2025 IM Lanzarote Race Recap

Quick Recap 

I consider myself an experienced racer when it comes to challenging courses but words can't describe the legendary Club La Santa IRONMAN Lanzarote. This year was the 33rd running of the event. As one of the most iconic and long standing races in Europe, athletes from around the world keep showing up to try and tackle this brutal course. From the stunning landscapes to 8200+ feet of climbing in 22-30+ mph gusty head and cross winds, this race pushed me to my limits and beyond. I expected the bike course to be hard, but it was harder than what I imagined due to the windy conditions. 

Lanzarote is an island in the Atlantic Ocean and it's one of the Canary Islands. It would be easy to compare Lanzarote to the Big Island of Kona (the home of the Ironman World Championship) because they are both volcanic islands with windy and hot conditions. However, after racing on both islands, I can confirm that the Ironman Lanzarote bike course is considerably more challenging that the Ironman World Championship course in Kona, Hawaii due to the extremely gusty head and side winds and more extreme elevation changes (+3000 more feet of elevation gain in Lanzarote). Additionally, the Lanzarote bike course is extremely technical with lots of turns, switchbacks and fast descends. 

After the fastest female amateur swim in the choppy and clear waters of the Atlantic Ocean (59 minutes) and 2nd fastest female amateur bike (6:20/17.8 mph), my body completely shut down after 3-4 miles of the run. Even though I felt strong on the swim and bike, the dry heat, strong sun and relentless wind took everything from me and it was an extreme struggle to keep moving forward as my body (and mind) was fighting against me. But having Karel on the sidelines and seeing our athlete Bara fight hard for her 6th overall female pro finish, I knew I had to find a way to get to the finish line. I was disappointed about my race (specifically the run) soon after I finished but looking back and seeing what I accomplished, I am extremely proud of myself for overcoming a big fear of mine - cycling in extremely windy conditions. 

The volunteers were incredible, the race was very well organized, the course signage was perfect, the bike course was 100% closed to cars, the course support was amazing and the Club La Santa organization provided on a great race experience. 

I was so relieved when I crossed that finish line after 11:40 hrs of racing. 

I placed 4th amateur female and 2nd AG (40-44).

Race Report 

The morning of the race began with my 4:30 am alarm. Despite not feeling particularly nervous, I had a restless night, barely getting a full hour of sleep, it seemed. However, with experience from three extreme triathlon events that involved 4-5 am starts and 2 am wake-up times, I've learned to accept that pre-race sleep isn't always perfect and good performances are still possible. I also prioritize my sleep two nights before a race, knowing that this is more crucial for feeling rested. The night before, I focused on relaxing my body by getting to bed early. I often watch a lighthearted movie on Netflix in the late afternoon or early evening before races to help distract my mind. 

For my pre-race meal, I had my usual bagel with peanut butter. Since I didn't have any maple syrup, I used a packet of sugar instead. I skipped the yogurt as I wasn't feeling like I could digest it well but looking back I should have had more carbs that morning (and some more protein). I did feel well-fueled from my carbohydrate loading (around 8g/kg/bw) on Friday, the day before the race.

After eating, I changed into my tri suit and did some foam rolling. Around 5:30 am, Bara (our Czech professional athlete staying with us), Karel, and I walked over to the transition area across the street. We dropped off our special needs bike bags (hung on a rack, which was then transported to mile 56 of the course) and then walked down to the beach to access our bikes. The security was very tight around the transition area with - what looked like - police offers (or security guards). There was also a special needs table for the run by the bike special needs bags, which I didn't use, but Bara did. Interestingly, unlike many Ironman events I've done, a significant number of professional athletes, including Lucy Charles, utilized special needs on both the bike and the run. Instead of designated bags for the run, there was a table where athletes could leave bottles or small bags and access them on each run loop.

I used my Cycplus e-pump to inflate my tubeless tires (and Bara's). This pump has been a fantastic addition for travel, as it charges quickly and allows me to set the exact PSI (for example, 68psi), inflating to that precise level with the push of a button.

Once my tires were pumped, I placed my bottles and bike computer on my bike, checked my gears and brakes, and then put cold water in my run flasks in my red run bag. I went back to meet Karel and we walked back to our Airbnb. I did a short jog outside at the Colony Club (our Airbnb) before putting on my wetsuit. I had experienced significant chafing from my open water swim on Wednesday because I forgot to apply Body Glide, so I made sure to use plenty of lubricant around my neck this time.

Around 6:30 am, we walked down to the swim start, and I positioned myself in the sub-60-minute group. The male professionals started at 7:00 am, followed by the female professionals at 7:05 am, and then the age groupers at 7:10 am. We lined up in rows of four, and every five seconds, a beep sounded, and the volunteers directed us to run into the water.

2.4 mile Swim - 59:43, fastest amateur female swim, 4th female 

Picture from practice swim

I ended up taping my seat to the bar because it was windy and I didn't want it to fall overnight. The volunteers suggested this to many of us. I removed the tape in the morning.

~1300 registered athletes 

My confidence wasn't particularly high going into the swim, mainly because I haven't felt my best in the water over the past few weeks. I recognize that training has its ups and downs, and progress isn't always linear, especially across all three disciplines.

However, this swim venue was a real joy for me. In the past, I've had less pleasant swim experiences due to factors like darkness or very cold water. This time, everything felt right. I was relieved that there were no jellyfish, sharks, or any other creatures that could bite or sting. The fish were present and pretty (though not as vibrant as those in Kona), but I knew they posed no threat. The water was incredibly fresh and clear, and at 66 degrees, it was perfect with a wetsuit.

All these positive aspects put me in a great mental state. I didn't focus on my swim time; I just felt happy to be swimming. As usual for races, I didn't wear a watch during the swim, as I prefer not to let the time influence my mindset for the rest of the race. I generally avoid looking at my times during races, preferring to stay present. I can then analyze my performance afterwards.

For this swim, I chose my ROKA tinted goggles because the longer stretch (around 950 yards) was directly into the sun. I had brought three different ROKA goggles with varying lens tints to test before the race and decided the darker lenses would be best.

I was actually very grateful for the two open water practice swims we had during race week. The first swim was in incredibly calm water. The second, however, was very choppy, and I felt significantly slower and more tired swimming through it.

On race day, the long stretch was indeed very choppy, and we even encountered some large waves from a boat on our return to shore during the second loop.

It was great to hear Karel cheering for me as I exited the water onto the sand to begin my second loop. For most of the swim, I managed to stay with a group of four or five men, trying to draft behind their feet or alongside their hips. I was really pleased that I could keep up with them, and I'm sure that helped me achieve a slightly faster swim time than I might have managed on my own. I did feel a little dizzy upon reaching the transition area, likely due to the choppy conditions, so I took a moment to sit down in the transition tent while putting on my bike gear.

T1: 4:40

I thought the transition tent was very well done. Additionally, I really appreciated that the race organizers provided pod-style portable bathrooms throughout the transition area and even on the run course. There were small tents within the large transition tent for those who wanted privacy to change). I opt for full compression socks in Ironman races (instead of calf sleeves under the wetsuit) as I find them more comfortable for 9+ hours of racing (bike + run). There were no volunteers helping athletes with their bags but instead, the volunteers were standing around tables to offer sunscreen and water. I put on my Compress Gear compression socks and Bont cycling shoes, as well as my new Rudy Project Wingdream helmet. In most non-American races, you have to wear your bib number on the bike so I also put that on in T1. I put my wetsuit, cap and goggles back inside my Blue Bike gear bag and hung it back on the transition rack. 

112 mile Bike (my computer had 113 miles): 6:20, 17.8mph 8200 feet, 154 NP, 1st AG (40-44), 10th female. 

Picture from training on the course

Before the race, I spent a good amount of time reviewing the course details online. I managed to pre-ride the shorter loop, but the longer loop was new to me. Thankfully, Karel had experience with the longer section as he rode it on Wednesday. He gave me some helpful insights about the wind and terrain. Notably, the last 30+ miles would be considerably easier than the first 70 miles. Once the scenic point is reached on the northern point of the island, the wind direction changes so there is considerably less headwind. 

Views from the top of the island. 

Karel doing the hard work of bike course recon. 

Instead of driving a race course, I find it really useful to study the course beforehand so I can mentally divide it into smaller segments. This helps me manage my pacing throughout the race. While the general advice for an Ironman bike leg is to conserve energy for the later stages, the hilly and windy nature of this course meant that the initial hours actually required more power and effort than the back part of the course. 

The wind was relentless. I've raced on many long distance bike courses with 7,000+ feet elevation gain but the hills + headwind made this course incredibly challenging. To give some context, at Ironman Chattanooga in September (where the swim was cancelled and the bike was shorter at 107 miles and 4500 feet elevation gain), my bike split was 4:40 (23mph). Ironman Lanzarote, on the other hand, took me 6:20 on the bike (17.8 mph). Leading up to this race, I checked the Epic Ride Weather app, which indicated that the wind conditions on race day would be the "lightest" of the week. Unfortunately, the app was quite inaccurate, and the wind turned out to be much stronger than predicted. Perhaps that was a good thing in that I didn't stress/worry about the wind the day before the race. 

Given the challenging nature of this course and knowing I would be out there for a longer duration than a typical Ironman, I decided to break down the course into smaller, more manageable segments for pacing. I wrote down the mileage for each segment on a piece of paper and taped it to my handlebars. This allowed me to regularly check how long each segment was before the next turn. I've found this to be a really effective way to make the miles pass more quickly, rather than focusing on the total distance covered or the distance still to go. It also helped with my fueling/hydration because it was difficult to grab bottles while climbing/descending in the wind so I was able to be more strategic as to when to drink. 

Here are some stats from my computer after breaking down the course into smaller segments: 

• 8.57 miles - 38.09, 13.5 mph, 1173 ft elevation gain (176NP)
• 8.93 miles - 23:34, 22.7 mph, 292 ft elevation gain (152NP)
• 24.3 miles - 1:19.09, 18.5mph, 1453 feet elevation gain (158NP)
• 14.6 miles - 1:07 (includes special needs stop of 52 seconds), 13.1 mph, 2008 feet elevation gain (158 NP)
• It took 4 hours and 12 minutes to cover 69.2 mph (162 NP) at an average speed of 16.5 mph to get to the northern most tip of the island before the long descend with wind at my back. 
• 12.9 miles - 30:05 (finally tailwind after reaching the top of the island), 25.7 mph, 453 ft elevation gain (1493 ft elevation loss), 122 NP
• 3.59 miles - 19:26, 11.1 mph, 623 feet elevation gain (159NP)
• 10.2 miles, 29:27, 20.7 mph, 515 feet elevation gain (137NP)
• 7.69 miles, 24:00, 19.2 mph, 295 feet elevation gain (130NP)
• 9.06 miles, 23:20, 23.3 mph, 220 feet elevation gain (1201 loss) (99NP)

I consumed 6 x 26 ounce bottles of INFINIT Fructose (90g carbs each bottle and 600mg sodium) + a few sips water at every aid station (and water on my body for cooling). 

The special needs stop was in the parking area next to the course, requiring us to handle our own bags. I stopped briefly, about 50 seconds, to stretch and add three more filled bottles to my bike. I kept my empty bottles in the rear for better aerodynamics and took only a few sips of Keto Aid throughout the bike. 

I particularly enjoyed the ~2 miles of descending on switchbacks before the town of Haria. Luckily, the wind wasn't too strong, and the descent reminded me of riding in Italy, which put me in a great mood. It was also wonderful riding through the small towns where residents cheered us on from their windows.

The course was well-managed with no car traffic, and the signage was excellent. The volunteers at the aid stations and at each turn/intersection were also incredibly helpful. Karel was able to see Bara and me twice on the course near Teguise (he drove there on the non-closed roads and then biked to a spot to see us), and he shared updates that I was leading my age group and was second overall among amateurs.

While there were some challenging climbs into the wind throughout the entire race, the most difficult part (mentally) was the 3.5 mile uphill section in the wind, into Teguise. We had already done this once and it was demoralizing. This 3.5 mile stretch of road took me nearly 20 minutes at an average of 11 miles per hour, and the strong winds made it feel much longer and quite frustrating. And then there was one more 3.5 mile out and back that was really challenging. I could see athletes in the other direction flying back so at least I was motivated by the fact that all I had to do was to get to the turnaround. 

Despite the 70-degree weather, the sun was intense with no shade on the course. When the wind was behind me, it felt quite warm, but I never felt like I was overheating, especially compared to Kona's humidity. My new Rudy Project helmet, while perhaps not the most stylish (I joked it looked like a lampshade :)), was incredibly light, fast, and comfortable.

The biggest challenge towards the end of the bike was that I couldn't fully exhale when trying to take deep breaths. I think being in the aero position on my base bars for so long in the wind made me very rigid and tight, leading to poor belly breathing. Interestingly, I was really looking forward to the run, as my run training had been excellent, and I felt very confident about my running abilities - especially after a confidence boosting 3:33 marathon at IM Chattanooga in September. 

T2 - 4:01

                         

The bike out and bike in was located on a steep hill that was covered. Because the transition area was located on the beach, everything was covered. The hill was hard to run up with the bike but even more difficult walking down with the bike after 6+ hours of riding. I racked my bike and then walked into the transition area. I put on my New Balance shoes, Naked hydration belt (with 2 hours worth of NeverSecond C30 berry powder in baggies), 2 filled flasks (each with 30g carbs and 10 ounce water), my run watch, Roka sunglasses, Omius visor (made from graphite which offers a cooling effect when wet) and cooling towel. My legs felt surprisingly good as I jogged out of the transition tent and made my way to the red carpet by the finish line. As if this race isn't brutal enough, the run course has athletes running on to the red carpet (down a ramp) and then next to the finish line (and then back up the ramp) to start each of the 3 loops. 

26.2 mile run - 4:12, 9th 40-44, 270 feet, 40th female 

Spectating fuel :) 

The initial miles of the run felt good. I was enjoying the undulating terrain throughout the town of Playa del Carmen and all the cheers from the spectators. There were so many people out cheering along the ocean as there are countless restaurants, bars and shops. Lanzarote is popular amongst British people so there were a lot of cheers from the Brits (more English cheers than Spanish at times). Around mile three or four, things suddenly became challenging. 

The course was set up as three loops: a 6.3-mile stretch out to the town past the airport and back, followed by two smaller 3.5-mile loops.

Running the first six miles directly into a headwind was incredibly tiring. My body felt drained, and I started going through a mental checklist, wondering if I was dehydrated or hadn't fueled properly. I didn't have any of signs of chills or a headache, and I didn't feel low on energy, just completely unable to propel myself forward. My body was telling me to stop and walk. I couldn't engage my posterior chain and felt like I couldn't move forward (all I could do was hop). I stopped several times in the first 6 miles, feeling overwhelmed and questioning whether I could continue, especially so early in an Ironman. It made me realize the importance of having someone there to help you push through those moments. I'm incredibly thankful to Karel - who was out on the bike giving me and Bara updates - as he kept me going when I was on crying due to frustration. 

To make things worse, I developed a really bad side stitch around mile 2. I think being tense on the handlebars while riding and not breathing well contributed to it. It just felt like everything was working against me. Interestingly, a bathroom break (#1 and #2) after the turn around actually provided some relief. I felt much better after 12 miles of running. Plus the pick-me up of being back in town with all the cheers, helped tremendously. As I ran past the finish line, I collected my 2nd wrist band (we received three different colors to signify each loop of the run). 

Even though there weren't many restrooms along the run course, the ones that were available were remarkably clean. It seemed like someone was attending to them after each use, which was a pleasant surprise during the race.

I started feeling better on the second loop, and even Karel noticed I looked better. However, because I was so focused on the side stitch and breathing, I wasn't diligent with my nutrition, falling behind and then needing to take in more, which then made me feel like I needed another bathroom stop. While the two bathroom stops weren't concerning, it just felt like it wasn't my day.

The race started as a real physical battle and then when Karel told me that I was 2nd in my age group (after having a 20+ min lead), I started not to care anymore. Thankfully, he encouraged me to keep going and to keep caring. Honestly, I'm not sure how I made it past the first loop. 

As I mentioned above, the course design had a particularly cruel element with the turnaround point. You run right down the finish line, within a few feet of being across the finish line before being directed to turn around and head back out for more loops while finishers continue through. Despite this, reaching that point on each loop was surprisingly motivating because of the crowds. And knowing the last two loops were "only" 3.6 miles out was much easier to mentally breakdown. 

It was really cool to run by the airport and to see the big planes landing and taking off. This long stretch was lonely at times but we ran by a dog beach so that was a great mood booster. This beach was also a nude beach so yeah, that was entertaining. 

One interesting aspect of racing a course marked in kilometers was that I never focused on where I was (distance wise) as I was running. In other words, I never thought "I'm only at mile 17" or "I still have 6 more miles to go." Instead, I concentrated on reaching specific points within each loop, like a statue or a building or the turn around. This helped immensely, especially when I was struggling physically. Additionally, knowing that the headwind I faced in the beginning would eventually become a tailwind on the return was a mental boost, even though the wind was exceptionally strong during that initial stretch along the shore.

It never occurred to me that I still had close to 7 miles when I started my last loop. In my head, my only focus was getting to the turn around. I could see specific destinations as I was running so I was checking them off as I was running. Run to x-point, run to y-point, run to x-point. Because I had covered these stretches twice before, each destination became more familiar. As I was covering the last few miles, I was still fighting to get to the finish. My legs were so tired and I couldn't wait to stop moving and sit down. I was able to run more continuous stretches without stopping but I still needed to stop a few times to reset my form in those final miles. 

I found my cooling towel to once again, be extremely helpful. This was my first time wearing the Omius headband (it belongs to Karel) and I didn't find it to offer an effective cooling effect like my cooling towel. 

When I entered the ramp to make my way to the finish line, I made a hard right to make sure it was clear that I was not doing another loop. I was so excited and relieved to reach the finish line. 

Despite all of my struggles, I was proud that I didn't give up. Although it was incredibly challenging (probably one of my top three hardest IM run experiences), I found something inside of me that allowed me to keep moving. Although my run training didn't show itself at the race, I suppose I needed all of that fitness to get me to the finish line. I saw Karel in the stands as I was sitting behind the finish line and I gave him a big thumbs up. 

Eventually, I made my way to the athlete food area, which was one of the most impressive displays of post race food with an espresso machine, pasta, salad, fresh desserts, burgers, pizza and fruit salad. The food was catered by Club La Santa. I grabbed a fruit salad and sat down. The room was filled with mostly guys and everyone looked well, horrible. Pale, exhaustion and empty. 

Lessons Learned 

Virgin Mojitos and food post race. 

So proud of our Czech athlete Bara for placing 6th female pro (podium + pay-check)

Thank you Karel for the support! 

1) Reflecting on my preparation, I really enjoyed my training over the past few months. I'm turning 43 this Saturday and it's been amazing to see what my 42-year old body can still do with training. I did workouts I've never done before. It's been 19 years after my first Ironman and my body continues to surprise and impress me. I'm incredibly proud of the work I put in, and even though I didn't get to fully showcase it on race day, that doesn't diminish the effort.

2) While I initially felt disappointed with my run and thus, the overall race outcome, after a few days of reflection, I realize I'm a different and stronger athlete now because of this training. That progress (and preparation) is something no one can take away from me.

3) Another key takeaway is the importance of preparing for the unexpected. I try to release any anxiety about paces, times, and results going into a race. Even with great fitness, race day will always present challenges. For me, it was a side stitch early in the run and then feeling empty, which forced me to shift my focus from pace to problem-solving. This is just part of Ironman and racing in general. I remember during Icon XTRI, when I had hypothermia after the swim, I completely shifted my attention to getting warm enough to even start the bike.

4) Having a strong support person is also crucial – someone who won't let you quit. This is something I feel is so important, especially knowing that many athletes don't have that unwavering support. If you have loved ones supporting you at a race, maybe set some ground rules beforehand and ask them to help keep you going through the tough moments. If you're racing solo, consider having a friend come along for that support. There will be times when you go to a dark place and want to give up, even if it's just a temporary feeling driven by discomfort. I'm grateful that Karel provided that unwavering encouragement to keep me pushing. Even though the discomfort may feel unbearable, you don't want to be the athlete who regrets quitting the next day, when everyone is sharing their stories of overcoming challenges. Unless your health is compromised, try to keep yourself going. 

5) Even though this race was a struggle, my previous 23 long distance race experiences definitely helped me push through to the finish. It's also a reminder that the first race of the season can be tough as you lack race experience (and the central governor is not very strong). I tend to race better later in the year after building on those initial experiences, with my best performances often in September and October. So, those early races are invaluable for learning and growth.

6) Finally, I'm incredibly proud of conquering the bike course in this race. This race had intimidated me for the past ten years due to the wind. Even during the race, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment for overcoming that mental barrier.

Ultimately, with long distance racing, it's important to avoid getting too caught up in places, times, and metrics. Racing for 140.6 miles is a significant undertaking for your body, and it's understandable to be disappointed when things are tough, especially after all the training. But remember the sheer magnitude of the event – struggle is often part of the process. Be proud of what you accomplish, and remember that those tracking you don't know the personal challenges you're facing or what it took for you to even reach the starting line.

While I was disappointed immediately after the race, I now feel a great sense of pride. I'm not rushing to sign up for another challenging race just yet – I had thought about it, but after some reflection, I might be good for a while, especially after hearing how the winds were much more windy when Karel rode some of the course a couple of days after the race. 

Thank you for reading. 

A few more pictures from our time on the island. I'm 100% sure that in my second life, I want to be a cat living on an island. 

Playa Blanca 

In the background is the run course (by the water). 

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A post shared by Marni Sumbal, MS, RD, CSSD (@trimarni)

'24 IM Chattanooga Race Recap

Race Week 
We left for Chattanooga on Thursday September 26th around 11am. Most of the drive was in the rain. We drove through Asheville and Knoxville as it's so scenic and our favorite way to go Chattanooga. It rained most of the drive. Two weeks ago we adopted Sunny - a 1-ish-year old, 16 lb terrier mix from the Charlotte Animal Control and this was our first road trip together. My mental health hasn't been the best this past week because I have been really missing Campy (it's been 10 weeks since he passed away) and I wasn't sure how I would be able to put together a good race in Chattanooga. I gave myself a lot of grace going into Chattanooga as I didn't specifically train for the event with Norseman XTRI as my primary focus. I signed up for Chattanooga because I love the course and I love the community/spectator support. I also love hot and humid races. Seeing that the weather was cool and the bike course was entirely changed a month out from the race, I was having trouble getting myself excited to race. We arrived after 3pm and went right to athlete check-in. I was given bib number 218 and it was a quick process to get in and out of the registration tent. We drove to our Airbnb (next to the Whiskey building) which was located ~0.6 miles from the transition area. After seven years of racing in Chattanooga, this was the first time that we stayed in this location and we loved being within walking distance of the venue. After we unloaded the car with all of our stuff, we drove to Whole Foods to get a few groceries. Karel walked Sunny around the parking lot while I did a quick shop (I brought most of our non-perishable foods). We ate dinner and went to bed around 10pm. 

On Friday morning we woke up to texts from our neighbors that the power was out due to strong winds and heavy rain. We never expected the strength of storm that came through Greenville (especially since we live close to the mountains). Thankfully we have incredible neighbors (and a great pet sitter that we just hired for this trip) and they took care of our house (and animals and fish) for the next few days. Sadly our generator had old gas in it so it didn't work when the neighbor tried to start it. We need it to power up our 70-gallon fresh water fish tank so the cichlet fish can breathe. Karel has a portable bubble maker so our neighbor used that instead (the only downside is our fish couldn't eat for 3 days due to no filtration system running but thankfully they all survived). We were very stressed about our house after we heard that a tree broke our wooden fence in the backyard. On Friday morning I found out that the 2.4 mile river swim had been cancelled due to the predicted fast flow of water from the dam. This was a major bummer since swimming is my strength. After 18 years of triathlon, this was my first ever bike-run "triathlon" which was a strange feeling because it felt so different to what I had mentally prepared for (and what I know after racing 19 Ironmans). 

On Friday, I opted to ride the Kickr trainer (which Karel brought from home) for around 80 minutes. I did an over-under workout to wake up the legs. I didn't realize the Y was open (and free for IM participants) but if I had, I would have swam first as it's where I can zone out and relax before a race. The trainer workout felt good and got my mind into a good place. The rest of the day was uneventful. We walked to pick up pizza in the evening. We invited our friends Yannick and Katie over for pizza from Community Pie and enjoyed pizza in our Airbnb. I always get Margherita pizza two nights before a long distance race. 

My mom arrived with our athlete Scott around 8pm. Scott was supposed to come on Friday morning but he had a tree fall in his driveway which blocked him in - and he was without power.  He was able to get the tree removed and they had a suprisingly smooth drive to Chattanooga through Atlanta. I was happy that my mom was there to help us out with Sunny as he is still new to us and has a few anxieties/fears that we need to work on (he was abandoned in an apartment). 

We woke up to wet roads and light rain on Saturday. I didn't want to risk any issues the day before the race so I rode the trainer for ~45 minutes and did a few short efforts to wake up the legs. My legs felt a little tired during the ride but I felt surprisingly good for a 12 minute run off the bike (1.6 miles - I ran until I was ready to stop). As for the rest of the day, I prepared my bottles for my bike and flasks for the run, got all my nutrition ready and collected my gear. It felt strange to not have to think about getting ready for the swim and to not drop off a bike gear bag (due to the time trial start we wore our bike gear to the transition area on race morning). Karel got my bike ready in our Airbnb and for the first time ever, I used a disc wheel on my tri bike in an Ironman. Because of rain in the afternoon, Karel taped over the box that holds the wires for my electronic shifting so that they wouldn't get wet after leaving my bike in the transition area. Around 1pm we walked down to the race venue and I dropped off my run bag and bike. 

I eat the same foods the day before every Ironman and half IM, which makes it easy to get in my carbs as I don't have to think about what (and when) to eat. My typical day before race meals are: 

• Before workout: 2 piece bread + peanut butter
• During workout: 1 scoop Never Second C30
  
• After workout: Glass of milk + handful cereal. Then bagel + PB + banana + 2 eggs
• Lunch: Pasta + marinara + veggie burger 
• Afternoon snack: Pop tart + Chobani black cherry yogurt 
• Dinner: No chicken noodle soup (Amy's Organic) + 1 cup rice + saltine crackers

Race morning
Surprisingly, I slept really well the night before the race. With my alarm set for 6am due to the delayed start (cancelled swim) the race nerves felt nervous. I was curious to see what type of fitness I brought to the race since I didn't specifically train for this race but I didn't feel any pressure or expectations. The race also felt a little anticlimactic without the swim, which also made me feel less nervous. Even though I love to swim and was looking forward to the 2.4 mile river swim, the race just felt different. I was worried that without the swim, I wouldn't place as high in my age group as I usually need the swim and bike to make up for my slower run time, relative to other ladies in my age group. I laid in bed around 7pm and fell asleep between 8:30-9pm. Although I was in bed for close to 10 hours, we woke up to the sound of a car being towed outside our building around 3am. Sunny thought it was time to get up with all of the noise so Karel had to take him outside. It was an eventful 30 minutes but I was able to go back to sleep (and felt very rested at 3am). 

For my pre-race meal, I had the usual: Cinnamon Raisin Bagel w/ PB and banana. I ate around 6:30am and had no issues eating. I also had my Nescafe instant coffee and some water. I kept telling myself that this was similar to typical weekend - a long brick (bike-run) workout. Sunny stayed with mom when Karel and I walked to the transition area around 7:20am to drop off my bottles for my bike (and run bag), check my tires (which were fine from the day prior) and drop off my special needs bag for the bike (which had to be dropped off by 7:45am). We walked/jogged back to the Airbnb and Karel set up his gravel bike on the trainer and adjusted it for me so I could do a 10 min EZ spin on the trainer. This really helped to wake up my legs and got my mind in a good place to feel ready for the race. I didn't feel nervous but rather, I just wanted to get the race started. 

With the age groupers starting at 8:40am, we walked back down to the transition area around 8:20am. I was able to see some of the professionals start while on the trainer and walking to the transition area. I put on my cycling shoes and helmet outside of the transition, gave Karel my running shoes and went to my bike. I stood in line for a few minutes and before I knew it, I was standing in line, almost ready to start the bike. They had us stand in a row of 4 and two athletes who start every 5 seconds. The line moved very quickly. Although we were supposed to line up by bib number, there was a mix of numbers in the 200's (I was 218). 

BIKE
107.4 mile bike (5211 feet) 
4:40.06, 23 mph
Normalized power: 162W (IF .84)
Average cadence: 86rpm

I wasn't sure what to expect from the bike course since I had never seen it before. Our athlete Yannick drove the course and told me about it and I did a little research online looking at the terrain. I didn't have any set watts to target and I don't wear a HR monitor when I race but rather I like to race by feel. I know my body really well and I know what I can quickly recover from and what I can sustain. Since we didn't do the swim, Karel told me I could push a little harder on the bike since I would have a little extra energy to start. 

4.96 miles - 15:18, 195NP, 19.4 mph
I really pushed the first few miles. I knew I could settle in once I got to the 3 "loops" of the course. This section made my legs burn as I went hard from the very beginning. The warm up on the trainer really helped so my legs didn't feel like total bricks when I started. 

16.3 miles (out) - 38:24, 170 NP, 25.5 mph
I started to settle into a good rhythm really quickly on the bike. After a few miles, I found myself near the front of the race with only an athlete or two ahead of me. I could see our athlete Scott in the far distance, leading the age group race. I knew I would be at a slight disadvantage starting near the front because I wouldn't get the natural draft effect of passing people if I had started later on but I wanted to race my own race and see what I could do on my own. Plus, when I race and I have a lot of guys around me, it's hard to settle into my own rhythm as I have to pay more attention to staying draft legal or accelerating to pass versus focusing on my own effort. This section was really fast and had a nice flow to it. The course was rolling but there was plenty of time to stay in the aero bars. The climbs were not steep but had enough of an incline that I could sit up out of my aero bars (which is my preferred riding style since I do so much riding on my road bike). The downhills were fast and fun. With only two turns (one at each end of the course), there was no need to break, which made the course very fast at times. The rain started to come down (not strong rain but enough to get my compression socks wet) and my visor was fogging with the humidity. I actually liked the rain as it felt more "extreme" and I felt more in my element with the past two years dedicated to XTRI events. 

16.3 miles (back) - 44:43, 168 NP, 21.9 mph
This section felt like more of a drag. There was a bit more climbing to do on the way back. The aid stations were set up between the exits of the highway and the cars had to exit the hwy and then return on the on ramp. This allowed for two full lanes for athletes at the aid stations. I didn't grab anything at the aid stations so this allowed me to keep up my speed. I could feel the headwind in this direction. The rain continued to fall. I rode this section entirely by myself and it was long and lonely. I had a few guys pass me but they were way too strong in the time trial position for me to even stay draft legal behind them. I was able to somewhat keep up on the climbs but they got away from me on the downhills and flats. 

16.3 miles (out) - 38:49, 158 NP, 25.1 mph
I was relieved to make the turn around (which was a little technical over rumble strips and a lot of cones to make it a tight turn on both ends of the loop) as this section was the "easier" section of the two out and backs. At this point there were more people on the course but I was passing those starting their first loop (and being passed by a few more guys). I was also feeling the draft of having some cars in the lane next to us (we had the left lane closest to the medium and cars were coned off to our right) which also helped to keep up the speed. I was worried that the bike course would be lonely on the highway but there ended up being a good handful of people who drove out to the course. This loop felt a little long to me as my mind started to play games with me and tell me that I was biking too hard and that I should just stop after the bike and not run and that I was not having a good race (all normal self-talk that happens when riding for hours in a race). I was able to quiet those voices at times by focusing on my effort and terrain management and keeping up with my nutrition. 

Fueling on the bike
My fueling strategy was pretty simple as it's the same thing I do for all my long rides. 
I started with 3 x 26 ounce bottles of INFINIT Fructose (Fruit Punch flavor) with each bottle having 80g carbs and ~500mg sodium (not exactly 2 full scoops). Every 10-15 minutes I would take 3-4 big sips. I peed 3 times on the bike (the best I could on downhills). I tossed one of my bottles at an aid station and always kept my primary drinking bottle between my aerobars (two bottles in my rear cage). I don't use the aero bottle on the frame as I find it very difficult to grab and put back on the frame). 
I stopped at special needs (mile 62, which was 2:38 into the ride). I had finish 2 full bottles and a little over 1/2 bottle. My special needs stop took about 26 seconds. A volunteer handed me my bag after I stopped, I tossed my two bottles on my bike and put on 3 more bottles (one between the aero bars and 2 in the rear cages). 
In my special needs bag I had 3 more 26 ounce bottles of INFINIT Fructose. Same amount but my favorite flavor grape. I was able to finish 2 1/4 bottles over the next 2 hours (44.8 miles).
In total, I consumed: 
~127 ounce fluid
~390g carbs 
~2400 mg sodium
 
16.3 miles (back) - 44:23 (includes special needs stop), 162 NP, 22.1 mph
With more people on the course, the ride started to feel more fun as there was more to focus on. I was surprised to see Karel as I was nearing the end of the 2nd loop. He told me I was leading my age group and 2nd overall female as a younger female was riding much faster than me. I was really surprised that I was near the front of the race. This gave me a lot of incentive to keep pushing. I never felt tired or had any low moments so my mission was to try to make my third loop strong. At this point in the race, the rain was on and off. The temperature was perfect as I never felt cold. My athlete Jeremy passed me on the bike before special needs and he was riding really strong. It was great to see him out there. The nice thing with the looped course was being able to see athletes on the other side of the median. 

16.3 miles (out) - 39.52, 147 NP, 24.5 mph
Karel gave me one more cheer as I was starting my third loop and then he biked back to the race venue (he biked out on the course since it was closed to cars in and out of town). Although I could feel the natural fatigue of riding strong for the past 3+ hours, I could also feel the draft effect of the cars and other athletes on the course. I never found there to be big groups as there was a constant passing of athletes. I called out "on your left" a lot and everyone was very considerate to move over quickly. I found the course to be very safe. It was smooth pavement and very well controlled with volunteers and police. Although I really enjoyed the old course in the country, I didn't mind this course as it was hilly enough to feel hard at times and it felt safe with all the athletes on the course. 

16.3 miles (back) - 44:22, 152 NP, 22.2 mph
I really tried to push this last section. I felt strong and I was really focused with all the other athletes on the course. I had another guy pass me on a downhill and I was able to keep him in my sights for most of the last loop. This really helped me keep the pressure on the pedals. I never knew my mileage or overall time as my screen was set to lap intervals and I was only focusing on my current speed, 10 sec power and normalized lap power. Even though there were mile markers on the course, I only focused on the lap that I was in. This made the bike go by relatively quickly. This was my first time using a disc wheel in an IM and this course was perfect for it as I could keep my speed up (and validate the effects of using the disc). 

4.64 miles - 14:11, 154 NP, 19.6 mph
It was nice to finally go straight and not make the turn after 3 loops. The last few miles were tough as there was a big climb heading back into town. I didn't remember that climb (or downhill) heading out as my legs were burning. I started to experience my normal worries of "what type of run will I have off the bike" as I always lack confidence in my run. I expected that I would be passed by Elyse and other females somewhere in the early miles of the run so I didn't put any pressure on myself that I had to run fast. My only goal was just to enjoy the run. With less than a mile left, I saw Karel standing with Sunny and he was so cute sitting there (Sunny, not Karel :) I yelled "HI SUNNY!!" Karel told me that I was first overall female and I couldn't believe it. I switched the screen on my bike computer and although I was bummed to see only 107 miles, I was shocked to see my time. I thought I could go under 5:10 on the bike (which would be a big PR for me) so when I saw my time nearing 4:40, I couldn't believe it. I did some quick math as I was riding after seeing my speed for each lap but I had no idea what that would actually come up to at the end. 

T2 - 3:33
When I got off the bike, my legs felt pretty good. I felt like I did a great job with my fueling and although I biked strong, I didn't feel like I overdo it. As I ran to my run bag, my mom was there along the fencing giving me cheers and updates that I was leading my age group by over 15 minutes and I was first overall female. I got a few other cheers from friends and I was quickly reminded why I love racing - I love being part of the triathlon community. I ran into the changing tent and I was the only female there. Two other professionals entered shortly after me (I passed them on the bike). I quickly put on my shoes and Naked Running belt and flasks and grabbed my plastic baggy that had my visor, sunglasses, powder in baggies to refill my flasks and Campy's collar. I really needed to pee as I never fully emptied my bladder on the bike so I went into the porto potty and sat down (without undoing my kit) and peed while I put on my stuff in my bag (multitasking). 

Photo credit: Angela B.

25.7 mile run - 3:33.17, 8:18 min/mile, 1200 feet elevation gain
Mile 1 - 8:05
Mile 2: 7:37
Mile 3: 7:42
Mile 4: 7:48
Mile 5: 7:54
Mile 6: 7:48
Mile 7: 8:02
Mile 8: 8:06
Mile 9: 8:09
Mile 10: 8:20
Mile 11: 7:47
Mile 12: 8:29
Mile 13: 8:25 (half marathon 1:43, 8:01 min/mile average)
Mile 14: 8:33
Mile 15: 8:08
Mile 16: 8:19
Mile 17: 8:18
Mile 18: 8:26
Mile 19: 8:30
Mile 20: 8:38
Mile 21: 9:04
Mile 22: 8:40
Mile 23: 8:53
Mile 24: 9:17
Mile 25: 8:42
Mile 26: 8:00 pace (Last 12.5 miles, 1:47, 8:36 min/mile average)

Fueling on the run 
Like the bike, my fueling strategy was very simple on the run. It's the same thing I do for all of my runs (no matter how long, short, hard or easy). I always use Never Second C30 berry on the run. 

I started with 2 x 10 ounce Nathan hard flasks, each with ~120 calories (30g carbs, 200mg sodium of Never Second C30 Berry). I tried to finish 1 flask every 30-40 minutes. I took a few sips water at each aid station and followed it with 1-2 big sips of my flask. Sometimes I would sip the flask between aid stations if needed. I carried 4 small baggies (jewlery bags), each with 1 scoop (30g carbs) Never Second to refill my bottles along the way. I ended up using 3 of the 4 baggies. 

Total: 
150g carbs
1000mg sodium 
~70 ounce fluid

I didn't use anything from the aid stations besides water. No sport drinks, gels, or coke. 
I carried 1/4 bottle of  KetoneAid KE4 Pro Ketone Ester Drink which is something I don't use in training but I have used it in my last two XTRI events (Norseman and ICON) and it helps to keep my energy stable. I hate the taste so I can only take in a small sip at a time. I had my first sip on the bridge around mile 8 and then as needed throughout (anytime I felt like I needed a mental boost). 

I didn't have any stomach issues and my energy felt really stable throughout the entire race. 

Mile 1-4
As I ran out of the transition and on to the grass, my legs felt good. I do a lot of brick runs (and all my brick runs start uphill because of where I live) so running up the hill toward mile one didn't feel too hard. I didn't worry about my pace but rather I wanted to make it feel easy so that I could start easing into my marathon effort at the top of the hill. The first few miles are on a four lane road. We ran on the left side of the road. The road is rolling to start and then slightly flattens out. This is not my favorite part of the run so my focus was getting to the first turn at the end of this road. I ran with two other guys and the effort felt comfortable. I looked at my watch at the mile marker splits and I was surprised at my pace. I knew I could hold between 8:10-8:30 min/miles so when I saw splits under 8 min, I told myself to try to hold on to that pace for as long as I could. My goal was at least ten miles. The effort didn't feel forced as I was focusing on my rhythm and moving myself forward. I wore New Balance Supercomp Elite V4 shoes (from Run In). I have been wearing New Balance Fuel Cells for years so this change was an easy one (these new shoes only had ~10 miles in them before race day). As I was running, I noticed a few female pros running back on the same road. This had me feeling worried because I didn't mentally prepare to do an out and back on this road (I really looked forward to running on the path by the water, especially over the wooden bridges). Thankfully it was only a short section of around a mile back on the main road between the paths (there was prior flooding on the path). 

Mile 4-8
My energy felt stable, my mind was in a good place and my legs felt good. I was expecting to be passed by the faster age group female runners before the "hilly" section across the river but as the miles went by, I didn't see any other females around me. I saw Karel on the battery place hill before the Veterans Bridge and he told me that Elyse was running a faster pace than me but I was winning my age group by over 15 minutes. I expected Elyse to run past me at any point so I continued to focus on my effort. I never imagined I would be leading the amateur female race (especially at the age of 42!) so I didn't feel any pressure that I had to stay in the lead. My main focus was putting together a marathon run that I knew I was capable of but haven't done in my previous 19 Ironmans. I shuffled my way up the hill and on to the bridge. It felt good to finally have some signficant elevation change as I find it harder to run on flats than hills. 

Mile 8 - 11
I took a sip of the Ketone bottle that I was holding in my hand throughout the run when I was on the bridge. I was really looking forward to the Barton Avenue hills as I knew this was terrain that suited my strengths. I ran steady uphill and tried to work the downhills. At the bottom of the hill, there was a slight false flat that was a little annoying.  I refilled one of my flasks at the aid station at the top of that false flat. I stopped, put the powder from my baggie in my flask the volunteers helped me fill up the flask. I really enjoyed the "loop" at the bottom of Barton Av. as it was rolling hills. I saw Karel before I started the climb back on Barton (which is a bit steeper/longer on the way back) and he told me that I was keeping my lead against Elyse. I asked him how much time I had ahead of her and he told me around 2 minutes. I really enjoyed these miles and I looked forward to them on the second loop. I saw several familiar faces which kept me feeling happy to be running. I will still surprised how good I felt. Karel asked me how I was feeling before I made my way under the Veteran bridge (he was on his bike) and I told him I was feeling good energy wise but my legs were starting to get a little tired (understandably). 

Mile 11-13
I enjoyed the wooden pedestrian bridge back into town as I like running on different surfaces. There weren't many spectators on the bridge (I was looking forward to seeing lots of people) so that was a bummer. However, there were some good cheers from those who were standing there cheering. 

Mile 13 - 16
I made my way out on the second loop of the run. I was really surprised how fast the first 13 miles went. I never experienced any major lows but there were a few low moments over the next few miles as these miles felt very long. My legs were starting to stiffen up but I was still able to hold the same form that I was holding in the first loop. I told myself that all I need to do is finish these 4 miles and then the "hard part" would be overwith. I refilled another flask around 13 at the aid station. The volunteers were amazing. Each refill stop took me ~30-40 seconds. It was nice to have a quick stop. Other than these three refill stops, I didn't walk or stop throughout the run. 

Photo credit: Kayla 

Photo credit: Kayla 

Mile 16 - 20
I could tell that my propulsion wasn't as strong and my legs were feeling tired. The good thing was my energy still felt great and I was actually enjoying the run. With my last 3 marathons taking 5-6 hours due to the extreme nature of extreme triathlons (each of those runs was over 4000 feet elevation gain), I didn't doubt my endurance and strength. I had taken some risks in this race to see what my capabilities were on the bike and run and I wasn't willing to give up now. I saw Karel on battery hill and he was full of positive comments. He told me how good I was running, that I was keeping my lead to Elyse and even extending it on the hills and that he was so impressed with how good I looked when I ran. While I may not be running "fast" I had confidence in my ability to run well under fatigue. I was actually looking forward to the point when my legs were starting to really hurt from the fatigue as I knew I could push through it. 

Mile 20-23
I never focused on what mile I was in or how many miles I had left but rather I used destinations/landmarks to keep me focused. I broke down the race into sections and just focused on a few miles at a time. Once I checked those off, it was on to the next segment. In many of my past Ironmans, the last 6 miles were always so incredibly long and hard and I couldn't wait for the pain to stop at the finish line. But I actually looked forward to the last 6 miles. I saw Karel on Barton and he told me that these hills are were I am the strongest. He told me "no one can run hills like you." He was extremely supportive. Although my legs were hurting on the climbs, I kept things in perspective. These hills were tiny compared to the mountains I climb in extreme triathlons. These were tiny short bumps compared to running up Zombi hill in Norseman, or climbing up a ski slope during Karel's race (in the rain, on snow and ice) or hiking up 3000 feet to the top of a ski slope in Livigno at almost 10,000 feet elevation. Barton hills were NBD (no big deal) :) 

I continued to sip my nutrition and use a few sips of water from the aid station. The weather stayed fairly comfortable in the 70s. Although I was tired, I really tried to run as strong as I could up and down the hills. It was uncomfortable but I felt strong and durable. Karel told me to keep pushing until I got to the end of the bridge and then that was where I could feel like the race was "over." This mentally helped me stay focused up the last big climb. 

Mile 24-finish!
Anytime the run got hard or I had a brief low moment, I would tell myself "If you want something you have never had, you have to do something you've never done." I continued to repeat this in my head over and over as I knew I was on track for a PR marathon run but at any point I could convince myself it was not worth it due to the pain in the legs and I could slow down. I kept on pushing myself. At mile 25, I took Campy's collar out of my hydration belt, gave it a kiss and held it in my hand for the last mile. I thought about pulling it out sooner but it was something that I really looked forward to and that helped me stay motivated until mile 25. There were more people on the wooden bridge which gave me a boost of energy. As I was making my turn toward the finish on the top of the hill, Karel was there and told me "it may be close, you need to keep pushing." I ran as hard as I could to the finish line while still soaking in the atmosphere and quickly reflecting on the day. I switched my watch screen from lap pace/current pace/lap distance to overall time and I was shocked to see my time. Even though the run was short, it was still a PR marathon pace for me (lifetime best!) 

When I crossed the finish line I couldn't believe what had happened. I was the first overall female amateur across the line. I've raced Ironman Chattanooga twice and I won overall amateur female both times. There's something special about Chatty!

Yannick and Karel greeted me at the finish and shortly after, my mom and Sunny came. I saw Karel and we had to wait over 5 minutes before Elyse and a few other females crossed the finish line (they started behind me and we weren't sure if someone ran a faster time than me to push me out of first overall) for the official results. 

I couldn't believe how good I felt all day. I had no idea what I was capable of doing on the day and with so much emotional stress going into this race, I really didn't think I had the mental capacity to suffer. Similar to Louisville 70.3 when I placed overall female, I just felt good all day. It required a lot of mental focus and staying in the present moment but thankfully I had just enough of that left in me for 132.5 miles. 

A few years ago I was feeling like the Ironman distance wasn't exciting me anymore. I needed a change. Xterra racing, mountain biking, gravel biking and XTRI events helped me step out of my comfort zone and feel like a beginner again with new unknowns, new skills to learn and new ways to train (and race). I thought I was stepping away from the "standard" long course triathlons but thanks to all of these different events, my love for the standard distances has returned because I have new perspectives and experiences to bring to each race. 

We went to the awards at 9:30am the next morning and after receiving my award for winning the 40-44 age group, we left to head back to Greenville to get back to our powerless house (and to remove all the food from our fridge and freezer). I did not take a slot to Kona as I am not sure what events/races I want to do in 2025 and I am really enjoying different adventures, race-cations and event experiences. 

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'23 XTRI Canadaman Race Recap - 26 mile run/hike, 4500 feet

 

26 mile run, 4545 feet – 6:00.00

• New Balance Fuel Cell Shoes
• HOKA trail shoes
• Women's Distance Carbon Z Trekking/Running Poles (105 cm)
• Naked Running Band
• Naked Running Vest
• Camelback
• Nathan hard flasks (10 ounce)
• Naked running soft flasks (17 ounce)
• 100% gloves
• Roka sunglasses
• Cooling towel
• Marmot Women's GORE-TEX® Minimalist Pro Jacket
• Nutrition: NeverSecond C30, NeverSecond Gel, Powerbar chews, Skratch Orange, Gu Aminos, Pretzles, Coke, water

Mile 1-3.7 – 219 feet, 9:51 min/mile
Woods and gravel

As I left the transition area, I was looking forward to the first off-road section. I assumed it was all gravel but first I had to make my way through the woods. There was barely a path in the woods. The ground had a lot of roots to run over. It was actually a lot of fun but it required a lot of work to get through. The course was really well marked with pink flags at every turn and keeping us on the path. Once I got through the woods, I was looking forward to getting on the gravel. Only to see a super steep hill. I walked up the hill as it was very steep and I wasn’t even a mile into the race. The gravel was also very rocky and loose. Once I got to the top, I was looking forward to finally running but I found myself shuffling my legs down the steep, switchbacks lined with loose rocky gravel. Finally after almost a mile and a half, I was able to settle into a normal running rhythm on packed gravel. The next 2 miles went by pretty quickly as it was a straight gravel road (net decline) and I could see Karel and the parked car in the far distance. He ran over to me asking if I needed anything and I told him I was good and he could drive ahead for a mile and recheck there. Our plan was for him to leap frog me in the car and to drive ahead each mile on the road and also before/after each gravel section. I was sipping my sport drink flask along with water. It was humid and a little water (low 70s) so I was glad I had my cooling towel on. Karel would wet it every now and then it helped tremendously.

Mile 3.7-10.5 – 138 feet, 8:41 min/mile
Road
Although my trail shoes would have been helpful in the previous section, I was happy to have my road shoes on for this road section. Looking back, I would have made the same decision to keep my road shoes on until mile 18. This section was all road, slight decline with a few long uphills. The nice thing was that there was tailwind and it was fun to see the other athletes riding on the other side of the road. I had one quick potty stop in the woods (normal BM) but no nutritional issues. I was dealing with some side stiches in this section – likely from being crunched in the aero position in the last 10 miles and also navigating through the woody/gravely section before the road. Karel was strategic with where he parked the car and I would continue running, only grabbing what I needed. I had all my flasks filled so Karel only had to hand me things. I had a few sips of coke throughout this section and continued to sip on my sport drink and water. I thought I was going to feel more tired (sleepy) but I think taking 3 Gu Aminos every hour on the bike and then a few throughout the run helped my brain stay focused. This part of the marathon was the only section that felt similar to a stand alone Ironman. I was a little nervous about the next off-road section as it was the longest section that I would be without Karel. At mile 10.5, before turn on to the gravel road and saying good bye to Karel until mile 15, I took off my Naked Running band and put on the Naked Running Vest with 2 x 17 ounce flasks (one sport drink and one water). I also had a few chews and a gel with me if I needed it. I found myself only wanting liquid calories. It was also really nice to see my friend Mary along the course and also to see Trimarni team member Jeannie on the bike as she was riding strong in the headwind. 

Mile 10.5-15 – 516 feet, 11:19 min/mile
Gravel, grass, field
This section was very pretty. There were times when I was in a wide open field, sometimes running by a creek. Other times, running on a tractor-groomed grass trail with trees hanging over me. These 5 miles had everything. There were two big hills (a 1.5 mile gradual rolling climb to start and then another mile climb near the end which was up and down) but otherwise it was fairly flat. I was surprised to see an aid station before the grass/field section but it was welcomed as I was by myself and had only been passed by one guy since I started running (on the road). I walked, shuffled and ran the 4.5 miles and I was really looking forward to seeing Karel and knowing that I only had ~2.5 more road miles until the trail started. The funny part in this section was a volunteer at the aid station telling me (first in French until I asked in English) that the bridge looks broke but a man fixed it so it’s safe to go over and I don’t have to run through the creek. I laughed as I was carefully running over the wooden bridge. I never thought about what mile I was on or how many more miles I had but instead, just focused on each segment (off-road, road or trail). Although my legs were starting to really struggle by mile 15 (~2:25 of running), I worked through all my niggles/side stiches and I felt like my form was much better and it was a lot easier to run (minus my quads screaming at me).

Mile 15-17.6 – 174 feet, 10:28 min/mile
Road
This 2.6 mile road section was hilly. I had Karel load me up with two fresh soft flasks and I didn’t need him much throughout. It was actually better for him to keep driving so that I could keep my rhythm and just make it to the trail section. Although my legs were hurting, I feel like these miles went by the fastest (mentally). 

Mile 17.6-20.3 - 572 feet, 19:35 min/mile
Hiking Trail
Across the street from the trail entrance, I changed into my trail shoes, put on a visor (less warm than the hat), wet my cooling towel and got two filled flasks (one sport drink and one water). I had a gel and chews with me. I wasn’t allowed to sit in the car (per the rules). I was really looking forward to tackling this section knowing that in a few miles, Karel and I would be finishing the race together. This section was very hard. It was muddy, slippery and very technical. The rocks were loose and big and there was a lot of climbing. I tried to run when I could but most of it was shuffling. I was passed by a group of guys near the end which was nice to have some company. The trail was very beautiful and I tried to put myself in a place of going for a hike and just enjoying the scenery (while still “racing”). I had given Karel my phone as I didn’t want to carry anything extra but maybe it was good that I didn’t have it because I would have been tempted to take pictures of the creek. I picked up two small rocks for my dad (I like to collect rocks from places I visit and put them on his grave site). Finally, after almost 50 minutes (and ~2.5 miles later), I saw Karel standing outside of the woods. We shuffled to the aid station which was right before the actual trail up to the observatory. All I had left was ~5 miles and over 2500 feet of climbing. 

Mile 20.3-26 – 2566 feet, 24:19 min/mile
Hiking trail
I put on my camelback (with skratch) but looking back (after running past two aid stations up the mountain), I would have kept with only two flasks and had Karel carry a bit more and relied on the two aid stations for refilling. My quads were absolutely screaming at me (similar to the last few miles of an Ironman) but the difference here was that I had to climb up a mountain – over slippery roots and up and over big boulders. Karel was super supportive and he was really keeping me going. The first mile took me 20 minutes and then next mile was the hardest and it took me 30 minutes! These miles were never ending. The trails were really technical since it had rained so much earlier in the day but there were still several places where you could run. The backpack (and my tired body) made it hard to run but I tried to shuffle whenever I could. We were stuck behind the group of 4 guys (who were chatting) and while it was nice to have some company, once we passed them, I really started to pick up the pace. Perhaps that took up some time. The hiking poles really helped me get up and down the big rocks as I was using them for stability and also to help my tired legs move forward. I wore light gloves to help protect my hands in the case of a fall and to hold on to trees. Karel sprayed bug spray on me before the previous section. The air was warm/humid and it was cloudy so we couldn’t see any of the views. Karel was somewhat familiar with the course as he ran it all the day prior so he was helping me stay focused. I was passed by a few speedy male runners and kept looking over my shoulder wondering if the 2^nd place girl was getting close. Although I had a 30-minute lead, I was still worried. Although I was running (well shuffling/walking) as fast I could, with less than a mile in the race, I was passed by a female. It really hurt me mentally and I felt so defeated. I had led the race for over 13 hours and with less than 20 minutes to go, I moved into 2^nd. Karel was helpful as my mind was just as tired as my body and we kept on fighting. 

Even though it was nice to have Karel’s company, we didn’t do much talking. It took me over 2 hours to climb this final section and I could feel it. When we got out of the woods/trail and on to the road, it was so foggy I couldn’t see the finish. I kept asking Karel “where is it??” and he would say “it’s right there.” I power walked my way up the hill until I could finally see the finish and started shuffling/running. I finally crossed the finish line and couldn’t wait to sit down and collapse after 13.5 hours of racing. I ended up being the 2^nd female and 8^th overall. Missing the overall win by 5 minutes.

I was interviewed by some of the media/staff and changed into some dry clothes (which we brought with us in Karel’s hydration pack). I couldn’t believe what I had just accomplished – it was harder than I imagined. We waited until the 3^rd place female finished and took a podium picture. We then waited for our friends Russ and Mary to finish. We then boarded a bus to take us down the mountain to get to our car. And just like that, my first XTRI event and 20^th Ironman was complete.

This was the finish of the race - the ASTRO Lab of Mont-Megantic. Karel took this picture on Saturday. Sunday (race day) was very cloudy. 

Total: 13.37.59, 8^th overall, 2^nd overall female, 2^nd age group (40-44)

We arrived back to our Airbnb around 8pm. It was a long day after leaving the house at 3am. Karel unloaded the car with all the stuff that he collected throughout the day. As part of his crew responsibilities, he had to collect my swim gear in T1 and all my bike gear (and bike) in T2. I ate some leftover pizza with a glass of milk when I returned home and took a shower and then went to bed. I slept a little throughout the night but my legs were throbbing. Spending 6 hours on my feet for the run was tough. It was a similar soreness feel to an Ironman but I didn't have the empty feeling inside like I do after digging so deep in the Ironman run. Because of all the walking, steep uphills and downhills and terrain changes, it wasn't the same effort of an Ironman run. I was also really sore in my neck muscles. I felt a little down about not getting the overall win but I kept reminding myself of the achievement of finishing and doing something for the first time. I could not have done this without the support of Karel. This is one of the perks of XTRI - your family/friends can be very involved in the race. Karel said he was emotionally and physically exhausted as if he did the race because he was so invested in my race all day. He knew without his help, I couldn't finish but he also got to see me race up close all day. That's a very different feeling to a normal Ironman where family/friends can only see you a few times throughout the day. 

I got out of bed around 6am and shortly after, we started to pack up the house. I was moving very slow and it was very hard to walk downstairs. My quads were so sore, I had trouble making steps. I remember a similar feeling after 2017 Ironman Chattanooga. Around 11am, Karel packed up our bikes and we loaded the car and cleaned up the Airbnb to leave for the awards ceremony at 12pm. I loved our Airbnb - it was the perfect home away from home for our race-cation. 

The awards ceremony was mostly in French. I think they gave up translating into English 😄. We had some light food at the banquet before the awards were given out for the Solo Point Five and the Xtreme tri. We also watched a great recap video from the race. I received the most amazing gift......all things Maple! 

Maple butter, maple syrup, maple candy, maple water and a $500 gift card to a local bike shop. 

After the awards ceremony, we said good bye to Jeannie and our friends Mary and Russ and we made our way to Montreal to the airport hotel (Marriott - I used points from this credit card and booked via the hotel portal on the CC website and got a great deal - the room was just over $125 when normally it is over $350!). I was hoping to be at the hotel around 5pm but after a very long drive to Montreal (over 3.5 hours), we decided to stop for dinner in downtown Montreal at a vegan restaurant (Archway) that I found while driving. It was nice to stretch the legs and get some fresh air. I really wanted a veggie burger with fries but this place didn't offer it so we both went for the mushroom "steak." It was super flavorful! 

We arrived to the airport hotel around 7pm. Checked in, unloaded all our stuff in the room, returned the rental car and walked back to the hotel. The reason for booking the airport hotel was our 6am flight on Tuesday (July 4th) morning. The hotel was attached to the airport so it was worth the convenience after getting up at 3:15am to check in at 3:30am (you go through customs in Montreal to get back to the US so always plan for extra time). The flights to JFK and then to GSP went smoothly and we were back home by 1:30pm. 

We flew in Karel's mom (from Czech) in early June and she will be staying with us until mid September (89 days - she can only stay 90 days on her Visa). She is taking care of our furry crew when we travel this summer. Plus, she's great to have around :)

If you'd like to listen to my entire race recap, you can check it out here.

'23 XTRI Canadaman Race Recap - 111 mile, 9000 feet bike

 

Photo: Triathlon Canada

111 mile bike, 8993 feet elevation gain – 6:33.10 (6:21.03 riding time, 17.5 miles), fastest female, 6^th fastest overall

• Ventum One w/ Podium 90 rear and Podium 60 front Boyd Wheels
• Gearing: Front 39/53. Rear 11-32
• Tubeless: Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR 700x25
• Giro Helmet
• Bont Cycling Shoes
• Nutrition: 3 x 26 ounce of 360 calories Infinit Fructose, 2 x 26 ounce of 360 calories Neversecond c30 Berry. 1 Never Second bar, 1 bag Powerbar chews, a few sips of coke, 1 bottle water.

I had the course downloaded in my Garmin Edge computer and I knew every mile of the course from our recon the previous days but the course was still very well marked and there were plenty of volunteers at the intersections. There were also kilometer markers every 5K. I was very impressed with all the signage on the course and around the venue. Some of the roads were very smooth and well-maintained but overall, the roads were semi to very rough. 

 

Mile 0-9 (16.5 mph, ~1000 feet)
Pouring rain and very hilly. The climbs were between 1-2 miles and the grades were around 11-14%. The hills were long and steep and the downhills were steep and fast. I focused on heavy feet and light hands as I was descending in the rain. It was hard to see because of the strong rain. I kept my shield on my helmet (magnet) until the rain stopped. My legs felt good and I was passing several athletes from the half distance (they started at 4:45am and their course started the same as the xtreme but had a turn around mile 25ish). 

Mile 9-28 (21.6 mph, ~310 feet)
The rain was still coming down hard but this section was fairly flat. I was able to settle into a good rhythm and I focused on riding strong to cover this section as fast as I could. I was looking forward to seeing Karel around mile 28 as he was waiting for me at aid station 1 to hand me another  bottle. I had finished my first bottle between the aero bars by the time I got to Karel and tossed the bottle and grabbed my next one.

Mile 28-62 (17.7 mph, ~2266 feet)
Karel and I rode this segment on Thursday and as I approached it on race day, I felt like this was going to be a long segment. While it took me almost 2 hours, it was actually one of my favorite sections of the entire course. Once again, the hills were steep and long and the downhills were fast but the rain had started to stop. I really enjoyed the scenery of farms and riding through the small towns (each with a beautiful church). The roads were really quiet and I never thought about the fact that I was racing the bike starting at 5:30am. By the time I reached Karel at the next aid station (mile 62) it wasn’t even 9am.
Once the rain stopped, the wind started to get stronger. We had a bit of headwind and sidewind but I felt like I was able to stay in control and ride strong. My legs still felt great and I was in a great headspace. Even though I hadn’t seen another rider since ~mile 20ish, I still felt like I was racing. I would check in with my metrics every now and then but I was more focused on riding well and keeping up with my nutrition. Around mile 50 there was a very steep and long (~1.5 mile) climb with a super fast and bumpy downhill (I lost a bottle on the downhill). Between mile 50 and 62 I started to chew on my Never Second Bar. I also took 3 chews every hour. I sipped my sport drink every 15 minutes (4-5 gulps).

Karel stepped out in the middle of the road to let me know where he was at each aid station. This  made our stops/hand-offs very efficient. He did a great job navigating the side roads (driving) to get to each aid station. He had all of my nutrition ready and I got off my bike at this stop to stretch and have a few sips of coke from a bottle. Karel refilled my hydration system on my Ventum with sport drink and I opted for a bottle of water between my aero bars as it was started to get a bit warm and I also wanted to sip on it to digest the bar that I was chewing on.

Mile 62-85 (17mph, 2083 feet)
This section was hard. I was passed by one guy and it was really nice to see another athlete on the course. At this point I was the 3^rd athlete on the course and I had a lead of over 20 minutes on the next female. One of the race favorites (Lynn B, a previous Olympian) got off course and she eventually DNF. Once I got back to the area by the lake, it was time to tackle those 8 miles of long hills once more. Then it was more long hills (most of which were over 12% grade and over .5-1 mile) to get to the town of Val-Racine. Although this was a tough section, I was still feeling good. I didn’t have any low moments and I felt like I was riding really well. I was also really enjoying the bike. I made sure to say hi to all the cows. I felt like I could hold good power up the hills and I was taking advantage of each downhill. There was a gravel section (~10 yards) in the road (road work) and a wooden bridge to cross before getting to the town to see Karel and I was a little nervous about a flat tire but all was good. I wasn’t planning to stop when I saw Karel at this aid station but I opted to stop and fill up my hydration system (instead of doing it as I was riding) and get another bottle of water.

Mile 85-101 (19.3 mph, ~991 feet)
This section went by where we were staying and I knew I was nearing the final stretch. I wanted to get as much of a gap as I could to the 2^nd place girl so I pushed this section. There was a lot of wind but I was feeling confident with my skills. It was only in the upper 60s (temp) but it was humid and I was feeling warm. I was prioritizing my liquid calories and taking a few sips of water to wash down pieces of bar or chews. I felt like I was doing a good job with my nutrition as I had peed a few times (on the bike) and I hadn’t had any low moments. It was cool to see the solo point five (half distance) athletes running on the road as I was biking. I was getting cheers from a lot of the runners. When I saw Karel at the final aid station, I tossed my water bottle and didn’t grab anything from him. I didn't want any extra weight going up the final climb. It really helped to look forward to each aid station to see Karel and he did such a great job “feeding” me.

Mile 101-111 (13 mph, ~1197 feet)
This section was very tough. Straight headwind and it was getting stronger as I got closer to the final climb and transition area. I tried to stay as aero as I could, which was tough as all I wanted to do was sit up and stretch. The nice thing was seeing some of the run course (miles 3-10) and knowing that I would have tailwind for this section. I was really happy that even with this strong wind, I didn’t have any low moments and I was feeling energized and strong (just moving slow through the wind). Throughout the entire race I kept getting cheers from other support crews and the support really helped in this final stretch. This was the only stretch of road on the course where the support crew was allowed to drive on the same stretch of road that the athletes were biking on. I saw the sign to New Hampshire (4K) and knew I was close to the final climb. The last climb was so hard. Over 18% and almost a mile in strong headwind. I knew I wouldn’t gain anything by going hard up the climb so I tried to take it easy as I slowly pedaled my way up the climb. Karel was there cheering for me and since I was the 2^nd athlete nearing the transition (one guy ahead of me got a flat tire a few miles from the finish and he was changing it on the side of the road) I also had a small group of spectators giving me a cheer to get to the top.

The end of the bike was pretty spectacular. There’s a huge cross and it’s on the top of a hill and the wind was howling. Karel had all my stuff laid out in the white tent (I wish he took a picture, it was so organized!). I changed into compression socks, changed out of my kit and into tri shorts, a clean sports bra and a tank, put on a hat, grabbed my sunglasses and put on my Naked Running belt w/ 2 flasks. I also put on my cooling towel. Karel rubbed PR lotion on my legs as I was putting on my NB Fuel Cell Running shoes. I used the port-o-potty at the transition area before starting the run. The organizers did a great job with potties all over the bike course and also put signs out any place there was a public restroom for us (or the crew) to use. I was a little nervous and a lot excited to start the run.

If you'd like to listen to my entire race recap, you can check it out here.

'23 XTRI Canadaman - Race Recap pre-race and swim

 

Pre Race
I was nervous. Very nervous. I was about to do a lot of things that I’ve never done before. Even though this was my 20th Ironman distance triathlon, the event felt very unfamiliar to me in many ways. But that is exactly why I signed up for XTRI Canadaman – do challenge myself and to do something that I’ve never done before.

Come race day morning, we had seen almost all of the race course. We either drove or biked every mile of the 112 mile course. We swam in the lake (twice) and we drove the run course. There were ~8 miles of the run that were on private land (and off-road) so we weren’t able to see those miles. The last ~8.7 miles were all off-road, on very technical (and hilly) trails. Karel did his “long” run up and down the mountain on Saturday so he was able to tell me all about miles 18-26.

We had to attend a mandatory pre-race briefing at 3pm at Centre sportif Mégantic (downtown, by the lake ~25 min drive from our Airbnb in Val-Racine. The meeting was not very informative as it was mostly in French and only provided a few pieces of info about gravel on the road in a few sections and wearing the live tracking device. I picked up my timing chip and the meeting was complete at 4pm.

I didn’t sleep too well the night before the race (which is to be expected). After a full day of carb-loading, I laid down around 6pm and tried to fall asleep around 7pm. When I finally fell asleep, I woke up around 11pm and then tossed and turned until my alarm went off at 2:15am.

We woke up to light rain (which I expected thanks to the Epic Weather app) and although it was a restless night of sleep, I woke up feeling less nervous. The day was finally here.

I had organized all my gear the day prior and Karel had everything loaded in our rental SUV. I also prepared all my nutrition the day prior and kept in the fridge in different bags and on race morning, Karel put everything in the SUV, along with his gear, nutrition and snacks for his day of supporting me. I put on my bib number tattoos in the morning after putting on my race kit.

Karel said all the right things to keep me positive and calm as we drove to the race. I ate my pre-race meal in the car around 2:55am (2 Belgium waffles topped with PB and syrup and a side of cherry yogurt) and then braided my hair. When we arrived to the race venue, parking was easy. Karel parked near the exit so that he could easily leave the race venue to make his way to the first aid station after I got on the bike. It was raining when we arrived, then it stopped, then it poured. I put my bike on the closest transition rack near the exit. With only ~80 athletes in the xtreme distance and ~100 in the solo point five (including relays – this was the half distance), the transition area was small and there was plenty of space (although somehow the racks still seemed crowded as everyone wanted to be near the exit). I had my bike gear in a bag as Karel was going to lay out my T1 gear as I was swimming. For the next 30 minutes, we hung out under a tent and listened to the pouring rain come down. I put on my wetsuit, inflated my buoy (with light inside) and grabbed my cap and goggles.

I walked down to the water edge around 4:15am and stepped in the water. It was the perfect temp – upper 60s. The air was also around 60 but it didn’t feel warm.

I lined up on the front line and at 4:30am, it was time to start the race.

                                         

Swim – 1:04.49, 3rd overall

• Roka Maverick X2 wetsuit
• Roka F2 goggles
• New Wave Swim Buoy
• White light (for inside buoy)
• Castelli Tri kit
• Compress Sport Calf Sleeves
• Born Primitive Sports Bra

The swim was a two loop swim with a short run on the beach between each loop. When I started the swim, I felt a bit of panic. My body was not comfortable with swimming in the dark and it was early so I needed to give myself time to settle into a rhythm. After a few minutes, I found myself feeling much better. I felt like the swim was slow and hard. Although the buoys had lights on them, there were also kayaks with lights. This required a lot of sighting to stay on course. Once I made my way around the two turn buoys and started to head back to the shore, it started to get a bit brighter out which made it easier to sight. I wasn’t sure where to exit the water so I needed to sight a lot as I was nearing the shore. I exited the water and jogged along the shore before getting back in the water. I felt a lot better on the 2nd loop but it still felt slow. And when I saw my time of 32 minutes after the first loop (I don’t wear a watch when I swim the full distance because I don’t want to see my swim time but I noticed my time on the official race clock) I knew this was a slow swim. I usually like to build my effort in the back half of the swim but I felt like I only had one speed. I thought I was behind the lead group of swimmers but when I exited the water and ran to my transition area, Karel told me that I was 3rd out of the water.

Karel had my transition area laid out perfectly with my shoes, helmet, socks and tracking device. He put the tracking device (which we were required to wear) in my left rear tri kit pocket and my nutrition (gu aminos in a baggie, Never Second bar and Power Bar chews in my right rear pocket). As I was swimming the 2nd loop he turned on my computer, turned on the navigation (bike race course) and turned on my front and rear light (both required).

Although it was raining on and off during the swim, it had stopped raining when I got on the bike. But that was short-lived as it started pouring within a mile of the bike.

If you'd like to listen to my entire race recap, you can check it out here. 

2022 IM Lake Placid Race Recap

 

2.4 mile swim
Marni -57:40
Karel – 1:00.28

As soon as I started swimming, the nerves went away. Since I lined up with the sub 60 min group, I found myself swimming strong right from the start. Although I breathe to both sides when I swim in the pool, I tend to favor my left side when I swim open water (and favor my right side when I swim in the pool). I didn’t need to sight much since the lake is so small and several people stay along the cable (under the water) which helps to keep everyone on course but when I did sight, I take note of the next buoy. When I breathed to my left, I would make note of the number on the buoy – counting to 9 before the first of two turn buoys. Karel tried to stay with me but he had to stay with his own effort after a few buoys. As I made the 2^nd turn buoy, it felt like I was swimming fast. I rarely found myself swimming alone and many times, I found myself in a crowd of other swimmers. As I was nearing the end of the first loop, I was looking forward to getting out of the water for the quick run on the sand before starting lap two. I like loop courses, especially when you can get out of the water. I don’t have any issues with cramping but some athletes need to be careful when getting out of the water (going from the swim position to upright) – Karel sometimes cramps when he gets out of the water quickly but thankfully he was ok for this race. I was surprised that all 2000+ athletes were already in the water when I started my 2^nd loop. I felt like I was swimming strong for the first loop so I wanted to keep that same effort. However, with slower swimmers in the water, I had a lot of athletes to pass. I try to be extra careful when passing slower swimmers so I did a lot more sighting on the second loop, which I think slowed me down a bit. The two turns were extremely chaotic that I had to swim far outside the buoys as I was getting caught between swimmers between the two buoys (about 25 yards apart). On the way back to the shore, I found myself thinking about the run. I know better to not jump ahead with my thoughts but with this being my 3^rd time racing on this course, I knew how much the run would hurt (physically) and I wasn’t sure if I was mentally prepared for that. I almost wanted to quit the race as I was nearing the end of the swim. But as I got out of the water, the energy of the spectators kept me going as I made the long run from Mirror Lake to the transition area. Karel was happy with his swim and how he felt in the water. It took Karel many years to feel comfortable swimming with a group as he would get a lot of panic in the open water, especially during races. 

Transition 1
Marni – 5:45
Karel – 4:35

As I was running to the transition area, I pulled down my wetsuit and started to put on my tri top. Even though I wasn’t wearing a one piece trisuit, I put on my tri top like it was a trisuit and zipped it up just to my belly button so that it stayed around my waist and when I pulled down my wetsuit, I could put my arms through the sleeves and zipped up the top. Karel did the same, although he had a trisuit on. I chose to not wear my tri top around my shoulders because it feels too restrictive with the wetsuit when I swim. Additionally, because the water was warm (75 degrees), I knew I would get warm with my effort while swimming and didn’t want the extra layer of clothing under the wetsuit.

As I entered the transition area, I grabbed my blue bike bag and ran into the changing tent. I took off my wetsuit and then opened my bag….only to realize it wasn’t my bag! I didn’t waste any negative energy on the situation but instead, just laughed at myself and ran back out and returned the bag and grabbed my correct bag. My athlete Kathleen was volunteering outside the women’s changing tent and she told me “Great job Marni, round 2!” It made me laugh. Inside the transition area, I was there with one or two other age group females and then 2 professional females (they started only 3 minutes before the age groupers and didn’t wear wetsuits due to the warm water temps – they have different wetsuit rules compared to age groupers). I took off my timing chip and put it in my mouth (to remind me to put it back on around my ankle) as I put on my compression socks. I then put on my Bont tri shoes, stuffed a bar and packet of chews in my pocket, put a baggie of Gu aminos in my shorts side pocket and then put on my helmet (with the shield up as it’s easier to put on that way, and the shield doesn’t fog right away). I then stuffed my wetsuit, cap and goggles inside the bag and carried the bag to my bike rack, I dropped the bag and grabbed my bike. I powered on my bike computer, ran my bike to the mount line and got on my bike. I saw my mom with Campy up on the grass field and she told me that I swam 57 minutes and I was 1^st in my age group. I was really happy with my swim time and I was looking forward to the bike. 

109 mile bike (short course due to construction)
Marni -5:24.34
Karel – 5:15.02

As I started the bike, I quickly noticed how much my bike skills have improved over the years. I was taking the turns very quickly and I passed a few girls in the early miles. I found myself around a few professional females and I was even passed by Heather Jackson (who placed 2^nd female pro) in the early miles of the bike. I didn’t have any time, power or metric goals for the bike but instead, just hit the lap button at key sections of the course (ex. Keene, Jay, Wilmington) as a way to keep me focused on one segment at a time. However, I rarely looked at my computer. My focus was on managing the terrain, always keeping someone in my sights and keeping up with my nutrition. I felt very warm on the bike (a lot of it was likely due to my hormones as I started my period around 15 hours after I finished the race) and found myself needing water from every aid station (I didn’t miss one) to pour water on my body to help keep me cool. I really enjoyed the bike, although it was hard. Even with the fun fast descend into Keene, there’s very little “recovery” on this bike course and you have to work for every mile. The early miles were hard (to be expected) and I consider these hills the hardest of the course. The climbs are long. After I made the turn in Keene to head toward Upper Jay, a guy rode up to me (as he was passing me) and told me that I was a great descender. That made me smile.

As I was approaching an aid station in Upper Jay, Karel rode up next to me. It was nice to see him and exchange a few words. I had grabbed a bottle of water from the aid station to use to cool myself and when I was finished, I handed it off to Karel to use to cool himself. Karel went on and passed me and I stayed a few bikers behind him for several miles. It was fun to feel like I was “racing” with him. As we made the turn in Jay to start the steady long climbs, Karel rode away and he was out of sight until the out and back in Haselton. The Haselton out and back section felt very windy and the climb back up to town was also a bit windy. Last year this section really got to me mentally so this time around, I tried to find the positives in the views and I told myself that I would ride strong in this section. Throughout the first loop, it felt a bit lonely as I never saw more than a handful of athletes around me. It was fun to see the female pros at the front of the race. The first few miles in Wilmington were rough. It felt like I was going nowhere. I knew that this section would be tough so I just focused on the beautiful sights and anytime I felt like I could make up speed, I quickly got aero and tried to use the momentum. As I got to the top of the bears, I didn’t even realize that I had climbed all three of those hills and I was nearing the quick out and back (and hot corner) before heading back into town. The first loop went by really quickly and I did a great job drinking my nutrition (all Skratch Super Fuel). I stopped at special needs and my mom and Campy were waiting there outside the special needs area. I told my mom it would be a great place to watch as I would be there stopped and she could actually talk to me. I grabbed my 1 liter bottle filled with Skratch SuperFuel to fill up my hydration system and then put another bottle in the cage between my aerobars. I had one more bottle filled in case I needed it but decided to pass on it. My stop at special needs was 46 seconds. Karel also stopped at special needs.
As I was stopped, my mom told me that I was 1^st or 2^nd female amateur and winning my age group. As I was pouring my drink in my hydration system, I started to feel a bit dizzy. I wasn’t too concerned but it did make me notice that I felt a bit off going from riding hard to suddenly stopping. Once I started riding again, the feeling went away.
The 2nd loop felt better than the first. The wind had shifted a bit and I felt like it was a little less windy. However, it got much warmer (in the upper 70’s) and it was very humid. I found myself riding around the same people throughout the entire ride. I took in a few aminos here and there throughout the entire ride, which I feel helps me stay focused and avoid some of the sleepiness that can happen in long distance events. Karel was really happy with how he biked. He went into the race with some back pain from the long drive and although he had a few signs of cramping in his inner thighs (from previous labral tears in his hips), he was able to manage everything and somewhat enjoy the ride. Karel used NeverSecond C90 and C30 to fuel and hydrate on the bike. He also took in a few bites of a Maurten bar. In total, I consumed around 2100 calories and Karel consumed around 2000 calories. Karel removed his power meter before the race as he didn’t want to get frustrated by any numbers. Plus since we didn’t ride our tri bikes much throughout the year, we didn’t really have any numbers to go by. We both prefer to go by feel so Karel felt free not having any power numbers to get in his head.
Throughout the entire 2^nd loop, I found myself with a bit of negative thinking. I was concerned about the run and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to suffer for the rest of the race. I even contemplating quitting. I tried to get myself into a good mindset but for some reason, my mind wasn’t as committed as my body throughout the race. Luckily, my body was on autopilot and it just kept going. Even though I was having a great race and performing so well, my mind was still trying to get me to quit. As I rode into town and removed my feet from my shoes, I dismounted my bike before the line, gave my bike to a volunteer and ran to my red run bag.

Transition 2
Marni – 3:37
Karel – 3:07

As I was running to my bag, I unzipped my tri top and it felt so good to remove the jersey off my upper body. After grabbing my bag (the correct one 😊 ) I made a stop in the potty to empty my bladder. I didn’t pee on the bike (neither did Karel) but I did have the urge to go in the transition area. It also felt really good to sit down. As I was peeing, I turned on my watch to the run setting (multitasking). I didn’t know my bike time as I didn’t look at my computer much throughout the race but in looking at the time of the day, I did some quick math and realized that I was doing really well. When I got into the women’s changing tent, I was the only athlete in the tent. I removed my helmet and put on my Naked running belt (bib number attached), put in my two 10-ounce flasks (filled with Never Second C3), grabbed a C30 gel (to hold in my hand – helps with my form), put on my New Balance Fuel Cell running shoes, wrapped my cooling towel around my neck and grabbed my visor and sunglasses to put on as I was leaving the tent. I immediately poured water on my neck as I was leaving the tent as it was in the 80’s and I was feeling warm.

26.2 mile run
Marni – 3:53.27
Karel – 3:25.26

Even though I felt like I was ready to quit, my body kept moving forward. And as I started the run, my legs felt pretty good. The first few miles are net downhill so that helped the legs loosen out after 12+ miles of climbing to finish off the bike (with almost 7000 feet elevation gain). The first mile was awesome because of all the spectators. But as I passed the horse grounds, it was only the aid stations that gave me a boost of energy. I found myself with an uncomfortable side stitch on my right side for a few miles so I had to work that out with breathing and pinching my side. I ended up putting the gel in my belt as I felt like holding the gel was affecting the stitch. Eventually, the stitch went away. I didn’t have a run/walk strategy for this marathon, even though in St. George I knew right away that I needed to walk every aid station starting from the first. I ended running 6 miles before I started my first walk at the aid station. It was so great to see my athletes Kathleen and Morgan at the turn around. They even had music playing for us with our own “theme” song. The aid station volunteers were amazing and I recognized a few familiar faces which brought a smile to my face. It was great to see Karel a few miles ahead after he made the turn around. Although the 8 miles on River Road are beautiful, it feels like those miles never end. I actually looked forward to the slight uphills to change up my running gait. I was sipping on my C30, grabbing ice and pouring it in my sports bra (and holding the cubes) and pouring water on me at every aid station. The cooling towel really helped as I could give it a squeeze to cool myself between the aid stations.

I had a few sips of coke around mile 8-10 which was a nice change from the C30 berry (which I absolutely love). I kept telling myself that all I have to do is run 13 miles and then I could quit. Of course, I didn’t come this far to only come this far so I knew I would quit but these were the mind games that I needed to tell myself to keep moving forward. Miles 10-13 were tough as you climb back into town but I enjoyed the hills much more so than the flatter sections. Once I got back into town, I loved all the cheers and energy I felt from the crowds. The out section by Mirror Lake was long and it seemed like the turn around never came. I loved seeing my mom on the climbs in town – as well as Campy. I even gave Campy a pat on his head when I saw him. Whenever I saw Karel, I would give him a cheer and he would give me slight smile.

The second loop was tough. I expected and feared this part. This run course is so hard and it really hurts. I could feel the deep fatigue and soreness and I was so ready for the pain to stop. But I still had 10 miles to go. I was stopping at most of the aid stations for ice/water and to reset my form. Oddly enough, I felt like I was holding good form when I was running but each step forward got more and more difficult. I got energy watching the other athletes ahead of me, especially the female pros. I was passed by the overall amateur female early on in the run but I was being told that I was winning my age group and I was 2^nd overall amateur. Oddly enough, even though I was having a great race, I still wanted to quit. The struggle was real and Karel was suffering too. We both really had to fight for each step forward on the run. Whereas some athletes can get easily distracted in an Ironman marathon and resort to walking and talking, I found myself needing to distract myself from the pain/soreness. I started the mind games on River Road. But despite all the soreness, I was still smiling. Every time I saw one of our athletes on the course, I gave them a big cheer. Although my mind was playing all types of games with me, my body was healthy and strong and it knew how to get me to the finish line. 

Ok – just run to the turn around. That is your finish line. Just 4 miles. I continued to walk the aid stations. Once I got to the turn around, I needed to go to the bathroom. I thought it was #2 but false alarm. Just needed to pee. It was hot in there and I was ready to get running again – even though it felt great to sit down. My next goal was to get out of River Road. Four miles. Get to mile 22 and then it’s all downhill from there (even though it’s all uphill from there). Miles 18-22 lasted forever. I would try to distract myself by looking at the water or out in nature but it didn’t last long until my mind went back to the pain in my legs. Ever foot strike forward made my legs throb. I wasn’t sure if my next step would be my last. Once I got to mile 22, I gave myself permission to walk the big hill by the ski slopes but it actually felt better to run/jog up the uphill. Plus, I told myself the more I run, the faster I’ll get to the finish line and I can make this hurt stop. As I got closer to town, I looked forward to the hills in town. The energy in town was incredible. I had cheers from so many people (as well as updates on my placement). My friend Nick and his fiancé told me that I was winning my age group and I could easily walk/jog it to the finish line and I was so relieved to hear this. I was barely hanging on. The last two miles were long. I needed to be extra careful during mile 24 as my body was running on empty. Once I made the turn around, I made sure to really soak in mile 25. Knowing that I wouldn’t be running another marathon off the bike anytime soon, I was so proud of myself for finishing this Ironman as it felt like every mile of the race was a mental and physical battle. Once I got inside the oval, my legs suddenly became light and free of soreness. That finish line feeling took over and I was so excited to reach my 19^th Ironman finish line as the 2^nd female amateur female and to win the 40-44 age group.

Our athlete Ruthanne caught me (and before me, Karel) at the finish and gave me my medal. I collapsed in her arms as it felt so good to take the weight off my legs. I hobbled my way to a chair and cooled myself off. The hotness I felt all day changed to cold as I warmed myself with a space blanket. I saw my mom and gave Campy a big hug and thanked them for being out there all day. Karel was in the medical tent (there was a sign outside the tent that said “Triathlon Royalty” 😊) enjoying some chicken broth as he came back to life after a very tough run. Karel was really disappointed with his run as he felt like his legs were not cooperating. He wore his Asics (and not Nike) so maybe it was the shoes – or just not his day. Regardless, he was 2^nd in his age group and 13^th male amateur. He was proud of effort and relieved to have reached that finish line. It was interesting that we both had such a tough run but we both fought hard to get to that finish line. I ate like a champ after the race – 4 pieces of pizza, chocolate milk, sprite and French fries.

Karel went back to the house to shower and I got my bike and bags and went back to the house to shower. Aside from some chaffing in my armpit area from running, it felt so good to get clean after 10 hours of racing. After we changed, we walked back to the venue and spent the next 5+ hours on the course, cheering on our athletes. We watched all our athletes finish and had so much fun cheering on everyone. It was so inspiring to see all the athletes fighting through their own battles to get to the finish line.

After a somewhat ok night of sleep (besides the soreness), we went to the awards ceremony at 9am the next morning. We were shocked to have received 5^th place for the TriClub award. Karel and I both received slots for the IM World Championship but we turned down our slots and let them roll down. We stayed for the roll down ceremony and it was so wonderful to see our slots get taken by other deserving athletes. We have so many great memories from Kona from our combined 9 times racing on that island and we are so happy that others can enjoy that historic race.

Thank you for the cheers, pictures, support and encouragement. We really needed the positive energy during the race – thank you thank you!

Next up……Europe to visit Karel's family, race Xterra Czech and finish off our trip with the 7-day Haute Route Alps!

2022 IMLP Race Recap - Pre-Race

On Tuesday morning, we left around 7:30am to start our long 15+ hour drive to Lake Placid, NY. My mom and her partner Alan left around the same time and we kept in touch via text/phone throughout the drive. Our goal was to drive as far as we could and then stay the night in a hotel.
The drive on day one went pretty smoothly. We didn’t encounter any traffic and only a little bit of rain. We were entertained by listening/watching the Tour de France on my phone (Peacock) for 5+ hours. I packed a cooler and two bags of food so we didn’t have to make any stops for food. We brought two frozen dinners to “cook” in the microwave at the hotel (I had a veg and grain bowl). I drove for around 3 hours and Karel drove the rest of the way. It was great having Campy with us as he’s a great travel partner (he mostly sleeps). This was Campy’s 3rd time to Lake Placid and we were excited to add more memories to his 14.5 years of life.

Around 7:30pm, we stopped driving for the day and spent the night at Embassy Suites in Parsippany NJ. The next morning, we had a good breakfast at the hotel and then hit the road for the last 4.5 hours of driving. Karel drove the entire way while I ordered ~$500 worth of groceries on Instacart for our team house. We stayed in the same house as last year (on Elm Street, ~.5 mile from the race venue) and we shared the house with 14 other people (it was a big house!). The last 45 minutes of the drive brought back a lot of memories from our last 4 trips to Placid. We still find ourselves loving the nature during the drive from Keene into the village of Lake Placid and always wowing at the Ski Jumps when we start to get close to town.

We arrived to the house around 12:30pm and the groceries were delivered just as we pulled in. Thankfully we had a big kitchen and two fridges! The athletes started to trickle in over the next few hours. It was great to see everyone as we had a packed house of spectators and athletes racing.

After we unloaded, Karel and I got on our bikes to shake out our legs from 15+ hours in the car. We rode for around 2 hours (38 miles) - down to Wilmington and then did the Haselton out and back and then back up into town. It felt great to smell the fresh air and pine trees and the views reminded us why we love this place. When we got back, my mom and Alan went for a bike ride around the lake and down to River Road and then back up the “bears.” Several of our athletes went for a jog when they arrived, and a few went for a bike ride to shake out the travel.

I made a big dinner for everyone (rice, salad, tofu, hardboiled eggs) and around 9pm we were ready for bed. Campy slept great.

On Thursday, we woke up around 6:00am and Karel slept in until around 7:00am. The weather was unusually warm for Lake Placid, which was different from the past years when we would bundle up and sit outside in the morning. We walked down to the swim start around 7:45am and met up with a few more of our athletes (we had 13 athletes racing). It was so great to be back at Mirror Lake. With flat conditions (no boats), mountain views and a cable running the length of the rectangle swim course (1.2 miles), this is one of my favorite swimming venues. The water was a bit warm this year (74-75) and it felt a bit warm in our wetsuits, especially swimming at 8am. We swam a loop of the course (29 minutes) and then headed to Bluesberry Bakery for the most delicious bakery goods. For the swim, I swam easy going out and then Karel and I waited for our athletes to get to the 2nd turn buoy and then we all swam back to shore by including a few fast strokes and then easy (ex. 10/20/30 strokes fast, then back down w/ easy between).

After we had a quick bite to eat, Karel and I started our ride with our athletes. We had our athletes ride down to Wilmington and back up and Karel and I rode with them to River Road and then we turned on River road (run course) and then headed out on the bike course by the Ski Jumps and did the start of the bike, out and back section and then to the last climb before starting the descend to Keene. We then headed back the way we came out. We tried to avoid downtown on our bikes due to the construction in town. We rode around 30 miles and then I did a 25 min run off the bike around the lake. This was a big day of training to help wake up the body for the race. We had a nice dinner (sweet potatoes, veg, chicken, tofu, salad) and watched TdF on TV.

On Friday morning, it was back to the lake for another swim. My mom took Campy for a 3 mile walk in the morning. Campy was having a great time with everyone and he was on his best behavior. For this swim, I pushed it a bit more to see what it felt like to be uncomfortable in the water to gauge how I wanted to feel for the race. I swam the loop in 28 minutes which felt uncomfortable but doable to hold that effort for 2 loops. After the swim, we had another stop at the bakery and then I went for a 22 minute run around the lake. Our athletes biked the run course. Karel went for a 38 minute run (almost 5 miles).

Friday was pretty chill. We drove to the Horse Grounds to check in for the race and got caught in a downpour. This was the typical mountain weather that we experienced on Thursday – random short showers. Thankfully we were under the tent when the downpour happened and then the sun came out. After we checked in, we went over to the athlete village to get our gear bags and then I did an interview for Ironman Tri Club as this was the TriClub North American Championship. We also received small bottles of maple syrup as tri club members – yum!

In the afternoon, I laid out my gear on my gear bags in the garage and then around 5:15pm, I took Campy for a walk around town. I met up with Kathleen and Morgan who were picking up my pizza order from Bazzi’s for our team party around 5:45pm and got a ride back with 11 delicious smelling pizzas in the car. We had all our athletes and spectators/friends/family over for our traditional pre-race pizza party and then a pre-race motivational chat and group pic. We went to bed around 9pm and tried to sleep in as late as possible. I made it to 6am, Karel slept in until 7:30am.

It was really nice having Campy with us as it kept me on a routine. Plus, he makes me so happy and I love his cuteness.

With one more sleep until race day, the focus on Saturday was to carb-load, shake the body out, and rest. However, Karel spent most of Friday and Saturday working on athlete bikes, including putting on new Tubeless tires on my bike as well as tubeless tires on another athletes bike. He was on his feet a lot.

For food on Saturday, I consumed:
-Bagel w/ PB and yogurt before a 80 min spin w/ a few short hard efforts on River Road followed by a 8 min run. Skratch during the ride and run.
-Glass of milk and 3 pieces French toast, yogurt, bananas, butter, brown sugar and granola.
-Bagel w/ butter.
-Pringles and pretzels.
-Yogurt w/ blueberries and granola.
-Amy’s No chicken chicken noodle soup (with pasta added).
-3 small sweet potatoes and tofu.
-2 brown sugar poptarts (an hour before bed).

We packed up our gear bags and rode down to the oval (transition area) around 12:30pm to check in our bikes and gear bags. With one of the coolest Ironman transition areas (and finish lines) in the Olympic Oval, I found myself nervous and excited to race. We walked back home and laid in bed (and ate) the rest of the day. We watched the PTO women’s race from Edmonton which got us excited to race on Sunday. We went to sleep around 7pm and as usual, it was a somewhat restless night of sleep before the 3:45am alarm. Campy, however, had a fantastic night of sleep!

Race Morning
After waking up at 3:45am, I had a cup of instant coffee and had my typical cinnamon raisin bagel w/ peanut butter, banana, granola and syrup. I had a little yogurt on the side and a glass of water. After eating (which felt like it took forever), I put on my race outfit, did some foam rolling and went for a short jog up and down the street to get the systems going. I was expecting to get my period on race morning but thankfully it held off until Monday (as soon as I woke up the morning after the race). Karel had his typical oatmeal concoction and espresso from his espresso travel machine.
I gave Campy a big kiss and said good-bye to my mom. When she spectates, she has a piece of paper with our predicted times (give or take a few minutes) as well as my suggestions for where to stand for each portion of the race. We left the house around 4:50am and walked to the Oval.

I felt very nervous. Even after 18 Ironmans, I know that the Ironman is a long day and it requires so much mental energy. Plus, having raced her twice before (and just last year), I knew how much this race would hurt. In my opinion, this is one of the hardest race courses (bike and run) as you have to work for every movement forward. There’s very little “free speed” to rest or make up time on the course. Plus, with it being warmer (in the mid 80’s for a high on race day) and no rain predicted on race day, alongside the wind, this race course is very challenging. The good thing is that I was sharing this course with our athletes and we were all racked next to one another. I felt a lot of good energy from them. Plus, we had 5 of our athletes volunteering on the course, which was awesome to see them throughout the day.

After putting our frozen flasks in our run bags and then our nutrition on our bike (fluids), Karel pumped up our tires with his electric pump and then we walked to the swim start. We needed to go to the bathroom again but with the lines being long, around 5:30am Karel and I decided to jog back to the house to use the restroom – which meant one more kiss for campy. We then jogged back just before 6am. For some reason the morning clothes bags were left by our bike and run bags but thankfully, our athletes who were not racing held on to our morning clothes bags so we didn’t have to walk back and forth after changing into our wetsuits.

After putting on our wetsuits, we went into the water for a warm-up swim. It felt good to be in the water (75 degrees, air temp was upper 60’s) to shake out some of the pre-race nerves. I found myself in a really weird mental space as I wasn’t overly excited to race. I think I was most nervous for how much  this race would hurt physically and I wasn’t sure if I was prepared to suffer. I was most worried about the marathon as I knew how hard it would be.  I found myself feeling waves of emotions as I stood in the corral before the start. I knew this was my last Ironman for a while which made me want to put together a good race but I couldn’t shake the feeling of how much the run would hurt. I found Karel in the sub 60 area near the front of the swim corral and I told him that I was nervous. He told me I have nothing to be nervous about and that I would have a great day. After the pros went off at 6:25 and 6:27, it was time for the age groupers to start rolling in at 6:30am. Shortly after the race start, I lined up just ahead of Karel and with the sound of the beep, I ran into the water to start my 19^th Ironman.  

2022 Ironman Lake Placid - Quick Recap

In 2012, Karel was ready to try a long distance triathlon. After only being in the sport for a few months, he was looking ahead to 2013 to participate in his first Ironman. Although we were living in pancake flat Jacksonville, FL., Karel wanted a challenging course for his first Ironman. After doing a bit of research, we decided on Ironman Lake Placid in upstate NY. 

Since our first Ironman together in Lake Placid in 2013, we have returned to the area four more times. We fell in love with Lake Placid so much that we decided that we needed to move away from the beach, and closer to the mountains. Thus, our move to Greenville, SC in May 2014. We also realized that we love challenging and beautiful courses. Some of our favorite courses include Wisconsin, Whistler, Austria and St. George. 

In 2015, Karel tore his plantar a few weeks prior to Ironman Lake Placid and intentionally DNF (did not finish) after the bike. In 2017, we returned again for Karel to race, but he had the flu on race week. Somehow, Karel was able to fight through his sickness and get to the finish line (and then the medical tent immediately after). He got a slot to Kona but he let it rolldown. Finally, for redemption, we returned back in 2021 for us both to race......but unfortunantly Karel broke his hand mountain biking two months before the race so he was unable to race. 

And then came 2022. Our fifth attempt on this beautiful and challenging course.
While we were both excited to return to Lake Placid for the Ironman, our focus for training and racing slightly shifted over the past year. 

In a week, we head off to Europe for a month of travel and racing. We are so excited to check off two firsts….my first Xterra race (and Karel's first European Xterra) in Czech Republic and then a week later, we start the 7-day Haute Route Alps (492 miles of cycling, 69881 feet total elevation gain, ~11,154 elevation gain per stage). We registered for the Haute Route in November of 2019 and due to the pandemic, three years later we finally get to check off this bucket list event. 

Training for an Ironman while also preparing for an off-road triathlon and a 7-day mountainous cycling event forced us to think outside of the box with our training - especially since we were training for events on three different bikes. And since we had three races in 29 days in May (Ironman St. George, IM 70.3 Chattanooga and IM 70.3 Blue Ridge - plus Karel did an 8-hour mountain bike event a week before Ironman St. George) - something that we had never done before - we knew that we couldn't stick with conventional Ironman training. We spent a lot of time on our mountain bikes and road bikes and very little time on our triathlon bikes this year. We "played" outside a lot. We swam, we biked and we ran but the training looked very different to what we had done in years past in preparation for an Ironman. But the one thing that kept us enjoying triathlon racing this season was not specifically training for any one triathlon event. We found joy in training and it was exactly what we needed to keep us enjoying the journey to one last Ironman event. Going into Ironman Lake Placid with a great amount of endurance, strength and resiliency and a lot of prior race experience, we were able to put together one last successful day of racing. I won my age group (40-44) and finished 2nd overall amateur female and Karel was 2nd in his age group and 13th overall amateur male. We both received a slot to the 2022 Ironman World Championship, but let it roll down to another deserving athlete for their chance to participate on the Big Island. 

After a combined 35 Ironman triathlons, we decided that now is a great time to put a bookmark in our Ironman training and racing chapter. We will revisit this Ironman chapter again but moving forward, we are excited to turn the page and start a new chapter in our athletic journey. We love triathlon and will not stop swimming, biking and running. But just like we did for Ironman St. George and Ironman Lake Placid, we will take an unconventional approach to triathlon training to help us prepare for new adventures and extreme/ultra-endurance events. 

Race report coming soon......

IM World Championship St. George - 26.2 mile run recap

 

GEAR
Karel: Shoes Nike Alphaflys, SL-1x Roka Sunglasses
Marni: Shoes New Balance FuelCell, Perfect cooling towel, SL-1x Roka Sunglasses
(Shoes from Run In)

NUTRITION
Karel: 10-ounce Nathan flask filled with NeverSecond C30 (Citrus) stored in kit pocket, carried packets of precision hydration 1500 and had 3 maurten gels (2 non-caffeine and 1 caffeine). Water/ice at aid stations. One sip of coke.
Marni: 2 x 10 ounce flasks filled with NeverSecond C30 (Forest Berry), carried packets of C30 and NBS but didn’t refill. Sipped coke at aid stations throughout as needed + water/ice. Naked Running band. Nathan 10 ounce flasks. 

 

I knew the first two miles would be uncomfortable because I've raced on this course 3 times (70.3 distance). The first few miles are on a long slight gradual uphill. It's never fun running uphill to start a run but then again, we live on the bottom of a hill so we are accustomed to starting every brick run on a hill. Mentally, Karel and I both appreciated that we didn't have to take the running path all the way to Red Hills Pkwy (like in the 70.3) but instead, we went under a tunnel to the other side of the road and this really helped break things up. In feeling the hot temp (low 90s) on the bike - along with the sunny sky and wind, I made the decision in the first few minutes of the run that I would walk the aid stations starting with the first aid station. I don't see walking as failing to run but an intentional strategy to help delay fatigue (and other factors that can limit performance). I knew that this would be the best strategy for me to help me avoid a massive slowdown. My run fitness was good and I was healthy but I knew that I wouldn’t be running anything fast on this day. I didn't have any time goals going into this race but I was realistic with myself that my current run fitness was around a 3:45-3:50 marathon. I prepared myself the best that I could but it takes me a while to get faster (and more confident) with my running and I usually peak with my marathon running in the mid to later summer. I didn't want to rush my marathon preparation to try to get faster and then risk injury. Instead, I focused on getting as strong as I could over the winter and spring with trail running, a lot of hill running and running off the bike. I was ok knowing that I wasn't fast relative to the other top ladies but I felt confident that I could put together a steady run. I was a little nervous about my stomach since I was on the 2nd day of my menstrual cycle but thankfully by gut was fine.  

With a long and exciting season of racing, this year is all about staying healthy and strong. My run fitness was what it was on race day – I never tried to force anything with each workout to try to get faster. I just let my body adapt as it wanted. Because of how I felt on the bike, I knew my number one goal needed to be to keep myself from getting too hot - as that would affect my form, effort and increase the risk for GI issues. Throughout the entire run, I never once looked at my watch during the run – it made no point to me to see my pace as I had more important things to focus on like taking care of my nutrition and cooling. There was so much freedom in not knowing my swim or bike time or run pace until I crossed the finish line. Ironman racing is all about listening to the body, reacting quickly and being proactive. Here's the file of my run (walking only at the aid stations). 

I loved this run course because there was so much to it – so many ups, downs, turns, out and backs and spectators. It was the perfect course for me to mentally breakdown and focus on one mile at a time. Although this wasn’t a fast marathon for me, I think it was one of my best paced marathons as I never had a massive slow down or low moments. I had a few quiet voices in my head like “you still have 13 more miles, how are you going to do this?” or “wouldn’t it be nice to just walk a bit longer.” But those voices were really quiet on the day and I could push them aside and stay focused on the task at hand. I was actually enjoying the run and my mind was working well with my body. 

Karel didn't have the best run preparation going into this event. First off, he was enjoying mountain biking way too much and he wasn't putting in the miles for this event. Additionally, twice over six months Karel had a knee issue (falling while playing in the woods on his mountain bike) that prevented him from running for several weeks at a time. He didn't run for 3 weeks in March and his longest run was 13 miles in April. However, the resiliency, endurance, efficiency and fitness that he has established over many years was there on race day and he felt really good on the run. He didn’t feel fast but he felt strong and durable. He also didn’t have any low moments like “why in the heck am I doing this?"  which tends to pop up a few times in most Ironman events we do. I saw Karel twice and he gave me a cheer both times. Karel also included walks (reset breaks) in his run (19 of them) to either refill his flasks with water (he would pour the packet of sport drink in his flask as he was running and then stop to refill at the aid station) or he would walk when he felt like he needed a reset. 

Here's the file of Karel's run. 

I saw a lot of other familiar faces out there which really kept my energy levels up. I held on to ice from each aid station (stuffed it down my sports bra as well) and my cooling towel really helped to keep me wet. I could squeeze the towel anytime and I instantly felt refreshed (until I dried off due to the 90 degree dry heat). I new that the heat would be the big factor so I kept the nutrition coming in (in small amounts at each aid station) and then a sip from my flasks as needed as well. I didn't feel that more nutrition would help me run any faster but instead, I needed to keep my blood sugar up to keep my brain communicating with my muscles. I also knew that more nutrition would not stop the hurt (fatigue) in my legs. I have never cramped in a race or training session and I am not a big sweater (or a salty sweater) so I wasn't overly concerned about sodium - however I did have a vial of salt in my hydration pack incase I needed a lick of it. I relied on my flasks (sport drink) in my hydration belt for those instant low moments when I feel my blood sugar dropping but otherwise. It's nice knowing that I can drink when I want to drink. It's also easy to sip my flasks on downhills. I always washed down coke or my sport drink with water when I was at the aid stations. I felt like every time I drank (coke, water, sport drink), it was digesting easily in my gut and my gut was still working well. This was a great sign that my body was functioning well. I didn't have any GI issues or serious low moments. I was passed by several girls but I didn’t let it affect my race or get in my head. I was focused on me and what I needed to do to safely and successfully get to the finish line. Although I was feeling the effects of the day, my body continued to work for me from start to finish. I never had the familiar IM run feeling of wondering if my next step would be my last step from extreme soreness, fatigue and depletion. 

As I was nearing the final big hill, I gave myself permission to walk it but my legs were feeling somewhat good so I shuffled my way up. It was windy throughout the run which made some of the inclines feel a bit harder. I saw a girl in my age group - Kristen - running really well as we passed each other on one of the out and backs so I anticipated that she would be passing me soon. I never gave up on myself (even though I wasn't sure where I was in my age group) as I know anything can happen in the last 6-10 miles of the marathon in an Ironman. She passed me on the path back to Diagonal and shortly after I see Tim Don (professional triathlete and Zwift Coach) on the side and he tells me “You are 5^th age group, you are doing great.” I couldn’t believe it. 5th place???!!

I kinda thought I was near the top of my age group but had no idea that I had a chance to be on the podium (for the first time) at the Ironman World Championship. At this point (mile 23), I stopped my walk breaks and just committed to giving it my everything to the finish line. I was so worried that I was going to be passed and be knocked off the podium so when I made the last turn on the looooong out and back (almost a mile) before the finish line, I finally got a look to see who was behind me and I was relieved that I didn’t see any females. I still pressed on to the finish and smiled with joy (and relief) when I reached that finish line. There's something special about an Ironman finish line - no matter what you went through during the event, the finish line makes it all worth it. 

26.2 mile run (~1500 feet elevation gain)
Marni: 3:57.17, 5th AG 
Karel: 3:20.35, 11th AG

Total time: 
Marni: 10:53.16
Karel: 9:58.48

I collapsed into the arms of a volunteer (it felt so good to stop moving) and Karel was there at the finish waiting for me. He walked over to me and told me that I was 5^th in my age group. I couldn’t believe it (I had to check the tracker at least a dozen times in the evening just to make sure it wasn't a mistake). A day when I had no expectations and I went into the race with my most unconventional training for an Ironman. Wow - I was 5^th in my age group.

The volunteers were exceptional and the community really welcomed us with excitement and hospitality. There are certain courses that suit my physiology (I like hard courses with tough weather conditions) and this one certainly suited my strengths with the hills and elements. But I learned during this race that this race also suited my psychology. I need a lot of stimulation when I race. I am not an athlete with a mindset that likes to just settle into one rhythm and be alone out there. I love being out in nature – seeing the incredible landscapes. I love when the race day elements give me an edge and I can be strong, skilled and smart (not "fast"). I love seeing farm animals when I ride. I need to see people walking their dogs so I can smile at every dog. These are the things that help me race at my best.

Kona may have suited my physiology, but it didn’t suit my psychology.
St. George was the perfect Ironman course for me. I loved every mile of it. 

After the race, Karel and I shared stories from our day while snacking on some salty french fries. We didn't leave right away because Karel had his typical bout of post-race nausea that happens to him after every Ironman. Since it was almost an hour after he finished and then I finished, I think all sitting and standing got to him. Medical came over to him and told him that he "looks ok - I've seen worse today." Truthfully, the area after the finish line was interesting - I've never seen so many athletes vomiting after a race. I was sore and exhausted but overall, I felt ok and didn't have any issues. I was able to pee after the race (a good sign of hydration) and had a somewhat good appetite. I changed into my post race clothes in the port-o-potty and then as we were heading back home, Karel decided that he needed a sub from Jimmy Johns. 

The night of an Ironman is always rough. We slept about 3 hours (~11pm - 2pm) and then we had another two hours of tossing and turning before we finally got up. We started to watch the coverage of the race from Ironman Now which was good entertainment for us and our post race insomnia. 

After cleaning up our mess of race day gear in the garage, we went to the local pool to sit in the hot tub with our friends Sara and Lisa. Thankfully no major post race chaffing! IYKYK. 

We said good bye to our Czech roommates and then we drove to the town for the awards ceremony. 

It was such an honor to stand on the Ironman World Championship podium in my new age group (40-44). I'm still in denial that I will be turning 40 at the end of the month but I'm incredibly grateful for what my body has allowed me to do over the past 16 years in endurance sports. 

In Kona for the World Championship, the top 5 athletes on the podium receive an Umeke - which is the Hawaiian word for bowl. For the St. George edition, we received a handmade glass bowl. Thankfully it returned home with us in one piece! 

For the next day in a half (Mon afternoon and Tues), we were in need of some good sleep but we also wanted to move our body to help shake out some of the race soreness. With a lap pool in our community, a swim was on my mind on Monday morning. And to our surprise, the Ironman World Champion - Daniela Ryf was there swimming! We talked with her for a brief minute and she told us "it's not about the wins but the process." The words of a 10x World Championship winner could not be more true! 

Thank you for the support and for reading my blogs. I hope you gained some valuable information or at least, a bit of motivation or inspiration for your next adventure. Don't forget to thank your body for being awesome. 

IM World Championship St. George - 112 mile bike recap

 

112 mile bike (~7200 feet elevation gain)
Marni - 5:45.38, 2nd fastest AG time
Karel - 5:28.50, 19th AG

GEAR
Bikes: Ventum 
Karel – Lightweight autobahn disc, Alto CT 58 front, Bont 0H+ cycling shoes. Crank 165 (54/39 chainrings), Rudy Project Nytron road aero helmet.
Marni – Boyd 60/90 tubeless with Schwalbe Pro one TT tires. Crank: 155 (53/39 chainrings), Endura D2Z Helmet Aeroswitch, Bont Riot TR+ tri shoes.

NUTRITION:
Karel – Started with: 1 bottle + 1.5 liters worth, each with NeverSecond C90 (360 calories). Picked up at special needs: 1.5 liters in a Smart Water Bottle of NBS Strawberry Lemonade Carbo-hydration (~400 calories for hydration system) and a bottle of NBS. Consumed 1 Supra bar (nibbled throughout). Water at each aid station for sipping and cooling.
Total calories: ~1900
Total hydration: 152 ounces + water from aid stations

Marni – Started with 1.2 liters + 2 bottles worth, each with Skratch Superfuel Raspberry (400 calories). Picked up at special needs: 1.2 liters in a Smart Water Bottle of Skratch Superfuel Raspberry (600 calories) for hydration system and a bottle of Skratch Superfuel for front aero bottle and a bottle of 200 calories NBS Carbohydration lemon for rear bottle (last bottle).
Total calories: ~2600
Total hydration: 184 ounces + water from aid stations

When I started the bike, I felt pretty good. The nerves went away once I started swimming and the familiarity of racing an Ironman started to come back. Having experience on this course helped as I knew what the conditions (hot and dry air and windy) and terrain (long climbs) would be like.

I stayed pretty conservative starting out as I wanted to arrive to the Veyo loop (after mile 56) feeling strong. I really liked how the course was broken down as I could focus on one segment at a time. I hit lap on my computer for each specific segment on the course, even though I was not focusing on any metrics. It just helped me focus on staying in the moment and feeling out each effort for each segment and checking in with my metrics as needed. My fueling strategy was pretty simple - take ~6 gulps from my hydration system every ~10-15 minutes and grab water from all aid stations to use for cooling/sipping.

Although we do a lot of punchy climbs where we live, my strength is the steady climbs. We have a lot of 20-40+ min steady climbs where we live and those are the type of climbs where I can just settle into a rhythm. For St. George, the longer climbs were very similar to what I train on outside in Greenville and what best suits my riding style as I can sit and get out of the saddle. I don’t feel as strong in the aero position.

My descending and bike handling skills have really improved over the past few years but more so, over the past few months thanks to mountain biking and gravel biking. The first half of the bike wasn’t too windy although it started to pick up as I got closer to Sand Hallow. Overall, the course isn't technical but the wind requires good bike handling skills. 

Because I was lapping my computer, I didn’t know what my time was throughout the ride. Because I didn't want to make assumptions if I was having a "good or bad" race on the bike, I just focused on one segment at a time. I feel like I did a really good pacing the first half as the miles went by really quickly.

It started to get really warm around mile 30-35 and I could feel myself getting hotter. This was my big focus for the race - to ride strong but not overdo it on the bike. 

Every now and then on the course, I would do a check-in with myself:
Am I peeing? Yep - hydrated.
How do my legs feel? Strong - fueled.
Am I staying relaxed in my upper body?
How is my mindset?

I kept checking yes each time I checked in.
The only thing that was concerning (but not alarming) was that I felt tired/sleepy a few times but I didn’t let this worry me – I was just hot because it was nearing 80 degrees and it was sunny. Plus, I did wake up at 3am and I was riding my bike for 112 miles in 80+ degree desert heat (thus being a little tired at times).

I made sure to drench myself with water at each aid station – even though the water would rapidly dry within a few minutes. My sports bra was holding on to a little water which helped me keep my chest cool. Karel and I both wore the lightest helmets we had as we didn’t want the extra weight (or heat) of a heavy and ventless aero helmet affecting our head for this difficult course.

I’ve done a lot of challenging courses (Placid, Wisconsin, Whistler, Austria) and this ranks at the top of the list due to where the big climbs occur – in the back half. But I would say that the nature of this course, with the longer climbs (no punchy short climbs) minimized spikes in the HR as you could settle into a rhythm on the hills and then take advantage of the downhill without needing to recover from a punchy effort. Although this course wasn't flat, there were plenty of long segments to stay in aero. I felt the best when I could get into a rhythm on the climbs and then take advantage of the downhills.

Although I didn't have any expectations for this race, I  wanted to deliver my best result on the day. To do that, I resisted the urge to go with other girls as they passed me. There were times when I would catch back up to someone on an uphill or downhill but the steady state efforts were challenging for me as I didn't have the power like the other girls. And I was ok with that.

I enjoyed the kudos from the other guys on the course who were telling me that I was the 1st, 2nd or 3rd female on the course. The overall energy was really positive and the community really came out to support all of the athletes. Seeing that this bike course covers four different towns in and around St. George, there was a lot that went into this race with volunteers, police, medical and community support. I felt very safe and supported on the course. 

I made a quick stop at special needs and it felt nice to get off my bike and do a quick stretch. I was looking forward to the stop as a quick reset. My stop was less than 60 seconds but it felt so good. A volunteer called out my number and before I rolled up to my row of bib numbers, a volunteer was standing there with my bag. I grabbed my Smart Water Bottle to fill up my hydration system and placed the other two bottles in my front and rear cages.

Karel also stopped at special needs and applied Amp to his legs (he did this in past mountain bike races and it really helped his legs from feeling sore/tight). We always look forward to the special needs stop as it is a nice opportunity to shake off the first half of the bike and refresh for the next half. Plus, since we use our own nutrition, it allows us to be self-sufficient for the entire bike. 

Since we rode Veyo loop on Tuesday, it felt familiar. I couldn't believe how quickly the miles were ticking by. This was a good sign that I was pacing well as my mind was in a good place - I wanted to be on my bike. I was actually thinking as I was swimming "I can't wait to ride my bike on this course!"

After special needs, I told myself “just 20 miles until the descend.” I had a few more ladies passing me in the Veyo loop but I was racing my own race. I stayed focused on taking care of myself. Because I was checking off all the things on my list (peeing, mindset, legs, etc.), my biggest limiter was the heat – I was feeling really hot. I do love the heat but with this being my first race of the season, I knew my body wasn't ready for the hot dry temps. According to my Garmin, the majority of the ride was in the 90's. 

I needed to be careful to not overdo it on the “wall” and in Snow Canyon. The wall wasn't a tough climb (a little more than 1/2 mile and a gain of around 250 feet) but at almost 4 hours into the ride, it felt steeper than what it was. 

In studying the wind direction before the race, I knew that we wouldn't be impacted by the wind in the Veyo loop but that we would have some cross and headwind on the descend. After the "wall" there was still 6.5 miles of gradual climbing until the descend.

Once I got to mile 80, I started the long 11 mile descend – which didn’t really feel like a descend as I had to work with the wind. It took me 25 minutes (27.6 mph average) to cover this descend. I am always a bit nervous in the wind but I’m happy to report that I felt really confident and relaxed descending. I made sure to double drench myself before the Snow Canyon climb. I had planned to keep a bottle of water in my empty cage on my bike but I was worried it would fall out and I would get a penalty for littering. I regret not keeping a bottle of water on my bike as I wasn't staying wet from aid station to aid station. Just before Snow Canyon (mile 97) I had finished all of my Skratch drink so I sipped on my last bottle which was NBS (higher sodium and less calories/carbs) over the last 14 miles (~47 minutes). The wind was not too bad in Snow Canyon which made it a bit “easier” to climb the almost 5 miles (~26 minutes). Snow Canyon is absolutely stunning and even though the fatigue was starting to really set in, I kept reminding myself how lucky I am to be on my bike in this race.   

Once I made the right hand turn to head back down the descend, the wind was picking up a bit more. Since I had just descended on this road, I felt confident that I could handle the wind and still ride strong to town. It was a fast 9ish mile/26.9 mph average to the transition area. 

As I was descending, the negative thoughts started to creep into my mind. Since my strengths are swim/bike, I started to question how I would run off the bike (something I do in every Ironman). But once I started to see the pro athletes and male age groupers on the course as I was getting closer to the transition area I told myself “well if they can do it, I can do it.”

Karel, surprisingly, felt good on his tri bike. He has struggled with hip and back issues for several years and he can't spend a lot of time on the tri bike because of those issues. But he made some recent adjustments to his fit and spent a lot more time on the mountain bike, gravel bike and road bike. I think all the different biking (different position and riding style) transferred over well for him as he felt strong all day. He doesn't love the tri bike but it does allow him to do triathlons - which he enjoys. He knows he won’t be fast on the tri bike as he doesn’t put in the time in the aero position but he knew he could use his skills on this course and he trusted his experience and endurance. Like myself, he really enjoyed this challenging course and how the miles went by so quickly due to so many different parts to focus on.

As I removed my feet from my shoes, I dismounted my bike and gave my bike to a volunteer. My legs felt pretty good getting off the bike (In Placid last July, my legs did not feel good!). I sat down in the changing tent and I had two nice volunteers helping me out. I asked them to put ice water in my flasks (filled with powder only) which saved me some time as I put on my shoes, hydration band and cooling towel. I grabbed my hat, sunglasses and watch and made my way out of the changing tent (walking). I went to the port-o-potty as I like to empty myself before I start running the marathon and the potties in the transition area are never busy when I am there (they get much more busy on the course). I put on my hat, sunglasses and watch in the port-o-potty and kinda enjoyed briefly sitting down. My T2 was a bit long (5:02 for me, 3:30 for Karel) because of the stop but it was worth it to not have to worry about needing the bathroom on the course.  There was an aid station immediately next to the changing tent so I dumped water on my cooling towel and had a few sips as I was making my way out of the transition area. Unlike T1, this transition area was rather small and easy to get in and out.

Usually when I start running in an Ironman, there's a quick thought of "oh this will be a hard run" because my legs are tired. But oddly, that thought didn't go through my mind. It was as if my legs were ready to run and my mind was ready (and willing) to power them over 26.2 miles. 

Run race report coming soon......

IM World Championship St. George - Pre-Race Recap

On Thursday morning, we headed back to the lake for another opportunity to get more comfortable in the cold water. Whereas the water temp was around 58 degrees on Wednesday, it “warmed” up to 60 degrees on Thursday. We arrived around 8am and there was a line to get in the water (pick up a timing chip before entering) but it moved pretty quickly. I wanted to try swimming without my booties (I wore them on Wed) to see if I could tolerate the cold water on my feet. I feel better swimming without the booties but I also wanted to feel comfortable. Karel opted to wear his booties as his feet do not do well in cold water. It took me several minutes to get in as it felt like my feet were being chopped off from the cold water but eventually I just committed and started swimming. Although my face, feet and hands felt very cold to start, I felt more comfortable after around 300 yards. I swam two loops of the modified swim course (~900 yards per loop) and not only did I swim faster without the booties (1:25/100 yards on Thurs vs. 1:29/100 yards on Wed) but I also felt really good in the water. I also wore my one piece tri suit but wore it down at my waist instead of over my shoulders and I felt so much better with my shoulder mobility in the wetsuit with the kit down. I made the decision that I wouldn’t wear booties on race day and I would wear my one piece kit half way down for the swim under my wetsuit. Karel decided he would wear his on race day. After the 26 min, ~1800 yard swim, we changed into our bike gear and went for a 57 min/18 mile ride on the out and back section (to Warner Valley road) by the lake. This was the last part of the entire course that we hadn’t previewed yet so when we were done, it was nice to know that we had ridden every part of the bike course (factoring in the 3-4 times we have raced the 70.3 in the past few years).

Throughout the week, I wasn’t feeling all that great. My energy level was a bit low, I was feeling bloated and I was really tired. My period was a few days late which was unusual since it is pretty routine every 25-26 days. On Thursday early evening, my period came. On one hand I was relieved but on the other hand, I knew that Friday would be rough.

On Friday morning, I woke up with cramps. For the rest of the day, I was miserable. It felt like a little alien was inside me, grabbing my intestines and twisting them around (that’s what I like to tell Karel every month 😊 ). The cramps would come and go and when they were on, it was rough. I went out for my warm-up spin and the exercise certainly helped. I then went for a short run. Around my menstrual cycle, I have the typical PMS symptoms but I have to be extra careful with running. My SI joint gets out of whack, my body feels all gumby and I really struggle with running. Normally I wouldn’t run on the first day of my period but I knew I needed to get in a light jog – it went ok.

After my 60-minute bike/run workout, I had a Skratch recovery drink w/ milk and a decent breakfast. Prior to the workout I had a bagel + PB, granola and syrup.

We packed up our transition bags and then headed downtown to drop off our run bags in T2 and then went to the lake to drop off our bike bag and bike in T1. We stayed in Washington, which is about ½ way from downtown and the lake. The downtown area was all dressed up, ready for the race. It was neat to see how it all came together. The transition area was inside a big tent which was cool to see. Karel and I did not fill our running flasks with water but instead, filled them with powder knowing that they would sit out all night and we could fill them up with cold water before we started the run on Saturday.

The experience dropping off our bikes at the lake was pretty uneventful. It was a bit anticlimactic compared to the experience in Kona but it was still exciting knowing that we only had one more sleep until the race. The more I was moving, the better my body felt but I still felt pretty crappy. I knew that I needed to eat to fuel my body and although I didn’t feel the best, I needed to fuel for my tomorrow effort and not think about how I felt today.

After we dropped off everything, we made a quick stop at Walmart to pick up a few things (ex. soup) and then headed back to our Airbnb. I snacked on pretzels in the car and sipped on Skratch. I had two cups of peppermint tea (which seemed to help my tummy) and ate tomato soup w/ rice, a bagel w/ peanut butter and jam, a yogurt, a large sweet potato and granola. Considering how I felt, I was happy with how I fueled on Friday. Instead of using pre-load for extra sodium, I just added ¼ tsp salt to water and had a glass of “salt water” in the evening. I haven’t had the best experience with pre-loading with sodium before a race (it makes me feel weird) so I just salted my food and sipped on a sport drink throughout the day – and finished with my salty water.

Around 6pm, we started to wind down for the evening. I could feel the nerves in my belly (or maybe it was cramps – not sure 😉
Karel was not nervous and I really liked his calm energy. I always get nervous for the first race of the season and with this being an Ironman, I had double the nerves. You’d think after 17 Ironman’s I wouldn’t get so nervous but I still get the nerves about what the day will bring me for 140.6 miles.

I watched the run and bike course videos a few times before bed to visualize the course and aid stations. I watched some funny shows on Netflix and by 7:30pm we were falling asleep. I slept ok for most of the night but then I tossed and turned for at least an hour before the alarm went off at 3:10am. It’s Race day!

RACE DAY
I took my time getting out of bed (due to my past experience with race morning fainting) and I made my coffee and ate a cinnamon raisin bagel w/ peanut butter, syrup and granola. I also made 2 eggs (1 white+1 whole) as this was something that I did before a mountain bike race in late March and I liked how it made me feel before and during the race. I also had a glass of salty water. After I ate I put on my race kit and then around 3:45am, I went for a quick jog around the complex. That got my system going before we left around 4:15am to catch the shuttle downtown. We grabbed our pre-made bottles from the fridge (we opted not to freeze them as we didn’t think it would make much difference with the heat). We had a house full of Czech’s racing and spectating so it was nice to have someone drop us off downtown so that we didn’t have to stress about parking.

We arrived downtown around 4:40am which was right around my scheduled shuttle time of 4:45-4:55am. Since Karel was in the wave ahead of me, his shuttle time was around my time so it worked out perfect.

I wore my headphones on the shuttle for the ~30 min drive to the lake and listened to the recent episode of the Pro Tri News Podcast. It helped ease some of my nerves. I was a bit tired and looked forward to the extra time that we had in the transition area before our start (we arrived 2 hours before our wave start). It felt a bit warm in the morning so I didn’t wear a long sleeve shirt or jacket but when we got to the lake, it felt a bit cool so I grabbed a towel that Karel had in his morning clothes bag to wrap around my shoulders (I had a tank on over my sports bra. I wore my one piece trisuit but kept the top down for the swim).

I put my front and rear water bottles on my bike and filled up the hydration system (1.2 liters) with a big Smart Water bottle of my sport drink. I placed my computer on the bike, checked the brakes and wheels and waited for Karel to pump up my tires. Karel bought a cordless air compressor which makes it easy to pump up our tires and have the correct air pressure in them. It’s also compact enough to put in our morning clothes bag (unlike a regular pump). Karel attached a disc wheel adapter to it so it would be easy to pump up his disc wheel as well as my wheels.

After we got everything done at our bikes, we made a potty stop and then spent the next hour (from 6-6:45am) laying down by the barricades and resting our eyes. I had a nice nap – not deep sleep but enough to feel rested and ready to go. It also gave me time to get my butterflies into formation. Around 6:45am, Karel started to put on his wetsuit, apply AMP on his arms and legs, slather on the body glide and put on his cap and goggles. I gave him a kiss and a hug and then he went off to get in his corral with his wave. Around 7am, I started to get myself ready in my wetsuit. I dropped off my morning clothes bag (filled with clothing for post race and my morning running shoes) and lined up with my wave. It was strange lining up in the 40-44 age group for the first time (I’m still 39 but I have to race my age for this year). I had a water bottle filled with skratch to sip on over the next 30 minutes and a bag of honey stinger chews to nibble on (I had a few of them). I also had a plain bottle of water to pour down my wetsuit to get some water inside before I got into the water to ensure that the wetsuit didn’t feel to tight on my chest.

My wave was the first female wave of the race. There was supposed to be a 15 min gap between the last male wave (Karel’s wave) and the first female wave (my wave) but they moved it up to get everyone in the water sooner. I lined myself up toward the front of the wave. The time passed by really quickly and before I knew it, we were lining up by the water, ready to get the race started.

We lined up in a row of 10, each in our own spot with a volunteer in front of us. When we heard a beep, it was time to get into the water.

BEEP!

IM Lake Placid RR - 112 mile bike + T2

As I made my way through town, my first focus was to safely get out of town. The first few miles are a bit technical and with the wet roads and rain, I didn’t want my day to be over in the first few miles of the bike. Once I made my way to the first big climb passed the ski jumps, I felt like I could start settling into a good routine. 

The few miles before the Keene decent are very challenging as there are a few climbs that seem to roll but you never get enough momentum on the back of one hill to carry it to the next hill. So it really is a steady climb over several hills that makes it feel like one long climb. I enjoyed the out and back section into the Olympic cross country ski area as it was nice to break things up and see the other athletes in the other direction.

I found myself around a few female professionals and only noticed a few age group riders ahead of me. I knew there was a lot left in the ride/race so I just focused on riding my own race but also using those around me for motivation. There was a female official passing me several times throughout the race – officiating in front of me and behind me so I saw her often throughout the race. Even though I use the other riders for motivation, I made sure to draft legally and to not get too close on the wheel ahead of me. This only applied to the section from Keene to Jay as I spent much of the rest of the first loop by myself.

I made sure to keep up with my nutrition, which is the same that I have practiced in my last few long brick workouts. I recently changed things up starting with the Skratch hyperhydration to front load calories a bit at the start of the ride. Although I didn’t need any Tums, I found myself getting a bit sleepy on the first loop so I was glad that I had the Gu Aminos to give my brain a bit of a boost. Although the light rain was nice to keep me comfortable, the sun came out and it really warmed up. I made not of a the beautiful sun rising from the clouds as I was making my way down the Keene decent. It made me feel like I was in a training ride as the beauty around me was just taking my breath away.

The Keene decent was fun and I was able to really take advantage of that free speed. The scenery was spectacular but for that descend, I really made sure to stay focused on the riders around me as I didn’t want something silly to happen.

The section from Keene to Jay was fast and fun. But I was ready for some more climbing as my style of riding is not so great in flat time trial positions but instead, climbing and changing up my rhythm with resistance of the climb. Once we turned left out of Jay, it felt good to climb again. Those hills are pretty nasty as you just have to grind through them. I had a few guys cheering me on as I was near the front of the female age group race and ahead of a few female professionals.

Overall I felt pretty good throughout the first loop of the bike. It was good that I had rode the climb from Wilmington into town on Thursday as I knew the tougher sections and where I could get aero and pick up more speed. I found myself getting warm so I carefully grabbed water at most of the aid stations after Keene to sip on and to cool myself. I took in a few Clif chews as I could feel myself needing a bit more calories but I made sure to always wash them down with water to help dilute them.

Once I got up to the papa bear climb (the last of the three climbs), I saw Karel and he gave me an update. He told me that I was winning my age group by a lot and that I was 3^rd overall female amateur. This gave me a great boost as I had no personal goals for the day but just to enjoy the day, have fun and race smart. The quick out and back near town was fun as it gave me a big boost with all the spectators.

Once I made my way into the transition area, I stopped at special needs to retrieve my two pre-filled bottles (One was a Trimarni bottle filled and the other was a Smart Water 1.8 liter bottle that I could pour the nutrition into my hydration system and then toss that bottle). I had tossed my other bottle previously on the course at the aid station. I always stop at special needs but this stop was a little longer than normal because I had to get off my bike, rack my bike, get my special needs bag from a volunteer and then roll my bike back to the mount line and continue on. The minute I spent there was well-utilized as I could continue with my planned nutrition and I took a few seconds to stretch out and reboot before continuing on to the second lap.

I made my way through the school, which had a few fun turns before descending back to Mirror Lake Drive. Another fun ride through the town and then back out on the second loop.

At this point it was much warmer and the wind had really picked up. Similar to Kona, the wind is very unpredictable in Placid. Karel rode the course on Saturday and he had tailwind from Wilmington to town (the 10+ mile climb) but for us, it seemed like there was wind everywhere and it was rarely at our back on the 2^nd loop.

Whereas I felt pretty solid on the first loop, I had a lot more low moments on the 2^nd loop. These are expected and I never know how long they will last so my focus was just doing the best that I could despite how I was feeling. The second loop was a lot more lonely for me, even though I was passing athletes on their first loop. I saw a few Trimarnis on the out and back segments and that really picked up my spirits. My low moments were not causing me to contemplate quitting but instead, it was just a feeling of low energy that would come and go. Again, this is completely normal when racing in an Ironman. I stuck with my nutrition plan and just took in a few extra clif chews than I had planned (and washed down with water) to help give me a little boost. I had a bar with me just in case but I relied solely on my liquid calories (and a few clif ginger chews).

I passed my athlete/friend Alvi after the Keene descent (pic above is when he he flew by me on the descent as I was feeling myself getting knocked all around by the wind so I rode much more cautiously than the first loop) and then I was passed by professional Jeannie Hansen. She was riding super strong and my goal was to try to stay with her as long as I could. Having her in front of me was just the motivation that I needed and I found myself getting out of a low and feeling really strong again. Again, I had the official by me but I knew I wasn’t drafting so it didn’t bother me. I am used to having officials by me on the bike as I am usually near the front of the race after the swim (but always getting chased down on the run 😊).

The last segment from Wilmington to town was brutal. The wind was super gusty and it was mostly headwind. As if that section wasn’t hard enough, the wind made it even more difficult. Plus, with only 10-12 miles left in the race, the body and mind play lots of games with you anyways so there was a lot of mental tricks happening to keep myself focused and to continue to ride my bike the best as I could.

I do not chase any metrics when I race but I have a good idea of what I want an effort to feel like for each respective race I do. This past year has included group rides, a gravel race, 70.3 distance races and time trials. All of which have given me a lot of different scenarios to judge my effort, which helps me in long distance racing. I took some risks and biked pretty strong for all 112 miles but I also have a lot of trust in my abilities that even if I bike hard, I know I can find my running legs. Although I may not be fast on the run, I have confidence in my ability to be good at not slowing down (too much) on the run.

I did have metrics on my screen to check-in with every now and then. I used lap time (and hit lap at each segment), current cadence, lap speed, normalized lap power and 10sec power on my screen. I never knew my total time until I stopped my computer in the transition area. When I saw 5:38, I knew it was a hard bike and that it would impact the run times. So any previous running goals were out the window as my new focus was to find my running legs and to never stop caring and to be competitive on the marathon run. When I saw Karel one last time on the bike, he told me that I was winning my age group by over 20 minutes and that I was holding a solid third overall amateur female. I was really holding on to that third place overall amateur slot and it gave me a good boost before I made my way into the transition area.

I was planning to do a flying dismount but with the wet grass in transition area and just being tired from a really challenging 112 mile bike ride, I unclipped and ran my bike through the grass. After a few steps, I regretted that decision and it was really hard to run in my shoes. I eventually started walking as I was just plain tired. When I got to my spot in the transition area, I sat down and had a brief moment of “how in the heck am I going to run a marathon!?!” but I pushed that aside as I put on my running shoes. I had an extra pair of clean/dry socks in my bag but I opted to keep my socks on from the bike. Again, I probably should have changed them after doing a flying dismount and running in my cycling socks.

I always like to go to the bathroom and empty myself as much as possible before the run so I took off my jersey, I grabbed my hat, hydration belt and flasks, sunglasses, watch and cooling towel, and went into the port-o-potty. I know I spent too long in the transition area relative to the other competitors that I was racing against but I needed that extra time to mentally put myself into a place where I would stay committed for the entire run. I felt so much better after I went to the bathroom and much cooler once I took off my jersey. I was happy that I stuck with my plan to just wear my sports bra and use my cooling towel as I have done it in my previous two races and it really makes me feel good to have that cooling towel on my neck and to only wear the sports bra. I am much more comfortable wearing a sports bra when I run.

I saw an unopened plastic water bottle on a table in the transition area so I grabbed it as I was walking out and drenched my cooling towel, had a few sips and poured the rest on my head. Oh that was so refreshing. Once I started running, my legs responded really well and I told myself “all you have left is to run a marathon.”

Stats from my bike computer: 

First loop:
Transition to Keene – 17.7 miles, 46.17 min, 161 NP, 22.9 mph average
Keene to Jay – 9.81 miles, 25:37 min, 152 NP, 23.0 mph
Jay to Wilmington – 14.6 miles, 44:33 min, 162W, 19.7 mph
Wilmington to transition – 13.9 miles, 48:13 min, 171W, 17.3 mph
First 56 miles: 2:44, 163 NP, 20.4 mph, ~2600 feet elevation gain, 87 rpm average, max speed 48.1 mph

Nutrition consumed:
-Between the aerobars bottle: 400 calories Skratch Hyperhydration (consumed in first ~75 minutes)
-Hydration system (1.2 liters/40 ounces, 4 scoops INFINIT Trimarni Base Endurance formula Strawberry Lemonade mixed in 1.2 liters of water). Consumed ~10-15 minutes (3-5 gulps) over the rest of the loop.
-Water from most of the aid stations for sipping/cooling.
-2 Clif Ginger chews (washed down with water)
-~7 Gu Aminos

Second loop:
Transition to Keene – 18.0 miles, 49:39 min, 150 NP, 21.7 mph average
Keene to Jay – 9.59 miles, 23:16 min, 157 NP, 24.7 mph
Jay to Wilmington – 15 miles, 47:12 min, 156W, 19.1 mph
Wilmington to transition – 13.6 miles, 53:55 min, 149W, 15.2 mph
Last 56.2 miles: 2:53, 153 NP, 19.4 mph, ~2500 feet elevation gain, 83 rpm average, max speed 41.6 mph

Nutrition consumed (used pre-filled bottles at special needs - Special needs stop: 61 seconds):
-Between the aerobars bottle: 2 scoops INFINIT Trimarni base endurance formula Grape
-Hydration system (1.2 liters/40 ounces, 4 scoops INFINIT Trimarni Base Endurance formula Grape mixed in 1.2 liters of water). Consumed ~10-15 minutes (3-5 gulps) over the rest of the loop.
-Water from most of the aid stations for sipping/cooling.
-3 Clif Ginger chews (washed down with water)
-~5 Gu Aminos

Total nutrition consumed over 112 miles:
~1750 calories
~112 ounce water (+ water from aid stations)

Total according to my Garmin: 112 miles, 5:38.45 time, 158 NP, 6407 elevation gain, 19.9 mph average, 85 rpm average.

Bike time (official): 5:40.48, 1st AG (35-39), 15th overall female, 134th overall 

IM Lake Placid RR - Travel and Pre-Race

 

We left our house on Wednesday morning around 4:20am and arrived to the GSP airport just before 5am. It was a smooth check-in with our two suitcases and two Scicon hard cases w/ our bikes inside. Each bike case weighed ~50lbs so we were able to check those items for free on Delta and then just pay $40 each for our suitcases. We felt a bit rusty with the entire airport process as the last time we traveled via plane for a race was October 2019 for the Ironman World Championship.

We flew to Detroit, had a ~2 hour layover and then flew to Albany. Both flights were smooth and went by quickly (we napped on both flights). It was fun to meet up with a few Trimarnis in the Detroit airport before they made their way to Burlington. 

Since we flew into Burlington in 2013 for IM Lake Placid, I decided to try out the Albany airport and ~2:15 hr drive. It was an easy process from luggage pick-up to getting our rental car (right across the street from the airport - no shuttle needed) and then a straightforward drive to Lake Placid. I rented a SUV but all they had left was a Jeep Wrangler for us. I was a bit worried but it actually worked out great as we could place our bike cases in the Jeep upright and there was still room for our suitcases.

 

We made a quick stop at Chipotle for lunch in route to Lake Placid. The last part of the drive into town is always so beautiful. Even though the weather was cloudy and a bit rainy, the scenery is just incredible. 

We arrived to our rental home around 3pm and checked out our home away from home. I booked this rental home two years ago and thankfully the owner allowed us to carry over our rental to this year. The 3-story house was huge so we shared it with 8 of our athletes. And it was in the perfect location - just a a block from Mainstreet (and close to the Bluesberry Bakery - Karel's favorite place in Placid) and less than a mile to the new transition area at the high school (the layout of the course/transitions/expo was a bit different this year due to construction at the Oval). 

As Karel and the other Trimarni's put together their bikes, our groceries arrived just after 4pm. I ordered our first big batch of groceries from Hannafords by using Instacart. Although there was an extra fee including, this delivery grocery service worked out perfect as we didn't have to spend 60+ minutes shopping for food after a long day of travel. Throughout the rest of the week, others made quick stops to the store as needed. 

After unloading groceries and making a large salad, we all headed out for a shake-out spin by heading down the back part of the course (the "three bears) and then making our way to River Road to ride the run course and then back into town. It was a nice 45-minute spin to shake out the fatigue from traveling and sitting all day. 

By 8:30pm we were all pretty exhausted and headed off to bed. 

I tried to sleep in as long as I could on Thursday morning to ensure a restful night of sleep. I made it until almost 8am so it was a solid 10.5 hours of sleep. I was so excited to get into Mirror Lake as it's been several years since I've swam in that picture-perfect lake. 

After eating a pre-workout meal, we walked down to the swim start at the lake for a one-loop swim of the course. Some of the buoys were out and along with the cable under the water, it was easy to stay on course. We all regrouped at the turn buoys so that we could scope out the landmarks along the course. 

After the swim there was a well-needed stop at the bakery before heading back to the house to change before the bike ride. We all headed out on the bike course and descended down to Wilmington before making our way back up to town. It was nice to be out on the course and to get the body back to a familiar place of exercising. After our ~90-minute ride, a few of us went for a short 20-min run. It was a triathlon type of day! We finished all of our training for the day before 1:30pm which worked out perfect as we checked in for the race around 2:30pm (at the equestrian center - we drove there). 

It was fun to share the entire pre-race experience with our athletes, especially our two first timer Ironman athletes. We had 8 female and 1 male athletes racing Lake Placid which made for a great group filled with a lot of positive energy. 

After checking in, the rest of the day was pretty chill. We watched the Olympics, ate and relaxed. There was a lot of laughing which helped keep the nerves away. Karel did a longer ride on Thurs (~4 hours and 77 miles) after he swam with us, and then finished off the day with an evening run (37 min, 5 miles). Karel's hand is still weak and numb after he broke it from his MTB crash 9 weeks ago, but overall it's getting better. 

Friday was a pretty chillax day. We went for another swim and I had to resist the urge to swim two loops as I was feeling so good in the water. I was really happy with how I was swimming and most of all, how I felt in the water. I had been dealing with some niggles in my left bicep for a few weeks but thankfully it didn't affect me once I got to Placid. 

After the swim, I went for an easy 30-minute run around the lake and checked out the transition area, logistics of going from swim to bike and bike to run, as well as orienting myself with how we started loop two of the bike. Today was all about familiarity and getting to know the ins and outs of the course. 

I spent a little time laying out my gear for my gear bags and filling my bottles. I had my sport nutrition powder in baggies (which I filled in advance) so it was easy to just pour each baggy into a bottle or flask without second guessing or overthinking (I also brought extra nutrition just in case). I also labeled my bottles so it would be easy to know what was what and what goes where on race day morning. I waited until Sat late afternoon to fill with water and then put the bottles/flasks in the fridge. 

On Friday evening we had our traditional pizza party with pizza from Bazzis. We finished the evening with a course talk and tips discussion for our athletes. I just love sharing these experiences with our athletes as I can take the focus off myself. Plus, I love our athletes because they are really cool humans. And we have a lot of fun together. Add in Karel and his witty sense of humor and I assure you that you will be laughing a lot when you stay in a Trimarni team house. :)

After another good night of sleep, it was finally here. One more day before the race. 

I went out on my own for my ride and headed to the transition area. I first rode the start of the bike course as it was all marked on the ground. I then carried on to the run course to get more familiar with the equestrian park loops (inbound and outbound).  I then headed down to River Road (run course out and back) and did some intervals out there. I just rode until I felt good and then headed back (~75 minutes). I did a quick 5-min jog off the bike just to test out my shoes, hat and hydration band one last time to ensure that everything was fitting like I wanted it to for race day. Overall I didn't feel great on the bike and felt a bit flat on the run but I didn't let it get to me. I knew my body would show up on race day. I couldn't stop smiling because of the beauty of this course. I kept thinking, we get to race here. I never felt nervous but instead, I was really excited to train all day for 140.6 miles.  

After my morning shake out workout, it was time to eat. I repacked my bags and around 1pm, we biked our gear to the transition area, dropped off our bikes (most of us Trimarnis were together since we all checked in together), walked through the transition area so that we knew where all the ins and outs where, and then walked back to the house. We also timed how long it took us to walk from the transition area to the swim start (~21 minutes) as we would be doing the same on race morning and wanted to know how much time to give ourselves. Due to COVID precautions, there was no gear bag rack but instead we put our bags by our bikes. I kinda liked this as I could keep everything right by my bike and access it easily on race day morning. Because of the predicted rain, I put my running shoes and socks in a large ziplock bag and folded my bags down tight overnight. 

The weather had been perfect all week - in the 70's for the high and into the mid 50's at night. The water temp was hoovering around 68-70 degrees, which was also perfect. However, there was a 90% chance of rain on race day so we all prepared ourselves for a wet start to race morning. 

After eating my last big meal of no chicken noodle soup (Amy's brand) and a bag of Basmati rice around 3pm, I watched the Olympics in bed on my Ipad, ate almost a full bag of granola around 5pm, did a little more foam rolling to loosen out and I was ready to fall asleep around 7:30pm. I expected a light night of sleeping and I had a solid few hours of sleep until 1pm and then it was a few hours of tossing and turning to the sound of rain outside our basement windows, until the alarm went off at 3:45am. 

To be continued......

IM Kona '19 RR: 112 mile bike

Photo: Justin Luau

After my "moment" with the wind on the Thursday before race week, I convinced myself that I would be just fine in windy conditions on race day. To be honest, I actually wanted heat and wind on race day for a more difficult race experience. After giving the weather forecast a quick look on race day morning, it looked like we would all be getting the true IM Kona experience. Although the weather can quickly change in Kona, it was looking to be a tough day of racing.

Although my cycling skills and fitness has drastically improved over the past few years, I felt my biggest strength on race day was experience. Not only did I know what to expect in certain areas of the course but I also know how low the lows can be on certain areas of the course. I went into the 112 mile bike with confidence and trust in my cycling abilities. I also had great trust in my nutrition as I practiced and fine-tuned it throughout the entire summer. I actually prepared my race day nutrition before we left for Kona so that it was easy to prepare for race day. While I used a variety of products, the application of taking in my planned nutrition was rather easy - just drink. For this race, due to the heat and humidity, my focus was on fluids and sodium and consuming more dilute drinks (less calories compared to IM Canada when it was colder).

As far as the IM Kona bike course goes, it's not a difficult course. Athletes ride on the road (not the shoulder), the pavement is mostly smooth, it's not a technical course and it's pretty straightforward as to where to go. I find it helpful to break it into a few key segments:

-In town: ~7 miles
-Queen K to Mauna Lani Resort: ~25 miles
-Mauna Lani to the left turn at the end of the Queen K: ~7.3 miles
-Short section until veer to the right to Kawaihae: ~1.5 miles
-Climb to the turn around in Hawi: ~18 miles
-Reach special needs at ~59 miles
-Descend Hawi: ~18 miles
-Short section until veer to the left to Kawaihae: ~1.5 miles
-Queen K to the Scenic Point: ~15 miles
-Scenic Point to the airport: ~11.5 miles
-Airport to transition area (via Makala blvd): ~6.3 miles

The reason why these segments are important is because each segment has to be approached differently with the mind and body. While I was monitoring my heart rate throughout the race, I never worried about my power or speed.

My first focus was to get out of town safely and in one piece (me and my bike) as that segment is technical, fast and filled with athletes and spectators). I knew my heart rate would be elevated soon after the swim so I just focused on riding my bike well, keeping some power on the pedals and not trying to go too hard. Of course, even with holding back, power was still up. I wasn't worried as I knew my "race effort" was going to start on the Queen K. It's easy to go out way too hard in town as well as one the start of the Queen K as you get a bit of a push with the wind at your back and you are feeling so good to finally be on the bike. With the new wave swim start, I didn't feel that the Queen K was congested - if anyone was drafting (which there were small groups) it was intentional and not because there wasn't enough room on the road. At this point, I settled into my race rhythm. Throughout the race, I was passed by a few girls but ended up seeing several of them here and there throughout the course (a bit of yo-yo riding). I was riding through small packs of male athletes and getting passed by many strong male cyclists (who I passed in the swim). I tried to focus on making the effort feel good as my game plan was to pace myself so that I could ride strong on the way back on the Queen K (where in the past, I would feel crushed by the heat and wind).

The wind was not noticeable until we got closer to Mauna Lani resort (which is why I use that as one of my segments) and from there to the end of the Queen K, it was very windy with cross winds. I took Karel's advise and pushed hard on the pedals (instead of easing up) and positioned my bike to lean with the wind while moving my body slightly toward the wind. This helped me feel stable and in control. Also, my Ventum rides extremely well in the wind - something I have really noticed since switching from Trek to Ventum.

The next segment was very very fast but then it got windy again during the climb to Hawi. This segment was where I started to feel a few lows but welcomed them as expected visitors and just focused on my rhythm. After the turn around, I made a quick stop at special needs to fill my hydration system and grab two more bottles from my bag (this stop took 30 seconds). A little part of me was a little nervous about the wind when descending down from Hawi but I managed it well by looking ahead at riders ahead of me (to see when the wind would hit them and their reaction) and continuing to push on my pedals. I mostly stayed on my base bars but there were times that I was in my aero bars (when I felt safe to do so). I felt like this was the segment of the race that was really hard for me as my strength is climbing (pushing against resistance) and not pushing a big gear with power. I was passed by several females but thankfully, I knew that a long/steep climb (on the hottest part of the course) was approaching just before the turn back on to the Queen K and I caught back up to those who passed me on the descend.

I felt like I did a great job with my nutrition, which I made sure to keep simple and effective for this race. I took 4-5 big gulps every ~10 minutes. My max HR was 148 (which was in the in-town section, as to be expected) and I averaged 131 bpm for the entire 112 mile bike ride so overall, this was a very aerobic ride. As with any Ironman, you are battling residual fatigue, mental demons, dehydration and slow depletion of glycogen stores so that is why I prioritized liquid calories for the entire bike ride and drenched myself in water at each aid station (which only kept me wet/cool for a few minutes).

When I got back on the Queen K the wind was blowing from the mountains to the sea (my left side). At one point, me and my bike ended up on the shoulder due to the wind - thankfully I didn't fall off my bike (I kinda laughed to myself about the situation). Although I had a few lows in the Hawi section, as soon as I turned and had some resistance (wind) to push against I started to feel really strong. All the guys (and a few girls) that passed me on the descend where now my targets. I found myself feeling really strong and able to stay aero in the wind (turtle tuck!) and then climbing with some pep in my legs. This was a great feeling as I can recount several times of feeling destroyed in the last 30+ miles of the bike.

Once I approached the airport, my attention went from focusing on my race to focusing on the pro race -which was happening on the Queen K and in the energy lab. As a huge fan of the sport, I couldn't help but spend the next few miles trying to figure out who was where and what was happening in the pro race (I did the same thing in Kawaihae). When I turned off the Queen K to Makala, I stretched out my hips and back and started to turn my mind onto run mode. I wasn't so worried about my lack of run fitness from 10 weeks of no running due to my left back/hip issue but instead, I was feeling some tightness around my knee and hip and lower back on my right leg on the bike. I tried to push it out of my head so that I could just stay in the moment. After slipping out my feet from my shoes, I approached the dismount line, got off my bike, handed my bike to a volunteer and then jogged my way through the transition area and to the red gear bags. I then went into the changing tent and had two wonderful volunteers there to help me out as I transitioned into my run gear.

Marni 112 mile Bike - 5:27.49 (5th AG off the bike)Karel 112 mile Bike - 5:23.11

Marni GearVentum One bike
Alto cc40 front wheel
Alto cc86 rear wheel

Continental GP 5000 tires

Specialized Turbo tubes
Giro Aerohead helmet with shield
Socks: CEP ultralight socks
Bontrager Hilo triathlon shoes
Rotor 3d24 155 crankarms w/ power2max power meter
Garmin 810 computer

Marni Nutrition 
Ventum integrated hydration system (1.2 L) - custom INFINIT formula (strawberry lemonade): ~360 calories, 750 mg sodium

Rear bottle - custom INFINIT formula (pink lemonade): ~240 calories, 500 mg sodium

Front bottle - Skratch (strawberry): ~160 calories, 760 mg sodium
On bike (in bento box): 1 Skratch bar and 1 packet chews (didn't consume either)

Special needs:

Custom INFINIT formula in a large throwaway water bottle, frozen overnight (watermelon): ~360 calories, 750 mg sodium

Rear bottle - Carborocket half evil (black cherry): ~220 calories, 284 mg sodium

Front bottle - NBS Carbo hydration (strawberry lemonade): ~200 calories, 600 mg sodium

Water at each aid station for sipping and cooling.

Marni GearVentum One bike

Alto ct56 front wheel
Alto ct86 rear wheel

Continental competition 25ml tires (originally planned GP4 24 ml tubular tires but had two flats before the race so had to purchase new tires from the LBS)

Giro Aerohead helmet with shield
LG Tri Air Lite shoes + Solestar insoles

Shimano dura ace 165 crank arms + 4iii power meter

Garmin Edge 820

Karel Nutrition 
Ventum integrated hydration system (1.4 L)
Front bottle

Gatorade (on course)

SIS gel
Enervitene cheerpack
A few Skratch chews
Czech candy bar

Special needs:
1.4L of NBS Carbo hydration (strawberry lemonade) in throw away water bottle (frozen overnight)
Front bottle

At least 2 full bottles of water from the aid station for sipping and cooling.

As for Karel's race, he was disappointed, frustrated and a bit sad about his bike performance. Without making excuses, he just didn't feel good on the bike. He was dealing with some cramping in his quads, back pain and just an overall emptiness on the bike. This is all stuff that he has been trying to manage and overcome for the past few years after experiencing a torn labrum in his hip. Ever since late May of 2016, Karel has improved drastically with his run but has really struggled on the bike. He kept telling himself that it would get better on the bike but sadly, it never did on race day. Karel's back was hurting so much on the way back on the Queen K that he didn't even think he would make it back to the transition area. He was soft pedaling as easy as possible so that he could get back to town but all while riding in pain. When he dismounted his bike, his legs felt like wobbly wooden poles as he hobbled through the transition area and to the gear bags and men's changing tent. While he knew he would start the run, he was unsure of how his body would manage to run 26.2 miles with the pain he felt on the bike.

IM Kona '19 RR: 2.4 mile swim

                                                                   Picture source

Marni Gear
Amp PR lotion
Squirrels Nut butter anti-chafe cream
Roka Viper X swimskin (sleeveless)
TYR 2.0 Special ops tinted goggles
Castelli San Remo tri one piece kit (pulled down to waste)
Oakley Crisscross power sports bra

Karel Gear
Amp PR lotion
Pjuractive 2skin
Roka Viper X sleeve swimskin
MP Xceed tinted goggles
Castelli San Remo tri one piece kit (pulled down to waste)
Garmin 735 XT

When we heard about the new wave start protocol for the 2019 Ironman World Championship, Karel and I were both happy about this change. We have always had our fastest swims with either a wave start or rolling start. I had the "pleasure" of racing Kona in 2007 when it was a mass start and it was pure chaos - super scary at times. And this was when the race "only" had around 1500 athletes. Now, with over 2500 athletes, there are a lot more arms and legs to fight for space in the water. And with over 70% of the IM Kona participants as male athletes, Karel says that the swim start has been crazy - like a boxing match throughout the entire swim.

Karel's wave of male 40-44 went off at 7am and my wave of female 18-39 went off at 7:15am. Karel found the new swim start to be much more pleasant and although there were still a lot of athletes starting together, Karel was still able to find some clean water to keep a normal swim stroke. He lined up on the far left - away from the sighting buoys - around the second line of athletes. As for my wave, I also lined up on the far left but right near the front.

As soon as the horn went off, I started with take-out speed (very hard swimming) to try to get away from the group. Knowing that I would not be even close to the front of this female pack, my focus was to stay on course and to find a small group to stay with. I found myself swimming with 2-3 other purple caps in my wave and we while there were other females ahead of us from the wave, it wasn't long before we re-passed them. With the male 50+ wave starting just 5 minutes in front of us, I found myself swimming past many male athletes by the third and fourth buoy. At this point, I was feeling really good and settling into a good rhythm which felt sustainable and strong. After passing the Royal Kona resort - which is half way to the half way - I found myself needing to swim around more and more male athletes. Other than that, I was feeling great in the water.

Sometimes I found myself right on the buoy line but I tried to position myself so that I'd approach the turn buoy somewhat on the outside to avoid the chaos that comes with so many athletes trying to turn around the same buoy. And in IM Kona, you also have two big boats helping to direct you around the turn buoys. I slowed down considerably around the turn buoys to avoid being kicked and hit by other athletes.

The water was cool but very refreshing. There were some warmer sections and colder sections throughout the 2.4 mile out and back course.

The water was very choppy but I found myself keeping a good rhythm in the water. The sky was cloudy but I was still happy to have my tinted goggles. To avoid getting nauseous in the wavy conditions, I tried to match the rhythm of the water instead of fighting it. This meant sometimes my stroke would increase and sometimes it would slow down so that I could constantly feel like I was grabbing the water and moving myself forward. In the past years of racing IM Kona, I have always found myself getting more and more exhausted in the last 20 minutes of the swim. I like to build my swim effort in the IM distance but in Kona, this was always a big struggle - I found myself slowing down and running out of steam. This year was a big change as I gained confidence in the practice swim from a week prior and on race day, I never felt exhausted or tired. Most of all, I was swimming happy and not finding myself jumping ahead in thoughts. Karel also felt like he didn't get tired in the back half of the swim and was able to keep an efficient and powerful stroke throughout.

Because I don't wear a watch in the swim portion of the triathlon, I had no idea of my swim time. My goal was to break an hour (previous best IM Kona swim time was 1:06 back in 2015) as I felt like that was within my capabilities. As I was nearing the pier, the water became more choppy with athletes and I found myself zig zagging around other athletes before exiting the water. I was anxious to see the clock on the top of the steps in the transition area (before the hoses) to see my time but the clock read an odd time - likely the overall clock and not the age group clock. Because I wasn't sure exactly what time the pro males went off, I wasn't able to do the math to figure out my swim time. Oh bummer - I guess I would have to wait until after the race. Spoiler alert - I swam 59.36 which was 6th fastest in the 35-39 age group. Karel also had a PR swim of 1:03.14.

After exiting the water, I did a quick rinse off under the hoses and then grabbed my blue swim to bike gear bag. It was busy near the male changing tents so I bumped into a few athletes on my way to the female changing tent. The female tent wasn't too busy but I ran to the far end of the tent (easier to exit) and sat down in a chair and started my transition. I had two volunteers helping me. I asked one of the volunteers to remove my chip from my ankle as I put on my compression sock. She then put it back on my ankle after I was finished. Because I don't like anything on my shoulders when I swim without a wetsuit, I rolled down my one piece suit to my waste with my swim skin over it. I made the mistake of not taking off my swim skin right away in the transition area and I told the volunteer lady "don't let me run out of here with my swimskin still on" :) I also made the mistake of putting on the top of my one piece before putting on my heart rate monitor strap so I had to take off the top off again and put on my heart rate strap. I put on my helmet, took a quick sip of water, thanked the volunteers for helping me and then carried my cycling shoes to my bike (which was just behind the yellow inflatable Gatorade bottle). I then put on my cycling shoes, turned on my bike computer and then ran my bike to the mount line. The transition area was really busy so I could only move so fast to get out of there. The mount line was also chaotic as far too many athletes had their shoes clipped into their bike but it was if very few of them knew how to do a flying mount. I ran my bike to the far end of the mount area by the barricades and even that area was busy. I made sure to safely get on my bike and then clipped in and started pedaling my way up the start of the bike on Palani. 

IM Kona '19 race recap: Pre-race

On Thursday evening, we went to bed a little later than normal due to the athlete briefing which ran from 8-9pm.

We managed to get into bed a little after 9:30pm and I was quick to fall asleep. I made sure to stay in bed as long as possible on Friday morning to ensure I woke up as rested as possible - especially knowing that the sleep before any race is usually a bit interrupted and restless due to pre-race thoughts.

After my normal pre-workout snack (2 waffles + nut butter + syrup) which I eat before every workout, all year long, I walked to the pier for a short and easy swim in the ocean. It felt good to be out of the condo and exercising. The nerves seemed to build when I was inactive so anytime I was moving around, I felt more at ease. Karel had his normal pre-workout oatmeal mixture before his workout.

For my swim, I practiced in my race day one-piece kit (I brought two of them, one for race day and one for training) as I had never worn a one-piece rolled down under my Roka sleeveless swim skin. I feel more comfortable swimming without anything over my shoulders in a non-wetsuit swim. I also practiced in my pre-race goggles (TYR 2.0 Special ops, tinted lens) once more (I also wore them for the practice swim). After a very choppy swim to the coffee boat and back (no stopping for coffee), I did a quick clean-up in the condo and went out for a short and easy jog on the start of the run course. My right leg felt a little wobbly but I didn't let it get to me. After my workout, I had a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs and some of a giant cinnamon roll from Lava Java. Karel did a bike/run starting from the energy lab. We both had 1 scoop of the NBS pre-load in the morning with our breakfast meal.

Laying around all day until the afternoon bike/bag check-in was tough as my mind was wanting to think about the race – causing some nerves and anxiety. To take my mind off the race, I watched a few episodes of season 5 of Schitt's Creek. This was just what I needed as I could laugh the day away and barely thought about the race. I also looked at lost of pics of Ella on my phone - our sweet and wild little kitten. Throughout the day, I snacked on yogurt and fruit, had pizza and fruit and then had an early dinner meal (around 5:00pm) of rice and cottage cheese. I didn't restrict myself with food - I pretty much ate every few hours and made sure to eat a bit more of calorie-rich foods than normal to fuel my energy tank.

Around 3pm, we gathered our race day stuff and walked our bikes and bike and run gear bags to the King K hotel. I was actually looking forward to this experience as it’s always a sight to see all the athletes, spectators and business professionals checking out each athlete’s gear for the official “Kona bike count.” Some of the companies were giving out free gear if you had something from their company (ex. Enve wheels, Cervelo bikes, etc.).

After waiting in line for a volunteer to escort us to our bike rack, I had a nice male volunteer walking me through the transition area to my bike rack. After putting my bike in the floor rack in the very far end of the transition area, my volunteer walked me to the gear bag section. After hanging my bike gear bag and run gear bag, I made a mental note of the flow of the transition area and then met Karel outside of the transition area. Even though this was my 5th time doing IM Kona, I still made sure to ask questions and soaked it all in like I was a beginner. 

Inside my gear bags:

Bike: Helmet, CEP compression socks, cycling shoes, heart rate monitor strap.
Run: Headband, cooling towel (damp in its container), Naked hydration belt, two flasks filled only with NBS carbo-hydration powder, extra nutrition for the race in small baggies (in my belt), race number (on my Naked belt), Nike knit vapor fly shoes, extra pair of compression socks, spray sunscreen, Roka sunglasses.

I packed my race day nutrition in baggies prior to leaving for Kona so it was easy for me to get my nutrition together on the day before the race. I filled my bike bottles in the late afternoon with powder/water and froze my special need bike bottles.

After returning back to the condo around 4:30pm, it started to rain. It rained for a while and my first thought was our electronic shifting. But Karel assured me all was ok as his incident last year with his Di2 was his error of snipping the wire while packing the bike for the race and then not repairing it before the race. It then rained the night before the race and caused the wire to fail. It rained for most of the evening.

After eating an early dinner and then an evening snack of granola and another glass of NBS pre-load, I laid in bed and watched more Schitts Creek until I fell asleep around 7:30pm. I went to bed feeling fueled, hydrated and excitedly nervous.

It was somewhat of a restless night of sleep as I felt like I woke up every 3 hours. But I still felt rested when I got up in the morning. The sleep two nights before a race matters much more than what happens on the night before a race. My mood was positive and I felt somewhat calm and at ease that the race was finally here. We set the alarm for 3:40am and planned to leave the condo around 4:40am.

I made a slight change to my normal pre-race meal and had a cinnamon raisin bagel instead of 2 waffles, just for a bit more calories. I topped the bagel with butter on one side and PB on the other. I also had a large banana. I was able to eat my entire meal without any issues. I also had another glass of NBS pre-load. After a few bathrooms trips, we were out the door around 4:45am.

The morning check-in procedure went somewhat smooth. We were only allowed to bring in our clear race bags. We walked behind the King K hotel, dropped off special needs bags (I only used the bike special needs bag whereas Karel used both bags), received our tattoo bib numbers from a volulnteer and had a volunteer put them on our arms. It was sticky hot in the morning so the cold water from applying our tattoos was very refreshing. Afterward, we were weighed in and then walked to the transition area. I’d say this entire process took about 20 minutes. It was very organized and overwhelming at the same time. It was fun to see several familiar faces throughout the process. 

I wasn't sure how the wave start process would work so I made sure to give myself plenty of time to get into the corral. We were instructed to be in the corral at least 25 minutes before our wave start or else we could be DQ'd if we didn't start with our assigned wave.

After putting our bottles and bike computer on our bike and pumping our tires (there were plenty of pumps in the transition area), we walked to the outside (or entrance) of transition area and applied sunscreen, body glide and did some relaxing until around 6am. At this point, Karel and I went our own ways after a pre-race kiss and hug. I went to the potty one last time and then made my way into the finish line area for the swim start corrals. The great thing about this new start was being able to watch start of the male and female pro race on the big screen by the finish line.

Although I was in line a good hour before my swim start, the time went by fast. I chatted with my friend Emily, spotted Karel one last time and then put on my cap and goggles around 7am. I actually liked the wave start as it was organized and smooth. While I had a few nervous butterflies in my belly I knew once I got into the water, I would feel at ease. Literally, my butterflies flew away when my feet touched the sand and the cool ocean water.

After making my way to the swim start (which felt like it took forever to swim there), I positioned myself to the far left of the buoys as my plan was to swim toward the buoys but not directly next to them. Although the 18-39 female wave was not huge, I still wanted to set myself up for clear water as I was swimming. The volunteers on their paddleboards were keeping us all in line but the chop of the water made it difficult to stay in one place. I knew this would be a tough swim from the view of the chop in the water. It was rather wavy as we were going up and down while treading water for the start.

I heard someone say 30 more seconds and at that time, I found myself calm, ready and prepared for whatever the day had in store for me.

IM Kona '18 Race Report

When the alarm went off at 3:45am, I stayed in bed for another 15 minutes to let Karel have the kitchen to himself as he made his espresso and pre-race meal. When I got up, I was quick to go outside to the patio to let Karel do his own thing without getting in his way. Karel’s mom stayed in bed as we told her to watch the swim from behind the building in front of us as it would be too crazy for her to go down to the finish line area. Karel was incredibly calm and I couldn’t sense any nervous energy from him. It was a mixture of excitement, readiness and confidence and of course, gratitude that he had a healthy (and injury free) body at the end of a very successful season of racing. Around 5:15am, Karel was ready to head to the race venue. My job was to carry his special needs bags (and drop them off) and to grab his pump from him after he pumped his tires. 

Due to the rain the night before, Ali’i drive was a little wet but the air temp felt very comfortable. Crowds were already lining up on the wall to watch the swim start, the finish line was fully assembled, you could hear Mike Riley (and the other announcers) and there were athletes everywhere. I walked with Karel behind the King K hotel and dropped off his special needs bags before wishing Karel a great race and giving up a good luck kiss and hug. Karel went into the athlete-only area to get body marked (temporary tattoo) and weighed before heading to his bike on the pier. 

During this time (which moved rather quickly, I was surprised with all of the athletes!), I made my way to the pool area behind the King K as that was my meeting spot for Karel to hand me his pump. Around 6am, Karel came back from his bike, handed me his pump and I gave him one more good luck wish. 

He looked really calm and relaxed as he was listening to his music. I waited just a little longer to make sure he didn’t need me for anything else and then I walked down the road to get a spot to watch the swim start. During this time, Karel did his jog warm-up to our place, went to the bathroom once more and then jogged back to the pier – all before 6:30am. With Karel’s wave starting at 7:05am, he gave himself time to get close to the stairs entering the water so that he could get in a 10 minute swim warm-up with a few efforts to get the blood flowing. 

Making friends. 

2.4 mile swim

Aside from the chaos that comes with a mass start, Karel had his best non-wetsuit/Kona swim. Karel lined himself up to the far left of the buoys and near the front row. The buoys were spaced every 100 meters which made it easy to mark progress. Plus there are a few landmarks to the left which help athletes know how far they are (ex. the “boat” looking hotel by Huggo’s is about 1000 meters in). It was really important for Karel to try to accelerate hard from the front and then settle into a good rhythm. This was something that he practiced in the practice swim the previous Saturday. Karel was most proud of how he felt on the way back from the two turns (around the boats – which are the only two turns of this swim course) as he felt strong and exited the water feeling relatively fresh and not exhausted. The way back to the pier is typically a little slower due to the movement of the waves/ocean and layout of the course but Karel felt like he was able to swim strong throughout. 

T1
Whereas any other Ironman may have a small group of athletes exiting the water between 1 hour and 70 minutes, IM Kona is a bit different. With so many fast athletes in one race, it’s not uncommon to have 30-80 athletes exiting the water within a few minutes. Karel made his way up the stairs (which are only placed there for race day), through the hoses to rinse off and then to his T1 bag. Karel did not have anything in his bag since he had his cycling shoes and helmet on his bike (mandatory for all athletes to have their helmet on the bike, shoes are optional in bag or on the bike pedals). When he grabbed his bag, he took off his swimskin and then put it in his bag before running to his bike. No need for Karel to even enter the changing tent. Once he got to his bike, he put on his helmet and made the long run with his bike all the way around pier. Every athlete has to cover the same distance/path around the pier, which makes for a very long transition area.

112 mile bike
Karel was filled with happiness when he got on his bike (flying mount) as he was thrilled with his swim. Going into the race, Karel had a stretch goal of trying to get in the top ten for his age-group. Not knowing what the weather would be like, Karel was more focused on chasing the competition versus chasing a time (then again, Karel doesn’t care about times when he races). With his swim time being a few minutes faster than in 2016, Karel felt like this would set him up to be with faster cyclists. Having a lot of confidence in his run, his goal for the next 112 miles was to put together a solid bike, nail his nutrition and deliver himself to the run.
It was only a matter of a few pedal strokes that Karel realized something was wrong with his bike. His electronic shifting was not working. This meant that he was stuck in one gear and one gear only….for the next 112 miles. And not just any gear but a very easy gear. Karel went from such a high, to such a low in a matter of seconds. He suddenly felt so empty, sad and confused. Even as a bike mechanic, this was a mechanical issue that was completely out of his control. With the upcoming in-town section taking only about 20-25 minutes, I wasn’t sure why I didn’t see Karel flying down Palani after he exited the transition area. When I finally saw his neon-green kit coming down the hill, I was super happy to see him. But what came next was not what I expected to hear….
“I have no gears.” 

My heart immediately sank into my stomach and I couldn’t believe it. Karel later on told me that he got of his bike within the first mile and tried to jam the chain into another gear for more resistance. No go. Compared to the 24-27 mph speeds that other athletes were holding to cover the “in-town” section, Karel was averaging 15 mph. 

As soon as Karel shouted that to me about his gears, I felt like I needed to help. I didn’t know what to do so I just started running to my condo. I left Karel’s mom on Palani (there was no way I could communicate to her what had happened since she doesn’t speak English) and made my way to the condo. Luckily, our condo is just a block from Palani. My heart was beating so fast, I was sweating like crazy and I just felt so sad for Karel. Not even a few miles into his 140.6 mile race and his day of racing was overwith. Sure, he could still ride his bike but it was going to be a very long morning of riding with just one gear. Plus, riding in such an easy gear means a lot of pedaling which means a lot of mechanical and cardio fatigue. I also worried about Karel’s hips and back (which he has to be so careful with when he rides) and just the overall emotions that he would be carrying with him for the next 112 miles. 

When I got into my condo, I grabbed my bike because my first thought was “He can ride my bike.” Then I thought, oh that’s silly. Then I thought “I have a battery! He can use mine!” I searched for some tools because I thought he would need those. I know little about bike mechanics (prior to this incident, I didn’t even know where the battery was in my bike) but I have seen Karel work on bikes enough to know what tools he uses/needs. All of this was in a mega panic and feeling the need to help my husband. 

After I grabbed my bike and a small tool gadget, I sprinted my way down the stairs and rode across the street. I was hoping that I didn’t miss Karel for I really wanted to help him.

Luckily, I spotted Karel. I yelled and jumped up and down so he could see me. At first I thought he was going to keep riding but he stopped soon after he saw me. He pulled over to the side of the road in pure sadness and told me that he has no gears. When I saw a tear fall down his cheek from under the sunglasses attached to his helmet, that was my sign that I had to switch from wife to coach. Whereas I wanted to give him a hug and be emotional, I knew that would only make him more upset. We moved on to the sidewalk on Kuakini and Hanama (around there) and as Karel said “And I had such a great swim…” I stopped him from talking as I knew his emotions were taking over. I said “take my battery. I even brought your tools.” Karel was overloaded with his thoughts about this unfortunate situation and told me that he didn’t think it would help. He was convinced that the wire shorted the battery due to the rain as he clipped the wire prior to travel when removing his aero bars and secured it with electrical tape. I told him to try and he swapped my battery for his (from inside the seat post – aha, that is where it is!) and his biked shifted! Karel took the tools with him just in case he didn’t them again and I told him not to let this get to him. There was very little communication between us during the few minutes that this battery swap took place as I wanted Karel to stay calm. Karel is not one to over-react, play the blame game, make excuses or get angry so his emotions were purely from disappointment in the situation. He knew that his top 10 goal would no longer happen even though he now had the ability to shift his gears. I told him that I love him and to give his best and that everything will be ok as he rode off. Even though he lost a good 15 minutes in the first 7 miles or so of the bike, I still felt like he would be able to be in the race, so long as my battery worked for the rest of the ride.

As I walked back to the condo with my bike, I felt a bit of relief that I could help Karel during is helpless situation but I felt sick to my stomach about the situation. I just helped Karel cheat. As I made my way to the condo, I couldn’t help but think that we just broke a very important rule with triathlon racing – no outside assistance. I knew this meant a disqualification so I just hoped that Karel would be able to continue the race and cross the finish line for I know Karel and he is not a cheater or a quitter and would not want his race experience to be taken away from him. Even if his goal was no longer reachable, he loves to race and I wanted to give him the opportunity to race – even if he wasn’t an official finisher.

Karel’s mom came back to the condo and she was visibly upset because she didn’t see Karel on the bike. I showed her a picture that I saw him and gave her a thumbs up to signify that he was ok so she wouldn’t worry. Before the race, I made a time-line for Karel’s mom so she knew about when Karel would be where on the course so she could go and cheer. Well, I had to adjust those times because of the incident.

Sadly, I couldn’t feel happy about what just happened. Rather than feeling like the hero in this, I felt disappointed that we cheated. I knew Karel would feel the same way so I just hoped that he was able to enjoy his day before he would need to tell an official that he received outside assistance. To help with my emotions, I went for a run along Ali’i drive while listening to the live broadcast on my phone and periodically checking the Ironman tracker app to see how Karel was doing. When I saw that Karel was riding a more normal speed, I did feel better that he would be able to ride more comfortably by choosing his own gears to change throughout the race. I notified our team (on our private Facebook team page) that Karel had a mechanical but I wanted it to come from him to explain to our athletes what had happened, especially since we still needed to speak to an official.

After my run, I returned back to the condo, showered and ate, watched more of the live coverage and continued to track Karel. Although he was making good progress on the course, he continued to move back in places. This told me that something was not right. When I looked at this split paces compared to other athletes, I knew something was wrong. He was still moving much faster than in the first few miles with only the easy gear but far slower than what he is capable of riding. I tried not to think much of it and I was just counting down the hours until he got off the bike.

As Karel was getting closer to the transition area, his time was not bad but it could have been so much faster. On a record setting day with no wind, I knew something was not right as he was nearing 180ish place off the bike. 

T2
Karel had a quick transition and was relieved to be off his bike with his feet on the ground. The temperature was heating up but I had no idea what was going on with Karel. Why was he riding somewhat fast if he only had one easy gear but also so slow compared to what he could have ridden?

26.2 mile run
When I saw Karel running on Kuakini before heading to the out and back section on Ali’i drive, I gave him a big cheer. He quickly told me that the battery stopped working again and he only had one gear for most of the ride. Later on, Karel told me that the battery only worked for about 20 miles and luckily, when the battery died, he was in the big chain ring. It was still an easy gear and on any other typical Kona day, it may have been fine with wind but on a day that required a lot of resistance on the chain, he was forced to pedal at a very high cadence just to keep the momentum going. But with every climb, the gear was too heavy, which forced him to get out of the saddle a lot and to use a very slow cadence to get over some of the hills. This was a very poor way to ride the course, not to mention the mechanical and cardio fatigue that occurred for over 90 miles. He had a lot of low moments during the ride as he was helpless being passed by so many athletes. He refused to quit and tried to make the best of the decision and adjust his position or figure out the best way to gain speed (or make it “easier” when climbing) whenever possible.  In addition, he still focused on good nutrition but because of this very inefficient riding style, his body was under a lot more stress compared to if he would be able to ride at his preferred cadence (around mid 80’s) and change his gears.

After I saw Karel on the run, I yelled to him “Put together a run that you will be proud of!” and that seemed to stick with him as he was running really well, with good form and at a great pace. Again, I had no idea how much the ride took out of his legs and heart but I knew my mission for the day was to keep him going. Karel isn’t a quitter but it’s easy to give into the thoughts in your head that it’s not worth it – especially on what was turning into an extremely hot marathon run at the Ironman World Championship.

I rode my bike (without the ability to change gears – since I had Karel’s dead battery) on one of the side roads so I could see Karel once more on Ali’i drive. I rode on the opposite side of the road, took a few pictures and a video but didn’t say anything to him.

I knew he needed to get into a good place with his rhythm (and thoughts) so I just tried to be invisible. After a half mile of watching Karel run, I turned around and made my way to the top of Palani to wait for Karel once more. 

When I saw Karel running up Palani (the steepest hill on the course, occurring this year -with the new course-around mile 7-8ish), I told him that he is running one of the fastest paces at this point in the marathon. Even though it was not possible to pass 150+ people over the next 20 miles, I wanted Karel to know that he was still having a good race. And most of all, I wanted to make sure Karel still felt like he was racing. The bike was now in the past and the focus was on getting him to the finish line with the best run that he could put together on the day. 

Karel said that the run was incredibly hard – one of the hardest Ironman marathons that he has ever run. It was so hot out there and there was no cloud cover. He had no idea of his pace or overall run time as the focus was on running from one aid station to the next, walking through the aid stations and taking care of himself with ice/water and then surviving to the next aid station. Karel was later shocked when I told him that he ran a 3:15 marathon and moved from 181st to 82nd. With the wind at his face as he got closer to the new entrance of the energy lab, it started to get very hot and very tough for Karel. Despite his body breaking down and his mind exhausting, something inside of him kept him going.

Although Karel slowed down (as everyone does in the marathon), he was still putting together solid splits according to the tracer. I was just so proud of Karel for what he had overcome and how he was able to still run so well. 

I went back to the condo to tell Karel’s mom to head outside to watch Karel finish and I made my way to the bleachers to capture Karel crossing the finish line. As Karel made his way over the finish line, I could tell he was completely empty – mentally and physically. What a day.

Post race
I made my way to the patio area by the pool where I stood to meet Karel in the morning. Thankfully, our friend Livingston was volunteering and snapped a picture of Karel and called me so I could talk to Karel. Karel was absolutely exhausted and told me that he just wanted to lay in the grass for a while and go to sleep. I told him to take his time and that I would meet him when he was ready. Livingston wouldn’t let Karel fall asleep so he stayed with Karel until he was able to get up. Karel went to the bathroom, rehydrated a little (no appetite to eat) and about 20-30 min after he finished, he hobbled his way to me. I told him that I was so proud of him and he said that was the hardest thing he had ever done. As we were walking, I wanted to bring up the battery swap but I hesitated as I knew Karel was lacking some brain cells to think. Once Karel started to talk a little more (although clearly disappointed), I mentioned about us needing to talk to someone about my outside assistance. Karel agreed and said he was thinking the same thing. Neither one of us could live with this scenario if we didn't tell an official. Even though my battery didn’t technically help Karel (he still rode 90 miles on one gear), it was still outside assistance and we always want to play fair and by the rules. Plus, we feel that being a good role model for our athletes and having integrity for the sport means doing the right thing.

Although the day was not as Karel planned, the goal shifted from being top ten to finishing and Karel was just so relieved to have crossed that finish line.  Even if he was disqualified, he just wanted to finish what he started and to know that he never gave up on himself. It was not about proving anything to anyone or getting kudos for his performance but more about racing for himself and doing the best that he could out there. Karel really appreciated that I told him to put together a run that you can be proud of for he carried that with him for the entire run. He didn’t come all this way and train this hard just to give up on himself. More so, his bike was still functional, even with one gear so he wanted to pay respect to the sport and do what others would love to do – even with only one gear.

After we made our way back to our place, Karel was feeling super nauseous. He took a shower and laid down in bed. Unable to eat anything, we started with some soup and over the next 2 hours, his appetite slowly came back. His mom was super proud of him.

Nearing 7pm (when athletes can start checking out their bikes), Karel mentioned that he was feeling ok enough to walk around. We both wanted to find the head bike official (Jimmy Riccitello) as soon as possible as we wanted to take care of this situation for we both didn’t feel good about it.

Karel and I slowly walked to the King K hotel (official race hotel) and went to a room (Lost and Found) to see if we could locate Jimmy. The volunteer we spoke to was very confused. The convo went like this.

Karel “I’d like to speak to the head bike official about a situation on the bike course.”
Volunteer “OK, is this about another athlete?”
Karel “No, it’s about myself.”
Volunteer “ Did another athlete do something?”
Karel “No, I’d like to disqualify myself.”
Volunteer “Are you sure?"
Karel "Yes.”

We waited over an hour for Jimmy to be found (during that time Karel collected his bike and gear bags as I waited in the room) and once he came, we told him the entire situation of what happened. Jimmy was a bit speechless as he couldn’t believe that Karel wanted to disqualify himself at the Ironman World Championship. Jimmy said that he really appreciated the honesty and that he would write down Karel’s number in case anyone complained about what they saw but in all fairness, he didn’t feel that Karel was deserving of a disqualification. He told us that although it is outside assistance, it was not something that was planned to help Karel gain the competitive edge and I was not offering Karel something that he could use as an advantage over his other competitors. We expressed several times that we felt like it was the right thing to do, Jimmy took note of it but didn’t feel it was worthy of a DQ. We thanked him for allowing us to share the situation and he thanked us for being honest about the situation. I think he was a bit taken back by it all and a little speechless.

Afterward, Karel got back his appetite in full force and wanted a burger and fries so we picked one up outside of a restaurant (Karel only managed to eat half) and headed back to our condo.

It was a very emotional, exhausting and tough day for Karel but he is incredibly happy that he finished. He said even if the bike would take him 7 hours, he was going to finish the race. While Karel had to deal with more than he had planned to deal with over the course of 140.6 miles, he is heading back home with a finisher medal that means more to him than any finish time or finishing place. Onward and upward we go.

Thank you for your support and for reading. 

IM Kona '18 Race Report - Quick Recap

In sport, every athlete is seeking that perfect race. The race where everything goes smoothly, the weather is perfect or your strengths outweigh your weaknesses compared to your competition. 

The "perfect race" scenario played out for many athletes at the 2018 Ironman World Championship. Records were broken, PR's were set and dreams came true for many athletes. Crossing a 140.6 mile finish line should never be taken for granted and even for those who did not reach personal goals, the achievement of crossing the Ironman World Championship line is now embedded into the memory bank of every athlete.

Karel did not have his perfect race. For the first time ever, Karel had a mechanical issue on the bike. His electronic shifting was not working as soon as he left T1....less than 75 minutes into the race. Six years of riding with electronic shifting and never has he had an issue. Talk about bad luck. Because of this, Karel could not change his gears. He was stuck in an easy gear with 112 miles of riding ahead of him. Because of the calm winds, this was a day where having "big" gears would allow you to ride fast. Karel is not angry or making excuses. He actually blames himself as he clipped the wire to his Di2 as he was packing his bike before our Kona trip two weeks ago, and secured the wire with electrical tape. He's done this in the past and it worked out and even this time around, he had no issues with his bike over the past two weeks. However, with the massive downpour on Friday night, the taped wires were impacted by the rain (otherwise, the wires/battery is just fine in the rain) and it drained the battery overnight. Karel did not realize this until he tried to change his gear at mile 0.1 of his upcoming 112 mile bike ride.

Whereas it would be easy to dwell on the could have, would have and should haves, Karel is very proud of what he overcame to reach the finish line. 

You see, when an athlete has a perfect race, he/she is instantly rewarded with the feeling of satisfaction and gratitude. There's nothing wrong with that and as a coach (and athlete), the "perfect" race is worth chasing. However, things don't always have to go as planned to achieve the perfect race. More so, if you are hoping to have a perfect race every time you race, you'll likely be disappointed far more than you'll be satisfied. Does this mean that you should give up on chasing your goals because the odds are against you in having that perfect race?

Sport can be cruel and unpredictable but it's important that when you lose, you don't lose the lesson. In other words, giving up because of a mistake, failure or low moment teaches you nothing. Sure, when things don't go as planned, it's ok to be emotional, upset or disappointed, but when you give up, you immediately lose the opportunity to overcome whatever set you back and learn from the situation. And more importantly, learn more about yourself.

If an athlete always has a "perfect" race, he/she never gets the opportunity to learn the important lessons that sport teaches us. If your natural response to unfavorable "perfect" race scenarios (ex. bad weather, tough/fast competition, mechanical issue, nutrition issue, etc.) is to give up, you ingrain the habit of giving up when the going gets tough.

While no athlete should sacrifice health in an effort to get to the finish line, many athletes give up when things don't go as planned - even though the body still has the ability to move forward. These pressure cooker situations often emotionally break athletes and throw them off their game and thus, the immediate reaction is to give up due to excuses, negative thinking and the thought that continuing "isn't worth it." But when you give up, you also give up on any chance that you have to have a good outcome. For any outcome is better than not finishing what you started.

No athlete trains or hopes for race day issues, whether it's physical, mental or mechanical/gear related. But these things are bound to happen. Especially if you are racing for 140.6 miles.  When you give up, you give up on your effort, the progress you made and on the possibility for a comeback.

In contrast, if you try to see the best in the situation or try to fix the situation, you at least give yourself a chance that something good may happen. And that's something you can be proud of. Every athlete is bound to have race day issues. It's not about IF those issues will happen but how you respond to them. While you may not reach your race day goals with a setback, you can cross that finish line with satisfaction, excitement, confidence and gratitude that you are a tenacious competitor who always finds a way to persevere, no matter what the day gives you.

Although Karel did not have his perfect race, he was given the race day scenario that provided him with the perfect platform to show his mental resilience and integrity to the sport. 

Karel started the day off with a phenomenal swim showcasing his continued improvements with his swim fitness. Despite a bike performance that costed him a lot of mechanical fatigue due to having to spin at a very high cadence (115-120 rpm at times versus his normal mid-80 rpm cadence) or riding with an extremely heavy gear when there was a climb (often standing for the entire climb), Karel was able to pass over 100 athletes in his age group on the run (185th place to 82nd place out of 266). While it wasn't his fastest marathon run off the bike, he suffered a lot during the run and never gave up on himself to put together the best performance possible on the day, with the scenario that he was given. 

Karel's Race Results: 
2.4 mile swim: 1:04.45 (course PR)
T1: 3:01
112 mile bike: 5:17.27
T2: 4:13
26.2 mile run: 3:15.50
Total: 9:45.15
11x Ironman finisher
3x IM Kona finisher

Ironman Austria '18 Race Report - 2.4 mile swim

2.4 mile swim

With two previous great swim performance at Ironman Austria (my first 1-hour swim and first sub 1-hour swim of 57 minutes), a little part of me was looking forward to a fast swim but a big part of me was wondering - will my body know what to do for 2.4 miles? I tried to clear those thoughts and just focus on the present moment and to not jump ahead with any thoughts on the outcome. This is the reason why I don’t wear a watch when I swim in races as I don’t want a time to get into my head or dictate how my day will go or is going.

When I got to the first buoy, I settled into a good rhythm. Because of the rolling start, there were not clumps of athletes but I always found myself next to other swimmers. Thankfully it wasn’t sunny out (very overcast) so this helped with sighting. Plus, I always wear a fresh new pair of goggles for an Ironman which makes for fog-free swimming. The water felt a bit choppy at times but I found a good rhythm and really focused on my stroke and grabbing the water and moving myself forward. I was able to swim side by side by a few fast swimmers but I also found myself passing a lot of athletes. Even thought Karel and I started somewhat together in the water, I didn't focus on his race or try to swim with him.

Many times when I swim, I find myself by another swimmer who is veering of course and swimming into me but I don’t let these things suck the energy out of me. Most of the time I just laugh and think “dude – where are you going?” Whenever I found myself thinking how far I still had to swim, I just rerouted my thoughts to focusing on getting from one buoy to the next, imaging myself in the pool covering distance like I was swimming continuous 100 yards.

Once I made the first left hand turn (keeping buoys on my left), I found myself drifting away from the course. I felt like I was having to counteract this push by swimming at a diagonal just to get myself back on course. Finally I made my way back on the course by the buoys. I don’t like to swim too close to the buoys as it is usually more cluttered and harder to keep my swimming rhythm so I am ok to swim a little out from the buoys but this time I felt way too far. It only took a few minutes of swimming before I found myself back on course. Once I made the next/last turn, it was time to swim straight to the canal. The water was getting a lot more choppy but I felt myself getting stronger with each stroke as if my body was finally waking up. There were plenty of buoys on the course which made it easy to sight. I warmed up nicely in the water but oddly, I got a little cold on the way to the canal – it lasted only a few buoys and then I warmed up again.

I typically like to build my effort as the swim distance progresses in a half or full distance Ironman so once I entered the canal for the last 1000 meters, I really picked up the effort. I love swimming in this canal as it makes me feel like I am in a pool as I can see myself moving forward with lots of spectators cheering on both sides and on the bridges that we swim underneath. The canal is rather shallow but deep enough to take a full swim stroke (at least for me and my 5-foot frame). It’s quite the swimming experience!

I had plenty of room in the canal as it wasn’t too packed when I got there so I could really focus on my own rhythm. Once I saw the two big orange buoys to signal that we were at the end of the course, I started to make my way to the right to make a hard right turn to the swim exit. My immediate thought when I was pulled out of the water by the volunteers to get on the ramp to exit the swim was that my swim didn’t feel super fast- I was guessing I swam around 1:01-1:02 as it just felt like a slow swim because of the chop, me getting slightly off course and my body taking some time to wake-up in the water. Of course, I was just guessing as I had no way of knowing my swim time without a watch (and no clock at the swim exit) but that’s what it felt like. But once I started running to make my way to the transition area (it’s a loooong way to run), I felt the energy from the crowd and it felt good to be out of the water and on my way to my bike.

T1
At Ironman Austria, all athletes share the same "changing" tent so there is no men and women’s changing area (unless you do need to change/get naked and then you can go behind a curtain wall). Because of this, the tent is much busier than I am use to in the states - which it is nice to have so many athletes around as it reminds me that we are all in this journey together. I also saw several ladies around which reminded me how competitive the field is here in Austria. There were lots of volunteers and I had a nice lady helping me out as I transitioned from swim to bike. She put on my bib belt for me around my waist (required to be worn on the bike on your back) as I put on my compression socks and helmet. I opted to wear compression socks instead of socks + calf sleeves as I often get blisters from wearing the socks + sleeves combo while racing. This required me to take off my chip to put on my compression socks (I didn't want to put the socks over my chip as I was worried it would be too tight) but I put the chip in my mouth just to make sure I wouldn’t forget to put it back on (versus lying it on the bench).

Instead of putting on my cycling shoes in the tent, I carried them with me to my bike which was in the very last row before the bike exit. The transition area is really long! But first, before running to my bike, I made a quick trip to the bathroom. I’ve learned from many Ironmans that it’s much better to use the transition area to empty yourself versus needing to go when on the bike or run. Let’s just call it being proactive versus reactive. Once I got to my bike, I turned on my bike computer and put on my cycling shoes by my bike and ran my bike out to the mount line and started my ride. I was really looking forward to the bike as I wanted to showcase my improved cycling fitness and skills. I couldn’t help but smile when I noticed that Karel’s bag and bike (on the same rack as mine) was gone before I arrived which meant he once again beat me out of the swim. I'm ok with this so long as it's only by seconds and not minutes. 😁 

2017 Season Recap - Marni and Karel

It's easy to confuse perfection with success.

For many athletes, there's a constant allure that the more perfect you are with your training and diet - if you do everything "right" - success will come your way.

If you ask any "successful" athlete about his/her road to success, there's a 99% chance that he/she will tell you that true success involves taking risks and it also involves failure. The best part about failing is that it gives you an opportunity to learn from the given situation and not being perfect means that you are always learning and there is room for improvement.

In looking back at our 2017 racing season, Karel and I both feel that it was a very successful season of racing. While there were some less than ideal situations that we faced before and on race day, we have learned all too well that you don't have to have a perfect race for it to be a successful race.

With the 2018 triathlon racing season awaiting us, I thought it would be a great time to reflect on our 2017 season.

Great Clermont Triathlon
Marni - 1st overall female - 2:21.47
Karel - 2nd overall male - 2:08.16

                                

"Good things come when you least expect them."

After 3.5 rewarding and exhausting days of non-stop training, education and supporting our campers at our All-Levels Clermont camp, we concluded the camp with the Great Clermont Olympic distance triathlon. This was a no-stress race for our athletes (and for us) to dust off the rust and to be in the race environment. We had a blast racing with our athletes to conclude our training camp and the results were just an added bonus.

IM 70.3 Florida 

Marni - 1st AG (35-39), 3rd overall female - 4:48.08*
Karel - 3rd AG (40-44) - 4:19.46*
*IM 70.3 World Championship qualified

"No expectations. No disappointments."
For some reason, I was incredibly nervous for this race. A new age group for me and my first time racing on this course. It had been a long time since I had raced in an Ironman branded half ironman event so I knew the competition would be fierce for this early season race. Karel, on the other hand, had no nerves and he felt no pressure to perform. With a few Trimarnis out racing with us, we had a lot of fun out on this course and can't wait to head back in April of 2018. Since I was dedicated my entire season to half Ironman distance racing and hoping to qualify for the 70.3 World Championships at St. George, this was a nice surprise to kick-start my season. Karel ran a speedy 1:24 on the course (run time) and for the first time, he placed top three in an IM branded half IM event and also earned his spot to the 70.3 WC.

Ironman 70.3 St. George
Marni - 1st AG - 5:04.41*
Karel - 3rd AG - 4:32.23*
*IM 70.3 World Championship qualified

"Challenges are not set to destroy you but to challenge you."

St. George had been on our bucket list for a long time. We were so excited to finally experience this challenging course. As a key Trimarni race, we were equally excited to share the experience with eleven of our athletes. The course lived up to its hype and we will be returning back to St. George in 2018 for another chance to tackle the course and to experience all of the beauty that St. George (and the community) has to offer us triathletes. Karel and I were happy to land on the podium again (a repeat of IM 70.3 Florida 4 weeks prior) but the best part was winning the division 5 category for the Tri Club rankings!

Mountains to Mainstreet
Cancelled race due to weather

"You may not end up where you thought you were going, but you will always end up where you are meant to be."

Well that sucked. We selected Mountains to Mainstreet as a key Trimarni event as a way to bring our athletes to Greenville so that they could experience our amazing cycling routes. Sadly, Mother Nature had other plans for us with a nasty storm on race day morning. We couldn't let all that pre-race pizza go to waste so we all headed out to the Swamp Rabbit Trail for a wet and soggy run on part of the M2M run course. In looking back, maybe it was meant to be for me not to race as my legs needed a good 3.5 weeks to fully recover from St. George. We felt bad for all of our athletes who traveled to Greenville for the race but I'd like to think that this only made them hungrier for their next race.

Ironman Lake Placid 
Karel - 3rd AG - 9:41.35*
*Ironman World Championship qualified

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."

Karel was ready for his return to Lake Placid after his planned DNF after the bike, in 2015, due to his torn plantar. Lake Placid holds a special place in our heart as it is where we raced our first Ironman together in 2013. The lead-up to Placid was going great until Karel found himself with a very bad sickness that knocked him out for several days during his taper (a week out from the race). With the help of some homemade potato and garlic soup (his mom's recipe for when he was sick as a child), Karel was able to improve his health by the time that we arrived to Placid. There was a lot of uncertainty for the day but Karel didn't overthink the race. It was a gusty performance and somehow, Karel managed to get to the finish line and land on the podium. He also managed to land inside the medical tent (no IV's needed, just lots of rest and broth) as he was completely depleted and exhausted from giving what he could, with what he had, on race day. It was great to share the race experience with our Trimarnis out on the course. Karel declined his IM Kona slot as we are planning to return to Kona in 2018 so the slot rolled down to Karel's friend Roman who traveled to Placid all the way from Czech! 

Lake Logan Half Ironman
Marni - 3rd overall female - 4:53.10

"Some days you just have to create your own sunshine."

As another key Trimarni race, I was super excited to return back to Lake Logan for another opportunity to race on this extremely challenging course. Although a beautiful bike course, there's nothing easy about the course as it beats up your legs before a 2 loop, up and down run. Knowing that there would be some competition out on the course (my good friend Katie Morales), I was excited for the opportunity to race to defend my overall win title (even though I knew that Katie would take that title from me). To summarize the day, I felt very flat on the bike and it was frustrating. Although I was able to put together a very strong run off the bike, I just didn't have it. Oh well. I was pleased to finish 3rd overall female and to have this race behind me as my next focus was my big race of the year - the Ironman 70.3 World Championship.

Ironman 70.3 World Championship

Marni - DNS
Karel - 8th AG

                                    

"Never give up on something that you can't go a day without thinking about."

With my entire season devoted to this one race, using the word disappointed would be an understatement. After smashing my face on the floor on race day morning due to blacking out quickly after getting out of bed, I not only felt sad about missing this race but I also was concerned about my health. Luckily, after lots of testing, I was cleared to return back to racing but without another race on my schedule. Karel had no pressure for worlds as his focus was on Ironman Chattanooga just two weeks later. Surprisingly, the course suited him very well and he shocked himself by placing 8th in his AG. It was a fantastic way to finish the weekend despite me not being able to race. Thanks to Karel's good thinking, I registered for Ironman Chattanooga (foundation entry) as my comeback race. While I didn't train specifically for Ironman Chattanooga, it felt so right to be racing an Ironman as my last race of the season.

Ironman Chattanooga
Marni - Female amateur champion, 1st AG - 10:28.50*
Karel - 2nd amateur male, 3rd overall, 1st AG - 9:20.55*

   *Ironman World Championship qualified      

"Good vibes, positive energy and amazing souls are all I ever want around me."

Words can't describe how great it felt to start and finish Ironman Chattanooga. We had 14 other Trimarnis racing, including 2 first timers and I had some unfinished business in Chattanooga to take care of. I was super excited for Karel and that I could be on the same course as his first AG win and oh-so-close to finishing 1st overall male. I was shocked beyond belief to have won my first Ironman as an amateur as it's something that I have been dreaming of and was a big goal of mine for 2018. A big thank you to my body for allowing me to do amazing things with it on race day. The IM Chatty run course was so challenging, especially with the heat, but I had a reason to finish what I started despite all the pain and hurt that comes with Ironman racing. Karel accepted his slot to Kona (as that was his plan for the season) whereas I declined my spot so that another deserving female in my age group could experience racing on the big island of Kona. I'll be returning to Kona as a spectathlete!

Hincapie Gran FondoMarni - 3rd overall female
Karel - Finished 

"The mountains are calling and I must go."

Nothing makes me happier than riding my bike in the mountains, especially in and around Greenville. Although a fun event in Greenville, I was excited to "race" the Hincapie Gran Fondo with Karel as my domestique to pull me along. It was so much fun to suffer with Karel and I felt strong throughout the entire 80-mile (8,000 feet of elevation gain) route, all while tackling three of our difficult climbs (and everything else in between). What a great way to end the season!


Along with our races, we put on 4 training camps this summer. It was a lot of work but so rewarding and fun!

Clermont - March (all levels)


Greenville - May (skills camp)


Greenville - June (endurance camp)

Greenville - August (advanced camp)

Onward to 2018........

Karel and I like to set big goals in early season in an effort to keep the motivation high throughout the upcoming year. However, we never want to lose the fun and passion of this hobby so all goals come with no pressure or extreme changes in our lifestyle.

For next year, Karel's "big goals" are to get close to the 9-hour mark at Ironman Austria and to try to place top-10 at IM Kona. He realizes that the Kona goal is a big stretch goal but it's something that means a lot to him and hopes to one day achieve it.

For next year, my "big goals" are to break 10-hours at Ironman Austria and to place overall female amateur at Ironman Wisconsin. Although I can't control who shows up and what will happen on race day, these two goals are getting me super excited for my 12th consecutive season of triathlon training and racing.

Thanks for reading!