Ironman Arizona Race Report

Quick Summary:

Swim: good. PR by 1ish min. Got punched in the eye.

Bike: good. PR by 45 minutes. Didn't get a flat, hit my goal time, really enjoyed it.

Run: hard. PR by 1 hr 15 min (in Ironman racing). Was proud, but know I can improve here.
Best Ironman race without a doubt.  I put together all three legs of the race which was my main goal. Am thrilled with how race day went!

To all my friends and family that supported me throughout training, sent texts and messages and love all day - I am so grateful and humbled to have you in my life. Knowing you were tracking and watching all day helped me keep going all day. I love you all!

Ironman Arizona Race Report

Night before: Slept three hours.

Morning of: Woke up with a massive headache. Super cranky. 3:45 am wakeup in mountain time is toughhhh. I ate my standard English muffins with pb+j, 2 cans of cold brew coffee, and some nuun. Isaac and I were able to walk to the start line which was only 0.7 miles from our hotel motel. We got into transition around 5:45a and got tires pumped, a few last things in transition bags and dropped off special needs bags (bags that are available part way through the bike and run - usually has nutrition and anything you might need just in case or can't carry on your bike - I put pb+j sandwiches in both in case I got hungry - I never hit either special need bags). We hit the porta potties, slipped into our wetsuits and went to find the 1:10 group for the swim!

Swim: Isaac and I have never started a race together until this race! We weren't able to weasel our way to the 1:10 group because it was too packed in the funnel out to the water and got stuck around the folks who seeded themselves as 1:20. Not the end of the world, but knew we'd end up swimming over some people since we'd be quicker. We climbed down the bleachers into the "lake" and were off at the same time!!! It was a great way to start the day. 

I had not done much any speed work with my swim this season. I was SO focused on getting stronger on the bike so I could run better, that I used swimming as a recovery tool mostly. I wasn't sure where my time would come in but hoped to be sub 1:15. I came in at 1:09! I was so happy! Mike Reilly even announced my name as I came out of the water - definitely a good omen for the day! I had budgeted 1:30 for my swim and transition so I ran into the changing tent knowing I was ahead of schedule! The swim itself wasn't very eventful - just an out and back. The sun was rising as we swam towards it and it was GORGEOUS! I got punched in the eye and it got water in my left goggle, so I worried about getting an eye infection the whole swim from that nasty water. I just tried to find a groove and take it easy - warm up for the long day ahead. The swim felt long - so I tried not to worry that it would only be 1/12 of my day...

T1: was so happy with my swim time I ran into the tent pumped up!! I didn't even feel disoriented getting out of the water. Took almost 7min but I wasn't rushing.

Bike: I actually went into the bike with some strategy this year! This course is 3 out and backs - the out is a climb and the back is downhill. I went easy the first loop. Tried to see how much energy I should put out for the false flats and one sustained climb leaving Tempe and how much speed I could get going back down. The out was tough - especially with the insane head winds that almost blew me over a few times. But you would FLY back down into Tempe. In aero - you could just crank and cruise 30mph with almost no effort. It was awesome. I knew I wanted to do about 2hr 10 min per loop to hit a 6:30 bike time. But deep down I wanted a 6:15 time if that didn't burn my legs out for the marathon. So I targeted 2:05 per loop. I hit 6:15 on the minute for my bike!

Random thoughts from my 6+hours on the bike - I smiled the whole first and third laps. On the second lap going up I thought I might not make it through the course, the wind was so gnarly. I saw Isaac like 5 times on course. I came across a gnarly crash right after it happened - I've never seen so much blood in my life - and it was so red. A guy landed face first after crashing going downhill. I saw this going into my second loop so I reminded myself to stay safe and not ride too close to other people - the course felt crowded in a lot of spots. I worried about him all day (I randomly met his wife the next day and he is ok). I saw another woman who crashed get carted out on a stretcher. I got passed by Lionel Sanders (2nd in the WORLD). He is AMAZING. I ate all my planned nutrition and stayed hydrated. (Thank you picky bars and nuun performance!!)

Turns out that I do this weird thing with my tongue when I'm focused on the bike... it's in a TON of pictures.

T2- I was so relieved to make it off the bike without a flat! I hopped off my bike to run into transition and my legs almost buckled under me. I panicked - did I bike too hard and ruin my marathon again? (5 something minute transition) remembered to put on sun screen and glide!

Mile 0.5 - happy

Run- headed out onto the run course which felt FUCKING HOT. So hot. And dusty. I was so happy to be ahead of schedule STILL! I was like 15-20 min ahead of my planned time! No matter how your legs feel getting off the bike - it's super overwhelming to think about the 26.2 miles still to go. You want to get into "the zone" and just knock off as many miles as you can - but everything hurts from the get go... 

A coach from D3 multisport (they created my training plan for this year) had given me some run advice - run the first 4 miles slow, it's the only time during the run where you can really control your pace and get a feel for your legs. I started out with an 8:30 pace. That's slow for me running off the bike normally. It felt HARD to run that pace. After a couple miles I realized I probably wouldn't get a 4 hour marathon. I wanted to walk. So bad. I was so tired. It was so hot. I kept putting ice in my hat, sports bra, down my back, throwing ice water all over myself to try to cool down. My tummy was not happy. I felt really bloated and nothing tasted good. Did I need more liquid? More salt? I decided to adjust my plan for this marathon. Run as much as I could. 

Mile 4? fading already

First I just kept repeating to myself "run a 10k and take it from there - you run 10k off the bike ALL THE TIME - you can at least do that". Then "get to 10 miles" then "run till at least the halfway point". The second half of both loops were tough (it was a half marathon loop twice) and it was isolated - almost no spectators so it was hard to not let the negative thoughts creep in your head. I saw a few signs that really helped me or made me smile -  "you paid for this" (oh yeah I chose to do this huh?), "smile if you're not wearing underwear", "you are a badass" (which helped me repeat some mantras to myself - you love running! You're a great runner! You can do this! You're amazing!). I had some good running moments and lots of bad ones. I wanted really badly to do sub 12 hours - based on when I started my run it could have been possible. I knew that was out of reach at mile 18 when I almost collapsed from a hamstring cramp. I drank 2 hot shots and consumed an entire vile of base salt between miles 16 and 23 to try to combat the cramping that was unbearable on every up or down hill. Hot shots are GROSS - they taste like fireball and they burn your mouth - I almost puked after each one. Almost every mile I had to stop and stretch my hammies out. I wanted to walk so badly. Lots of other people were walking. Deep down I knew walking was not what I came to Arizona to do no matter how loud my brain was screaming at me to walk. I came to RACE - I came to leave it all on the course. Give it everything I could that day. The last two years I feel like I just did Ironman to finish - this year I wanted to prove the gains from my training and all the hard work I put in.

I ended up with a 4:31 marathon. That is slow for me, but I'm still proud of it. I just kept running.  No matter how slow - I was running. I didn't succumb to the walk, I didn't quit when it was hard. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Every step from mile 23 on I thought my legs were going to cramp and I would collapse (I got close a LOT to my leg seizing up and eating shit). But until that happened - I was going to keep running.

3 time Ironman finisher!!!!!! (trying not to cry in this pic)

When I got to the finishers shoot I got so emotional - which I never have had happen at a finish line. I couldn't believe I was coming in at 12:09!!! It's a 2hr 22min PR from my race last year. I got my fastest Ironman time in ALL 3 DISCIPLINES. I couldn't believe it. I achieved what I came there to do and beat my 12:30 goal. Right after they snapped my finisher pic I burst into tears. I worked so hard for months. I pushed my workouts on days I didn't even want to start. The hours and hours and hours - they paid off. I fought hard all day and left it all out there.  I was so proud of what I had done. Medical thought my crying meant I was hurt so I rushed off to be by myself and just cried for 10 minutes slumped over my aching, salty, sweaty self. Isaac came to find me and was super worried something was wrong. But once I could muster some words it was simply "I'm so proud of myself - I can't believe I did that".

the video caught the beginning of my tears haha

I can't even count the number of times people have said to me "I could never do an ironman". If you saw the people on course with me on Sunday - they were big, small, short, tall, young, old (70+), fit, over weight, all types of people. The only thing that makes stuff like this impossible is the limitations you place on yourself. I'm no super athlete. I'm just a normal person that is willing to put in the time and work to achieve something extraordinary. Ironman shows me every year what I'm made of - my grit, my work ethic, my fight, my spirit. Ironman has changed my life in every way. I can't find the right words to describe how thankful I am to have found triathlon and challenged myself to take on the Ironman distance right from the get go.

This was a good race year for me. I'm proud to wrap up my 2017 race season with my performance in Ironman Arizona on Sunday. It's so funny - I'm already thinking about what I want to work on for my race next year. Definitely a faster marathon. But for now, I want to focus on celebrating a great day AND the fact that I'm FINALLY IN MY OFF SEASON!!! Gimme some champagne and cake STAT!!!! :)