Published: August 27, 2008 11:05 pm            

Trio heads to Louisville for Ironman triathlon

Last year, Kokomo native Matt Bolinger’s trip to Louisville was harrowing.

He was competing in the inaugural Louisville Ironman triathlon and a handful of miles into the final portion of the event, his body shut down. He’d completed the swim and the bike race before his body hit empty during the run.

“I tried it last year and I got a quarter through the marathon, and due to dehydration issues, I had to go to the medical tent,” he recalled. “I had lost close to 30 pounds.”

Once he’d recovered and understood his mistakes, he was overcome by a consuming impulse — to try again.

The 2008 race is Sunday and Bolinger has joined forced with two other Kokomo athletes, Don Rogers and Clayton Nix. Rogers was on hand last year in Louisville to support Bolinger. Even as he saw what the effort did to Bolinger on his first try, Rogers was excited to give it a shot.

“I always thought of myself as a bit of a runner, and I thought running a marathon was a big deal,” Rogers explained. Then he saw his first Ironman competition and started thinking about how after swimming and biking, “these guys then run a marathon. I was like, ‘Wow, these guys are real athletes.’ I wanted to see if I could do it too.”

Together they’ve trained to take on what Nix calls “the toughest race on the planet.” The Louisville version of the triathlon begins with a 2.4-swim in the Ohio River, followed by a 112-mile bike ride through Kentucky horse country, and then a full 26.2-mile marathon in Louisville.

It was the marathon that ended Bolinger’s attempt last year. But it wasn’t his fitness that let him down, it was his lack of knowledge about how to eat and drink properly to keep fueled. Given previous athletic endeavors, he knew those were minor obstacles.

“Climbing Mount Rainier was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I like to pick challenges. I think it’s my nature to pick something that I can’t do, and then keep working at it until I get done,” Bolinger said. He said the first time he tried to scale Washington’s Mount Rainier “I got 1,000 feet from the top and had to turn back. And then I went back and did it [the next year].”

That’s a mentality Nix can relate to. Nix, who was first intrigued by triathlons from seeing highlights on TV in the 1970s and ’80s, got his taste for pushing his physical envelope from his background in motocross.

“I don’t want to sound cocky or something, but don’t tell me something can’t be done,” Nix said. “If you put your mind to something, your body will find a way to get it done.

“Matt’s done a lot of extreme things and I listened very intently. Listening to his mistakes [from last year] has given me a bit of an advantage. The secret is to listen to people who have been there because nothing talks louder than experience.”

Preparing for the ultimate test

The three have trained for months together, running, swimming, biking, plotting strategy and learning the intricacies of keeping fueled during the race. Bolinger’s experience is invaluable as the three train for up to 15 hours a week together. His memory of last year’s experience is still vivid.

“Oh yeah, it was quite painful,” he said. “The actual swimming, biking, running, it’s fun. It might be hard, but it’s fun. Where it gets to be miserable is where your muscles start breaking down and won’t do what your brain tells them to do. The only way to [succeed] is to keep on top of your nutrition and hydration.”

The three talked in depth about the rigors of training, which included trips to Louisville to train on the actual course. Each is confident that the physical aspect is something they’re prepared to handle, but they know that challenges will come up that will stress the situation.

“I think it’s going to be more of a mental test, not so much of a physical test,” Rogers said. “I think all of us, Matt, myself or Clayton, the physical ability is there, as long as we manage the race well and don’t let it manage us. Just put up with the mental pain and the ups and downs, and be able to finish.”

“When you run into a monster, you’ve got to find a way around it,” Nix said.

Competing against the course

Finishing is the key. The three aren’t in competition with each other. The competition is the challenge of finishing at all.

Nix said it will help on Sunday “knowing these guys are down there. Hopefully, we’ll look for each other and encourage each other. When I see my family and my boys, it’ll push me to drive it on home. I always want to teach the boys winners never quit and quitters never win. You always finish the task that you start.”

Rogers and Nix are particularly antsy to get started.

Rogers said he’s “definitely nervous, somewhat scared, definitely excited. The training’s gotten so long and difficult at times, emotions are pretty raw and I’m actually ready to do the race. I’m done training and I want to do the race now. Win, or lose if you will by not finishing, I want to get it done.”

Getting it done can take up to 17 hours. That’s when the race organizers will stop the race.

“The cutoff is 17 hours,” said the 49-year-old Bolinger. “At my age, I’m not going to be as fast as some of the guys. I figure I’m trained fast enough to finish in 15 hours. [But] if I come in in 16 hours and 59 minutes, I’m going to be thrilled.”

        

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