My first ironman!!!!

Race Report Ironman Australia, Post Macquarie 2013

Overall time: 16h 47m 23s

Last Female Finisher!

Overall rank: 1350  Gender Rank: 192

4^th last finisher

Back in April 2012, one of my colleagues posted on facebook that she had done her first duathlon.  It had been a women’s only event and quite short.  My colleague looks seriously unfit and she managed to do it.  I got interested and looked online to see if there was an event I could try to do.  Then, I happen to stumble across some Ironman videos on Youtube (Kona).  I was impressed.  I had recently started running from scratch and at that point could run 5km.  I looked for a local triathlon to do and found one in town (Auckland) only 2 weeks away.  It was a sprint triathlon and I had no time to train.  I managed to pull it off with a lousy swim/bike/run in 2hrs (on a mountain bike!)! but I was hooked!!! Completely bitten by the triathlon bug.  I then found a coach who found I was a tad ambitious but supported me.  Started base building in June 2012 with the aim of Ironman Port Macquarie! (had impulsively signed up at the last minute!).  Now, I am not an athletic person at all! Overweight, mother, full time job involving night shifts…I had to buy a road bike and learn how to ride it….my first rides were about 20k on flat areas and I was exhausted by the end of them, and also had a couple of falls ouch.  So, I had 11 months to build up…..also planned Auckland Ironman 70.3 in January 2013 as preparation.  This 70.3 was going well, until I fell off the bike half way severely spraining my knee and had to DNF after finishing the cycle leg!  I could not run for about 7 weeks, so I basically decided I was going to walk the marathon of the ironman and trained to walk fast, aiming for a 6hr marathon. 

Things started to go wrong.  3 weeks before IM I got the flu and was soooo sick I could not train at all, I had just peaked and suddenly completely stopped training (LONG forced taper!!), then when I thought I was better a week before IM, strep throat….1 week course of antibiotics! 

Then my SUUNTO ambit died with only 10 months of use.  The warranty people told me they had to review it and I would get a replacement in a couple of weeks!!!!  I begged them on the phone to do it quickly, I spoke to many people and finally got the new watch a couple of days before IM. 

I seriously felt ill up until 2 days before the race but always kept my hopes up and rested all I could.  I travelled to Port Macquarie with my mum and she seriously pampered me pre race…..we took short little walks and I marvelled at the athletes and their top bikes around town, gawked and how they ran and then thought to myself.. “aren’t they supposed to be tapering!!??”, seriously, I saw people jogging at sunset before the race! Of course I did nothing at all, did not even test my bike.

Day before the race packed my T1 and T2 bags and racked my bike…..my road bike looked soooo humble next to the aero machines there.  But, I never had the courage to put aerobars on my bike and learn that.

Pre-race Routine:

The last week before the race I was careful to eat healthy and be well hydrated, plenty of rest too.  I carbo-loaded with normal food.

The day of the race, I woke up at 04:30am and had breakfast (cold porridge with natural yogurt and a mashed banana), a small serving.  I have always had this same breakfast before events and I tolerate it very well. Then I had a shower, got into my swimsuit and dressed.  I walked very slowly to the transition area, sipped Gatorade, and had a gel 10mins prior to swim start.  I asked a guy to help me with the wetsuit.  I got tons of support from these guys who must have seen the terrified look on my face!  I kept my sock and jandals on and then threw them away just before going into the water.  I was impressed there were only 200 women competing, versus 1400 men!

Swimming 3.8km

Time: 1:21:08

This was a deep water start about 100m from the edge of the Hastings river, the water temperature was a lovely 22 degrees celsius .  I placed myself to the side and towards the back.  My aim was to have clear water and not be swum over.  My performance was better than what I expected; the water was calm like a pool, and transparent to see the shells and fish at the bottom, no sharks seen!  I felt great, got into a rhythm and bilateral breathing right away.  The buys were hard to see and they had different shapes and colors!!!! I finished feeling awesome, on a high, took my cap and goggles off immediately as I found them tight and rinsed my face well in the showers available.  My wetsuit got stuck at the wrists.

T1

Time:12:34

I ran in there and confirmed what I had thought about before.  Most women there were changing into another outfit and there were naked ladies everywhere.  That is what I did! Stripped, dried myself, got dressed into my favourite cycle shorts (already massively pre-lubricated) and top.  I applied massive amounts of lubrication again!!  I DID NOT PUT SOCKS IN THE BAG!!!! Was seriously freaking out and one of the volunteers gave me her socks!!! And they were not normal ones! They were expensive compressport socks….I was so grateful; they kept my feet fresh, blister free with no numbing or tingling.  Someone put tons of sunscreen on me and I did not even realise it till I saw my shoulders were white. Mum was waiting outside and was very excited!

Bike 180km

Time: 8:40:01

I walked to my bike and to the line, got on very calm and here goes nothing! The cycle leg was I was mostly dreading and knew I would be on the bike for 8 plus hours….It was a hilly course, 1790mt of ascent, including a horrible hill (200mt, 14%) that you had to do twice! I walked up both times.  The scenery was beautiful! The roads were horrible….rough tarmac.  The constant vibration and the headwind for the first 45k were horrific for me.  I also had pain on my left adductor for the first 50k, it was terrible, and suddenly the pain was gone.  I did the first lap in 4:10….. On the second lap, I lost it for a while and started actually getting off the bike at aid stations, the last 40k were hell.  I could see vans passing me full of bikes and the riders that had dropped out or were not going to meet the cut-off.  My inner self screaming “take me too!! Take me back to town…… end this misery”.  But I kept going, even sobbing on my own for the last 30k and made the cut off. 

For nutrition, I alternated between Gatorade and Cola provided on the course and averaged 1000ml per hour, it was a hot day and I was sweating a lot.  I also had 1 gel every hour and 2 cookies when I felt hungry.  To be honest, felt quite sick of the gels at the end of the ride.

I guess my performance was average, needed to train more for the cycle leg, my longest training ride had only been 130k.

The volunteers at the aid stations were very supportive and cheered me on.

T2

Time 10:00

Here I sought reassurance from a doctor because I had only managed reduced urine output, he reassured me I had hydrated well, my vital signs were fine and I felt great.  I decided then I was going to mostly walk the marathon! I had 06:45hr left to be able to complete.  I changed again into my favourite run skirt.

Run 42.2K

Time 06:20h

The course was 4 loops around town, including one big hill towards the beach per loop.  There were so many people cheering on and calling you by your name!  This marathon was never boring!! I did not know how I was going to manage my mind without music, but turned out I was quite entertained!  During the marathon, my urinary tract kicked in normally again.  I felt bloated and nauseous, could not bear the thought of any more gels.  Managed my nutrition by alternating water, Gatorade and tomato soup! I also ate Vegemite with bread (heavenly salty!).  By 21k all my GI upset has disappeared.  I stayed in Z2 for the whole thing and feeling awesome.  I met tons of other athletes walking.  By 33k my feet were killing me! And my GPS watch died!, so I borrowed my mum’s normal watch for the last lap……  my power walk was fast and it was exhilarating to realise I was going to make it!! I knew I would be the last female finisher!!  I saw lots of athletes being taken of the course collapsed…others limping or vomiting…..I was glad my plan to pace myself worked because I wanted to finish the Ironman standing, smiling and in one piece.  The finishing chute was amazing!!! It was a party…surreal, I could not stop jumping and smiling!! “Karina you are an Iroman!” still rings in my ears!!

My total time: 16:47:23

Will I do this again!?  DEFINETLY someday!  I had realistic expectations to only be a finisher (be it in 16:59:59!), from couch to Ironman in 11 months is impressive and probably next time I do it my time will be much improved.  For now I have reached a huge goal and am sooo proud.  My family I guess never thought I would complete it and I doubted myself on the last 30k of the cycle leg. 

Post race warm down

I was VERY hungry, had a plate of pasta and some soft drink.  I was still feeling great, on a massive high.  Then I felt like crying! And went to a portaloo to do that!!!  Mum was waiting for me to finish a short massage on my legs and then we walked to the hotel, had a shower and went to bed.  My legs were soooo sore and it was hard to fall asleep.  WHAT A DAY!

What limited my ability to perform faster:

I am a beginner and as such focused on gaining endurance, versus speed.  I am 15kg overweight and could not lose this weight during training, and then I decided I would focus on the weight loss after ironman.  I have issues with making myself suffer I guess, so didn’t do much speed work in run training. My swimming will take a long time to improve, I had my stroke reviewed by 2 good coaches and they had nothing to correct.  I definitely needed more time on the bike and maybe learn how to ride using aerobars.  They freak me out and I think I would lose my balance.  Was too chicken to even try them.  Hills are hard for me, so naturally lose more time there.  There is heaps of room for improvement and hopefully next time I don’t get sick before a race too!

Karina you are a bloody legend i attempted the crazy couch to ironman ln less than a year last year and failed you didnt you did it what a great read ! thanks for sharing 

Race Report Ironman Australia, Post Macquarie 2013

Overall time: 16h 47m 23s

Last Female Finisher!

Overall rank: 1350  Gender Rank: 192

4^th last finisher

Back in April 2012, one of my colleagues posted on facebook that she had done her first duathlon.  It had been a women’s only event and quite short.  My colleague looks seriously unfit and she managed to do it.  I got interested and looked online to see if there was an event I could try to do.  Then, I happen to stumble across some Ironman videos on Youtube (Kona).  I was impressed.  I had recently started running from scratch and at that point could run 5km.  I looked for a local triathlon to do and found one in town (Auckland) only 2 weeks away.  It was a sprint triathlon and I had no time to train.  I managed to pull it off with a lousy swim/bike/run in 2hrs (on a mountain bike!)! but I was hooked!!! Completely bitten by the triathlon bug.  I then found a coach who found I was a tad ambitious but supported me.  Started base building in June 2012 with the aim of Ironman Port Macquarie! (had impulsively signed up at the last minute!).  Now, I am not an athletic person at all! Overweight, mother, full time job involving night shifts…I had to buy a road bike and learn how to ride it….my first rides were about 20k on flat areas and I was exhausted by the end of them, and also had a couple of falls ouch.  So, I had 11 months to build up…..also planned Auckland Ironman 70.3 in January 2013 as preparation.  This 70.3 was going well, until I fell off the bike half way severely spraining my knee and had to DNF after finishing the cycle leg!  I could not run for about 7 weeks, so I basically decided I was going to walk the marathon of the ironman and trained to walk fast, aiming for a 6hr marathon. 

Things started to go wrong.  3 weeks before IM I got the flu and was soooo sick I could not train at all, I had just peaked and suddenly completely stopped training (LONG forced taper!!), then when I thought I was better a week before IM, strep throat….1 week course of antibiotics! 

Then my SUUNTO ambit died with only 10 months of use.  The warranty people told me they had to review it and I would get a replacement in a couple of weeks!!!!  I begged them on the phone to do it quickly, I spoke to many people and finally got the new watch a couple of days before IM. 

I seriously felt ill up until 2 days before the race but always kept my hopes up and rested all I could.  I travelled to Port Macquarie with my mum and she seriously pampered me pre race…..we took short little walks and I marvelled at the athletes and their top bikes around town, gawked and how they ran and then thought to myself.. “aren’t they supposed to be tapering!!??”, seriously, I saw people jogging at sunset before the race! Of course I did nothing at all, did not even test my bike.

Day before the race packed my T1 and T2 bags and racked my bike…..my road bike looked soooo humble next to the aero machines there.  But, I never had the courage to put aerobars on my bike and learn that.

Pre-race Routine:

The last week before the race I was careful to eat healthy and be well hydrated, plenty of rest too.  I carbo-loaded with normal food.

The day of the race, I woke up at 04:30am and had breakfast (cold porridge with natural yogurt and a mashed banana), a small serving.  I have always had this same breakfast before events and I tolerate it very well. Then I had a shower, got into my swimsuit and dressed.  I walked very slowly to the transition area, sipped Gatorade, and had a gel 10mins prior to swim start.  I asked a guy to help me with the wetsuit.  I got tons of support from these guys who must have seen the terrified look on my face!  I kept my sock and jandals on and then threw them away just before going into the water.  I was impressed there were only 200 women competing, versus 1400 men!

Swimming 3.8km

Time: 1:21:08

This was a deep water start about 100m from the edge of the Hastings river, the water temperature was a lovely 22 degrees celsius .  I placed myself to the side and towards the back.  My aim was to have clear water and not be swum over.  My performance was better than what I expected; the water was calm like a pool, and transparent to see the shells and fish at the bottom, no sharks seen!  I felt great, got into a rhythm and bilateral breathing right away.  The buys were hard to see and they had different shapes and colors!!!! I finished feeling awesome, on a high, took my cap and goggles off immediately as I found them tight and rinsed my face well in the showers available.  My wetsuit got stuck at the wrists.

T1

Time:12:34

I ran in there and confirmed what I had thought about before.  Most women there were changing into another outfit and there were naked ladies everywhere.  That is what I did! Stripped, dried myself, got dressed into my favourite cycle shorts (already massively pre-lubricated) and top.  I applied massive amounts of lubrication again!!  I DID NOT PUT SOCKS IN THE BAG!!!! Was seriously freaking out and one of the volunteers gave me her socks!!! And they were not normal ones! They were expensive compressport socks….I was so grateful; they kept my feet fresh, blister free with no numbing or tingling.  Someone put tons of sunscreen on me and I did not even realise it till I saw my shoulders were white. Mum was waiting outside and was very excited!

Bike 180km

Time: 8:40:01

I walked to my bike and to the line, got on very calm and here goes nothing! The cycle leg was I was mostly dreading and knew I would be on the bike for 8 plus hours….It was a hilly course, 1790mt of ascent, including a horrible hill (200mt, 14%) that you had to do twice! I walked up both times.  The scenery was beautiful! The roads were horrible….rough tarmac.  The constant vibration and the headwind for the first 45k were horrific for me.  I also had pain on my left adductor for the first 50k, it was terrible, and suddenly the pain was gone.  I did the first lap in 4:10….. On the second lap, I lost it for a while and started actually getting off the bike at aid stations, the last 40k were hell.  I could see vans passing me full of bikes and the riders that had dropped out or were not going to meet the cut-off.  My inner self screaming “take me too!! Take me back to town…… end this misery”.  But I kept going, even sobbing on my own for the last 30k and made the cut off. 

For nutrition, I alternated between Gatorade and Cola provided on the course and averaged 1000ml per hour, it was a hot day and I was sweating a lot.  I also had 1 gel every hour and 2 cookies when I felt hungry.  To be honest, felt quite sick of the gels at the end of the ride.

I guess my performance was average, needed to train more for the cycle leg, my longest training ride had only been 130k.

The volunteers at the aid stations were very supportive and cheered me on.

T2

Time 10:00

Here I sought reassurance from a doctor because I had only managed reduced urine output, he reassured me I had hydrated well, my vital signs were fine and I felt great.  I decided then I was going to mostly walk the marathon! I had 06:45hr left to be able to complete.  I changed again into my favourite run skirt.

Run 42.2K

Time 06:20h

The course was 4 loops around town, including one big hill towards the beach per loop.  There were so many people cheering on and calling you by your name!  This marathon was never boring!! I did not know how I was going to manage my mind without music, but turned out I was quite entertained!  During the marathon, my urinary tract kicked in normally again.  I felt bloated and nauseous, could not bear the thought of any more gels.  Managed my nutrition by alternating water, Gatorade and tomato soup! I also ate Vegemite with bread (heavenly salty!).  By 21k all my GI upset has disappeared.  I stayed in Z2 for the whole thing and feeling awesome.  I met tons of other athletes walking.  By 33k my feet were killing me! And my GPS watch died!, so I borrowed my mum’s normal watch for the last lap……  my power walk was fast and it was exhilarating to realise I was going to make it!! I knew I would be the last female finisher!!  I saw lots of athletes being taken of the course collapsed…others limping or vomiting…..I was glad my plan to pace myself worked because I wanted to finish the Ironman standing, smiling and in one piece.  The finishing chute was amazing!!! It was a party…surreal, I could not stop jumping and smiling!! “Karina you are an Iroman!” still rings in my ears!!

My total time: 16:47:23

Will I do this again!?  DEFINETLY someday!  I had realistic expectations to only be a finisher (be it in 16:59:59!), from couch to Ironman in 11 months is impressive and probably next time I do it my time will be much improved.  For now I have reached a huge goal and am sooo proud.  My family I guess never thought I would complete it and I doubted myself on the last 30k of the cycle leg. 

Post race warm down

I was VERY hungry, had a plate of pasta and some soft drink.  I was still feeling great, on a massive high.  Then I felt like crying! And went to a portaloo to do that!!!  Mum was waiting for me to finish a short massage on my legs and then we walked to the hotel, had a shower and went to bed.  My legs were soooo sore and it was hard to fall asleep.  WHAT A DAY!

What limited my ability to perform faster:

I am a beginner and as such focused on gaining endurance, versus speed.  I am 15kg overweight and could not lose this weight during training, and then I decided I would focus on the weight loss after ironman.  I have issues with making myself suffer I guess, so didn’t do much speed work in run training. My swimming will take a long time to improve, I had my stroke reviewed by 2 good coaches and they had nothing to correct.  I definitely needed more time on the bike and maybe learn how to ride using aerobars.  They freak me out and I think I would lose my balance.  Was too chicken to even try them.  Hills are hard for me, so naturally lose more time there.  There is heaps of room for improvement and hopefully next time I don’t get sick before a race too!

I cannot even begin to say how greatful I am that you shared your experience!  I am 11 weeks out from my ironman and I am feeling underprepared and defeated.  I have had a couple lousy "long" runs (8-9miles) and it has made me question whether or not I will even finish the race.  Suddenly, all my training days are a chore and I have been dreading them.

Your outlook was so positive!  Your race report brought tears to my eyes.  I am probably going to read it several times to keep myself in the right state of mind.  Thanks!!!

I am following a training schedule, but the run is always in minutes.  Since I am so slow I am concerned that I am not going to have enough miles under my belt for the race.  What was the longest run you did in training?