IMAZ- Last Hurray of 2010

Off season has officially started and I think I am going to enjoy it for awhile. Sunday was a day that I am really proud of and ending the year on such a high note leaves me feeling pretty good about what's in store next season!

We left for AZ on Thursday and my legs were still complaining from Clearwater despite my best efforts to stay off my feet and compress the soreness out of them. I pretty much swam and did an easy spin or two, and managed one wobbly 27min run on Wednesday, which left me wondering how in the world I was going to run a marathon just a few days later.

Luckily, our homestay Wolfgang (Endurance Rehab) also happened to be one of the best P.T.'s around and with the latest and greatest equipment at his fingertips I was fortunate enough to make use of some of his tools. I did several sessions in the very funny looking, but highly effective NormaTec MVP recovery boots/ sleeves- whatever you want to call them, and also had an extremely effective couple of sessions of a technique called ASTYM, which targets muscle soreness/ tightness with a scraping technique. Check out Wolfgang's site and if you are ever in the area, I can't recommend him enough- great guy and really knows his stuff!

Anyways, I started feeling a little better each day and by Saturday (day before race) I was about 90% pain free in my lower legs. Although the weather on race day called for rain showers and wind, I tried to stay positive and ignore the silly forecast of rain in AZ, I mean, come on... Sunday morning came bright and early and I woke up in slight disbelief that I'd really be doing this. (it never seems to really set in until the gun goes off anyway, but here I was, really going through with what I originally thought might be a silly idea, especially since I was being called crazy for doubling :) This would be a real test, a true test of how tough of an athlete I am, how strong my will power is and how badly I wanted this. ready or not, I was on my way to the start line.

Cleaning up a sticky mess, ick

Brandon was a fantastic sherpa throughout the entire trip, I can't thank him enough. When doubt crept into my head, he was there to erase it and when I realized I forgot a few very important things at home, he made sure I was good to go on race day. And being on the race course throughout the day, updating me on how far ahead other racers were, made such a difference to my usual racing "blind". What a guy :) Since we were a little further away from the race site than last year, we had a 25min drive during which I realized that my clever idea of putting my Redbull bottles in with my bento box was not so smart. One of my bottles was open and spilled perfectly into my bento box, covering it in a sticky, smelly mess. Luckily, only one bottle came open, still had the other few in tact. (more on Redbull later) We rolled into the parking garage with plenty of time to clean said bento box and sticky hands before making our way over to transition.

Bodymarking

I think I'm ready?!

 As is usually the case in pro racing at these events, you really don't know for sure who will actually show up, and in my case, I never usually even see my competitors much of the day, unless I am passing them or they are passing me. So, I had a vague idea of who was here, but probably wouldn't know who actually raced until looking at the results later that night. However, Ironman touted this race to have the most competitive field outside of Kona this year, how is that for some pre-race pressure? It was called a "superstar studded field", and it was indeed as I realized later on that 6 out of the top 10 women were Ironman Champs (or multiple Ironman Champs for that matter)

The little pack I swam in, thanks to my Blueseventy Helix for keeping me warm!

 The swim was freezing as usual, but I felt comfortable after about 10min and being in a pack (for the second week in a row- go me!) helped as well. This time it was men and women mixed, and although I was somewhat sandwiched between 2 guys for most of the swim, I was glad I didn't have to go solo for 2.4mi. I may have this whole pack swimming figured out a little better after all! I came out of the water in just a smidge over an hour, right on the heels of Erica C. and Linsey C., and faster than last year.

 

Sun barely up, pros about to go off- Tempe Town Lake

T2 was interesting as it was crowded and I had a hard time maneuvering through to find a chair to dump my stuff and get dressed for the ride. My great volunteers helped me get my stuff sorted and I was out of there in no time, anxious to see what the day held in store as the skies were now clearly clouding over.

The 3 loop out and back is something I like and dislike at the same time. It really helps me stay consistent and is very predictable, but at the same time each loop holds the same challenge to conquer each time. Starting out I exited T2 and almost immediately had a camera on me. Pretty neat, but wondering why me? :) I must have looked fast or something, ha. The camera guys stayed with me for a good 3 minutes or so, getting footage for ironmanlive.com (thank you, my mom was excited to see me on the computer screen, as this was the first time she was not in attendance for my IM) and then moved up to the next girl.  I could tell immediately that this would be no easy ride. The winds in town were whirling around and I was forced to hold on tight as my 808's seemed to want to go in a different direction than me.

Thanks to Eric Wynn for taking this awesome shot of me on the Beeline.

 Once on the Beeline highway, there was a headwind, as is to be expected but then it turned into a tailwind, pushing me up the road at 24mph, awesome! Well, until the turn-around back down the beeline, (note downhill!) when the winds turned into vicious head and cross winds and I went from riding high 20s to low teens, downhill! Very frustrating, but I kept telling myself that everyone else was dealing with the same conditions and that I could not let up and had to keep pushing. Lap two was much of the same with increasing winds and even rain and hail (or were those tiny rocks hitting my helmet?) making me question why I thought doing this IM was a good idea...

photo credit: Competitive Image/ Paul Phillips

In addition, around mi 60 I lost Erika, who I was switching off positions with riding (we were riding in 7th and 8th up to that point) and I hit my lowest point of the day. I had paid attention to my nutrition and hydration, making sure I got adequate amounts, but somehow I was fading, and fast. My head started telling me to stop, consider calling it a day, heck, maybe doing CW the week before simply was too much after all. Then I remembered the emergency magic potion attached to the rear of my bike- Redbull to the rescue. I downed about half a can and voila, about 5min later I was back with it once more, ready to focus again, muscles firing and a renewed sense of "I can do this!" I finished up my ride, coming out of the dark hole (a bonk or whatever it was) and although having lost 4 spots during my low point, I was uber happy to be off the bike and in my run shoes, in my element.

This is also where I entered previously unchartered territory. I did one back to back half ironman earlier in the season and I suffered in the second half, certainly slowing down due to fatigue still present in my body. I knew I could not have any expectations for this run or I might set myself up for disappointment. What surprised me was that I managed to still ride to a new personal best by 4 minutes over last year, even with the winds and weather and my meltdown. I put my head down and burst out of T2, hot on the heels of Heleen B, who won AZ two years ago. I knew she was a strong runner and I needed an amazing run to try and get by her. We ran the first few miles almost side by side, until I could not bear to run on a full bladder any longer and was forced to take a pit stop. Upon exiting the porta john almost 2 minutes later, she was out of sight and I knew I was not going to catch her back.

early on in the run. photo credit: Timothy Carlson

my own little "iron war" ;)

With the talent of the field, I wasn't running down as many people as I usually tend to do, and I kept telling myself to just keep it steady as this was a FULL marathon! I divided the race up into 3 segments since it's 3 loops, and focused on one loop at a time. When that became a little too overwhelming, I switched to focusing on aid stations, getting to the next and the next after that. Soon I was at the half way mark, legs slightly in pain but holding up, and spirits lifting as I realized I was going to finish this dang IM! ;) In my delirious state however, I forgot to restart my watch after pausing to pee, and by the time I noticed, it was a lap later and I ended up relying on my actual watch time for estimated race time.

Fighting to the bitter end, just before finish

By lap 3 I did some math and did it again as I could not quite grasp it- I was going to PR (unless I slowed wayyyy down, which at this point, being on autopilot, was NOT going to happen) by a good chunk of time, wow! Thinking about it, I got a little emotional and had to tell myself to stay focused and composed as anything could still happen, but with a mile to go and running on empty, I checked my watch and realized I would probably hit my super secret lofty season goal for an Ironman. Unrested, not optimally tapered, and on such a rough day. I turned the last corner around to the finish, soaked up the roaring crowds and crossed that timing mat in just over 9 hrs and 31 minutes. (my super lofty goal was 9.30 or better but I'll take this!) I couldn't believe it, and neither could my body, as I quickly faded and found myself on a massage table with legs propped up and tingly hands and a face as pale as the desert sand. Funny how you can give it your all for 140.6mi but then as soon as you cross the line, you can't go another step :)

I think I'm tired now

I think I wanted some chicken broth here

My marathon ended up being 8 minutes faster than last year, and on a much windier day on the run course. It was only about 4min off my best in an IM, I'll take that too! Turns out my calves never bothered me much at all throughout the day, except for the second half of the run, but that is to be expected with 26miles of concrete. I wore compression sleeves for the first time and I think those helped a great deal. I am finding that I am actually less sore today, 3 days post IM, than I was last week, 4 days post CW. Well done, body, well done!

My final time put me less than 2 minutes behind 8th place, and who knows what kind of race it would have been if I hadn't stopped, but that is part of Ironman, it's so unpredictable and anything can happen.  After having asked so much of my body this season and having succeeded in executing each race to the best of my abilities, I am looking forward to some much needed downtime and unstructured training before ramping things up again in the new year. The sky is the limit and I have proven to myself that anything really is possible. Can't wait for 2011!

well deserved-unfortunately I could only get half of it down

Lastly, a big thank you to ALL the volunteers at the aid stations, the transition areas and all around the race site. No one would be racing without your help! Thank you so much for giving me what I needed at each aid station on the run, every time. To everyone who rooted for me this season, thank you! Your belief in me powered me to the finish! To my sponsors, hopefully I made you proud this year! I am dedicating IMAZ 2010 to my friend and former massage therapist extraordinaire Jeff Jewell, who passed away from brain cancer last week. I thought of you throughout the day, this race was for you!

This was a long one, but there won't be too many more this year :)