IMCDA - Steph gets 'er done!
IMCDA was the hardest and most exhilarating thing I have ever done. I started training in earnest for this race in late January, after trying to heal up a knee injury sustained in a December marathon. I learned the lesson the hard way that marathon training and OS or IM training do not go hand in hand.
Thursday was a cold and windy day and we wimped out on a lake swim practice. So, Friday was "do or die" to get in the lake. The water temp was in mid-50's and the water was VERY choppy. My friends Karen and Luis went swimming with me and I was so glad. We picked out about a 1/2 mile course around some buoys in the water. I had a really hard time swimming in the choppy water. Luis waited for me at every buoy to make sure I made each turn and I was so glad to have his face out there! With that behind me, I started really hoping for calm water on race day. Friday and Saturday were spent getting our gear ready, resting, and meeting up with my EN team for a team dinner. It was great to meet everyone and get some good advice for the race.
I got up at 2am Sunday morning for my "breakfast" - oatmeal and greek yogurt. I went back to sleep and then got up at 4:30 for my second breakfast (a Mix1 and 1/2 banana). Then we grabbed our stuff and walked down to the transition area. I topped off my tires, added my nutrition to my bike and my transition bags, and got body marked....all without difficulty. I had decided to seed myself about in the middle of the pack, expecting about a 1:30 swim time. Soon it was time for the national anthem and then the cannon sounded. Wow....2800 athletes into the 54 degree water at one time and trying to swim. I felt like I was in a rugby match, not a swim race. I don't think I even put my head in the water for the first 100 yards or so. I was just trying to keep from drowning with all the pushing, clawing, etc. going on. I think I finally found some open water and actually swam for a short period of time. At the first turn buoy, the wrestling match began again. I had trouble sighting directly into the sunlight and ended up WAY to the right trying to make the turn toward the beach. The rest of the swim was much the same: a little open water and some good swimming, then right into a pack of people and more of a fight to stay on top of the water. I stumbled on my exit out of the water, I think because my feet were so frozen, and a volunteer caught me. Once I regained my balance, and I took off to the wonderful wetsuit strippers. I was out of my suit super quick, picked up my bag and went into the transition tent hoping to find someone to help me get dressed. The volunteers were all busy, so I tried my best to get on my armwarmers and gloves, sunglasses and helmet, shoes and socks. I was absolutely shivering, and it seemed to take me an hour to get dressed.
The first part of the ride I just concentrated on warming up and stopping shivering. I tried hard to keep my wattage output on my bike within my warmup zone. After about a 1/2 hour, I picked up my power a little and started taking in my nutrition. I really wasn't sure how much time the bike portion would take. I thought it would be 7-8 hours. So, I figured I could make 3.5 hour Infinit bottles and make up any difference with a gel or two. So, every 15 min my Garmin would beep and I would take in 2 sips of Infinit and 8-10 sips of water. That worked great.
Then, disaster. As I was approaching the 20 mile aid station, I moved to the left side because I did not need to get anything and I knew my water was still plenty full. A biker in front of me made a sudden slow down and turn to the right over to the aid station volunteers and I knew I was about to hit her. I didn't dare swerve to the left, because I was sure there were other bikers on that side. So, I pulled on my brakes.....hard....to avoid hitting her. I flew over my bars and landed on my head and right side on the asphalt and my bike crashed down to my side. My first thought was, "there goes the Ironman dream". I heard all sorts of people gasping and saying "OMG, is she ok?" and "Medic!". The director of the aid station came and helped me get up and some other people took my bike off to the side. A few guys checked out my bike and decided the wheels still turned and the brakes still worked. The paramedic checked me out, gave me a mini-mental status exam and told me he would clear me to continue to race. I was SO relieved and got right back on my bike. I have to admit I was a little skittish after that, I did not want to go down again. I could tell my right carbon wing (the handlebar part) was cracked because every time I tried to put a little weight on it, I could feel it give a little. So, I had to use the brakes without putting any weight on the bars. To top it off, the worst part of my road rash was my right forearm, so I had a really hard time resting any of my weight on the aerobars on that arm. It made for an interesting rest of the journey, but I was honestly just so grateful that I could still be out there, that I kinda forgot about the rest of it. The hills were hard, but not terribly long. I really just tried to stay in my zone and stick to my plan. Now that I have downloaded my Garmin file, I see that I was way over what I had intended (TSS 457.8, IF 0.8, VI 1.09). I did not look at my power meter on the climbs, I really just focused on keeping my effort low. So, I know my output was high, but I'm not sure I could have gone much lower on the hills without falling off my bike.
At special needs, I swapped my nutrition bottles. I had frozen my second bottle solid, and although it was melted, it was COLD! So, I thoroughly enjoyed the first bit of that bottle until it warmed up a bit. I wanted to ditch my gloves and arm warmers at that time, but I knew that the shredded fabric was at least protecting my road rash a little, so I had to keep them on even though I was plenty warm.
The last few miles felt long as they were straight into a headwind, but I was so happy to cross the dismount line and have a volunteer take my bike away from me. I grabbed my transition bag and again headed into the changing tent. I really sweet volunteer took me aside and helped me change my socks and shoes, took my bloody and sweaty gloves and armwarmers from me and I was off.
My feet felt like lead, but I was so happy to be off my bike I think I had a lot of renewed energy. I really had to work to keep my speed down in the first few miles. It was very hard to slow down. I felt good until the first time up "the big hill". That hill took my average speed right down. I tried to get into a rhythm of walking my 30 paces at each aid station as I got in my hydration and nutrition. I alternated with water and coke at one aid station, and water and a shot block at the next aid station. I think this worked pretty well, except I did get out of energy toward the end of the race, so I think I may have needed a few more calories. I didn't have much GI issues with my strategy however.
As I made the first trip back into town, I saw all of the EN families, my family, and Rich at 7th and Sherman. It was so great to have all of them screaming and yelling and high-fiving me. That was one of the highlights. It was really hard to listen to the finish line excitement, and turn around to start out for a second 13 mile loop. I was able to see so many people on the run - both friends and EN teammates. That kept me going. At special needs, I changed into dry socks and took a 200mg caffeine tablet to get me through the rest of the day. The rest of the run was difficult to say the least. Definitely a mental exercise to continue to run. I think I walked up most of the big hill on the second lap, my mental strength just was not strong enough to get me to run up that darn thing.
After seeing my EN support team again, I made the final turn onto Sherman street with the finish line in view. That final quarter mile was the best run I have ever had. I could not stop grinning from ear to ear and I gave a big high five to every little kid that held his hand out to me. I could hear Mike Reilly say "Stephanie Stevens, you are an Ironman!" as I crossed the finish line and it was the only thing I wanted to hear. Some great volunteers helped me get my medal, hat, shirt, water and picture, then lead me right to the medical tent to get my bloody arm and hands cleaned out and dressed.
So, overall a huge success for me! I learned a lot, for sure:
*I probably needed a few more calories on the run
*I definitely need hill work - time to do those trail runs!
*I am learning how to train and race with power, and I think this was a good starting place. My IF was definitely higher than I had intended it to be, but since I didn't totally blow up on the run, I wonder if my FTP is higher than my last testing session determined it to be. I think I need to retest outdoors at a time when I am not totally exhausted to begin with and see if maybe my FTP is higher.
*I need to figure out how to slow down the early part of the run, and then have the mental stamina to keep it going.
*I definitely would not feel bad in the future about staying on shore for 30 seconds or so and let the inital boxing match in the water take place without me in the middle of it.
*I took 2 salt tabs all day, which was maybe just a bit shy from what I needed as I had some leg cramping in the last half of the run. If it was a hotter day, I definitely would have needed to pay closer attention to this.
*Having support of friends, family, coaches and teammates - both those on the course and those on the sidelines, was so important to me.....really made all the difference.
Time to get my bike inspected, rest up, and then be ready to put these lessons into motion for IMAZ!
Swim: 1:24:22
T1: 10:25
Bike: 7:13:34
T2: 3:14
Run: 5:02:42
Total: 13:54:15
Comments
Holy crap. I thought I had a tough day. Im going to shut up now and suck it up. Way to stay with it and give it all you got. Amazing stuff really. Where to next!
Stephanie - to survivie that swim and then get swideswiped on the bike - easy to pack it in after that, but you kept on going, committed to the finish. Great job!
Great race report! Will see you in AZ.
Great job and amazing focus!
Hey Steph,
So great to see you and congrats on your finish! You did a great job of adapting to changes (BIG!) thrown at you throughout the day. That's what it's really all about, problem solving!
Stephanie: you are one tough cookie. you got up like the Terminator after that fall. your blood likely created pot holes in the road as it dripped from your wounds.
excellent race and mental toughness!!
GH
Stephanie - Well done. Fighting thru a rough swim and a crash to finish - that's iron stuff. I'm so happy for you that you got back on your wounded "steed" to finish the race. WTG!! Glad I had a chance to see you at the finish.