Ironman Louisville 2018 - Part 1

Wow! What a day. My triathlon journey has been leading to this one day for literally years. My sister asked me why I wanted to do Ironman, other than the natural progression of longer distance racing. But after my first sprint triathlon, I dreamed this big dream of being called an Ironman. The years passed. Injuries came and went. Life had its ups and downs and turns. But, here I am. It came and went. It's over. All the long workouts. All the worry (honestly, there wasn't TOO much worry). I swam. I biked. And I ran and walked and jogged. And, I crossed the finish line.

There is so much to say about the day. Leading up to the weekend, the chance of rain crept up. I was upset about that. Then my coach told me I know better than to spend time on anything outside of my control. My sister also told me to get it out of my system now, early, that way on race day I don't give it any more mental attention. Both things were great pieces of advice and really worked.

I really wasn't feeling too nervous leading up to race day. I drove up to Louisville Thursday after work. I dealt with my athlete check-in stuff Friday morning before having to pick up my sister from the airport. I also had time to make a quick walmart run. The walk down to transition on Friday morning to get my packet was enough for me to know my hands would be freezing on the bike, rain or no rain. I found a decent pair of gloves for $10 and it may have been the best $10 I spent all weekend.

We had team dinner on Friday night. I got there early so I could have a couple minutes with my coach before everyone else started showing up. We continued to discuss wardrobe decisions and race plans. She reminded me that one of her best marathons was in a downpour at the end of Ironman Texas. I chatted with my old teammates, met some of my new ones.

 Saturday, I got out on my bike and tested out the gloves. I was able to shift and control my bike with them on which was most important. And they definitely were better than the basic $1 knit ones I had as my original emergency gloves. That was followed by a quick run around the block. I mixed my nutrition and packed up all of my transition and special need bags. Then we went down to drop that stuff off. The volunteer in transition who helped me rack my bike was the one that got my red volunteer bracelet. They give the athletes these bracelets at check-in to give to a volunteer to show appreciation. I honestly wish I had 100 to give away. All the volunteers all weekend were amazing.

We had a late lunch and then just lunged around all afternoon. I walked about 7 miles on my rest day Friday and my ankles were a little sore. I actually got them taped on Saturday, probably more for a mental reassurance than anything else. There were lots of good cartoons on TV. Perfect way to chill. Just having my sister there with me, even if all we were doing was watching tv made a huge difference in my pre-race nerves. It was a big day and even though I knew other people that would be out there racing or spectating on the course, it's not the same as having someone there to calm your nerves prior to the race.

I think the fact that I got the weather worries out of the way earlier in the week, I wasn't really thinking about it too much on Saturday. Friday and Saturday were pretty nice days. Cool, a little bit windy but sunny. It did make me a little bitter but again, nothing I could do about it and it wasn't going to change the plan I had going in. My coach and I talked about it before the weekend even started. I was aiming to swim a 1:30, bike 8 hours, and run 15 minute miles. She calculated my day with 6 minute transition times and this would have left me with about 14 minutes to spare before the 16:30 cutoff.

Wake up on Sunday morning and it's already raining. The weather called for "a bit of rain." The hourly  forecast for the day went over 50% only 2 or 3 hours, nonconsecutive - LIES!. I waited a while to get dressed. And then waited some more to start our walk down to transition. Since I had already dropped all my bags, I really didn't need to go down for anything other than to double check my bike. I did add a little air to my back tire and then it was time to head towards the swim start. We stopped under the bridge and I took off my warm morning clothes and traded up to a wetsuit. We then continued our walked. Eventually we came down to the lawn where people we lining up for the swim start. This is a self seeded swim and I positioned myself in the 1:20 to 1:30 group. Then we continued to wait. There really wasn't much going on. Nicole played some music for me on her phone. I even got to hear "Remember the Name" which she didn't know was one of my and Cait's songs.

7:25 came and went. This was when the professionals were supposed to start. Eventually, information got around that the swim was being delayed. And it was going to be shorted. I guess the rain from overnight and the morning added to the river and the current was too strong to swim the course as planned. They cut what was supposed to be a 2.4 mile swim down to 0.9 miles, all down stream. Honestly, I wasn't phased. It was not within my control. It would upset a lot of first-timers to know their course was being shortened. But safety is top priority and I didn't want to get sucked down river so I was perfectly ok with the situation. Caitlin had texted me to tell me nothing changes with the plan, but I didn't have my phone with me. Although, I just assumed as much anyway. They finally started the professionals at 8:00. The age groupers started around 8:15 I think. They were sending swimmers in 1 at a time in an attempt to keep the bike course from getting to crowded. I was able to see Cait go by starting the bike before I even made it down to the dock. I continued to mosey down the line. My sister gave me a hug and I left to head down the ramp. It was definitely slow going. The delayed start and anticipation of getting in the water, my emotions were running high as I was about to begin my first Ironman. It was a day that not that long ago felt out of reach. It was a dream I almost considered giving up on. But there I was, about to go forth and put my training, my body and my mind to the test. I started crying. A very nice woman in the crowd encouraged me. Then of course my fellow athletes began talking to me and it calmed me down. Finally it was my turn to get into the water! And so began my 140.6 (ok, well I guess 139.1) journey.

The swim was a bit frustrating. The water was definitely strong. They were shouting directions at us the whole time we were in the water. This made it hard to focus on swimming. It was difficult to see since it was still raining. The water was also steaming since it was 20 some degrees warmer than the air temperature. I don't even know how many buoys were still out there in positions that were actually for us to use for sighting. They kept telling us to swim right. We needed to pass under the bridge with a certain pillar to our left. Yet, almost as soon as we made it under the bridge they started yelling at us to swim left. It was challenging. Pro's were in and out in 12 minutes. My swim time was 17:40. Out of the water and I got some cheers from Swim Bike Mom - Meredith Atwood. I ran over and gave her a hug.

Then I hustled on into transition. The tent was crowded! I was able to find a chair and a volunteer. I had her put some vaseline on under my bra strap, a hot spot for chaffing. Long sleeve bike jersey on. I cleaned up and dried off my fee the best I could. Although I am not sure in the grand scheme of the day socks mattered on the bike all that much. Socks and bike shoes on. Helmet. Glasses. Gloves. GO! My volunteer told me I was quick. There was no point to changing out of my wet tri shorts since it was still raining a decent amount. Cait and I talked about transition as a good place to shave time. So I really did my best to not waste time there. However the wet conditions on the concrete made it precarious to try and run in bike shoes leading up to the mount line. I honestly can barely walk in my bike shoes to begin with. I made it to the mount line, got on my bike, and went on my way.  T1 10:03.

As I said, at the start, it was raining decently. For the rest of the day, it rained. I think there were a few 20 minutes sections were it wasn't raining but honestly it didn't matter or make a difference. I rode by Nicole who waited for me on the stretch of rode we were on down by the swim start. And so it began. A very long bike ride. My longest bike ride to date. I ate an uncrustables right away. I was hungy before I even started the swim due to the delayed start and long line to get into the water. I knew the cold would make it hard to stay on top of nutrition and fluids. It's hard to be motivated to eat and drink when you are freezing. My legs and feet were numb pretty much from the beginning but I just kept pedaling. Hills came and went. Miles ticked off. I made it to La Grange which is a viewing spot they actually shuttle spectators out to. It was great to hear people cheering. I even got some high fives! And a personal shout from my friend and old teammate Cheyenne.  It's always great to hear someone calling your name. It's such a boost. This was about 30 miles into the bike. I was very focused on continuing to move forward. When I first got on my bike, my HR was high, which is usually the case for me. Even though the first few miles of the course are relatively flat, I have a hard time getting it to come down. Then I started hitting the hills and I honestly couldn't worry about it. It was going to be what it was and I had to keep biking, even it my HR was high. It did start to settle down a little. It came down when I coasted the down hills. And then spiked again as I got winded going up hill. I definitely need to do more hill work if I am going to do this course again.

Two primary thoughts I had throughout the ride: I can imagine this is a gorgeous ride on a nice day. I'm cold but happy. I continued to bike.  Honestly, I feel like there isn't too much to say about the bike. I got it done. It was cold. It was hard to eat with my glove on. But I still was able to manage. I stopped at special needs to grab my second half nutrition. I asked what time it was. 2pm. I believe the cutoff for being on the second lap of the bike was 2:30 which means I was in good shape. I also was about 4 hours into my ride at this point,  a little more than half way and on track for my 8 hour overall bike time. I did have to make a pit stop for the bathroom at an aid station down the way because the ones in special needs were crowded.  The course was crowded on my first loop which is normal. The faster athletes on the course were coming around on their second loop while the rest of us were on our first. Crowded course and the wet road conditions are probably not the best mix.

Coasting some of the downhills was honestly scary. Wet roads and 30 mph downhill on a bicycle probably not the safest scenario. This did cause an overall slow down to my bike. Also, similar to driving a car, when the person in front of you is breaking, you break. And if you don't want to break, odds are there is someone about to speed past you on the left and you have to break anyway.  I got caught behind people going slower than I would have up hill once or twice. I dealt with these encounters as they arose and that's all I could do.  Eventually, almost exactly 8 hours from when I started, I was back at the dismount line. What a beautiful sight!

Official bike time - 7:58:30.

To be continued...  Second transition, a marathon, and the finish to come in part 2. :)