Jake Dolecki had never run a marathon, but on Aug. 30, he logged the 26.2 mile distance, after he had already swam 2.4 miles and biked 112 miles.
With the completion of the triathlon, the 2012 Brandon High School graduate can call himself an Ironman.
‘The day after, while heading home, it finally hit me,? said Dolecki, now a Michigan State University senior majoring in engineering. ‘I spent six months of my life doing almost nothing except training for this and I finally finished it. I feel really proud and that is the best way to explain how I feel about it.?
Prior to the Ironman in Muskoka, Ontario, Canada six weeks ago, 15 miles was the longest running distance for the former Blackhawks cross country and track athlete, who also ran track for the Spartans before tearing a ligament in his knee his sophomore year at MSU, requiring surgery.
A friend who competed in an Ironman triathlon in Texas inspired Dolecki to start training for the Ironman Muskoka, an event that would require a total distance of 140.61875 miles between swimming, biking and running. He got a new bike in December and attached it to a cycling training stand for indoor use. In March, he began riding the roads in Ortonville, taking advantage of hills, as well as riding the roads in East Lansing.
‘I really didn’t know what I was getting into,? said Dolecki. ‘I researched a lot of training plans, but I couldn’t really stick with it. For the more advanced, it would say, ‘Go at this tempo,? and I didn’t really know what that meant.?
Each week, Dolecki tried to increase his mileage in each discipline, adding another 5 cycling miles, upping his swim by .1 or .2 miles, running another one or two miles more than the previous week. In the spring, he was carrying a 16 credit courseload, and would train after class. In the summer, he was employed 45 hours a week as an intern for a shocks and struts manufacturer and trained after work.
Dolecki notes he ‘didn’t have a life,? training six days a week, usually doing two sports one day, then the third the next day, alternating. He enjoyed swimming the most, using the pools at both Brandon High School and MSU.
Training, which he mostly did independently, was a habit that became a hobby and Dolecki would feel guilty about taking a day off, but he had no crisis of conscience when it came to food.
‘I kind of ate everything, I was hungry all the time,? he said. ‘I’m not a big junk food person. I ate a lot of pasta and sandwiches, everything really except junk food. I had four or five full meals a day.?
During the heat of the summer, he refused to bike outside some days when the temperature reached 90 degrees. He adds that bicycling outdoors was also sometimes scary due to motorists ‘not paying attention.?
When race day arrived Aug. 30, Dolecki wasn’t sure if he was ready, although he was confident he would finish because he is stubborn.
‘Race day was nerve-wracking,? he said. ‘In Canada, there’s an 8,000 foot elevation change, all hills. It’s not the same as the hills in Ortonville… I didn’t know if I’d be walking or crawling across the finish line.?
Dolecki’s girlfriend, 2012 BHS graduate Elizabeth Kayfish, accompanied him to Canada to cheer him on. The race was to begin at 7 a.m., but Dolecki arrived at 4:30 a.m., to ensure his gear, including his bike and clothes, were all in the places he had left them the night before.
He had slept well and awakened at 3:15 a.m., eating two packets of oatmeal and a banana. No coffee.
The race had nearly 1,200 competitors, necessitating a rolling start, with 25-50 participants in each wave. When Dolecki began swimming to kick off the race, the temperature was 69 degrees and the water was ‘freezing.?
‘It was a free-for-all,? he recounts. ‘Once you’re past the 100-meter mark, you can’t see anything, only a foot or two in front of you, it’s really easy to get off course. I just followed the bubbles from someone else’s feet. I couldn’t tell what was going on. It was definitely a little claustrophobic. You don’t know where you are, how deep you are, what is around you. It was scary.?
He finished the swim portion in an hour and 10 minutes, happy with his time, his hands and feet numb from the cold. The transition area was a quarter mile away, up a steep incline. He stripped out of his wetsuit and put his cycling clothes on over his wet swim trunks. Relieved to be out of the water, he climbed on his bicycle, and found himself in the front of the pack, with his 70-minute swim time faster than many.
On the first downhill on his bike, he lost both water bottles crossing a bump. They joined what appeared to be about 20 water bottles other racers had also dropped and abandoned. Dolecki wasn’t overly concerned as the race had aid stations with water and Gatorade every 20 kilometers.
He found himself traveling at roughly 45-50 mph downhill, but the course had no flat expanses, so every downhill had an uphill to follow.
‘My legs were feeling it, but what hurt the worst was my butt, you’re on a bike seat for 6-and-a-half hours,? said Dolecki. ‘There was not a lot of people on the route, I was alone for 90 percent of the time, except when I passed a cyclist or got passed. It was really beautiful countryside, biking along the Lake of Bays.?
When he finally reached the end of the bicycle route, Dolecki was happy to change out of his wet clothing in the transition area, and into running clothes. Although he had another 26.2 miles to go, all on his feet, he was feeling upbeat, because the hardest part of the race for him, bicycling, was over. His thoughts were that he was two-thirds of the way to the finish line.
As he began running, he was no longer alone as he had been for the majority of his biking time, with fans now lining the route through the town of Huntsville, cheering him and the other runners on. He notes it was a great distraction in a race where music and electronic devices are not permitted for the athletes.
As he ran, Dolecki kept seeing signs at each kilometer, marking how much distance he had already covered and how many more kilometers he had left to go.
‘I didn’t want to see that,? he said. ‘I was like, ‘Thank you for the reminder, I’m dying right here and I have this much left.??
Dolecki had no watch, he simply ran at a ‘comfortable? pace. When he finished the first 13.1 mile loop, he felt good, but the last 13.1 miles, all of the swimming, biking and running he had already done caught up with him. His feet hurt from the constant impacts, his knees and hips ached.
He began an internal chant? ‘You can make it, just five more minutes, you can make it through that much more.?
He would run that five minutes, get to that next marker sign, and start the chant again.
He was running much slower than he had been early on, but with six miles left, he picked up the pace.
‘I knew I was almost there,? said Dolecki. ‘I just think it’s mentality? the faster you finish, the less you have to endure. When I saw the finish line, I thought back to my track days and I was basically sprinting and passing people. (Elizabeth) was right there at the end. I made it and I didn’t have to run or walk anymore, I was done!?
Dolecki finished the Ironman Triathlon in a total time of 12 hours, 22 minutes, which he calls ‘a really long day,? for which he was given ‘a really cool medal.? He was 11th in his age group in a race in which nearly one-quarter of the participants dropped out before the end. Still, he believes that despite the extreme demands of the Ironman, with the right mental attitude, a person in ‘good? physical condition can complete the event.
‘It’s definitely more mental? I’d say it’s 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical,? said Dolecki, who was sore for a few days after. ‘Just do it, you won’t regret it. It’s the highlight of my life, something great to have accomplished until I do the next one.?
The ‘next one? will be in two years in Lake Placid, N.Y., after which he hopes to compete in the world championship Ironman in Kona, Hawaii.