Ironman Los Cabos 3/17/2013

 

Swim- So, this was a run in swim, or whatever the official name for it is. Beach start? I don’t have a lot of practice with these. I’ve done one race like this- Collegiate Nationals. It was my 3^rd triathlon ever and my first Olympic. I guess CDA was a beach start, but people had pushed forward so far by the time we started, you just sort of fell forward and started swimming. At Collegiate nationals there is a wonderful video of me falling in and losing my goggles and then standing up and re-starting. Now, in Cabo, there is another one. Yep- just a crash landing awful start.

Matt had graciously described dolphin dives to me via email the night before. I know what dolphin dives are- I was a summer league swimmer. We didn’t ever even do butterfly, we just jumped off the bottom. But there isn’t sand in a pool,  and there aren’t waves, and there aren’t other people whapping into you and it’s just different. So my dolphin dive was sort of straight into the first wave and the just sort of crashing goggles full of sand and water. I just sort of took about 20 strokes with full goggles to get out of the mess and the just cleared the water quickly. Luckily- 1^st pro race!!!!!- there were only 20-25 of us, so it was still a pretty straight shot to the first buoy. Unluckily, I didn’t notice one girl head out off the front.

 

So, I ended up thinking I was in front which was good mentally, but bad for overall time. I got to the turn buoy and actually took a breakstroke and readjusted the goggles and then headed out. I felt like I had a nice rhythm and easy smooth strokes, but looking back, they were probably a little too slow. Still, I thought I was all by myself and crushing everyone. I actually had this big boat by me and thought, “They must be filming me because I’m winning by so much.” It’s ridiculous, I realize, but it’s important to be ridiculously cocky when you are about to work hard for 10 hours and make yourself hurt badly- you have to tell yourself, “Yes- I’m awesome and can do this!” At least, that is what I’m telling myself now so that I don’t have to admit that I’m just a cocky bitch.

 

Anyway, I begin to have to pee. It’s really hard to pee while you are swimming, but I wanted to try, so I sort of relaxed and spread out my legs (and therefore slowed down) and wham- I basically get swum over. Turns out I was not as far in front as I thought. In fact I had a very large group of very polite ladies drafting off me, but they did such a nice job and the water was so clear that they didn’t touch my feet even 1 time.  Anyway- darn. I was hoping to draft, so I slowed a little to try to have one of them pull, but they were just not fast enough. They were basically fast enough to keep up with me while drafting. So I figured I’d just pull. If I were to do it again (I’ll write that a lot in this because I plan on doing another Ironman- yay! And I figure I should remember what I want to fix), I would have just busted 300 meters and dropped them, but I was trying to be safe and steady. I mean, it’s less than 10% of the whole race in time, so I don’t really need to blow it all.

 

I did drop them as we headed into the finish. While I’m not great at getting into the water, apparently, I’m pretty good at getting out. The trick is to swim until you literally cannot swim any more and then stand up- but not a moment sooner. It’s much faster to swim through water than walk.

 

Transition looked really long and hard and I thought I would be exhausted and be in there for 7 minutes, but with all the people cheering and the water I was drinking and getting out of the wetsuit (half way anyway) it just wasn’t a big deal. Grabbed my bag (I was really lucky and had a number right next to a pole, so it was super easy to find) and ran into the tent. The ladies got my wetsuit off and I dumped all my stuff out. I washed the sand off my feet, they put on my helmet and then they grabbed all my stuff and shoved it into the bag with my wetsuit and said, “Leave this at your bike.” Okay- I should take full responsibility for this, because it is my responsibility, but I’d seen my race bib and it just got gathered up with all the stuff and I sort of forgot. So, I raced without a bib.  (I will say, the girl who won didn’t even remember her chip that morning to the race, so I think I’m doing reasonably well. It’s important to find a low bar.).  So I grab my bike, and it’s literally not until there, when I see Michelle Vesterby’s bike missing next to mine, that I realize I haven’t been winning. Dang it.

 

Oh well, I head out onto the bike course and just try and be calm. I had caught some of the men (they started 3 minutes in front of us) and so was following them out of transition and they weren’t going too crazy fast, so I figured I’d didn’t need to either. Once we got on the hwy (a mile in??), they took off really fast, and I just started riding.

 

This was literally the most negative part of my ride and I cannot figure out why. I was just like, “oh. I wish I were just out on a normal ride and I could go slowly and look at how pretty everything is. Or that this was only an Olympic and I only had to go 25 miles.” I may have just been hungry. Anyway, two girls passed me and I remember thinking, “well, here it goes- all the super fast cyclists are coming by!” But I could keep up. I mean, they weren’t really going that fast at all. I think the pleasantness of that surprise made me feel much better. I also called an official over and said, “My bib is in my T1 bag!! Sorry!! I’m number 35! Can we put it in T2?” Or something. Anyway, he marked me down (or not, I’m not sure, but I felt better having told someone that I wasn’t purposefully breaking the rules). So, I follow these girls about 20 meters back. (Or, as it said in the rule book: 10×2 meters. What? Why is this listed as a math problem? Side note- when I read the rule book the first time, I said, “200 METERS?!?! That’s sooo far. “ Brandon looked at me like I was crazy. We don’t do multiplication in 1^st grade).

Then we’re going up a hill and I decide they aren’t going that fast, so I pass one of them (Christine Anderson- she’s from Boulder and I’d stalked her earlier and said, “I know you because you are at all the local races kicking ass. Hi!” She said, “Hi, I’m Christine.” I said, “I know.”  I’m sure when I went by she had to think for a second if she really wanted to try to stay with the creepy stalker girl. She did. Later I passed the other girl, too. Then Christine passed both of us. Anyway, we sort of just rode together.

 

 

I think some other people went flying by and I couldn’t hang with them, but then my new friend Jess rode by. I had met Jess on a warm up ride (and through mutual friends and this is already too long of a race report so I won’t explain it all) earlier in the week, so it was really nice to see her. I knew she was a fast cyclist, but was hoping I could stay in touch and try to out run her. She was also really nice. Some of the girls other are a little more focused than I was, I think.  Jess was very friendly!

 

It’s not that I was f’ing around on the course or anything, but you better believe I was smiling and giving a thumbs up to the camera guy. Hello- you are on IRONMAN Coverage! The whole world can see this. You are certainly going to smile and wave. At the start, when I was still in 2^nd or 3^rd, the camera guy tracked me a lot. After I while it was sort of like when you are driving in a car next to someone you know and you are making funny faces or singing, but then you just run out of things to do and it’s sort of awkward that they are next to you. That’s how I felt. I knew I should just ride and be normal, but I couldn’t do it.

 

(Okay- another side note and I know this isn’t an autobiography, but I write stream of consciousness, so that’s what happens. My mom tells a story of when I was 6 or 8 or something and we were at the zoo. I was up at the fence looking at the crocodiles and my mom said, “Katy, honey, someone wants to take a pictures.” So I turned around and smiled. It did not even occur to me that these random tourists might be taking pictures of the animals they came to see and not the silly little girl looking at them. Apparently, I still feel this way, because I just kept smiling at the cameraman).

 

Truthfully, though, it was easy to smile because I was having a great time. And we were riding with the wind on our way back and under all the bridges people from the towns have set up their lawn chairs and are cheering like crazy and it was so fun! Plus, Jess says, “good job!” and I’m excited that I know someone and it was just good times. We get back to where we did the swim and I see my mom and my uncle Bob on the bridge (they weren’t allowed to leave until all the swimmers were out)  yelling their heads off. I’m still trying to stay with Jess, but mostly just staying with Christine and I’m getting toward the end of the first out and back and I think, “wow- I’m feeling great. Good thing I only have to do this all again and still have the really huge hill coming up.”

 

Well- that hill didn’t turn out to be too bad at all! The wind was totally at our back and, thanks to Colorado training buddies, it turns out I’m a reasonable climber. I think some of that has to do with the other ladies training with power and therefore being more even in their riding, but I don’t care. It made me feel good to go faster than people up the hills. So I pass Christine and drop both her and the other girl (Ashley Clifford was her name and it was on her pants and she ran 2:57 in her marathon an Ironman Florida, so I figured I might need a little gap- to say the least). We come screaming downhill and I’m being really brave in my aero bars as we go across the bridge- terrifying- and then I’m just waiting for the turn around.  I start checking people coming back, just to see if I’m in the race and I get to the turn around and 6 seconds later I get passed by a group of 4 women. One of them was going ridiculously fast. It was Erika Csomor and she ended up winning. The other three were going faster than I was. Again, if I were to do it again, I would go with them and push a little more, but I wasn’t even half way and so I was safe. Lame, but not a terrible choice. I don’t think that’s bad. 1^st race in a new division. Coming back over the hill was not quite as fun as going over the first one, but it still went by fast. We got to scream into town and then head out for lap 2.

I checked finally allowed myself to see how far I had gone. Looking at my total time on my watch, I assumed I was going pretty slowly, but then I checked my mph and was very pleasantly surprised. I remember thinking, “Holy crap that was an awful swim!!”

 

Then it was windy. Whoa. It was just a push for about 15 miles (??) down to Cabo San Lucas. Because of the distortion, it looked like the girls in front of me were just riding in this nice little group of 4 (they weren’t- everyone rode very nicely and obeyed the rules, as I saw on the turn arounds- it just looks like it because you can’t judge distance to quite that precise a measure). Anyway, I was so mad. And so jealous. Ha! The good thing was, instead of being in this, “ugh- it’s windy and I’m tired and I’m going 17mph when I want to go 20 and blah blah blah,” that is all internally directed, I was like, “stupid drafting girls. Darn it. Stop it.” And it kept me from feeling slow or mad at myself or anything. Plus, I knew we were going to fly back, I’d get to go up the hill which was the happiest part of the first loop because it was so surprisingly easy, and then I’d have the wind again, but I’d only have 12 miles left, so it wouldn’t matter. So, the course was great for staying on your mental game. There was always something nice (or just a change) coming up.

 

2^nd trip over the hill wasn’t quite so exciting, though the first AG male had caught me and then I passed him on the hill, but then he crushed me. He was from Mexico and I cheered for him in Spanish and he cheered for me in English when we passed each other. I LOVE that about Ironman. Everyone is like, “here we go- ride with me up this hill. Last one” and it’s a nice community effort.
Oh- speaking of community- amazing cheering throughout the course, but especially from my mom and my uncle. They drove along and parked every 5 miles or so (they didn’t drive next to me because that is illegal pacing) on the main highway and then took pictures and got everyone around them to cheer “Go Katy!” so cool. On the out and back with the hill, no cars were allowed, but there were still people that had walked chairs out there. Supporters make a big difference!

 

So I get to the turn around and it is just a slog into the wind, but I’m at 100 miles and I have about 37 minutes to be under goal pace and it was like, “just get over the stupid hill and you get to coast in and then run!!” I have been feeling great about running lately, which is so nice because then you get to be happy all ride that you are going to run!

 

Also- I was trying to be really good about keeping my arm coolers wet and putting water on my helmet and eating salt and food and whatever. It was 100% procedural and not based on feel at all. Salt every half hour. 1 powerbar every hour (even when you really really do not want to eat it). I figured I should get my calories in on the bike because it’s harder to eat on the run. At one point I took an extra salt because I thought I was getting shakey, but really it was just a little wheel wobble in the wind going down a really big hill. Hehe.

 

So- I get to transition- yay!!! I was so enthusiastic about grabbing my bag, I grabbed the hook right off the pole with my bag. I was moving. My mom was filming and running along outside the changing tent going “Go KATY BLAKEMORE!!!” And so I got my shoes on very quickly J The lady asked if I wanted crema (sunscreen) and I said, “YES- all over!!” Apparently they do all over a little differently in Mexico. Darker skin. I got a little on the top of my shoulders, I think. They hadn’t had any at the bike transition, so I was already a little nervous, but I was like, “F it- we’re going to get burned.” Not to self- put sunscreen packets in your bag to rub on if they don’t have lots of sunscreen in transition. I think this is important because sunburn hurts, but also because it makes you really hot and can affect performance. Check bike split and I’m 4 minutes under goal time.

 

In CdA, the first few miles of the run, I literally couldn’t slow down. I felt so good! This time, not so much. I didn’t feel bad, just a little off, I guess. It just took a couple miles to get my run legs under me. I think I was actually going pretty fast, though. You get the reverse treadmill effect when you get off your bike, so it seems like you’re going really slow (as compared to 20mph, you are) but you really aren’t going slow as compared to run speed.

My mom tells me, “The whole community is out!” and sure enough around mile 1.5 of the run I see all the neighbors from our little rented condo area out cheering “Go Katy.” I also got to see Lauren Barnett out supporting Brandon and she cheered for me and was really nice and looks like she is in great shape (in case she reads this or someone who knows her reads this- during the bike leg, she was out running and I saw her and thought, “Why is that crazy fit hot girl not racing?” and then she said, “Katy!!” Happy.).  Cheerers literally are the 2^nd best part of Ironman. 1^st is the aid station volunteers. Lord, I love them! All the volunteers were awesome and when they weren’t offering ice, I asked if they had ice and they would run to catch up to me and give it to me. Or they would say, “we’ll get you on the way back” and then after the turn around they would be ready on the other side of the road with ice for me.

 

The run course was 3 loops and each loop had 7 turn arounds!! So you got to see people a lot. There were some girls who were just way too far in front for me to even see them, but I could see a few that seemed like they were within reach. I also knew there were some runners behind me!
But, I was smart. Matt had told me to run 7:30s for the first loop and I slowed down and I did it. Well, 7:25s. I actually think it was really good advice. It felt smooth and nice and I got to be really thoughtful about nutrition and staying cool. It was 85 or so and sunny and I’d been training in Colorado. In the snow. So I figured the biggest things I needed to manage were not muscle fatigue, but heat and hydration. So I put ice down my pants and in my bra at every chance I got, and I made sure to drink a little at every aid station (they were at every kilometer, plus, because of some of the out and backs, they ended up being double that in some parts- lots of aid). They had bagged water, which I LOVE! You can drink for a little while and you can spray it all over yourself and get your arm coolers wet and it is just fantastic. So much better than a little plastic cup. Also an environmental nightmare, but I guess the cups are, too.

 

I passed on Jess pretty quickly and said, “Come run with me.” She said, “Maybe later.” Hehe! And was gaining quickly on another. I was also paying attention to 3 girls behind me who seemed to be running fast. I will say- none of these pros were stupid about their races. I kept expecting someone to blow up or just disappear or be an awful runner, but everyone was sort of still there- still within touch, still coming (even one girl, who I saw walking, must have pulled it together because she ran 3:14. Including the walking part. Crazy people). It was awesome. It was so fun to really race for 10 hours.

 

So the 2^nd lap I was supposed to speed up. I didn’t. It wasn’t an awful fade like in CdA or anything, it was just sort of a miscalculation of how hard I needed to work to descend to 7:20s. So I ended up probably running about 7:45s.  (The miles weren’t all marked and weren’t all right, so I didn’t actually know how fast I was going, which was fine). Luckily, I passed another girl and gained on one more, so at least a lot of us were slowing down.

Somewhere in there, I heard my name, but not from my mom’s voice. I was sort of searching around and there were Beth and Cory from RMTC!! WOW HAPPINESS! They decided there was no other way to spend their 10 year anniversary than sitting in the hot sun watching people run by them every hour or so! What incredible people and great cheerers. They were really specific and positive and it was awesome! They also picked a special spot that was the hardest part of the course (I’m sure it was on purpose) for the last lap and I was so happy to see them there!

 

2^nd lap- My stomach and lower back started to hurt a little, but not like in CDA. I farted. It happens. It feels amazing! My mom said she heard lots and lots of people farting. Honestly- it feels so great to fart in Ironman. I also ate! And I learned that gels make me feel better. Even though they are super unappetizing at the time (like I have to motivate myself to grab one. “You have to take at least one swallow every 4 miles. You have to do it. Do it. Grab the gel, damnit. Take the gel from that lady and eat it). Then I would take my swallow and throw it down and be like, “yum!” And start to feel better. Then I would repeat the process. It is just that you aren’t hungry. I mean, your body is hungry, but your stomach is not. But, compared to taking nothing but coke starting at mile 2 in CdA, I was kicking ass on nutrition. I also took a salt tab on scheduled mile markers and was basically very procedural.

 

Once Matt told me (I’m paraphrasing) that there aren’t good days and bad days, there is just executing a plan. He wasn’t saying that stuff doesn’t sometimes go wrong, but I still really love this idea because it puts you in control. Rather than being like, “Well, I just had a bad day- nothing I could do about it.” Or even, “Yeah- it was just a good day. Sometimes they happen.” You are actually the agent controlling how the day goes, rather than it happening to you. So, I was proud of my execution of the nutrition and the cooling (soaking arm coolers and filling pants and sports’ bra with ice).

 

Thanks to mom, I also had friends at the aid stations at this point. She’d ride her bike a few miles and then stop and cheer and the volunteers kept offering her water and she’d say, “No- save it for Katy!” So then, when I ran by, they would say, “I’m supposed to give this to you, Katy! Go fast!” Ha- fantastic!! I also met another guy on a bike named Nick who was wearing a lovely sombrero and he was cheering for his fast friend who passed me and Nick and I are facebook friends now. I love Ironman. Have I mentioned that?

 

So the second lap was too slow, in retrospect, because I still felt really good, but it was good in that I did what I needed to do to get to the last lap ready to rock. Matt had also told me I could run the last lap as fast as I wanted and if I blew up, oh well. He suggested 7:15s. I actually think I almost got there. I was about 1:30 or 2 minutes back from a girl in front of me and I just sort of sped up. It felt awesome! This is why I think I should have gone faster on the 2^nd lap. I think sometimes you have a more comfortable cadence or something. It was definitely getting into a much higher end aerobic effort, but who cares- it’s only an hour at that point.

 

I also had Pepsi to look forward to. Man oh man does that stuff taste amazing during a race. Wow. It’s like concentrated super hero juice- I felt like I could fly. (I wasn’t actually running that fast. I mean, effectively it was the same speed as the miles that felt slow in the beginning, but you’re 9 hours in at this point, so it’s making you feel like a super hero, considering).  I waited until mile 18- good job!! And then I drank coke. And I just ran down the girl in front of me. I caught up to her in about 3 or 4 miles and put some distance between myself and the girls that were chasing me. I felt great from mile 18-23. I also was at a point where I was pretty sure I was going to break 10 and was really happy about that. The last few miles I also felt great, but I was basically ready to be done. I stayed so procedural, too. Since it is a loop course, there is an aid station at around mile 25.9. I got coke and ice at that station. “Staying cool” In case I might overheat in the last 2 minutes of the race. I guess it can happen.  I actually counted my steps a little the last 2 miles, too, because I’d promised myself I could do that. It seems like it would be really boring, but I love it and it takes my mind of how far I need to go or how long something is taking and just makes me run. It also helps me keep my cadence up, I think.

 

Finish line! Always incredible. Again, since it’s a loop, I tried to really stay over to the right side so people would know I was finishing. The cheering was awesome and I tried to keep my arms up for a really long time so that I could get a good finisher photo. I think I was laughing. And the clock said 9:51 or something and I didn’t even care about the minutes because – yes!!!! There is a 9 at the start of that number!!

 

And the British announcer had apparently met my mom and my uncle (I did not really do justice to how many times I saw them around the course- they were everywhere!) during the swim in this little lifeguard tower where they were watching. So he had asked her about who she thought would win the swim and my mom said “Well, it’s her first Pro race, but I think Katy Blakemore should be out pretty early.” No pressure, mom, thanks!

So, rather than say, “You are an Ironman,” the announcer was like, “And this is Katy Blakemore, and it is her Pro debut and her mom said she was feeling good and hoping for good things, but I bet they didn’t expect it would be this good! Nice job, Katy.”

 

 

I also gave this really long, probably incoherent speech at the end to the crowd. Oh dear. I was like, “I just think Los Cabos is amazing, and the volunteers are amazing, and you are all here and you are cheering for people, and you are amazing. And I love you all. And thank you because it really is you who gets us to the goal.” (“It is YOU who gets them to the goal” was the tagline for all the volunteer request forms and posters around town). It was like a crappy Oscar speech from this random girl who did not win. And it was in Spanish. Success.

I think I clapped for them (which I did in CdA, too. Why do I do that?).

 

Then I got my medal and a towel and my shirt and a massage that was absolutely incredible! And I did not poo my pants, which was better than last time- improvements.

 

The massage was 2 ladies and they spent about 25 minutes and it was fantastic. And then I had to pee- that is how well I stayed hydrated. I peed a lot, and I don’t think it was just a “you haven’t had any salt” pee, but an actually hydrated pee. Yay!!

 

Went home, took a shower in my kit with my bike and all my shoes to wash everything off (while I couldn’t pee in the water, I was successful on the bike, though not as much as at CDA- there weren’t enough long downhills where you could relax. Still- got it done).

 

Then went to last finisher. There apparently are less people at International and March races that just barely finish. Like in CDA there is just a steady stream of people from 11-12, but here there just weren’t very many, but that does not make last finisher any less special. I got to go in the VIP area because there weren’t very many people there and they just opened it up, so I chatted with the announcer and told him he had met my mom, and it was his bday the next day, so we sang Las Mañanitas, and then people started coming in and I started crying and it was just amazing. Watching people achieve their dreams is so incredible!!  I cannot explain how amazing the Ironman finish line is. Whoa.

 

So- that’s the report. By far the worst effects of the race were the sunburn. I matched my bright red kit and it was not very comfortable. Legs were clearly tight, but I walked around a lot the next day, and teaching 2 days later means you get to bend down and stretch out and chase kids around a lot and I honestly feel awesome! Ready for another one  😉