Ironman 70.3 World Championships

Let me just start with...it's an absolute HONOR to have been given the opportunity to race my 4th Ironman 70.3 World Championship!  I know that there are thousands of athletes who race this sport every year who would love this opportunity and I do not take it for granted. However, I entered this race with a serious lack of enthusiasm this year. I was (and still am) disappointed in my performance from Ironman Canada (and this year in general) and I am in serious need of a break from all things swimming, biking and running. I am EXTREMELY grateful for a two things that kept the fire lit up to this point: 1. this is the first time that my parents were going to get to see me race a World Championship, and 2. I was racing with 4 friends and very well respected athletes who would be racing their first ever World Championship and they were EXCITED! Their excitement (both the athletes and my parents) were helpful in getting me to start line without throwing in the towel in early August.

Despite my desire to do anything but swim, bike or run from early August-early September, I ticked all the training boxes I knew I needed to tick to get ready for this race. I also kept true to prioritizing my sleep and recovery. I did, however, more or less give up in regards to nutrition (which, mind you, I am a nutritionist, so me 'giving up' on nutrition looks 1,000 times better than most folks best week).  I started a re-introduction of foods that have, in that past, caused known inflammation (with the goal of doing some food sensitivity retesting as soon as I return home from Tennessee). I don't think this had anything to do with my race, other than, I did feel a bit sluggish leading into the race. Hard to say if that is from the food I'm eating, or being mentally ready to take a short break. 

Travel from Sacramento to Tennessee was smooth. With 5 of us traveling together, I knew it was likely that at least 1 bag was bound to get lost/delayed (just the nature of travel). After loading the airplane in Atlanta to catch our final flight to Chattanooga, the pilot announced that their was not enough room on-board to load all the bikes and that some would be left behind for a future flight. I sat in the window seat above the wing and watched 1 of our frame bags (we had 4 bike bags in total) get loaded onto a luggage truck to be taken away for a future flight (along with 20+ other bike bags). I LOVE my Ruster bag, but this is the downside to having to break down your bike into 2 separate bags. If one is lost, the other bag is useless...especially when it's your frame bag that is missing. Luckily, 3 of the 4 bags arrived on that flight and Delta Airlines was extremely responsive in getting the final bag to us ASAP. It arrived to the door step of our Air BnB the following morning (Thursday) at 7:30am and we were not set back a bit. We were able to get bikes rebuilt with plenty of time to test them out before turning them in pre-race.

In the days leading into the race, we did ALL the pre-race events that Ironman had to offer, including: the organized swims (both Thursday and Friday), the expo, the parade of nations, the welcome banquet and the athlete briefing. They were all great. Even the food at the welcome banquet was half-way decent! 3 of our 4 support crew arrived on Thursday evening, just in time to join us for the welcome banquet and the remaining weekend festivities.

Race Day
Saturday, September 9, 2017

Race day came quickly. This is the first year that they have split the women's and men's races onto 2 separate days. I was SOOOOOOOOOOO grateful to be racing on Saturday. Race day nerves are bad enough when you DON'T have to watch a race live the day before your own event!!! I felt really bad for the guys who I know want to give us 110% support, but also wanted to stay off their feet. Our guys (both Jim and Mike) prioritized support over racing (within reason) and were there from start to finish all day (THANKS GUYS!). My race morning routine went a little like this:
4:30am- alarm goes off
4:45am- eat breakfast (leftover homemade risotto with chicken in extra bone broth) + coffee
5:15am- leave the house with Sean for T1
5:30am- T1 opens and I head in to pump tires, load nutrition, use the port-a-potty and GET OUT!
5:50am- find a bench outside of transition and sit with my head phones on and my eyes closed
6:54am- VESPA CV25
7:15am- get into my wet-suit (yup, thanks to a deep thermometer, it was a wet-suit legal race)
7:30am- get in the swim coral
7:45am- Beet Elite with 4oz water, VESPA junior and 2 Skratch chews
7:54am- Wave 4 (my wave) goes off!

The Swim

Ok, you know how I said earlier that I wasn't that excited about this race. Well...I was REALLY excited about starting the swim. Why? Because I FINALLY got to run and dive off a dock!!!! SO SILLY, I know. But, I've ALWAYS wanted to do that!!!! At this race, I finally got to! SO FUN!!!! This was a rolling age group wave start. That means that they line 10 of us up in a line and every 15 seconds a buzzer went off and we took 4-5 running steps and jumped off a dock (diving was permitted). I was SHOCKED at how many women were freaking out about this before the start. When I finally got to the front of the line, I lined myself up in the furthest left coral. I stood for 10 seconds, then "beep, beep, beep, BEEEEEPPPP." I took a few running steps and launched myself with 1000% enthusiasm into a full-on dive into the water. A few dolphin kicks under water, a few strokes without a breath, and then on my first breathing stroke to the right, I got a glimpse of all the girls who went off with me. All 9 of them had jumped in feet first and were 10+ yards behind me already. SWEET!!!! I was PUMPED!!!! I'm pretty sure I was smiling ear to ear underwater. Not because I was in front of all them (maybe a little bit from that), but because that is THE BEST WAY to start a race!!!! None of this treading water and fighting for space BS. I LOVED IT!!!!! I spent the rest of the swim on cloud 9. I felt like I was having the swim of my life. There was a small current to navigate (which I didn't do as well as I could have, but whatever) and I really felt like I was on my way to a PR swim. I felt GREAT. I was passing loads of women and enjoying every stoke I took. Chattanooga's marketing image is the Veterans Bridge and we had the best view of it when siting as soon as we turned the first turn buoy (see picture below). When I finally got to the swim exit and got a chance to see my swim time, it was the slowest swim time I've ever had in a 70.3 race, :38 something. My honest first though was, "this is going to wreck girls" because I knew from how I felt, that it was a long swim...and I was still smiling. I made my way to the wet-suit strippers, grabbed my T1 bag, ran up the steep ramp to the changing area, smiled for the camera and my friends/family, and ran off to my bike.

Swim to Bike Transition

Uneventful. I left the changing area with my bike shoes in my hand and ran the long run to my bike. I grabbed my bike (shoes still in my hand) and made my way to bike exit. When I got about 10 feet from the mount line, a wonderful volunteer offered to hold my bike off to the side while I put on my shoes (also off to the side). We talked about pancakes and southern style biscuits while I put my shoes on. It was like he could read my mind...

The Bike

We had a chance to drive the entire course a few days before the race, so I knew what to expect. A 3 mile flat section out of town with a long, sustained climb up to the top of Lookout Mountain. The climb was as expected. I just got into my easiest gear at the base of the climb and worked my way up to the top. At the top, the crowds were thick and loud. Someone was screaming my name about 1/2 mile from cresting the hill and I still have no idea who it was. She clearly knew who I was. Anyone??? The next 12-ish miles were full of punchy little climbs with short decents scattered throughout. I focused on nutrition and consistent pedal pressure. At mile 22 we hit the very long decent back towards town. It was a fun, fast decent. Steep enough to gain good speed but not so steep that I had to get out of the aero bars. As a matter of fact, there were certain sections where I wish I had a few more gears to push harder as my cadence was getting higher than I could sustain. At mile 40, we rolled into the little town of Chickamauga, a civil war battle site area. There were many small homes scattered along the course and the majority of the homeowners were on their lawns cheering us on. I passed one house where a father had taken his young daughter outside and she was clearly excited about us all being there. She had a sign and was cheering for all of us as we passed. It was the first time in a race that I actually cried…and I’m not even on my period! I remember when I first saw the Ironman World Championship in Kona on NBC and wanted to do that race one day. It was my first exposure to triathlon. In that moment, when I passed the little girl, I wondered if this would be that “NBC” moment for her. ‘I remember when the Ironman 70.3 World Championship came to my home town and all those women rode their bikes in front of my house.’ Would this be the moment that made her curious about triathlon??? Maybe? And if it is, how freakin’ cool to be a part of it!!! A ‘pinch me’ moment. Oh, wait…I’m racing here! FOCUS (and stop crying!!!)! Besides that little moment, I felt like I had a pretty solid ride. It was a little slower than I had expected for a course with 3,400” of elevation gain, but I wasn’t there to lay down a PR. I took in all sites, thanked the volunteers as I rolled through aid stations, and enjoyed the whole ride. Coming off a full Ironman only 6 weeks prior, that 56 mile ride seemed to fly by.

Bike to Run Transition

Again, uneventful. Bike shoes were left on the bike and since we had bike catchers at this race, I was able to hand it off and quickly get to my T2 bag. A volunteer had it held up for me to grab as I ran by and I sat for a brief moment to throw on my run shoes, grab my race belt, visor and VESPA out of the bag, and then get out. I put everything else on my body as I exited T2. I also got to see David, Katy and Wayne (fellow TS Life athletes) who cheered for me as I ran out of T2. I feel like every time I see a friend cheering for me during a race, it’s like running past those posters that say “touch here for extra power.” BOOM.

The Run

We had a short out and back before pass back by T2 where I got to see all my friends and family spread out over the first 1/2 mile hill to cheer me on. This course was definitely going to be one of the hardest runs I’ve ever done in a 70.3 with 1,000’ of elevation gain. I also know damn well having raced 3 other 70.3 World Championships that I will loose spots on the run (lot's of them!). Other athletes will go FLYING by me and there is NO POINT in trying to catch up! I know my pace and what I’m trained to do and I need to stick to that. So I did. I settled into a pace that I suspected I could sustain for all 13.1 miles. It wasn’t long into the run that I just stopped looking at my pace and just ran. I stuck to my nutrition plan and enjoyed the course, the volunteers, the spectators and most importantly, my friends and family who had spread themselves out so I didn’t have to go far before seeing someone I knew. Despite all the hills, I had a blast! I chose not to carry any water with me, but still managed to keep running through all the aid stations which were well stocked with water, ice and sponges. It was easy to get in enough water, as well as water on my body to cool off. I ran the entire run with a ice cold sponge shoved down my shirt which dramatically helped me stay cool. I also managed to get through this run without any GI or cramping issues (which many athletes had) and I attribute that to sticking to my nutrition plan (basically, taking a ton of salt and water) early on the bike, even when I didn't want to. I never got behind, and for me, that worked. Maybe because I had just come off a marathon at Ironman Canada, this run also seemed short. I fully expected a 2+ hour time, but to my surprise, I was able to finish the run in 1:56 and some change. It was the only discipline all day that was faster than I had expected. Sean met me about 3/4 mile from the finish line to hand off the US flag and just like the previous two 70.3 World Championships, I ran down he finish chute with the American flag flapping on my back like a cape. That never gets old.

Nutrition

I feel like a broken record to anyone who has read my race reports before, but my race day nutrition plan works, so I'm stickin' to it. It goes a little something like this:
Pre-Race Dinner: Homemade Risotto with Chicken Thighs and Broccoli
Race Morning Breakfast: Left Over Risotto with Coffee
Pre-Swim: VESPA CV 25, VESPA Junior, Beet Elite and water + 2 Skratch Chews
Bike: 250 calories per hour of- Skratch Chews and Huma Gels + plain water in my bottles + salt tablets every :15 and .6g BCAA every hour
Run: Water at every aid station + Skratch chews at every aid station (1-2 per mile) + salt tablets every even aid station (1 every :15-:20ish minutes) + 1 Huma Gel at mile 6.5 (1/2 way through the run).
Post-Race: 2 Scoops of First Endurance Ultragen

If I could change anything about this race, I would have taken on slightly more nutrition on the bike. I had a few too many chews left over when I picked up my bike and I could feel it toward the end of the run. I think I figured that I probably took on closer to 200 cal/hour on the bike instead of 250 cal/hour.

Over-All...

I finished the race feeling tired, but still feeling good. I had pushed, but not hard enough to go to any really dark places. Instead, I enjoyed each moment and took it all in. The race was HARD, one of the hardest I have done, but I LOVED it. I hope to put another race in south on my schedule soon. The course, the volunteers, the hospitality of the south…it was all magnificent and HIGHLY recommended!

Next up...

Get my husband back into the game in 2018. It's just not the same without him dressed up in spandex.

This year...some backpacking with Sadie dog, a vacation to Kona to support friends racing the Ironman World Champs, and a cross country ski adventure in December in Whistler to ring in the new year.