7th place at IMC 2010

Oh Canada...
I've had a few days to collect my thoughts and reflect on the race and have gone through as many emotions after as during the race. I think I have finally arrived at a happy medium and so here goes my race report.

I trained in the hot heat of Colorado all summer long with one thought in mind- IMC could be very hot and I want to be prepared. I lost pounds and pounds of sweat and consumed crazy amounts of sodium to keep up with the demands of training in the heat day after day. But, Ironman is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you are going to get on race day!

I arrived in Penticton late Thursday and already the temperatures felt pretty cool. The next day was sunny but not overly warm, I wore a long sleeve for most of it. During a quick swim in Lake Okanagan I was amazed at the waves that seemed to grow by the minute; it felt like an ocean! Thankfully the race would start much earlier and since the winds tended to pick up later in the day, the water would be pretty calm for the race.
Dropping off bike day before



Race morning came and an overcast sky greeted us. After being bodymarked by the most enthusiastic volunteer I have ever met (she took our names and numbers down so she could see how we did !) I did some last minute check-ups on my bike, filled water bottles with the magic potions and was off to the beach for the 6:45 a.m. pro start. The water was chilly enough at 68 degrees to make it wetsuit legal for pros so I got to use my blueseventy Helix, phew! The pro wave had almost 60 people in it so it was pretty big and even a bit crowded at first.
and the pros are off!

I found a rhythm and warmed up to a comfortable pace, but unfortunately had no feet to swim on and was pulling along a string of other athletes behind me. At one point it got a little congested again and I even got kicked, but the current (which seemed to work in our favors both directions) carried me to (the rocky) shore in under an hour, which is my fastest IM swim to date.
Swim Exit

In and out of T1 went smooth thanks to the wonderful volunteers who were so eager to get us on our way the fastest way possible. I mounted my bike right behind my team mate Jessica and we took off through town, with crowds as deep as at the NYC marathon on 1st Ave. I was a little worried about the bike initially after we drove the course on Friday and I saw the long, winding descents after Richter Pass and Yellow Lake. I thought to myself that these would really suck in the rain and that I am a wuss when it comes to descending in rain.
Heading out on the bike, T1

Back to the race: I had no idea what spot I was in but I passed fellow Boulderite Laura at 20min into the bike and was still keeping up with Jess, who is a super strong cyclist. As I got ready to shift into my small chainring at the first climb up McClean Rd, my chain got stuck in the big ring and I was unable to turn my pedals. At the exact same time, a bike support vehicle passed and apparently didn't see me struggling, and kept going up the hill. At that point I was ready to have a minor breakdown as I couldn't figure out why my pedals wouldn't turn. I spent about 2 mins readjusting the stuck chain and thankfully when I got back on, everything was in working order once more. In the meantime, several other pro women had passed me but since we were at mile 5 of 112, I knew I had plenty of time to catch up.
Enjoying the flats in the first half of the bike.

The first half of the ride including the ride out to the base of Richter pass was actually quite enjoyable. I had read some stories about the wind either being a head or tail wind for most of the ride and ofcourse I was hoping for the latter. The slight downhill after McClean Rd and a seeming tailwind kept my spirits high as I motored along the beautiful countryside of the Okanagan valley. I made sure to hydrate and eat, although the temps didn't seem too warm and a cloud cover was forming. When I started my climb up Richter, my goal was to spin it up and save the legs as there was no need to hammer out these climbs on a 112mi ride. My shifting was a little off, but working alright, so I thanked my lucky stars that I would not have another incident. Once at the top of Richter, the views were breathtaking. I felt like I was on the set of "A land before time" or some other dinosaur era. The valley below was magical and the descent down it would get me up to 45mph, which included staying a bit on my brakes as I played it cautiously since I hadn't ridden the roads before. A little cross breeze here and there in some parts made things a little sketchy for me and I was relieved to finally have reached the bottom and ride the flats again. This was around mi 60 and this is where the winds picked up.

The remainder of the ride would be ridden mostly into a steady headwind, accompanied by some unpredictable cross winds on some descents. I could feel my head getting a bit foggy and couldn't wait to pick up my special needs bag which included a half can of Redbull (never tried stuff before and played it safe by only consuming half, but in hindsight could have used the full for sure) and a PB&J sandwich. having a bite of the PB&J almost made me toss my cookies but I forced down the calories since I was starting to feel a bit hungry, never a good thing when you still have a marathon to run. The Red Bull zipped me back for a little bit until we hit the climb up to Yellow Lake and that is where the ride turned a bit sour for me.
Frozen descent

It had started to drizzle a bit and the roads were wet but I didn't think much of it. The forecast had called for a good chance of rain afternoon (however, it was only around 11 a.m.) which I welcomed with open arms since I'd be running then and what better weather than light rain on a marathon? The further up I got to the top of Yellow Lake (and boy did it include some nasty climbs, didn't recall those from the drive earlier..) the colder it got and the more the rain picked up. At the last aid station before reaching the top (and the steepest climb of the ride) I started to get really chilly, which wasn't good, since I was barely moving at 6mph and was going uphill. What goes up, most come back down. The descent down from Yellow Lake was the most sketchy riding I have ever done and I probably lost a good chunk of time in this part due to riding on my brakes and playing it super safe in order to stay on my bike.

Scores of people passed me going down and I wondered how they were doing it. I was shaking so bad from being cold I was worried I'd ride my bike down an embankment due to not being able to hold on to it properly. My teeth started chattering so uncontrollably I had to tell myself to relax because my body was tensing up so bad I felt like I was convulsing. (probably both fear of crashing in zero visibility and rain and being borderline hypothermic) This is where I contemplated not finishing the race and pulling over to crawl into someone's car and blast the heat on 'high'. Thankfully I was going too fast to stop and the road was pretty empty of spectators so that idea was nixed.

Finally, finally I made it back into town and even passed a few people who had previously zoomed past me on the descent; and it wasn't raining, which meant that the temps were warmer and my body had a chance to recollect itself. I reached T2 in just over 5 1/2 hrs, a few minutes slower than I had hoped for, but at this point I really didn't care and was just so happy to be back among civilization and drier weather. When I hobbled off my bike I could not feel my feet. I asked my volunteer in T2 if they had any chicken broth as I was still chattering away, but they didn't have any. (I mean come on, who'd think people would want chicken broth coming off the bike...) I didn't have any long sleeves in my transition bag so my only hope was that my socks and shoes would warm me up from the feet up. The oddest thing was that I was hungry!

Entering the run course, I immediately grabbed a chunk of powerbar and gulfed it down, almost choking on it. I knew I was going to be in trouble if I let this calorie deficit get bigger, so I grabbed a few gels as well and had those, along with some more calories in the form of Gatorade and coke.
Run 26.2mi...

I saw my family at mile 1 or 2 and mouthed to them that I was frozen, to which they replied 'to keep going'. True Ironman mantra, right? I wasn't sure how I'd feel after being so cold on the bike, but then something happened and I started clicking off the miles. I never looked at my watch to see when I started the run, only keeping an overall time of the race, and it wasn't until halfway that I realized I could still go under 10 hrs, something I had long written off on the bike when things got bad. Besides, a tough day for me is a tough day for everyone. My focus became the aid stations. Make it to the next aid station and soak in the energy of the volunteers and grab a coke and water and gel.

The run course went through town and out to the lake with several serious hills along the way. On the way back it's doing it all over again, only backwards, with a steady false flat all the way back into town. I started passing people and it drove me to keep going and holding my pace. At one point I tried to look at my watch and time a mile and read 7 minutes. People cheering told me I looked strong and had a great run going so I soaked that all up too and looked ahead, trying to be light on my feet (or at least thinking I was) At the turnaround I picked up another half bottle of Redbull, which again should have been a full one, but it gave me enough energy to make it up the long hill at mile 13. I saw several of my competitors and finally got a clue as to what position I was running in. I estimated the gap between me and the next girl in front of me to be at least 5 mins and had a larger gap behind me to the next girl. Even if things were to turn ugly, I had enough of a cushion to at least fake a run and still hold my spot.

Mile 18 came, then mile 20. I felt pretty decent still and even had enough energy to tell another pro who was having a rough day, to keep it going as he was walking (he would later finish right behind me) and I saw so many of my friends, which was a real treat in those later miles. With 10k to go it was time to put my head down and start fighting. My legs were getting tired and I was ready to be done. Throughout the day so far I had wanted to cry and feel sorry for myself when things got ugly on the bike, and I also wanted to tell my family how thankful I was for them being there and how well I had recovered on the run. I couldn't wait to tell them about it all.

I was on track for a negative run split but then mother nature threw one last punch and decided to turn up the notch on the headwinds just as I was beginning my final 4 miles. Those last 4 miles were the hardest fought miles in any marathon I have ever done. It felt like a cruel joke. I was clipping off 7 min miles or so and all of a sudden that same effort yielded me 9 min miles. The headwinds got so crazy I felt like I was standing still while trying to move forward. Aid stations started blowing all over the place, spectators left the scene and hid in their cars. Heck, I think I even felt sand kicking in my face from the beach still 2 miles up the road.
Oh Glorious Finish Line!

I am not sure how, but during this final suffer fest I managed to pass one more female pro and knew I was in 7th place now with just a 5k to go. I focused my mind down to taking it one step at a time, fighting the winds. After what seemed like an eternity, I made the final turn on the finish line out and back and could see the girls ahead of me to which I had caught up a great deal on the run, making their way down the home stretch. Once I made the last turn I started pumping my arms (or at least I felt like I was) and gave it one last push (wasn't about to let anyone pass me into the finish:)) to cross the line at 9 hrs and 46 minutes, a PR by a little over a minute.

Immediately I had a million emotions going through my head and I immediately started to freeze once more. My marathon was the day's third fastest (20 seconds behind winner Meredith Kessler's) and it did include a brief stop at the porta-potties around mile 6 when I thought I was going to explode (I have yet to master going on the bike and run). My time of 3:10 was 12 minutes faster than what I ran in AZ last year, and even though the PR margin is small, this course was a 100x tougher, both on the course and weather front. Overall, I am very pleased with the way my day turned out, but ofcourse there is always that little voice in your head that says "what if". I guess that's what keeps the fire burning. Every Ironman brings me more experience and I know that someday soon my day will come where it all does come together.

Still, finishing an ironman is something that is so deeply satisfying, it's hard to explain. Just look at the faces of those finishers in the last few hours before midnight. To have seen the last finisher push through the finish tape at 16hrs, 59min and 57 seconds is priceless!
Purple lips and freezing post finish

Borrowing a traffic volunteer's jacket to keep warm, and her chair, to sit on :)

The amount of trash from one single aid station!

Big thanks to all who made it possible for me to have this race! My family and sponsor #1, this racing business wouldn't happen without you! Thanks Team Sport Beans/ NTTC for the continued support, Argon 18 for my great ride, Blueseventy wetsuits and goggles, and K-Swiss for the continued support in keeping my feet happy and me running fast! I am proud to be representing you all when I toe the line. The volunteers at the race were top notch, super helpful and enthusiastic, they are a huge part of what makes this race a success. The course is epic, now that I've done it (in one of the more adverse conditions IMC dishes up) and the crowds lining up the sides of the mountain on the various climbs were TdF- like.

Unfortunately, this race still adhered to the 5% and 8% rule, which are no longer in effect as I write this (thank goodness!) but it made for some bitter cutoffs, leaving one women's spot unclaimed. How this is helping promote women in this sport is beyond me, but all I can say is that I am glad it's no longer. No Kona this year, but interested to see how the points system will work out next year, as pros no longer get automatic slots at races, but rather accumulate points over the course of the season to determine who goes to Kona. Time will tell, I guess.

I am now in the process of putting together the remainder of the season leading up to Clearwater. And yes, another Ironman is definitely on my mind. Just not sure about the timing of it all. We shall see...

FINAL STATS: Swim- 59:13
Bike- 5:32.20
Run- 3:10.33

FINISH: 9:46.19- 7th Pro Woman