 I was fortunate enough to take part in Ironman Maryland. After finishing my 2nd half distance in 2020 I decided to find a full. I knew I wanted to keep the logistics simple as far as travel so I started doing my research on where the fulls were and what it would take to get there and find a hotel etc.
I decided on Maryland and signed up back in December 2020. The plan was to start serious training in mid Feb. From then till Sept I had an amazing triathlon season, won a race, took a 2nd and several top 10s. I also placed 3rd and then a 2nd in a couple of duathlons. I spent a lot of time open water swimming, and tons of time in the saddle getting better on the bike.
The time had finally come to head to Maryland I left Erie on Thursday morning in order to make my check in of 4-5 pm. after check in I went to town to get checked into the hotel and started getting things ready for Friday morning as bike check in time started at 10 AM. It was great to be able to relax the entire evening and just focus on getting everything ready. On Friday I got my bike checked in and dropped my transition bags off then went over to where Hammer teammate Glenn Young was staying but missed him.
I spent the afternoon seeing the sights and headed to Ocean City to see the Atlantic ocean. I was able to get a decent dinner and relax more and read about how bad the jellyfish are... ugh. Before I went to bed Ironman put out word that due to the amount of jellyfish they would up the wet suit limit to 77.1 degrees in the morning. As luck would would have it the water temp ended up at 77 degrees.
Saturday morning came and the early wake up kind of sucked but I was excited to get to the race start. On the drive it the area was quiet and dark but as I closed in on the site the activity had grown. Once parked I went over the area where our bikes were and walked the areas of transition from swim to bike and bike to run. I was getting really nervous at this point. Swim is not my strength but the distance isnt what was getting to me, it was the jellyfish. As the clock slowly ticked towards race time the officials started lining us up by expected swim time. I jumped into my group and we waited for what seems like an hour but it was only about 20 minutes, and then it started..... wave after wave of swimmers started entering the water and finally it was my turn.
As I entered the water the nervousness went away and it was just time to swim. after a few strokes I felt my first jellyfish sting, right on my face. I got into a rhythm and but kept getting stung, which really sucked. as I turned the first corner I got my first taste of saltwater, also sucked. I actually swim into someone and got kicked in the face which broke the seal on my goggles and I got an eye full of salt water which really sucked!!!! I started looking for something to hang on to so I could empty my goggles and reseal them. I just kept trying to follow the buoys and figure it out as I went. Then I remembered this was a 2 loop swim course and I could stand after I turned the corner to empty my goggles. I did reset the goggles and just focused on swimming strong. Within a couple hundred yards of the swim finish I had got the worst sting of the day it went from check to check across my lips too, wow it hurt, but then the swim was over and my focus was to get dried off and get in cycling gear.
I took my time in transition as I did not want to forget anything, but when I was ready I jogged out to my bike and went out of transition and got up to speed as quickly as I could. the first 10 or 15 miles were pretty uneventful with the exception of the jellyfish stings, they still hurt!!! around mile 20 I rode by Hammer teammate Glenn Young, said hello and a bit of small talk as I rode by. I was really happy as I was holding the speed I had planned and though I felt great I kept telling myself to check speed and effort to ensure I stayed on plan. At this point I was around mile 30 and took a bathroom break as quick as I could. I did lose a couple minutes but had that in my plan. Really the rest of the ride, though very beautiful was eventless. I just tried to keep to my plan and enjoyed the ride. The last couple miles I was in my head thinking, wow all I have is a few more bike miles and a marathon and I will be an Ironman. I had started to think more about the finish line than the fact I still had a marathon left... huge mistake!!!!
When I came in to transition from the bike I felt ok but way over confident about the run. as I was putting my running gear on my legs and hips were getting stiff, I figured it was just the transition from bike. As I started running at a decent pace and really the first 3 or 4 miles felt ok. As I got into the 4th or 5th mile my knees and hips were really starting to lose mobility, it felt very strange as I had done many bricks and a half Ironman in training for this race. At first I thought it might have been the heat as it was 85 degrees and very humid. I took an Endurolyte and drank my water bottle of Sustained Energy but legs just were not coming back, I resorted to just when when I could walk when I had to. By mile 16 I had ran into a friend of mine, he told me he had 4 miles to go, this was a loop run course. We did small talk a bit, we were both walking at the time but soon running together. He was running faster than me and went for his finish. with 7 miles to go and the sun going down I was feeling a bit better and ran very slowly and came upon someone in the dark and I asked how ya doing? I sounded like she was in a bad place, I slowed and talked with her for a few minutes, she had said I dont know if I can finish this to which I replied, you have just under 7 miles to go and over 5 hours if you need it, you can crawl in. I talked her into doing some run walking with me, it was nice to chat with someone and the miles started to click away. As we rounded the corner with about a mile to go I said as we get close I will back off so you have your Ironman moment and pictures, she did try and argue that I should go first but I did win the argument ha ha ha Then it happened I heard the voice say Robert Kolodziejczak you are Ironman!!!!!!!!
This experience was amazing, all of the training, planning and the actual event.. all of it! This ranks right up there with finishing a 100 mile trail race for me. I could not have done this without the support of great people and the support of amazing sponsors like Hammer Nutrition, Stages Cycling and UltrAspire. I did find later that joint stiffness is a side effect of jellyfish stings, I can only assume that is what was going on with my legs and hips.
