Finally an Ironman performance that I am overall pleased with! I stayed strong physically and mentally throughout the day and ran a marathon that I am proud of. That’s a first!

Race Morning

Much to my surprise, waking up at 3:30 (1:30 Utah time) wasn’t an issue. Neither was eating my usual breakfast. Pros got to check in bikes in the morning. Yay because it rained overnight. First time I’ve ever stayed close enough to the race venue to go back to the hotel before the start to use my own bathroom! I had done well (just like in Nice) to cut the fiber enough to feel like I had a pretty empty gut.  And it worked again. No bathroom stops in Nice or MT during the race!

Warm up consisted of walking/jogging the mile over to the swim start and getting in the water for about 10 minutes. It was great to have my good friend, Karen, there also racing, who is calm as a cucumber. We lost each other and then found each other again and nothing was a big deal. We get along well!

The worst part is standing on that beach for what feels like hours with so many eyes on us. Glad to have a couple of friends in the pro field. We talk, cheer, exchange pleasantries, etc. 20 girls on the start line! I like this group of women. Great atmosphere as we were standing on the beach. I pretty much felt like I belong! I was right next to Magali and smack dab in the middle. By accident! Once I realized it, I felt stupid to move over to the side and squeeze in between the other girls, so I stayed put.

Swim – 1:02 (1:37/100m)

Another beach start. I’ll take it! For some odd reason, I am good at those. Run, dolphin dive, swim. I had to let the lead pack slowly pull away but that was to be expected. I was fully expecting to be with another group since there were so many of us but that never happened! I was in no-mans-land the entire swim. There was one girl ahead of me (Erin Green) but I just couldn’t catch up to her until I was able to hop on some age groupers’ feet (around 2.8k). The first man came by right at the half-way point. But it was nothing dramatic like in Nice. It wasn’t a big group, just one guy. And then another. And so on… After ¾ of the swim, I was able to hop onto some of their feet and be pulled for a while until I got dropped, then wait for the next one to come by. That was a fun game!

This swim was only 1 minute slower than Nice. And, although we did wear wetsuits at this one and not in Nice, there we had salt water! So I’d say that about evens it out? 1 second per 100 slower here than Nice. I was really hoping to be in a group and swim under 1:00 but being by myself didn’t throw me off my game. I just kept trucking along the best I could. Pretty uneventful overall. I am happy with the way I took advantage of the age group men and in the end got out of the water before Erin.

T1 – 4:31

About a 500m run over to transition. And a big transition area on top of that! Got wetsuit stripped and my head in the right place before I got to my stuff. It was all on carpet and the crowd was fantastic! Super fun. Kept my wet bra on (not that cold) but pulled on my dry aero top (not that warm). Ran with my shoes in hand to my bike. I had them clipped on for Kraichgau and Nice and I just don’t like it. I can do it well but I am convinced that, unless it’s a draft legal race, it’s more efficient to do a flying mount with your shoes on your feet already and then get going. And I take less chances with rubber bands etc.

Bike – 5:20 (21mph)

Rode sub 5:20! Official time shows up as 5:19:59. Yay! That was sort of the goal toward the end. I didn’t go into it with a time goal in mind… Lapped the Garmin after 30, then after each hour. Then after 5 hours to see how much longer I would take and play some games.
Super happy with average power, average NP and VI. I worked hard for that and tried to be as consistent as possible. A bit high but I was able to hold it well until the very end when I didn’t push the downhills as much.

I thought nutrition and hydration went pretty well. Again, I ate like a champ. 10 Honey Stinger waffles (1500 cal), 400 cal in liquid form, and about 600 cal in chews. 2500 calories total. That’s about 450 calories + 2 salt pills + 1.3 bottles per hour. There is no way I can eat more than that! I peed once on the bike.

I felt pretty strong throughout. On the second loop there were some rougher parts but I managed them well. I got passed by 4 girls on the bike. And I passed 3 or 4 girls. Which made things a bit more interesting but never for long.  The age group guys were a big annoyance for about half of the ride. If parts of the file seem off (some really low power and then some really high power), the age group men are to blame. They were in my way like no other race I have done! Not even IM AZ was this bad. The worst is when they slot in although they shouldn’t and then I have to back off. Over and over again. Ugh! But it is what it is and I only got pissed when it was really bad. At least it was some sort of (bad) entertainment. The last 1/3 of the ride was actually really BORING. It’s interesting: How can something be really hard and really boring at the same time?! About half of this bike course was fun, the other half wasn’t. In terms of FUN, nothing is going to compare to Nice! Eventually the “try to hold your power above x” got old but I couldn’t think of any other games. The wind toward the end was a nice distraction.

I had no major issues on the bike. Not physical, mental, or emotional. I felt like this was a pretty strong ride for me. I was happy with the way things were going, although I wished I could be more competitive on the bike and go with the girls that pass me. That’s the annoying thing about Ironman for me. I am not good enough to race the whole thing and if I blow myself on the bike, then that’s bad tactics. Seems like this is a bit the case for most of us girls but it’s not the part that I enjoy. Give me a RACE!

I was ready to get off the bike and wasn’t scared of the marathon like I have been in the past. It seemed ridiculously daunting because those last hilly 30 minutes really took it out of me on the bike but I was confident that I could find the strength within me to somehow run 26.2 decent miles.

T2 – 2:35

Total FAIL! I clearly didn’t do enough visualization before the race because I usually know EXACTLY where I will get out of my shoes. Not this time. The end of the bike was a bit confusing with a lot of turns and suddenly I found myself at the dismount line with both shoes still on my feet. CRAP! Not only do I HATE running in those things but this is so NOT PRO! Oh well. On we go into the tent. I took the time to put on socks (humidity + toe issues) and take the aero top off and then realized – CRAP AGAIN – I never took my Garmin off my bike. UGH! At the last second, I took my HR strap off because – who wants to chafe from that thing when it’s not even recording anything?!

Run – 3:28 (7:56/mi)

I was a bit bothered for a few short minutes since I was really going to use the watch for HR and pace on this run but – what can you do? It’s Ironman. Adapt and move on. The main goal for the run wasn’t necessarily HR or pace related anyway. I do wish I had the data now though! The results aren’t showing any run splits which is annoying. I’d love to see some! So as far as any sort of data for this run goes – I got NOTHING.

I am really proud of this run! I ran the way I wanted to. I started out at a fast (for me) effort and didn’t allow myself to get comfortable. I trusted myself to be able to hold on mile after mile and have what it takes to run 26 strong miles. I didn’t know pace or time until hours after I crossed the finish line but I didn’t care. I was happy with this run regardless of time. I had Christine ahead of me from the beginning and slowly reeled her in and made the pass. After 10k, I realized that I had a bunch of girls right on my tail. Yikes! I totally figured that they would be catching me at some point but I wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Part of me wanted to slow down, let them catch up, and then try to run with them. But the other part knew that was a bad idea. My track record of running WITH anyone in an IM is pathetic. I usually give up. This time, I kept pushing. Erin Green passed me and I hung on for a while but then had to let her go. After 25k, Kelly passed me and I (gasp!) stayed with her! Now this is a first! I just didn’t let her shake me off. And then I re-passed her! Another first! I figured I was in 8^th but after 30k, I realized Erin was actually behind me again. The other girls were still a threat but I knew from the very beginning that Ashley might well run me down. Her marathon PR is 2:48 and she knows no pain. So the thought of her is what kept me running hard. With 1k and then again .5k to go people told me that they couldn’t see her. I tried to sprint all the way to the end knowing I wasn’t safe quite yet but when she blew by me in the finish chute, I was too surprised and she was going too fast for me to respond. I wasn’t disappointed at the time because I knew I had given it everything and I had no regrets. I even made it into pre-medical! My legs were totally cramping and I couldn’t get my HR down either.

Nutrition went fairly well. I eat a gel every 2 miles. And I usually take 1 mile to eat the gel slowly. Then wash it down at the aid station and grab another one. Salt tab every other mile. Coke starting at mile 13 after I take 200mg of caffeine. As much water as possible. No bathroom stop! Yay!

Post-race

Definitely more worn out than after Nice. Nothing acute other than the hip still/again bugging me ever so slightly! Couldn’t sleep the night after the race which is not unusual. Felt fine to do recovery bikes and swims the next two days. Traveling home was a nightmare but we eventually made it – one day late. Enjoying my mid-season break while it lasts but I am also glad the season isn’t over yet! I feel like I have more to give!

First time going sub 10 in an Ironman! Sad that it has taken so long but glad it finally happened! This is not a fast course per se and I am excited to see what I can do in AZ this year! Part of me is excited for the sub 10 but the bigger part of me is like: You race as a pro and you are excited to go sub 10!? Pathetic. How about sub 9:30 AT LEAST? But I am smart and patient and I do believe that I have quite some room for improvement over this distance. The goal for IM AZ is to go FAST.

The Double

I think racing two IM four weeks apart suits me. I don’t know if 4 weeks apart is ideal or better than 3 or 5 or 6 but having them close together is something that has now worked well for me for the second time. It gives me a chance to right away apply what I learned during the 1^st one and gives me confidence to push the 2^nd one harder. Definitely something I want to keep experimenting with.