I should have been home sitting in Stake Conference! Never in a million years would I have dreamed that I would DNF this year. My 2012 race ended with a kidney stone during the bike, what can I say, what could I do. I finished in 2010 and really didn't want to hang up my Ironman career with a DNF, so 2014 was to be my redemption year. I hired a coach, stuck (pretty much) to my training plan and was ready to go.
Swim--I've been working hard on my swim, this year because the lake was lower we didn't jump off the dock, we had to go down the stairs to get in. I got in swam to the back of the start and was ready to go. No glaring sun this year, I sighted fairly well and swam, got thumped in the chest pretty good by a breaststroker, lots of contact, but Yay! a pr. 3 minutes faster than 2010, and a whopping 13 minutes faster than 2012.
T1 was unremarkable, I threw on a wind vest and some arm warmers and was out the door. The weather had been beautiful in Tempe no wind of course until race day.
Bike--We had wicked headwinds going out, I think I averaged 10mph on the first half of each loop. People are saying they were 35 mph, I think that's an exaggeration, weather.com said 15-20 with 29 mph gusts. I felt the gusts for sure when they blew me sideways. In 2010 we had bad weather, headwinds, and it seemed like the wind shifted so the headwinds attacked us on the downhill too. This year we had screaming tailwinds. I knew I had to ride the downhill hard, no just coasting with the wind if I was going to make the time cutoff. The first loop was discouraging, I wasn't sure I could make it in time but I wasn't giving up, second loop the winds were stronger, I rode both ways as hard as I could. I headed out for the third and final loop, fought my way to the top of the Beeline and made the first intermediate cutoff by 15 minutes (I later heard the extended that cutoff by 15 minutes because the downhill was so fast.) When Mr. Turnaround volunteer told me I made the cutoff and it was 4:00 I knew I was in good shape, I had 1 1/2 hours to finish. I still pushed hard all the way back and finished the bike in 7:55ish. 38 minutes slower than 2010, no matter, I was done. I now had almost 7 hours to wrap up the marathon. I'm a happy girl (ok, make that old woman).
Run--I started out fine just trotting along not big deal, by mile 13 I felt the dreaded leans start. I start to lean a little to the right, I'm still confident, after all I finished with the leans in 2010. I'm not sure where the run all fell apart but my leans were so bad I was not only pulled clear over to the right side but I was doubled over, trying my best not to do the monkey walk. By mile 22 I still had an hour left to finished but my body was so contorted I knew I couldn't do it. (I finally downloaded my Garmin today, I actually only had 3 1/4 miles left). No matter it wasn't going to happen. I have very mixed feelings I was sooo close, I was mentally there and in good shape, it was just the total collapse of the body that did me in.
I talked to my coach on Wednesday, I've got a plan for next year I'm going to be experimenting with in my training. I think I had a combination of hyperthermia and hyponatremia. I was trying to get all of my electrolytes with fluids, that doesn't work so well when you are a small, old, slow lady. I'm going to start experimenting with thermotabs. I've got a lot to figure out and learn this year. I'm in for one more, if I can't finish in 2015, then I will probably make 70.3's my A race.
I'm also going to consult a dietician and make sure I have a calorie plan. I'll try to blog more this year and keep running, boring notes on how the tweeks are working.
I'm not sure when I'm starting training again, I took this whole week off, maybe next week.
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