Ironman 70.3 Puerto Rico - Katie's Race Report

Warning: This is rather lengthy. If you'd prefer to just look at pictures and race times/results, just keep scrolling.

SWIM

The sun wasn’t quite up yet when we arrived at the swim start at 6:35. I asked the volunteer holding my AG swim wave sign if we could do a practice swim. Nope. Alright – so much for that. The beginning of the race would be my warm up!

After some grappling, Zach helped me decide that I should wear my tinted goggles. I handed him all my stuff that needed to go in my morning clothes bag, we kissed and said, “See you at the finish!”

The pro men started at 6:50, and pro women at 6:55. I was in the first AG swim wave. After the pro women took off, we were corralled down to the water. I waded in, dolphin dived, and took a couple freestyle strokes out to the first buoy. That was all the swimming I got in. The water felt great. I think it actually may have been warmer than when I did my practice swim the day before. While setting up transition earlier in the morning, they announce the water temp was 80º.

While treading water waiting for the cannon to go off, all us ladies were chatting, and cheesing-it-up for the photographer taking photos of the start line from his kayak. One woman from Puerto Rico said she and her tri club go to the lagoon every Saturday morning to swim. That must be nice! 

The announcer said we had 30 seconds to go. The woman beside me said, “Good luck, ladies!” The girl behind me decided to share, “I had the shits all day yesterday. I think it was from the water. So, I’d recommend not drinking it!” And with that….BANG! The cannon went off! Nothing like beginning your swim with the ominous warning of not drinking the water. Great….

I had incorrectly seeded myself in the middle of the front line. Even though I’m not a fast swimmer, I have a hard time being a couple rows back – I think it’s a mental thing. In the first 200 yards or so, there was A LOT of contact, moreso than any other triathlon I’ve raced. I heeded the suggestion of another triathlete’s blog I read stating something along the lines of: ‘Instead of trying to kick harder to ward off everyone that’s hitting you, just relax and let it go. They’re not trying to hit you. You’re better off saving your energy.’

Things started to spread out fairly quickly, thank goodness. In other words: I started to fall to the back of my swim wave. Haha. I knew that would happen.

The sun was shining right in my face for the first part of the rectangular course. Thank you Zach for pushing me to second-guess myself and wear the tinted goggles. Much appreciated!

The rest of the swim was pretty uneventful with the exception of two things. 1.) I have had a head cold/chest congestion for the last 9 days. My congestion got really bad about 0.6 miles through the swim. With each breath, I could feel phlegm rattling in my chest (sorry – gross, but true). 2.) Apparently I didn’t apply enough body glide to my underarms. There was already serious chafing going on, and each stroke stung worse as the salt water seeped into the opening wound.

I did a lot of self-talk to myself. Enjoy this! You’re going to wish you were in this cool water while you’re on the run! Head down. Sight. Just keep breathing. Pull – head down – arm in – head down….get your freaking head down!

As I was swimming under the Dos Hermanos bridge, and soaking in the cheering from all the spectators, the waves from the ocean were becoming stronger, and I felt as though I might start to get a little motion sick. I somehow refocused myself and powered through – head strong – all the way to the swim exit. I graciously took the arm of a gentleman volunteer helping pull athletes out of the water. I glanced at my watch – 40 minutes & some change! Woohoo! I beat my first time goal! Very happy with that!

Time to bust out a 1/3 mile run to T1!

TRANSITION 1

While athletes were looking for their sneakers to run the 1/3 mile to T1, I just started hauling ass and running while unzipping my trisuit (that I used in place of a speedsuit). I flew past some people that were walking (it’s a race, people!) and just kept at it until I found my bike in Sixto Escobar Stadium. I took a rough survey – some girls in my AG were already out on the bike – not surprising. The swim is my weakest event.

I did a pretty quick transition, took an extra 10 seconds to douse myself in sunscreen (you’re welcome, Mom!), and ran to the bike mount line. I was very excited to get going on the bike and show the course what I was made of.

BIKE

This is the one part of the course that we didn’t have a chance to preview at all. From the elevation map and race briefing, I knew the course was flat, windy, and there may be iguanas (!) – either dead or alive – on the road out towards the end where we loop twice.

As is the norm, my heart rate was pretty high towards the first mile or two of the ride. Remembering my nutrition plan, I started eating my Luna bar. I’d eat a few pieces, drink some Skratch, and then go back for more. Well, turns out leaving your Bento box open between bites is not the best idea. While taking a sip of Skratch, a gust of wind (in addition to the 20mph pace I was pushing) came through, and blew my bag of salt tablets out onto the road. Do I go back? Do I not? Coach would say go back. Only 3 miles into the course and anxious to keep going, and not cause a scene pulling over/almost getting run over by bikers, I opted to keep going. Similar to when you take a wrong turn and the GPS can’t keep up, I had a moment of Recalculating….recalculating….

Lesson Learned #1: Do NOT keep your Bento box open! Shut immediately after use.

Lesson Learned #2: Keep salt tablets in your transition area as well! Funny, because I contemplated leaving some in T1/T2 just in case, and then I chose not to. Dumb.

All 10 of my salt tablets were in the bag I lost. I knew I would need a lot of electrolytes on the course, due to the heat and sun.

Plan B: Once finishing my 40oz of Skratch, I’d restock with a bottle of Gatorade from one of the aid stations. Not ideal, but I knew electrolytes were the name-of-the-game today.

I kept at it – enjoying the beautiful coastline, riding past the Bacardi distillery, and then into what I would soon come to realize was “iguana land.” I started to see (and smell!) lots of iguana roadkill. They weren’t kidding!!

It's pretty hard to beat this scenery! In other news....I need my bike fit adjusted.

Luckily, because I was in an early swim wave, there weren’t many people on the course yet. I could easily swerve to avoid the dead iguanas, rough patches on the road, and anything else.

About 10 miles in, a guy passed me on my left, and I could hear the official’s motorcycle coming up behind me. I watched as the biker continued to ride on the left, hugging the yellow line. The official crept behind him, and I wondered if he was going to get carded when BAM! The referee showed the dude a yellow card! There were definitely some words exchanged back and forth. Glad to see rules being enforced! Obviously the guy wasn’t very happy, but there were barely any other bikers around at this point. There was plenty of space on the right – no reason he should have been on that center line.

At 12 miles in, the male pros passed me going in the opposite direction. Pretty cool to see. They were just FLYING! I’m guessing maybe 26-27mph?

I stayed aero, kept pedaling, and drank whenever I felt thirsty (often!). About ½ mile from the first timing mat, I had just finished hammering a gel, and took some sips of water. While trying to put the water bottle back on my seat post bottle holder, I hit a bump right as I released my grip, and the bottle went flying onto the road behind me.

I DID stop for the bottle, because I knew I could seriously be SOL if I didn’t stop before I got back to an aid station.

I laid Jameson down on the shoulder of the road, and waited for oncoming bikers to clear up before I ran into the middle of the road, snatched the bottle, and got back on my bike. I was hoping to nail 20+mph by the time I hit the first timing mat, but the stop had dropped me from 20.1mph to 19.8 mph by the time I crossed over it.

There were several times I got passed by obvious peletons – 6-8 male bikers riding closely, flying past people, and completely ignoring the drafting rules. I wanted to yell at them, but knew it would be no use. At the end of the day, it’s their bike time that they have to live with knowing that they blatantly cheated the entire time. (and, sadly, I’m sure they don’t give a crap whether their ride was legal or not)

Around mile 20 I heard a “Katie!!!” only to look behind me and see Zach heading out on his first loop. I had been looking for him, and of course when I stopped looking, that’s when we went by each other. I’m glad one of us was paying attention!

About this time, I was also surprised to discover that I was entirely through my Speedfill. On the start of my second lap, I slowed at an aid station, grabbed Gatorade lemon-lime, and squeezed as much as I possibly could into my Speedfill before the bottle drop. I cut it with the rest of the water I had in my other bottle. I ended up with a diluted Gatorade mixture that tasted somewhat nasty, but I knew I needed the electrolytes due to the salt tablet incident.

Yeah....you know I like to cheese for the camera. :-P

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. I saw Zach again when I was around mile 45, as I was starting my ride back into town. I kept an eye on my watch and realized I just might make the 3 hour goal I set for myself. Heeding the warning of the race director and event coordinators, I tried to leave some “in the tank” for the ride back, knowing that I would be fighting headwinds. I also remembered them saying that the last 20 miles or so will be slower – so expect that. It’s true – I was between 15-18mph for the last bit of the ride.

With less than a mile to go, near the Dos Hermanos Bridge, I caught up to two girls in my age group – one of which had passed me around 10 miles into the ride. Not giving it too much thought, I gunned it, in hopes of getting a higher AG placement in the bike. I sped past them and didn’t look back.

It was great to pull into the final avenue, lined with cheering volunteers and spectators, and feel the energy. I had a clean dismount and run over the timing mat and into T2.

TRANSITION 2

This was pretty uneventful. Racked the bike, shoved a gel up the leg of my shorts, quickly reapplied sunscreen, and hit the Port-a-Potty for a quick pee. I gauged this as a good sign – that I had done a good job hydrating during the ride.

RUN

Lord, my legs hurt SO bad at the beginning of the run. The thought of just sitting on that Port-a-Potty instead of heading out on the run did actually occur to me. :-P

I ran out of T2 and soon found myself on the brick avenue lined with spectators and volunteers. The cheering was a great way to start off what I knew would be a brutal run. My legs and hip flexors were already feeling the ride, and the temperature was quickly rising. I heard someone yell “Go Katie!!” I was really confused at first. I didn’t know anyone here other than Zach! Then I realized my bib had my name on it. :-) Throughout the race there were volunteers and spectators yelling my name, which surprised me every time, but also was a great encouragement.

My 1 mile split was exactly the pace I wanted to be at for the entire race. Of course, each of my miles got slower from there. I only looked at my watch when it buzzed off another mile. I ran the 13.1 miles solely off RPE, which I think was the best way to do it. (I did check it after my first 10K, to see if I might still be on-track to finish in under 6 hours)

I stopped at Every. Single. Aid. Station. (for someone who has NEVER stopped at an aid station in a race, this is big for me!) The heat was sweltering. The sun was relentless. My legs and glutes ached. I grabbed cups of ice and dumped them down my sports bra and tri shorts. I alternated between sucking on ice and holding it on my wrists, in an effort to keep my core temperature down.

I also alternated getting a cups of Gatorade (gross….but electrolytes are important...) and cups of water. Either way, I always left each aid station by grabbing another cup of water solely to splash on my face.

Early in the run, I’d been running alongside another girl for a couple tenths of a mile. We started chatting around mile 2.5. She was from North Carolina, and after checking results, I discovered her name is Leah Carroll. She asked me, “Did you hear about the shooting?” Awestruck, I told her I knew nothing about it. She said she and others had to abandon their bikes and duck & cover. Really freaking scary. My immediate thought was that someone had targeted the race, like the Boston Marathon. But it wasn’t until later that evening that I got all the details of the shooting.

I broke away from Leah (who, in the end, would end up passing me about 8 miles in), and I continued running, mentally talking to myself, watching the other racers, and taking in the scenery. 

This is the face of PAIN. (but look at that scenery!!)

God Bless the volunteers – by the time I was on my last lap, with 6 miles to go, they had brought out giant jugs of water and were dumping them over peoples’ heads. A couple times I stood under one for a few seconds, before continuing on my run. Also helpful were spectators who lived along the course who had brought out their garden hoses to spray the racers with. Thank you! You made that big hill bearable! Additionally, there was a blow-up Gatorade-sponsored archway 1.5 miles into the course that had a light mist of water spraying. On my first lap, I had no idea what it was until I got closer. I got really excited when I saw it was spraying water…..when it’s 80º+, it’s the little things. :-)

I kept looking for Zach, and started to get worried. I should’ve seen him by now. I was at mile 10, on my way out of the “microwave” when I saw him! He was running (very good!) – not walking like lots of others – and I asked what mile he was at. 3 miles. He was surprised when I said I was in the homestretch –5K to go. I thought about him for the next mile, and really felt for him. I knew he’d be out on the course during the hottest part of the day, which was enough motivation for me to keep running and get across the freaking finish line!

About this time I looked at my watch and confirmed – I would definitely be finishing in under 6 hours! Woohoo!

At the turnaround, about to start out on the last 10K.

Throughout the entire run, especially during the last 10K, I required a lot of self-talk. Alright, you’re halfway done with the hills. You only have to run each one once more. Most people were walking up both hills, both times, but I vowed to myself, I didn’t come to Puerto Rico to walk the half-marathon. I stuck to it. I ran the whole…..damn….13.1. It wasn’t a pretty run, by any means. In fact, it’s probably the ugliest run I’ve ever done.

Miles 11-13.1 were especially difficult, and not helped by the fact that I had just seriously choked on some Gatorade at the last aid station.

I kept trucking, with the thoughts of cold showers dancing in my head. I took in my last run through the avenue of cheering people, and told myself to “suck it up” for the run up and over the bridge towards the finish line. While on the last hill, with the finishing chute in sight, two girls in my age group passed me. I looked at them in disbelief, and thought Really? You had to wait until the last 2/10ths of a mile to attack? You couldn’t be civil about it and get it over with earlier? The older guy running next to me said, “Well, that wasn’t very nice.” “No, it wasn’t,” and I picked it up a little.

At that point, I decided two things: 1.) I would rather be the pursuer than the prey! The latter is scary and unpredictable! 2.) The amount of additional pain that I would inflict trying to keep up with them wasn’t worth it. I was having the best race I could imagine, given all the circumstances, and y’know what? They could have it.

I kept my eyes on the finish line, grimaced through the pain of the downhill, and ran through the chute. I’ve never been so happy to be across a finish line in my life!

The two girls crossed the line 11 and 9 seconds ahead of me. I ended up 10^th in my AG, and was only 70 seconds away from 7^th place. 70 seconds separating 7^th-10^th place in a half-Ironman is pretty damn close, if you ask me!

In the end, I met all of my self-imposed time goals (swim, bike, and total time), except for my run time. It generally takes a lot for me to feel proud, but I can honestly say that I was proud of my first 70.3 performance!

Finish time: 5:52:22 (10th place F25-29)

Race nutrition:

30 minutes pre-swim: ½ Luna bar with water (couldn’t find the gel I planned to eat!)

Bike: 3 bottles of Skratch (condensed into 40oz instead of 48oz), ½ Luna bar, 3 Clif gels, 1/3 bottle Gatorade Lemon-Lime, 22 oz. water

Run: 4-5 cups of water, 2-3 cups of Gatorade

Total calories = ~860

In hindsight, I probably needed a gel towards the end of my run. I physically didn’t feel like eating it, but I did have it on-my-person, so it was an option. That said, I am sure I would have greatly benefited from not losing my salt tablets!

GOALS:

Swim goal: 42:00-45:00

Swim actual: 40:10 (2:04/100m) (17th AG)

Bike goal: 3:00-3:10

Bike actual: 3:00:21 (18.63mph) (8th AG)

Run goal: 1:48

Run actual: 2:05:26 (9:34/mi......ugh) (10th AG)

Total time goal: Under 6 hours

Total time actual: 5:52:22!!

Another finish to "add to the books!"