Now that the race report is done, it’s time for a little reflection on my race at Ironman Lake Tahoe.

I am very proud of myself for finishing a race that was very difficult for me. I am not as happy that quoting seemed like such a viable option for so long on the bike. There are always dark places in an Ironman race (or so I am told) it’s unfortunate that my dark place lasted 6 hours during this particular race. I hope that no one takes my report or my personal experience as a negative reflection on this race. Ironman Lake Tahoe is a beautiful venue, it was well run, and I consider myself lucky to have gotten to be involved in the inaugural race. On the other hand this race should not be under estimated, if you want to complete an Ironman and want a challenge this is your race.

In case anyone is considering racing this in the future here is what worked well for me and few things I would do differently if I could.

Things I would do differently in the future:

• Work more on my climbing and descending skills, the bike course is very challenging, and at altitude. It would have been ideal to go out and train on the course. I am a fairly new cyclist and I worked hard this summer but I think I could have used more time. Also I would put more time into strength training to make sure my legs had plenty of strength to get up and over the long climbs.
• Really have my nutrition down before the race. I can’t really put my finger on the reason I felt so sick for so long on the bike. I was fine until the first set of climbs then my stomach went into revolt, my mood plummeted and I had a hard time eating anything. Soon after I stopped eating as much my energy started to sag, not surprisingly.
• Take more electrolytes. I was craving salt really badly at the beginning of the run which makes me think I was neglecting my salt on the bike. It was easy to forget about my salts when it was so cold.
• Get my metal game together before the race. I was pretty thrown by the cold and terrible weather the day before and I think it shook my confidence at little.

Things that worked for me:

• My swim training, I felt great on the swim, I sighted well and even was able to draft a little. I decided to wear two swim caps but not a neoprene cap or booties. I was happy and warm enough on the swim.
• When heading to Tahoe I packed every piece of cold weather gear I own and I wore all of it on the bike, I was still cold but I am not sure what else I could have put on.
• Switching to a compact cranks
• Full change in T1 and T2, I can’t imagine being wet on the bike or the run.
• Warm clothes on the run instead of a tri kit
• Having great support on the course from my family
• Deciding to never give up. I thought about quoting but I decided that as long as I was physically able I would keep moving forward and eventually I made it to the finish.

Even though my race was more of a challenge for me than I would have liked I still love Ironman, love that I took on this challenging race and look forward to doing it again in the future.  

In case you missed it you can read about Race Prep here and the Swim here.

This is the part of the report I wish I could skip, the bike ended up being a little bit of a dark place for me, but I will keep it real that Ironman isn’t always 100% sunshine and roses.

I was feeling great leaving the swim, I had a great time for me but more importably I felt great and really enjoyed myself. As I made my way out of the water, up the sand and into T1 I was getting really cold and it was really painful to run on my freezing feet. Kind, amazing, wonderful volunteers helped me get my bag and out of my wetsuit. As I made my way into T1 I ran into a wall of bodies. The tent was FULL of bodies there was NO room, people were making full changes in the doorways and doing whatever the could to find room. I was planning on making a full change so that I could have dry clothes on the bike so I was hoping for a little volunteer help. Ladies you know how hard it can be to get a sports bra on when you are damp, couple that with barley working freezing hands and it is near impossible. I think there was a few issues with transition, partially it was just not a big enough space and partially people were taking longer to warm up so there were just more of us in there at one time. I finally found about a square foot to change (no volunteer, no chair) I got myself as dry as possible changed with the help of a fellow athlete who needed help as well. I got all my layers on, stuffed everything in my bag hoping I didn’t forget anything and moved to the exit trying really hard to not step on anyone. I waved at my family, tried to make sure everything was sitting right and took off.

I started out feeling happy but my legs felt stiff and slow. I hoped that I would warm up and start to feel more normal as we went. Unfortunately the course starts with a long, gradual downhill that wasn’t helping me warm up. I was chatting with other athletes and trying to settle in.

I felt pretty good through Truckee, saw Cory let him know I was feeling pretty good.

Then things started to get a little shaky. I started to feel a little nauseous on the first climb, that got worse on the second big climb. The one cool part of that loop was getting lapped by the pros on a climb it was awesome to see how great they were doing. I wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t stomach eating anything so I pushed on hoping that some downhill would help me feel better. I wasn’t eating so I was getting a little bonky and slowing down. I was feeling pretty negative and stopped talking to people as much. There was a point that I felt like I was just done, I didn’t want to ride my bike anymore. On the second loop I told myself all I had to do was get to Cory then I could quit and not have to do the two big climbs again. I wasn’t able to eat anything so I thought my day was done. I got to Cory outside of Truckee pulled over and told him I thought I was done and couldn’t eat. He felt horrible for me but was supportive. He made the one comment that kept me going, he said “if you haven’t been eating there is no way you will be able to run a marathon”. It hit me then that I felt like I COULD run a marathon, I wasn’t broken physically, who quits 80 miles into an ironman bike, Not me I thought. I knew I might get pulled from the course but I wouldn’t quit as long as I could keep moving. So I told Cory I would do my best to get back up over the big hills and just see how it went, I wasn’t happy about it, I was hurting, but I was going to try.

After leaving Cory I did my best to put my head down and keep climbing. I got to the top of Brockway summit and thought I could make it back to Squaw Valley but I would have to push it. I did my best to focus push the last 20 miles. I had never really warmed up and it was starting to cool down again, especially in the valley.

I made it to T2, a little shocked that I had gotten there. I can’t really explain what went so wrong on the bike, I had trained for the hills and at elevation so I can only imagine that the cold had something to do with it. But I can’t explain why I got so sick and stayed sick from 30 miles into the ride on. Something to figure out for the future.

Up next the Run – promise it gets better!