Ironman V 2.0

Ok. so i know that I totally dropped the ball on keeping up to date with the blog. but as you can imagine, being a PhD student, plus summer researcher, plus ironman training, plus visiting a certain someone in LA (ehem.. NAZO), leaves me with very little time to bother other people with the inane workings of my life, particularly ironman training.



However, that being said, a few people have asked me for a race report, similar to last year's, and obviously i am going to oblige.



I went into this years ironman with a sense of confidence- not one that led me to believe it would be a painless experience, but just one that i used to remind myself that, if i could do it once, i could very well do it another time. That said, this race, despite sounding very similar to ironman florida on paper ( flat course etc), turned out to be very different.



Wednesday and Thursday Before the race ( Sept 23d and 24th). These two days were consumed with flying to virginia, assembling my bike and spending alot of time on the couch relaxing/freaking out about the weekend. I did a couple short workouts to keep the legs loose and took my bike for a spin aruond the block a few times to make sure my bike mechanic skills were sufficient. the bike seemed ok at the time- though my seat position would prove to be less than ideal. more about that later.



Friday morning my mom and i embared on the 2 hour drive to Cambridge Maryland where I had gotten a room at the America's Best Value Inn, not the Hyatt resort that was the host hotel. Ok, so we stayed in a shack on the side of the highway, but atleast i got 2 nights for the same price as 1 at the host hotel. So whatever. we arrive at the hyatt, i checked into the race, got 2 awesome tshirts, a pair of socks, my race packet and a bunch of other goodies before i headed of to the first of TWO transition areas for the race. thats right, TWO.



for those of you that know anything about triathlon know that it is customary to only have one trasition area. you run out of the water post swim, into transition, grab cycling stuff, and head for the ride. similarly, after you ride your bike you usually run into the SAME transition area and head out for the run.



Unfortunatly, this was a logisitic impossibility at this race, so the swim to bike transition was in the Bay area where swim start was, but then another bike to run transition was set up at the local highschool, the same place the marathon portion of the day would start and finish. I had printed out every possible combination of directions my mother and i would need "hotel to hotel", "hotel to park" "park to high school" etc (Thank you GoogleMaps). We decided that 430 morning of the race was NOT the time to be figuring out where everything was, plus, i had to check in my bike- so off we went.



this was a small race, with a total of almost 400 participants between the Iron distance, the Aqua velo, and the 2.4 mile swim. transitions were small, cozy and very well organized, with everyone having their own hook for their gear bag. Last year at IM Florida gear bags were lined up "according to race number" and as your entered transition you screamed out your number in hopes that one of the wonderful, but overwhelmed volunteers would hear you and run and grab your bag. This was much less chaotic, and i felt at ease knowing my gear bag had its own little spot.



We drove to the highschool next for transition number two. this was where i would drop off my bike and start the three loop marathon and eventually finish on the track. it all looked pretty standard, so i decided to head back to the hotel to make my Peanutbutter and Nuttella Sandwiches (my favorite ironman food) for my special needs bags and take a little nap before the mandatory race meeting.





Fastforward to saturday morning: I wake up to gusts of wind swooshing by the windows of the hotel. at 345 in the morning, this doesnt bode well for the rest of the race day. I pack up all my stuff, and start to head to the highschool to drop up my special needs bags and my run gear. Now, we are in the middle of farmland, at 4 oclock in the morning. it is cold, pitch black and i can barely see a foot infront of me. Somewhere around 415 am, they turn the stadium lights on at the high school. As usual i am one of the first to drop off my gear bags. just the way i like it.



I head to the park where the start of the race and transition #1 is. i pump up my tires, get my gear and water bottles in place, all by 530 in the morning. race doesnt start until 7, i need 20 minutes to put on my wetsuit and calm myself down, so basically i had an hour to kill. My mom and i went to Mcdonalds so she coudl get coffee and i could use a real bathroom since nothin is scarier than a porto-jon in dead of night...morning.. whatever.



Ok, approaching race time!! wetsuit is on. i look at the triangular 2 loop course. it seems easy enough. but the strong winds are makeing the some pretty impressive ways. still at this point, i was feeling pretty positive. We make ourway into the water for the mass start- and the gun goes off! The first leg of the triangle was eaasy peezy. i thought " piece of cake"... until, i turned the first orange bouy. With the sun now in my face, we were going against the wave pattern and being told who is boss by some pretty huge waves. every stroke i took forward, i was pushed back 2. i strayed from the course more than once ( accidentily- and of no fault of my own. we were all basically rag dolls being tossed around out there) and most likely added half a mile to my overall swim. as i came in for the second loop i knew this wasnt going to be a good swim.



My arms have never hurt that much during a race before and at that point the self destructive thoughts of " i have to make this time up on the bike" started getting to me. this is never a good sign since it seems to be the case that the MINUTE you say that to yourself, not only will you NOT make up the time,but you will probably feel like ass trying to.

so i finally finish the swim and run up the boat dock into transition. my time was a good ten minutes slower than last years swim. not tragic, but also not a good way to start out the race, seeing as i pushed myself twice as hard to make it through this swim course. Already more tired than i shoudl be, i got on my bike and headed out for a 112 mile ride.

The course consisted of two loops. One 68 miles, the other 44. The skies started to get darker at this point, and with this race having a history of getting wet ( and by wet, i mean crazy rain storms lasting the entire day) i was worried about the impending weather conditions. The first loop went relatively well. with an equal mix of going with and against the wind, i thought i managed to keep a good steady pace, eat enough calories, and recver from the swim. but then- the wind started to pick up and we were hit with 30 mile an hour gusts right as i started loop number two. This is what really did some damage. I got into the best tuck position I could on my aero bars and hoped for the best. it was a rough ride for me, though beautiful. it took us through the Blackwater wild life refuge where i spotted a bald eagle. I also spotted a large turtle, to whom i shouted "HELLOOOO Mr. Turtle" in a moment of sheer delerium around mile 80 of the ride. Luckily, no one was around to witness it. the last 20 miles were brutal and lets face it i was BORED as hell. I love cycling, but there is only so much i can take with an impending marathon looming over my head.

Phew, finally, i am off the bike and onto the marathon. Its three loops which means i can see the cheering crowd three times to lift my spirits. I set off- and the first approx 9 mile loop flies by. i feel GREAT. The knees wernt hurting, and I was keeping a great steady pace...as i pulled into the highschool for the first turn around, i spotted my mom and a neighbor who had come to watch. I waved smiles and headed out for loop two. Somewhere around mile 11 all hell broke loose. I thought my IT band was going to act up, both feet hurt and myteriously, i had developed a random, and very painful bruise on my right knee. It was clearly not muscular, and didnt feel like a bone issue. it was definatly a bruise. I just did a google search and apparently, extreme exertion can cause the capillaries under your skin to burst causing bruising during a run. I guess this makes ssense, though me not eating a lot of meat, this could mean i need to up the iron intake. oh well. the point is, the second loop was brutal. As i pulled into the highschool i felt( and apprently looked) completely spent. but this was not going to stop me.

I pulled into my special needs area, yelled for my bag. I bypassed the sandwich and my gels and went straight for the 2 extra strength tylonol. I was hungry. i had been doing great with my calorie intake through the day which is the only reason, i think, that i coudl even keep going. I popped the two pills, and set off for the final lap of the marathon.

I am a firm believe that no matter how the rest of the race goes, you have to finish strong. And in the grand scheme of the ironman day, the last 9 or so miles of the run is basically the start of the finish line. I decided that I was going to run strong. I settle for a point to point run to the aid stations followed by a little bit of walking. With the aid stations a mile a part, i could run- stop- eat something like a hand ful of gummy bears, a cookie, or a shot of diet pepsi, walk a little, then run on to the next aid station. The volunteers were amazing, and kept my spirits up even when night rolled around.

running in the backwoods, in the dead of night is not easy. by 7 pm it was pitch black, and the country roads had no lighting. the race director had brought in large generators, but they were placed approx a mile apart meaning the only thing i had to guide me in between was the glow stick necklace the wonderful ladies at aid station 4 handed me. luckily, at this poin i had about 4.5 miles left to go.

No doubt i was in pain. I was also moving slower than that turtle i talked to somewhere on the bike course. but, i was running. i was determined to cross that finish line like the race had been the easier thing in the world. the idea of me being done make me pick up my feet and head straight toward the finish- rather quickly i might add. I passed a few people who still had a whole loop to do. I offered encourage words, but only stuck around long enough to here them say congratulations back. I needed to be finished. As i ran toward the high school and saw the finish line i also saw my mom standing there, clearly worried that i had passed out somewhere in a ditched. but i didnt. i crossed the finish line under 13 hours (not great, but good enough for this go round). While i was much faster last year at florida, i didnt have ANY elements to deal with- so this was a completely new experience. the only thing that wasnt different?? How awesome it felt to have crossed that finish line. I dont care who you are, or how many times youve done an ironman, there is nothing quite like crossed the finish line and throwing your hands up in the air after 140.6 miles of blood, sweat, and maybe even a few tears :)

Ironman Lousiville 2010. here. I. come.