Mariah's First IronmanRaleigh 70.3 RR

I knew going into this race that I wasn't as fit as I "should" be and where I "wanted" to be however, it was an important day for me and I never quit, so I knew I would see the finish line even if they were tearing it down! 

I live in the host city so I have had the home advantage of working the course multiple times. For some reason, this didn't help me like I planned. 

Days leading up to the race, I drank water until I felt like I was made of it, the day before I drank Water and Nuun and the morning of the race I drank Perform. My nutrition was the same its always been and the same for all my race rehearsals where I had no issues. Only difference is I had never combined all three sports in all three distances. I had done the swim and bike course together 4 weeks prior. I had done the bike and run course 5 weeks prior and I had done all three disciplines by themselves only once. 

There was nothing on the course that surprised me, other than myself.

 My Training swim time was a solid 45-48mins Actual race time 53:01

My Training bike was 3:30-3:40 actual race time 4:07:18

My Training run was 2:30-2:45 actual race time 3:19:04

T1: 4:10 T2: 3:52

The swim: I was calm, took Dave's advice and started back left and stayed out of the chaos and worked my way to the right on the first leg. I felt great. Nobody swam over me, under me, hit me, etc. I warmed up and at the turn (600 in) I felt great. The next wave caught up to me on the second section and things got a little more aggressive. I kept trying to find my spot but multiple times had to stop to refocus. At this point I was also not even remotely swimming in a straight line. The second turn felt like open seas! Waves, Opposite current and people beating the mess out of me, I got it done, ran up the ramp to the wet suit strippers and headed to my bike. 

The Bike: The first two miles of the bike are a gradual up hill of annoyance, that is where I eat the rest of my power bar, drink a little and prepare my brain for the 56 miles ahead, at mile 3 you hit the highway and its like green flag racing on a nascar track. This stretch is where I ride my fastest, throw it into big wheel and crank out some power because in 15-20 miles, things get ROUGH. I had never done bottle transfers before and admittedly was nervous. First aid station a woman crashed and I had to go around her, I was cramping a little so I took my bottles of perform and also took half a banana. Pass some family on mile 26, gave me the last jolt of energy, hit mile 32 and it was all downhill in my body from there. The outside elements were hilly, full of headwind and the sun was kicking up, inside I was getting dizzy, felt like I was going to black out and didn't need to pee. I think we all know that what was happening is I was hitting my line, and that was WAY TOO EARLY! I kicked into survival mode, took some deep breaths, started telling my body my "one thing" and pushed on. Not finish is literally NEVER an option for me, so even if they were going to break down the finish line before I got there, I was finishing! I took in total two extra bottles of perform more than I ever had in any race rehearsals and added a full banana (1/2 at two aid stations) I still had my power bar gels and my cliff blocks. The last three miles of the bike you see the downtown raleigh sky line and I promise you this, I have never been happier to see that sky line. I remember says "there you are you beautiful city you, come to momma" haha 

The Run: Well I couldn't find my rack at T2 (since it was a point to point I wasn't familiar with it) they directed me to the wrong place and then as I was running out I realized I forgot to grab my computer off the bike, ran back, possibly said a bad word and ran out. All my friends and family were there, and of course they get my terrible transition on video (thanks guys) Emily from EN was there (she is a long time friend of mine and her husband is basically my big brother) She had just finished IMTX so she starts telling me what to do. I keep dropping my nutrition (it wouldn't fit in my trisuit pockets for some reason) I say some more bad words and then focus on the advice emily was giving me. "Run the miles, walk the aid stations, pump your arms, lean forward, feet up...." ok Emily check check check. Threw her a smile and a huge THANK YOU and off I went (carrying my nutrition the entire run I might add) First mile I'm feeling great, ready to get this mess over with, running 11pace (slower than usual but manageable) walk the first aid station, need to pee, there is a line, I decide to wait until the next one. Run to the second mile pace 11:05 ok cool still on schedule, I stop to pee, and I never recovered. After that it was 14 minute miles, cramps and sour belly. The run is a two loop run, I hit Emily again on mile 7 for my second loop, tell her how I'm feeling "Emily if I take one more sip of perform Im going to cry, all I want to do is throw up, my calves are cramping, how do I fix this" She tells me to take one sip of coke per aid station add some water and perform towards the end if I can stomach it. I listen to her, sour belly goes away by mile 10, I see my family at mile 10.5 they give me another boost and I run from there until the finish. Crossing at 8:27:25

I was set to finish at around 7:20ish- didn't happen. After talking to coach and realizing my nutrition was on point but noticing I only peed twice the whole day, not good. I need to see why my body isn't absorbing or reacting to the nutrition, add salt tabs maybe and focus on weight. I have gained 15 pounds since I started training for HIM. I stopped weight lifting and stopped paleo diet. So I have another HIM in October I am going to add back in three weight lifting sessions a week plus paleo, I'm going to speak to a nutritionist about how to tweak my body absorption of the nutrients and Coach R has me set for the remainder of the season. 

Cheers to a much better second half of the season because next year is my first Full and I want to rock that mess! 

Overall, I literally smiled the entire day, I made sure to cheer on friends who were faster and fellow triathletes who were slower than I was. I am so unbelievably proud and had the time of my life. So completely addicted to this sport, all I want to do is get faster and better. Really happy with my execution even though my fitness never got to show up, I was calm cool collected and focused. 

EN is hands down the best thing to ever happen to my training. I feel like I'm making friends for life, learning more and more every day about this sport and feel honored and privileged to be on the same team of some of the best athletes Ive ever known. I don't feel like I belong here yet among these amazing athletes but I assure you, I'll make everyone super proud next race. This race was all about emotions for me. The 5 year anniversary of when I broke my spine in a car accident and my first HIM. Was the perfect day, had a blast even through the sufferfest! 

My motto: Its an Ironman day. All day. EVERYDAY! 

Pictures attached are me coming out of Swim Finish then crossing the finish line, then my medal! YAY!