Cancun Ironman 70.3 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

It was weird how calm I remained after my swim cap busted molments before I got ready to race. When I first started triathlon last fall, I had a horrible swim experience. I joined a masters group after Christmas, and it has really helped my swim. All things considered, the swim is still not my favorite event.

It definitely helped that the swim went off in waves every minute. All women were grouped in the last wave, approximately 7 minutes behind the pros. At first I focused on each buoy, and before I knew it I had completed the first loop of the swim (2 loops total). There really wasn't much knocking and bumping, and I felt good as I passed a few people in the water. A year ago, I was the one being passed by everyone! Anyway, the swim felt so effortless, that I was actually concerned about my time. When I exited the water I was real excited that I hit my goal time of 43 min.

Nothing! I kept my heart rate down, and focused on my breathing. It was very easy to get into a rythym out there.

Ok, maybe I could push a bit harder next time around.....

T1 was smooth. I ran up to the transition, and all the way through. For me, 4:40 was a great time, considering some of my previous transitions in shorter races! So far, the race felt great!

Nothing.

The bike started out with a lot of promise-as I had previously thought this was my best event (boy, was I wrong!). Within minutes everyone was passing me, and it was completely demoralizing. I kept telling myself to "race my own race". I kept it nice and easy, trying to ave around 16mph. Once I got out to the 3 loop section (14mi each) I tried to push the liquids and nutrition. I drank a lot of Gatorade endurance (served on the course), and powered down tons of Vanilla Orange Carb-Booms. By the third loop I felt sick, but I think this conscious nutrition plan saved me on the run.

My bike had some problems, starting on the first loop. My brake was rubbing (I stopped to adjust on the first loop), and my gears kept shifting spontaneously. This was super annoying, as I have clip on aerobars, and I didn't get to ride in aero for a large portion of the race. I also have a bike that is a bit big for me, and this definitley showed during the race. This race definitely made me want to re-think getting a new bike, as I would like to do many more of these races in the future.

They ran out of water on the second loop of the course, which really sucked hard, as it was 95 degrees outside. I pushed on, and had about a 1/2 a bottle left to finish up with (20 mi left...). I was feeling sick, but had to power down the Gatorade endurance to keep hydrated.

Mentally, I hug pretty strong on the bike. I saw Jeff as I was approaching loop 3 (he was going back to transition), and he gave me some encouragement. I had one bout of "If this is hard, how will I do IM AZ?", but in general, I kept positive, and focused on each 1/2 of the loop at a time (7 mi). This strategy really helped me break down the bike into do-able portions.

Definitely bike more. I got in a significant number of 60mi+ rides, but I didn't always ride 3x each week. I'm going to get a trainer soon, and hopefully it will help me ride a bit more, and get some more power for the ride.

I was slightly disappointed in my bike time, but in reality when I signed up for the race I was hoping to ave 16mph. This is definitley the area I need to improve in.....I need to channel my inner-Lance.

Again, t-2 went well for me. I was able to make a quick switch, and meet up with Natalie for the run. I also remembered to re-apply sunscreen, and didn't get burnt (a major plus!!!!).





So here's one of my beef's with the race: They had NO, NONE, ZERO, ZILCH port-o -potties on the bike course. They even claimed that they would have them at one aid station, and they didn't! I came off the bike having to pee, and I had to walk all the way through the transition (it was long and rectangular), then back about 1/2 way (once on the outside) to the set of port-o-potties. They had two sets, but they were both on the outside of the transition, about 1/2 way back. ANNOYING. PUT SOME ON THE COURSE!!!!!!!!!!! (They also had NONE on the run-just the ones mentioned above)

I started the run feeling real good. I had about 3hours and 30min to finish the race (8 hr cut-off), and I knew I could do a half marathon in that time frame. I stole Jeff's philosophy for the run, and focused on doing 4 5k's, since it was an out an back course, with two loops. The first loop went pretty well. I felt really hydrated, and I started putting ice everywhere imaginable-in my hat, down my shirt, in my shorts. I made it to each aid station before I got too overheated. I saw Jeff, Tim, and Tori on the course, and they were all looking strong. Tim had been throwing up, and I felt for him. We also saw one challenged athlete on the course, and he was truly an inspiration. He was an above the knee amputee, and this was his first race as well. We passed along encouragement each time we saw each other.

They had these great plastic water baggies that were awesome. They were easy to grab, and easy to stuff in your shirt or in pockets during the race. They started running out of ice on the second loop, which again was seriously annoying. Also, about half way through the first loop, I was wishing that there were some port-o-potties on the course. Who has a 1/2 IM with no port-o-potties at a convenient location?! Desperate times call for desperate measures, so I had to take care of business. Oh well, at least I was hydrated, right? Only a real Ironman will take a pee on themselves while racing....count me in as part of the club.

I have to say, I was expecting to hurt during the run, and I was doing very well as I hit loop 2. Everyone else had finished-Jeff, Tim, Tori, and Tiger-so Matt wished me well as I passed him and continued on toward the end of my journey. By this point it was getting seriously hot, and we had to take it aid station to aid station. I was completely soaked, hot, and my shoes were sloshing and full of water (from all the water and ice dumped on me). By the time we hit mile 10, things started to get hard. My feet hurt, and it was REAL HOT. Aid stations were sparse, and as I'd come to find out, the last two aid stations were practically shut down. It was killing me. I also let Natalie know that I really wanted to do as much of the homestretch as I could in a full on run-I wanted to finish the race strong.

About mile 12 ish (we had recently passed the marker), Natalie started huring a bit, as was I. Jeff (her husband) came running toward us and let us know that we had 17minutes to finish. While I knew this was do-able, it lit a fire under my ass and I was off....sprinting to the finish. I felt bad abandoning Nat 1km from the finish, but I knew she had Jeff with her, and that she was right there. (FYI, he lied. I finished in 7:37!!!!)

As I rounded the transition, and people started cheering (they of course were grabbing bikes and leaving), I started to well up. In fact, I was real surprised that I held all of it in this long! I saw Jeff and Matt, and told Matt to get to the finish so he could see me cross the line. Little did I realize that he could just cross over, and I had to loop around toward the line. As I turned that final corner and saw the line, I started to lose it. This was a molment that was indescribable, and that I had worked for so many months to achieve. I was finally a 1/2 Ironman!!!! :)

Maybe push myself a bit harder on the run, but really it was nice to finish strong and feel good, rather than have major issues in the heat. I was not used to exerting such an effort in extreme heat, so I played it cautious, and as a result had a wonderful time during this race.

After I crossed the line, I ran right over to the medical tent. I requested an IV, although I wasn't severely dehydrated (I was peeing a lot on the run). I had been given some good advice that the IV would "make me feel like a million bucks", so I went for it. Sitting here 4 days after the race I still have the war wound from the IV on my hand (yes, a bruise that takes up half of my hand), which was probly the most painful thing about the race. I had a mini panic attack and made Matt go grab my finishers shirt and medal, as I was insistant that I get them asap. I cluched them with pride as I sat there smiling and hooked up to the IV in the med tent :)

This note describes it all: After the med tent, I went out and sat with my friends on a curb. I'd been bitten my several mosquitos (I had 12 bites on my legs alone), and I was scratching them fervently. Someone said to me, "How do you feel?", and my response was, "Great, if I could just get these bug bites to stop itching!". Needless to say the race was great, and I felt wonderful afterward!!!!!!


The heat...it was so hot. 95 degrees plus massive humitidy. It felt well over 100 out there.

I also held myself back a bit


I don't know if I'd race this one again, there were things that I didn't like too much about this race. There weren't enough volunteers, they ran out of water on the bike, ran out of water and ice on the run, and had no port-o-potties on the bike or run.

However, I will say this.....we got tons of stuff at this race. A race bag, a fleece embroidered with the Cancun 70.3 logo, a waterbottle, finishers shirts, and a medal. I was overly enthused about all of this stuff!!!!!!

The best part of this race was meeting up with Jeff (ajax1868) and his crew-Kati, Natalie, Tim, Tori, and Tiger. They were so much fun, and it was great to meet up with fellow BT'ers out there and have that extra support on the course. I look forward to seeing that whole crew in IM AZ next spring!!!!!