I am not going to lie: I hated Ironman training. Seriously. I felt like every day I was making the decision all over again to do it. FYI: I don't recommend approaching training for something like this with that kind of badditude. For reals.
But, I had the BEST DAY on race day. Honestly. Everything came together just like Teresa predicted. I feel so lucky and excited - not only am I AM AN IRONMAN (!!!), I actually had fun!
I mean, I had fun moments during training. I had some great runs (towards the end) got to go on some really fun rides, which I would totally do again (Wenatchee Apple Bike Century Ride), and met some awesome people. Here's the thing though: I like running. I don't MIND swimming. But I don't like biking. I thought that Ironman training would change that, but I was wrong... Sort of. I found out I wasn't exactly wrong on race day, but more on that later.
Coach Teresa ROCKS - I went into training with achilles tendonitis, which had plagued me for the previous 6 months, but Teresa wrote me a plan whereby I could train and my achilles healed at the same time. It was great. I am really happy and so grateful that I came through this injury free. (I held off on "bonus runs" - or runs which weren't in my plan - since that's what got me into trouble in the first place ;)).
As the race approached, I got more and more panicked. It's not that I didn't trust the training, it's that I didn't trust the distance. I mean, I am a timid biker under the best circumstances, and I had some consistency issues with swimming (in case you are wondering, it's pretty tough to talk myself into getting out of bed to swim with all these hours of biking and running wearing me out). Gauging my running fitness was tough for me. Always before I had judged it by speed, and that wasn't a focus - but I did feel like running was going well, I just wasn't sure how it would feel to run a marathon after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112. Spoiler alert: laughably terrible.
Okay, onto race day.
Up at 345, dressed, coffee in the lobby + bagel and a half with peanut butter and jam. I had been eating bagels for 3 days now, and was pretty sick of them, but it was the plan (and a race day tradition for me) so I forced them down.
Vicki picked me up at 5am - I tried to forget my special needs bags, but remembered just as I got downstairs. Sorry Vicki!
They say 3 things go wrong on race day. If so, I had three minimal things: first, I forgot to charge the GPS tracker I was planning to use on the bike so my family would know where I was. Dave told me on Saturday night the battery was almost dead. I wanted to celebrate, because I was so sure that was the first thing that had gone wrong! When I was setting my bike up for transition, I couldn't get air into one of the tires, and a tech had to help me - which made me feel stupid, but oh, well.
Anyways. Once my bike was set up (I taped 10 Powerbar Gels to the frame, and put three unwrapped and halved luna bars + two packages of the little cola flavored Powerbar gummy bites into my bento box), and swung by the porta potties one last time, it was already 6:15. With the rolling start, I had to be in position and ready to swim at 640 - since that's when the start actually was. I found Vicki again - I had left my wetsuit with her, and got suited up. Once in the start area in my wetsuit and goggles (and socks that I wore to the start on TN's suggestion to keep my feet warm), I decided not to warm up, since I only had a few minutes. This was not the best idea.
When the gun went off, we started to file forward. I had lined up with the 1:15-1:30 group towards the outside front, since I was pretty sure I was going to swim close to a 1:20. It took no time at all (but in reality like 5 minutes) to get into the water. Once in the water, splashed the water on my face and took off. Uh-oh. Couldn't breathe. Not because it was super windy and choppy and crowded (although it was) but because I was so overexcited. I panicked. Took a minute, tread water, and then started again - it took me about 10 reps of doing this before I was able to settle in. In retrospect, I should have warmed up. I know about myself that the first 2-400 meters are tough for me, so not warming up was a mistake (I'm counting this as the third thing that went wrong!). I finally settled in, counting my strokes to calm down. The crowd bunched up at the first buoy, and some crazy girl yelled and kicked at me to get off her feet. Um, I didn't want to be on her feet! The rest of the swim was largely uneventful. Getting out and back into the water was annoying, but I expected that ;)
I came out of the water after the second loop, and saw on my watch that I swam under 1:25 - yippee!
Planned swim time: 1:20-1:30. Actual: 1:23:50
T1: I am not a speedy transition-er, but the volunteers were amazing. Pulled the top half of my wetsuit off, and then off laid down for wetsuit stripping. The wetsuit strippers were awesome! Grabbed my bag and into the change tent. I toweled off (which I was later told was silly), pulled on my socks and shoes and my long sleeve sun protection shirt, then sprayed down with sunscreen, threw on my helmet and sunglasses and was out the door! My family and friends were waiting near my bike, which was awesome. I was close to the end, and was so excited to see them. Waved, yelled hello and was out on the bike!
T1 planned: who cares? Actual: 6:53
My plan on the bike was to refuel every 90 minutes (stop and fill up my speedwill with water and add some gatorade concentrate), and eat every 30 minutes. By 10 minutes in, I had my first gel and at 40, I had my second, and so on. The first hour was AWESOME. I was way ahead of the pace I was hoping to maintain, and my HR was low, I felt great! The first part of the loop is this really pretty out and and back, and coming back through town was amazing. I saw my friends Jacob and Tara on the corner where we turned to go through DT CdA, and then my whole family was standing with the TN group at the tent. I got choked up as I passed, their support was so wonderful! (And they were such troopers! Out there ALL day! Seriously, it's SO EXHAUSTING to spectate, I am in awe of all of them!)
The first loop passed relatively quickly. I was expecting an aid station every 10 miles, which wasn't exactly accurate, so the first time I refueled was at mile 25/28ish. I stopped and talked to the volunteers while I refilled my bottle. She was telling me about all the accidents she'd seen at the water station. Yikes! The first loop flew by, and I didn't stop to refuel until 3:18 or so, right before the halfway point. I got to see and talk to my aunt and uncle, as they were standing there - then back out to go along the second loop! I skipped special needs, which in retrospect, maybe I shouldn't have. I was planning on doing water and the gatorade solution, and had a second bottle of solution (along with a tube, two cartridges and some meds, just in case). But, I decided I didn't need it (also, I can only handle so much gatorade. Water tasted wayyy better at this point.). I was still so happy I was cruising right along, that I decided to just wait. I stopped again around mile 70 to refuel and use the bathroom (I still can't pee on my bike!) and was so happy with the volunteers. They grabbed my bike, and loaded up the water while I was in the bathroom! Awesome.
Then back out on 95.... and it was slow going. The out was net-uphill and it was SO WINDY. The headwind was brutal. I was going like 6-8 miles an hour for awhile. My legs also felt pretty heavy. The slog out to the turnaround at mile 91 just felt like it was going on FOREVER. I was going to slow it was tough to fuel - and I switched back to gels (I had done a few hours of half of a luna bar every half hour in the middle there), to prep for the run. (Which seemed laughable at the time. My legs were already tired!) But, I made it! There is a long steep-ish downhill back into CdA, and it's a no passing zone. During the first loop, I didn't break at all, but during the second loop, I was tired, and feeling really cautious. I was really trying not to hold anyone up, but I did get passed.... Anyways. Made it into town, and to the bike in. Dropped off my bike (you jump off at the dismount area, and a volunteer grabs your bike), and into T-2. I told the volunteer he could keep my bike. He thought I was kidding ;)
Bike - goal: 8 hours. Actual: 7:45:37
T2: In T2, it took a bit for my legs to get back under me. I hobbled in to transition, grabbed my bag, and into the changing tent. My plan was to change my entire outfit, due to chafing issues. This went relatively fast with the assistance of a volunteer (who also helped me sunscreen up again!) and by the time I was changed, suncreened, had taken 2 more immodium and a salt tab and gad gone to the bathroom, I felt like running was more of a reality. Still hard, but more likely to stick. :)
T2 - goal: 5 min Reality: 7:41
Run: Running up out of transition was a gentle uphill, but I knew I had family and friends who I was going to hug attack at about mile 1. It was great to see everyone and their signs (my amazing sister had hosted a sign making party - all the signs were awesome!), and say hello and thanks :) Then out. I don't have too much to say about the first 9-ish miles, except that it felt good, and I was happy to be running. At 45 min, I took a gel, planning on taking the second one at 1:30 - but I started to feel super nauseated at about 9.5 and took a gel then. (The spectactular Vicki was out riding her bike on the course, encouraging us, so she let me know it was time for another gel when I started feeling barfy, in spite of my earlier ridiculous thinking that I should treat it like every other marathon.) This is also the point where I started needing to take little walk breaks. I expected needing to do this, but it was sad nonetheless. I started walking through the aid stations only until about mile 14. At special needs (mile 13ish), I stopped and grabbed some more gels and meds (more salt tabs, just in case). Then there was the out and back where I saw my family and friends again. I was so happy to see them, just like before, but as soon as I saw Coach T, I crumpled. I knew, at that point, that I was going to finish, but I also knew it was going to take awhile. I really wanted to be done.
Teresa jogged with me for a few minutes - and asked me what was hurt. I think I said 'everything! nothing! I'm just tired!' She calmed me down with encouragement, and we went over a new nutrition plan for the second half of the race (I had been struggling with gels): coke and water. Every aid station. This was a relief and gave me something to look forward too. After I ran off with her encouragement, I was able to turn it around and stay positive. The nice thing is about this point in the race is that if you are walking quickly or jogging, you are passing people. That was super helpful. I made it about 3 more miles walking 1/10th of a mile twice every mile, and then downgraded to a half mile walk/half mile run. (At mile 17, I figured our I had about 2 hours to run 9 miles to make a 5 hour marathon, which was my goal. Then, I realized I only needed to run a 15 min mile to do it. So....backing into the math, I realized I could get away with going a bit slower. This probably wasn't the best attitude to have, but I was hurting (or not hurting) and decided I didn't care ;)
I caught up with Lyset at the turnaround, around mile 20, where Mark had mentioned we should be sure to soak in the moment. We walked together for awhile, and then I hit my half mile and jogged off. She caught up with me about 2.5 miles later, trying to come blazing by me. We ran oddly fast for awhile (she said 'let's finish together!' and that sounded awesome, so I decided to try and keep up), before resuming taking a walk break here and there. We commiserated over how much our feet hurt, how much we wanted to be done, and how excited we were to cross the finish line. It was the highlight of my day to be together at this point.
As we turned the corner to head down (operative word is down) Sherman ave (which was a half mile to the finish) we started running again, for the last time. We ran faster than we'd been running all day, and cruised past family, friends and coaches - slapping high fives and smiling ear to ear. We were doing it!
We finally hit the finish line, and heard Mike Reilly announce us - we were each 'an Ironman!'. I couldn't believe it. Something I had never thought I would do - and not only did I accomplish it, I had fun, too!
Run goal: 5 hours Actual: 5:00:09
Overall Goal: 14:30 (well, 17 hours). Actual: 14:24
The finish area was nuts - the catchers ushered you through to get your hat and shirt, bottle of water, medal, have your chip taken off, and to get your photo taken. I was so ecstatic, I cried, and grabbed Lyset while she was getting her chip taken off. We made the photographers take our photo together, and went out onto the grass to wait for our families/friends. (She had to detour to medical, but was ultimately okay). I had discussed getting dinner with my family, but all I wanted was to shower and be back at the hotel. Rachel bought me some french fries, and Jacob and Tara brought me some chips, beans and rice. I managed to eat a little, but all I really wanted was to be not moving! We celebrated together for awhile, and after everyone left, and I responded to all my wonderful friends' messages, I took some Tylenol PM so I could sleep. ( I woke up at 4am starving and ate a bar - ewwwww!!!)
The next day I was moving slowly, but felt better than I thought I would. Today, a week later, I understand how people get addicted! I feel pretty good, and look forward to training again, definitely not for another Ironman, but for more summer fun, sometime soon!
