Heidi Marcus 2015 IMMT Race Report
Race report IMMT, 8/16/15
The more races you do, the more you realize that its very unrealistic to expect ideal conditions. That could mean anything from nutrition, weather, a bad nights sleep, stress, guilt or sadness. Ironman training is usually at least a six month commitment and the last few weeks you are excited to celebrate the completion of the training. The race is not really a test, if you made it through the training, it's really a celebration. It's really been too emotionally draining to even rehash the week prior but lets just say when you put things in perspective, I was heartbroken for Brad and guilty that I could still race. We talked about scrapping the entire trip but we didn't want to upset the kids and finding another race in a few months we both could do was not an option for my work schedule. Hopefully Brad will have a quick recovery from his surgery (8/20) and will be able to do a late season race. We also spoke about doing separate races next season so nothing would prevent us from making sure he could toe the start line.
After praying for no rain on race day the past few weeks, I forgot to pray for mild temperatures. The forecast was rain free but the temps were expected to get up to 90 degrees and peak just as I was headed out for the marathon. I was mentally prepared for this.
Race morning went smoothly and since Brad had an athlete bracelet he was able to head into transition with me. We quickly and easily filled my tires, dropped off my special needs bags and rechecked my t1 and t2 bags. We actually sat down for 10 minutes in the transition tent to wait to walk over to the swim start. There were 7 waves and unfortunately I was in the last one (women over 40, lucky me). I was remarkably calm but very sad that the race was about to start and I was going to be racing while Brad stayed back to watch.
For the swim, I lined up in the middle of the narrow beach and I was about 3 people deep from the start. There were over 300 women in the wave and I wanted to get up to the front but also knew there had to be a lot of women who would swim faster than I. Turned out I made a poor choice. It was such a bottle neck for the first half mile it was like full body contact twister. I could not at all swim without being grabbed and I was constantly hitting feet and legs with my hands. It was very frustrating and before knew it I had started to pass women and men from the two waves in front of me. It wasn't until about 1 mile into the swim it opened up a little. Still had lots of people next to me but worse were the people terribly off course who would swim in from of you at a diagonal headed in the wrong direction. I was sure I needed to temper my time expectations and thought if I could get in under 1:20 I would be happy. Finally with a half mile to to go, I could hear Mike Reilly's voice and picked up the pace for the finish. I swam all the way in until the water was about 1 foot deep, jumped up, looked at my watch and couldn't believe it, I was under 1:16 and felt a small but great first victory of the day. SWIM TIME: Hoping for 1:20, actual 1:15:46
It was hard to enjoy the screaming fans cheering for us because I was so laser focused on making sure I would see Brad and the kids. Most of the cheering is in French too so I have no idea what people are saying. As it turned out they were almost near transition but I got to stop, kiss each one of them and ran into the transition tent. It was different than lake placid in that you had to grab your own bags and there were less volunteers in the tent. I started to dry off, get dressed, socks, shoes, and then the volunteer came to help me and sprayed me down with sunscreen. I was off out to grab my bike. Excited and happy to start the long part of the day, I was extra happy to see my family at the bike mount line. I took my time as I have seen many accidents at this point of the race and off I was.
The first 6 miles (the course was marked in Kilometers and I should have checked my conversions because I gave up quickly trying to do the math) of the bike I had driven and knew it was a lot of rolling hills. It was then that I realized I had a problem with my bike. I heard a hissing sound no matter which gear I was in and if I was going up or down hill. It didn't feel like a flat but lord knows I am the least mechanically knowledgable person on the planet. I just prayed it would go away. At about mile 10 I was now out on the highway and I noticed when I tried to coast the bike was slowing down quickly. A nice athlete rode up next to me and he said "your rear brake is rubbing" I thought, I have NO CLUE how to fix it. I told him I would ride a bit longer and hope it stopped, another 3 miles or so passed and I pulled off to the side of the road. Tried to pull on the break a little but once I started to go again it was still rubbing. Luckily up ahead on the other side of the highway was a bike tent. I stopped and the French speaking bike mechanic said something to me which I had no clue. I yelled to him that my break was rubbing, to which he replied something else in French. Finally he ran over did something with my break and said something else in French. I just said "merci, merci, merci" and I got going again. He fixed it!!! Yay! It probably cost me 5 minutes total.
The first loop of the bike was nice, smooth roads, long straightaways and great visibility. Light winds, I felt great and rode a lot in aero. We rode though a nice little town where they had great music and a Spanish themed aid station. Great crowds and more french but either way I appreciated the cheering. At this point we were headed back into town and I knew that I was going to pass through town but Brad and I didn't realize this and I doubted he would be there. Unfortunately because we didnt get to Mont Tremblant until late Thursday night, there was not enough time to check out more of the bike course and I've always had the theory that I pay better attention when I don't know where I am going. It would have been nice to see what lied ahead of the last 12 miles of the course. It was crazy, short but steep hills, about 5 of them with some crazy fast descents. You knew it was fast when you could hear the cyclists flying down the other side of the road and hitting close to 50mph. It was kind of like a roller coaster and was fun but I also knew I was going to have to do it again around mile 100. There was a very inspiring team of cyclists on a tandem bike, two women, one was blind and she was racing with her guide. Each time I saw them on the bike I was so inspired and amazed by what they were doing. Can you imagine the hard work and dedication it takes to do an Ironman without sight. Brad and I are both looking into learning how to become VI guides and one thing on my bucket list is to do a 70.3 with a VI athlete.
After I finished the first loop, stopped at specials needs and a nice french speaking volunteer grabbed my special needs bag and started handing me things in it. I swapped out fresh icy bottles, new chips and bars. It was at this critical point in the race that I made a HUGE mistake. I forgot to ask her to give me the PB&J sandwich in the bag. It was about 10miles later that I realized I forgot to eat it and I knew it was going to be a problem for me. Second loop of the bike was HOT, and the wind had picked up. It wasn't as much fun as the first and the last 12 miles were tough. I drank a lot on the course, took in salt but I knew that I needed that sandwich to absorb the liquid and the minute I got off the bike I felt like I needed to burp. BIKE TIME: Hoping for 7:00, actual 6:51:37
Burping is one of those things that you either do or you don't do. I swear I might actually burp once a year. This is a skill I am thinking about picking up. Had I been able to burp and get the liquid down I could have had a great race but as I headed out on the run I felt like a hot can of soda that had been shaken like crazy all day. I knew unless I burped or got the liquids out of my system there would be no running for me but rather a lot of walking. Each mile I would pick out a landmark and try to jog until the landmark but once I bounced all the bubbles would start to rise again and I started to gag every few miles. No one ever said IRONMAN was glamorous! In fact its incredibly unlady like. At about mile 14, the crowds were thinning a bit and I passed a park bench on the run trail. I crouched down behind it and started to dry heave, then I was able to get some of the bubbles and liquid out of my system. A nice medical volunteer came to my aid and offered me a cold drink and something to wash my mouth. Instantly I felt 100 times better and was able immediately run. It was at this point that I felt so great, relieved and happy I could actually run. I started running and passing a ton of people. All the volunteers were cheering and at this point on the run, everyone on the trail was walking. It was unusual to see someone running a 9:15 consistent pace at this point during the race. I felt great, unfortunately I only had about 10 miles to go so it wasn't going to fix my broken run at this point but I wanted to negative split the run which is very rare at an Ironman. I ran about 6 miles before hitting the last climbs back into town. At this point I was tiring, and had no desire whatsoever to run the hills. I knew I was less than 30 minutes away from finishing. I never doubted I would finish the race today and as my second IM it had a different meaning. I wasn't going to take off the hour I had hoped to cut but I was still going to PR by over 20 minutes. Once I was about 1 mile out from the finish I started to run again. At this point in the day I saw an athlete who did the entire race on a hand crank bike. He was paralyzed from the waste down and cranked the entire bike and run with his arms. It was incredible to see him as he had amazing determination throughout the day. These are the types of things that make this Ironman so amazing. It gives you a real reminder to be grateful for what your able body can do and a reminder to suck it up and keep moving forward. The crowds picked up a lot, I saw a bunch of young guys in their 20's with a funny sign. They would hold it one way for the men and flip it over for the women. The mens side read "There are 10 naked women up in your hotel room with cold beer" and the women's side read "you are looking great". I started to make the turn into the final run through town and started to get emotional. Although I was well prepared for the day, it was long and hot and not how I had hoped, but I was about to finish my second IM and it was still special. The crowds were cheering my name like crazy, I high fived a ton of people and kids and just as I entered the shoot, on the right was Shelly (mother in law) and Sam and Avery cheering for me (Brad was waiting to great me in the finisher tent). Big smile on my face and they said the magic words, "Heidi Marcus, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN". RUN TIME: Hoping for 5:00 Actual 5:40:21 (yikes) Final time 14:05 (probably would have gone sub 14 had I not stopped to pet 3 dogs on the run course).
No doubt there will be another IM in the future because I know I have a 5 hour IM marathon in me and I'm not going to stop until I get there. For now, we will focus on getting Brad better and back on track. In other words, the Ironman journey will continue for Team Marcus, more to come...
The more races you do, the more you realize that its very unrealistic to expect ideal conditions. That could mean anything from nutrition, weather, a bad nights sleep, stress, guilt or sadness. Ironman training is usually at least a six month commitment and the last few weeks you are excited to celebrate the completion of the training. The race is not really a test, if you made it through the training, it's really a celebration. It's really been too emotionally draining to even rehash the week prior but lets just say when you put things in perspective, I was heartbroken for Brad and guilty that I could still race. We talked about scrapping the entire trip but we didn't want to upset the kids and finding another race in a few months we both could do was not an option for my work schedule. Hopefully Brad will have a quick recovery from his surgery (8/20) and will be able to do a late season race. We also spoke about doing separate races next season so nothing would prevent us from making sure he could toe the start line.
After praying for no rain on race day the past few weeks, I forgot to pray for mild temperatures. The forecast was rain free but the temps were expected to get up to 90 degrees and peak just as I was headed out for the marathon. I was mentally prepared for this.
Race morning went smoothly and since Brad had an athlete bracelet he was able to head into transition with me. We quickly and easily filled my tires, dropped off my special needs bags and rechecked my t1 and t2 bags. We actually sat down for 10 minutes in the transition tent to wait to walk over to the swim start. There were 7 waves and unfortunately I was in the last one (women over 40, lucky me). I was remarkably calm but very sad that the race was about to start and I was going to be racing while Brad stayed back to watch.
For the swim, I lined up in the middle of the narrow beach and I was about 3 people deep from the start. There were over 300 women in the wave and I wanted to get up to the front but also knew there had to be a lot of women who would swim faster than I. Turned out I made a poor choice. It was such a bottle neck for the first half mile it was like full body contact twister. I could not at all swim without being grabbed and I was constantly hitting feet and legs with my hands. It was very frustrating and before knew it I had started to pass women and men from the two waves in front of me. It wasn't until about 1 mile into the swim it opened up a little. Still had lots of people next to me but worse were the people terribly off course who would swim in from of you at a diagonal headed in the wrong direction. I was sure I needed to temper my time expectations and thought if I could get in under 1:20 I would be happy. Finally with a half mile to to go, I could hear Mike Reilly's voice and picked up the pace for the finish. I swam all the way in until the water was about 1 foot deep, jumped up, looked at my watch and couldn't believe it, I was under 1:16 and felt a small but great first victory of the day. SWIM TIME: Hoping for 1:20, actual 1:15:46
It was hard to enjoy the screaming fans cheering for us because I was so laser focused on making sure I would see Brad and the kids. Most of the cheering is in French too so I have no idea what people are saying. As it turned out they were almost near transition but I got to stop, kiss each one of them and ran into the transition tent. It was different than lake placid in that you had to grab your own bags and there were less volunteers in the tent. I started to dry off, get dressed, socks, shoes, and then the volunteer came to help me and sprayed me down with sunscreen. I was off out to grab my bike. Excited and happy to start the long part of the day, I was extra happy to see my family at the bike mount line. I took my time as I have seen many accidents at this point of the race and off I was.
The first 6 miles (the course was marked in Kilometers and I should have checked my conversions because I gave up quickly trying to do the math) of the bike I had driven and knew it was a lot of rolling hills. It was then that I realized I had a problem with my bike. I heard a hissing sound no matter which gear I was in and if I was going up or down hill. It didn't feel like a flat but lord knows I am the least mechanically knowledgable person on the planet. I just prayed it would go away. At about mile 10 I was now out on the highway and I noticed when I tried to coast the bike was slowing down quickly. A nice athlete rode up next to me and he said "your rear brake is rubbing" I thought, I have NO CLUE how to fix it. I told him I would ride a bit longer and hope it stopped, another 3 miles or so passed and I pulled off to the side of the road. Tried to pull on the break a little but once I started to go again it was still rubbing. Luckily up ahead on the other side of the highway was a bike tent. I stopped and the French speaking bike mechanic said something to me which I had no clue. I yelled to him that my break was rubbing, to which he replied something else in French. Finally he ran over did something with my break and said something else in French. I just said "merci, merci, merci" and I got going again. He fixed it!!! Yay! It probably cost me 5 minutes total.
The first loop of the bike was nice, smooth roads, long straightaways and great visibility. Light winds, I felt great and rode a lot in aero. We rode though a nice little town where they had great music and a Spanish themed aid station. Great crowds and more french but either way I appreciated the cheering. At this point we were headed back into town and I knew that I was going to pass through town but Brad and I didn't realize this and I doubted he would be there. Unfortunately because we didnt get to Mont Tremblant until late Thursday night, there was not enough time to check out more of the bike course and I've always had the theory that I pay better attention when I don't know where I am going. It would have been nice to see what lied ahead of the last 12 miles of the course. It was crazy, short but steep hills, about 5 of them with some crazy fast descents. You knew it was fast when you could hear the cyclists flying down the other side of the road and hitting close to 50mph. It was kind of like a roller coaster and was fun but I also knew I was going to have to do it again around mile 100. There was a very inspiring team of cyclists on a tandem bike, two women, one was blind and she was racing with her guide. Each time I saw them on the bike I was so inspired and amazed by what they were doing. Can you imagine the hard work and dedication it takes to do an Ironman without sight. Brad and I are both looking into learning how to become VI guides and one thing on my bucket list is to do a 70.3 with a VI athlete.
After I finished the first loop, stopped at specials needs and a nice french speaking volunteer grabbed my special needs bag and started handing me things in it. I swapped out fresh icy bottles, new chips and bars. It was at this critical point in the race that I made a HUGE mistake. I forgot to ask her to give me the PB&J sandwich in the bag. It was about 10miles later that I realized I forgot to eat it and I knew it was going to be a problem for me. Second loop of the bike was HOT, and the wind had picked up. It wasn't as much fun as the first and the last 12 miles were tough. I drank a lot on the course, took in salt but I knew that I needed that sandwich to absorb the liquid and the minute I got off the bike I felt like I needed to burp. BIKE TIME: Hoping for 7:00, actual 6:51:37
Burping is one of those things that you either do or you don't do. I swear I might actually burp once a year. This is a skill I am thinking about picking up. Had I been able to burp and get the liquid down I could have had a great race but as I headed out on the run I felt like a hot can of soda that had been shaken like crazy all day. I knew unless I burped or got the liquids out of my system there would be no running for me but rather a lot of walking. Each mile I would pick out a landmark and try to jog until the landmark but once I bounced all the bubbles would start to rise again and I started to gag every few miles. No one ever said IRONMAN was glamorous! In fact its incredibly unlady like. At about mile 14, the crowds were thinning a bit and I passed a park bench on the run trail. I crouched down behind it and started to dry heave, then I was able to get some of the bubbles and liquid out of my system. A nice medical volunteer came to my aid and offered me a cold drink and something to wash my mouth. Instantly I felt 100 times better and was able immediately run. It was at this point that I felt so great, relieved and happy I could actually run. I started running and passing a ton of people. All the volunteers were cheering and at this point on the run, everyone on the trail was walking. It was unusual to see someone running a 9:15 consistent pace at this point during the race. I felt great, unfortunately I only had about 10 miles to go so it wasn't going to fix my broken run at this point but I wanted to negative split the run which is very rare at an Ironman. I ran about 6 miles before hitting the last climbs back into town. At this point I was tiring, and had no desire whatsoever to run the hills. I knew I was less than 30 minutes away from finishing. I never doubted I would finish the race today and as my second IM it had a different meaning. I wasn't going to take off the hour I had hoped to cut but I was still going to PR by over 20 minutes. Once I was about 1 mile out from the finish I started to run again. At this point in the day I saw an athlete who did the entire race on a hand crank bike. He was paralyzed from the waste down and cranked the entire bike and run with his arms. It was incredible to see him as he had amazing determination throughout the day. These are the types of things that make this Ironman so amazing. It gives you a real reminder to be grateful for what your able body can do and a reminder to suck it up and keep moving forward. The crowds picked up a lot, I saw a bunch of young guys in their 20's with a funny sign. They would hold it one way for the men and flip it over for the women. The mens side read "There are 10 naked women up in your hotel room with cold beer" and the women's side read "you are looking great". I started to make the turn into the final run through town and started to get emotional. Although I was well prepared for the day, it was long and hot and not how I had hoped, but I was about to finish my second IM and it was still special. The crowds were cheering my name like crazy, I high fived a ton of people and kids and just as I entered the shoot, on the right was Shelly (mother in law) and Sam and Avery cheering for me (Brad was waiting to great me in the finisher tent). Big smile on my face and they said the magic words, "Heidi Marcus, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN". RUN TIME: Hoping for 5:00 Actual 5:40:21 (yikes) Final time 14:05 (probably would have gone sub 14 had I not stopped to pet 3 dogs on the run course).
No doubt there will be another IM in the future because I know I have a 5 hour IM marathon in me and I'm not going to stop until I get there. For now, we will focus on getting Brad better and back on track. In other words, the Ironman journey will continue for Team Marcus, more to come...
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Comments
Power of positive thinking and persistence to get thru first Brad's fracture, then the uncooperative GI tract on the run. Ending with a PR is always a good feeling, and you have more to come in the future.
Congrats on your race! I just hit you with an invite to do an RR podcast so please check your inbox. I look forward to chatting with you about your race and your training!
I know you had alot on your hands going into this, Brad being a mess, picking up kids, being a mom and focusing on your IM. You executed like a rock star and clearly have more in store for '16. Looking forward to seeing it!