I have heard people say that phrase, “Respect the distance,”
when talking about Ironmans for the past year or so that I’ve been
participating in them. I always thought I knew what they meant, but boy did I
have a lot to learn.
My training for Kona began at the end of June when my goals
of running an Olympic Trials Qualifier (sub-2:43 marathon) were cut short. The transition from Coach Dave to Coach Jen was seamless and I was
back to biking and swimming one week after my mishap. The whole next month was
tough mentally and physically as I had to work my body back to where I had
ended after IM Cabo in terms of fitness on the bike and swim.
Training was GREAT throughout the summer, and I even had
some darn good races. Once school started, training was still great and
workouts were mostly going well, but my stress levels continued to creep up as
the weeks passed. Between having 30 more students this year versus last year,
teaching a more diverse group of students this year (move-ins, special needs,
language barriers), and now teaching right away in the morning versus having my
prep period first thing in the morning…I was frantically treading water by the
first week of September.
Yeah, grad school probably added a little stress to the
pile. Sure, being active in my role as Run Coordinator at Life Time (organizing
group runs, writing group and individual training plans, sending out weekly
emails, etc.) probably played a role in my stress accumulation as well. But
really, the focus on differentiating my curriculum well enough to try and meet
the needs of my students this year had me more stressed than any year of
teaching I can remember. This is year two of Common Core implementation for all
of you who understand that lingo, and while I thought this would be a positive,
I have been feeling like I have had to modify so many more of the lessons I
created specifically FOR Common Core last year. Staying after school and coming
in before school (both of which I choose to do, not required) cut into workout
(and sleep!) time, and while my workouts didn’t necessarily suffer during that
time, my body would feel the ramifications soon enough.
The week that we left for Kona produced many late nights
after last minute adjustments, that brought me to tears, had to be made for my
sub plans. I honestly am shocked that I did not get sick from lack of sleep +
long travel days leading into the race. In any case, I told myself that when we
arrived on the island I needed to let school stuff go (please note, I used
personal days and days of no pay, and spent countless hours creating sub plans,
so I was not totally ignoring my role as a teacher…and I actually “cheated”
here and was responding to student and parent and teacher emails during my trip).
Reflecting on the week, Ryan also noticed that I just was
not as “into it” as I was last year. Not to say I wasn’t excited, because who
doesn’t get excited to be competing in the WORLD Championships?! But, my mind
was just not 100% focused on the race. We even saw one of our pro friends and
she questioned my lack of excitement as well. I wish I could come up with a
reason but I honestly have no idea why I couldn’t muster up the same feelings
as last year.
Kona time:
We left the Tuesday before the race after school, flew to
LAX, spent the night there (well, 5ish hours worth in a hotel bed), boarded a
plane and landed in Kona around 11am local time. Our bikes made it safely (and
we were only charged the baggage fee—thanks, TJ!), and we hopped a cab to our
condo.
I found this AMAZING condo that is literally blocks away
from the start/finish and expo. For those who have been to Kona, it is right
where Lava Java is—talk about jackpot. We unloaded all of our stuff and decided
to go check-in. After checking in, we went to the outdoor expo area where we
got the free swag (we paid for stuff later as well) and Ryan checked in with
the PowerBar group. He was scheduled to do a talk for work around 4pm, which
worked out well since I had grad school deadlines to meet anyway. After his
talk, we went for a shakeout run, which was probably more miserable than
running the day after the Ironman. We both felt so awful, and just kept
reminding ourselves that things would be better after some sleep and time
schedule adjustment. To end the night, we picked up our awesome Saucony shoes
(Kona Kinvaras!) and backpacks. We have no idea how we fit SO much more into
our initial day in Kona last year but decided we will plan better for next year
(tail end of this post).
The Giulianos!
Kona Kinvaras!
Kona backpack!
swag.
Thursday
was spent
Participating in the UnderPants Run,
swimming up to the coffee boat (!!)
grabbing breakfast at Lava Java
putting our bikes together and testing them out (someone
help me if I look this bad on race day!),
getting in a much better run,
and ending with dinner at Humpy’s.
Friday
(day before the race) included
Swimming up to the coffee boat, where the guy accidentally
spilled Ryan’s coffee on me so gave me a free pair of goggles,
Trying some Hawaiian fruits,
Riding my bike without dropping my chain or falling off this
time,
Running and finding a beautiful pool (you know, for when the
ocean gets boring),
Acai bowls and Lava Java round 2,
Laying out then checking in our race stuff,
t-shirts!
please note my PINK bike vs the standard red P5 next to mine :)
Getting our sweet Cervelo t-shirts (happens at bike check
in—the company whose bike you ride generally has a sweet Kona shirt for you as
a thank you),
And enjoying my pre-race burger and beer ritual
Onto the race
itself…what a day.
Ryan and I woke up around 4:30 (Ryan earlier to down some
coffee). I ate my banana and Peanut Butter and Jelly PowerBar, took our
pre-race selfie,
Pre-Swim
nutrition: banana and PBJ PowerBar at the house (2 hours prior), ½ PBJ
PowerBar while loading the bike (45min prior).
This year, the men’s and women’s swim starts would be at
different times. This is a HUGE deal for slower swimmers like me because it
means that the good female swimmers are less likely to be able to latch on and
draft with the guys on the bike. While drafting is not allowed, it blows my
mind that you still see it at the World freaking Championships. Even being a
weaker biker, someone who could definitely use the advantage of drafting, I
have never even considered drafting for a second and am always watching myself
to make sure I don’t get close to it.
Ryan and the other male amateurs took off at 6:50am. The
ladies had a 7am start like last year, and I even made a friend (a fellow
Chicagoan) while waiting to head in to tread water.
When the cannon finally went off, I actually had a pretty
awesome first mile. I was doing a great job of leading a straight line to the
buoys (on the inside) and found myself not in a crowd full of pushing and
kicking like last year. This year, however, there were lifeguards on boards who
would try to push us out even further than the buoy line, which was kind of
annoying. In any case, the swim was great until the turnaround. Just prior to
the turnaround, I started passing guys (the men have blue swim caps, ladies
have pink). While this was awesome and shocking, it was also frustrating
because now there were starting to be more people to work around. I heard from
many people that this swim was slower than last year and there were more
“swells,” so even though I’m not happy with my time, it was good to hear that
others had slow days too. My second half of the swim was significantly slower,
and my overall time was 4 minutes slower than last year.
I know, quite the looker right here...
Swim stats:
Swim – 1:20:59
13:10, 13:58, 13:46, 17:25, 16:05, 6:57 (0.24)
51st Female 25-29, 371st Female (out
of 675), 1500th (out of 2,000+)
*almost 4 minutes slower than last year, choppier water than
last year
Transition 1:
3:32. Rinsed off, found my bag right away, stopped in the
bathroom, rushed to find a surprising group of bikes still left!
Bike recap:
This. This is 100% where I “lost” my race. While I know I am
still nowhere near the top girls in my age group in terms of bike times, what I
rode on race day and what I am capable of riding are two totally different things.
I started the ride immediately feeling tired. My quads were burning and my hips
were tight. I didn’t want to let any negative thoughts creep in, but made the
mistake of looking at my bike Garmin. For whatever reason, my legs would not
push the watts I knew I was capable of. I still was somehow passing people
though, and made it my job to focus on that positive angle.
Lookin' fresh
Even smiling!!
This was working well until we encountered the massive
winds. I am not a very good cyclist or bike handler, so I couldn’t help but
feel bad for the people I would pass. Imagine being passed by someone just to
see them wobble all over the place because of the winds…yeah, so as bad of a
day as I was having, the people who I passed were clearly doing much worse
(seriously, imagine this in your head… I still get a kick out of it every
time). I heard from a lot of people, pros included, that this year was the
toughest many could remember in terms of wind. Heck, the guy who gave me my
post-race massage gave Crowie his post-race massage and Crowie even said in all
of his Kona’s that this one was the toughest bike yet. (“Crowie” is
professional Craig Alexander, who has done Kona a million times)
At least I got a few cool pics out of it...
I probably reached my darkest point when I looked down to
see I was only at 45 miles (of the 112 total). I had only really been focused
on watts and nutrition up until this point, but when I saw I was only at mile
45, I almost started crying. Here I was, using as much energy as I could to try
to bike hard (and more importantly stay upright!) and I couldn’t come close to
hitting my watts, plus I was nowhere near halfway done. I won’t tell you the
things I was thinking, but let me just sum it up by saying I have never been in
such a dark, lonely place in my life.
Last winter, a friend had told me that they thought I was
doing too much. Most people tell me that so I really wasn’t fazed by it…until
this person experienced their own mental breakdown and told me that this was an
effect of doing too much and being so stressed. This person warned me that if I
did not slow down or take some things off of my plate, I would likely face a
mental breakdown of my own sometime soon. I wish I could say that I had
listened, since I did acknowledge the fact that I was doing too much, but I
didn’t. I figured after Cabo, since I was focusing on “just running,” things
would die down a bit and I’d be less stressed. This was mostly true since it
was almost summer time and summer school wasn’t nearly as time-consuming as
real school. But, I never took anything off of my plate and with all of the
things I had mentioned being different this school year than last, my stress
levels had no shot at coming back down.
Looking back at my race, this was 100% my mental breakdown. I
thought things that no one should ever think. I KNOW most people have negative
thoughts and get frustrated during the bike part in Kona, or really in any
Ironman, but I can’t express how negative my thoughts were and where they
“took” me. I think my only saving grace is that one girl and I kept passing
each other. Turns out I am not very good at climbing hills, but she’s not very
good at riding down hills (don’t ask, I don’t understand why not either), so
we’d see each other every so often.
At the turnaround once we reached Hawi, she stopped to go to
the bathroom. I decided that I would do the same for two reasons: (1) I had to
pee and (2) I told myself I was going to come out of that bathroom a different
person. After my 3ish minute break, I was back on the bike, more determined
than ever and ready to start catching people. I told myself no one, guys included,
was going to pass me without me putting up a fight, and held true to that. I
started ignoring my watts and riding on feel since it was still windy. To
illustrate how windy it was, after we made the turnaround we finally had a
tailwind….I rode that 5 mile bike split in less than 10 minutes, meaning I was averaging 30+ miles per hour. Yeah, we
also rode into those when climbing to Hawi, so don’t think it was ALL fun and
games.
Bottom line, I did a much better job on my bike back in to
Kona, but still couldn’t push the watts I had been training for and my cadence
was still low. Coach Jen and I know these are two things we really have to work
on if I want to be competitive at this Ironman stuff.
Bike nutrition:
I had put 14 Vanilla PowerGels plus two scoops of PowerBar Perform (drink) plus
salt in my water bottle. I also used my water bottle in my aero bars and made
it a goal to refill it every aide station (every 7-8 miles). Unfortunately, I
probably only finished ¾ of it every time, but was forcing myself to drink as
much as I could. I did grab some on-course PowerBar Perform a few times and had
some swigs of that as well. The best part of my nutrition was eating my
PowerBar Gel Blasts (one package) and PowerBar PBJ bar (torn up into tiny
pieces, 1.5 bars total).
Bike stats (please
skip this part!):
6:04:48 (18.4 mph)
34th in my age group (15 girls passed), 219th
female (152 females passed), 1275th overall (225 people total
passed)
Transition 2:
4:28. Easily handed off my bike (finally!), grabbed my run
shoes, two PBJ PowerBars and T1 race belt filled with four Chocolate PowerGels.
I stopped in the bathroom since I had promised myself that I was NOT stopping
on the run this year for any reason. I had some sunscreen applied, but
apparently not enough since I still have a lovely “2107” tattoo on my right
arm.
The best freaking
part of the Ironman:
Finally! I love this part of the race, because spectators
CONSTANTLY tell me I am going too fast and to slow down…if only they could see
my splits to show that I am pretty consistent throughout and that I’m not
totally crazy at the beginning!
The run in Kona challenges you just as much as the bike.
While the wind is not as strong, the constant uphill or downhill or sun beating
down on you does start to take its toll. Luckily for all the runners, we did
experience some cloud coverage this day, but I almost didn’t care for it since
I am finally good at running in the heat and humidity.
As you exit transition, there are people all over the road
cheering for you. Ryan’s former coach’s fiancé called out, “Go Jacqui
Giuliano!” and I almost started crying. It was SO nice having our families with
us last year, so to have someone cheer for me was incredibly appreciated. Just
before the first mile, you run down the same stretch that leads you to the
finish. There was a crew from Barnana (AMAZING—seriously, try them if you shop
at Whole Foods) and they went NUTS for me. It was awesome… and probably helped
my first mile to be so fast.
Is this real life???
Sure is!
Let's focus on my crazy quad instead of my dying face.
The next four-ish miles are down Ali’I where there are some
inclines and then declines, but the road is definitely the most populated road
of the run course. I kept flying by runners, vowing that I would make up my
huge deficit that I gained on the bike. I made a mental note of where many of
the girls in my age group were in hopes of running them down. Most of these
girls were 2+ miles ahead, but Ironmans produce long days and anything is
possible.
I knew once we passed the house that we stayed at last year
that the turnaround was coming up. I couldn’t believe how consistent my splits
were through the turn-around. Last year, I stayed sub-7 minute pace through
mile six (if you take out the bathroom pit stop), so my goal this year was to
stay sub-7 for longer. I knew mile 8 would likely be the mile that pushes me
over 7-minute pace since it was one of the bigger uphills on the Ali’I part of
the course. However, I was NOT going to let that ruin my day…especially since I
knew Palani Hill was coming up and that mile split would be even slower!
After going up Palani Hill with only a 7:38 mile, I was
pretty pumped. I could tell that my legs were in the groove, but knew this
meant I needed to really monitor my nutrition if I wanted to maintain this pace
(nutrition at the end of this part). I saw Ryan shortly after this, and told
him that I was just running it in to finish. We had joked about me finishing
before the sun set (around 6:30, so an 11:30 Ironman time), plus I had just run
my 7:38 so really felt I was just running it in to finish.
I was not expecting to hit any more miles under 7-minute
pace, so I am pretty sure my jaw dropped when that happened at mile 15. I
figured I might as well go with it, downed another PowerGel and kept pushing
through. At this point, we were entering the Natural Energy Lab. For whatever
reason, this is where many people struggle. I knew that coming into Kona last
year, so have made it a goal to catch as many people here as possible for that
reason. This is also where the Special Needs bags are, so I passed a few people
that had stopped for those as well. How I ran a 6:45 and 6:51 here was likely
due to the fact that this area is more of a flat area, plus I could see girls
in my age group exiting as I was entering (it’s about 2 miles in this Energy
Lab place), so I was pretty motivated to catch them.
The way home from the Energy Lab was LONG. I knew I was
getting tired but also knew I was running a consistent pace and needed that if
I wanted to keep advancing in my age group. I just kept putting a different
motivating song in my head after I would pass each mile. Thinking about
something meaningless for a mile somehow works for me, so thanks to Taylor
Swift for easy to remember lyrics and catchy beats.
Sleep running?
Once I finally reached the last uphill on the Queen K, I
passed the crazy group of cheerers who went wild for me when I first passed
them going out. They were insane this time, likely because I was still running
whereas others were walking up this hill. This powered me up the last uphill
and I was ready to sprint from Palani on in. I passed two girls in my age group
during this last little sprint (or 1.25 mile, same thing) and was SO excited to
be able to hear Mike Reilly announcing finishers as they came in. The
excitement of the crowd got to me again this year and my eyes were tearing up.
I don’t care how many times I do this race, I think I will always get tears in
my eyes during this last part. No matter how great or poor my race is, to be
competing against the best in the world and cross that finish line is just
something to be proud of. So many people would give so much to be able to have
the experience I was fortunate enough to have for the past two years that I
can’t help but burst into tears (excited tears) at this point.
SO close!
Beyond happy
I made it a goal to NOT get any guys in my way of my
finishing picture, so double checked behind me: good. Double checked there were
no girls in front of me: good. There were two guys that were too far to catch,
but running together so I couldn’t get around them anyway. I decided I was
going to get my time at the finish so slowed just a touch. The guy in front of
me decided to take what felt like five minutes to cross the finish line, so I
quickly threw my arms up (both, this year I might add) and walked away with my
volunteer.
Arms WERE up...for like a split second.
YESSSSS!!!!
NO guy in my way this year!
I'll work on leaving my arms up longer next year.
Run nutrition:
Every aide station, I grabbed a sponge (when there were
sponges available), a cup of water, a cup of Perform, another cup of Perform,
and another water. From mile 7-ish on, I also grabbed Coke after mistakenly
doing so but not minding it. This actually tasted great and likely helped my
stomach handle the nutrition I was putting in it. I had three of my four
Chocolate PowerGels (miles 11, 17 and 23).
Run stats:
3:04:45 run (7:03 average)
SPLITS: 6:37, 6:49, 6:43, 6:55, 6:53, 6:53, 6:58, 7:09,
7:09, 7:06, 7:38 (Palani Hill), 7:08, 7:02, 7:20, 6:58, 7:14, 6:45, 6:51, 7:17,
7:21, 7:05, 6:58, 7:06, 7:18, 7:24, 6:18, __ for 0.2 (I forgot to stop my
watch)
1st fastest amateur female run split by 10+
minutes
9th place female in my age group, 66th
female overall, 752nd overall
*last year: 13th place female in my age group, 89th female overall, 819th overall
As soon as I saw Ryan, he had all sorts of things to tell
me. He said he was SO nervous that I would fall on the bike (he knows me well)
and was just so thankful to see me cross that finish line. He told me how the
bike was horrible for him, too, not just because of the crazy winds, but also
because he got a bogus penalty.
The last thing Ryan had to tell me was that he thought he
had a faster run split than me. He told me he ran a 3:07 and I quickly debated
whether or not to tell him I likely ran faster than him. I was SO concerned
about getting both arms up for my finish line photo that I hadn’t stopped my
Garmin. However, I knew I started the run at about 7:34 on my watch, and I
crossed the finish line at 10:38:xx, so I did the math and figured I was around
3:04. I told Ryan I wasn’t TOTALLY sure but might have beat his time. BOY did
it take forever to get the official results. I was getting my post-race
massage, and Ryan brought my official race results card over with a big pouty
look on his face… sure enough, I had run a 3:04. Guess who’s doing dishes for
the next month? (Kidding)
Well, hello there!
2 year anniversary, 2 years in Kona!
Overall, I am still having mixed emotions about my race. I
am ecstatic with my run split (only a handful of female pros ran faster than me
too, which was sweet to see!). I am okay with my swim split, knowing full well
that I am capable of better but just need more time in the pool. But I am still
angry about my bike split. I am SO much stronger than what my bike split shows,
obviously physically, but also mentally. How I let myself slip into that dark
place for so long in the race still blows my mind. I talked with Coach Dave and
have been communicating with Coach Jen and we all know that my bike is
primarily a result of my stress-induced breakdown. While I am by no means a
5:30 biker on the day that we had on Wednesday, I sure as heck should be in the
5:40s…and guess what, that would have placed me top 5 in my age group (a goal
coming in, if everything was to go well).
I am beyond thankful for this experience and don’t want to
sound like I am upset about it. I made the choice mentally to “give up” and not
work to my potential during the first 60 miles of the bike, and it definitely
produced some regrets. BUT, this also makes me hungry to come back. I know I
can compete better than what I showed and am excited to have the chance to do
so again if we are able to qualify. So, right now it’s time to take a little
break and reflect on how lucky I am to have a body, husband, family, and job
that support me in these crazy adventures.
Thank you SO much for all of the support before, during and
after this race. Thank you to my friends and family for believing in me. Thank
you to EGO presented by Sammy’s for the coolest bike in Kona (thanks to Ryan
for the custom color job), PowerBar for providing me with the proper fuel to
keep me moving, Saucony for the awesome shoes that helped me power through the
run, Coach Jen for pushing me harder than I thought was possible during
workouts, and to my husband for putting up with my craziness of training and
teaching. I have learned a LOT from this race and promise the next time you see
me cross the Ironman finish line will be a MUCH different outcome.
Post-race shaved ice with ice cream in the middle? yes, please
Oh, just hangin' with Apollo Ohno...no biggie.
Hula Daddy Kona Coffee Tour/Tasting
Volcanoes National Park
Last breakfast oceanside
The reason we got into this Kona qualifying thing: celebrating our wedding anniversary <3 p="">
