Ironman 70.3 Honu was a tough day, to say the least. Nine months later I am still frustrated by how close I came to finishing the swim before the cutoff. This was one of the hardest races I have ever done, primarily because my grandmother passed away a little less than a month before race day. That meant an emergency trip from Honolulu, Hawai'i to Greeley, Colorado and no training for 11 days. On the flight back to HI I told my husband that I wasn't going to do the race - I just wasn't mentally prepared for it given the circumstances. Then, I arrived back at work to find my co-workers had created a care package for me and it gave me a jolt of mental fortitude.
Race morning came and my old friend anxiety came back as I looked out into the ocean and the swim course. Open water racing and I have a love-hate relationship although I haven't figured out what it is that causes the issue. I love swimming in the ocean, snorkeling, etc. but when I toe the starting sand, my heart rate shoots up. I suspect it has more to do with being in control than the actual water itself - I had some issues with SCUBA until I realized it was the bobbing around on the surface was the problem. I had mastered the race swim for the last long distance triathlon I did in a lake and had a solid swim as well in my last Ironman. The toughest part of doing a long (or ultra) distance triathlon is the mental aspect - staring down the challenge in front of you and saying "Yep, I have this!" That also means that competing in the race has to be for yourself and not anyone else.
I positioned myself at the back, to make sure I didn't get pulled under in the crazy start. I started going and felt pretty good for the first 1/4, then I hit some of the chop and had to pause for a second to get my bearings. I was actually still in a pack of swimmers at that point and even passed a few. Then I made the turn around the 2nd buoy and looked up to sight and discovered I couldn't see anything. The next buoy, which was over a 1/2 mile away, was lost in the rising sun. There were guys on paddle boards turning tons of people around because they were swimming out to the open ocean and way off course. That didn't exactly settle my nerves much nor did the fact that they were pulling people out of the water all over the place. I figured I was out there, I might as well keep going - my pride wasn't going to let me get pulled out. There was this amazing paddle boarder who ended up paddling around the remainder of the course for me. He was my eyes so I didn't have to keep stopping to try and figure out where the course was - he stayed on my right so as long as I could see or feel his board I knew I was on course! He went above and beyond and is the reason I finished the swim at all, honestly. (Although my right hand had a few bruises from smacking his board!)
By the time I came around for the home stretch, I was exhausted. After fighting the waves, dealing with not being able to see the course and, oh yeah, swimming over a mile, I just didn't have much energy left. I knew I was close to the cutoff and gave it my last effort. Perhaps if I hadn't stopped to turn around and thank the paddle boarder as I stood up or if I hadn't stumbled around coming out of the water, I might have crossed before that magical cutoff time. I wasn't going to leave the water without thanking the paddle boarder - just didn't seem right. Running (or walking) after being horizontal for over an hour is a bit of trick too. Anyway, as it turns out, I probably could have just kept going because the volunteers/race staffers in transition didn't realize that time had expired, so they were going to let me go. Given that I clearly wasn't going to win the race, they probably would have let me finish and register a time but I was following the rules and turned in my time chip. Given the windy conditions on the bike and the scorching sun on the run, I don't believe my race day would have gotten any easier :)
Fast forward to today and I am 106 days out from Ironman Coeur d'Alene. Yep, it's sneaking up on me and I'm reflecting on that last race. I need to focus on the positives and work on solutions to the negatives. Hey, I wasn't one of the 100ish people that they pulled out of the water! I also wasn't one of the 20ish women in my age bracket that either didn't start or didn't finish the swim. I am in a lot better position now to conquer the swim (and the entirety of the race) than I was at that time.
So - here's to sunny days, long rides, good runs and smooth swims! IMCDA - here I come! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment