An 'Ironman' for all seasons

Penn senior Chris Solarz braved the summer heat to compete in an Ironman Triathlon in Zurich. At the fire of a gun this summer, College senior Chris Solarz swam 2.4 miles, climbed onto his bike and rode 112 miles through the Swiss Alps and ended the day by running a marathon -- equivalent to 26.2 miles. Solarz was one of about 600 out of around 1,200 entrants to complete the Ironman Triathlon August 1 in Zurich, Switzerland. Almost half of the athletes who started the 140-mile race -- touted as an enormous physical challenge -- dropped out in the course of the day. But Solarz, a 6', 155-pound Economics and Anthropology major, finished in 15 hours and 39 minutes and immediately checked himself into an emergency medical tent. Having survived an ordeal believed to be as strenuous on the body as a heart attack, officials in the tent told Solarz he "looked pretty good." Although he can now smile easily when describing the feeling of success he experienced following his first Ironman, Solarz was unsure in some moments of that 90-degree summer day if he would ever complete the grueling course. "I wish I could confidently say that I knew I'd finish all along," Solarz said after the race, "but from hour five to 13, I was literally taking it one step at a time." Those were the hours Solarz spent on his bicycle, circling the 38-mile course that ends with an 18 percent incline called Heartbreak Hill. Compared to climbing Heartbreak Hill, fending off kicking feet during the first leg of the triathlon -- the swim that began at 7 a.m. --was "painless," according to Solarz. "I was out of the water at 8:10 a.m.," he said. "I spent most of the day on my bike." Though the original and most famous Ironman Championship is held in Hawaii, Solarz said the Swiss competition is considered to be the most challenging because of the bike ride through the Alps. As Solarz pedaled to the peak of Heartbreak Hill on his second lap -- with his bike in the hardest gear -- he saw another rider fall from his bicycle and momentarily felt disheartened. "He collapsed right over, right in front of me," Solarz said. "I felt like I was going to [also]." Instead, Solarz reached the top, sat down beside a tree and "contemplated throwing in the towel." "This was one of my low points," Solarz wrote to his friend after the race, describing the nausea and bloating he felt from all of the food and water he consumed on the ride. In order to sustain himself through the intense physical exertion, Solarz ate 11,000 calories worth of bananas and other high-energy foods and drank five gallons of water during the triathlon. "I peed all over Zurich," he laughed. After finally finishing the bike ride, Solarz walked the first mile and a half of the marathon as he made the "leg transition." "When you get off the bike, your legs are like lead," he recalled. But when he realized he wouldn't make finish well at the pace he was going, Solarz forced himself to run for another 15 miles. Solarz says he was well-prepared for his first Ironman. He has run four marathons while in college and participated on swim teams since he was five years old. Additionally, while abroad in Australia last spring, he trained 20-25 hours a week for the triathlon, running to the Sydney Opera House, swimming laps at the University of Sydney swimming pool and biking around the city's Centennial Park.