IRONMAN HAWAII 2017 RACE REPORT

Well….it finally happened!  Since 2002 when I snagged the victory at IM Hawaii as a 30-34 year-old in my 3^rd IM Hawaii, I have been trying and trying to get to that spot again.  It has eluded me until now and I had come “oh so close” on more than one occasion!   Well…here is how the day unfolded…

The swim was a somewhat brutal hit-fest with a lot of aggressive women fighting for feet, but fortunately there was no blood or wounds involved!  I had to readjust goggles on 3 occasions and exited the water with blurry vision from the stinging salt water in my eyes the whole way.  All in all, I was happy with the swim and ready to get on to my favorite discipline, the bike.

I’ll start by acknowledging the amazing volunteers in the change tents for both T1 and T2….nothing short of spectacular!  Getting rolling on the bike, I always take it easy those first miles through town and up the Kuakini Hwy.  I also get the opportunity to see my wonderful hubby, Dean, my daughter Mikayla and my brother, Vince twice in those first few miles which gives me a real boost.  I watched tons of women fly by me up the Kuakini Hwy and figured I would see most of them later, which I did!  Once getting up onto the Queen K, I got into my groove and started my race.  On that day, something didn’t feel right in my legs.  They felt incredibly flat and I would look at my power meter and it was reading power values that were way under what I would expect based on feel.  I have been riding with power for 16 years now, so I have a pretty good feeling about how many watts I am pushing.  I had a goal to hold 185W for the bike, but the power meter was reading in the low 160’s with my legs kind of suffering.  I figured the calibration was off, so on the next downhill, I did an on-the-fly calibration by spinning the crank backwards, but the numbers didn’t change.  Oh well, I thought…I am just going to go by feel, so that’s what I did.  My legs felt a bit better as the ride progressed, but the numbers didn’t ever seem to be right.  Madame Pele was kind to us with the winds on race day, but not so kind with the scorching sun on the cloudless day.  On the descent from Hawi it was a little scary for a bit as I was nearing 40 mph and those crosswind gusts would hit, but I just envisioned Natasha Badmann who always stayed aero in wicked crosswinds.  A nice little bee also decided to sting me on my left quadriceps as I was descending at high speed from Hawi.  That was fun trying to get the darn stinger out while flying down the hill!  I made it through Kawaihai and on to Waikaloa where I knew I had to put the hammer down for the final 20 miles.  I ramped it up a bit, ignoring the power meter and got to T2 with some very stiff legs.  So just today, my husband discovered what probably caused my low power numbers.  He pulled my pedals out of the bag (Speedplay Zeros) and they are literally welded by rust and do not spin AT ALL on the spindle.  My guess is the rain the night before the race wreaked havoc with the lubrication of the pedal spindle.  I think the pedals are quite old and I am not so certain I have ever had them serviced!  Live and learn!!  I’m pretty ecstatic that I had a bike split only 40 seconds off the leader with the extra 20 watts of resistance!!  It did make for a challenging marathon however!  It does crack me up how hard it is to try to run in T2…I always feel like a little old lady that can barely move.  Somehow though, a marathon comes out of those legs a few minutes later. 

Again….the volunteers in the tent rock!  I said “can I have some sunscreen?” and the lady with the sunscreen ran over and smeared it over every exposed part of my skin as fast as she could.  How’s that for service?  Off I went on the marathon, feeling not so spry, but getting it done.  I was happy to hold a 9-minute mile pace for a while including some nice lounging stops at every aid station.  I just took the marathon 1 aid station to the next and tried not to think about what was beyond that.  It was great seeing my support crew again on the course cheering for me even though I’m sure they couldn’t tell I was happy to see them (due to the suffering factor!).  Now here is the good news….my feet were happy and my gut was happy.  When I have those two things going for me I just tell myself, “No excuses!!”  The other approach I took this year was ignoring my competition on the course.  I did not want to know what position I was in nor did I want to know where my competition was.  I wanted to just run my own race and do the best that I could.  That tactic was golden.  I told my husband, when I get to 3 miles to go, you can tell me what place I am in!  I think it was killing him because he knew I was in 2^nd for the majority of the marathon but he couldn’t tell me!  It turns out the leader (9-time age-group winner, Lisbeth Kenyon) had an 8:30 lead on me coming out of the energy lab with 10K left to go.  Normally that would be insurmountable, but Lisbeth was suffering from heat stroke and was not moving very fast.  By the time I hit the top of Palani I knew I was very close to her and let it rip on the Palani descent.  I passed her right at the corner at the bottom of the hill and tried to give her some encouragement to get to the line as she and I have raced together many times and have tremendous respect for one another.  I cruised in to the finish and enjoyed every minute of the crowds and encouragement on Ali’i Drive!  It was truly magical!  I even attempted a jump at the line to duplicate my 2002 finish line picture and it’s pretty darn close! 

Photo credit: Wagner Arujo

What a day!  I have to again thank my rock and the love of my life, Dean, for all of his support!

TRAINING AND INJURY PREVENTION FOR THE MASTER'S ATHLETE

I have been longing to share some of my personal perspectives on training for the masters athlete for quite some time, but sometimes it’s just hard to find the time! Well…with the New Year getting rolling, I have finally found the time.

First…note the photo of two great friends and highly successful, multi-time masters+ world champions at Oly distance to Ironman, Cherie Gruenfeld and Ellen Hart. I am also no spring chicken, entering the 50-54 age group this year, I am definitely recognizing the differences between training at the age of 30 and now at the age of 50. As a perennial Kona competitor striving to get faster and faster with age, I go through a tremendous amount of experimentation to make myself a better athlete. Some “Ah hah! moments are what I wish to share with the SmartTriathlonTraining athletes.

One thing that has become extremely apparent to me as a masters athlete is that success in triathlon is all about recovery, recovery, recovery! How I accomplish that is primarily with incorporating good nutrition, supplements and recovery modalities that I know work for me. In addition to those staples, it’s important for the masters athlete to take a bit longer to recover from key workouts, to prioritize good sleep in both quality and quantity, to shorten the running mileage a tad from the earlier years, and to consider the role of shoes and cushioning in running recovery. For me, the discovery of Hoka One One shoes made a world of difference in my ability to withstand longer and more frequent run training, and even to recover from an episode of plantar fasciitis induced by long hours at work in flat, unsupportive shoes. Now, the cushioned, minimal drop shoe is en vogue and is made by just about every major shoe brand. I know from experience that Hokas do not work for everyone, so find that perfect shoe that works for you and absorbs enough impact to reduce trauma to the body. Of course, good sleep is also key for recovery and stage III (deep or slow wave) sleep is when most of the beneficial effects of physiologic HGH release occurs to help repair and restore the muscles.

Nutrition and supplements: It’s no secret that nutrition is an essential component of recovery. I

discovered a few years back that a magical meal consisting of a very sweet, very high calorie margarita combined with unlimited chips and salsa followed by some delicious chicken enchiladas with rice and beans was the only way for me to get in enough calories after a 6-hour Ironman training day to prepare me for my long run the next day! Now I am not advocating margaritas on your big training days by any means, but this particular margarita no doubt caused a substantial insulin spike that set me up to replenish my glycogen with all of the food that followed. The take home message here is, a bit of insulin from high glycemic foods after a monster day is not a bad thing, followed by plenty of calories with high quality protein included. Do not skimp on the protein! On that note, my absolute favorite supplement for recovery is a combination of branch chain amino acids and glutamine. The version I use is called “Platinum Power” but you can find BCAA’s and glutamine in any health or grocery store. This particular supplement has helped my recovery more than any other food or protein powder. The other key supplement I like to include, especially in the winter months is vitamin D. You can never go wrong with vitamin D! We bundle up enough in the winter that we are lacking in the sun exposure we need to create our own vitamin D, so a little supplementation is a good thing!

Recovery modalities: The most cost effective recovery modality I use is the basic foam roller. In fact, I will sometimes use it as a method to warm up and activate my muscles before a session. I have also integrated the use of a super roller called the hyperice vyper massager that uses both pressure and vibration to get results. It’s almost as good as a visit to the massage therapist. Speaking of massage, I feel that regular massage is integral to maintaining healthy tissues in any athlete. It can be a bit pricey, but 2 massages per month is a requirement for me during peak training and I have been known to go weekly if I can pull it off with my on call schedule. A good therapist will find your problems before you even know they exist! My other two favorite muscle recovery modalities that will unfortunately cost you a few bucks are electrical muscle stimulation (e.g. Compex) and compression boots (e.g. Normatec). I have been using electrical muscle stimulation for over a year now in the recovery mode (and occasionally in the strength mode…but be prepared to get sore!), and it has without a doubt improved my quadriceps and hamstring recovery from long or intense training days, allowing me to put in a quality effort the next day. Although I do not own a set of compression boots, I have tried them and also feel they likely can make a significant impact on recovery of your legs after races or hard training efforts. If you have the financial means, investing in one or more of these gadgets may prove rewarding for your recovery and overall race performance.

Last but not least, I am a huge believer in strength training for the masters athlete. Injuries of the calves and hamstrings seem to be extremely common in the older athlete; so specific attention to those muscles as well as the glutes is key for injury prevention. Regular stretching as well as strengthening seem to help me the most with keeping the posterior muscles happy. I have even adopted doing a set or two of calf raises after almost every run, just to stay on top of my calf strength. A good and gradual warmup prior to every workout session with some muscle activation techniques is also recommended.

In good health…Diana