Disclaimer: This was written for my triathlon team and has a lot of jargon and insider information. But it took my two hours to write and post there and I don;t have the energy to edit this for the masses. Hope you enjoy reading!
And.... I can't make it not warp around, so I know it's a bit hard to read. Sorry about that!
Background: I have been doing triathlon about 6 years- several sprint/Olys, 4 Halfs and a 100 miler last October. That’s what convinced me I could do a full. I’ve also done 4 marathons and I don’t really like them. I am usually about a middle of the packer, and was hoping to get faster through EN. I joined around the Feb OS this year.
I followed my plan faithfully. I know people find that hard to believe, but I did all my distances and my camps and rarely missed a workout, except for swimming. On Fridays, I only have time for a swim or a run, not both. And since running is my main weakness, I did not make most of my Friday swims. Over the course of the season, my bike went from averaging about 15mph for a 60 mile ride to about 16-16.4. I was able to hold a 12 min mile for 17 miles and that is an improvement for me. My vDOT went up two points over the season. The one thing that never came along was my swim. My initial 1000m TT was 2:21/100m and so was my last one! Even though I did all those damn sprints!! Even the 20x100 easy/hard for crying out loud! Oh well. For the long runs, since I am a 12:00/mile runner, I did longer long runs than prescribed. My longest under the plan would have been 15 miles, the longest I did was 17 miles. I ran out of time to do the 19 miler I had planned. I predicted about a 15 hr finish and I was prepared for it to be a long, painful day. It was just a matter of how much it was going to hurt. My longest event ever was a climb up Mt Fuji from base to summit and back down that was 17 hours. I figured this would be less than that. Towards the end of training, I never had any doubt that I would be a able to finish- it was just a matter of how much it would hurt. And I’m not a big fan of pain. I’ve been told that to be a great endurance athlete, you have to have the ability to suffer. I HAVE the ability, I just don’t WANT TO! I do this for fun- duh! That completely explains why I’m not just a bit faster than I am.
Week before the race: Plan was to fly to NC on Wed (for Sat race). The DAY AFTER I booked plane tickets, I got notified I had to be in DC for work that week. Good news is that now work is paying my air fare for my race. Bad news is my week is completely jacked up. I got no swims in at all that week before the race. I rode my bike once in Leesburg, VA and almost died- for real. I ran. And I trusted my training. Arrived to town on Thursday after leaving my work meeting a half day early. Went to athlete check in and picked up my FIVE gear bags, browsed the expo and got a sweet deal on a tri bag that I didn’t need for this race and a nice shirt. Went to dinner with the team- Great to meet you guys! Friday I packed up and dropped off the bags and the bike. B2B is extremely well organized. There were no lines and everyone was knowledgeable. Went to dinner that night with a friend who happened to be doing her first HIM at this race and was in bed by 9PM with my usual pre-race Ambien. I never get tired that early, so drugs is the only way I sleep at that hour.
About the course (plagiarized from Ralph): The race is set up with a split transition. The swim is in the channel behind Wrightsville Beach and runs with the tide. It is a mass start from the south end of the island and travels down the channel to the marina where you get out on the floating dock with ladders and run across the street to T1. The T1 area is a large grassy area with changing tents. The T2 area downtown in the convention center. Mandatory Bike check-in is on Friday for the race on Sat. The Bike course leaves the beach and makes a big loop to the north of town coming back into downtown. Aid stations every 18-20 miles or so. The run course leaves the convention center and goes through downtown Wilmington for a double down and back layout to end at the finish downtown. Run aid stations every mile.
The race sports drink on course was Heed. I had disasters with Heed twice before in races, but I figured I’d give it a shot in training- no go. It gives me gas and makes me bloat. So my plan was to use all my own nutrition on both the bike and the run. Had to carry it all but didn’t stop at any bike aid stations.
I was up at 0415, ate my banana, bagel with PB&J, and drank Gatoraid. This is my usual long course pre race meal and was practiced in training. PB&J is what I eat before all long workouts. Sipped Gatorade all morning, Ate a gel about 20 min before the swim. This is a wetsuit mandatory swim because it is usually very cold. But this day was perfect- 72 degrees in the water. I’m not really sure where I was in the swim line up. I think in the middle of the middle. My swim is usually average and I am fearless in the water, so I don’t care about thrashers. I went out calm and steady, looking for clear water. The buoys were kind of far apart, so I tried to follow swimmers. I kept a good pace and kept a bit in reserve for when I needed it a few times to get away from people. Before I knew it, the swim was over- my pool 2.4miles is 90 min. I did this one in 56 min!!! Holy cow! They say a Doritos bag will make it before the cut off, but I didn’t expect it to be that fast! And there were a ton of bikes still in transition. It turns out that a man had chest pains in the water and he later died. Thankfully, I didn’t hear about that until the race was over.
Transition was 9 min- it’s a long run. The wetsuit strippers were great and I took the time to go through the showers. In transition, I ate a gel, drank about 6 oz of gatorade and put on sunscreen. I wore my tri shorts and a jog bra under my wetsuit, so I put on my tri top, arm warmers and socks. Remember- it was cold- about 50 degrees. I had bought a throw away shirt and gloves for the first part of the bike. I really really hate to be cold. That will sap my morale faster than pain.
The bike course is flat with mostly good roads and nice scenery. There is pretty long section on the highway, but I train on a highway, that was fine by me. My most important criteria is good road surface I don’t care about cars. The bike felt great- except my power meter would never start. Which I got SPECIFICALLY FOR THIS RACE!!!! GRRR!!!! And I lost a bottle on the metal grating of the bridge, so I had to stop for that. Right next to an ambulance tending someone. This is a good time to point out that I read every single article in the wiki on Race Execution. And underlined them. And made notes and re-read them. I watched, read and memorized the Four Keys. I had a FOUR PAGE race plan that included contingencies. I knew what was a big deal and what wasn’t. I was mentally prepared for this! I knew that power meter dying is no big deal- I had also trained by HR and RPE along with power zones- just in case (I’m on my fourth piece of crap Stages meter, so I knew there was a chance it would die at its most important moment). I also knew that losing a bottle is a very big deal. Especially since I was carrying all my own nutrition. I drank 1/4 bottle of Roctane and ate 1/4 of a Honey Stinger waffle every fifteen minutes on the bike. Which is EXACTLY what I did in training. Goal was to pee two-three times. I peed every 45-60 min. ALL. DAY. LONG. They were quick stops because I would just jump off behind a bush- no waiting in porta potty lines for me! But they still took their toll. At BSN, an awesome volunteer asked what I needed- I asked her to put a baggie of Roctane in each of my four bottles and fill with water while I peed. Then I filled my X-lab pouch with waffles, stripped off my extra shirt and tossed my gloves and off I went. Maybe 3 min max. Then more peeing and more riding. At mile 90 I started to get a small cramp in my guts. Wiki says when this happens, slow down. So I slowed from HR in 2.5-2.9 zone to 1.8-2.4. It never got better, I just got slower. Ended up with a 15.4mph/7:20 bike. Not what I knew I could do, but I kept repeating there is no such thing as a great bike followed by a terrible run. I kept repeating that mantra over and over.
T2 was 7 min. Another gel, another 6 oz of Gatorade. More sunscreen. I prob should have cut way back on the fluids by now! BUt I just remember the coaches harping on how much fluid you have to take in. And I know that my 1 bottle per hour in training would leave me about 2 pounds down on a long ride...so I drank in transition.
Now for the run. Yikes. This is the part of was so nervous about. I started out slow- I gave the Coaches their three minutes. As I’m seeing people pass me, I kept repeating, “Coaches, I’m giving you your three minutes- you better make my day!” I felt great!!! The run is two times out and back and the first back is longer than the second back. At around mile 9 on the first back, I hear my name. I look over and there is my friend, Elizabeth, who lives two hrs away and said she “might” come for the finish! HOLY COW!!!! It was such a boost to see her! She totally made my whole night. I had not seen my husband since he dropped me off in the morning and I knew I wouldn’t see him until the finish line. He’s not really into this stuff. But seeing her was awesome. My stomach was still having some annoying cramps, but I continued to eat a gel every two miles, sip a mouthful of concentrated Roctane every mile and drink 3 oz water every mile. Because that’s how I trained and did all my other marathons. And I peed every 3-4 miles. I could have gone longer, but I have an old lady bladder and I run in the middle of nowhere, stopping whenever I feel like it, so it is not used to running full. RSN was fun. One again, fantastic volunteers refilled my Roctane Fuelbelt bottles. I stopped right before I took off again and screamed at the top of my lungs and danced around- “In 13 miles, I’m going to be an IRONMAN!!!!” They thought I was nuts.
The gut pains kept getting worse and worse. I tried slowing down. No joy. I had told myself and I actually talked out loud to the Line and told it that it wasn’t allowed to get to me until mile 20. No Line until mile 20. Then the suck can come. I kept saying that. The Line did not listen. At mile 17, I couldn’t keep running. I was almost doubled over in stomach pain. I was actually worried it was something awful. I was doing the same nutrition I had done a jillion times in the past and I felt like I was dying. I’m a doctor and I know of this thing called ichemic bowel. It’s when the blood flow doesn’t get to your bowel and the bowel dies. I have SEEN PEOPLE DIE FROM THIS. I also know that people have gotten this during Iron distance racing and ended up in the hospital. Well, I thought, they might haul me off in an ambulance, but I’m not quitting. So I walked 100 steps and ran 500 steps. And that seemed to help. At about mile 19, I stopped eating gels/drinking water and switched over to just Roctane and added chicken broth. That seemed to help a lot. Walk 100/run500. A few times, I got up to running 1200-1500 steps. I knew then (and once I started to pass a little gas) that I wasn’t going to die. My legs did not start to give me trouble until about mile 22-23. By then I knew I was almost done. I kept saying to myself and to volunteers- “In xx minutes, I’m going to be an Ironman!” Except for the gut pains, this was the best marathon I ever ran! Not the fastest (my PR is 5:15, 6 yrs ago), but the best my legs ever felt. Run was 6:04. Except for the stomach, I still had some gas left in the tank and really did feel good at the end. I passed plenty of walkers, though. That’s a good feeling!
About a mile out, I got ready for my big finish. Put the glow stick behind me, zip up top, straighten top and number. Smooth hair back. Practice big smile. The cheering crowds were crazy! Then I saw it- the finish shoot! I was so happy! I was still hollering at people over the last mile that I was going to be an Ironman. When I got to the finish, I put my arms up and crossed that finish line and it was an amazing feeling. And my husband and Elizabeth were there. And it was great. I got my gigantic medal, and pajama bottoms! Walked around a bit; was sore but not miserable. Ate a bit. Drank a bit. But interestingly, I had no interest in the free beer. Crazy! That’s what usually keeps me going at the end of a long race. Took some pictures. Talked to some people. One guy had fallen on the run and had refused a trip to the hospital- finished with a fat bloody bandage on his head 2nd in AG. I was not that good! My total time was 14:37:00. Faster than I expected, but not what I was hoping for when I started training. Nevermind- I am an Ironman and I learned a lot and that is a stupid way to think. I was 99/135 overall women and 16/21 in AG (45-49). I can live with that.
Thankfully, I had remembered how hungry I was after my 100 miler. I asked the hubs to make sure I had food- there were 2 muffins and 2 bananas in the room. We got to the hotel about midnight, I read though all my FB messages and replied to texts from throughout the day and finally turned lights out at 0200. By 0630, all my food was gone and I was starving again. I went and ate a good sized hotel breakfast and saw a few other athletes there as well. I went back to bed at about 0715, then woke up at 0930 starving again. We had plans for IHOP with Elizabeth at 1000 and I ate another giant breakfast. I had been dreaming of IHOP for two months. It was soooooo good. I laid around the rest of the day, saw a movie and then Jack took me to Ruth’s Chris for dinner. I had champagne, wine, steak, and chocolate cake and a chocolate martini for dessert.
I really learned a lot training and racing this event. I’m not sure if I will ever have the time to do another before I retire. 20 hour weeks were the norm. Camp week was 25hrs. That’s a part time job on top of my regular 55-60hr a week job. Thank goodness I have a wonderful who husband who has few needs and doesn’t demand a lot of “quality time”. As long as I keep him happy, he lets me do whatever I want. I had a friend to do the last half of 6 hr bikes with me. Who knows? For now, I will stick with Halves and Centuries. I am an Ironman. That was my One Thing. For real. I just wanted to be able to join the club and say that for the rest of my life. And I’m getting my tattoo!
