IRONMAN HAWAII 2015 - LESSONS LEARNED

Ironman #18 is in the books!  Boy...was it a tough one!  The week started out with a bit of a setback as Dean and I were seated next to a sniffling, coughing guy on the flight to Kona.  Well, it didn't take long for that to latch onto me as I woke with a scratchy throat and cough on Sunday, 6-days pre-race.  It didn't seem to affect me much though as I could get through all of my pre-race routine without any apparent loss in strength or even an increase in HR during my workouts.  I didn't think too much of it as I was seeming to be almost over it by race morning.  Dean wasn't so lucky and ended up going on antibiotics for an upper respiratory infection on Thursday!

On to race day!  I felt perfectly tapered and ready to rock it race morning.  The women went off at 7:10am this year, making for some increased current on the way home and some longer swim times.  That said, I had a great swim this year (albeit long) and found the perfect feet to draft off of all the way back.  Last year was brutal, getting my goggles knocked and filled with salt water 4 times. This year was smooth sailing.  I was excited to get out of the water and see my swim time and was a little shocked to see I clocked a 1:09.  Oh well...I figured everyone's time was slow and off I went to my favorite leg...the bike.

I knew I had the potential to do some damage on the bike this year as my watts in training have been 10-15 watts higher than last year at the same time.  I figured I could probably match last year's average watts and that would give me that extra little bit of rest I would need for a solid run.  My heart rate was nice and low (130's) at that effort, so I knew it would work.  The bike started out

well, with a nice conservative start through town and then I got into my race rhythm.  I felt pretty decent along the Queen K but then some large stinging insect flew into the one hole in the front of my aero helmet and started repeatedly stinging my forehead. I had to stop to get that thing out of there as it obviously had the ability to sting over and over again!  After a quick stop and helmet removal, I was back on the road, spending the next 30 minutes passing all of the people I had already passed earlier.  The climb to Hawi was a bit less friendly than year's past, as we often at least started with a nice tailwind which this year was nowhere to be found.  It was a long, hard climb and I was surrounded by several other women who were battling it out.  My advantage came after the turnaround where I could make some big gains on the Hawi descent.  This is where I started making headway on my competition.  We also had a short bout of heavy rainfall which was the highlight of the bike ride due to the temporary cooling effect!  Getting back out onto the Queen K, there is almost always a 5 mile section with a beautifully strong tailwind, that later turns into a headwind. This year...all headwind from the get go!  That was a long last 30 miles! Normally this is a part that I enjoy as I feel strong through here, but this year, my power wasn't there.  I couldn't seem to get my average power over 178 watts despite the hard push home through the headwinds.  I knew something was wrong as a result.  I had tons of mucus in my sinuses that I was clearing throughout the bike ride and figured that was the residual respiratory virus that I thought I had put behind me.  I guess I hadn't. Oh, and did I mention it was HOT?!!  Wicked hot, is a better description.  To quote another competitor, "I think that was the hottest bike ride of my entire life!"  Drenching my head and body in cold water through the hole of my aero helmet at every single aid station only provided relief for 1-2 minutes. I drank more fluids than ever before.  My usual concentrated drink mix that gets me to special needs was out a good 15 miles prior to getting there.  That meant Gatorade Endurance Formula was now part of my bike nutritional plan.  I had been training with the powdered form of the drink, so figured my body would handle it just fine.  I was wrong about that as the bottled form is quite different and my GI bloat began on the way back from Hawi.

On to the run!  Getting into transition, I was already hitting the porta potty, trying to rid myself of the bloated feeling.  Although my legs and feet did not feel bad and I was well hydrated, the rest of me was complaining.  I chugged along for 7 or 8 miles, barely hanging on to my top spot in my age group with a couple of porta potty stops on the way.  I realized the Gatorade that I was chugging at each aid station was only making things worse and I switched to Coke and salt, but it was too late.  My guts were toast for the remainder of the day. That is when the initial walk/jog began followed by the very long walk.  In between waves of nausea and abdominal pain, I did my best to enjoy the rest of the day and cheer on friends.  I even managed to run a little bit intermittently in the final 5 miles. The finish line was spectacular with rows of encouraging spectators all down Ali'i Drive!  It's just that more spectacular with the later finish in the dark with the bright lights of the finish line!  

Special thanks to my wonderful husband Dean, without whom I might have not survived to the finish line!  Although the day did not turn out as I hoped, it's always a blessing and honor to tow the line at Ironman Hawaii.

Ironman Boulder!!

Ironman Boulder 2015...

I was pretty excited to race IM Boulder this year as it was my first non-Hawaii Ironman race since 2003 and was held right in my backyard.  I knew there would be tons of friends both racing and cheering which makes any race a joy.  Plus, my husband Dean was also racing and I love sharing race day with him.  Preparation for the race was good, but I felt just a tad underprepared, having missed my two most key bike and run workouts leading up to race day.  I figured that was a good thing, as it's better to be a little undertrained than overtrained!

I was not too excited about the wetsuit ruling, as I LOVE my wetsuit buoyancy and I knew it would prolong my swim by a fair bit. Once I got going though, I thought, "boy... I would be roasting right now in my wetsuit!"  I was happy to see the swim was 2.6 miles instead of 2.4 on my Garmin, since I had my slowest Ironman swim time ever (1:11).

On to my favorite leg...the bike.  It was just as fun as I anticipated!  I rode parts of the course in training on a few occasions and loved it just as much on race day.  It was a beautiful day on a perfect course...albeit a wee bit hotter than I would like.  I had a goal for wattage that was 5-10 watts below my goal watts for Hawaii and I pulled into T2 right smack in the middle of that goal (177W) which gave me the 2nd fastest female bike split of the day!  I stuck with my nutrition plan for the most part, but thought I didn't drink quite as much as I should have.  While sitting in T2 getting ready to run, I realized I was parched and craving water.  Uh oh!

After some great help by the amazing volunteers, I was off on the run with my first ever bicycle escort for "2nd place female"!  Wow...that was pretty cool!  The crowds were over the top awesome and when they saw that I was the 2nd place female, they screamed their lungs out.  That was so much fun!!!  The crowds and the volunteers really make this event special!  I actually felt amazing at the start of the run as the dehydration hadn't really set in yet.  I cruised along, just waiting for my fellow competitor, Heather Gollnick (5-time Ironman Champion as a pro) to pass me.  I was actually really wanting her to catch me early on so I could ease up and cruise through the rest of the marathon without traumatizing my body too much.  Heather had assured me on more than one occasion that she had no interest in the Kona slot, and that was my primary purpose for this race.  I had no interest in getting 1st place, but had lots on interest in the Kona slot.  The miles kept going by and Heather was not gaining on me...ugh!  By mile 12, the dehydration from the bike caused my gut to start wreaking havoc.  I started running porta potty to porta potty, and the dehydration worsened as a result.  I was passed by another young gal and switched to the "3rd place female" bike escort until mile 18 when Heather finally caught and passed me while I was in a porta potty : ).  In the out-and-back section, Heather looked like she was flying and I was starting to get dizzy.  By mile 20, the dizziness was really strong and I had to walk for a solid 5 miles before it subsided enough to run again.  After getting passed by Stacia (2nd place in my AG), who was super awesome and checked in with me to make sure I was okay, I rallied for the final 1.5 miles downhill to get to the line in 3rd.

A concerned John Lawyer during my dizzy walk sufferfest!

That was one of my toughest Ironman runs, as I have never gone through that level of dizziness with so many miles left to go.  That said, I think the Boulder Ironman course ranks among one of my all time favorites.  Between the amazing volunteers, the support of friends and family, the perfect course, and the general feeling all day long, it's definitely one I will do again in the future!

Thanks to everyone who screamed for all of us crazy athletes on the course, to my wonderful husband Dean who shares my passion for Ironman, and to the volunteers and friends all over the course!  What a great (and painful) day!!  Next up....Kona....baby!!!