Karel and I arrived in Chattanooga on Tues evening so that we could settle (back) into the city before race day on Sunday. As I mentioned in a previous post, I registered for IM Choo about 10 days out from race day as it was my comeback race from my fainting incident on race day morning at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship. While a half IM may have made more sense since my season was focused on half IM distance racing, the idea of racing an Ironman made me excited to want to race again. Although I did not plan to race an Ironman this year and didn't focus my training on preparing me for an Ironman until 2018, I felt calm, confident and excited to participate in my 12th Ironman in Chattanooga. Seeing that Karel directed all of his training and energy to Chatty as his key race to try to win his age group and qualify for Kona, I fueled off his race day readiness. Plus, being out on the course with my athletes had me even more excited for the race. Karel had a tremendous amount of confidence in me that I would do well on this course, especially in the heat. Karel always jokes with me that he can wake me up any day and I will be ready for an Ironmn - all joking aside, my body has great aerobic capacity and with my sport nutrition knowledge, I seem to favor the Ironman distance. Although an extreme event, we both really enjoy the Ironman distance simply because it requires a lot of mental strength, decision making and being comfortable with being uncomfortable and while we may not be the fastest triathletes out there, we both feel we have finally figured out how to successfully train and race for 140.6 (or 144.6) miles. Knowing that I was arriving to the race healthy, fresh and hungry to race, I didn't overthink the distance, I didn't focus on the competition and just thought of it as an awesome opportunity to do what I love all day with my awesome body.
We rented a beautiful house (Airbnb) just 2 miles from downtown which was perfect for us to have plenty of room (and a fully stocked kitchen). I brought a lot of food with us but we also made a few grocery trips to keep our fridge stocked with food. With so many Trimarnis racing IM Choo, we designated our house as the "team house" for anyone to stop by and hang out.
The house was also the spot for our team pizza/pasta party and pre-race meeting on Friday evening, which also served as Karel's birthday celebration on 9/22 (41 years old!).
It was great to share the house with our two first timers Elizabeth and Thomas. Elizabeth gave us a nice zen vibe as she was relaxed and excited for the big day, whereas Thomas gave us no shortage of laughs and good energy all week long. We had a lot of funny moments in our house which kept us all in great spirits all week long.
I don't think I have ever eaten so much food over 4 days but I kept reminding myself to fuel-up for the big day and that it was OK to be a little uncomfortable in the belly. We fueled before and after every workout and used liquid sport nutrition for every workout (no matter how short the workout). We focused on the early hours of each day to enjoy bigger meals and frequent snacks to allow plenty of time for digestion as the day went on and kept the afternoon snack/dinner light and easy to digest. I made sure to salt my food and to stay well hydrated as the weather was predicting upper 80's for the race day high. Karel and I never let our body image affect what and when we eat as we maintain a healthy relationship with food so that food can fuel our body for 144.6 miles. As usual, our diet has no food restrictions or rules so it provides us with a lot of freedom to eat what feels right in the moment, knowing that most of what we eat going into an Ironman is well practiced and familiar.
For training on race week, we stayed very active and sharp to rev the system. We made sure not to overdo it on race week but not be too lazy as the body needed to wake-up for the big day. Here is what our training looked like on race week:
Monday - AM Swim (~3000 yards for me, ~1800 for Karel)
Tuesday - AM Brick (~75 minute bike + 20-25 min run)
Wednesday - AM Swim at Chatty YMCA (~3000 yards), Late afternoon run on the run course to the swim start and back (~35-40 minutes).
Thursday - Bike on the back part of the bike course (90 minutes, ~30 miles)
Friday- AM open water swim (~20 minutes), followed by a bike on the back side of the run course (30 minutes for me and 80 minutes for Karel - he rode a bit longer). PM Karel went for a 25 min run.
Saturday - Bike + run (~55-75 minute bike followed by a 10-15 min jog)
On Thursday we checked in and attended the athlete briefing.
The energy on Saturday morning was building as we did our pre-race warm-up.
Although this was my 12th Ironman (and an unexpected one), I still get that feeling in my belly as if I am racing an Ironman for the first time.
After our morning workout, it was time for a big carb-rich breakfast before repacking our gear bags for check-in. We rode our bikes downtown to the transition area around 12:30pm (with our gear bags in a backpack) and completed the check-in process before 1:30pm.
Since Thomas and Elizabeth had family in town, Karel and I walked the 2 miles back to the house before spending the rest of the day resting and getting our last minute things (ex. bottles) ready for the race. It was hot outside so mentally, Karel and I were preparing for a challenging day of racing, requiring a lot of staying in the moment and taking care of ourselves to prevent overheating and dehydration. We provided our athletes with a lot of tips and suggestions to help with race day execution as we have a lot of experience racing in the heat in Kona, as well as racing on challenging Ironman courses.
I was so excited to have my athlete/great friend Justine in town for the race to cheer us on. She flew in on Saturday afternoon from Delaware so that she could share the race experience with us and the rest of our team (14 other Trimarnis). Justine gives a great amount of positive energy so her company was awesome to be around.
It was early to bed for us on Saturday (around 7:30pm in bed) and surprisingly, I slept really well before my 3:45am alarm. You better believe that I took my time getting out of bed on Sunday morning and Karel had a watchful eye on me all morning. To be honest, I felt completely normal on race day morning, unlike two weekends ago when I felt a bit off in the 24 hours before the race. I woke up a little nervous but also very excited. I was mostly feeling anxious to get the race started. Karel had his techno music jamming in the kitchen on his iPad and as we all at our pre-race meals:
Karel: 2 cups coffee, 2 scoops Osmo pre-load in water, oatmeal, butter, raspberries, syrup. 1 piece Challah bread + butter and jam.
Marni: 1 cup coffee, 1 scoop Osmo pre-load in water, 4 small homemade pancakes (made ahead of time), loaded with syrup, a little peanut butter and a hardboiled egg.
Karel and I went for a quick jog outside around 4:50am outside (each on our own) to get the system going and to help with one last bathroom trip before we left the house.
We left around 5:15am and arrived to the parking garage by 5:30am. We brought our bottles (bike special need bottles were frozen, same with run flasks), bike pump and morning clothes bags to the transition area.
Not knowing if I would see Elizabeth and Thomas again that morning, I wished them both the best of luck and told them to enjoy their first Ironman experience. A day full of unknowns but with every spectator and volunteer keeping them going to the finish line.
Karel and I were on the same side of the transition area (by the fence, closest to the water) so it was easy for us to find each other. After handing off our special needs bags (Karel and I both used them for bike and run with extra bottles and flasks), I walked over to my bike and put my 3 sport nutrition bottles on my bike (INFINIT custom formula - each with a different flavor: grape for hour one, watermelon for hour two and pink lemonade with 50mg of caffeine for hour three). I also placed my bike computer on my bike and waited for Karel to pump up my tires. We then walked over to our gear bags and I placed my extra nutrition in my bike bag as I didn't want it sitting overnight outside (a squeezy Hot Shot bottle of 1.5 Enervitene cheerpack with caffeine, a Hammer coin container of MAP aminos-2 per each hour, and 1 package of Skratch chews, opened for easy grabbing). I then walked over to my run gear bag and placed my two frozen hydration flasks (each flask with 120 calories of EFS pro cucumber flavor) into my hydration belt.
After we were done with our bags, we walked over toward the buses to shuttle us to the swim start. We made a quick stop at the port-o-potty once more before boarding the bus.
Karel and I listened to our music while riding the 2 miles to the swim start. I was feeling a little short of breath but this time it was all nervous/excited energy. Karel was also feeling the same way as we were both anxious and ready to get things going. The waiting was tough as we arrive to the swim start around 6:15am and had over an hour before the race started.
To keep us occupied, we hung around some of our athletes so that we could all feed off each other's positive energy. You never know what type of energy another athlete will give you as you are waiting for the start of the race as it's no fun to be around negative energy. Thankfully, our athletes are always positive and energetic.
I didn't want to stay seated the entire time so I found myself getting up to jog a few times, while also laying down and listening to my music. The time went by pretty fast and to keep my blood sugar up, I sipped in 1 scoop Clif hydration (cran razz) in a plastic throw away bottle. I didn't consume any solid food before the race after my pre-race meal whereas Karel sipped on a little Infinit MUD and ate a banana. He also took in one Enervitene sport gel (he calls it "that slimy thing").
At 7:20am, I put on my swimskin, cap and goggles and swapped my running shoes for my sandals. By 7:30am, we found ourselves slowly moving along the path as we made our way to the swim start.
Karel and I discussed starting the swim together so we stayed close together after we turned in our morning clothes bags right before the dock. I spotted Mike Reilley and gave him a double high five, which made me smile and I immediately felt the nervous go away as I was filled with excitement that our Ironman day was about to start.
I used the first two buoys to find my rhythm and Karel had no problem staying on my feet. By the 2nd buoy, I picked up the pace to a stronger effort and Karel said it was tough for him to stay on my feet as it felt like his half Ironman effort. Although Karel and I didn't plan to intentionally swim the entire swim together, I was so happy to see that Karel could kinda keep up with me as he has improved so much in the swim. Of course, I say that only because I beat him out of the water - if he would have beaten me, I would have been a little upset ;)
I could tell that we were moving fast despite not wearing a watch in the water. A few times I felt like I was very off course but as the river bent around an island, I found myself back on course. I wasn't sure if Karel was behind me for the swim so every now and then I would breath and look back to see if I could spot Karel's arms as I know his swimming style. A few times I had other guys on my feet and Karel would say to himself "hey guys - those are my wife's feet and they are for me!"
Karel said that he wasn't able to stay with right with me but he could keep my pink cap in his sight as I was about 15-20 feet ahead of him. Karel thought it was so cool to be passing so many people in the swim and it was a great confidence booster for both of us to start the day off with such a speedy swim. To be honest, it didn't feel like 2.4 miles so the current really helped us exit the water feeling fresh.
As I made my way under the last bridge and swam in between the two red buoys, toward the swim exit stairs, I wasn't sure if Karel was still with me but I had no time to look for him as I sprinted my way up the stairs, along the path and up the ramp and to my gear bags.
I wasn't sure of my swim time but it felt fast so that gave me a burst of energy for the bike. I felt really good and was excited to get on my bike for 116 miles of country road, farm-viewing riding.
The changing tent and transition area was a little packed since Karel and I didn't get into the water until around 7:43 (13 minutes after the swim start due to the rolling start). As a faster open water swimmer, I am use to being alone or with a few ladies in the women's tent so it was actually really nice to be around so many other female athletes. The volunteers were great and the lady who was helping me made it quick for me to be in and out of the changing tent. I asked her to put my nutrition in my pockets as I put on my CompressSport calf sleeves and then my Lazer helmet. Since my bike was near the front of the transition area, I decided to carry my cycling shoes with me and put them on at my bike.
When I got to my bike, I powered on my Garmin bike computer before putting on my shoes and then checked my tires (I always do that before I leave transition area) and then rolled my bike to the mount line. I heard a few cheers from the spectators saying my name and I couldn't wait to get back from my bike ride to see more familiar faces.
Not knowing if Karel was behind me or in front of me, I switched my mind from swimming to cycling as I clipped in, started my bike computer as I rolled my way out of the transition area to start my 116 mile bike ride.
The first few miles of the bike course are in city streets as we make our way toward the Georgia state line. We go over a few bumpy patches of roads, make a few turns and cross a few railroad tracks. I made sure to press down my bike bottles in my rear cages before and after every bump or railroad crossing but when I got to the 2nd railroad crossing, I must have hit something hard (or too fast) and it shot my two rear nutrition bottles out of the cages. NOOOOO!!! I was so upset as I looked behind me and saw the lids popped off and nutrition emptying from the bottles. Some guy next to me said the worst thing possible in that moment to me, "I hope you only had water in those bottles." Thanks dude.
Stay tuned for our 116 mile race report.......