Cicely's IMChoo Race Report
Before Sunday I had only done 1 Ironman--Florida in 2008. The goal was to finish, and my time was 14:47:44. After that, I took some time off from triathlon, had two kids and eventually got back in to triathlons and other local races. By 2015 I was really wanting to give Ironman another go. If I was going to do it, though, I wanted to do my best, so with the encouragement of a veteran EN member and his wife, Mark and Katy Roberts, I signed up with EN--and I am SO glad that I did.
Probably the most important lesson I learned from Endurance Nation over the last 5 months is that Ironman, along with any other race, is about EXECUTION, not fitness. It didn't matter what everyone was saying about the heat or the hills or whatever it was. I wasn't going to give myself an excuse to let myself quit. I was going to follow my plan and adjust if needed. So here's my day. :-)
Alarm went off at 4am. I didn't want to get up. I was in a deep sleep. I woke up around 2 am with prerace nervousness, but told myself to get this last bit of rest. Finally crawled out of bed around 4:10. Showered and my wonderful husband went downstairs to toast my bagels. I ate 1.5 blueberry bagels with peanut butter and strawberry jam, 1 banana, 1 salt capsule, and a little GE. Got dressed and headed to transition at 5am.
My husband dropped me off and of course I forgot my pump in the car...I was running behind the car trying to get him to stop. He didn't see me. I figured, oh well, there had to be extra pumps around. On the way in to transition I was body marked and headed to my bike and to look for a pump. The support for this race was amazing. I just lined my bike up and a very nice bike mechanic aired up my tires and did a little check of gears and brakes in less than 10 min. I put my nutrition on my bike and dropped off special needs bags. I said goodbye to my family and headed to the shuttle. Arrived at swim start around 6:15 am. I used the bathroom and then jumped in the swim start line. Not too far back, about 1/4 mile from start. Sat down and visualized the race and my plan--tried to not get in any conversations. 7:10 am I put on my swim skin and took a gel with water at 7:15 am. Headed to swim start and entered the water. I almost forgot to start my Garmin, but I remembered once in the water. I can honestly say I wasn't nervous. I was so prepared, physically and mentally. Race day was my reward for all of my training.
Swim was a little crowded. I focused on form and counted my strokes. Sighted every 15th stroke. I was so focused at one point I swam right under one of the large triangle markers, lol.
Projected swim: 1:10-1:15 Actual time 1:03:45
Walked up the stairs, unzipped my swim skin, then started jogging. Picked up my bike bag (no volunteers available, but my pink unicorn duct tape on my bag made it easy to see). In tent, I took out my helmet and handed my bag to a volunteer and asked her to take my shoes out. She took my swim stuff and I was out. At my bike I put on my shoes and headed out. Didn't wear the arm coolers...tried to put one on but it was too hard being wet and all. Stuffed them down my tri top just in case and headed out.
T1 4:10
The first loop of the course was great. A little crowded, but not too hot. Took 1 gel and started drinking GE immediately. Took it as easy as I could that first 30 min but my adrenaline was definitely pumping. I felt great. I paid attention to the false flats and climbed hills the EN way. Kept my power below 124 the best I could. 1 gel every 45-1 hour depending on my stomach. Really paid attention to my body. At mile 25 I REALLY needed to pee and I did not want to stop. I tried my hardest to pee on the bike, but I physically couldn't do it...by mile 52 I went ahead and stopped. I felt so much better after. In retrospect, I wish I wouldn't have held it so long. The second loop was HOT. Really hot. I kept drinking my GE and a little water with my gels. Would douse myself in water at every aid station as well. Took my last gel around mile 90 and at 100 I felt the heat and fatigue hit me. My chain fell off just after mile 100, and I stopped to put it back on--I think this was a good thing...it distracted me from the pain I was feeling. I needed to use the bathroom again, but decided I could make it until the run (is it really bad to hold it???) I decided to take my power really low the last 16 miles to set up my run. Power was around 85,, but all I could hear in my head was Coach Rich from the four keys talk, "Be smart. Don't be stupid."
Projected bike time 5:45 Actual 6:00 (Average power 113/Average speed 19.2)
When I got off the bike I was the only one walking. Everyone around me was sprinting, but all I could think was I don't want to run a marathon now. I'm hot. I'm tired. I can't see straight. A volunteer handed me my run bag and I shuffled into the change tent. A really nice volunteer sat me down, and I told her to take out my shoes and go bag but to not open it (learned that from Mark Robert's race report). I think she was really worried about me, and frankly I was worried about me too. They dumped water on me and put ice in my bra and I immediately started to feel better, but I still didn't know how I was going to continue. I figured you're here now, you paid $900 for this, and sacrificed so much to train and my family sacrificed for me as well. I owed it to them to carry on. I put on my socks and shoes, put my ice bag on my wrist (and had it filled up just outside the tent), stopped for sunblock and started the run.
T2 5:12
The first thing I did was look at my pace--I was going too fast. Slowed my pace to 9:37 and headed out up the first hill. I saw Mariah on the way out and her excitement was great! It made me feel happy about doing the race again. I stuck to my plan--I ran from aid station to aid station, only walked for about 20-30 seconds. Just enough time to drink two cups of GE, 1 sip of water, fill my ice bag, which stayed stuffed in my bra--AMAZING!!!!, and dump a cup of ice water on my head at the end. I remembered I needed to pee at mile 4 and stopped for a bit longer. By mile 8 I realized I was getting a blister...on the ball of my left foot...and I NEVER get blisters!!!! My special needs bag was 5 miles away with my dry socks and blister pads but i knew if I waited until then my foot would be trashed--I didn't come this far to be defeated by a stinkin' blister!!!! Then I remembered Rich at the four keys talk mention that duct tape could fix anything. I yelled to the volunteers, "Duct tape! Do you have duct tape?" There were many weird stares and a couple "Nahs" and then one lady said, "Yes! Yes! I have duct tape! What the heck do you need duct tape for?!" I took off my shoe and sock and wrapped the tape around the front off my foot. Put my sock and shoe back on and headed out. I have never done anything like this before. It actually wasn't that uncomfortable, and my blister was no longer hurting--this is when I mentally transferred into pure beast mode. I thought to myself, "I am running with duct tape on my foot! I am a bad ass! I am going to crush this race!!!!" Then I told myself don't get too excited you still haven't made it to the line, and I continued on slow and steady. At mile 13 I stopped and sat down to take off the duct tape (I almost stuffed it in my bra to keep as a memento, but I didn't :-)). I put on my blister pads and dry socks and I felt like a new person. So for the run my box was 4 miles and it worked really well. By the time I hit mile 18 I still felt great but I knew the line for Chattanooga was really mile 20. I tried to take a gel at mile 18 and as soon as the vanilla hit my tongue I immediately started to vomit. I swallowed it very quickly and threw the gel down--I wasn't going to lose those calories now! I would try a citrus gel at the next stop, but of course all they had was Mocha and vanilla, drank GE instead and decided to try at the next station. Thank goodness they had a Razz! I gulped it down and knew that would be the last gel I could handle but I was on mile 20 and it didn't matter. My body started to really feel what I had done throughout the day around this time. I saw Rich and Mariah around mile 22, and I could smell the finish line. At mile 23 I yelled out, "F@#ck yeah! Only a 5k left!!!" People around me thought I was nuts, but I didn't care, I just wanted to get this thing over with. It was at this point where I decided to look at my overall time. I had 3 goals going in to this race. 1) I wanted to finish in the daylight. 2) I wanted to run the marathon. 3) I wanted to PR by 3 hours (This was my personal goal that I didn't tell many people because I knew it would be difficult and I really didn't want to get too caught up in time). When I looked at my watch I knew I could make all 3 of my goals if I just held steady. I didn't even stop at the last aid station. Mile 25 was the fastest so far of the day (9:22). Turned onto the wood bridge and a 30 year old female started to pass me on my left. I thought to myself, "Oh no you don't!" and I surged past her. The pace was feeling tough and I slowed just a bit. Then, another girl in my age group started to pass me on my right...I sped up again. There was a pack of us just running as hard as we could to the finish line. The spectators were going crazy and I felt like I was in the Olympics!!! At the turn to the finish line I was in front and I just carried my speed down the hill. I ran through to the finish line soaking in every moment. My last mile was my fastest at an 8:03. I was ecstatic! I just RACED an Ironman! And I completed every goal. Final time was 11:46:44. A 3 hour and 1 minute PR exactly!!! The icing on the cake was that I actually got 4th in my AG and was 1 roll down slot away from KONA!!! Unbelievable!!!!!
Projected run: 4:30-4:45, Actual run 4:33:37
Thanks to everyone that gave feedback on my initial race plan--your guidance helped me get to the line feeling great! I can't wait to do this again, but I'll be taking 2 or 3 years off from Ironman. Back to just local tris, occasional marathons, and 70.3s. It's family time again. Thanks EN for preparing me for the best race of my life. I am a completely different athlete than I was 5 months ago.
Comments
Congrats on an amazing race. Loved your report. You are clearly as tough mentally as you are strong physically. You were great in all 3 disciplines, but especially the bike. I remember in your plan you wanting to ride sub-6 hours on a long, tough course on watts in the 120's. I also weigh ~145 and figured it would take me at least 150 watts to ride 6 hours. Yet . . . you did it on 113 freakin' watts! That's simply ridiculous. You obviously rode very smoothly and must have been aero 99% of the time. Then, you improvised, persevered and out-toughed nearly the entire field on the run.
Congrats again. Looking forward to your encore in a few years.
Mike
Cicely...Congrats on a fantastic race. Some people do Ironmans as participants; others do Ironmans as racers. You are a racer!!
You prepared well, absorbed the guidance and feedback from the team to adjust your race plan, and executed like a veteran. What a fantastic run in brutal conditions. Even a sprint finish.
Best wishes for success in future races! You have more to accomplish in this sport.
Great report and fantastic race in some real ugly conditions Cicely!
Getting that run done the way you did, with that heat index where it was, says you did many many things right up front Ironman.
I always have a roll of duct tape in my Run special needs bag, it can do miracles......
Sincere congratulations on completing a tough training cycle and bringing it home across the finish line with purpose and authority!
SS
Thanks Mike! Your feedback helped me a lot!
Bruce, it was great to meet you in person and thanks for the words of encouragement!
Shaughn and Paul, thank you and yes, duct tape is awesome...who knew?!
Great race Cicely. It sounds like you executed it perfectly. This part of your report is so true.
"Probably the most important lesson I learned from Endurance Nation over the last 5 months is that Ironman, along with any other race, is about EXECUTION, not fitness. It didn't matter what everyone was saying about the heat or the hills or whatever it was. I wasn't going to give myself an excuse to let myself quit. I was going to follow my plan and adjust if needed."
Enjoy your time with your family. The kids grow up too fast and then they have lives of their own. Ironman will still be there .
Can't wait to cheer you on the next race!