I am officially an Ironman.
So, on Saturday, the day before the race you had to go in and drop off all of your stuff. This included your bike, your transition bags and special needs bags (if you used them). Each bag went to a separate room, from this room you would go to a changing tent, or in this case a room.
Race day:
Sunday I woke up at about 450am to eat some oatmeal before the race. I also had one of those good bagels from Panera, the Cinnamon crunch one. We drove to the site where they had a bus to transport us to the race. However, little did we know they dropped us off like a mile from the start, ugh. I got to the place changed into my wetsuit and headed down the helix to the water.
While in line to get into the water for the swim, I was wondering where all the females were, all I could see were blue caps (guys) with a few pink caps here and there. Not good I was thinking since I am not a fast swimmer and guys would just run me over! I got into the water and placed myself in the middle and waited for the cannon.
The swim started and it was a battle the entire time. I was getting elbowed in the head, I got kicked in the goggles (luckily straight on so I didn't lose the goggles) and it was horrible. I tried to swim on some people's feet but the people I choose didn't seem to know how to site buoys because everytime I looked up they had swam off course. The turns around the ends of the rectangle were horrible because everyone had to stop on the turn and get around the turn, it was like a 100 person pile-up. I swam the first loop in 34min. I was shocked! It must have been because I was trying to swim to get away from people! I finished the swim in 1hr 13min. My fastest swim ever.
After the swim you had to run up the helix (4 stories) and then go into the changing room. A lot of people were in the room so I didn't have anyone helping me to change and I wasn't about to wait. I changed into a longsleeve jersey, and put bike shorts on over my tri shorts. Once I got out, they direct you about another 50 yards to your bike. Which they have already taken out of the rack and are waiting for you. Transition times are slow...I think for everyone.
I headed out onto the bike with the intention of settling my heart rate down and getting ready to eat. However, there were some hills (not huge) at the beginning of the bike which wouldn't allow my hr to settle down. I wasn't sure if I should start eating or just wait. I waited a bit. I carried a drinkable yogurt and started with some of this. After I got out the 14 miles where the loops began, the hills also began. These hills were about 40 yard hills but went straight up. No momentum would work to carry you up the hills. There was also one long windy hill right before one of the biggest hills. The upside was that people lined the bigger hills to help you make it up. On my first loop I was in the wrong gear most of the time thinking that I could make it up the hills without being in my small chain, no such luck. On one of the bigger hills my chain fell off. I barely caught myself since I had no speed and got off my bike and fixed my chain. Then I had a hard time making it back up the hill.
The second loop was better because I knew what to expect and so I was downshifting before I reached the hills. I would say there were about 8 big hills. I ate cookies and my yogurt and picked up water, gatorade and bananas at the aid stations. There were thousands of people in one of the towns where the race actually bused people out to watch the bike.
Onto the run. After a transition, where the lady helped change my orthotics into my shoes for me (this was nice to not have to do) and someone put sunscreen on me, I was out the door.
The first 3 miles I ran too fast, my legs were surprisingly feeling good. I ran the first 3 in about 8 min miles, not good since I had so many miles left. At about the 6 mile marker a girl caught up with me and ran pretty much the rest of the run with me. She was a lifesaver. Anytime I felt like walking (which wasn't too much slower than my run) you didn't want to do that because you were running with someone else. I told her she could run ahead if she wanted but she said I was the only thing keeping her from walking (besides us walking the aid stations and the two big hills) and I told her that's good because you are the reason I am still running. After the first loop I pretended that I was "just" running a half-marathon and that it wouldn't be that long. My ankles were definitely hurting. What I would say is that when you are doing the run portion you just have to get through it. That's the best way I can explain it. With about 6 miles left in the run I started thinking I want to walk now..but I kept saying to myself "you ran 20 miles you can't wimp out and walk 6". I thought this all the way down till the end.
The spectators were great and there were sooo many! There were also a lot of volunteers that were out there trying to make it better as well.
I finished in 12:37. My watch said that throughout the whole race we ascended 6,240 feet!
I would definitely do one again, it's more of a lesson in pain management and strong mind control, not allowing the pain to get to you. On the bike I had the funny saying of "sometimes your ahead, sometimes your behind, but in the end the race is long and it is only with yourself". I thought this because it seemed I was around the same people a lot on the bike passing them, getting passed and I kept thinking it's not about racing and it's about doing your "own" plan.
Now some time off to let my legs recover and then hopefully I can find a coach that can help me do even better!
