Ironman Louisville - Triathlon

The swim takes place in the 'pristine' waters of the Ohio River. It is a time trial start – meaning that athletes enter the water like lemmings falling off a cliff instead of a mass deep water start. We heard the cannon go off at 6:50 am for the pro-athlete start, and then again at 7:00 am for our start. After that the line started moving really quickly, basically a slow jog once we got close. I made it to the dock around 7:15, held my nose, looked to make sure I wasn’t going to jump on anyone, and splashed in.

The swim course was shaped like a candy cane, we had to swim against the current up the right side of an island, passing yellow buoys 1-6, then make a left turn at the T1 buoy. After the turn we were swimming with the current past yellow buoys 7-9, orange buoys 1-9, and then a left turn around the T2 buoy to the exit stairs.

In preparation for the race I swam over 10,000 yards/week for about 15 weeks. Though I had never actually swam 2.4 miles at one time during training, I felt confident that the swim would go well. I experienced a little contact from other swimmers, and felt up a few people myself, but it was much less than I expected. The swim up river seemed to take awhile, but once I made the turn I could feel the current pushing me down river. It was about this point that I had to pee, and try as I might, I have never mastered the art of peeing while swimming. At one point I hung onto a buoy and tried to go, but once I stopped swimming, the urge left, so I moved on. The neatest part about the swim was that we got to go under 2 bridges, including I-65. These were great progress markers.

All in all the swim went well, I kept telling myself to enjoy it because I knew that I needed to savor the day. It lasted just long enough. I drank a little river water, which actually didn't taste that bad, and before I knew it I was being pulled up the exit stairs by the volunteers.

After I made it up the stairs there was a short run up and over to the transition area. A volunteer pulled my swim-to-bike bag for me and I headed into the changing tent. There I changed out of my bikini bottoms into my bike shorts, put on socks, bike shoes, helmet, and sunglasses. A volunteer helped stuff 4 Clif bars and 4 Paydays into my pockets, I stashed some chapstick in there as well and I headed over to the sunscreen station where I got well oiled. From there I hit the port-o-potty and then grabbed my bike and headed to the transition exit

112 miles of fun. The start out of transition was on a slight grade, it was crowded and there were a few people running into each other and falling over. I got to the side, mounted up, and got out of there as quickly as I could. I saw Mom directing cyclists on the second turn and yelled out Hi Mom! She was surprised to see me so soon and cheered me on. After that I headed out River Rd to start the longest segment of the day.

The first 15 miles are relatively flat and there was a good tail wind. I cruised along and kept reminding myself to not eat the paste. I elected to not put a computer on my bike all during training, and I kept it that was for the race as well. I didn’t want to psych myself out if I wasn’t keeping the 16+ mph pace that I was hoping to set.

After 15 miles we turned right onto the “finger.” An out and back section of about 20 miles that was on a two lane road closed to vehicle traffic. Since it was still relatively early in the race, there was a lot of passing going on in both directions. The road had no berm and good 6-8 inch drop between the pavement and the grassy shoulder, which then dropped quickly into a ditch. The road also had a couple long climbs and descents. It was a bit nerve wracking riding that section. I saw one guy carted off in an ambulance, another guy tuck and roll, and a few people walking their bikes up a hill.

After I exited that section, it was less than 5 miles to “the loop.” This section was done counter clockwise and we had to do it twice. I had no concept of how fast the pro triathletes were going, but I thought it would be a good goal to try to complete the first loop without them catching me, what I didn’t realize is that they had already started their second loop by the time I even got there! Machines, all of them.

The thing about Louisville is that the bike course is considered “rolling hills.” What I didn’t fully appreciate is that it really is just hills, there was very little flat, so if I wasn’t going down, I was going up. The hills were not too long or steep, I felt like I had trained adequately for them, but they were relentless.

My nutrition strategy was to eat one Clif bar or Payday an hour, one salt tablet, and one bottle of water. I had read somewhere that to stay well hydrated and set yourself up for the run you should have to pee twice during the bike. I’d say I did well because I had to stop three times, but I felt good throughout the course. At mile 66 the Special Needs Bags were available to us. These bags could contain anything you think you might need during the race. I had an extra tube and CO2 cartridge in there in case I had already gone through the 2 sets in my saddle bag, and more sunscreen. A volunteer lubed me up and I set off again. Water bottle exchanges worked well for me, I only dropped one bottle, and I grabbed extra nutrition only 1 or 2 times, mostly relying on the 1800 calories I took with me. I took 9 salt tablets during the bike.

112 miles takes a long time. Though I had never cycled over 100 miles during training, I never felt overly fatigued, nor did I feel too warm despite the 90 degree temperatures. Boredom wasn’t really a factor either.

Finally, I completed the second loop on the course, and headed back into town. Though the course map made it look like it was supposed to be slightly downhill the whole way back, it certainly didn’t feel like it. To boot there was a bit of headwind, so that didn’t help. I saw Mom again with about 10 miles left, and then gutted it out back to the transition area. Dad was there taking pictures. One thing to note is that my butt wasn’t nearly as sore as I thought it would be, and my neck didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. I was glad to be off the bike and to not have to worry about equipment failures wrecking my race.

I walked through the second transition area, a volunteer handed me my bag and I headed into the changing tent. There I saw down, changed shorts, socks and shoes, had a volunteer fill up my 20 oz handheld water bottle, put on my visor and sunglasses and headed back to the sunscreen tent. Then I used the facilities again and started running. Only a marathon to go!

Coming from a running background, I’ve been surprised at how much I have struggled on the run portion of triathlons in the longer distance races. It appears that I can handle a 10k pretty well, but after that I start to struggle. Regardless, I started off at a decent clip. About half a mile into the run I saw two pro triathletes cooling down on bike trainers cheering the rest of us on. It was a bit depressing to think that they were already done with the race, and I was just starting. It was still quite warm outside, but living in Hawaii for the past two years really seemed to help my race preparation. The heat did not bother me all day, though I took salt pills like candy, at least one an hour.

The first 6 miles of the run felt pretty good. The goal was to keep running as long as possible because I knew once I started walking, those sections would only get longer. As I crossed each timing mat, besides being an ‘I’m okay’ alert, it was a valued progress mark. I hoped to complete the run in about 5 hours, I thought it was conservatively optimistic.

After mile 6, I joined a guy named Jesse and we ran together for the next 4 miles encouraging each other and keeping the walking to a minimum. After mile 10 I needed to walk and he kept going. Miles 10-14 were very tough for me mentally and physically. I ran some, but mostly walked. At this point I was so exhausted that I just wanted to curl up on the side of the road and take a nap. At mile 13 I had to pass right by the finish line and start my second lap. I nearly cried. I thought seriously about quitting the race because the thought of going another 13 miles, regardless of if I was running or walking seemed like the last thing that I wanted to do and the race no longer seemed fun. I kept moving until mile 15 and then I knew that I needed to sit down. I decided to grab a cup of Coke hoping that the caffeine would wake me up and I could continue the race.

I sat on the side of the road near the aid station for 2-3 minutes drinking my Coke. Finally I got up and walked a little further before deciding to try to run again. The Coke seemed to wake me up over the next 20 minutes and I started drinking a cup of Coke at every aid station for the remainder of the race. I also stopped eating Gu Chomps because I was so tired of sweet foods and started eating potato chips and pretzels. After awhile they brought out chicken broth and I started drinking that. These changes to my nutrition perked me up and around mile 20 I started running again in earnest. I knew that my original goal of doing the marathon in 5 hours was out the window, but I calculated that I could still probably finish under 15 hours if I could just keep myself moving.

At this point it was getting pretty dark outside. I actually prefer running in the dark, most of my training runs were before sunrise, so this was my comfort zone. It had cooled down enough that I stopped stuffing ice down my shirt and shorts at the aid stations, but I was never cold. The only thing that bothered me were the lights from the police cruisers at the intersections. I had to avert my eyes because they almost seemed seizure inducing. It was dark, quiet, and there were not a lot of fans for the final 6 miles, this didn’t bother me though and I kept on trucking, slowly picking up my pace as I saw that under 15 was actually possible. Other runners cheered me on because most were walking at that point.

Finally, I was back into downtown Louisville. The last 1.6 miles seemed so long. With about 0.2 miles to go there was a left and right turn I had to negotiate before the finish line. At the left turn there was a crowd of people cheering me on. A man about my age looked right at me and said earnestly “You have earned this, enjoy it!” or something to that effect. It was exactly what I needed to hear at that moment. I rounded the corner and ran the next block. When I turned right onto Fourth Street and could see the finish chute, I got a bit emotional. I had made it. I was going to finish this race. The crowed was cheering, I heard Mom yelling my name, and then I heard the announcer say “... from Honolulu, Hawaii – YOU are an Ironman!” I crossed the finish line with my arms raised in celebration, a goal complete, I was an Ironman.

After I crossed the finish line, I was given my medal, t shirt, and hat, got my picture taken, and then walked over to the convention center where the highlight of my day awaited – a chair. I finally got to sit down.

I’m not sure that I can believe that the training and race are over. Ironman was such as huge part of my life for the past 7 months. It is a journey that I’m not likely to forget, and I’m damn proud that I did it and can call myself an Ironman.



Don't fear Louisville. With proper race management, it can be conquered and raced successfully.