Finally picking up where I left off, the IMAZing party was nice and relaxing – just what I needed after my somewhat stressful morning! Pretty much all Z participants and cheer squad were either there or stopped by. Again, Bob’s daughter rocked for having all of us!
So, race day! My nutrition went well, I think. Race morning I had my usual bagel with Peanut Butter. Though it was difficult to get down! I also sipped some Gatorade and water. All-in-all, I must have been very well hydrated as I peed in my wetsuit - a lot. (I think this was a sign of things to come…)
Swim: 1:14:53 Goal: 1:20 Division Position 16
I was in the front of the pack to jump in the water wich was good - as it gave me more time to acclimate. I did go with full sleeves as I had some annoying rubbing/chaffing with the sleeveless. Must have had the shoulders up good as I had no fatigue! I loved that we had to swim a bit to the
start as it was a good warm up. I went ahead and just put myself in more or less the same position as Lake Placid from two years ago. The swim was rough but I was fine. And I took a kick to the face early on and my goggles filled with water. Yikes! It took a few adjustments to get them to stop leaking. I also got some elbows to the head and other various knocking around. No bruising in the long run though. :) I never had real clear water but had no problem sighting at all. The water temp was awesome and I felt great the entire time. Yay! The swim pullers were awesome and the wetsuit pullers too.
T1: 8:29 Goal: 10:00
My transition time was so much faster than it was in Lake Placid in 2009 – of course the run was not quite as long to get there and I did not do a complete change. I had minor heart failure when I pulled my Garmin out of the bag and saw the cracked face…not Garmin drama!! However, it turned on and worked great the rest of the day! The volunteer helping me rocked and got my arm warmers on in one try!
Bike: 7:17:54 Goal: 8:00 Division Position 51
Saw the Team Z coaches who had made a surprise visit shortly after leaving transition! That was awesome and unexpected! I saw them on all three bike loops! One crazy sight? A female athlete pedaling along in a ways in front of me literally ran over one of the traffic cones setup in the street. She almost went down, but made a good recovery. Yikes! I felt great on the bike - though I forgot to get my additional salt stick out of special needs. I started taking the bananas they offered for the potassium. I drank the Ironman Perform and used the Gus and Honey Stinger Waffles that had been working for me. I'd heard rumors about the nutty winds in Arizona. They were not rumors!! On the return of the first loop (with the decline) there was headwind headed out and once I hit the turnaround there was an amazing tailwind! On loop two there was tailwind heading out and headwind on the return! Seriously! hahaha Finally, the third loop was kind of a mix coming and going. In addition to the coaches being out there there was good Z cheer support at the turnaround back towards transition – loved it! Also, an old high school classmate of mine who lives not far from Tempe said he’d be out there with his camera and darned if he wasn’t! Very cool! Towards the end I had a little bit of tingling between my shoulder blades but all in all felt pretty comfortable the entire time. I LOVE Trixie! Also, I tried staying in zone 2 but felt really good the entire time. I think I spent more time in zone 3...
T2: 6:40 Goal: 10:00
Robin was assisting in transition when I came through and it was great having here there. What a great surprise! I did not do much – just switch shoes and headgear. I almost forgot to take the arm warmers and gloves off… Thank goodness I remembered. It is one thing running in bike gloves during an Oly, but a whole marathon? I don’t thinks so.
Run: 6:48:30 Goal: 6:30 Division Position 68
On the run I had no major stomach issues! Yay!! I could eat whatever I wanted from the aid stations. I did have a little issue around mile 4 but thankfully got over that. :) I carried water for use with
salt tabs as needed but at the aid stations I used the Ironman Perform, water, cola, grapes (they rocked), and added potato chips in the second half. This time I did not take much of the chicken broth. My watch was set to 6/1 so I could run walk. But I think 6/1 is too much and will try 5/1 next time. :) Anyway, this worked pretty well for about the first 13 miles. The only thing on the run is I 'allowed' myself to walk with two different people on two occasions - once on the second loop; once on the third loop. I wished I had not done that. The second time it happened I finally just decided I had to get going because I knew I could do this! My feet were sore (lots of concrete on the IMAZ course!) and decided to walk 100 steps then run100 steps till I got it done. I think I had about 3 miles to go at this point. It worked for me! I even switched it to 100 running and 50 walking. This counting also kept my brain occupied and from thinking about how sore my feet were. :) Wished I'd started that sooner. But glad I started it, period! I saw the Z coaches on the first two loops and other Z cheer support in various other places. Towards the end of the last loop Janet and Priscilla ran with me and gave me pre-victory hugs! At the finish Robin was there as promised to meet me and got me sorted out for my picture!
And all in all I apparently was incredibly hydrated on race day. In fact, I stopped 5 times(!!) on the bike to pee and lost count of how many times (maybe 10?) on the run. Good grief! I seriously lost a lot of time in the port-a-potties!
Good stuff to note: I had zero chafing. Zero! Amazing! And I had no blisters on my feet. My feet were sore, but that was different. This tells me I could have (should have) run more!
Other fun stuff: All the cool Z signs on the bike and run courses! Some I was not sure about because they weren’t green, but the photos of them after showed me I was not wrong. And there was a Riley one on the bike AND run. I *loved* seeing my puppy out there! Thanks Z Cheer Squad!!
Anyway, I was thrilled with my results!
Total: 15:36:26 Goal: 16:10 Division Position 68(93)
The day after race day I visited the Finisher’s tent, picked up my bike special needs bag, and ordered my official race photos. I really cannot believe it is all over! Then...I got an awesome massage from the best massage therapist ever, Robin!
Since returning from IMAZ I completed a 5 mile turkey trot on Thanksgiving! Oh, and that Hot Chocolate 15K debacle...
Next Up:
Fairfax Four-Miler on New Year's Eve followed by the REHAU Rotary 10K on New Year's Day!
Happy and Healthy Training!
