Ironman World Championship 70.3 2008

Race morning started like most race mornings - get up while it is still dark out after a night of tossing and turning. I ate something small, drank some instant breakfast shake and went to the bathroom about 4 times just to be sure. We left the condo before around 5:40am - I would have liked to leave earlier but I was up against to much resistance so I gave in.
We got in line for body marking which for such a long line moved rather quickly. They used the same kind of stamp/paint numbers they used at the Hawaii 70.3 - so my number took up my entire upper arm. What was surprising is that they did not do any number on the calf - no age or anything. I guess maybe because so many people are now wearing the long compression socks or calves..
Once in the transition area I got my bike set up, there were two open spots next to my bike so I had the end of the rack which was nice since every one else seemed so packed in tight. Kyle checked my tire pressure and we headed out to the beach to find our family.
It was not to hard to find my Mom and Jerry since she had made a huge sign..

Once again my wave started 3rd to last - and I think they said it was the largest as well so I got to see everyone else start and had plenty of time to put sun block on and get ready which is sort of a mixed blessing. My Mom was already super excited and I just wanted to stay calm as long as possible - which was really hard.
Finally it was my turn to line up in the coral. I gave everyone hugs and lined up. My Mom hugged me and I started to cry so I had to put my goggles on. The pre-race jitters/emotions got to me completely.

As Kainoa and I had discussed I seeded myself in the middle back. We stood there for a while and then they lined us up on the beach and they fired the cannon and I finally got to start. Kyle's dad - Tom took a video of it which is pretty cool. I swear I'm in there some where wearing my sleeveless wetsuit.
It was my first ever beach start - I did my best to run /trudge in until it was deep enough to start swimming and enough other girls were also swimming to start. I went pretty hard for the first couple minutes as planned but I was not able to keep with the main pack. But a second group formed and we all seemed to find our places switching back and forth in the lead. The water was still pretty flat and I was able to sight and swam pretty straight for me. I focused on keeping good form and was bale to get in a good rhythm out to the turn buoy. Then the guys wave that started 5 min after swam up on and over me. I managed to still feel good but was pushed around a lot more. The water also got a little less smooth so I managed to get some extra salt water up my nose. On the way back you swim straight into the sun coming up which made it hard to see the buoys but I just sighted a little bit more and still swam fairly straight in. By the end my arms and lats were fatigued which makes me feel like I had good form or at least was using my muscles. At some point on the way back in I must have swallowed to much salt water along with the waves I started to feel a little sick to my stomach but tried to ignore it and just get finished. I was lucky it felt like the waves helped in a bit and I was done with the swim.

As is always the case I felt a little disoriented but I did my best to run out of the water and up the beach. I did hear them announce my name which was kind of cool.

I also like the car wash style shower. I only managed to unzip my wetsuit before getting to the wetsuit strippers so they helped me strip it down and then pulled it off and sent me on my way to grab my bag and into the changing tent were another great volunteer helped me put my swim stuff into my bag as I got my bike shoes on. There were not a lot of bikes on the racks anymore but I kind of expected that since my wave was so late and I'm the fastest swimmer.

Once on the bike I started getting in some nutrition mostly to get the salt water taste out of my mouth. The causeway/hill was no big deal and I just settled into my aerobars. I have never raced or even ridden on anything like this bike course, no hills, no coasting, no recovery time. It was just plain weird.

My neck was tight from the start but nothing to bad. The first half of the course felt good and went by as I kind of expected. I got in my nutrition well and fallowed my usual half ironman plan.
You always hear all about the packs of riders drafting but it was weird I felt very alone on the course. I saw a few of the big pelton groups on the out and back portion but I was mostly alone the entire ride which made it a very tough ride mentally to stay positive. I started talking to my self a lot. I kept telling my self I need to keep my speed above 20 mph so my areo helmet was useful and then a bunch of random stuff. Then the second half I found a headwind which sucked a lot of energy and speed out of me. I saw a few ambulances on the last section and cars kept trying to drive in the closed lane which was kind of scary. and I never even had the chance to be tempted by the draft packs.
By the time I started getting close to T2 I had taken all my gels, gone through 2 and half full bottles of accelerade and drank a bottle of plain water so I would have to say my nutrition went flawlessly. I was ready to be off the bike and be around other people though.

In T2 the volunteers took great care of me by helping me with my gear bag and spraying me down with sun block while I put my shoes on and in no time I was on the run surrounded by lots of people on their second laps. Since it was hot at the first aid station I grabbed a cup of ice and pretty much never was with out it the rest of the run.
With in a mile or so on lap 1 I caught Kyle (who was on his 2nd lap). He was struggling a little bit in the heat so we talked and I shared my ice with him and kept an eye on him. The causeway/hill really sucked - it was so hot with the water reflection and pavement it took the rest of the loop to recover from it. The rest of the lap we went back and forth a few times and then he sped up and headed into the finish while I started my second lap.
On the second lap I was alone on the course again except for the Hoyts who were in front of me the entire lap. I tried my best(ok maybe not my best) to catch them but just did not have it in me.
My feet hurt, my left hip was tight and my stomach was not feeling great. I made the huge mistake of not eating a gel or really anything else because nothing sounded good anymore. I just kept sucking on ice and trying to cool my self off. I would drink half a cup of Gatorade at the most. I did try some coke at mile 10 or so and it turned my stomach. I have clue how I could look so happy because really I just plain struggled the rest of the way to the finish and just wanted to be done. I look kind of horrible in the pictures my mom got but for some reason I smiled for the event photographers. I guess I was just being more honest with my mom..

The last mile seemed to go on forever till I reached the round about and then the finish.
Yes I am a total sucker and got my finisher video mostly because it was such a blur...


Final times:
Swim 38:17
T1 3:40
Bike 3:00:30
T2 3:05
Run 2:10:54
Overall 5:56:26
Division position 49 of 51

Luckily Kyle was out of the med tent in tim eto meet me at the finish. I did not feel good. I started to cry I was very disappointed in my race and my run especially.
We walked over to a place to sit down since I did not want to go to the med tent. I put my head down and Kyle's dad went and got the nurses in the med tent and they walked me in. First I was hot so they put iced towels on me then I was shivering out of control so they put warm towels and a milar blanket on me till I stopped shaking. While they kept an eye on my vitals and they tried to get me to drink some water. After a little bit I was able to sit up and put on my sweater and milar skirt to stay warm and was able to leave the med tent.

Some closing thoughts and why it took me so long to finish this race report... Initially was hugely disappointed in my time/race but now I am happy with my times. I PRed in both the swim and bike and survived a hot run.. I am still disappointed that I gave up mentally on the run and let negative thoughts get the best of me. I really did feel like a little, almost tiny fish in a very big pond. But knowing this was the world championships I came with the goal to not come in last in my age group and I didn't. Even though I'm focusing on half Ironman distance races again I don't think I will be returning to Clearwater even if I get a slot. I'm glad I went but in all honesty the course does not really fit my strengths and is way to late in the season. So there you go I kept putting off writing the recap because it took me a while to figure out what really happened and why I was disappointed at the finish. It was a huge learning experience... Time to rest, recover and get faster next year.

Finisher

swim 38:17 bike 3:00:30 run 2:10:54 final 5:56:26
overall 1154 of 1254 age group 49 of 51



and then..


I will explain everything tomorrow.

final pre race days

On Wed (Nov 5th) we got up a little early (at least for Kyle) to swim with James. The weather was still kind of icky - windy, kind of cold, and lots of waves. The swim actually went really good. The water is a great temp - not to cold but also not to warm. I swam all over the place and never in straight line. I blame the waves that kept pushing me around...
Afterward swimming my Mom & Jerry cooked us all a super yummy breakfast of eggs, toast and oatmeal.
Then we tried to go see the Big Cat Rescue but misunderstood that you had to be there at 9am or 3pm only. Oh well we met up with my Aunt Bernice who lives in Tampa and headed back to Clearwater.
Once back in town we stopped off at the race expo and did athlete check-in and walked though the expo. I was excited to see that all the gear was blue - my favorite color :) So I just had to get a pair of arm warmers, bike jersey and tri shorts. We also picked up some cool visors.
After spending way to much money Kyle got changed and went for bike ride with James while I walked along the beach with my Mom and my Aunt. Then I put my feet up and relaxed till dinner. I'm glad I decided not to ride with the guys since they came back saying that they feared for their lives a couple of times - I guess the drivers around here are not very considerate to cyclists.

The sun finally came back on Thursday :) We started the day off with a visit to the Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Fl. We had wanted to go on Wed but did not make the tour times. The tour was amazing. You get to see all sorts of cats and support a great cause.
Afterwards we met up Col, Bryan and Liz at the Tampa airport to help get them and all there gear to the condo. They played bike for a while. Kyle's dad met us in Clearwater. They went of and got checked in and all that sort of stuff, Kyle went for a run and I went to the hot tub to stretched my legs out.
In the evening we went to the Athlete Welcome dinner which was out on a beach and had a good buffet style dinner. The weird thing was is that they had alcohol but no gatorade or even pop.. The presentation was kind of dry and boring but oh well.

Friday morning I got up a little earlier than Kyle and went for a short easy run - at 7am it was already warm enough to run in a tank and shorts.. Once I got back Kyle was up and we headed out to go for a swim. The water was calm!!! no waves, no swells. it was wonderful and the best thing is that the swim course buoys are set up.

We only swam for about 15 - 20 minutes but I focused on sighting and swimming straight. The water felt great and so much easier than the waves of the days before.
Next up was a super short bike ride just to make sure everything worked as expected then final run through of gear bags to make sure I had everything I wanted in them.
We met James over at the expo and checked our bikes and both gear bags. I had a good spot on the end of a rack but it was a ways away from the rest of my age group which was kind of weird.
Of course we had to walk through the expo again and Kyle talked to the Newton guy about the gortex winter shoes and grabbed a pair to run in for the Seattle Half Marathon. After talking with Kainoa about final race/nutrition/mental plans I spent the rest of the day/night was spent with my feet up in compression tights.

were did the sun go

Yesterday was 81°F today it was 68 °F so much for getting used to some heat. We started out the day with a swim even though the water looked less than ideal mostly grey and windy = rough water..
It took a bit to get brave the chill but once in the water it felt great. I was able to get in a good rhythm even though the water was so wavy. The best part was that usually Kyle pulls away from me and continues to but today I was able to stay closure to him than normal :)
We swam for about 25 min with a few hard efforts for a minute and then just tried not to get water up my nose.
There are more and more skinny tri people showing up, I think I counted 20 or so swimming at the same time as us and then more on their bikes and a few more running.. skinny tri people are taking over this town..

After swimming Kyle and I joined my Mom and Jerry for some to breakfast to a place called Kellys in Dunedin who had super yummy eggs. Once adequately fueled we continued up to the sponge docks in Tarpon Springs. We walked through the never ending tourist stores which answered where all the clutter in people houses comes from.. I limited my purchases to some hand made soap and some fudge for my after race treat. We also tested one of the greek restaurant s rice pudding and some greek coffee.

The sun had still not come out so when we got back to the condo we headed out on a bike ride. Before really getting started we met up with James a friend we met at the Hawaii 70.3 - of course before we could get rolling kyle and him had to talk bike tech a bit - boys are so funny lol.
We rode out over the cause way and then out on some bike trail. The cause way was actually kind of fun to ride over - a good climb up and a fun descend with a great run out. On the way back it was bit windy but nothing to bad at all. On the way down I did wish I could have added some weight because the guys completely smoked me but oh well not worth it. The rest of the ride was insanely flat. We wounded up spending most of the ride chatting and catching up to them with a few little sprints. We were out riding for an hour and got back just before sunset. It felt great to be on my bike :)

Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit warmer - maybe not 81°F but I am on vacation and would like some sun and need to soak up some Vitamin D.

we have arrived

After a very long day on an airplane yesterday we are in Clearwater. We spent last night getting settled, my aunt came by to say hi, found the grocery store, and got some dinner before sitting in the hot tub. My mom and Jerry got to witness what happens when Kyle and I don't eat frequently enough. We rushed them through the grocery store and ate a lot of crackers waiting for dinner to come. Once fed things went smoother and we were asleep early.
I woke up this morning at 5am eastern time which is insane.. but I stayed in bed and tossed and turned till about 8am when I got hungry. As usual when we travel to races Kyle's first priority is always the bikes. So as soon as he was awake he started putting the bikes back together. Our new double bike box worked really well and Kyle had them together in no time.
Next up was a short run. Notice in the photo Kyle is wearing a sweatshirt - it did not feel that hot. But as soon as we started running my legs felt soo heavy and I started to heat up. I tested out running with sun glasses since it is so bright her but it made my face extremely hot - with in a mile or so I sweating so much under my glasses that I had sweat running down my face like I was crying.. I was very uncomfortably hot the entire run. I'm very glad to have 6 more days to get used to the warmer temps.
After running we walked around the pier 60 and checked out the beach a little bit. They are already putting up tents for the expo and the beach is gorgeous. We spotted a lot of skinny tri biatchs running, riding and swimming all around town. I'm trying really hard not to get intimidated and just remember I have put in a lot of good training and I'm more than ready to have a fun day racing. and remember to breath..
Later we went out in search of the local tri shop to find a bike pump to fill our tires and found that they have relocated across the street of the host hotel so we went and got some Starbucks. On teh way back we happened upon a really cool bike shop called Hand on Bicycle. The owner was really cool and trued our wheels and pumped the tires up.
When we got home my Mom and jerry already had a yummy homemade dinner ready for us. Probably the weirdest thing today was my foot cramped up and it freaked out my mom. So I took a couple sport legs and must not have swallowed one all the way and an hour later coughed up a mess of the contents... Kyle thought I was choking and my laptop has a light white powder coating over the keyboard.. Kind of yucky.. So I'm trying to drink some cytomax but my throat and stomach feels kind of weird. Hopefully everything will settle over the night and I need to drink more water/electrolytes tomorrow.