Ironman Louisville - TriathlonFull Ironman

The Star Spangled Banner was sung, and a trumpet dude played Old Kentucky Rose (which was very good), then the age groupers started jumping into the water. Since I was close to the front of the line, I dove off the pier at about 0702, while it was still dark. I'm glad that I read the posts on NOT wearing tinted goggles, 'cause it was really dark!

The water temperature was perfect, and so was the sighting. On the upstream leg, I stayed close to the island shore, and on the downstream leg, I sighted off the last swim bouy. This got me swimming in the middle of the Ohio river and not hugging the shoreline. It was very peaceful and quiet. The only bump I had was my leaky goggles. I stopped 5 times to empty out the water. And on the last time I plastered the darn things so tight to my face that when I pulled them off, I saw stars for 20 minutes!



Nothing. A PR for me.

Long run out of the water to the change tent. I swam in my tri suit and did not change for the bike. I put on my socks, bike shoes, butt butter, helmet and glasses. Then I drank another boost and was off. At this time, I was quite happy with my time and feeling really good. Since I was one of the first ones into the water, I was also one of the first ones out of the water. There were so many transition bags and bikes in transition when I left.

Nothing.

The first 10 miles were flat and tree protected. I was getting pulled by a bunch of elite athletes who were flying by me. At one point I went by one of those road radar things that says "your speed is..." then tells you. It was registering the bikers speeds! I was at 20-21mph at this point, and feeling like it was easy. Right away I began my nutrition plan. Special carbopro drink mix every 10 minutes, with a salt tab and water every 20 minutes. The out and back hilly setion was VERY fun!! I peaked out at 42mph down one of them!

Next, the loop sections began. I tried peeing on the bike, but could never fully empty, and before I knew it, I was in La Grange, and couldn't pee in front of all these people! I stopped at the first aid station after La Grange to use the rest room and refill my water. I still felt really good at this point. Shortly after that aid station, I was surprised by a very steep and very short hill. I was able to down shift fast enough not to fall down, but I had to stand up as well. Due to the upward traction on my handle bars, my back wheel was lifting up and spinning on this hill! I was very lucky not to topple over! After that hill, I suddenly began to feel tired and drained, and the heat and wind were picking up. I decided to increase my food and fluids at that time when I found out that I was completely out! I had been drinking a lot more of my carbopro drink mix than usual (probably due to the heat). The next aid atation I got a gel (yuck) and water. By the time I made it to my special needs bag 25 miles later, I was severely depleted of both food and fluids.

Before the race I decided to wrap my special needs bike bottles with bubble wrap to insulate them and keep them cold. When I got there, they were still frozen!! I could only get a few sips out of them! An hour later they finally unfroze, but the damage was done. I did not have many calories or much to drink in two hours. On the next loop with the short steep hill, I actually got off of my bike and walked up. I had absolutely no energy, and did not want to fall off. At the top of the hill were several cyclists sitting down in the shade of a tree. When I asked them what they were doing, they said nonchalantly "We're waiting for the sag." The @#$%ing sag!!! I couldn't believe people were giving up! Then I got back on my bike determined to finish.

By mile 80, I felt very nauseated. My stomach was bloated, and felt like nothing was moving through. I did continue to force the fluids, but only got half of what I needed in. However, the last several miles were mostly downhill with a tailwind, so I did not feel completely terrible. Again I PR'd on the bike by over 10 minutes despite stopping 3 times for the restroom, 1 time for special needs, and one time to walk my bike up the hill.

Figure out where special needs is before hand (it is not always at 56 miles), and increase my food, fluid and salt consumption even more.

I moved fairly quickly here. I took off my bike shoes after I crossed the timing mat, then carried them to the change tent. Again, I did not change clothes, just socks and shoes. I gathered my carbopro, endurolyes, ibuprofen and antidiarrhea medicine and was out of the tent. Made one quick stop at the portapotty as I felt very gassy.

Nothing

Right away on the run I was feeling VERY nauseated, and it was difficult to think about anything else. I stopped at every portapotty between miles 1 and 4. On mile 4 I had diarrhea. Fortunately I decided to bring antidiarrheal medicine with me, so I took one and continued a 12 min/mile shuffle. I had no further bouts from below, but the pill completely stopped my entire GI system. Now everything was coming back up. So at mile 6 I began vomitting and dry heaving. By mile 14 I was completely walking. I met another racer who was walking due to knee issues, and we walked and talked for 5 miles. This took almost 2 hours, but I started to feel a little better. By this point I could consume a small amount of water again. So thus I began to shuffle. I was passed by 1111, Pink Leopard and Maura around this time who all offered encouraging words.
Several times the ground began moving up and down and sideways, and I thought I would just fall over and pass put. The only thing that helped was to run. I think that running increased my blood pressure enough to get some blood back up to my brain. By mile 23 I passed over the Ford Motivational mile station. Another BT'r had placed a great message in there for me. I don't know who it was, but THANK YOU! This got me moving again. I also got my glow stick around this time (kind of a bummer, 'cause I didn't need one for my last IM). It was at this time thatI knew I could break 15 hours, even if I walked. I continued my shufffle and made it to the last 2 tenths. I did not feel a surge of adrenaline or energy like last time. Just a sense of 'thank God this is over.' I passed over the line able to hod down only aout 20 oz of liquids in 7 hours.



Drink more, eat more, take more salt tabs on the bike.

I got my medal, and continued to walk to get my gear and bike. I was afraid that if I sat down that I would pass out and need an IV. After 30 minutes, I had an intense craving for Lays potato chips. After a half bag of these, I started to feel much much better. I also know that I was severely dehydrated. It took me 24 hours to pee afterwards, and 48 hours to feel like my bladder was even full. Yeah....scary.


Poor planning with nutrtion. I had practiced many things throughout training, and went with what had worked the best. However, I never did 112 miles of biking combined with 26 miles of running in 93 degree weather before. If I do another IM at this temperature, I will be prepared.

Many people say if you go out too fast on the bike, you will pay for it on the run. I really went out easy on the bike, and only feel liked I pushed it over just 3 of the hills, so Iknow that was not the problem. I trained quite well, and am not sore at all.


Overall, it was a nice race. The volunteers were excellent, the course was well marked. Could we just push the date back to the end of September instead?