Mark and I spent Thursday setting up his steed , picked up Bruce at 4:30 and headed out to sunny, warm Lake Havasu. As we are getting ready to leave we notice it is VERY dark here in Cottonwood. Look out the window and the skies are black and you can see a storm rolling in over the mountains. CRAP! "Hey, let's double check the weather for the weekend" says Mark. There it was...62 for a high temp on Saturday. Only a few days earlier it was in the 80's. I throw on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, toss a pair of arm warmers at Mark and throw a pair for me into my pocket. Now we are off.
The ride to Havasu was wet and windy. My left shoulder has been acting up for about a month like it always does before an IM so I was steering with my right arm. Trying to steer with my right arm. The wind was whipping the car all over the highway. All I wanted to do was get there and sleep. 4 hours later we pull into the hotel and pass out for the night.
I woke up around 6 or 7 am ( cell phone didn't know what time zone we were in because we were so close to the CA border so it kept flipping between real time and an hour earlier). That's when I felt it...I couldn't move my head or my right arm. I had pulled something. Awesome.... put heat and capistan on it and hoped for the best. Well, that and a few panicked text messages to some peeps.
Went down to the water later in the morning to get a light swim in and make sure that the wetsuit felt OK. Had a hell of a time getting it on since I could really only use my left arm. Once I was in the compression seemed to alleviate the pain and I started to swim. Well, more like I started to flail around and choke on the water. There were really high winds and the water was very choppy and FREEZING cold so I had a hard time getting anything going. tried to just keep Mark in my sights and at one point told him I was going to turn around. He was going to head out to the first buoy so I decided to try to get there too. At some point I took a breath and swallowed another wave of water and lost my breakfast. I threw up. First time ever on a swim. this wasn't turning out to be the best day ever. The swim back was fast as hell because the wind carried us in.
We got back to shore, warmed up and took the race directors advice and went out to drive the bike course. Holy hell.....Now, when we signed up for this race it was said it would be a fast course that everyone would love. I found out about 2 months before the race that that was not going to be the case. Mark saw that they re-posted the bike route and that it would have over 5800 feet of climbing. I stopped training in Flagstaff and stuck out my last long rides here from Cottonwood-Sedona-Cornville and back times 2. My rides were painfully slow ( 13 ish mph averages) and I was hoping that it was the elevation I still wasn't used to. Then I was without a bike for the last month. To say I was nervous would be an understatement. I had been doubting my ability to crush this course for awhile so decided I was just going to go out and do the best I could. easier said than done. as we drove the course my guts were churning. Every uphill was followed by another. When there was a downhill it was stopped by a right or left hand turn. Downhills have always been where I make up for my lack of power on hills. that would not be the case on this course.
We went to dinner, I put as much heat on my shoulder/back as it could handle then bed by 9. I was surprised by how calm I was considering everything that was going on. I slept like a baby.
Woke up at 3:50 to eat a ridiculous amount of applesauce and whey protein. Shoulder was sore but not as painful as the day before. At least I could move my neck. Mark and I sat in silence as we ate and watched ESPN. Tried to take a nap but the nerves were kicking in. Woke B up at 5:15 and we were off to the start at 5:30.
HITS has a cool set-up in transition. You rack your bike in a wooden rack that holds just the wheel and you each have a bench just for yourself and your stuff. It was a nice treat. The race director Mark Wilson is a great person with an AMAZING memory. He came over and said "hello Heidi, good luck on your 4th full race!! Where's your husband Bruce and Mark?" He really makes it a point to get to know everyone who is racing. He even introduced racers to other racers by name. Very nice man.
I set up transition and brought my shorts down to the ladies room. Because of the size of the race, there are no changing tents. I hate wearing my shorts under my wetsuit so I left them in the public bathroom. Unfortunately this was located before the swim exit so the time I was in there was included in my swim time. I would realize in a few hours that that would be the least of my worries.
I change and run to my bike. That went quickly and B was there taking pics and talking to me about the swim. Words of encouragement and I was off. First 6 miles of bike were on the island and flat. not too much wind which was nice. Still felt really slow though. I never put my GPS to current speed because I don't want to get discouraged. Only average and I don't usually use that in a race until the start of second loop as a gauge of time. The next 6 miles were straight uphill. As the police officer at the first intersection said " You signed up for this baby!" The police were amazing. It was a joy to come to every intersection because they were so friendly and cheerful and full of encouragement.
About 4 up miles in my head was down and I was just grinding away when I saw someone jump up. I was B! So awesome to see him out on the course. he told me how Mark did on the swim and yelled " GO! GO! GO!" and I kept going. The course was " unique" as the RD said. I thought it was crazy. A ton of out and backs and loops around neighborhoods. Big uphills with very windy downhills. I had a hard time staying in aero because I was so cold I felt like I didn't have enough control over the bike. I was numb. I just couldn't get warm and only brought arm warmers. No tights, sock or headband.
First loop, as usual, means ignorance is bliss. Second loop you know what you are in for. The last 11-5 miles of the loop were downhill. During the flat back to the start of 2nd loop there was a headwind and I was going in reverse. I saw my average drop from slow to slower. I knew that if I stopped at all at the turnaround there was a very good chance I wouldn't make the bike cut-off. This was a terrible feeling. First loop was 4:02. I have never had any doubt, even on my 1st IM, that I wouldn't finish the bike. Never. Now here I was with the real possibility that if I didn't keep this same pace, if I slowed down at all, I would be done. It was terrible. I started to cry. B has sacrificed so much financially and personally just for me to do this race. I knew that even if I trashed my legs and had nothing for the run, I had to push through this bike.
It got colder and the winds picked up. Head down, a few tears and a few hours later it was over. 8:15 bike. I didn't care. It was done and I had come to grips with the fact that this would be a midnight finish. I pulled into T2 with B there smiling and taking pics. I was smiling and laughing because he was too. I sat down and told him I didn't give a shit anymore. It was going to be a terrible marathon and midnight finish. He told me how everyone coming in from the bike was swearing and pissed. This was not the course ANYONE signed up for. Everyone who came in had their worst bike splits he said. I felt better. In fact, I really did feel good. My body didn't feel like crap and my head was in an angry place but not a negative " forget this" place anymore. Of course...it was a nearly 10 minute transition time but I think that was what I needed.
I saw Mark leaving on the run and he looked strong. He didn't look like he just rode 112 miles of hills. I was super excited for him. It was his first Iron and he was killing it. I took off a few minutes after him. B tried to convince me to take his fleece but I said no. I would stick with my bike outfit and arm warmers. I was still cold but confident OI would warm up on the run.
I headed out of the park and felt great. Looked at my watch and had an 8:32 pace. Stupid fast for me in an IM. Low heart rate so I figured maybe the high altitude training would pay off on the run. It did. The first part of the run has you climb several fights of stairs up London Bridge, run across London Bridge, climb down London Bridge then back up the other side of London Bridge. That....sucked. Then we ran out on the island to an out and back. It was getting dark quickly and a very nice older couple who were manning one of the aid stations said there are no lights on the island so be careful on the way out on the second loop. It would be very dark. That was an understatement. B drove by as it was starting to get dark to see if I was OK. He said he didn't know it was me because I was going so fast. I looked at my GPS and was holding a 9:00 pace. I was so excited. " Kathy, Jen and Holly say HI NOW GO RUN!!!" he said .I put all my anger into that run. By the time I got back to London Bridge and went down the stairs I was told to head out the other side of the canal and do an out and back. I had not expected that so was a little pissed. I because angrier when I realized I had no idea where I was going or where the turn around was. It was pitch black and there was nobody out there to tell runners where to go. I ended up on the highway by our hotel and was ready to punch something. I knew I had run off course. I followed the way I came back and headed back to the transition area to start loop 2. I used the port a potty and as I came out a man asked how I knew this was the turn around. I laughed because he was standing next to a TURN AROUND sign. Then I realized what he meant. I told him I asked someone and that there was nobody out on the course telling people where to go. I was upset because I ran off course. He said he knew and apologized. whatever...time to start 2nd loop.
2nd loop was so hard because it was so dark. I have never run in pitch black so it was difficult to keep up my pace. by this point my GPS had died and I was gauging my pace by my watch. There was nothing I could do. It was just too dark. On the 2nd out and back on the island I had terrible stomach issues and there was only 1 port a potty at the turn around and one at the transition area. That was tough. You gotta do what you gotta do :)
On the last 1/4 of the marathon I realized that I was still going to do one of my faster marathon times. My legs were tired, my gut's were killing but I just wanted it over. I went up and down all the London Bridge stairs for the last time and did the last out and back ( this time someone was out there telling me where to go).
You can hear the music at the finish line because it is just across the canal from you. All I could think about was finishing. The finish of an Ironman is always special and full of emotion but I felt more emotional this time. This was the toughest course I had ever been on. I felt like I had done some kind of "adventure" race race that lasted 14 hours. I ran as fast as I could to the finish line and saw B there all smiles taking pictures.
I feel so luck to have someone like B who not only comes to these races with me but sticks out the whole day. He was freezing , you could tell. And anyone who knows B knows he hates the cold. It was great. "You had a fast marathon!" I looked at my watch 4:51. Faster than my best stand alone marathon. That made up for the rest of the day. Finish time 14:43:01.
Mark had a great first Iron!!! 15:34:46 at his first full and it was a hard one. He would have easily been an hour faster on any other course!! Huge congrats to my Yukon!!!! That night I feasted on Dots candies, pineapple ice cream and diet A&W. I also slept like a baby which never happens. I am usually up all night with sore legs that won't stop shaking and my mind going a million miles an hour. Not that night. I was so spent my body just shut down.
I learned a lot from this race.
1. I expect to much out of myself. Not every race is going to go the way you plan. The key is to learn to deal with it during and under stressful conditions and move on.
2. ALWAYS prepare for a snow storm or heat wave. I was terribly under prepared clothing wise for this race. I don't know that it would have helped being any warmer but it would have been nice to have the option.
3. EAT. I started my new job 10 days before this race. I work 12 hour shifts and it is a 1 hour 15 min commute each way. We eat on the go and since I was new, I wasn't eating. There is absolutely no doubt that this hurt me going into this race. I was not properly fueled or hydrated. I couldn't really control to much of that but I should have tried harder.
4.I have some AMAZING friends and one hell of a husband. I have always known this but come race time, their support and love really shines through. I am very lucky.
