Ironman Arizona

I think I will hang on to this medal for a while ;)

What a long year it has been and how relieved am I to now be officially partaking in "offseason". Most of you who follow along know that I had some redemption to take care of in my Arizona journey. After a medical emergency at Texas, I was robbed of my ironman finishline and was determined to get there. I didnt need "proof" that I could do it, or to show anyone I could, I just wanted pure piece of mind; both a mental and physical victory.

My lead up going into Arizona was beautiful and I am always one to admit that Ironman is more about the journey and process then it is the finish line. In fact sometimes just getting to the start line is more of a struggle. There was days when I was more then tired, sore, and hungry, but I always found peace in that no matter how slow or fast I went, I was heading in the right direction for MY Ironman race. I started tapering about 12 days out and as soon as a few days of rest set in, the power came back, the paces dropped, and I was nearly bouncing off the wall. I found a restored confidence that I was going to have the race of my life. My new goal was to: "Not do anything stupid".

Checking in @ Tempe Beach Park.

The days came and were gone and the next thing I knew I found myself sitting on a 5 hr flight to Arizona. There was magic in the air and I was in good spirits. I rented an Air BnB so that I would have the ability to cook and control what I ate. It also had a pool, which was nice to be able to just walk out the door and swim. As soon as I checked in I headed over to pick up my bike and bags from Tri Bike Transport and get checked in for the race. I enjoyed chatting with a few familiar faces and then hit the road to start preparing and get the legs up for the rest of the day. The days leading into the race were uneventful and the nerves were really at bay. In fact, I really didnt have any nerves at all, I just wanted to do this damn thing...

Race Morning (and if you read anything at all read this one part :P )

I woke up nearly every hour of the night to check my phone. Being on Mountain time actually helped my east coast body as 4 am was pretty easy to wake up to. I ate my normal pre-race breakfast and called the Uber to come pick me up. Then I called another Uber to come pick me up.....Cancelled. The ubers didnt want to pick me up because they didnt want to drive into the closed down roads! By now it had been 30 minutes and my heart was racing and I yelled OMG I AM GOING TO MISS THE RACE! I took off down the highway, my mom chasing after me. I saw a Firetruck and started whaling my arms around and yelling HELP!! I asked the Firemen if they could give me a ride to the race and that I was going to miss it. They Graciously let me jump in and like that.... I road to the race in a Firetruck! 

People say that if I didnt get a picture then it didnt happen, but honestly by then my HR was through the roof and I was not thinking about taking any pictures!!

I busted through transition like a bat out of hell, prepped my bike and dropped my bags, threw my Blueseventy wetsuit on, kissed my mom farewell and then I was at the start line.  I was able to get about 10 minutes of warm up in which I knew I needed because I absolutely hate swimming in a wetsuit. Before the cannon Yvonne was asking me what I swam and she decided she would swim with me. I have always been intimated by her but she was the sweetest girl ever and I think its awesome and proof that just because we are "pros" does not mean we are not normal and have pre-race nerves just like everyone else. All the girls started saying good luck and there was a unspoken "dont touch me" in the eyes of my competitors.

BOOM

The Sunrise was amazing! Photo Credit: Competitive Image. 

The swim:
The cannon sounded and we were off. I managed to hang on to some feet for about 500 meters and then things were starting to break up. I noticed Yvonne to my side like she said she would. To be honest it was a long and lonely swim as we basically swam alone for the rest of the way. I was glad the water was cool, as I tended to over heat and I was also glad I wore my Blueseventy  yellow tint goggles as the sun was just barely rising as we headed off into the distance. The yellow acts to brighten and I felt they made it very easy to see.  I decided to just settle into a nice pace. It was honestly not that fast, but in an ironman a surge to cover a minute faster was not going to do anything for me. I exited the water in 9th, and safe to say was happy with that.

The bike:
Onto the bike I grabbed my Kiwami wings to help keep as much sun off me as possible for the day. Luckily, the sun never really came out for the day and we were blessed to have an overcast  (yet windy) day. The bike course is a 3 loop course and from the getko we were straight into the head wind. Up the "climb" and into the first turnaround I average about 18mph and thought oh boy the bike will be a little longer then expected. However, I was averaging almost 27mph on the way back and that was just strictly fun.

Why yes I did "steal" this. Although I will probably buy a few! Cactus sighting.

I noticed when going out into the head wind my stomach felt a little unsettled. I tried to drink as much water as possible to help digest and dissolve whatever was going on. I ate a few pieces of clif bar and believe it or not it was helping to settle my stomach. Because I opted to drink water, I ended up being behind on my calorie intake (I usually drink my calories in about 300 calories per bottle form), but I knew that I would not be able to stomach them. I am not kidding, for the 8 weeks leading up to the race I had not a SINGLE nutrition problem, and here it was--on race day. Because I had barely had any calories before my stomach started having problems, I knew it must of been the water in the lake. I am SUPER sensitive to bodies of water. Whenever I travel I tend to always get sick from the water, and in fact when I lived in Texas I could not stomach the water as I would get sick immediately, so for 6 years I always used a Britta or bottled.  So, its not surprising to me that Tempe Townelake unfortunately had begun its workings on my stomach.

Despite the issues, I was holding my power and it wasnt until the 4th hour that my power began to drop a little. This was on the verge of being normal because you are just plain tired of doing it, but also due to a little less calories intake. I focused on getting in as much as I possibly could and just staying with what the day had in store for me. I defiantly slowed a bit on the way home and I swear the wind switched directions so that it was headwind-headwind, but I managed to get off the bike, although a bit behind. I also noted that I had to pee, so I had done my job of hydrating.

The run:
As soon as I hit the ground I prayed to the running gods, "please give me my legs". I hit mile 1 and 2 on pace at roughly 730. The legs were there! I started intaking my gel flask as I wanted to keep the calories going. Unfortunately my stomach was still not happy about that. And so began the marathon from hell. Nearly every mile I was puking. I actually got pretty good at keeping moving through the action. I switched to coke at every station because that was atleast settling. Screw you gel flask! The coke eventually got to my stomach too though and up it came after first gulp.

Although the run was rough I was in fairly good spirits. I never once doubted that I would not finish, I really just didnt want to do it anymore from about mile 15 and on. But when there is a will, there is a way.... I figure I was actually still running about the same pace, it was just the fact I had to keep slowing, to Um, take care of business. My 320 goals easily turned into 340, but thats the journey....thats just what ironman has in store for you and you never know until you try (or tri).

Seeing the finish line in sight. Pure relief.

So much happiness.

I enjoyed the cheers and the smiles. So much perseverance on the course. So much determination. Ironman, is awesome.















I was greeted by a crying mom and an over joyous smile at the finish line. You would think I had won the race. But no, I had just done it--I am an Ironman.

Huge Thanks to all my sponsors, friends, teams this year. You all are the best and the whole reason I made it this far in my triathlon career! Thanks!!
#DTDCREW
#ClubTribe
#MHCoaching
#Blueseventy
#Kiwami
#AussieCycleWorks
#KleanAthlete
#OatmegaBar
#SBRSports
#JSC/SBS