Quick stats:
Marni: 4:45.14, 1st overall female
Swim: 29:07
T1: 4:15
Bike: 2:25:57
T2: 3:25
Run: 1:42.30
Karel: 4:33.27, 2nd AG (45-49)
Swim: 31:47
T1: 3:56
Bike: 2:23.20
T2: 3:14
Run: 1:31.10
Pre Race
We drove to Louisville on Thursday morning. Karel and I were able to get in a short 30 minute swim at Furman before we left around 9:30am. On the 9th, Karel started to feel sick after his morning swim. On Saturday, he went for an hour run and came back feeling awful. He tested positive for COVID shortly after. He did nothing on Sunday as he was exhausted, coughing, stuffy and low in energy. He did no exercise on Monday and Tuesday. On Tuesday, I started to feel run down and had to stop my bike trainer workout because I was feeling empty. I ended up with a head cold but thankfully I was able to fight the virus but I was left feeling stuffy. Thankfully, on Wednesday morning I felt a little better so I was able to get in a longish trainer ride and brick run in the morning and a short swim in the evening. Karel wanted to see how he felt so he went out for a ride on his tri bike and he felt pretty bad. A lot of that was because he hadn't exercised in four days but he was still feeling somewhat sick. With Karel feeling unwell, me feeling run down and both of us feeling really sad since it was three weeks without Campy, we weren't sure if we should go to Louisville to race. With this being a team race, we wanted to be there with/for our athletes but we weren't sure if either of us should race. Karel was undecided if he would race (he was leaning towards not racing) but I was feeling ok when I exercised, just very stuffy. We decided that we would take it one day at a time. When we arrived to our Airbnb in Louisville (1 mile from the race venue, by the run course), Karel and I did an out and back run on the course. Karel was coughing and felt horrible. We ran for 40 minutes. We got groceries at Kroger and then went to bed after dinner. On Friday, Karel was feeling a little better so he went out for a run. He ended up running 11.4 miles of the 70.3 run course and said he felt low in energy but didn't feel as bad as he did a few days prior. While he was running, I went for a swim at the Floyd YMCA (Indiana). My athlete/friend Claire suggested that I get a once-a-year free YMCA pass and reserve a lane (by calling) which worked out great for a 3000-yard workout. When I returned back to the Airbnb, Karel told me that he would train through 70.3 Louisville as he felt like he missed a lot of training due to his sickness, being in Norway and struggling with recovery after the Stone extreme triathlon. We had talked about this approach going into Louisville since he has Icon XTRI on September 6th. A little before 4pm, Karel and I rode over the Big Four Bridge and biked the Utica Pike Route (suggested by one of my nutrition athletes that lives in Prospect KY). It was somewhat quiet road by the water. The road was a bit bumpy but otherwise it was the perfect road to get into the aerobars and to spin out the legs. I rode for 80 minutes and Karel rode for 2 hours. The riding in Louisville wasn't great (not safe) so we were limited with where we were able to ride. Karel felt better toward the end of his ride. In the evening we had our team pizza party at Claire's Airbnb (which was next to our Airbnb). I purchsed pizza from The Post. The pizza was ok - not amazing but not bad. I really liked the big sizes for our group.
It was so great to be with our athletes. It was exactly what we needed. It gave us an opportunity to briefly forget about our grieving and our athletes gave us so much positive energy.
On Saturday morning, I went for an almost 90 minute ride. I rode a little on the beginning/end of the bike course, checked out the end of the run course and then biked the run course in the park. After the ride, I went for a 17-minute run (13 minutes of feel good running off the bike and then another 1/2 mile to get me to/from the Butchertown Bakery to get Karel a croissant and pastry. As I was doing my pre race workout, Karel rode the bike course. I was a little nervous for him being out on the bike course since we heard the course was mostly on busy, narrow two lane roads and Karel said there was a lot of traffic on a Saturday morning. Karel rode 61 miles (he missed one turn because of cars on the road) and came home feeling tired. But he was happy that he was able to put together a few days of "training."
I checked in my bike around 1pm and spent the rest of the day relaxing. I stuck to my normal pre-race foods/meals: Bagel, waffles, eggs, milk, yogurt, pop tarts, Amy's No Chicken Noodle soup, basmati rice, pasta w/ marinara. Karel checked in his bike closer to 3pm. Karel and I prepared our bottles in the late afternoon and spent the early evening relaxing in bed. We both shut out the lights around 7:30pm to try to go to sleep. It was a somewhat restless night of sleep (typical pre-race) but it was nice knowing we had a 4:15am alarm (and not 2am like the extreme triathlons :).
Race morning
We woke up not feeling too excited to race. It was a strange feeling as we love racing but this past week was so exhuasting for us. We constantly felt this constant weight of sadness that we struggled to shake. Karel didn't feel nervous as he was using the race as a training day but I felt a bit of nerves because I did care about this race. This race was in my homestate and being so close to Lexington brought back a lot of memories and emotions thinking about my dad.
Karel had his oatmeal and espresso and I had instant coffee and a cinnamon raisin bagel w/ peanut butter and maple syrup. We left our Airbnb around 5:30am, parked a few blocks away (on the street behind the big parking lot across the race expo, free street parking on Sunday) and then walked to the transition area. It made me happy to be in the transition area as I really enjoy the race day vibe and being around other athletes. Karel likes to be in and out and isn't one for small talk. I do all the talking :) We set up our transition areas and then walked the 1.2 miles to the swim start. We prefer walking when there is an option (instead of taking the bus) as it's a nice warm-up and it puts us in a better mindset when we can keep our bodies moving. When we arrived to the swim start area around 6:30am, we put on our ROKA swimskins, dropped off our morning clothes bags and then walked a little further down the paved path to the official swim start. There was one big corral for all the swim waves so we had to jump over the fence to get into the sub 30-minute swim start area near the front. I was looking forward to the swim whereas Karel was worried about the swim because of his previous sickness and feeling tight in his chest. He was going to take it very easy to start so that he wouldn't get his heart rate up too high. At 7am, the race started.
Swim
The swim was point to point with sighting buoys every 100 meters. What a nice treat compared to the 1, maybe 2 buoys that we get an extreme triathlon events. I really liked how we started the swim. Rather than jumping off a dock, we walked down a metal ramp into the water and could somewhat dive into the water at waist high. I wore clear ROKA goggles since it was a little cloudy. From the first few strokes, I could feel a bit of chop. It felt more like we were swimming upstream than downstream. After getting pased the first buoy, I was really excited about this swim. Non wetsuit and choppy - I felt like this was the perfect swim for me. Karel started a few seconds ahead of me and I passed him after the 2nd buoy. He looked good in the water which made me feel relieved that he was ok in the water. I didn't find the water quality bad but instead, I really liked this swim. It went by quickly and I used each buoy to count how far I had left as they were numbered. I made the left turn around the final red turn buoy toward the stairs to exit the water at Waterfront park. It was very choppy by the exit. I felt great getting out of the water and I had a few people tell me that I was in the top 10 of females. I saw my mom and she was cheering for me, which made me happy. Karel's mom stayed back at our Airbnb as she was worried that she would get too tired being on her feet all day.
T1
It was a long run from the water exit, up the concrete ramp, over the stairs and into the grassy transition area. I sat down to put on my compression socks and shoes. I decided to tighten my boa on my Bont tri shoes in the transition area as I spent too much time fiddling with my shoes in Gulf Coast trying to tighten them as I was riding. I put on my Rudy project helmet (with visor on the top of the helmet as this helps it avoid fogging and easier to get on) and then grabbed my bike to start the 56 mile ride.
Bike
I was really looking forward to this bike. I rode most of this course back in 2008 for IMKY but back then I was not a confidence (or strong) cyclist so the rolling hills felt like mountains to me back then. In addition to Karel's feedback from his ride on the course, I watched a Youtube video of the course (car driving the course), looked at maps and studied the mile markers and Karel's file from his ride to understand every mile/corner of the course. This really helped so that when I got on the bike, I felt like I was riding on a course that was familiar to me - even though I had not ridden the course since 2008.
For nutrition I had 3 bottles on my bike, each with 70g INFINIT Fructose. I started with fruit punch in my first bottle and then had two bottles of grape flavor. I had a never second gel and Power bar gummies in my bento box on my frame in case I dropped a bottle but I didn't need to use them. I went through two full bottles and around 1/2 of the 3rd bottle. I felt great energy wise. I passed a few ladies in the first few miles and nearing the first climb (I think) was leading the women's race.
The first 10.5 miles were fast! I averaged 24.5 mph. We then hit our first longish climb and this started rollers for the next 10 miles. We made a right turn to start the "loop." I broke this loop into 4 sections. The first section was 4.75 miles and it was net uphill. My legs started to open up at this point. I didn't feel like I could push on the first climb but in this section, I started to feel so much better. I didn't try to ask my body to do more than it could do earlier on but rather, just rode within my abilities and listened to my body. The next section was 3.56 miles and although there was some climbing, it was a faster section. After the turn in La Grange, we had another 3.8 miles. This was another fast section. The last section was 3.95 miles and this finished the loop. I loved the rolling hills and it was a little cooler to start but warmed up nicely. Perfect riding temperature. I found myself around the same guys and made sure to stay draft legal behind them. It was hard at times because of the cat and mouse nature of this course that I would have to surge to pass on the uphills and then I was passed on the downhills. There was a official around my group throughout the entire bike ride (the motorcycle would ride past us, stop and then go again and pass us throughout the entire bike). Karel passed me as we were finishing the loop and I was able to keep him in my sights for most of the rest of the bike. I was really happy that he was riding well on the bike. He was tired from his sickness and training going into this race but also happy that he was ok enough to participate in the race. Karel and I love riding our bikes in new areas so we thought of this race as an opportunity to enjoy riding on different roads. Overall the traffic wasn't bad and the volunteers and police did a great job controlling traffic as my group was rolling through. I think the traffic picked up as the race went on. I do worry about the safety of this bike course because a good 13 miles of the course is on a two lane busy road which means there are cyclists in both directions which means cars are backed up for 3+ hours. The bike felt effortless for me. I was really happy that my legs showed up for this bike. I didn't feel good at Norseman two weeks ago and I reminded myself that I had a really great race at Chatty 70.3 in 2021, just two weeks after IM St. George. I finished the bike as the lead female.
T2
The dismount/mount to the bike was on the street and then we had a loooooong run on the grass into T2. My legs felt pretty good but I always worry about myself for the run. I never what type of "runner" will show up when I start the run. I did a flying dismount so I could run in my socks (thankfully the grass was dry). I put on my Saucony run shoes, slipped on my Naked Running band and put my two flasks into my running belt. I had 1 scoops Never Second C30 berry in each ten ounce flask (which is what I use for all of my runs). As I was entering the transition area, my mom told me I had a 7.5 min lead. I wasn't sure if this was accurate as sometimes the timing mats are off or because of the self seeded start, athletes further back don't trigger the timing mats until much later because they started later (but couldn't technically be ahead. That happened to me at Blue Ridge 70.3 a few years ago when I crossed the line first but came in 2nd by 0.2 seconds).
I grabbed a grocery bag that had my ROKA sunglasses, visor, watch and Campy's collar in it. I put on those items as I was running out of transition. I ended up holding my watch in my right hand for several miles as I like to hold something when I run until I feel like I have my rhythm.
Run
I did some quick math as I was running and I felt like I could run low 1:40's for the half. I thought about the other ladies behind me and that meant someone would have to run at least 1:32 to beat me. Which is totally doable. I decided I wouldn't worry about who was behind me until I got to mile 7-8 because at that point, I figured if someone was going to pass me, it would come around that time. I was not feeling super confident in my run as I still had a 140.6 mile event in them from Norseman two weeks prior. Also with being sick and just emotionally drained, I didn't have a lot of self-belief in my run. Plus, it's been really hard to push myself in all three sports because when I am sad, I don't want to hurt myself anymore and running hard hurts.
I really enjoyed this run course. This first 3 miles were flat and gently rolling. Then we went into Cherokee park. I had the best run guide with me - her name was Yvonne and she was awesome. She made sure no one got into my way and every mile she would get on her radio and tell the race staff that "the lead female is at mile....." She even offered to get me ice at one aid station but I didn't accept it as I didn't want to take "outside assistance." The park was beautiful and I was really looking forward to the hills. These were proper rolling hills. There were two short hills to start and then 3 longer hills of several minutes. The downhills were fun. The volunteers were incredible at the aid stations and I got a lot of cheers as the lead female. I grabbed ice at the aid stations as I was feeling a bit warm and I finished my two flasks by mile 10. I then sipped on coke and a few sips water for the rest of the run. There was one short section of gravel (which I loved) because of road construction early on in the run.
I hit a low point around mile 9-10.5 in the run but was able to find my rhythm again. I had one guy pass me and tell me that there was no girls close behind me which comforted me in a way but also had me feeling nervous if someone who sneak up. I only had one effort in me and I just focused on running with good form - steady and fluid. The last mile was long and challenging as it was net uphill (after a quick turnaround) but I had mentally prepared myself for it. Karel said he felt good on the run but his paces were much slower than he is used to. He was happy he was able to finish the race.
As I was nearing the finish, I couldn't believe what was able to happen. I was about about to cross the finish line as the overall female winner. At 42 years old, I feel stronger, fitter and healthier than ever before but I know these overall wins will be more and more difficult to achieve as the years go on. In the last mile, I took Campy's collar out of my race belt and I gave it a kiss. I held it tightly in my hand so that he could be with me to the finish line. When I crossed the finish line and held up the tape, I was filled with emotions with all that had been going on over the past few weeks. Campy passing away, racing Norseman XTRI, Karel getting very sick and just having an all around rough week going into this event.
Karel was able to give me my medal at the finish and it felt really good to give him a hug. He placed 2nd age group (45-49). After we chatted with my mom, we walked on the run course back toward our Airbnb to cheer on our athletes. We were so proud of our athletes. This race will never be forgotten.
Pics from Clare Grant/Courier Journal.
As I mentioned on social media....
"Life has been really really hard lately. Grieving is emotionally and physically exhausting. Over the past three weeks, we have been drowning in sadness. We feel lonely, lost and empty. But triathlon is saving us. It’s giving us purpose, structure and the opportunity to connect with our community.
It’s been two weeks since I completed XTRI Norseman in Norway, which required so much of my mental and physical energy. Karel got very sick when we returned home. We have been struggling with the absence of Campy. Returning to my home state of KY brought on so many emotions. It made me really miss my dad, who passed away from cancer in 2014.
Racing provided us with a needed distraction and a temporary break from our emotions. We went into this race with no expectations other than to find joy in the experience. To be honest, just finishing was our biggest goal.
Before the race, I kissed Campy’s collar and tucked it inside my running belt. Knowing that Campy’s collar was in T2 gave me purpose. I need to get to the run so I can be with him. And I needed to get to mile 12 of the run so that I could hold his collar and bring him with me to the finish line.
Perhaps I got lucky in Kentucky or it was meant to be. The race felt effortless. I was being carried to the finish line by Campy and my dad.
I took the lead in the women’s race early on in the bike and managed to cross the finish line as the first overall female. I couldn’t believe it. My mom was cheering me on and Karel was there waiting for me at the finish line (he placed 2nd in his age group). It was another tearful race finish. And it was extra special sharing the experience with so many of our athletes and team members.
Losing someone you love can change your world. Loss of a loved one can affect how you feel, how you act and how you think. There is no right or wrong way to grieve. We all have unique ways of expressing emotions.
Unlike sport, loss is a process, not an event. We will never forget Campy and it will take time to learn how to live without him."
Thank you for the support. 💓