IMAZ Race Report - It's a Sunshine Day

Originally, the weather looked like it was going to rain on Sunday.  However, it changed a few days before the race and I was pretty happy that I didn't have to worry about extra clothing for the bike ride.  This portion of the day was pretty uneventful, other than I became obsessed with time and it was the onset of some GI issues that would haunt me that evening.


My focus of the first ride was to ignore everyone passing me.  I also knew that based from my experience at Vineman, I couldn't stop nearly as much "just because" if I wanted to make my goal, which was 7:30 (2.5 hours per loop).  One thing I have been really good about this whole training season is forgetting about the swim I had prior to bike.  So while my swim was decent, that part of the day was over and essentially forgotten about.  I was present with the bike portion.


I just assumed the first loop would be easiest and that the wind would be prevalent in the afternoon.  However, I quickly learned that I could only go about 11mph.  While this course is flat, it is a 1% grade on the outbound with only a very small 3% grade at the turnaround.  The small incline with the headwind were working together against me and I just assumed I would make up the time on my way back with a tailwind.  It took me 90 minutes to get to the turnaround, where I got to see Chrissy, Kerry, Steve, and Debbie cheering for me!  

Since I didn't know the real time, I had to use my bike computer to gauge my time.  Luckily, I got the tailwind on the way back and was just short of my 2:30 goal by only 2 minutes.  I got to see Karri and Mark at one of the turns on McClintock, my dad and Cathy on Rio Salado near Sun Devil Stadium, and then the most obnoxious cheering from my Iron teammates at the turnaround.  Their crazy green and purple, jump splitting, dancing selves were incredible and gave me so much energy. 

The turnaround had a clock that said 4:11 and my watch said 3:57.  Was I really 14 minutes behind?  Or did that include the pro start of 6:50am rather than the AG start at 7am?  I became obsessive/compulsive with time.   All I did for 112 miles was read my bike computer, subtract the time I spent at the aid stations and try to interpret my inaccurate watch time against the bike computer. 


From there, I saw Dad, Cathy, Karri, and Mark again on the way out of town.

The focus of my second loop was to eat and take in the calories.  My coach said that how I felt at mile 50 would be my barometer for the day.  And, I really felt ok.  The wind switched so I got the wind in my favor on the way out.  I had been drinking a lot and my first pit stop was necessary.  I waited for an open potty (of course not until I walked in on someone else who did not lock his door). I still did not know the real time, so I asked the volunteer holding my bike to get me the real time by the time I got out of the port-a-potty.  He said it was 11:45 so I was hoping that meant my watch was only 3 minutes behind.  This was going to be critical for later.  


My knees were hurting a little at this point.  I took 3 Advils as a precaution.  I heard a girl on the way back say, "Are we turning yet?" and by the tone of her voice, I wondered if that meant the wind sucked.  About 11 miles later, I got to the turnaround and saw Kerry and Chrissy again.  Literally, the very second I turned around, I couldn't hear anything anymore because the wind was so loud.  I pushed  through the rest of that loop and saw my mom, who was volunteering at one of the aid stations.  She yelled she was worried about me, but when I looked at the time, I felt like I was still pretty close to my goal. I made it back to town and saw my brother, his friend, and Kyle and Lisa.  

I also saw those crazy Ironteammers again and baby Sophia with her Ironteam Flames.

Rinse and repeat, right?  I had to stop again for the potty and took another 3 Advil (maybe this wasn't a good idea, but I didn't know it at the time).  The one thing I noticed was that I had this whole arsenal of positivity to tap into for this ride -- songs to sing, funny things to think about, positive memories for the year, and my mantras.  I didn't have to use any of them.  I was happy.  When the wind came, I didn't say, "Oh, I hate the &^*%ing wind" like I usually do.  I just rode.  I'm thinking my obsession with the whole clock/watch issue kept me distracted from any negativity.  I also got to see all my teammates.  I saw Nick on most of the legs and caught Michelle and Phil on all of them.  I busted out my volcano-blowing-up hand signal that Phil and I made up a couple months ago.  And, I laughed when Nick did the volcano thing to me on the last loop.  I yelled "Go Team" to more people than I wanted to, but it was another way of keeping my focus on the good stuff.  


Unfortunately, around Mile 90, my tummy started to act up.  12 months of training and I can't say I ever had any GI issues.  Why today?  The next day, I realized it was probably the Advil tearing up my stomach on nothing but Gu Brew and bananas.  But I didn't know that at the time.  I saw Kerry and Chrissy again and slowed down to ask if they had any stomach stuff, which they didn't. I was still happy.  I just wanted to fix the problem.  Another bathroom stop, in hopes of alleviating the pain, but I had nothing to give.  This portion of the ride was significantly slower because of the discomfort.  I always heard of this happening to others and now I finally understood....


So I made my way back to town, saw my mom at the aid station, who got the message from Kerry and Chrissy and tried to give me some Tums.  I lowered my gears and increased my cadence for the last few miles and focused on alternating between heel down and toe down so that I could prepare my feet for the run.  With my foot injury, it was imperative that I start preparing my plantar fascia and heel spur for the next portion of the day, even if that meant going 1mph slower.  I rolled back into town and I was around 20 minutes behind where I wanted to be.  I didn't have time to do much math at that moment, but I remember not worrying about it right then.  I hopped off my bike and saw all my family and friends there, including my other dad, which was a total surprise.  

I did the whole double take, yelled, "Dad, what are you doing here?!?!" and handed my bike to a volunteer.  From there, I grabbed my run bag and ran into the Women's Change Tent.