Marianne did this portion..she kicked butt and did amazing. She just started tri'ing last year and never swam before. She loves to swim long and went with me on most of my IM swims..without her not sure I'd be an IM finisher...friends rock!

While Marianne swam I went to transition and set up my stuff. I was a bit flustered as the morning had sort of been goofy. I like being early, organized and calm. I didn't feel that way. Todd commented about how I was acting but was there to help me and help me get in a better frame of mind. It doesn't take long to tape on my aerobottle and gels but I just wanted it done.

Marianne ran to T1 which was about 1/2 mile and I was excited to see 1:21 on my watch meaning she probably did 1:17-1:18 which is exactly what I thought she'd do. Best part is she was so happy to have done this ocean swim and be a part of our relay.

I had ridden one loop of the course with Marianne earlier in the week which helped me prepare that this was open to traffic, very congested and busy roads that I would need to be 100% on to stay focused and safe as there were very limited shoulders and often none. I was concerned for my and the other riders safety. I did wear my brightest hivee colored jersey instead of sporting my team jersey to be sure I could been seen and hopefully safer.

The race directors put a lot of thought into making it as safe as possible. They wanted more road closures but couldn't get them from the town but hope in the future to get more.

You know I felt sort of weird about this race as I was still feeling not 100% from LP and yet didn't want to be unprepared. Emotionally I had been looking at this as a fun event with friends and not so much a race and felt little stress or pressure about it. Midweek I was like wow I'm doing IM race Sunday...and felt a bit strange how casually I took it but it was a better more relaxed feeling. I wanted to do well for my team and for myself. Mentally I'm pretty fried about racing/paces/placements and was excited to be doing something cool for fun fitness wise with friends.

Course is 2 miles out to a loop that is supposedly 27 miles you do 4 times and then 2 miles back. They say each loop has 1800 feet of climbing so about 7200 for whole thing very similar to LP but rolling so constantly up and down. Due to terrain and traffic I felt it would take 100% focus riding the whole route. Normally I get into a zone and ride and probably space out some..here no margin for error with no shoulders to ride on and lots of hazards in the road and many were not marked.

I run out of transition over sidewalk and curb move a little ways out from curb and get on my bike, clipping in one foot...lots of yelling and cheering. Lots of folks from my tri team are there and so are the Iron Pike family and friends...finally I hear my husband saying you can't mount there. I get off my bike run about 20 feet see the mount line and do it again..feeling rather stupid.

Loop 1: I called this the easy traffic loop
I had been nervous about traffic and safety on the course. Here I just settled in and tried to back off a little so I had plenty in the tank. Drank, ate and felt pretty good..happy that I was feeling okay. I had a close encounter with a pick up pulling a trailer as after he passed me with the truck a vehicle was coming other way so he moved very close to me when he trailer portion passed me..didn't like that. I passed a 32 year old on the down hills and she passed me on the uphills. We had a little chat going on...made it nice.

Loop 2: Here it was church time so route 3A was tricky as folks were pulling in and out of the road so lots to be aware of. Somewhere in this loop I found my bike zone and just rode and did my nutrition plan and it was good. Towards the end I got a headache which is really rare for me. I wondered if I was a bit dehydrated but urine output was good so I didn't think so. Maybe it was hot? I wasn't sure. I stopped at start of third loop where my family and friends were and took 2 8 hour Tylenol. They had goofy water bottles that were that harder plastic so if you pushed on them they would dent and change shapes which meant getting it back in my cage meant reshaping the bottle. I started dumping water on my head and torso a couple times a loop ideally before down hills as it would cool me off.

Loop 3: Lots of traffic and they were stopping cars at the lights so some had back ups of 10-15 cars with no room to pass on the right. One area I went into a parking lot that was empty to pass cars then pulled into the center lane and passed the cars. The cop yelled at me and my response was there was no room to pass on the right. Next loop they had coned off a small lane on right for us to be able to get by..impressed that within 90' they addressed a problem and made it safer for me the next loop.

I was totally in my bike zone doing my thing. Get to first aid station they only have fruit punch Gatorade so I took it. My stomach started to feel not so great. I kept burping up stuff and wondered what was up. I decided to stop eating solid food and go with gels and shot bloks only in a while figured maybe the fruit punch wasn't settling well so I went with water and more Lava Salts. At second aid station got a volunteer to help me flip my bike over to empty my 2 chamber areobottle using gravity to get rid of fruit punch and they did have lemon lime Gatorade so I got that plus a spare and some water. Dropped the water shortly after wards and truck ran it over so now adjusted again to just Gatorade. See all those different options of what to do nutritionally helped me adjust as needed and I did part of the race using all three. Head ache was mostly gone but my right foot was starting to hurt...sometimes my middle toes go to sleep..Roy my bike fit guy helped me get new inserts that helped but not got rid of the problem. Maybe swelling in heat and putting pressure on metatarsals which makes my 2 toes go numb then it turns to pain.

Cool thing here was I just felt good even though not everything was great...I had a headache, my foot hurt, I had some strange chafing on my left side of my crotch, but I felt good like distance was no issue and that I could ride as long as I wanted to. Here I concluded yep I could do one of those crazy endurance cycling events (12 or 24 hour race) and I will do one. As I can get to a place that time/distance doesn't even matter I just ride and do my thing, hydrating/taking in calories and sodium and I enjoy it...it was a great place for me to get to and realize I get there often. Another thing happened is the time it took to do a loop in my body/mind kept feeling shorter and shorter. It may sound sort of strange but each loop felt easier and shorter time wise (not that they were) it just felt each loop was faster and I just did it.

Loop 4: Home stretch tried to pick it up some. I was trying to keep strong so I could push through the pain in my foot thinking just a little loop left. I tried moving my foot around in my shoes and getting blood to flow and I loosened my strap to see if that would help. Once I got to the longest hill that was a mile the pain was horrible so I said to myself get to the top and you can stop..so I did. Took off my shoe and just moved my foot around maybe 2-4 minutes which turned out to be enough time my power meter turned off and I didn't notice it for about 15 miles. I was riding by feel. I was a little disappointed that I couldn't suck it up and keep going with foot issue and not stopping. We agreed this was for fun so I felt mixed about letting my team down. Riding was fun, fans were gone, volunteers were gone, I didn't see any competitors as after about a loop everyone kept their pace and didn't pass much. I had to stop briefly one last time with my foot issue..stopped shorter time and then went on to finish.

I was pretty surprised to get back and see my time was about 6:26 or 6:27 which includes probably 8-12' of stopping which is about 84' faster than LP. With where I am physically I was very pleased with how I did pace wise, adjusting nutrition, finding my bike zone, and having fun even though I did have some issues.

Even though it was hilly I think I didn't have to burn so many matches so to speak getting up the hills like LP and it really is easier for me to pace. My average power was higher than LP. My cycling peaks computer isn't working right now so I only have loaded it into my power agent. I'm sure my VI is lower and maybe even my NP but physically it felt easier. Only a couple places probably less than a minute did I have to dig deep to get up hills in my easiest gear as most I didn't even use my easiest gear and I could keep my cadence up to what feels comfortable.

Official results took a few days to get posted as we were not listed.

I know the course was short but not exactly sure how much as my Garmin (used only when I did this for training) and PT never picked up the whole route....I think the loops were around 25 plus the out and back were 2 so it was maybe about 104 miles not 112 which makes may pace around 15.8 mph or so which lines up with my PT said. Still please..IF is right in line and my TSS is high with 322 TSS with at least 17 miles missing which would be a TSS of about 400 a little lower than LP due to shorter time on the bike. For not feeling 100% recovered I hit higher NP than I did at LP..interesting.



Two other strange things about this race I failed to mention:
1. My eyes teared much of the day I think from the wind even with cycling
wrap sun glasses. It was like I was crying much of the day as tears were
just dripping down my face. After race I had salt lines all over my face
from the corners of my eyes...it was strange. Weird. Could be an allergy as well.

2. My burping up stuff was similar to how I felt at Mooseman in the HIM
relay. At Moose it lasted much longer and most of the race and I didn't
really adjust or change anything. I read my race report on BT and thought
hugh..need to remember this. Mooseman it lasted longer maybe due to higher
intensity? Both the weather was hotter than normal. I think I need to not
use my normal A nutrition plan when weather is hotter..go with more liquids and easy to digest stuff like gels.

Both LP and this course my VI was 1.17..getting it to 1.0 is ideal and stronger cyclists on hiller course will have lower number. My avg power and NP for this was higher by about 15 watts. HR was wicked high for power I was putting out for first about 40 miles then HR didn't pick up right..no way my HR was 90 for last 60+ miles.

Entire workout (127 watts):
Duration: 5:25:37 (5:25:38)
Work: 2477 kJ
TSS: 322.3 (intensity factor 0.771)
Norm Power: 148
VI: 1.17
Distance: 85.502 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 426 127 watts
Heart rate: 0 165 96 bpm
Cadence: 29 156 91 rpm


Loop 1: 1:29:39; NP 150/avg HR 145-very high for me; includes 1 port a potty break
Loop 2: 1:30:32; NP 149/avg HR stopped working but 139 for part it worked, includes 1 stop to fill aerobottle & say hi to family
Loop 3: 1:32:28; NP 145/avg HR?; included stop to dump Gatorade & family
Loop 4: ~ 1:42:16; PT turned off and I missed that NP for beginning and end 144; stopped 2x to take off shoe..+4 minutes first time & family visit

Plan A:
Gatorade: try to drink 24 oz; 150 calories; 300 mg of sodium
Water: about 12-17 oz
every 20' rotate powerbar gel 110 or 120 calories with 200 mg of sodium
regular kind of food/candy with low fat about 50 calories: chocolate covered pretzel or small twix bar
1-2 shot bloks or 2 Powerbar new chewie things
Lava salt every 40' as reg. Gatorade has less sodium
Ends up to be: 35-43 oz of liquid hour
320-370 calories/hour but varies depending on how much GE I drink...I tend to drink less longer I go in the ride but it seems to balance better as I don't end up having to pee so much

I used both B and C plans as well...

Plan B:
Gatorade: ~36-40 oz/hour; 225-250 calories; 300 mg of sodium an hour
Every 40' gel; 110-120 calories; 200 mg of sodiums
This works better in hotter weather as all liquid no solids

Plan C:
Water only ideally 35-45 oz/hour depends on temps.
every 15' I rotate what I consume
15 and 45' gels, so 220-240 cal; 400 mg of sodium an hour
30 and 60' regular food aim 50 calories each with Lava salt;
I used this a little but kept with the 20' interval.


I'm glad I have 3 nutrition/hydration plans nailed down as I used each during part of this race.

I do need to figure out why when it is hot I seem to burp up stuff which only has happened at my HIM and IM relays this year both when it was hot.

Also need to get my shoe/toe issue fixed if I'm going to ride 12 or 24 hours.

Also I did get one of my blocked sweat glands that didn't bother me riding but does now..again a slight bike fit adjustment needed.

Todd ran and did great! He looked strong and consistent pacing. The run route was hilly and very different than where he trains at home in Fl.

Without Todd we would have not been able to do the IM relay...it was so great to meet him, have him fly up for the weekend....so glad he was part of our adventure.

8 43 166 TEAM IRONPIKE KATHY GRAVES TODD REESE MARIANNE VALLE
10 1:20:53 33:42 2:22 9 6:28:38 17.3 0:28 7 4:20:03 9:56 12:12:22 3/4 COED

After I finished, I had my standard low fat chocolate milk that Kevin had resting in a cup of ice..sweet. Then a few things at the food table including Panera bagels. Then Marianne went to find Todd and we went to the rental for me to take a shower and eat some real food. Then we went to watch Todd for 2 loops of his Mary.

Thanks to my husband Kevin who was their to support me yet again and our three daughter's Emily,Shasha and Libby..screaming and cheering for me and other racers. Marianne's husband Al was fun, supportive and great to hang out as were Todd's friends. Team IronPike had first class support all the way!


Our very proud of our team..we all did our best and had a blast.

For me I was happily surprised how I did given how unsure I was of my fatigue and its influence on my ability to perform. It help confirm a new path I want to try of ultra cycling events.

I also enjoy relays more than racing solo for the most part. I was excited at the opportunity to do an IM distance as a relay as it is an option only at non M Dot race..this one I could sleep at home and do. It took 6 months to find a runner..Marianne considered doing it with walking a big chuck so we could do it and we considered just stopping after the bike..just to do it. Todd you rock..thanks so much buddy!




For a first time event in a tough but excellent location it was very well run. I would do it again as a relay or maybe the aquabike next year. The vibe is good for the size race it is, but I don't think I would do it as my A race of the season.

More road closures on the bike would make me feel safer...same with the 4 out and back on the run course with no shoulders and open roads. When there were cars coming both directions and runner on each side of the street it was a bit of a mess to get everyone going right direction safely. I did wonder what it would be like running at dark with no or little street lights. Being slow IM finisher I would be at the very back of the pack whole day and don't think I'd enjoy being out there all alone.

Good:
Very well organized
Very thoughtful and top notch with details
Amazing power point pre race meeting...very well done
Adjusted and made things better as they realized they had an issue
Very safety focused..had 3 dive teams, 3 dive platforms, and medical area with Dr. in swim
Easy for family/spectators to see you with 4 loops on bike and 4 out and backs (8 views) on the run
Finish you could watch them 1/2 mile away up on this hill go down the steps and see them cross finish line with time to spare
Plymouth is great venue
Medical tent manned by IM finisher Dr.
Race Director has done 10+ IM
Ice cold drinks on bike/run course
Fans were great
Volunteers were excellent and helpful
Way more relaxed and easy to do than MDot..not so much walking, waiting and stuff like that

Bad:
Bike course roads were high traffic and only 2.5 miles plus stretch of the course was closed to traffic. Most road had little or no shoulder, 4 loops of what was supposed to be 27 miles
Out and back for run you did 4 times, roads were open with no shoulders..boring?
Only 79 individualsdid IM..finish over 13 hours and you were out there with just a few folks, who knows if fans/supporters would still be there
Times got messed up for some with no splits for a few..fixed 3 days later for most part..timing company issue
Bike course was not 112 miles but short
T-shirts and finisher t-shirts were not great..we all want to wear our cool IM distance finisher stuff with pride often..tech t-shirts would have been nice
Finish line party atmosphere was okay..fans were great

My thought is I'd do it again as a relay or as IM aquabike they plan to have next year to train for IMFL, but wouldn't do it as my A race just due to the small size and being a BOPer I'd be out there alone much of the day.