Ironman Cozumel Race Report

This race was tacked on to my schedule late – I needed closure on my season after the asthma issues at Tahoe.  Don knew I needed it and told me to go find another Ironman Monday morning right after Tahoe - -I still had all the pent up energy you have before the race—despite Tahoe being a long day—it really was not taxing and I was still itching to go the next day.   So after some investigation of the options I settled on Cozumel – it gave me 9 weeks to sharpen up after Tahoe—and a week in Mexico at the beginning of December had no downside.  Two things we did this trip to make it stress free was to use TriBike Transport for my bike and we booked our hotel and ground package with Endurance Sports Travel (EST).  Both were great decisions.  Ken Glah really does a great job of making your trip stress free—they met us at the airport and had all the transportation arrangements made (hour drive to the ferry, ferry ride to Cozumel and then short drive to the resort)—we just had to do what they said.  There they took care of all transportation for the entire week and other logistics.  They also had an ART therapist on staff that was included in our package - -I definitely took advantage of it.  I would definitely use these guys again for an international Ironman.

We arrived in Cozumel Wednesday evening before the race.  About all we had time for was getting settled in and having some dinner.  Thursday morning I turned the alarm off and just slept until I woke up - -which was too late to make it to the group swim—no big deal.  We took the shuttle into town just before lunch to do packet pick up - -They did the best job of packet pick up for an Ironman I have ever seen – we were in and out of there in probably about 15 minutes.  Grabbed the next shuttle and headed back to the resort for lunch.   The next great thing EST did for us - -pick up our bikes from TriBike Transport – so rather than having to get it at the race site it was delivered right to the hotel.  Got it a bit after lunch and headed out for a tune up ride.  I probably should start mentioning the weather – for Cozumel it was kind of cold (low-mid 70’s) and WINDY – not just the wind that you expect there but the storm front kind.  We had rain off and on Thursday through Saturday with the continued high winds.  Friday morning there was supposed to be a practice swim on the race course.  IM cancelled it.  The harbormaster had a small craft warning in effect and no boats were allowed out on the ocean.  Friday am we did a group swim out in front of the hotel—staying close to shore.  The current was really strong—but boy was it fun when you turned around and headed with it.  Everybody kept watching the weather for race day—the front was supposed to pass and things calm down by Sunday morning.

The practice swim was once again cancelled Saturday morning – it looked a little better out on the water but the harbormaster was still not letting any boats out.  Late Saturday morning I jumped on my bike to ride up to T1 and get my stuff checked in.  It was about a 3 mile ride—just a nice distance to loosen up the legs.  At this race they also assign everyone a check in time for your bike between 11 and 5 - -it was really nice—no long line to get into transition.  Got my bike dropped off and walked transition a couple of times.  T1 is in a really funky shaped parking lot with lots of little aisles—really easy to get lost in.  I had a pretty straightforward location.  Every year before this year you also dropped your T2 bag in T1 and the race transported the bags to T2 (in town about 6 miles away)—but not this year—they even told us we were dropping the bags there in the pre-race briefing.  Well—took the shuttle back to the resort and went in and told Ken what was going on since I was one of the earliest bike drop off times.  EST does it again - -they gathered all our T2 bags and took them into town for us and we could just go put our feet up for the rest of the afternoon.

Dinner time rolls around – I run into Michael Lovato (he was announcing, not racing this year).  He informs me that they are changing the swim course due to the still too strong currents—he didn’t have any details yet - -but at least we had the heads up to go looking for info a little later in the evening.  Turns out that they shortened the swim course to 3.1km and made it point to point—with the portion with the really strong current going in the direction of the current.  I know they had troubles last year with many people not making the swim cut-off because they could not swim against the current – apparently that section of the coast had even stronger current this year.  So race morning was changed to check in at T1 and get everything ready and then jump on a bus for a short ride down the coast to the new swim start location.  I assume that they had limited choices of locations where they could launch 2500 swimmers into the water and this was as close as they could get to full distance.  Cozumel knows how to move a lot of people quickly—I assume from the fact that they are a major cruise ship port—and the bussing was flawless.

OK—now for the race itself:

Swim –It was an in water start so about 5 min after the pro’s started I made my way into the water and swam out to where the start line was and positioned myself close to the front.  It was actually a fairly wide start line so it didn’t seem crowded at all.  I treaded water for a few minutes and then we were off.  The first part of the swim had very little current and I had done a pretty good job of positioning myself so I had space to swim pretty much right away.  The water was incredibly clear and probably only about 10-15 feet deep so you could see all the fish—definitely had to remind myself to focus on the race and not the pretty fish!  We were supposed to be swimming between the buoys and the shore but I kept finding myself just to the outside of the buoys.  About a 1000m into the swim we went by the outlet of a river- -you could feel the water and at this point we were definitely swimming into a current—though probably only for about 400m.  After that we got to the down-current portion of the swim—it really makes you feel like you have a long beautiful stroke and you glide along.  Since you can see the bottom you can really tell that you are moving fast.  Before I knew it I looked up and the dolphin pen was in front of me - -this was where we were getting out of the water - -I really wanted to just keep swimming it was so much fun!.   Pulled myself up onto the steps and up to the wharf – 44 minutes!  No way to judge if that was good or bad  (ends up it was good—second fastest swim in my AG and faster than some of the pros)

T1 was pretty quick as all I needed was socks, shoes and helmet.  I almost ran up the wrong row to my bike but realized it just as I was about to make the wrong turn.

Bike:  So this is a flat course but it is not an easy course.  Coming out of T1 you do a section of probably 10 or so miles with a slight tailwind and protected by the jungle.  Everybody was flying—I just worked to gradually settle into my goal power (160W) and let the speed be what it was—which was pretty fast—23-24mph.  Well the party is over when you hit the north tip of the island. You come out of the trees and start to ride right along the ocean.  This is the windy side of the island—and yup—we get to ride right into it.  It was strong this first lap but not horrible.  It is always difficult in headwind sections for pack to not form—this was no exception.  I got swallowed up by a pack about half way through and it took me a mile or so to dis-engage from them.  I will not cheat—but you could tell there were many people that were happy to sit in the pack until they got caught.  I did see numerous people sitting in penalty tents through the course of the day so they were calling some of the drafting.  The headwind section is about 10 miles long and it just gets windier the further south you go.  The little hut along the road that signals your turn inland is a very welcome sight.  The next section is straight across the middle of the island - -protected and very little wind and you can get back into a good groove.  As you start coming into town there are all kinds of locals hanging out along the course cheering.  You make a couple turns in town and then you are passing T2 - -this is a 3 lap bike so you get to go by here a couple times and get the lift of all the crowds cheering (the rest of the course is really in the middle of nowhere). Coming out of town you have to ride about 6 miles until you get back to where we started the bike.  I pass this point at 1:49 (39.5 miles)– that’s flying!  I am paying a lot of attention to sticking to my power and have been riding pretty steady.  As I get to the northern tip of the island again – wham—wall of wind hits me - -it is definitely windier for this second lap.  At this point I have been riding close to another lady – we have been hanging together for about 20 miles—making sure to stay far enough apart to not be drafting - -but its still nice to have someone there.  We put our heads down and resolve ourselves to 10 miles of hard work.  I have to say—I am keeping my power constant- -but fighting the wind takes more than just the power to the pedals—it saps your upper body as well so it is much more tiring.  About 2/3 through the windy section we are swallowed by another pack.  I let them go pretty quickly.  The lady I have been riding with did not have quite the same ethics I have and she merrily let herself tuck in and follow them.  I finish the windy section by myself and turn into town for the second time. The treat on the way across the island on this lap was that the skies opened on us and it rained really hard for about 5-10 minutes. Lap 2 was a little slow then lap 1 – by about 4 minutes - -all attributable to the stronger winds.  So guess what I am greeted with on lap 3?  Yup—even stronger winds.  At this point I am lapping people and feeling really sorry that they will have to go through this one more time—I am assuming that they probably missed the relatively calmer winds I had on lap 1.  Finally no packs on this last lap.  As I turn onto the last section across the island—less than 10 miles to go—I drop my power a bit to let the legs spin and recover a bit for the run.  At this point I am ready to get off the bike and I can feel some cramping in my left foot.  I try to wiggle it around the best I can.  T2 is a welcome sight—off the bike in 5:35 – super happy for this tough a course.  Another kudos to the race organizers – the entire bike course was completely closed to all vehicle traffic.

T2 is again reasonably quick as I really only need to change my shoes and shove some nutrition into my back pocket.  I did stop to use the port-a-potty – which if you count as sort of still part of the bike is pee #2 since after the swim.

Run:  OK it sounds like everything is going great, but really it isn’t—OK, it was going really great but I made a couple of nutrition errors on the bike.  Actually they weren’t really errors as much as mis-calculations.  I actually followed my nutrition plan exactly—problem is that the plan wasn’t right.  I was hydrated, had enough calories – but I did not have enough electrolytes—I was taking salt tabs but now I know that it definitely was not enough.  So as I started to run that cramp in my left foot was still there—every step felt like a little knife in the bottom of my foot.  I stopped a few times in the first 3 miles to stretch and massage it.  Finally at about mile 3 it went away.  I carried on.  The run is 3 out and back loops with lots of people along the entire course (more concentrated at the turn around by the finish line of course).  I put on a good face finishing lap 1 but as I headed out onto lap 2 I started to get dizzy and had tunnel vision—I know this is not a good sign so I stopped and walked—and worked at getting nutrition and especially electrolytes in at every aid station.  I walked for at least 2 miles.  Shortly before the far turn around I started to put some slow jogging back in.  At mile 10 I also decided that it was time for a serious jolt - -and started drinking Pepsi (I usually try to wait until mile 18 just in case the carbonation bothers my stomach).  I grabbed my special needs bag just after the turn around—which had another flask of EFS liquidshot (which is also really high in electrolytes).  By the end of lap 2 I was beginning to feel a bit better.   I resolved that I was going to try to run lap 3 except for aid stations.  My run was not very fast at this point - -but I was running.  Somewhere, several times during these tough parts it rained – not just a sprinkle but real tropical rain.  The streets of Cozumel were not engineered for drainage so we have several lakes (water was about 6 inches deep) that there was no way around—so everybody had soaking wet shoes.  When I his mile 24 I resolved it was finish line or bust—no more aid stations, just running all the way to the finish line.  It was a great feeling coming back knowing that it was just a few more minutes and I would be done.  I had a big grin on my face when I took the right lane to the finish line rather than the left that headed back for another loop.  The finish line was alive as usual and that feeling of crossing the line of an Ironman just does not get old.  Don was right there which was awesome!  Not my best marathon 5:10 but I gave it all I had and was happy how I dealt with adversity when it happened.  Overall time—11:41 and good enough for 4^th in my AG—which is my highest finish so far.

Once again—the 4^th discipline of triathlon, nutrition proved to be an issue.  This is the first IM I have done in a hot, humid climate and really had no data to go on to figure out how much electrolyte I needed—I now have an answer—what I figured was not enough.  I will definitely be making adjustments next time I race in this type of climate

Despite the issues I feel good about my race and Don is happy that I am tired and happy—I will be much easier to live with now.  The next few weeks I will be putting my feet up and plotting the 2014 plan.  I know I got the season right - -I am tired and feeling ready for a rest but also excited to think about what is in store for next year.