Kona Race Report- Ford Ironman World Championships- October 9, 2010

Race Goal: To finish uninjured (and without walking), to encourage others along the way, and to enjoy the race!

Race Result: Finished uninjured (and without walking), tried to focus on encouraging others along the way, and definitely enjoyed the entire race experience. Finish: 10:21, 3rd Place Female 25-29 Age Group.

I went into Kona not knowing what to expect from my body. In Mid-August, a couple weeks after IM Lake Placid, I developed a hamstring strain that hung around until race week in Kona, despite trying everything to help it heal- PT/ dry needling, hot yoga, icing, massage, heat, anti-inflammatories, etc. I cut out almost all fast running and just did shorter, easy runs as my body would allow. Since Ironman Lake Placid, my longest run prior to Kona was 11 miles. Three weeks before Kona, I stopped running altogether until the race to let things heal as much as possible. My hope was that I could finish the race without injuring myself, without walking and still have a relatively good race! A lot of prayer went into this race from friends and family- thank you all!

RACE WEEK

I had a lot of fun during race week in Kona! I arrived Tues night and on Wednesday morning, had a GREAT swim from the pier with friends. I had heard how beautiful the ocean swims are in Kona, but it was truly a unique experience to see it for myself- like swimming in an aquarium with all the fish right below you and the clear water- most enjoyable swim I’ve ever had! Then we went to Lava Java for a great breakfast, rebuilt my bike and went out for a nice 70 minute out on the Queen K. Got to enjoy the scenery, have fun meeting other athletes, catch up with friends, enjoy some great food and coffee, and just take in all that goes on during race week in Kona.

Thursday night went to the the Iron Prayer service- so good! And inspiring! Great way to get in the right mindset prior to raceday.

Friday AM, my friend Kirsten from Team World Vision was nice enough to take me to a Bikram Yoga (hot yoga) class- she had happened upon a studio nearby—felt so great to stretch out and loosen up before the race! I normally go to Bikram Yoga 2-3 times per week at home, and always try to go to a class the day before a race to loosen up and stretch out, and have had some of my best races when I’ve done this (Longhorn 70.3 last year, Eagleman 70.3 this year). Kirsten got through her first ever class and actually liked it a little bit! ;-)

The rest of Friday was mostly spent getting ready for the race. It always amazes me how much time is needed to pack/get needed items/ prepare items for an ironman, and I am always nervous that I will forget something crucial that will make or break my race. Although I have not yet accomplished this, I have come to know the importance of making sure I have almost everything prepared 2 days before the race, so that the day before the race can be stress-free. Instead, Friday was mostly spent thinking over wheel choice, obtaining needed items for race day, etc. I learned that my wheel choice of 808 front/ rear was not the best idea due to the crosswinds out and back toward Hawi, and that tomorrow was going to be really windy. Thanks to Sam my training buddy from DC who hooked me up with a 303 front wheel, very helpful! I finally got my bike down to the pier for bike-check and was amazed at how helpful the volunteers were- one volunteer per athlete to escort you around and show you where to put everything, and to explain the flow of transition on race day (several times, in my case!) Spotted Chrissie Wellington coming out of transition after racking her bike as I was coming out. Then off to dinner - pizza - Then, to sleep at about 8pm!


PRE-RACE

On race morning I woke up and planned to eat a quick breakfast then roll down to the pier to get bodymarked and transition set up… and then roll back up to the hotel to get ready and relax for a bit before going down to the swim start. This didn’t go as planned… got down to transition to find that I needed to have my chip with me to be allowed in. Went quickly back to the hotel, at which point I realized… I forgot to charge my garmin! Since I don’t use a bike computer, I always rely on my garmin only during racing. I pulled it out and it was at 0% battery, and since it takes about 2+ hrs to fully charge I knew my only hope was to get it about halfway full, which would not last me the entire race. Gahh.... I did plug it in for as long as I could, about an hour, in hopes I would at least have enough charge in it to be able to use it for the marathon.

Got in line to get into the water about 15 mins before the start…. it took a good 10 mins to actually get into the water as the line was so long and slow-moving. Bobbed around treading water for about 5 mins trying to inch forward toward the front but not too far so I wouldn’t get crushed. Then the cannon sounded and we were off!

SWIM- Goal: 1:05- Actual- 1:12

The swim start was chaotic as expected, but after awhile things spaced out and I was able to have some room to swim without too much contact. Then I realized I forgot to start my watch! Guess I would be going by time of day to gauge my time. I was surprised at how fast we reached the turnaround! The way back in was slower, and took a bit longer- total swim time 1:12. Felt like I didn’t expend too much energy on the swim, so that was good, though time was slower than I had hoped.

BIKE- Goal 5:15- Actual 5:27

The Hawaii bike course was not what I had originally imagined. Prior to getting to Kona, I had envisioned a long flat hot ride with scary crosswinds the whole way. Instead, there was more climbing than I expected, I actually felt a little cold at the turnaround at Hawi, and the crosswinds and strong gusts only were an issue for about 30 miles on the turnoff out and back to Hawi (but were definitely a bit scary). I decided to start out a bit more conservatively on the bike than I had originally planned, and compared with my last Ironman, since I didn’t know how my body (hamstring) was going to hold up and I wanted to feel good on the run. I saw a LOT of people take it out really hard at the start of the bike and reminded myself not to get sucked into that. I definitely saw some of those people again later in the ride. Tried to eat/drink as much as I could early in the ride, since I knew once the crosswinds picked up it would be harder or impossible to let go of the handlebars to eat. The first 40 miles were uneventful, but great views riding along the Queen K looking out at the ocean. Due to no Garmin I had no idea what my pace was, but tried to keep a steady effort and keep drinking (and eating). I have found that at least with IM racing, I can take in a good bit more calories than recommended- around 350 per hour on both the bike and run, and I think this helps me out a lot at the IM distance. Got in about 2000 calories total during the bike. Around mile 45 after making the turn off to Hawi, the crosswinds/gusts definitely kicked in at random times and it took constant focus to look ahead and see when the gusts were blowing and which way people were leaning, and to focus on leaning just enough but not too much, and keeping my front wheel straight. At the turnaround, it started to rain a little bit… grabbed my chocolate muscle milk at special needs and drank that on the bike. The descent back to the queen K was equally scary with strong gusts knocking you sideways at random times. The last 30 miles were pretty much a tailwind- tried to put forth a good effort there, and was glad my legs were starting to feel good! Was very happy I wasn’t feeling my hamstring anymore. 6.5 hours into the race, and I think it finally warmed up! Time to run...

RUN- Goal- to finish in one piece- Actual 3:33



The run ended up being my favorite part of the race. I took my time in transition, apparently, and then headed out on the run course. The first 10 miles out & back along Alii drive, next to the ocean, was a nice temperature with ocean breezes, and lots of crowds lining the streets- this part of the run was pretty fun. My hamstring was feeling good, I was passing people, I didn’t feel too hot-- felt pretty encouraged overall!! Then my hamstring started to tighten up around mile 7 and got a little tighter each mile. I had been praying the whole race for it to hold up, and I KNEW it would be OK. I just had a sense of peace, even as it was starting to tighten/hurt a little that everything would be OK and I would run this entire marathon. Around mile 10 up the hill on Palani, I stopped to stretch it out. I found that going uphill was making it tighter, but downhill felt good. Out on the Queen K around mile 12, I started to feel better and my hamstring started to loosen up again- praise God! I knew I would finish this run without walking, and my body was feeling pretty good. I was so ecstatic to be out there and not in pain (well… not in injury pain). At each aid station I alternated taking a gel/water, perform drink, or cola, and a salt pill every 40 mins. It was slightly overcast at this point, so the sun wasn’t beating down as much as I expected and I did not feel hot. Around mile 19, making the turn into the energy lab, I expected the heat to pick up but it didn’t – very happy about that. Drank a little bit of my muscle milk at special needs near the turnaround in the energy lab and this made my legs feel stronger. Up the hill out of the energy lab and back onto the Queen K- I knew I would finish this race!! The last 10k my legs started to feel fatigued but I knew I would finish without walking. Just kept trying to push forward, take in nutrition and count down the miles—at Mile 25 I saw my parents (who thought they were being encouraging (though slightly misinformed) by telling me “only two more miles left!”), and then down to the turn on Alii drive. As I was running, my body was in such physical fatigue, but to not have injury pain and to be able to run free, to feel like I was sprinting toward the finish was such a tremendous feeling (though I was actually only going about 8 min pace, it felt like sprinting).

Crossing the finish line was incredible, something I have always imagined. Although I originally had higher goals for this race including to PR, I had the best race I could have on this day and to finish relatively well despite lack of much run training is more than I could have asked for!

FINISH: 10:21, 3rd place AG 25-29



Thanks to all who supported, encouraged, and prayed for me me leading up to and during this race. I could not have done it without you!