One word describes the swim and bike - BRUTAL.
This has been a tough year, and the few weeks leading up to the race were very difficult for me emotionally. The week before the race itself was pretty much my breaking point. After arriving in CdA on Wed afternoon, I felt very alone and lonely. The house we rented was awful and I was sleeping on a fold-out mattress on the floor. Not great conditions for an IM. After a short swim Thu morning in choppy water, I was done. I called my sister and begged her to change my flight so I could go home that day. This led her to confess that she, my other sister, niece and mom were coming to the race and would arrive late Fri night. They wanted to surprise me, after telling me all year that they weren’t coming. And she called the woman we rented the house from to see what could be done about the sleeping conditions. She was able to arrange for me to sleep in a twin bed in the guest house, but it was pretty dirty. But my family’s arrival and a bed to sleep in at least helped alleviate some of the tension and nerves.
Race morning was the usual. JD, Katherine’s husband, was nice enough to drive Katherine and me to the race site. Dropped off special needs and got my bike situated. Sat with my family for a few minutes, and then put my wetsuit on. To be honest, I hadn’t gotten a great look at the water, which was probably a good thing. I was talking very bravely. Found my coach Jamie, and Jen on the beach and hung out with them. Mike Reilly announced the option of a du and I seriously considered it. Watching the waves was terrifying and I got more and more nervous. The gun went off at 7:01 and I waited a few secs before heading down to the water. The swim out was ridiculously hard with huge waves and chop (1-2 feet) directly into our faces. It was mass chaos like I have never seen at an IM swim start. At one point, there were 3 people toward the buoy line waving their swim caps and screaming “help” like we were told to do if we got into trouble, but no one in a boat could see or hear them. I made it to the first corner buoy in 24 minutes. Put my head down to attempt to swim the across section but it was just too choppy. I did no real swimming until the turn back to the beach. Finally hit the beach in 52 min, and somehow found Jen at the fence and crying, said I couldn’t go back out there. Jamie was behind her and they managed to talk me down. I finally said “it’s not an Ironman if you don’t do the swim” and headed back out. I’m glad I did. The chop had died a tiny bit, and I was finally able to get into a rhythm, and finished the 2nd loop of the swim. Threw up twice on the 2nd loop of the swim from seasickness.
1:52:45
Got out and was so cold I couldn’t even get my wetsuit off. Luckily the wetsuit strippers were great. Got my bag and into the change tent where a woman basically dressed me. The first 20 miles or so of the bike are pretty flat. There are three manageable hills in this section, with lots of flats to get my legs under me. But it was freezing cold, even in arm warmers. Then I hit the hills. Of the bike course, there really is only 15-20 miles on each loop that is hilly, and honestly, they weren’t anything different than what we ride here in Austin all the time. But that’s not after the hardest swim I’ve ever done in my life. I kept telling myself not to “burn any matches” on the first loop of the bike. One of the first hills is one of the steep ones. I honestly thought I was going to have to get off my bike and walk it but didn’t. I made it slowly through the next miles over the hills. In addition to tough hills, it was very windy and there was no tailwind. It was all either headwind or crosswind so that even the flat section back into town was very challenging. All I kept thinking was “you burned too many matches on the swim.” Went by my family in town and shook my head. They knew I was struggling. On the short out-and-back section, Jamie was doing his run and cheered for me. When I saw it was him, I stopped pedaling and was going to stop. He told me to keep plugging, and just be steady.
Picked up my special needs bag and got new bottles, some Pringles and a Payday and felt a bit better. I headed out on the 2nd loop. Somehow, the day started turning around. The 2nd loop of the bike was just as challenging as the first but I managed to keep my head together and adjust my attitude. This is very opposite of my first race in CdA where I felt great until mile 80. I don’t think I felt great until mile 80. Made some friends on the bike and cheered when I finally got to the 101 mile sign. I was worried about getting too close to the bike course cut-off time during this whole loop, so knew I couldn’t afford to dawdle. So I have to admit, I peed about 100 times during the 2nd loop but knew I couldn’t stop for port-a-potties every time. Oh well…that’s what triathlon is all about. Ha ha!
7:59:54
Getting off my bike was interesting. I could hardly walk! I waddled to the port-a-potty before hitting the change tent (yes, again). My run tent volunteer handed me my bag and just left. A disappointment after the rest of the volunteers being so great. I changed shorts and socks but left my bike jersey on because I was worried it would get too chilly for just my tri singlet. I ditched the arm warmers though. Duh.
Couldn’t get my legs under me, so walked probably the first 1.5 - 2 miles out and back section, but felt good mentally. Finally! I tried to hit my 3 min/30 sec run/walk breaks. It last a few miles, but I finally ended up at 2/2. Felt good, did my gel shots, and ate and drank at the aid stations, and kept hitting my run/walk interval. Grabbed special needs and kept going. Stopped at my family to get my jacket from them and said “I can’t believe I’m still running!” Heading back out I checked with Jamie that I was doing OK to be in before the cut-off. He said I was doing well, but not to dawdle. Amazingly, I still had to pee way too often! Good thing there are lots of trees on the course. Managed to hold everything together pretty darn well until about mile 20. I knew then that I had plenty of time to make it in so my running was significantly reduced. 
Turned the last corner onto Sherman and it was all downhill from there. Walked and walked until I got to 4th street, and ran! Missed Mike Reilly calling me in AGAIN!!!
6:07:34
I wanted to break 16 hours overall, and wanted to break 6 hours on the run. It never occurred to me that the swim and bike would be so much harder, so that I still PR’d by 9 minutes is awesome, and I will take it! I had two goals for the race, neither of which I hit, but am very happy with what I did, considering how tough the swim and bike were.
2006 16:26:10
2007 16:17:25
It was a rough day for our CdA household but we all finished - Amy dislocating and breaking her hand, and Katherine and I both ending up in the medical tent. Gary said we’re not allowed to have this kind of contest anymore. That’s OK by me, and probably Amy and Katherine too.
It was great to race with so many of my training buddies and Texas Iron friends. Having the coaches there and my family was amazing. Jamie said to tell my family “no more race week surprises.” I’m good with that! I think I’ll take a break from IMs for a while. It’s just too darn emotional.
