Ironman Santa Rosa 2019

May 11, 2019 (Santa Rosa, California)- I finished my 2nd Ironman, with a 90 minute PR!! The air temperature was a low of 55, and a high of 73 degrees. My husband, Conor, raced the course with me.

My sister-in-law, Annie, braided my hair the night before into a single braid, which I’ve determined is the PERFECT hairstyle of Ironman. :) The next day, Conor and I woke up at 2:45 a.m.ate breakfast. I ate a few bites of oatmeal and half an apple. One cup of black coffee. We left the house at 4:00 a.m. to head to the shuttle area and drop off our “oh shit” bags. The shuttle ride took about an hour to get to Lake Sonoma. First, when we got there I filled up my bike nutrition and hydration system, then put my wet suit on, and ate my first picky bar of the day. We had nearly 30 minutes of time before the swim, which was nice.

Swim (2.4 mi):

This time, I took off with the fastest group (under 55 min swimmers). Sadly, there were still swimmers that were not going the 55 min pace and that I had to pass. The first loop was OK… I think I was around 27 minutes. The second loop, we had to get out of the water and jump back in. I put both my arms up in the air and did a superwoman dive back into the water, which made me laugh at myself. :) I looked up the boat ramp and it was full of people who hadn’t even started the swim! So, I had to swim around a ton of people just starting their first lap, which was NOT fun. As I exited the swim I saw my husband Conor walking up the bike ramp. He yelled at me I was 3rd, and I started running up the ramp to pass him. :)

Overall:

Time: 54:49 swim (PR from Canada was 56min)

1st out of water for my AG… and 7 seconds behind the first overall woman.

Things I’d do differently:

I need to get the confidence to be the first person in the water. Each time I start these races I get nervous that the “men” are going to be too aggressive at the start, but I need to get up there to avoid having to pass people and waste time and energy. My goal for Canada is to be under 50 min on the swim.

Transition:

The .2 mile run up the hill was interesting. I didn’t feel out of breath, because I kept hearing people yell “GO WATTIE!” “3rd woman!” and I saw my teammate Jasmine giving me updates, which distracted me from the tough transition. I’ve never been this far ahead in the women’s race before and found myself as the only woman in transition. It was awesome. I had three people helping me. Thanks, volunteers. I ate a pack of cliff blocks, which I call “crack blocks w/ caffeine”, and didn’t have time to eat the picky bar I had planned, so the volunteer shoved it in my back.

Time: 5:17

Bike (112mi):

The bike is always the hardest for me. To be honest, I just got bike shorts about 2 years ago, and a tri bike about 9 months ago, so all the bike gear is really new to me, and I feel like a total newbie in comparison to the run and swim. This ironman, I felt a lot more confident about my bike, after practicing my arrow position all winter, and spending a lot of time in the saddle this training cycle. My friend Brian let me borrow his Zipp404s which was a major game changer. Things were going good, until mile 14, when I took a fast turn and hit a pothole. All my nutrition went flying!! This was another moment I laughed at myself and yelled out several cuss words. I kept thinking to myself that “an Ironman is about problem-solving.” I had to throw my bike down and quickly gather all my picky bars and avoid getting hit by all the bikers. I lost a lot of hydration too. Good news is I was able to gather 4/5 picky bars. I got back on my bike and I was averaging between 19 and 20 mph which felt good. I ate 1 picky bar every hour- luckily I had an extra one shoved in my back from transition. I took Gatorade at every aid station, and just drank a few sips then tossed the bottle. Overall, this bike course is beautiful. It is very technical with lots of potholes, and 2 major climbs- overall much easier than Canada. I didn’t stop my bike computer, so all my stats are MIA. I saw my in-laws on the bike cheering twice which gave re-energized me too!

Time: 5:46:58- 19.3MPH

3rd in AG race off the bike.

6th women’s race off the bike

Things I’d do differently on the bike:

• figure out how to place my nutrition on the bike so I don’t lose it
• bike fit
• another water bottle holder off the seat
• pace the bike better…

Transition:

I ran into transition, and the volunteer gave me the wrong bag. I had to go back and get my gear bag. The transition was good, and I again was the only woman in there. Moving forward, I need to get more hydration in transition and get running shoes with quick laces. The volunteer asked me if she should untie my running shoes before putting them on. Big learning there! I need to investigate how I can get more calories in at T2. Suggestions welcome. I saw my in-laws again as I was leaving transition, which made me happy.

Time: 3:20

Run:

The run came, and I heard the announcer say I was in the top 5 overall women, which is again the highest I’ve ever been! I looked at the results and time-wise I was actually in 6th in the women’s race. I was feeling really good, and looked down and saw I was going 7:00/miles, I tried to slow my legs but I was so excited, I couldn’t. The only time I used the bathroom was on mile 1 of the run. Things were going well until mile 13. I started to fall apart, and the first women in my age group started passing me near mile 16. I panicked and realized I just watched my ticket to Kona run away from me. This was not how I’d trained, or visualized. I was mentally in a bad place, and my stomach started to go sideways. Things really started to go south, and I ended up losing my ability to hear and started losing my sight. I took some base salts, probably too much. I couldn’t keep water down, and couldn’t fathom Gatorade. I just needed to finish. I ended up getting to the finish line and placed 5th in my age group.

The first half of the marathon- 1:50

The second half of the marathon- 2:30

Overall Run Time:4:21:30 (Goal for Canada- 3:50)

Overall finish time: 5th in AG- 11:11:11

Overall:

Next “A” race is Ironman Canada. I realized I’ve never done a triathlon less than a 70.3 so, I’m going to do an Olympic at Blue Lake/PDX Tri at the start of June, and a 72.3 at Pac Crest in Bend at the end of June, then going hard for a ticket to Kona at Ironman Canada at the end of July. I am hoping that with more race experience, and smarter training and race strategies things will turn around for Canada- and if not, there is always another race. I’d like to go a PR at Canada, and hopefully under 11 hours, but it’s a tough course!

Things I’m changing in my training

• I’m staying with my coach Phil and his plan, but I’m going to start adding more hill work and do some of my sessions in an altitude chamber.
• abs 3X per week
• Master’s swim 3X per week
• giving up alcohol
• push harder on practice rides
• I’d like to do one big training day of Master’s swim+ 6hr ride + 3hr run at race pace because this is where I broke down in Santa Rosa.