Race travels began Thursday morning after waiting for
furniture to be delivered. My husband was limited on vacation time so I
traveled by myself. In all honestly being by myself was probably a good thing.
I could clear my mind, do what I needed to do, and not feel guilty for sitting
in the hotel for hours while in a new town. So off I went by myself and it took
me all of 2 minutes into the drive when I remembered it was my mom’s birthday
and started crying. Then I put some podcasts on to distract my mind from
everything, took literally 5 stops for a 7-hour drive to stretch out, enjoyed
the pretty views of driving through the mountains and finally made it to
Louisville. I stayed at the Seelbach which is a very nice old hotel at the
corner of 4th Street where the finish line would be. Great hotel and
great location!
Thursday evening through Saturday morning completely revolved around preparing for the race. Training volume was low with some harder efforts to wake up all my muscles. I didn’t want to risk getting sick from the river water so I did my swims at a YMCA I could walk to. On Friday I drove out to the loop section of the bike course so I could see and ride some of the course. This made me feel much better knowing what to expect. I had cooked and packed all my meals for Friday to race morning and unfortunately had to eat everything cold as there was no microwave. I finally get to eat a bunch of yummy white food and it’s all cold! Made it a lot less enjoyable. I did check-in on Friday and wow that’s a lot more involved than a half. I stopped by the Pro Bike Express truck to say hi to Wes and pick up a package he had from Katie. Then it was back to the hotel to start laying out all my bags and watch random movies to keep myself distracted and off my feet.
Saturday I did a short swim and then a run that I was
completely under dressed for as it was chilly and very windy. The temperatures
were about the same as they would be race morning and I prayed the wind would
die down by the next day. My husband, his parents and sister all showed up
later in the morning. They picked a restaurant on 4th Street and I held off on
eating until I got back to the room. Afterwards it was time to drop off my bags
and say goodbye to my bike (I love you, please be safe and be good tomorrow). The
transition area was about a mile from the hotel so I did a lot more walking
than I wanted leading up to the race and therefore wanted to spent as much time
off my feet as possible.
I sent my family off to drink at the hotel bar which
was one of the bars on the Bourbon Trail while I finished getting things ready
for race day and relaxed in a bit. I chatted with Katie one last time and assured her I was doing fine while she tried to prepare me for what to expect on the run. I hung out with family while they ate dinner
and then back to my room to drink my Pre Load and get ready for bed. They
dropped by the room to show me shirts they had made for themselves which were
awesome and wrote some inspirations stuff on my bike bottles. Then there was
nothing left to do but get one last night of sleep with the assistance of half
a sleeping pill.
Louisville has a very unique swim start where you get in
a line and that’s the order you start the race. Some people get there stupidly
early so they can be one of the first in the water. After a LOT of debating to
decided I cared more about getting extra sleep then I did about getting in the
water 20 minutes sooner. So I woke up at 5AM which seems very late but the
first person in the water wasn’t until 7:30. So at 5AM my husband’s alarm went
off and mine didn’t…. oh shit I set it for 5PM! Good thing I always ask him to
set his as a backup.
There is one thought I've consistently had over the last year of training for this Ironman... Mom. She has been with me, in my thoughts, through the bad swims and the gorgeous rides, every step of the way. So through tears (because I had lost all control of emotions at this point) I wrote on my hand "For Mom". I snapped a picture, sent it to my family telling them that I knew she would be with me and then tried to pull myself together. After doing normal race morning things we started the mile walk to transition to load my bike up and drop my special needs bags off. Then I got to join the line which unfortunately was almost at the transition area at this point and the swim start was almost a mile away. I settled into line, sat down for a lot of it, listened to "Bang My Head" a few times, tried to stay calm, all the meanwhile slightly shaking because it was around 50F.
We were told the national anthem was played at one point but we couldn't hear it. We were told the first person was in the water and the line very slowly started moving. I could tell I was getting closer when the pavement had more and more pee stains from people peeing in their wetsuits. It wasn't long until the entire pavement was dark and you could smell the urine. I held onto a crappy pair of flip flops as long as I could until I was forced to trash them. My husband parted ways to join his family and then I was alone staring at the nasty water I would soon jump into. As I walked down the dock I finally decide it was time to join in on the fun and release my bladder which had been making me bouncy for the last 20 minutes. Then before I knew it I was over the timing mat and jumping into the water and I don't think it really hit me that I was starting my first Ironman until a few minutes into swimming.
The most memorable thing about the swim is unfortunately the water. I don't think I've ever had the pleasure of racing in crystal clear water but this was by far the worst I've ever experienced. The Ohio River is NASTY! I couldn't see my hands, I couldn't even see my arms. I could sort of see my shoulder. It made drafting difficult because the only way you knew if someone was around you was while sighting. Otherwise you were just suddenly on top of someone without any warning. Luckily I didn't experience any of the aggression you often hear about during an Ironman. I suppose that's the one benefit of not doing a mass wave start. There was some of the usual grabbing of ankle and getting whacked with a side swinger arm but nothing bad. I wish I could say I didn't get any water in my mouth but I know I swallowed a little. Shit happens.
The swim for the most part was uneventful. The first third was swimming upstream but in between the main land and a small strip of land so there was no current other than maybe 300m once you passed the land until the turn buoy. The last 2/3 was downstream although I couldn't feel a current. I swam at a comfortable effort the whole time. Not so easy that it felt like my sluggishly slow pool swim warm ups but easy enough that I would feel fresh afterwards. The swim just felt.... long. But the whole time I was thinking "holy shit I'm swimming an Ironman! focus on your hands. holy shit this is really happening! enjoy this! why does my back feel like it's arching so much. ENJOY THIS!" And I really was enjoying this. I was smiling on the inside (vs actually smiling and swallowing nasty water). I spent a lot of time doing math once I realized the buoys were numbered. I kept guessing if there were 18 or 19 or 20 buoys and what percentage of the swim that meant I had finished. I could finally see people and hear the crowds and before I knew it I was done with the first part of my first Ironman and wobbling up the steps. This was the first race I didn't wear a watch so I didn't
know my official time until after the race. I'm very happy with the
time. Recon it was mostly downstream and wet suit legal so it was faster for everyone. Nevertheless, I'm happy.
2.4 mile Swim - 1:12:53, AG 37/75
Transition in an Ironman is so different from shorter races. The main take away for me is that the volunteers are AMAZING! Just short of helping put on chamois cream, they will do anything to help you out. She was putting on my socks and shoes while I was half kicking her while struggling to get my rolled up shirt down and then helped me with my epic struggle to get the borrows zip up on (thanks Katie). I didn't rush in transition because I wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything. This was a good first run at an Ironman transition and I have a better idea for all my bags what I really need to pack and things I don't need to bother with in the future.
T1 - 10:04
T1 - 10:04
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