Ironman World Championship 2009 (Page 2)
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Ironman World Championship 2009 - TriathlonFull Ironman
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General Discussion-> Race Reports! |
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United States
Ironman - WTC
90F / 32C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 1224/1600
Age Group = F25-29
Age Group Rank = 38/50
I flew into Kona five days before the race on Monday October 5. I’d never been to Hawaii before and landing in Kona I experienced that sweet feeling of excitement and anticipation. I remember feeling the same way when I landed in the United States (JFK) for the first time as a foreign exchange student more than 9 years ago.
After a short cab ride, I checked into the 2BR condo that I was renting for nearly 2 weeks a couple miles away from downtown. Once settled in, I jogged down to the swim start and did a short 30 minute swim. The bay was pretty choppy on that first evening, but other athletes around me assured me that it is usually much smoother in the morning. I finished the evening with an obligatory visit to Lava Java for a smoothie and an awesome sunset.
On Tue morning I took a longer swim (around 1 hour). When I was just about ready to turn around, I found myself, along with 3 or 4 other swimmers, surrounded by hundreds of dolphins. They were swimming, playing, jumping and doing flips all around us. There were literally on the order of a hundred. They would swim as close as within one meter from me. It was one of the most incredible moments in my life. I swam back to the shore very happy. After the swim, I picked up my race packet and put together my bike.
That night was the Ironman Parade of Nations. I didn’t know what to expect, but I figured I’d come down and check it out. I saw different countries gathering in the parking lot behind the host hotel. I found Slovenia, Ukraine and Poland, but didn’t see Russia anywhere. Turns out, I was the only representative of Russia at the event. When there’re less than three representatives for a country, they don’t even have a flag and a sign prepared for you, so I had to put together a homemade sign. I got a lot of cheers during the Parade as the only Russian :)
Wednesday and Thursday flew by – I kept waking up on Seattle time at 4am local time, working remotely for a few hours, then sneaking out for a short swim, ride or run, eating lunch and working some more in the afternoon. My boyfriend arrived on Wednesday and my Mom and her husband Boris arrived on Thursday. They were all really accommodating of my last minute pre-race needs as well my dietary requests and schedule. My family made T-shirts with “Go Lilia!” and an awesome star logo, but unfortunately their luggage got stuck in London. It didn’t arrive till Monday. So they didn’t get a chance to wear them for the race. Nice work, British Airways! :(
Thursday night we went to the pre-race banquet. It was very inspiring to see Rudy Garcia-Tolson speak. He is the first double amputee to race at the Ironman World Championships pedaling a regular bike with prosthetic legs (as opposed to a handcycle). The story of Kyle Garlett was another amazing story of overcoming a lot of odds to compete in Kona. Kyle has won a battle with cancer more than once, however, all the chemo therapy made his heart really weak and he had to have a heart transplant exactly three years ago on October 10. Finally Matt Hoover, the winner of the Biggest Loser was also to compete on Saturday. The oldest competitors were 80 and 79 years old respectively for Male and Female. The youngest Female and Male competitors were both 20 years old.
On Friday morning, I packed my race bags. This process went much faster this time than in Coeur D’Alene. I had a TYR speed suit for the swim portion, thanks to my friend Rhae (who kicked major butt in Kona and came in as the 3rd overall AG woman). I decided to use my regular road helmet after finding my aero helmet way too hot for the conditions. The T1 bag had my bike shoes, socks, race belt, tri top and sun glasses in it. T2 bag had running shoes, a pair of dry socks (that came in handy), a hat, a running shirt and some awesome pink shades. I put some shot blocks and a spare tube + CO2 in the bike special needs bag, and I didn’t use the run special needs bag. I went for the last 3 short workouts – 20 minute swim, 25 minute ride and a 15 min run, before checking in my bike and gear bags. On the way into the transition there were representatives of all bike, components, seat posts, aero bars and helmet manufacturers. Each was counting their respective bikes and other gear represented at the race as the athletes went by.
My current goggles started leaking in the last few weeks (again!) and I made a stupid decision to try some new goggles on that last swim, AquaSphere Vista – they are top of the line goggles made from silicone unlike the cheaper goggles that I’d been swimming in. They fit very well, so I went ahead and bought them. On Saturday I learned the original Ironman commandment the hard way. Don’t ever try anything new on race day!
I drank lots of Gatorade throughout the day and enjoyed a pre-race meal consisting of pasta with veggies and Yves veggie protein and went to bed around 9pm.
I woke up at 3:45am. I had some coffee, mango juice, banana and a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast. My pre-race routine consisted of taking a quick shower (kind of silly to take a shower before an Ironman, huh? Well, it helps me wake up), putting on sunscreen (yes, it probably all comes off in the swim, but I still do it before every race), body glide, putting on my race clothes, braiding my hair. After doing the final sanity check to make sure I had everything I needed in my pre-swim and my bike special needs bags, I was ready to head down to the race. Boris drove me down to the start at 4:30.
I got body-marked and dropped off my special needs bags. Then, I headed into transition, where two volunteers helped me pump my tires. It was a father and his young son (probably around 8) who traveled from San Diego to watch the race and volunteer. I thought that was pretty cool. More Gatorade was consumed and more porter-potty line chats were had. I ran into Rhae, we wished each other luck and took a pre-race photo.
My family came down to the race around 6:30. We watched the Navy seals drop from the sky together. Then, I gave my Mom my iPhone so that she could tweet in Russian while I was racing :) Finally, it was time to head towards the beach. I heard the pro gun go off and watched them speed through the water.
The entrance to the beach is pretty narrow, so it took a while for 1,700 age groupers to get into the water. Once in the water, we were supposed to swim out about 20-30 yards towards the official starting line marked by a Gatorade bottle on each end. I realized that my ankle strap with the timing chip was not tight enough and had to come back out of the water to adjust it (this is not usually a problem as all my other races have been in wetsuits). I positioned myself in the back of the pack given that I am not a strong swimmer and this was a World Championship after all. There was a volunteer catamaran nearby, so I followed the example of other back-of-the-pack swimmers around me and hung on to it until the gun instead of wasting precious energy treading water.