Ironman Florida Race Report

A Ten Year Dream Come True 

2nd in AG

  IMFL has been on my short list since I started doing IM 10 years ago. My intuition said it was the race for me. I love it hot & salty. But over the years, different people (coaches) discouraged me from doing it, saying it was a course for “the fast runners” suggesting I was not a fast runner. So instead, I chose races with big hills, CDA, Wisconsin, Chattanooga & Cozumel. (ok Coz has no hills, that was for a vacation). IMFL would be #5.

  This year, to celebrate my 40th birthday, I signed up for IMFL. Not with the hope of KQ, but just to do it. Bucket list item & all, having  totally forgotten that 10 years ago, after my first IM, I pledged to have a “10 year plan to qualify for Kona by the time I turned 40”.

    Stephen, my husband signed up as well. So, this is the first IM that we have trained for & raced together in the same year. All the others, we have alternated years. Our 2 girls Alexa (20) & Emma (13) put up with our crazy training lives. It’s what we do, it’s IM life. We even have a 13 year old dog named KONA.

  In May, Jenny & James DeLong, Stephen & myself, went to PCB to do Gulf Coast Half Distance triathlon as a training day for upcoming CHOO 70.3. Somehow, I placed 1st in AG. James also got on the podium in his 1st 70.3 distance race!! This win sparked a fire, and the thought of, what if…? So, I reached out to a fellow coach who collaborated with me on some Ironman Training Camps; Slayer from Tri Coach Georgia, about the possibility & what it would take to dig deep for  KQ at IMFL. And from there, together, we turned my life upside down.

TriCoachGeorgia & FX Multisport CHOO Camp

Coach Slayer & I at CHOO Camp

 The summer was a full one. 2 weeks after Gulf Coast 70.3, my races included Chattanooga 70.3 where I placed well, Ironman Steelhead 70.3, 10th AG, Augusta 70.3, 2nd AG & qualified for a Chattanooga 70.3 Worlds Championship slot.

Early Morning Training Rides with Stephen & James

    Training was intense during the hottest summer in history here in the deep south. My weekly run & bike volume steadily increased under the close watch of Coach Slayer. Every day began with a few minutes of quiet meditation and visualization. Every night was recovery focused to ward off injury. Listening to my body and mindfulness was key to performance. This included spending hours on the yoga mat with my recovery tools & frequent visits to Ron Reading & Virginia Lee for sports massage as well as biweekly PT at Summit Physical Therapy, to keep my SI joint aligned. Another key element to keeping healthy: Dr. Adair of McCallie Chiropractic. All of this, along with a weekly yoga sesh kept the niggles at bay.

   Big thanks to Richard Rogers & Jay Martin for their weekly open water swims on White Lightning. Every Wednesday night during the summer, we would swim the Tennessee River, the Ironman Chattanooga swim course. It was a highlight of the journey.

Swimming CHOO course on Wed nights

   Another large part of this journey involved physical changes. I needed to run lighter. With the help of fellow coach & friend Spartacus, we shed >20 lb of excess weight. Daily nutrition is an integral part of performance and must not be under appreciated.

WHERE THE RACE REPORT BEGINS

Prerace Pinapple Willies

 Friends Jenny & James DeLong (also a coach for FX Multisport) joined Stephen & I in Florida for a weekend of Ironman racing. Jenny, was the MOST AMAZING race sherpa in all of sherpa history. I actually avoided the flu shot at work, because it makes me ill & received a mandatory suspension & class 2 write up for not getting it. But that is a whole nother story.

So, I came into this race 80% healthy. 2 days before we left Chattanooga, I was diagnosed with a mild rotator cuff tear of the right shoulder, a bone spur & bursitis. Emergency text to the amazing PA Ryan Bowman & he had me seen & treated in just a few hours!! Apparently my bone structure is misaligned causing issues from all the swimming. Because I had been having shoulder pain for weeks, I had significantly cut back on my swim volume. Other than that, my body felt ready to race. A little runner's knee & some moderate hip pain; all part of the journey of an aging athlete.

Jenny, the Sherpa Fairy

  We entered race registration on Thursday, AWA allowed me to bypass the long lines. Cruised the expo & enjoyed the venue. This IS my favorite IM venue. What’s not to love?? The vibe is excellent; Sun, wind, salt, ripped up athletes & big smiles. It’s ALL GOOD!!! Met some cool peeps: Chance Regina from Fusion Sports who made my beautiful kit, Jason from Orr Wheels who sponsors TCG, Matt Miller from Base Salts & fellow Team Betty sisters, including Audra at Normatech. Thank you Audra for the VIP ticket! I gave it to our Sherpa Supreme Jenny DeLong & she enjoyed it.

Bike Check in

Susan Haag #100 IM!!

Getting the bags right

  

 Friday: Prerace: we did our swim bike run brick. I had the honor of meeting Susan Haag. She is the first woman to complete 100 Ironman distance races. What a woman & also a Team Betty sister!! 

The water conditions were epic. Crystal clear water, big fat jellies & we could see the bottom of the ocean 600 yards off the beach. Pre-race fueling consisted of a breakfast of LoadAbar & a lunch of  homemade rice bowl with 1 avocado, 2 fried eggs in butter, 4 slices of turkey bacon & a liter of coconut water. We all went out to dinner at FireFly, where I ordered a side of mashed potatoes water & everyone gave me a hard time while they enjoyed their AMAZING dinners. (highly recommend this joint) I really wanted the filet & a martini, but some sacrifices need to be made at times. This was not my first rodeo & I played it safe. Had an Isagenix protein shake when I got home before bed. We enjoyed some pre race banter on the balcony, stressed about the weather, wind & water temp… will it or won't it be wetsuit legal? In bed by 9pm. Slept good!!

Sunset Over the IMFL Swim Course

   Saturday: We stayed at the Shores of Panama; ½ mile from Transition, so we walked down together & set up our bike nutrition, dropped off  special needs bags (didn’t touch them during the race).WHAT A JUNK SHOW!!!! It was almost a riot trying to get into transition. People pushing their way in & out, almost like a mass swim start! The nervous energy was insane!

My special needs bag consisted of 2 Mountain Dews, a spare tube, 1 pair of socks.

   When we headed to the beach where we were stoked to find it would be a wetsuit legal day!! HOORAYYY!!! Headphones on: SOD= Rise by Katy Perry. Arms sharpied with mantras.

Head in the game. The 4 of us gathered for a quick prayer, hugs & we were off. Jenny, again was most excellent sherpa, taking all of our morning clothes & gear.

Big Day Ahead!

 Swim: Lined up in the corral with the 1:11 swimmers. Swim was pretty perfect, despite the big rollers. Kicked & got kicked, all part of the game. Noticed people cutting the swm course, & not staying outside the turn buoys, & thought that was crappy of them. But, not my problem. At one point of the 1st lap, I was all alone, had to ask the coast guard if I was going the right way (it was sunrise & I was blinded by the light) They said, not really & pointed me in the right direction.

Swimming is not my strength, but during the swim I felt strong, calm and happy. There was a force of strength within me that I had not experienced before. Whenever my mind started to wonder I would repeat the words KO-NA with each stroke. As I exited & re-entered the water, I saw Stephen was about 5 people ahead of me & I yelled hello with a big smile. 2nd lap was about the same except I was able to see the buoys better & stay on course. Exited with a swim time of 1:14. Lot’s of people said it was a tough swim. It was, but hey, it’s Ironman & we didn’t have a mass swim start, so, not so bad. I did see some jelly fish about as big as me, glad there were no JAWS. Pushing my way through a bunch of people who were lollygagging on the way through T-1; WTH are you all doing? 7th in AG at this point.

Rolling Swim Start

 T-1: AMAZING Volunteers. My helper informed me that 12-15 ladies were ahead of me. She was excellent. We put on compression socks after cleaning the salt & vaselining my feet/ not an easy task. Grabbed my stuff & headed out in a jog. T time 8:03. I took my time to get it right.

   Bike: It was windy with a strong Nor'easter that had settled upon us. I was riding a Cervelo P3 from East Ridge Bicycles, rear Flo disc from Jack McClarty, one of my athletes had lent me. Big thanks to Garth Mansfield & his crew from East Ridge for pampering me & my bike. They get it right every single time!!!!

   My pacing plan was very specific to power. I did not even wear a HR monitor. So despite with the heavy wind, I stuck to Slayer’s plan. It was humbling at times. No women passed me. I avoided the drafting, wanting a clean honest race. Stayed aero 99% of the time. The wind gusts were severe at times, blew a few people right off the road. Bike nutrition consisted of water, Base Salt every 5 miles, Ucan at mile 30 & 70, then 2 gels after that. Bike time 5:31:23 & 4th in AG. 

The Fusion speed suit was awesome, grabbed water from each aid station & showered in it. The whole time my mantra were the lyrics to RISE. “Victory is in my veins”, also, I prayed constantly, for my family, fellow athletes and felt the presence of my guardian angels, also “lovey”. Thanks MOM!!!

    T-2: 3:54. Pretty uneventful, incredible volunteers. Just can not say enough about how impressed I am with these volunteers. Shoes on, pockets dumped, race belt & visor on. As I was running out & saw TAZ & we ran together for a bit. The crowd support here is the best, so fun!

    Run: 3:40:27, ran into division rank #2.

During the 1st lap, Stephen Bentley, my past coach & friend for the last 10 years (he coached me for my first IM CDA 10 years ago as well as Wisconsin & CHOO) was there to cheer his GF on & gave me inspiration along the way.

Good friend & fellow coach Steven Bentley

Caught up with TAZ who was out having a good time & just kept running. Sherpa Jenny DeLong was there with music as well & updates. I did not walk at all. Sipped water from each aid station & at mile 10 started hitting the Coke. The run course is fantastic, lot’s of good energy out there with the spectators. Can I say again, this is my favorite race?!?!?!?!

Running with Taz

    

At mile 20, I was told that I was in 3rd place, so Taz was there to pace off of the next 2 miles. He was an amazing teammate, looking out for me, grabbing water, red bull for me, this is where the digging deep started. With 2 miles to go, Coach Slayer had one of his guys find me in the crowd & told me to DYJ & keep running!!

Running to the finish line

The thought that I may actually have a chance at KQ was hovering above my head, pushing me to run faster even though at this point, everything hurt. I wanted to hurl, hips, knees & feet were screaming. But that dream of a KQ drove me forward along with the good vibes from my teammates & the crowd. I was able to high five Stephen & James out there, they were killing it as well. The last 2 miles were pure adrenaline, pushing through the mass of athletes towards my goal. Crossed the finish line at 10:38:43, running into 2nd AG. How?!? Avg pace 8:24, last 2 miles at 7ish pace. Puked my guts out for 5 minutes immediately after they took my finisher pic. Taz, AKA Wes Hargrove was there with his family & they looked up my results right then & informed me that I in fact did place 2nd and THAT meant a KONA spot!!!! Thank you so much for that!! I had to give hugs all around, even though I was covered in puke, blood, sand, pee, salt & tears. I’m sure they were totally grossed out by that too. Sorry!

When a Plan Comes Together

    After a few minutes of aftershock, I stuck around & cheered for James & Stephen. They both finished with respected times. James in his 1st IM at 11 hours & Stephen PR’d 11:16. What a day!!!!

   Shout out to Garth Mansfield of East Ridge Bicycles for everything you do for me on the bike!!

LoAdebar for the amazing energy bars that helped fuel my day.

My wonderful family for putting up with my crazy dreams & plans.

Hubby Stephen for supporting me along the way.

Coach Slayer for getting me here (2 WQ in 1 season)

Jenny BFF for being the best Sherpa EVA!

Team Betty for all the good vibes from my Betty sisters. They were a huge inspiration to me this season.

Matt Miller & Base Salts for the on course support & fantastic products.

Base Salt Tent in the Paincave

Fusion Sports & Chance Regina for my beautiful speedsuit.

Brian Patterson AKA Spartacus for help with my nutrition.

Bless the hearts of my beautiful daughters Alexa & Emma who have put up with me this tough summer.

Also, to my parents, who I know, wish I would take up knitting and stay home, eat more food, cook & clean more, it finally paid off! You know how long & how hard I have worked & it was not all for nothing. I had the courage & dedication to pursue my dreams! And they came true!! I hope that can be an inspiration to someone, somewhere. Anything IS possible. But I could not have done it without the support of my loving family along with my triathlon family.

Awards Ceremony

   Sunday’s award ceremony was a memorable one. With my best friends in attendance, I was able to take the podium, my award and my Kona coin! (Jenny had to pay for the $999 when our CC security was too high) BFF comes through again!!!!! Best Day Ever!!

Going to Kona!!