Ironman Chattanooga Part 2: Race Day!

My goal for race day was to have a good experience. I wanted to have fun, I wanted my smile to be real, I wanted to stop for hugs, and I wanted to soak it all in. I wasn't sure if a certain time on the clock would register with me as having a successful race or if having to really dig deep would be the experience I was looking for. All I knew was that I had to come away from this whole thing feeling better than I did about Arizona. I needed to know that all that time and money that I spent preparing was because I enjoyed it. Because being an Ironman meant something to me. I don't know why Ironman Arizona didn't give me this lasting feeling, but it didn't. I just knew I was grateful to have another chance.

Me and Jason getting our gear scene taken care of.
(Thanks to Erin for taking almost all of these pictures!!)

This swim was point to point. After dropping our bags off and getting body marked, we stood in a really long line for a bus to take us to the swim start. Off the bus, into another really long line for the porta-potty, and then into an even longer line that would supposedly take us to the swim start. We stood around chatting, waiting, waiting, put on our wetsuits, waited, peed again, waited, peed again, waited some more, and then the next thing you know you're standing on a dock and volunteers are yelling, “GO! GO! GO!” and you're thinking, WTF?! Is this it? No National Anthem, no countdown, just, “GO!” I looked over and saw Goat push start on his watch and jump into the river so I followed his lead. The swim was not wetsuit legal which means you can wear wetsuits but you will not be eligible for any age group awards. They started all the wetsuit swimmers at the very end. The race started at 7:30 and I started swimming about 8:05 I think.

Sighting was weird because the river is wide and I wasn't sure if we were supposed to be on one side of the buoys or not. People were everywhere, far left and far right of the buoys. I vaguely remember them saying we could swim the whole river so I just tried to swim a straight line from buoy to buoy. I ended up hugging them perfectly, swimming over each rope as I passed them. I tried to find feet to draft off of but with the wave start and the super fast river current I never could.

I guessed that I would swim a 1:10 for the 2.4 mile swim. The current is so dang fast, I swam a 53:25. Insane!! Totally makes up for the bike course being 116 miles instead of 112. Really uneventful swim, I just tried to swim even and relaxed and not push hard and hold my line as straight as I could. The only thing worrying me was the timing mat. Where was the timing mat?!? I didn't know. I know it wasn't on the dock. Was it up the hill under the banner? Did it start for me at 7:30 when the first swimmer started?? Or at 7:50 when the first wetsuit swimmer started?? I had no idea. I saw my mom right out of the water and excitedly grabbed her hand and yelled, “53 minutes! 53 minutes!!” I wanted them to know my time because I was thinking the official clock might say way slower depending on where the mat was.

Longest transition run ever which included a super steep hill that I had to walk a little. I was happy though, 53 minute swim! Freaking awesome!!

I had worn tri shorts and a sports bra under my wetsuit. I put on my heart rate strap, a bike jersey, helmet, sunglasses, socks, and shoes. Grabbed a bottle of Infinit I had prepared, stuck it in my jersey and I was off. My nutrition plan was to drink 6 bottles of Infinit (250 cals each) and munch on Clif Blocks. The bottles are a pain to mix while riding and I didn't want to stop so I carried 2 on my bike, 1 in my jersey pocket and put 3 bottles in my special needs bag. I had plain water in my aero bottle. Drank my first bottle and tossed it at an aid station so that I didn't have the extra bottle in my pocket.

A sea of people coming out of the first transition.

Hi everybody!!!

Ok. The bike. My friend and mechanic, Dan, had tuned up my bike for me before the race. He said, I'm going to pray every night this bike gets you to the finish line. BIG EYES. OMG. My bike is a used, very inexpensive bike I bought on E-bay that has been with me for a long time. I have put over 5,000 miles on it, who knows how many miles it had on it before me. It's been an awesome bike. But it is time for it to retire.

Right out of transition I instinctively know my focus of the day should not be my pace. There were so many people all around me. Hundreds. Even though it was a fast swim for everyone, I'm still a faster swimmer than I am cyclist. So out of the gate, all these people that I beat in the water are passing me on the bike. First 20 miles was just people passing me. We've got potholes and railroad tracks and cyclists EVERYWHERE. I kept thinking, hold your line, trust they can hold theirs (I don't trust they can for the record. Gosh a lot of triathletes have bad handling skills, makes me crazy) and watch your heart rate. WATCH your heart rate!!! Ok. New plan! I'm gonna stare at my HR.

You'd think as much of a work horse as I am about training and how many lists I make about anything and everything, I would come into a race like this with a game plan. But I didn't really have one. The game plan was Be Happy and Believe. So this spur of the moment, only ride by heart rate was not the plan, but there wasn't a different plan I was supposed to follow so....I'm rolling with it! Freaking hilarious. I guessed before the race that 116 miles would take me 6:40. It took me 6:39:10. Pretty good, eh?

The whole bike ride was basically just me telling myself over and over and OVER, “Don't look at your pace. Who cares what your pace is. Look at your HR. This isn't a race of who has the fastest bike split. This isn't Hotter'n Hell. Ride smart. Be smart. Stay calm. Stop obsessing over your pace!”

I was intimidated by 116 miles and almost 6,000 ft of climbing. I love climbing and I love riding my bike long. But not when the clock is what matters. I love it when I'm with friends and we stop for snacks and pictures and bathroom breaks. Not when I'm racing and every second counts and I don't get any fun snacks and I have to pee on myself. So, because the bike is the scariest part of an Ironman for me, I just kept my focus on riding as smart as I could, keeping an even effort level the whole time, and nailing my nutrition. I wasn't racing like I was at Rivercities or Hotter'n Hell, I was riding to run.

Special needs seems crowded but I slow down and yell out my number, (thanks to AZ I never took my ability to communicate for granted!) come to a stop, and there's my bag! Awesome volunteers, super fast! Switched out all 3 bottles, grabbed some more chews and I was off. Saw my parents just before special needs and they said Erin was there. So I'm frantically looking for Erin! ERIN!!! So happy. Erin, Byron, and Grinder were the best cheerleaders.

Who's happy to see her friends?! This girl!! 

Second verse, same as the first. Stay within your heart rate. Drink. Drink. Pee. Look at the scenery. 2 miles to go and I finally start to relax about mechanicals and other out of my control bike issues. My bike made it in one piece. No mechanicals, no flats, no crashes. Nailed my effort level, nailed my nutrition. I set myself up perfectly for my favorite part of the day, running!! I knew I was so far behind all my guy friends who are incredible cyclists. I just tried to keep up the positive self talk about how I rode smart and now I was going to have a great run because of it.

I see Byron as I'm coming into transition and I yell, “Nailed it!” He says, “You set yourself up perfectly!” That made me so happy, I was glad he could see the big picture of the day like I was focusing on.  It reemphasized for me that I was having a good day. 

Erin and Byron
Don't ever leave home without these two!!!
#bestcrewever

I had decided to change into running shorts and a tank for the run. I didn't change in Arizona and it was fine, but I decided I wanted to feel more like a runner this time. Whether I'm running slow or fast, long or short, roads or trails, alone or with people, it doesn't matter to me. I just love to run. Running is everything to me. It fills my soul with such happiness day after day, year after year. Even after all these years I still don't think of myself as a triathlete. I'm a runner.

Always stop for hugs with your Momma!

My running shoes and lucky shorts on, a quick spray of sunscreen, and I'm ready to go. I see my parents and the gang and stop for big hugs. My legs didn't feel great but I wasn't worried. I knew they'd come around, I just ran whatever pace they wanted. Right away is this huge hill. I laughed so hard when I saw it. Hills!! Ran nice and slow up it with a quick stop to tie my shoelace that had come undone. Let myself fly down the hill on the otherside. This course is 2 loops. The first 5 miles are along the river, it's shaded and flat bike paths. I felt super happy just running along and saying hi and good job to people. Next 3 miles were my least favorite. We ran on the shoulder of a pretty busy road. One road. 3 miles (approximately). No turns, nada. BORING. I hated this section. Started raining though when I was here and that was awesome. I felt cool and my legs loved the burst of energy that cold weather brings. The last 5 miles of the loop are in a really hilly neighborhood. Like, REALLY hilly. But I loved it! You got to see other athletes coming at you and the crowds of people in this section were awesome. Their cheers and energy lifted me up and down those hills with my steady trot. I just love running!

Just out of T2, still nice and dry.

The bridge that symbolized the end of the loop is a gradual incline also. It's kind of a false flat which really annoyed me that first loop. I see my dad at the start of loop 2 and stop for a second to tell him I'm feeling great but it's a tough course so the second lap will be a little slower. But I start that second loop feeling like a million bucks. I have thoughts of, I'm going to negative split! I could break 12:10!! Wow, this is awesome, just keep trucking!!! Be consistent, be smart!

Pass mile 14, 15, get to 16 and think, stay with it, these miles mean nothing to you. There isn't a number you bonk at, erase any memories of marathon bonking. You are strong! Get out to the boring road and slowly start to lose it. I've taken 3 porta-potty stops so far in the run. None of them were emergencies but I felt SO much better after each of them that I declared them worth it. Along this road I just felt like everything was falling apart. My stomach was a mess and I felt so nauseous. I tried all the different aid station cocktails but nothing was working, I only felt worse. There's a really long hill over a bridge and I start walking. First time I'd walked outside of an aid station. My foot was cramping so I loosened my shoelaces. I was crying. It was getting dark now and I was in a dark, dark place. I finally get to a porta-potty and collapse inside. I might have sat there for 5 minutes. Trying to take care of business so I could eat & drink again and trying to calm myself down.

Finally force myself up and out of there. Up to the aid station and up the next hill. Walking. Ugh. I hate walking!!! Shuffle down the hill, then the corner, walk again up the next hill. No!! No, no, no!!! You have to run!!! I'm holding back tears which is so bad because I'm restricting my breathing so much by doing so. I'm consciously aware I've got to calm down.

I talk, outloud (helllllo crazy lady), saying “You have to calm down. Stop crying. You can still break 12:30 but you have to pull yourself together. You are a runner. Do not quit on yourself. Don't you dare quit on yourself!!!!” It worked. I ran the next 2 hills and trusted my quads enough to pick up a lot of speed on the downs. I fly by the last aid stations knowing with 3 miles left I have got to keep my pace up if I want to break 12:30. Last December I qualified for the Boston Marathon with a time of 3:40:00. The time I needed to qualify was 3:40:00. Yes. One second and I wouldn't have qualified. It was the most stressful end to a race in my life. I didn't know what my official swim time was, I knew though that my watch time wasn't right. That was from when I jumped in the river. Not from when I crossed the mystery timing mat. Over my dead body was I going to let myself be that close to a time goal again.

This motivated me more than I can ever explain. 12:30 became my number to beat. I hear my friends yelling my name and it feels like I am flying, I'm running the fastest pace I have all day. It felt like I had come back from the dead. I ran into the finishing chute on cloud 9. It was everything I wanted. I high-five'd everyone and threw my head back laughing. I felt strong and capable and successful. I was an Ironman!!!!

In all the pics of me with my hands up, there's a dude just in front of me.
I tried to slow down so I wouldn't be in his pictures, but it was tough! ;)

I'm so happy with how the day played out. My marathon time, 4:39:35, is an hour slower than my stand-alone marathon. The big picture of the day though put me in at 12:24:07. (Ironman Arizona was 13:28:33) I'm just more happy than I can say with that time. I absolutely refuse to second guess myself or play the what-if game. It was a great day and it filled me with joy.

Time for me and Ironman to take a break for awhile. My life adventure list is long and I'm antsy for mountains, trails, and new places. What a way to go out, filled with contentment. That's a hard thing to find when you're a type A, perfectionist athlete, but I found it in Chattanooga.

My wonderful parents!

Ironman Chattanooga 2014

12:24:07