Ironman Louisville - Triathlon

I can't control toxic algae. Apparently, it exceeded the safe swim limit by 800%.

Time trial bike start, so no T1.

Funny thing about being in the 45-49 year old women's age group are the conversations that took place as we waited for the TT start to occur. Most of us were lamenting that this was the ONE day we weren't plagued by hot flashes, and as cold as it was, a hot flash would have been welcome!!

The first 20 miles of this course are pretty fun & fast. It was cold at the start (39 degrees), so I wore short sleeve jersey with a wind jacket, tri shorts, mid calf socks, toe warmers and full finger gloves. Saw a herd of deer right next to the road on River Rd. Was able to just hunker down on the aero bars and pedal. I heeded the advice of my coach and rode the first hour pretty easy. Even though I wasn't pushing too many watts, was nice to see I was able to ride pretty quickly speed-wise. The first 'climb' was right around mile 10 which started to spread out the field a bit.

The turn onto the loop around mile 20 meant it was time to climb Grandma's Hill. Great support on the climb, but I was pleased that I didn't find the climb too taxing. Not much later, I hit special needs and chose to stop just to hit the loo and take off my wind jacket and swap out my full gloves for the fingerless in my pocket. Stuffed everything in my jersey and carried on.

Riding through Lagrange was pretty cool. They line the main street with Ironman barricades, there are huge crowds, announcers, and family/friends who rode the shuttle out to cheer on cyclists. Plus, after about 7 or 8 miles or rollers, it was nice to have a little bit of a flat 'breather.'.

Left onto Ballard (Bastard) School Rd which was a pretty big cluster. The road is narrow & technical. There's a short bridge at the bottom of a downhill that requires some care crossing over as I'd heard is has caused many flats & other mechanicals over the years. I tried to do a bit of a bunny hop just prior to the lip both times and made it over unscathed It's immediately followed by a short, steep climb and I had to dodge people pulled over to fix flats and people walking their bikes up. I had to stand to climb and was pushing 400 watts which I wasn't expecting. Driving the route didn't make this little hill seem so steep, but it certainly was! Finally made it past the turnaround & the 'cow' aid station (I wish they had answers to all the riddles on the signs lining their station--I'm curious to know the answers!) to Le' Spirit and was grateful to be done with that section.

Settled in for some nice rollers from Sligo back to the turn for loop #2.

Grandma's Hill was still uneventful the 2nd time around. In fact, I told the gallery there that "I love Grandma!" Stopped at special needs shortly after to hit the loo and grab more chamois cream I had in a baggie in special needs. Wasted a lot of time thinking there was another set of portolets after SN, but had to run backwards through the parking lot to get to the john. Saw a TriAugusta friend which was nice. In hindsight, while I hate that I wasted the time here, I was kind of grateful for the small amount of time off the bike prior to having to climb the Ballard School/Old Sligo/Le'Spirit section a 2nd time).

Back into LaGrange for my favorite part of the ride and back onto Ballard School Rd which was more exciting the 2nd time around! Chaos! Flats, toppled over cyclists & tired people everywhere. Found out later that a friend tipped over on the Ballard School hill BOTH times! Two other Tri Augusta friends had some mechanical issues and were stuck in their big chain ring for the last 50 miles of the bike. I can't fathom not having my easier gears during this section. I actually was wishing I'd had one more gear a few times during this section. Did I say how I hate standing to climb?

By mile 80, my left IT band was a little unhappy and was causing some knee pain. I had planned to push the power coming in, but knew I needed to back off to have a knee left to run on.

Needed to pee just prior to mile 90, but the aid station was packed AND it was at a bottom of a hill, so i just grabbed water and kept pedaling. Was excited to pass the turn off and head back to town. The map shows a negative elevation the last 20 miles, but the hills never stopped until mile 101. Everyone riding around me kept saying, "This is the last one, and then it'll be downhill!" It never happened. The last 10 miles were flat, but the headwind was pretty strong, so it was tough to take advantage of the flats.

The last few miles I saw runners on the run course on the opposite side of the road. They were a welcome sight as I knew I was getting close to the end.

Pretty pleased with how my bike felt. Even with the knee pain, I physically felt good for 112 miles and I rarely thought about my saddle. That's win win right there.



Strength train more to become more durable for when my body begins to tire. Ride more elevation in preparation.

Handed Simon off to a volunteer, grabbed my bag and headed into the tent. Sat down and a volunteer came over. I had to pee so bad that she encouraged me to leave the tent, pee first and come back in. I did just that, but then someone else had grabbed my run bag to put it back outside. I located it after a bit of panic, changed into a running skirt and t-shirt, put on my visor (with headlamp clipped onto the brim), race belt on, Skratch chews in my pocket and headed out to run.

New run course which suited me as there were no long sections. I prefer lots of turns which helps break up the monotony. The course took us through several parks. The aid stations were plentiful and the volunteers were great. Each loop of the 3 loop run required you to get a lap band and this was easy and well thought out.

One problem I had was with my skort. I love this skort. I've done every long run in it all summer with no issues. What I didn't think about is the cool temps. The fact that I wasn't drenched in sweat meant my skort kept sliding down. What a pain! I had to pull it up every 20 steps for an hour!

I was able to run about 10k before my knee started to become unstable, giving out on occasion. I was hoping to be able to run 15 miles before falling apart, but you have to adapt. I switched to a power walk and tried to keep my pace around 14 min/mile. I tried running a few more times, but my knee wasn't having it.

My family was great and I saw them 6 or 7 times.

I started the run with a clip on headlamp. It's not super bright, but it was nice once the sun went down. Some of the park areas were very, very dark. Too dark to safely run if I had been running.

I started the 3rd lap and met a girl named Micah. We spent the next 60 min together, but she felt the need to try to run more as she had started 30 min before me and was concerned about the 14:45 finish time. She was a blessing to have for that hour and truly helped keep my energy up and my mind off how badly my feet and calves were feeling. The "Fat Tire DJ" was also tooling around after dark and was playing perfect music.

I picked up my jacket in special needs at mile 22ish and was happy for the warmth. However, I was given the wrong special needs bag at first. I didn't realize it until after I spent too much time trying to untie the know at the top of the bag. Finally got mine, grabbed my pullover and put it on. It was cooling off quickly now that evening had turned to nighttime.

I just kept walking as fast as I could. I was even passing people jogging. My toenails and calves were getting sore as I've never walked 19 miles straight before and it's definitely a different motion from running. Even after 14 hours, I physically felt good except the knee.

I stuck with my Skratch chews for fuel for about 2 hours, but was pretty sick of sweet stuff after that. I didn't feel poorly and my stomach wasn't upset, but I needed something different to eat. I chose pretzels, the occasional Coke, and water. After dark, I took advantage of the chicken broth. Just so you all know, warm chicken broth after dark is amazing!

I was pretty lonely the last 2 miles, as there were very few people around me. I just kept chugging along. As I turned to the chute, I heard & saw one of my sister's best friends who was in 'scouting' position to alert the rest of my family who were in the finish chute.

Walked up the chute and enjoyed every moment. High fived people and felt about 100 different emotions during the walk. It's a pretty surreal moment, and it's amazing how when you hear your name, you feel elation, relief, and this huge surge of emotions all at once.

Put a drawstring in my skort.

Strength train more to be more durable & to,prevent ITB/knee issues.

Found my family right after. My sister, Lynn, came as my main support crew, and when I saw her she was bawling, so I was bawling and gave her a huge hug. Saw my other sister and my brother shortly after and gave hugs to them, drank water, wrapped up in a space blanket, had my picture taken, and then left the chute. I grabbed my morning bag & walked back to hotel. VERY SLOWLY.

In the hotel, drank a protein drink, took a shower, chattered for about 20 min and then fell asleep. Woke up 3 times during the night because I must've been pretty well hydrated! Didn't get out of bed until 8:30 the next morning which was amazing!


Knee pain


You can't beat that finish line!