Kim's Ironman Florida 70.3 Race Report

Boom Boom Now

This race made me extremely anxious for a couple of reasons. First of all, I have had no performance indicators of my hard work through the winter. In fact, I have never trained like I have until this winter. I could feel that I was ready, but I was still unsure. I was ready to test my training. Secondly, the humidity in Florida is creeping in for the summer. It is very hard to get acclimated to +90 degree weather in Rochester, NY! Lastly, I have only been running for a month due to a stint of Plantar Fasciitis from the Disney Marathon in January.

Pre-Race: Travelling with Sarah, I felt like I had my mom with me. Only I was the one driving the mini-van! She answered all my crazy questions. One answer stuck in my mind. I asked her how she kept her strong once she started to hurt; I have always struggled with this aspect. The reply I got was, "You have no choice (she said this very confident), and you have done the training, trust yourself, I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity's to do what I do, not everyone gets these chances......". It was her confidence that stuck in my mind. Race morning I was very calm, trying not to think about what this day could develop into. I was only concentrating on my positive mental attitude. This race was going to be more mental for me.

My plan was to swim steady, bike strong, and run the ENTIRE ½ marathon, no excuses
Swim (36:21; 1:54 100m; 11thAG): This would be my first beach start triathlon, as well as, my first open water swim of the season. For some reason, I was extremely nervous for the swim. As a strong swimmer, I should feel comfortable in the water.....that was not the case. About ¼ into the swim, my heart rate was sky high and I had thoughts of swimming backstroke the rest of the way, in fact, a man that I was passing (from the wave ahead of me), was swimming backstroke (probably where I got the idea).

After I figured out that was a bad idea, I continued to swim and swim and swim. It felt like forever. There were people from at least three waves ahead of us floating in the water. I got out of the water I immediately looked at my watch, 36:xx. I had no idea what had happened. The first thought that had crossed my mind was; I wondered what Mary and my family at home is going to think with this time. I couldn't dwell on such a bad time; it was only 36 minutes of my day. Looking back at the results the swim, the times were about 3 minutes slow, which still puts me not where I want to be....I need some open water practice. I am too comfortable looking at the black line at the bottom on the pool.

T1 (3:33): The run to transition was extremely long. It seemed like everyone was stopping to shake hands and kiss some babies. It was very congested. After you exit transition, you had to run (with your bike) a long way, to the mounting line.

Bike (2:45:21; 20.32mph; 17thAG): Once on my bike, I knew I was at home. The bike was pretty uneventful, except for several pelotons passing me. I made sure I kept my heart rate in zone 2 the entire time. I had the voices in my head saying "you can't pound the pedals....don't forget about that ½ marathon you have to run". Whenever I found my mind wondering I started to sing the Black Eyed Peas song.....Boom Boom Now. During the winter, this is a song that has been over played on the radio; therefore I listened to it numerous times on the trainer. And now it was being over played in my head. I was able to suck down almost 1.5 bottles (525 calories) of my Accelerade/ CarboPro cocktail in 1:45. At this time I knew I only had one hour left on the bike, I needed to stop with so much liquid and move onto some Gu. I would also take one salt pill every 15 minutes

T2 (1:42): Again, we had to dismount our bikes and run an extremely long way to the transition area. I racked my bike, sprayed myself with sunscreen, picked up my hat, gamin, and nutrition and I was OFF!

Run (2:15:43; 10:21/mile; 21stAG): The run course was 3 loops, approximately 1st mile on pavement, 2nd & 3rd mile on grass, and 4th mile on pavement. My legs felt as fresh as can be off the bike. In fact, it only took me a couple of steps to get my land legs back. The first 2 miles clicked by extremely fast, averaging 9:15's, in fact I was seeing lot of 8:xx on the Garmin. At the second aid station, I knew I would have to walk the aid stations and slow down my pace. There was too much to do, salt, water, ice, sponge, coke. I would not allow myself to walk until I got to the first person, then did my thing, and started to run immediately! I have found myself in the past wasting A LOT of time at the aid stations (you could eat entire meal of cookies and potato chips!). I was not falling into that trap. About mile 3, Sarah pasted me looking extremely strong.

During the second loop, once I got onto the grass, I had a few low moments, it was hot, humid and no wind. The thoughts of, how in the hell am I going to run a marathon.....maybe this Ironman thing isn't cut out for me, starting to creep in my head. At that point, the Black Eyed Peas came and saved the day. Yes the song was still playing in my head and pushed the negative thoughts out (I knew this was going to be a BIG mental day for me, and I was going to win. I needed to be confident in myself, just as Sarah was when I ask her how she is able to hold strong). The third loop, my favorite, I knew I was on the home stretch. I knew I would be real close to the 5:40 range (I couldn't believe it J). My planned that I negotiated with myself was to, pick up the pace on the pavement, then settle back into my normal Ironman pace on the grass, then the last 1.2 mile on pavement leave it all out there. And my plan worked! I started passing girls in my age group. I don't think I have ever past someone, especially people that started in the same wave as me, at the end of a race. I am normally the one being past! I focused on increasing my turn over and kept moving forward, as well as the Black Eyed Peas where pulling me along! I don't remember exactly what I did nutrition wise on the run. I know I took salt almost every other mile, maybe more and took a Gu at least every 30 minutes. Also, drank coke from mile 3 and on. Whatever that equates to, it worked. Running towards the finish line, I saw Sarah with a huge smile on her face. The thoughts of such a big PR after a long cold winter of a running injury, I had the exact same smile!

Summary (5:42:40; 21st AG out of 79): I needed a race like this. There were so many un-answered questions whether or not my training has been working, what kind of nutrition will bring me through Lake Placid and how will I feel. All these questions have been answered. I will be changing a few things nutrition wise, I haven't figured out the details, but I have 3 more days until I will test that when I ride the Ironman course (twice, over Memorial Day Weekend)! This has proved that I trust my hard work in bringing me to that starting line for Lake Placid fully prepared!