Xterra Worlds Race Report

So I’m going to start my race report a week and a half before race day.  I had a business trip to Germany the week before going to Hawaii—leaving Monday and getting home Friday.  My trips to Germany are usually really packed and I don’t get much time to workout.  First time I got a chance to go out for a run was Thursday morning. I set out on my run and about a mile in my right quad totally cramps up – I stop to walk it off but have a horrible feeling about what is going on.  I give it a rub, walk a bit more - -but nothing loosens it up.  I turn around for the painful walk back to the hotel.  A couple hours later it finally starts to loosen back up.  On Friday flying back, walking quickly through the airport causes more cramps.  Taking the dogs for a walk on the weekend—you guessed it, more cramping.  I was supposed to do a cyclocross race on the Sunday but know that I won’t even get through the warm up without a cramp.

I’ve had this before - -first time in my late 20’s—and until I figured out what it was (with the doctors help) I was sidelined from doing any exercise for a couple months.  These particular cramps are mainly caused by a Magnesium deficiency.  I am a heavy sweater and I guess my body also has trouble absorbing this mineral.  Since then I have always had to take supplements and watch my diet.  I have gone through several bouts of this cramping over the last 25 years.  The solution of course is to get my Mg up –but that takes time—usually a couple weeks to get the cramps to go away—or a visit to my naturopath for an IV of Mg and other vitamins.  On Sunday, Don urged me to try to contact my doctor on the off chance that she could give me an IV before our plane left at noon on Monday—it was a long shot.  She was great—responding to my message on a Sunday—but unfortunately she was in New Orleans at a conference.  The best she could suggest was to up my Mg supplements to taking 200mg every 2 hrs of a highly absorbable for of Magnesium called Magnesium Glycinate (just for reference the daily recommended dose for Mg is 400 mg). So we left for Hawaii on Monday unsure if I would even be able to race.

Tuesday we went for a swim in the ocean—getting past the shore break was enough to cause my legs to cramp—I treaded water for a few minutes before attempting to get back through the surf to the beach and limped back home – I was not a very fun person to be on vacation with—this was my A race for the year and I might not even get to start – saying I was in a beautiful place on vacation sounded good - -but not really what I wanted.  Wednesday we decided to go for an easy bike ride along the coast - -so no hills—I felt like an old lady—because that is the speed we were going—the legs were happy to be moving and mentally it really helped to be doing anything.  We managed to get the 10 miles down to Lahaina without my legs cramping—a few twings but they didn’t actually cramp.   We walked around Lahaina and checked out the shops and had a wonderful Oceanside lunch.  After lunch we got back on the bikes and rode home—I pushed just a bit harder on the way home (still nothing like normal riding) to see how they were—made it home soaked-it rained really hard on us for most of the ride home-but no cramps.  This was my first indication that my body was starting to get some Mg back - -still not ready to race but enough that I was hopeful I could make it to the start line.

Fast forward to Sunday—hopeful that I can crank the effort up enough to at least finish the race.  Given the nature of these cramps (the fact the once the cramp starts it lasts for 1-2 hrs) I know that getting one is race ending I have to set a very conservative race strategy – plan is to take it easy on the first half of the bike (which contains the largest portion of the 3000 ft of climbing they have crammed into 20 miles), push it a bit more for the 2^nd half and then keep the entire run pretty controlled - -for cramping running down is just as hard on your quads as running up.  So I know this will not be an ‘A’ race effort – but I really want to finish.

Race morning seems pretty typical on DT Flemming Beach—it’s more of a surfing beach than a swimming beach and the waves are not disappointing.  The race director promises that they will start us when there is not a large set of waves coming in—the plan was Pro’s at 9, men at 9:02 and women at 9:04—subject to the size of the waves.  I am glad I was not a guy as they did not seem to give them mercy and the cannon goes off for them with some pretty large breakers 

The women get a surprise start—we are standing there thinking we have about a minute to go—when boom, the cannon goes off.  Upside—they timed it so we were not running into a wall of water.  I still did not execute getting past the surf very well and got pushed back a bit after I got through the first set of waves.  Eventually I got going - -man was the water rough—it was not the smoother swells that you often get once past the shorebreak—it felt like you were being beaten up the entire swim.  There was also a pretty strong current so you had to adjust your sighting so that you did not get dragged to far past the turn buoy.  Don said that the men’s wave swam a huge C out to the buoy as they got dragged down the coast.  Because of the closer wave start, it didn’t take long before I also had to navigate around the obstacle of the slower men swimmers. 

 

  The swim course is an M—meaning you have to get our halfway through the swim and do a little beach run and then into the second half - -meaning you get the joy of going in through the shore break and out of the water onto the beach twice in the race.  Eventually I got space to swim and settled into as much of a rythmn as I could given that the entire swim felt like you were in a washing machine.  I get out of the water and look at my watch—31 minutes—probably the slowest 1500 I have ever swum (my usual 1500 OWS time is about 24 minutes)—but then these were not your typical swim conditions.

I make the long uphill run to transition and grab my bike.  Have a decent transition for an XTerra race (so much more to do than for a road tri).  I jump on my bike at the mount line and start on the adventure.  This race is really about the bike—on this course it takes a disproportionate amount of the time.  The first 6 miles are pretty much uphill – ending up at about 1500 ft—and some beautiful views of the ocean and Molokai.  Some of the climbs are really steep and at this point there is a lot of traffic—so as soon as somebody ahead of you loses it—everybody has to get off and walk.  I won’t say that I was capable of riding all of the hills—but there were a couple that I know I could ride that I was forced to walk because of people in front of me falling.  On one steep hill the guy beside me fell over into me- - pushing me off the trail into a barbed wire fence.  Not horrible but there is definitely some blood running down my arm for the rest of the race.  The slick course conditions that occurred earlier in the week from the hurricane the weekend before are mostly gone - -there were a couple of low spots with some pretty good puddles (6-8” deep) but the rest of the course was just damp – much better than the dusty conditions that can occur here—especially for the long downhills on the second half.  As we start the second half of the course—with more down than up I start to increase my effort a bit—without the steep climbs there is less chance of cramping.  My friend Ron catches me – he is a great descender—so I try to follow him the best I can.  Now I am starting to pass quite a few people.  The rest of the ride is really fun—a good mix of ups and downs and twisty single track.  Not my fastest bike ever—2:36:54

After a quick transition I’m headed out on the run – basically a 3 miles up hill (about 1000 ft) followed by a 3 mile downhill—with a couple of nasty surprises thrown in.  Like the bike I take it conservatively, walking up the steep sections, running the rest of the time. Mile 3 is the top of the climb—we run around a small pond and then start the winding trail back down—most of it is fun flowy twisty trail with reasonable footing - -there are a few steep rocky/rooty sections that you need to slow down on and be careful.  There are also several downed trees that require scrambling over or under.  There is one paved section near the end - -but there is no celebration for easy footing—it is so steep that everybody ends up walking it—but we know that the end is near—a short run down an exposed ridge with some decent views and then down—to the beach.  So just when your whole body is screaming that its ready to be done—you pop out onto the beach - -and are faced with about ¼ mile across it before the short uphill run to the finish line – and they don’t let you choose your line (i.e. any sane person would run in the hard damp sand at the waters edge), we have to run the whole way in the deep loose sand.  Despite not pushing super hard—was was definitely hot and ready to stop by the time I got to the finish line.  Run: 1:12:20  For a total time of 4:21:36 And 11^th place.  Given how the week started I am very happy with the result.  

This is a beautiful but extremely challenging race—The race director definitely has it nailed—everything was executed great—from packet pick up to pre and post race dinners that actually have really good food (you would hope so with the Ritz Carlton catering) to the actual execution of the race.  The sense of community of the racers is also much higher than for road triathlons.  I will be back again, healthy, so that I can really test myself against this course.

Musings on Marathon Swimming

Warning:  I have no idea where this post is going to end up.  I have had thoughts rolling around in my head all week about last weekend.  For those of you that haven’t been paying attention—I was crew for a good friend of mine, David Livengood as he attempted to complete his triple crown of marathon swimming by completing MIMS (Manhattan Island Marathon Swim)—he as previously swam both the English Channel and Catalina Channel – and on Saturday became the 89^th person ever to complete all three swims.

Marathon swimming is a little different than some of the other ultra-type events – those you can do unsupported (though may choose not to).  But I don’t think that anybody ever completes a marathon swim unsupported—you are much more dependent on your crew than in most of the other endeavors.  

 Your mission as the swimmer is to just keep swimming and follow the kayak where ever it goes.  Meanwhile the crew (in this case we were 2 kayaks, motor boat with driver, chief crew, communications person and official observer) spend the entire time making sure the swimmer is safe, taking the best course (in the case of a swim with strong currents this is super important), properly fed, reporting to the outside world what is going on and occasionally doing a little sight-seeing.  It is surprising how much time all of this takes—there was actually not much time left for sight-seeing at all.  I have now participated in a marathon swim from the perspective of a kayaker.  We were on the water for a total of about 10.5 hours.  David took 9:54 for the swim but we were on the water before the start due to the logistics of swimmers, boats and kayaks around Manhattan.  

  

What did I learn from being a kayaker? 

1. The borrowed sit on top kayaks that the event organizer provides are definitely not comfortable—especially for over 10 hours straight.  
2. 10 hours passes surprisingly quickly when focusing on all of the jobs noted above. 
3. There is definitely a lot of teamwork involved in getting your swimmer safely around the island.  David picked a great crew—and Darrell was a great leader.   
4. The world continues to rock up and down for quite a few hours after you get out of the kayak.

Thinking about the swim—I know the longest I have swam in open water is about 3 miles—or about 1.5 hours—I have to give all marathon swimmers a lot of credit for the mental aspects of swimming that long-I think that that part is actually harder than the physical act of swimming for that long.  Unlike other ultra-sports the time is not spend looking at incredible scenery (or even boring scenery)—you are heads down ,in likely brown water, that you can only see a couple feet in front of you.  Your entire interaction with people during the swim is for about 20-30 seconds every 30 minutes when you stop to feed.  And that interaction is usually about how you are feeling, any adjustments to pacing, food etc.

 

My best memory of the swim is from somewhere in the 7-8 hr. mark.  We were out on the Hudson River—it was still fairly calm (it got really choppy as we went further south) and David had a feeding.  He pops his head up and announces to us:  “I’m having fun!   Are you having fun?”  downs his Perpetum and then right back at it.  Even though our butts were extremely sore by that point, we answered the question correctly.

Where is this leading?  I’m not sure.  I’m incredibly proud of what David has accomplished.  Does it make me want to become a marathon swimmer?  Not so sure.  Obviously I spend a lot of time pushing myself to limits—but somehow changing sports part way through seems to do a reset on your body and it’s like starting all over - - doing one sport for a really long time?  Hmm.  I guess it’s not just swimming either as I really have never done a really long bike or a really long run---looking at all those communities and many of my friends that do ultra-distance racing makes what I do seem just a little less crazy somehow.

IM 70.3 St George Race Report

So life has been a whirl for the past several months.  Professionally, things blew up and I have been beyond busy.  I have managed to get most of my training in -- but everything else has suffered.  I am not going to use this to whine about work -- I see a light at the end of the tunnel and hopefully things will return to somewhat normal in the next month.  I am glad I have not been trying to train for an Ironman through this.  I also need to apologize to my family for the times I have gotten a little testy in the past few months.

In the midst of all this IM St George came.  We were able to get down there, not just for the race but a few extra days to enjoy the area.  This was an early season race for me and I know my fitness is not where it will be as we move into the summer.  I have also had some niggly injuries that have prevented me from getting in the run training that I was looking for.  So going into the race I had expectations of a good swim and bike and a not so fast run--I just don't have the miles in to do a decent half marathon.

Race day managed to hit a short hot streak--the days leading up to the race and just after the race, the highs were comfortably in the mid 70's -- but that would be make the race to easy so mother nature scheduled 93 for race day.  Obviously there were a lot of us that have not had a single day of heat acclimatization going into the race.  Oh well--just adjust the race plan to accomodate the heat.
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The day before the race I was finally able to meet up with a friend that I had never met in person -- we have been online friends for probably 5 years now but had never managed to be in the same location at the same time.  It was wonderful to finally be able to put the real face to the name

Race day we were graced with a beautiful morning and calm waters at Sand Hollow reservoir.  There were a ton of waves for starting and I was in the last one -- 1 hour and 8 minutes after the first wave - -that is a long time to wait for your race start.  Hung out with friends and watched the pros.  My start time finally came.  We got into the water and swam the 100 or so m out to the start line.  Nobody had much time to hang around waiting for the start since they don't let you into the water until the wave before goes off and there are only 3 minutes between waves -- I know many of the slower swimmers did not even make it to the start line before the gun went off.  It was a beautiful swim - -the field was spread out so there were no crowding issues, the water was a great temperature (about 64) and the rocks around the resevoir were beautiful.  I settled into a comfortable stroke and just swam my race.  I came out of the water in 33:07 - -which I am happy with for this time of year.  Transition went smoothly and I was off on my bike.

The St George bike course is tough.  It is also super beautiful so that helps for you to forget that there is pretty much nothing flat on the entire course.  None of the hills are steep -- they just keep coming.  I was aiming to do this as a very controlled race so I spent the entire ride checking my power meter.  This of course means that I got passed a lot going up the hills and then passed a lot of people on the down hills as I tried to keep my power in a fairly narrow range.  Don had changed my rear cluster so I had 32 teeth on the back--enough to be able to spin and keep my power in range on all the hills.  The heat was not too bad on the bike since it was still early enough--though I did start to feel it on the final 8 mile climb up Snow Canyon (very beautiful).  Rolled into transition at 2:55 with my legs feeling quite fresh.  I will definitely be able to up my power target for the next race. 

So now the fun begins--the run at St George is no joke.  There is also nowhere flat on the run course--and in fact some pretty big hills that are also reasonably steep.  As I mentioned before I was pretty sure that this was not going to be my fastest half marathon due to lack of run training--and I was right.  I ran out of transition and aimed to set myself at a sustainable pace--also aware of the heat.  The first couple miles are up--at a reasonable grade and I was able to do an ok pace for that.  At about mile 2 you make a right hand turn--and the hill gets quite steep.  At this point I opted to powerwalk the hill - -most people around me had made the same choice.  Once you get to the top at about mile 3 the course settles into rolling hills--no flat.  They did a great job of having frequent aid stations, well stocked for a hot day--lots of sponges and ice.  I made my way to the turn around point running the whole way--just walking the aid stations.  On the way back there was one steeper hill that I chose to walk.  Then it was the 3 miles down back to the finish line.  Down is maybe easier on your aerobic system but harder on the muscles.  At this point I could feel the lack of run miles and just could not get the turn over on the legs to get any good speed on the downhill.  I paid for that--as I did the final 400m into the finish line I was passed by not 1 but 2 women in my age group--the second on passed me about 100m before the finish line--it took me a second for it to register and then decide that I  should not give up and tried to sprint to take her - -I came up about 2m short.  This put me in 7th place.  My run time was 2:03--which I am actually happy with given the hills, heat and training.

Overall I was happy with my race - -I stuck with my plan, paced it well and dealt with the heat.  I know what I need to focus on with my training before the next 1/2 IM at the end of July and will be ready to push that one much harder.

Don and I took the opportunity to enjoy southern Utah for a few days after the race.  Don had acted as my tri-bike transport and drove down (while I flew) so we were able to also bring our mountain bikes.  The day after the race we headed out to a great area of trails called Gooseberry Mesa.  I knew that I was going to be tired -- this trail is pretty flat with just small climbs and lots of fun stuff--its a mixture of desert dirt trail and slickrock.  We had a ton of fun

On Monday we headed to Zion National Park.  We started with a plan to hike a couple of the shorter trails to some pools and falls -- but when we got there we found out that the water and weather conditions were right to allow us to do an up and back hike in the Narrows.  We have been wanting to do this hike for years and any time we have been in the area the conditions were not good.  The Narrows is a very narrow canyon with the Virgin River running through it.  The hiking trail is the river itself.  We were not totally prepared for a river hike but went for it anyway--and had a blast. 

Tuesday we headed for more mountain biking near Bryce Canyon.  I was definitely ready for a few days off after we got back to Portland

Embrace the Pain

I've had this rattling around in my head for the past couple of weeks - -but works has seemed to explode and having a few minutes to write something has not been in the cards.

The thought is what makes us push ourselves?  This year I am on a different plan than in the past several years -- no Ironmans for me this year.  Its shorter stuff--Olympics, XTerra - ok the endurance junkie in my had to put in a couple 70.3's.  Anyhow, the point is--I am working a lot more on speed this year.  Ironman involves a lot of long slow, dull pain.  Real speed work just plain hurts.

My mid-week cycling workouts (indoors, 2x/week with my coach) All are all focused on speed, power and strength--they are the hardest 2 hrs of my week, every week.  At the beginning of the year we started with a lot of strength work - -low cadence, long intervals - -but always pushing as much power as we could.  Now we have moved on to high cadence intervals - -that are taxing not just on your legs but your aerobic system as well.

So what I have been pondering - what is it inside us that makes us want to go into that pain cave and even look forward to getting up at 4:30 am to go there and put ourselves through an hour of hell.  It would be so easy to back off just a bit -- would coach notice that the numbers were 5 Watts lower?  If  you always gave 95% instead of 100% - that would be your norm and no one ever notice.  That extra 5% really hurts.

I don't actually know the answer--not even for myself.  I think I am getting better at embracing the pain and not listening to that voice in my head that says "don't push so hard"  I do know that I am seeing results--my power numbers are higher than I could have ever imagined - -and I have decided that I will not let my mind limit what I can do because of some preconceived idea of how high my threshold power can be - -lets let my body decide that.

So what makes you push through the pain?

Taking Care of your Body

So what I have discovered is that I am not very good at writing blog posts when things are not going according to plan.  I think I am now back on track so I will now let you all know what got me off track--since it happens to all of us (especially as we get older) and this could be a good reminder.

So the really short lesson:  Don't neglect your strength training--even at the height of your triathlon season.

The long story:  Last year I did a really good job at doing my strength training (having a great coach at Adapt Training really helps--thanks Scott Brown!) for most of the year.  I really hit it hard over the winter and into the early season.  Then as planned, I backed it off into maintenance mode during July-Sept while I was at the peak of Ironman training--though it started to suffer Aug/Sept.  Many of you know that I had asthma issues at IM Lake Tahoe and I added an additional unplanned Ironman to my season--IM Cozumel on December 1st.  That added 9 extra weeks of Ironman training to an already long year.  I did back the volume down and focused more on quality since I had done a lot of volume for Tahoe.  But what I did not do in that 9 weeks is keep up my strength routine.

Like many slightly older athletes, I have accumulated my own set of chronic issues over the years:  weak right hip from dislocating it many years ago, bunions, bum shoulder, cranky elbows.  All of these items are much happier if I maintain the strength -- I have spent the last couple of years building up my strength--mainly in the hip area (that is my biggest limiter).  My strength program often looks more like physiotherapy rehab than a true strength program -- only when I have been diligent do I get to move on to the fun stuff.

Well, you can guess where this is going.  After I took a few weeks off after Cozumel, I started slowly back into training--only to discover that my hip, lower back and right hamstring were really not happy with me.  So instead of my great plan of doing a 10 week run focus to work on my running speed, I have gotten to do lots of slow running and a lot of PT-like strength work.  There were also several chiropractic adjustments and some very painful massages to round things out.

This past week is the first time I finally think things have come back together--my joints are now back in alignment and the super tight hamstring has finally let go.  I did my first normal feeling runs this week and I can finally get back down into my aerobars on my bike.

Now I get to reset my training plan since I have not done the work I should have in the first 7 weeks of the year.  Will I be making sure that my core and strength training get a higher priority all year this year--definitely!   Hopefully you can all learn from this and not make the same mistake I did.

Detox-Part Way Through

So I decided this year that I need to do a detox.  Why?  I just never learn and eat a whole bunch of crap over the holidays -- this year was no different.  I spent the entire time loving the taste of all those goodies - but at the same time feeling totally like crap.  I decided that I didn't want to wait for my diet to gradually get better in the new year - -but was impatient and wanted to feel good right away - -hence doing a detox and breaking that cycle of sweet/fat/whatever else tasted good at the time.   I have never done a detox before so needed to figure out what I wanted to do.  I reached out to several friends that had done this before to see what they had used and what their experience was.  Of course many of the detox programs ask that you don't do too much exercise because they are super calorie restricitve- -which I didn't really like.  I am at the start of my training year, so the volume is pretty low but I didn't want to give up the start of training since I had already laid out my overall plan for the year.  I got the recommendation from one friend on a program that she has used multiple times (it must be ok if somebody is willing to do it over and over again) that still allows you to continue training.  Its called Brett Elliotts Ultimate Herbal Detox.  Basically for 10 days you take a bunch of herbal supplements and limit your diet to ONLY fruits,vegetables and yogurt -- the more raw the better.  Leading up to the 10 days you do a prep phase of 3-4 days where you gradually eliminate everything else from your diet.
I am now on day 4 of the detox.  The herbs are doing their work to clean me out and eating only fruits and veggies is not as bad as I thought it would be--I only occasionally get the urge for some grains/legumes - and its not that strong.  I feel really good--energy levels are great, no problems with doing my training.  I am eating frequently - definitely doing 6 meals/day but that is keeping me feeling quite satisfied.  The purpose of doing this is not to lose weight--but it is a nice side effect.  Since I started the prep phase I am down about 3-4 lbs (basically what I gained over the holidays).  Not sure what will happen over the remaining 6 days but I will be paying attention.

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.