Leslie S IMNZ Race Report
Well, I survived. I’m still on the other side of the World, but IM NZ is in the books and I couldn’t be happier, or sadder J
Travel went well, except for a ‘little’ hiccup in MN that almost kept us from getting on the plane, and more probably from the entire trip altogether (I’ll spare you the details, mostly because I’m trying to strip it from memory), our air travel to NZ went pretty well. My 2 year old son did great, slept on the long 12 hour flight from CA to NZ, and did the 4-hour car trip to Taupo without too much fuss. I wasn’t really able to move around or stretch much during the flight, but stayed hydrated, and basically just tried to go with the flow until we got to our final destination for the race. Got up early on our first full day, so assembled my bike to make sure everything was OK. I took off my rear derailleur this time because I thought it would be prudent for such a long flight – note to self – make sure you know how to put it back on correctly – Because as I was getting the bike together I just wasn’t 100% sure I did it correctly and ended up at the closest bike shop to ensure my bike was A-OK. $50 later and a day in the shop was well worth it. Pre-race week - Got my swim/bike/run workouts in for the most part. Skipped my last run before the race because it was very hot by the time I had a chance to do it, so figured it was better to rest. I felt like I did a good job ‘relaxing’ before the race, but I was also on vacation in an amazing place with another family, so I felt like I had to ‘do’ something at least one of the days before the race, so on Thursday we all did the ‘craters of the moon’ walk. It was hot and I was pretty tired by the end of it. Should have skipped that, but I skipped my run instead and just let the stress that I may have used up too much energy roll off my back. Registration went well. Bag/Bike drop went well. Got my bearings wrt where my bike was in relation to swim in/bike out/bike in/run out. A girl I met during one of my swims was right next to me on the bike racks, and she let me borrow her pump, so that was set. Just needed to get special needs and race stuff together and show up.
Goal Achieved – Truly wanted to do my best at being relaxed and not getting hung up on things I couldn’t control. Certainly with a trip that long with a toddler, something is bound to go poorly, and things definitely did, but we rolled with the punches and I think I achieved this - my husband might have another opinion 
. This will serve me well for the rest of my racing (and mommy) days. This was really a huge achievement for me.
Learning point #1: Make sure to know how to 100% reassemble your bike, or know that you will take it into a shop and have a plan for that. My situation wasn’t a big deal and was remedied fairly easily, but would have been nice to not have had to take it in for that full day and 2 extra stops in town that day.
Learning point #2: Don’t feel like you have to ‘do something’ when on a bucket-list vacation race. Sitting on the beach three days in a row in the shade watching your son have a blast is still ‘doing something’
Learning point #3: Although I do feel like I was much more laid back and calm about things in general on this trip, I felt like I could have been more organized. I did have checklists of checklists, but I felt like when we got to NZ I didn’t know where anything was and I wasted a lot of time searching for clothing/tools/race items etc. It added a layer of unnecessary stress.
Saturday 3/7 – RACE DAY!!!!!
Got up early no problems. Actually slept really well. My husband covered 100% of the logistics with the kiddo for race day (and pretty much almost everything kiddo related up to then), so that really took a layer of stress away from me. Had my coffee and breaky and we were on our way. The race venue was really easy for parking and maneuvering around the course, certainly compared to other IM race sites we have been to. Race morning went pretty much as expected. We had about 15 minutes before race start to get in the water for warm-up so a quick good-luck kiss from the hub and I was off. I did some drill/swim/drill/swim as planned. Tried to move up to the front of the pack, started getting a little elevated heart rate as things were a bit more congested, and then the gun went off. I didn’t think I was that stressed until the swim started. Immediately, I wanted to quit and decided never to do another triathlon again. Man it was packed. I felt like I couldn’t get a breath. There was no such thing as form for the first half mile. It was bad. I felt like I couldn’t race the first part to get ahead because it was so congested. Still pulled off a PB at 1:03 – so happy with that.
Learning Point #4: If I’m going to go hard at the beginning of the swim, get in the FRONT FRONT, and get going, then settle in with a small fast pack.
Transition to Bike went as expected, I’m never as smooth as I plan, but still better than most, but I could stand to practice that a bit more simply by racing more. Then the bike. Oh was it cold at the beginning. I felt like I just couldn’t warm up. My hands were so cold that I felt like I couldn’t really shift or brake effectively. But as the rain subsided and the sun came out, things got better. About 90 minutes into the bike I felt as though my ‘line’ was fast approaching and got a bit nervous that I was crumbling too soon, but I seemed to pass through it as I came back into town at the turnaround and saw supporters. That gave me an extra little boost to get through the second loop. Nutrition – My plan was working fine….except I really had to pee….and I had a hard time peeing while riding. So I just kept plugging away with my electrolyte/nutrition trade-off. I really started to get some bad cramping, but it really felt like it was from having to pee so bad. I was afraid to back off my nutrition too much as I didn’t want to get behind, but I did feel as if I was hydrated and full of calories. I never got ‘wonky’, so I really don’t think it was my nutrition, but that’s something else to test the limits on wrt my keto-adapted athlete approach. The roads were crap. My seat was actually OK, but my shoulders felt like they were going to fall off when I would come up out of the aero position – which proudly, wasn’t often. The wind was a tough mental game. I kept on taking myself to my many 5-hr trainer rides and one 6-hr trainer ride. I just got it done. Not happily, and pretty much decided I never want to do another IM Again (for the second time that day) but I did it. I pulled a 6:30, which was longer than expected, but I wasn’t really affected by it.
Learning Point #5: If you have to pee on the bike, and can’t physically do it, take the 2 minutes it takes to stop at an aid station and go to the porta-potty.
Learning Point #6: Trust your keto-nutrition and take in fewer calories during the race. Test this out at all races until get to a point where it's realized I needed more calories - then work from there.
Transition to Run went well. I was happy with my ‘bag within a bag’ system. Running out of transition with my visor, nutrition and race number seemed effective. My tummy was still a bit of an issue at that point, but still, it didn’t feel like nutrition, it felt like I was still holding on to some discomfort from not peeing so long on the bike. So I tried to take it slow, but was running a fast pace. I seriously tried to run as slow as possible, but couldn’t go slower than 9:30 so just went with it. I didn’t’ realize the wind was at my back
Then at the turn around, I realized why it was so easy going out on that first loop. So I did deal with tummy issues, much of the run. I only took in water the first 18 miles and after that I started with coke. At the end of the race I weighed exactly the same as I did at registration, so that tells me I had my hydration OK. I continued to run the whole race – even when the wind was so bad I was literally leaning into the wind and winding my hands all around trying to stay upright – seriously. I have never been in weather like that in real life before – it was crazy. But as my husband reminded me when I was coming back on my second loop – I wanted a memorable experience – and I got it. My left knee really started to hurt on the end of the second loop and had me pretty worried. This same thing happened at my first marathon and I could tell it was because my inner leg muscles start to do most of the work while my glutes and hamstrings are tired and my knees start to knock, making my outer knee ones start to bump into each other – it really hurts, and I thought I might be done. But I just remembered that the faster I get to the end, the faster it will stop. I rubbed my knees and gave them some heat, and just kept going.
Learning Point #7 – AGAIN, because it needs repeating, TRUST my keto-nutrition. I could have taken in less on the bike, dropped my water a bit and been able to take in more sugar on the run to spread it out a bit.
Learning Point #8 – Focus on Run form, and strengthen bigger running muscles to help improve my speed and less time out on the course to injure my knees
Learning Point #9 – Since 9 is my lucky number, seems perfect to finish on this. Find success. PB Swim. PB Run. PB overall time. Felt like I never even really hit my line, but I approached it many times, and just got through it. And I felt good enough to make it to the midnight finish with my husband. Incredible. What an experience. As I approach the end of my travels in NZ, I can recommend this race, and certainly this country for a bucket list trip.
For my EN friends that I stay in touch with: I will be taking leave from being an EN athlete to try to grow our family. I will definitely stay in maintenance mode so I can come back and crush it when I’m ready to race again. But if you would like to get a hold of me feel free to e-mail leslieum98@yahoo.com
Thanks for everyone’s support – I couldn’t have done it with this much flair without you J
Cheers,
Leslie
Comments
Leslie,
Congrats again on a great race. It's difficult to overstate how challenging it is to travel with a bike (and toddler) across 18 time zones, then tackle a tough 140-mile course. Meredith Kessler described the course as deceptively difficult before the race, with the undulating, bumpy bike course and hilly run course. After the race, with those weather conditions, she described the day as "brutal." And she finished before the rain and 40mph gusts on the run! Of my 7 IMs, only the cold/rainy Moo '06 tops NZ '15 in terms of physical and mental challenge.
It seems to me that, for a majority of athletes in an IM mass start, there are two positions in the swim: out front or in the washing machine. Even if you start at the back or out wide, at some point you join the machine. After watching you swim at the JVC, Coach P and I both thought you could dominate the swim, probably sub-60 in good conditions. And I know you were thinking sub-60 was a possibility. But the only way to do that, IMO, is getting out front. Easier said than done, as it requires courage, subborness and a willingness to hold your ground as the start line can get a little testy in the seconds before the canon. It's hard to believe that you belong at the front when you're bobbing with thousands of ripped athletes, but you should believe. Because you really are that fast. Still, even though you got caught in the machine, you were in the front portion of it and got the benefit of its draft. And you still came out in the top 250 in a great time, which is a good result considering the Kiwis and Aussies really like to swim.
The cold, rainy, hilly and bumpy bike ride you describe sounds similar to mine. Way to keep your head down and perservere. Even though you had some struggles again with nutrition, sounds like you improved dramatically compared to Moo.
The run, for me, was a buzz saw, and your description brought those memories back to life. I was dripping sweat and got burned in the hot sun, I was shaking in the cold rain, I too had to lean into the crazy wind, and I cursed the last 20 hills. But you again perservered and came out the other side triumphantly. And with a smile. My wife said she started cheering more for you after the rain started again, because you were smiling whereas I was not.
This was one where finishing was accomplishment enough. But you did far more than that. What you failed to mention in your humble race report is that you finished 11th in your AG, were the 78th female to cross the line, and you chicked about 1,000 guys. Impressive stuff.
Thanks for sharing the NZ experience with us; Anita and I enjoyed spending some of it with you guys. Good luck with the family-expansion plans. I'll be looking forward to your return.
Mike
It sounds like a hard day based on conditions and your results speak for themselves. Very impressive stuff.