Saturday, March 15th: the night before the March Madness 1/2 marathon. Also, the day that the formerly forgotten idea of the Olympic Trials would pop back into my head.
Growing up as the daughter of two Boston Qualifying marathon runners, the idea of the Olympics was always in my head as I was passionate about running since I entered my first race in Kindergarten. Granted, up until probably college I had no real concept of what qualifying for the Olympic Trials even meant. I just knew that it would be cool to have enough talent to get to compete with the girls that would be representing our country at the Olympics.
Then, I actually started running in college, had two full-blown stress fractures (the first stress fracture was almost a broken bone) and multiple stress reactions. It wasn't until my now-husband started coaching me, once I "retired" from collegiate running, that the dreams of the Olympic Trials even came back to mind.
The 2009 Chicago Marathon was the first marathon where I broke the 3-hour barrier. Ironically enough, it was with the littlest amount of support I've ever had at a race. Ryan was competing in his own race in Dallas, my parents were with my sister on a college visit, and my brother was a college kid recovering from a night out (though he did run a little to keep me motivated!). It was after this race that my first post-college, non-husband coach said to me that I should attempt to qualify for the Trials.
While the thought was entertaining, I didn't actually start working with Coach Cari for quite some time after our conversation. By then, looking back on it, it was too late to get me ready for the Trials. The 2012 "B" standard was a 2:46:59. This is 6:22 pace for a marathon...yet 10 minutes faster than what I had run at Chicago 2009. After a few months of deciding what to do, I met with Coach Cari and we came up with my plan.
The 2011 Milwaukee Marathon, where I would have little pressure since it is a week prior to Chicago, would be my attempt. I had a lot of good workouts going into the marathon. Shoot, even the first ten miles into the marathon were really freaking awesome and I felt fresh and confident. And then my hips felt "paralyzed." That's the only way I can describe it. I saw my mom and brother on course and told them, and they just looked at me, wondering what they were supposed to do to help my situation out. Long story short, I partially tore my hamstring. Luckily, Cari was good friends with a Physical Therapist named Earl who helped repair me in no time (RMS Physical Therapy) and I signed up for the California International Marathon....along with a bunch of other girls trying to get that OTQ.
Strangely enough, those first ten miles felt awesome. Mile 11 has a HUGE downhill. Unfortunately for me, that huge downhill triggered my hamstring and I made the decision to pull out of the marathon at mile 13. Ryan was there with our rental car and comforted me, and talked me out of wanting to go back into the race. There were also a few former OTQ girls who reassured me I was doing the right thing, that I was young and could attempt for many other years, that I needed to be smart now.
After Ryan and I qualified for Kona, I told Coach Cari I still wanted that OTQ and that after Kona, we needed to get right back at my running attempt. Well, after Kona happened, I decided I kind of liked this Ironman stuff and signed up for IM Cabo, again pushing those OTQ dreams aside.
And then March Madness happened.
And then IM Cabo, specifically the marathon within the Ironman, happened.
The night before March Madness, I had been texting back and forth with local triathlete Jen Harrison. She and I had talked many times about my quest for Kona, my OTQ dreams, what I should focus on, etc. The night before March Madness, she reminded me that the window for running is much shorter than the window for triathlon (specifically Kona qualifying).
After running a 1:22 feeling strong and having no post-race soreness, I decided to contact a running coach who worked with Jen and is well-known in the running community: Dave Walters. I told him that I wanted to talk with him if things went well in Cabo, but not until after the race as I was 100% focused on Kona qualifying first.
One of the first emails I had after my race in Cabo was from Dave, simply titled "WOW." He told me he was ready to talk when I was, but that running a 3:10 after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112 miles should definitely tell me something about my running potential.
Reasons I had pushed aside the OTQ dream:
-love of Ironman: I really enjoyed these races, and felt that Kona was kind of like the OTQ experience but for triathlon in a sense.
-potential triathlon suffering: my bike has improved a lot over the past two years of actually focusing on triathlon, and I didn't want to lose that. The swim has slightly improved, but the bike is what makes a bigger difference so I was concerned about losing that fitness.
-disappointing my teammates: as part of the EGO p/b Sammy's Bikes racing team, I had signed up for Leon's Triathlon in the Team division. EGO p/b Sammy's is our sponsor and have given us so much, I didn't want to disappoint anyone by not racing Leon's. Turns out, Dave is friends with Sammy and they had a good talk about me pushing Leon's aside to focus on a potential OTQ.
-risk of not qualifying: what if I put in all this time toward just running and then didn't even qualify?
-risk of injury: running post-high school was miserable with consistently being injured. Ryan introducing me to triathlon training (as cross training) kept me injury free until I focused on my 2012 semi-attempt at the Trials.
-fear of the unknown: we all have this. No one knows if I am in good enough shape or could get into good enough shape to qualify for the Trials. With the much lower standard of 2:42:59 (that's a blazing 6:12.9 pace!), I'd have to shave 10 minutes off of my personal best.
Reasons I decided to commit and attempt the OTQ dream:
-potential: so many people have commented that if I can run a 3:10 off the bike of an Ironman, my potential has got to be big in terms of running. With the 2013 year being full of PRs in every distance but the marathon (by default: I didn't run a marathon in 2013 except for in my Ironman), why not see what my potential is?
-belief: Coach Dave has mentioned to me multiple times that he has watched my running from afar and noticed my potential. While we have a limited amount of time to make this attempt happen, he believes in me and the workouts he is having me do and believes I can get there
-support: I know that I need the positive mindsets of others around me and the support to keep me going and help me out so that I can get the proper sleep, nutrition, recovery, etc., and I am lucky enough to have that in my life
How I'll get there:
The first step was meeting with Coach Dave. I did this on Saturday and we ran 3x2miles in Busse Woods. He gave me a bunch of articles that I think will really help me stay focused on what it will take to make this happen. It was also incredible to run not only with my coach, but to have him pushing me while we were running the workout. Did I mention that Dave is one of the best Masters runners, like in the NATION? Yep, that's my coach. So to have that knowledge and talent working with me is huge in my mind.
There are a few things that I desperately need to change in my life if I am going to make this a realistic attempt. Not all will be easy changes, but they are all necessary.
The Little Things:
-Over racing: One of the first things Dave and I discussed was my over-racing. While I never ended up injured from racing so much, he was 100% correct in stating that the amount of racing I am doing is not the best if I want to have really phenomenal key races. Between now and my OTQ attempt, I only have two races on the agenda...which normally would kill me, but I know it's important so that come OTQ attempt time, I am fresh and ready to perform.
-Nutrition: Here's the second hardest piece of the puzzle. Ryan and I used MyFitnessPal (app) to track our calories and make sure we were eating enough, but not too much, while Ironman training. We did a pretty good job of this, but with my focus on just running now, the calorie intake will be decreased significantly as I will not be putting in as many hours of training. This will be challenging since I have been used to my "Ironman diet" for awhile. I also plan on eating better foods for me. As much as I LOVE carbs, specifically crackers and the likes, the calories could be better used from other sources. I've been reading blogs of some elite female marathoners and plan to use some of their nutrition ideas since many of them are going through what I am, and most of them are going through it at an even more intense level. Basically, I want the food that I am putting into my body to aid in fueling me and in recovering my body.
-Sleep: my biggest issue. I am 100% my mother's daughter and "burn the candle at both ends." Since I'm a morning person, I like to do my workouts before school...partly too because it's hard to predict what will happen after school, so I'd rather have my workouts done so I don't have to stress. I usually wake up at 4:xx, workout, shower, drive my 45-60min to school, teach 7a-3p, current coach track until 4:45 on non-meet days (usually 7pm on meet days), and then head home to do grad school or real school work. Every Tuesday I head to Life Time to lead the Run program and rarely get home from that before 9pm. By the time I'm actually in bed, it's usually past 10pm. 6ish hours of sleep is NOT conducive to allowing my body to fully recover and repair. To "fix" this issue, I have my alarm set for 8:30pm so that I drop whatever I'm doing and get ready for bed so that I'm in bed by 9, hopefully asleep by 9:15.
-Massage/Foam Roll/Stick: Every other week, I'd go see Dave Davis for massages during my Ironman training. Now that I'll be hitting higher mileage, I plan on seeing him weekly to really flush my legs and help them recover. Coach Dave is also very adamant about foam rolling and using The Stick often...so much so that I brought our spare one to school and use that when I can!
The Next Chapter:
After all these details, you're probably wondering what this will all lead up to.
The answer: Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, MN on Saturday, June 21st.
Today was the first test as to how committed I am to this goal. Not only did I pass up participating in the Life Time Fitness Indoor Triathlon Championships, but I also passed up on pancakes at breakfast. Former Jacqui would have thought nothing of competing in the Tri or eating the pancakes, but OTQ-mindset Jacqui knows both of those things could have negative effects with training for Grandma's and are simply not worth it. I did have some explaining to do about my choice for not participating, and the people I told this whole story to have been truly beyond supportive. To hear people say that they have thought I had this potential truly just blows my mind and makes me so happy. I am so lucky to have such incredible people in my life that support me and believe in me, even more than I do myself.
While this is a huge change in my life, I will be going back to triathlon training (for Kona) after Grandma's is over. Whether I qualify or not, I am extremely excited about this opportunity and hope to recap the journey here. Thank you to all who have supported me thus far, and I am ready to make you proud in June!
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Thursday, April 10, 2014
We're goin' back to Kona! Ironman Los Cabos 2014
Ironman Los Cabos Race Recap
I should probably warn you. This is a pretty long recap. Here's a cliff notes version for those just lookin' for the pictures;)
Stats:
Swim—1:10:22 (1:48/100m)
T1—3:26 (0.25mile beach run to transition)
Bike—5:41:40 (19.67mph)
T2—2:37 (bathroom break included)
Run—3:10:27 (7:17 pace)
Overall—10:08:45. 65th finisher overall, 2nd overall
amateur female, 2nd female 25-29
11+ minutes cut off of my debut Ironman time in Kona
Both Ryan and I qualified for Kona!
Cliff notes
version:
-Went out on Thursday, March 27 to have a few open water
swims and outdoor rides out of the way to be confident come race day.
-Went to three of our favorite restaurants from our
honeymoon in 2013 (Pancho’s, Mi Casa and The Office)
-Finished 2nd place overall female amateur
-Ran the 2nd fastest female run split (3:02 run
by the 2nd place pro) and
overall amateur run split (male ran a 3:06)
-Finished in 10:08:45 for an 11+ minute improvement from
Kona (10:20:04)
-Ryan was the 5th overall amateur, automatically
securing his Kona slot and placing 2nd in his 30-34 age group as a
29-year-old
-Ryan had the fastest bike split out of all males (beating
some of the pros as well!)
-WE’RE GOING BACK TO KONA!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why Ironman Los
Cabos?
Ironman Los Cabos was a truly memorable race, for many
reasons. March 2013 is when Ryan and I took our honeymoon (so that I wouldn’t
have to take days off of school), and it happened to be in Cabo San Lucas.
Since we were training for Kona at the time, we had our runs to do still (swims
and bikes were modified). We were staying at my uncle’s timeshare in Dreams Los
Cabos, which is right off of Highway 1. Since it was so nice out, we naturally
did our runs outside. While running on our second day of our honeymoon, I
noticed a gel wrapper on the ground and mentioned it to Ryan. He told me that
the Ironman was the weekend before we arrived for our honeymoon, which prompted
me to semi-jokingly tell him we should take honeymoon parte dos and come back
and do the Ironman in 2014. Well, after having such a great time in Kona, my
joke turned serious and on December 26, 2013, Ryan and I signed up for Ironman
Los Cabos.
Training in
Chicago winter??
We didn’t think too much of the training we’d endure going
into IM Cabo since we had just come off of some pretty intense training for
Kona. It wasn’t until our first 3+ hour ride that we realized we were in for a
LONG training block with the winter Chicago was having. Ryan was able to ride
his bike outside through activities such as cyclocross, but since that sport
scares me too much, the only outdoor ride I had prior to racing Ironman Cabo
was my 112 miles in Kona.
Three weeks prior to race day, I swam my fastest 50 and 100
splits during a swim workout. My swim is my weak link, which works out well for
me since it starts off the race, but to see the times I was swimming that day
boosted my confidence that this swim would be better than what I did in Kona.
Plus, we would be able to use wetsuits, which automatically helps my swim!
We also did a bike time trial three weeks out and my power
was through the roof.
Finally, two weeks out, I ran the March Madness ½ marathon.
Going into the race, I was only planning on working as hard as I needed to.
This race is one of the most meaningful road races I run as my dad’s running
group (Hillstriders) puts on the race, so it has a special place in my heart.
Not running it was not a question. I planned to run with my friend Jonathan and
just see where that would take us, as last year it had helped me to earn an
overall female win. Honestly, when I’d look at my splits, the times were not
even registering until halfway through the race when Jonathan said, “We’re on
pace to run faster than last year”…and the conditions compared to last year
were WAY worse, as in 20 degrees and 20mph winds. Yikes! Everything felt smooth
and easy, so I was not too concerned. I ran a 1:22 on arguably the toughest ½
marathon course in Illinois, and was not even sore the next day. I knew that
Monday that I was ready for Cabo.
Race week—Thursday,
March 27 (3 days out)...pre-race results preview?:
We arrived on the Thursday prior to the Sunday race. This
race fell almost perfectly in line with my Spring Break, so I did not miss
school that Thursday or Friday. Unfortunately, that meant we would only have
one real day in Cabo to fully enjoy post-race. As tempting as it was to
schedule our flights to allow us to stay longer, it is very hard to be away
from my students…both hard on me and hard on them I’d like to think.
When we arrived on Thursday, March 27, we checked to make
sure our bikes made it safely. We use these bike travel cases created by
Professional triathlete TJ Tollakson. Ryan takes apart our bikes expertly and
we fill our bike bags with our clothes (inside other bags as well so they don’t
rub against the bikes). The great thing about these bags is that we have yet to
be charged. We pay the bag fee of $50 if we are flying domestically, and
actually did not even get charged flying to Cabo since it was international and
bags fly free. Best investment we’ve made, and we both highly recommend these
bags to any triathletes out there.
After inspecting our bags, we walked out to what they call
the “shark tank.” My uncle warned us about this place when we came for our
honeymoon, so we knew what to expect. We politely turned away and ignored all
of the people coming up to us to offer taxis and fun events and the likes. As
we were coming outside with our bike bags, a guy said, “Ohhh, heyyy, there are
the winners of the Ironman.” He had no idea how motivating that comment would be
to me come race day.
Next, we grabbed the shuttle to take us to our rental car
place. While waiting for our rental van to be brought to us, the owner of the
place told Ryan, “If you win, the car is free” and agreed that the same would
go for me as well. Little did he know that, if all the stars aligned, Ryan was
capable of doing just that. After throwing our bikes into the van, we took
Highway 1 all the way down to our Penthouse suite in Mykonos (rental property).
It was AMAZING. Full kitchen, 2 bedrooms with full baths, 1 pull-out couch
(Jerry) and couch (Jason) with another full bath and half bath, a Jacuzzi,
laundry, Internet and, best of all, an incredible view.
Our bedroom...nice to wake up to every day!
Jerry's pull-out bed and bathroom.
Jacuzzi in the penthouse.
Kitchen area...useful during pre-race dinner!
Living room area
Picture from the balcony!
After unloading our bags, we went back to the airport to
pick up Jerry and Jason. This time, we took the toll road, which was part of
last year’s Ironman course. Thank goodness they changed the course…that toll
road is very challenging with long, steep inclines. We dropped off bags and
then headed to the expo. It was a pretty small expo, but it still created that
excited feeling and I began feeling confident about my race. Even though we saw
SO many people with Kona shoes, Kona clothes, etc., I felt confident in my
training and in my race plan and was ready to put it to the test.
Signs like this were everywhere in the expo.
Our backpacks!
We all came back to our place to change into lighter clothes
and headed downtown to search for one of our favorite restaurants, Pancho’s,
that we ate at on our honeymoon. 30 minutes later, we gave up on trying to find
the place and ate at Mi Casa, another one of our favorites, instead. Even
though it was only 8:00pm Cabo time when we arrived back at our place (a
15-mile drive from downtown Cabo), we were wiped and went to bed.
Enjoying some Mi Casa
Race week—Friday,
March 28 (2 days out):
On Friday morning, Ryan, Coach Bill (who was staying with
us), Jerry, Jason and I drove down to the Palmilla Resort, where the swim would
be starting. We wanted to test out our wetsuits (Ryan and I did wear them in
the pool at Life Time, but obviously that’s not the same as open water
swimming, especially in salt water). We met Bill’s friend, Meagan and her
training partner Rob, as well. As I was getting zipped into my wetsuit, Ryan
panicked. My zipper had gone off track and I was pretty much stuck in a
non-working wetsuit. I really did not want to shell out hundreds of dollars for
a wetsuit, but that seemed like it might be our only option. Luckily, after a
good ten minutes of throwing my body all over the place, Ryan and Jerry got me
out of the wetsuit and fixed the zipper.
Not so lucky: the water conditions for our swim. The buoys
marking the designated swim practice area were about half the distance of the
2.4-mile swim we’d be doing on Sunday. Bill had us swim to each buoy, meet up,
and then go off to the next. This was a nice strategy since none of us had been
in open water for quite some time. Ryan and Bill both commented on how my form
looked much better, which was encouraging since I had been working my butt off
in the pool since Kona. At one point, as we were swimming into the current, I
was pretty sure the waves were strong enough to rip the earrings out of my
ears. It was miserable, and we all talked about how bad race day would be if
the waves were how they were.
After getting out of the water, we overheard a girl (with
incredible abs, like even better than those girls in the underpants run
pictures I posted from Kona) talking to another couple. They asked her how she
was hoping to do, and she told them she wanted to win it. Spoiler alert: this girl finished the race in less than 10 hours...and just happened to be in my age group. We'll get back to this.
We left the swim to go grab breakfast quickly and we were in
for quite the treat. We ate at the Tropicana Inn, right by where the finish
line of the race would be, and it was just phenomenal. It was nice to relax and
just hang out with the group. After breakfast, we went back to Mykonos so that
we could get a quick run in prior to going to the 1:30pm athlete meeting. Ryan,
Jason, Jerry and I ran 5 miles on parts of the run course to see how “flat” it
really was. There were a few solid inclines that we all knew would be
challenging come lap three of the run on race day. The athlete meeting was
packed, but we were glad to attend (even though it was “mandatory”) since there
were a lot of good reminders given.
Ryan and I went back to Mykonos so he could build our bikes.
We went for a good 30-minute ride just to test out our bikes and make sure
shifting was working well. Mykonos is right on Highway 1 (where the bike
portion of the race is), but it’s a very busy street. Bill and Steve told us
how they were fearing for their lives during their hour long ride on Thursday,
and Ryan and I definitely felt those same feelings during our ride. Despite
having a speed limit of 75 km/hr, cars were speeding well over 100 km/hr
(60+mph), so when the shoulder of the road would disappear as it did a few
times, I found myself crossing my fingers and cursing in my head. Luckily, we
made it back just fine, and showered and got ready to head to dinner. This
time, we were determined to find Pancho’s, and we did just that.
Finally found it!
Race week—Saturday,
March 29 (1 day out):
Saturday morning, I woke up early to get a quick run in. As
any of my former coaches can attest to, I do not do well with a big taper, so
getting a good 4-5 mile run in the day before an Ironman just feels “right” to
me. Ryan and I rode another 30 minutes with Bill as well, just to get that
feeling of outdoor riding back into our legs. We all went out to breakfast at
Habenero’s, a delicious, Yelp highly-rated, restaurant right on the run course.
$10 USD for breakfast (including coffee) is pretty hard to beat!
We went back to Mykonos to pack up our transition bags (and
do some grad school, real school [teaching], and Life Time work for me!). It
was kind of a hassle to drop off our bikes since cars were not allowed down where
the swim was. We walked our bikes a good ½ mile down the long, hilly road that
led to the swim. All of us realized the same thing at about the same time: this
lovely long downhill would be greeting us as we went from swim to bike. We
dropped off our bikes and headed back to grab some groceries at the Mega (like
a Walmart).
I filled up my bike bottles with what I hoped would be my
winning combination. For Kona, we had things down to a science that had been
tested on multiple 100+ mile rides outside. Unfortunately, we did not have that
luxury this time around, so I did the math and decided to use 14 raspberry
Power Gels plus 1.5 tbsp salt plus 2 scoops of Power Bar Perform (sports
drink). I would also use 2.5 packages of gel blasts and thrown in a Power Bar
Peanut Butter and Jelly bar in case.
Ryan and I decided that we wanted to cook our own dinner the
night before the race since sometimes the stress and hassle of going out to eat
just isn’t worth it. We grabbed some nice steaks, vegetables, bread and spinach
to make a delicious dinner. Steve made a killer salad, Ryan’s dad grilled our
vegetables and filets, and I grabbed a Sol out of the frig. My pre-race
tradition of lean red meat and a beer was complete. We went to bed around 9pm,
ready and excited for the next 24 hours.
***ACTUAL RACE
RECAP BEGINS HERE***
RACE DAY: Sunday,
March 30:
When my alarm went off at 4:30am, I had no problem waking up
(probably because that’s actually 6:30am Chicago time, which is basically
sleeping in). I ate a banana and Berry Power Bar, grabbed my transition bags,
and Ryan, Bill and I headed out with Jerry. The plan was to drop us off in
front of Palmilla since we would not be allowed to drive down. The rental van
we had been driving up to this point was not very reliable and had died (but
restarted fine) a few times. Unfortunately for Jerry, the car died for good
right as we coasted into the Palmilla. Unable to do much about it, Ryan, Bill
and I left and made our way to the swim. We dropped off our run and bike
special needs bags and went to get body marked.
The numbering of this Ironman was kind of crappy. At
Eagleman and Kona, we were numbered based on our age groups, so it was pretty
clear who was competing against who. Ironman Los Cabos assigned numbers in the
order that registration was done: I was 720 and Ryan was 721. I would only know
who was in my age group if I could see a letter “P” on their leg (which often
times fade away during the swim, as was the case with many people at this
race).
After making sure our tires were pumped, our bottles (and
Garmin, which is used to show our watts) were on our bikes, and sunscreen was
lathered on, we all got in line to head to the swim start. Ryan and Bill went
up near the front, and Steve and I hung near the middle-back. That poor choice
could have cost us both a lot more time.
I should probably note right away that it was really
stinking hot. Jerry said the temperature was 86 degrees, with a “feels like” of
94. While it was windy on the bike, there was absolutely no shade on the run.
Of the 1,100 participants registered, only 675 actually finished the race. Over
30% did not finish, many due to heat.
THE SWIM:
Ryan had told me prior to leaving for Cabo that I needed to
place myself in the middle of the pack for the beach swim start. Not being
confident in my swim, I chose to start in the middle-back of the pack with
Steve. Unfortunately, there were a lot of slower swimmers than me (pretty hard
to imagine, but true!) and I spent a good portion of the first strip out fighting
my way around these slower swimmers.
The swim felt incredibly long. Most of that feeling was
probably due to the fact that I hadn’t swam in open water or in a wetsuit since
Kona, but wow did I feel out of shape. I program my Garmin wristwatch to
beep/vibrate at every ½ mile of the swim. When the first beep hit, I was
shocked to see that I was only a ½ mile into the swim, as I felt as though I
had been swimming for at least 30 minutes. When I swim in a triathlon, I am
very good at sticking to the inside so that I swim the least amount possible
(and am more alone this way too). I did have one encounter with a person who
just grabbed my ankle, and I had to pause to double check that my chip hadn’t
fallen off. When I finally saw our final turn and could see the chute, I could
not have been more excited. This was by far the hardest swim I have
experienced, primarily because I know I was not fully prepared for it having
only swam in my wetsuit (a new, nice Profile Design one) twice prior to the
race.
I could come up with a lot of captions for this...
Mass beach start.
Definitely not in the front
But look how pretty!
Somewhere out there!
Coach Bill: first amateur out of the water!
Swim stats
Overall time -- 1:10:08
Place -- 376th overall, 69th female, 6th in age group
Splits—13:45, 14:11, 14:24, 15:14, 12:45 (0.45mile).
TRANSITION 1:
(3:26)
The swim to bike transition included running out of the
water, onto carpet-covered sand, which was about ¼ mile in total. Naturally, I
enjoyed this as it not only gave me time to take off my wetsuit, but I also
would bet I was running faster than most people during that time. In
transition, I had the girls lather me up with sunscreen, which would prove to
be very beneficial come later in the race.
Headin' out of transition
Beautiful, right?
BIKE:
After running through the sand in transition, I realized
(too late) that I should have had a towel at my bike to wipe off my feet. As
soon as I started the climb out of Palmilla, I could feel the rocks from the
sand digging into my arches. Luckily, I could only really feel it when I was
out of the saddle, climbing, but it was annoying nonetheless.
The course itself consisted of going 16 miles from Palmilla
to the entrance to Cabo San Lucas, turning around and taking those same 16
miles back, going down another 5-10 miles, turning around, making a loop up to
the airport, and then doing it all over again. This was a three-loop course,
which sounds manageable on paper, but is actually miserable when competing!
There was never really a “flat” section; you were either going up or down an
incline.
My goal with all of my splits was to be as close to 15
minutes as possible as that would give me a 20mph average on the bike. This bike course was said to be as hard or
harder than Kona, so my goal seemed reasonable. My power was all over the place
and my average ended up being below what I averaged in Kona, which was
frustrating since my riding has come a long way since October. Steve had told
us the night before that we would experience a total vertical change of 8,800
feet (4,400 in climbing; 4,400 in descending), so I knew my splits would vary
quite a bit depending on which portion of the course they were on.
The first five miles were some of the harder portions of the
bike course. I expected my first five-mile split to be slow and it was. The
closer we got to the actual town of Cabo San Lucas, the easier the riding was.
I personally felt that going out was easier than coming back. During my first
of three loops going out, I saw a guy literally flip over his bike when
grabbing a bottle from an aide station, so made sure to remind myself to slow
down a bit when aide stations were coming up.
Every aide station, I grabbed a bottle of water and poured it into my bottle in between my aero bars. I was a little nervous since that bottle was never actually empty as it was in Kona. The nutrition plan in Kona was to go through the entire aero bottle full of water in between each aide station to stay properly hydrated. While I was drinking quite a bit in the race, I never once finished my aero bottle prior to arriving at an aide station in Cabo.
In terms of nutrition, I have one main bottle that I have on
my bike frame that contains all of the carbs/sodium/calories I need. I mix my
gels with my salt and Power Bar Perform, shake it up and enjoy. I did a spot-on
job with my nutrition, making sure to take a swig from my gel-mix bottle every
time my 5-mile split on my Garmin beeped. On the times where I didn’t feel as
though I could stomach the mixture, I ate a gel blast or two and even had three
times where I ate the PowerBar, which also felt fine on my stomach. I was
pretty pleased with my nutrition on the bike.
Around mile 40, I came up to my friend Steve (also coached by
Bill) and we talked quickly about our swim before I saw a girl I had been
trying to catch all race. Steve told me to go for it, and I sure did. Around
mile 100, I finally caught up to Meagan (another athlete coached by Bill) and
she yelled to me, “Go get it girl!” and I blame her for my faster last ten
milesJ
The bike course measured a touch short based on my wrist and
bike Garmins, but I was just happy to be off of the bike. The road to
transition consisted of a few speed bumps, which I just flew (like off the air)
over. I got my feet out of my shoes and dismounted….only to almost fall
completely over my bike. I was pretty worried about the run after having that
experience.
Bike Stats:
Time -- 5:41:40 (19.67mph average)
Place -- 174th overall / 28th female / 4th in age group
Splits—16:45 (17.9), 14:43 (20.4), 15:03 (19.9), 16:31 (18.2),
14:08 (21.2), 15:39 (19.2), 15:07 (18.6), 16:58 (17.7), 14:47 (20.3), 16:02
(18.7), 14:07 (21.2), 15:48 (19.0), 14:29 (20.7), 15:48 (19.0), 15:46 (19.0),
17:08 (17.5), 15:27 (19.4), 16:00 (18.7), 15:40 (19.1), 13:59 (21.4), 14:51
(20.2), 14:55 (20.1), :52 (14.8 for last 0.22)
TRANSITION 2:
(2:37)
I cannot believe how fast this transition was. I found my
bag quickly, gave it to the volunteer, telling her I had to go to the bathroom,
was in the porta-potty for what seemed like at least 2 minutes, had the girls
lather me in sunscreen, and even had to tie my shoelaces. In Kona, I used the
speed lace contraptions they were putting on shoes for athletes, but decided to
just waste the maybe 30 seconds and tie my shoelaces since that’s what I’m used
to.
I was shocked to see that my overall time on my watch was 6
hours 58 minutes after the swim and bike since it was 7hours flat at Kona. Ryan
and I had been told by a lot of people that Cabo is a more challenging Ironman
than Kona, so my only time goal was to hit 10:20 again. I was pretty excited
knowing that I just had to run a 3:22 marathon and I’d tie my Kona time.
RUN:
3:10:27 (7:17 pace), fastest female amateur!, 2nd fastest amateur
overall (guys included, the one who beat my time ran a 3:06), 2nd
fastest female split (a pro ran a 3:02)
Typing my time does not seem real considering the fact that
I almost fell off my bike coming into transition 2. My only goal on the run was
to not stop. I was really frustrated with my run in Kona since I had to stop
six times because of my blisters. It was a mind game I was playing with myself:
my blisters were so bad that I told myself if I could make it two miles, I
could walk through the aide station and then start running again. It worked
very well for me, but I was not about to repeat that in Cabo. I wanted to run
the entire time, regardless of how bad blisters got. I even went and had a
pedicure the Tuesday before race day to get off all of the callouses on my feet
in hopes of avoiding any and all potential blisters.
Run course photos:
I had no idea what pace I started off the run at, besides
feeling that my breathing was easy but my legs were not moving. The crowd
support was awesome, with people telling me I was “flying” and “hauling,” but
again I had no sense of true pace until my watch beeped. When I saw the 6:50, I
knew that I had to keep pushing hard for the first part of the race, since the
second part is where the blisters would occur. Steve had told us that, with
this being his first Ironman ever, he was using the mentality that this
marathon was simply 26 x 1-mile repeats. I used this as well and think it was a
huge help.
In terms of nutrition, when I grabbed my items from the girl
who gave me my transition bag, I noticed she only gave me one of my two Kona
Punch PowerGels (yes, the “Kona” flavor was purposely planned….a mental boost
during the run). She did, however, give me my Peanut Butter and Jelly Power Bar
that was also in the bag. I tried not to think too much of it since Ryan and I
had just talked the other day about how some Ironman athletes only use the
Gatorade and water on course since they’ve already put so much
carbs/sodium/calories into their bodies during the bike. I decided that I would
be testing out that theory by default during my Ironman.
The on-course gels were “Fuel 2 Go”….I actually grabbed
some, but could never get the package open. It was at mile 8 that I even
completely stopped in an attempt to open the gel and just could not do so. At
this same mile (during the same time), I had to stop at the porta-potty. As
much as I did not want to stop, I knew that there could be extreme
ramifications if I continued on without stopping!
The run course was also three loops.
Mile 1 (6:50)/10 (7:21)/19 (7:37): headed out of transition
(by Habenero’s), up the incline to the milemark, right by the center of
downtown
Mile 2 (6:42)/11 (7:10)/20 (7:16): downtown all the way to
the little roundabout, up again another steady incline. We took a little out
and back to the Mega, then down another street, just to come back up the street
and hit the mile mark
Mile 3 (6:46)/12 (7:08)/21 (7:17): we came back up that
incline, past where the first mile mark was, and down past where the host hotel
was to hit the mile mark. It was in the first loop of my run, second loop of
her run, that I passed eventual female pro winner Linsey Corbin (a fellow
Saucony athlete). To be able to do this was HUGE for me and she was as shocked
as I was. It was also at this point on lap two that I realized, if I could just
run 7:30 pace for the last 14 miles, I’d break my 10:20 best Ironman time.
Mile 4 (6:59)/13 (7:22)/22 (7:29): we passed transition,
turned right and headed up and over a bridge before splitting this mile. I
always grabbed Gatorade here, but it was at the top of the bridge when I was
totally out of breath. Not nice.
Mile 5 (7:00)/14 (7:21) /23 (7:17): After crossing the
bridge, we went around a roundabout where our special needs bags were. I passed
this up the first time, but grabbed my socks, two Power Bars and my blister
blocks the second time around thinking I might change my socks. Unfortunately,
I bent down to see if my shoes were soaked… and they were… so I knew changing
my socks (even if I did put on the blister block) would not actually help me
out.
Mile 6 (7:02)/15 (7:36)/24 (7:22): we headed into a dirt
path area where we had a lovely uphill with poor footing. My one and only gel
fell out of my jersey pocket at mile 6, but I told myself I’d just pick it up
next loop (which I absolutely did).
Mile 7 (7:12)/16 (7:45)/25 (7:24): finally out of the dirt
path area, we had another little out and back to complete.
Mile 8 (8:00)/17 (7:42)/26 (6:56, last 0.2 at 6:45 pace): We
headed back over the bridge and off to another little out and back. This out
and back felt much longer than any of the others, despite only being ½ a mile
long. This is where I took my one and only break (bathroom) on the first loop.
Mile 9 (7:10)/18 (7:34): Passing the transition was fun
since each lap meant another one down, and that much closer to the finish.
Feelin' GOOD
...not lookin so good...
My nutrition, despite losing my gel in transition and
dropping another, felt perfect. At every single aide station (approximately
every 0.62 miles), I grabbed two cups of water and a cup of Gatorade. The first
cup of water and the cup of Gatorade ended with a sip or two making it into my
mouth and the next cup of water I’d grab would be used to cool off my body. I’d
either throw the water on my back, on my arms/hands (if I spilled Gatorade on
myself) or on my head when I’d tip it back. I tried avoiding splashing water on
the front of my body as that’s what caused the blisters in Kona, but water did
end up in my shoes regardless.
Around mile 3, my timing chip bracelet began digging into
the skin on my right ankle. It was probably a combination of water/Gatorade/sand
just causing discomfort, but I was expecting to look down and see my formerly
white shoes covered in blood. Luckily that wasn’t the case, but I also wasn’t
totally off the hook quite yet.
At mile 10, my left big toe began really causing me a lot of
pain. I knew I was getting a blister, but was not about to do stop and try to
change my socks if my shoes were wet as that would clearly defeat the purpose.
After literally stopping to bend down to see if my shoes were wet (maybe
costing me 10 seconds), I had to just be tough mentally for the remainder of
the race. Even though I took a picture of the aftermath, I will spare you the
disgusting image of my giant blister. The blister truly looked like a growth on
my big toe. Right in between my big toe and second toe was a blister the size
of my second toe. How it did not pop during the marathon is still beyond me,
but the pain was definitely validated when I saw how big that thing was.
Can you believe I'm smiling during this?!
The best part of this marathon was the crowd support. People
were going crazy when I was running by (as I’m sure was the case with all
runners), just saying how fast I was flying. Many, “Vamos chica, Vamos, muy
rapido, muy bien” comments were made, just fueling my fire.
It wasn’t until Mile 20 that I passed two girls who I kept
seeing in the race, thinking they were in my “P” age group (female 25-29). Sure
enough, my intuition was correct and it felt amazing to go past these girls
that I had been chasing the entire race.
Unfortunately, at Mile 22, I started feeling a little out of
it. While my times somehow do not reflect that, I was definitely freaking out.
I opened the PowerBar I had grabbed at special needs during lap two and started
eating it. I told myself I would take a bite each mile to get through these last
few miles, fearful that all of my hard work to pass these girls would unravel
in the last half hour of the race.
Luckily, this mentality worked and I made it through each
mile. At 25.5, I saw fellow Crystal Lake Ironman Greg Cherne and he just lost
it. He asked if it was my last lap, I told him it was, and he went ballistic.
He was cheering like crazy and I couldn’t help but show my excitement in my
speed to the finish.
The finish is actually uphill, which was definitely
horrible, but WOW did it feel good to go past the “More laps/Finish line” sign
and into the “Finish line” group. I made sure to sprint this last part so that
I could avoid the poor finish photo I took in Kona. I even raised BOTH arms
over my head this time, so hope this picture turns out better than my Kona
finish picture.
Run splits —6:50, 6:42, 6:46, 6:59, 7:00, 7:02, 7:12, 8:00, 7:10,
7:21, 7:10, 7:08, 7:22, 7:21, 7:36, 7:45, 7:42, 7:34, 7:37, 7:16, 7:17, 7:29,
7:17, 7:22, 7:24, 6:56, :57 (6:34 pace).
Post-Race Recap:
Post-race, I saw Ryan, Jerry and Jason almost immediately.
They were absolutely stunned with my run split and overall time. I went through
the food line, grabbed my t-shirt and medal, and headed into the massage tent.
On my way out, a guy stopped me to tell me that I ran his wife down in the last
mile (she was the 1st place female in the 30-34 age group) and he
was wondering what my run split was. He looked it up and I was ecstatic to see
a 3:10:27!! He told me the girl who won my age group was also the first place
amateur female, making me the second place amateur female. Remember that girl
with the great abs that said she planned to win the whole race when we saw her
during our swim practice on Friday? Yeah, that’s the girl that won the whole
freaking thing. She also podiumed in Kona 2012…so I don’t feel bad that she
beat me at all!
We knew as soon as he finished that Ryan qualified for Kona. He was 2nd in his age group, which is one of the largest age groups, so we knew he'd have a slot. For me, the chances were slim since I had a small age group and placed 2nd in it. We had to wait until the Slot Allocation on Monday at 4pm to find out if I qualified. Luckily, we had plenty of things to do in the meantime...
Walking around the Marina
Another March Arc tour with my love
Hangin' with the captain
The group!
RESULTS:
I think the pictures speak for themselves...
We're goin' back to Kona!!!!!!!!!!!!!
M Dot awards! 2nd place age groupers!
Overall, reflecting on this race, I am much happier with my
performance here than in Kona. Being my first Ironman ever, I didn’t know what
to expect in Kona so am still happy with that race, but had things I wanted to
change for Cabo. My swim is still an area in which I need major help, so I am
hoping I can cut a big chunk of time off from that come Kona round two. My bike
went as expected. Ryan noted that most people were about 10 minutes slower than
their bike in Kona, and I was only 7 minutes slower, so I was happy with that.
My run can be improved if I can figure out how to stop getting these darn
blisters.
As always, thank you everyone for your support. Coming back
to Mykonos and seeing all of the texts and Facebook posts/messages just made me
tear up and smile so big. Huge shout out to EGO p/b Sammy’s Bikes for our
awesome bikes, wheels, and uniforms that powered us throughout the race.
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