Stacey's IMLOU race report
Training
I joined EN in February, bought a power meter in March, and rocked the remainder of the out season. Had a BLAST getting faster on the run and building my FTP numbers on the bike. Unfortunately, I chose all sorts of crazy fun adventures rather than sticking to May's "get faster" plan. I did several local spring road races in April, finding myself a newly minted Cat 3. Capped that with a 60-mile Cat 1,2,3 race that turned out better than expected. Joined some friends for the Assult on Mt Mitchell in late May and had a great day! Spent several hours with a cadence of 50-60 in my 34-27 climbing to the top of the highest mountain in the eastern US. By the top, my left knee was screaming but I didn't expect to bike up a mountain and not hurt. No problems, right! 5 days later, I headed to Kentucky for the Horsey Hundred because I just HAD to get that Kentucky Century Challenge Jersey (doh). Turns out the Horsey is really hilly and by mile 60, my left knee was DONE. Bleh. I should have sagged back to town at that point but I'm not one to quit. And to add insult to injury (literally) I had signed up for the Toughman 70.3 in Richmond, IN the following weekend. I managed through Toughman with my knee angry the last 15 miles of the bike. Running didn't bother the knee, only biking was a problem. So I found a PT who diagnosed an inflamed quad tendon and gave me some massage and electrical therapy. Stayed completely off the bike the remainder of June. Eased back into the bike in July and kept my training very VERY conservative. Around 100 watts average, cut most of the long bikes short. I did get one 6-hour ride and a couple weekends of 4 hrs on Saturday and 2 hours on Sunday. I rode zero hills and stopped as soon as I felt any discomfort in my knee. I hit most of the prescribed long runs, missed some of the short mid-week runs. Did a little open water swimming at a local reservoir and hit the YMCA one to two times per week. I'm a slower swimmer so it was more a matter of building endurance rather than getting faster. If / when I do another, I'm going to get a swim coach.
Pre-race
Drove to Louisville Thursday in time to arrive quite late to the team dinner. Glad to meet some friendly faces that I would then see throughout the weekend. Kudos to George's wife for choosing the restaurant, it was perfect! Friday was check in, some shopping in the Ironman store, then back to the hotel to organize and pack transition bags. Went to the banquet - food was ok, definitely not great. Seems like they could do a better job with the program, I thought it was a bit flat. Saturday went to the practice swim. Wanted a chance to experience the river before the race since we can't warm up on race morning. I got in and swam up stream a little ways. Tough going so I just turned around and got back out. Water was pleasant enough. Headed out to drive the bike course. I had ridden it the year before so I'd seen it already but wanted to review pavement conditions, turns, etc. That also gave my parents a chance to see the course that I would be riding the next day. Had baked spaghetti for lunch. Ate plenty 
Saturday afternoon was check in, delivering my transition bags and bike. Seemed so strange to leave my bike there.... Saturday evening came in a hurry and before I knew it, we needed to be finding dinner if we were to get to bed early. Fortunately, the Magnolia restaurant on the 2nd floor of the Galt House had an unadvertised pasta buffet. It was perfect! In bed by 8:30. Tossed around for 30 minutes or so trying to think of what I had forgotten (nothing!), and woke to the alarm at 3:45.
Had two pieces of toast with generous portion of strawberry jam, a bottle of Recoverite, and a boiled egg for breakfast (~500 cal). Ate a gel on the way to transition and another in the swim line. Drank most of a bottle of Infinit while walking to the swim start and in line (280 cal). Stopped at transition. Pumped up my bike tires. Tried to fill my A2 but didn't think that I couldn't fill it while the bike was hanging on the rack. The bottle was angled with the opening down. Blah - first "breakdown". I had a throw-away Gatorade bottle with my Infinit in it, so I just laid that over my aerobars and prayed it wouldn't get knocked to the ground when other athletes got their bikes. Put my Garmin 510 on my bike. Dropped off my special needs bags. Visitied my transition bags to deposit my sunglasses, turn on my Garmin 205 to pick up a satellite, turn on my "My Athlete Live" tracker, and put extra hair ties in my transition bags. Backtracked a bit out of transition to use the under-utilized porta-johns under the interstate. It was REALLY dark in there and I just hoped I didn't lose anything out of my morning clothes bag. Walked with my husband up to the swim start, which is about 1 mile from transition. Long walk. Body marking, then walked along the start line to find the back. Stopped at the last set of porta-johns that were beside the boat house where the kayak volunteers were assembling. Waited in line for a while as lots of other athletes were getting in line. Finally got done there, walked and walked and walked to the end of the line, which was clear behind the waterfront apartments by that time. I'm fairly certain we were close to another mile from the swim start. Big disappointment that we were so far back I couldn't hear the bugle playing My Old Kentucky Home and couldn't hear the national anthem or the cannon. bummer.
Swim
Once the line started to move at 7:00, it moved fast. We were even jogging at times. I tore off my warm ups, tossed my shoes to my husband and was headed down the ramp before I knew to be nervous! I really didn't want to jump off the dock and blow my goggles off so I went to the far end, sat down, and just slid in at 7:27. The yellow buoys were numbered and it seemed to take forever to get from 1 to 2 to 3. There was some contact while we were behind the island. I think some stronger swimmers probably just waited at the swim start rather than walking to the back of the line - and they subsequently had to swim over / around all the rest of us slow ones. No problem, didn't get kicked, just a lot of people grabbing my legs. I looked at my watch at the first red turn buoy - 50 minutes. It should have been 1300 m at that point, which should have taken me 30 minutes. It was at that point I started doing math and realizing I was swimming much slower than planned. I put my head down and swam down the outside of the island. Sighting was difficult as it seemed there could have been a few more buoys. Looked at my watch again at the far end of the island 1:09. This should have been 2600 m. I'm starting to think I might not make the cut off. At this pace, I'm going much too slowly. I predicted 1:30 to 2:00 swim so didn't really worry about the cut off. So I swam hard, minimal sighting, just swim swim swim. I did end up sighting off the Yum Center as it has a unique curved roof. I didn't look at my watch again. I was headed towards the last turn buoy and the swim exit when a lady in a kayak stopped me and said I needed to go directly towards the shore because there was a strong current in the river. Apparently I was on course to go right past the swim exit. I got out, looked at my watch and was delighed to see 1:36. Yes, there must have been a strong current for me to finish that quickly after my earlier splits.
T1 - Ran / walked around the concrete to my transition bag. I didn't want to bang up my bare feet on the concrete. Completely changed into bike kit (Mt Mitchell, no doubt), got to my bike and found the Gatorade bottle was still there so I filled my A2. Everything smooth, out in 11:17.
Bike
Headed out on River Road just pedaling along and drinking Infinit. Kept the watts below 100 for the most part, felt effortless. Had drank a bottle by the first aid station (mile 8) so I stopped there and refilled the A2. Rolling hills, out and back, saw the family, stopped at the bathroom at the aid station at the turn around. Really focused on riding easy since I knew my training wasn't excellent. Spin up the hills, hold watts down hills. Was having a great time! Stopped at each aid station to mix my concentrated Infinit with some water in the A2 and kept rolling. Saw the family in LaGrange on both laps. Stopped to pee 4x. Dropped my chain going up one hill (doh). Around mile 85 or 90, I decided I better drink a bit more Infinit to get as much as possible before coming into T2. I grabbed one of my bottles in my cages and put about half into my A2. Took a swig and realized it was 2x. I sipped it, and quickly reazlied it wasn't emptying out of my stomach. Sat up on a couple up hills. Was very pleased to see one more aid station before T2. I didn't think that one was going to be there. I put as much water as possible in my A2 and finished the race on very dilute Infinit with my stomach feeling great. Overall, took approx 10 bottles of EN long-course Infinit (280 cal; 380 mg sodium; 4 g protein / serving). My knee that had given me trouble for the previous 3 months didn't have one word to say on race day! Bike 7:14:54. Avg 103 watts, NP 118 watts.
T2 - came off the bike feeling great! Bottom of my feet were a bit uncomfortable so I took off my bike shoes right after the dismout line and walked down the concrete in the shadow of the banner on the fence. I had two friends volunteering in the change tent so it was fun to quickly give them a recap of my ride. Changed into run clothes and out in 10:51.
Run
Ran the first 6 miles focusing on 10 mpm target. Had to consciously dial it back. Took a bottle of Infinit (same formula as the bike but w/o protein) in my Nathan hand held bottle. My stomach didn't hurt but was slightly uncomfortable and I didn't feel like drinking the Infinit. Sipped on it but wasn't drinking it fast enough. Added some water to dilute it and drank a bit more. First part of the run was HOT. Carried ice in my hand between aid stations. Was even able to find some big icebergs in some of the kiddie pools at the aid stations. Chose not to pour water on my head, as I didn't want my shoes all sloshy. Finally gave up on the Infinit and put Perform in my bottle. That actually went down a bit better. Ran most of the first half, saw my family at the turn around, including my husband in a ridiculous blue suit. Then ran / walked the second half. Didn't have anything specifically wrong, just tired of being out there, knees and hips ached, really tired of drinking sugary drinks. Ran most of the last 2 miles. Run 5:02:53.
Overall - 14:16:15. 57/110 AG.
I'm extremely happy with my day! I couldn't have expected it to be any better. And kudos to EN for giving me the tools to get it done!
Comments
Stacey - congrats on a great day! It was nice to meet you after the race at the KICC over a couple of slices of pizza
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Btw, I was slightly ahead of you at the swim start (got in at 7:12), and I also couldn't hear My Old Kentucky Home or the National Anthem, which had me bummed out a bit
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Congratulations again, and keep us posted on what's next for you!
Congratulations ironman, great report!