Ironman Louisville - TriathlonFull Ironman

Jumped off dock around 7:35am - forgot to start my watch so fumbled w/ that when I was in the water and started swimming. Got choppy towards the top of the 'island' and the turn. Seemed like more 'contact' swimming than AZ, but - I was in the BACK in AZ. I fought w/ one guy the final 1.5 miles. If he could have swim towards the buoys w/ some accuracy, I could have swam better because I fought with him a lot - he'd swim over me, into me, around me in circles maybe? He was everywhere!

I would have gotten there earlier to get in the water earlier. We lined up at 6am, but we were easily half way back - if not more. It was not fun waiting in line for 30+ min. after the gun went off. I was ready to swim. Plus, that was LONGER w/o food. I didn't want to eat in line because I felt like it was too close to the swim start time...(had I known...)

Didn't look at the time yet - but I grabbed my bag, went in the changing tent, put on my cycling jersey - ate an oatmeal creme pie (I was STARVING), drank some water - took 2 salt pills and then got sunscreen and headed out.

Gone through the tent a little faster and made sure to apply sunscreen to my face (oops)

Started out of Transition - threw my bike into my big ring and just kept pushing the pedals - felt great. Watch timer was going off every 15 min to remind me to take Infinit and did so appropriately. Turned onto Hwy 42 and felt strong.

About mile 15 my right eye started getting blurry. (Hard to explain in words - but there was a squiggly line to the right of my periphery...so I pulled out my salt - took out the naproxen given to me from my doc - and took that w/ some water.) Had a few more min. before I needed to take salt, kept going. The idea was - take the pill at the first instance of pain or vision issues. I NEVER had this happen w/ a training ride - so Never had to take meds. Turned Right on the out & back road and my eye started getting more fuzzy. Not really dark like in AZ...but I knew what was ahead of me. The descent w/ the fuzzy eye thing was worrisome - I pulled over when I saw the EMT's. Had them take my vitals. [BP 110/82, HR 140, R 20] Everything seemed fine. One let me sit in the shade and my idea was to try to wait it out - take the descent, refill on water - and head back towards LaGrange. Called Ryan because I knew by this point my paces would look WAY off (I think I had been sitting for 30 min. or so). Lawrence from IOS pulled up to see if I had bike issues - I told him I had head issues...He headed out and I called Ryan (Didn't want Ryan or my family to hear from Lawrence or someone else first). He told me to do whatever I needed to..wait it out as long as I could - and then move along.

I didn't know about the bike cut-offs at different check points. I think I sat total of 45 min. Maybe longer? And the vision got a little better - so I took off. (after signing the I don't want to go to the hospital waiver). Got to the turn around, grabbed a bottle of water - and kept moving. Went back down the hill - and up...and then as I started moving more, my eye started getting worse again. I felt like the medicine was working, but I knew I couldn't take another pill for another hour or so...and I knew if I waited it out a bit (resting on the side of the road) I could keep going. So I stopped and there was a cop at the intersection. He told me to sit in his car until I was ready to go to recover. I did. It started getting a little better after 30 min, but still not clear enough. A guy in a Penske truck from the 'race crew' stopped and chatted with me. He asked if I needed SAG or EMS. I told him no. He told me he was following the last group that had just turned off of 42 onto the out and back. I had a little time to rest because I had made the cut-off, but, if he came back by I had to go when I saw him - or I would be pulled off the course essentially b/c he felt I wouldn't make the cutoffs. I couldn't explain well enough that I was riding @ 16mph+ when I was able to ride...because I guess..the rules are the rules. SO I waited a little longer. (the cops were great. They offered me rice crispy treats, peanut butter cookies, etc.) I called Ryan again - to update him that I was at about mile 30...8 miles from LaGrange... :( He told me to wait it out - I couldn't explain everything to him at this point b/c I was upset with my body - and just wanted it to get better so I could ride. But .. it wouldn't..and then - there was Penske guy. And..there went my chip strap...again. And - then I don't know - I got on a SAG van - No air conditioning - so my head ached a bit (but that was the first instance of pain w/ the eye stuff). And..that was the end of my day....on the IM Course.

I don't know. I can't really say - I FELT GREAT ... My body felt GOOD. My legs felt FRESH. My body was good...something else wasn't working right...

I think this is a beautiful course. It was a warm day, but I felt like I was doing all of the right things..I was eating, taking in salt, drinking plenty of water...I took the meds I was supposed to if this happened to prevent further issues..and although it got a little better - it needed another hour or so - and I just didn't have that much time. The kicker is - I think according to the swim cutoffs and everything, I had TECHNICALLY until 6:30pm or so to finish the bike. Even w/ my stopping I think I might have been able to finish - but..if you can't see..you can't ride..and here we are again. Several months of training w/ no issues - and another..non-finish. I'm extremely disappointed. Not in my effort. I worked hard for this and honestly felt BETTER trained than AZ. So, I will call my dr..and I will work with him to figure this out!