Kona Ironman World Championships

Often a picture tells a tale much better than words.  I feel very lucky to have so many talented photographers in my world. All of the photos here are courtesy of Tessa (www.tessacapistrano.ca) with the exception of the shot on the bike from David McColm (www.davidmccolm.com).

I started my day feeling focused and confident. My training had gone very well and I really felt ready. Good preparation always equates to confidence on race day.

 

My first inkling that I wasn’t firing on all cylinders was during the warm up. I thought, “maybe I should have done a little run warm up”. I didn’t have much spark.

As the swim got started, I felt ok, but really only had one gear. As some of the faster girls pulled away, I would normally surge and try to stay with them, but in that moment I had nothing.

In the latter part of the swim, the oft-used analogy of the matchsticks came to mind.  The theory is that when you start an Ironman you only have so many matches to burn, so you need to be conscientious about how and when you burn them. My thought on Saturday was “I feel like I have no matches at all.”

I told myself that it was just taking a while to warm up. That happens sometimes. No problem.

But once I was on my bike, I very quickly realized that the flatness I was feeling was not going to be shaken. Mentally, I went between trying hard to break out of it, and accepting my fate. I got to 120k on the bike and felt like I hadn’t done anything yet. This is normally when it starts to hurt. Getting back to T2 was simply a matter of patience. At this point I was basically last in the race.

 

I started running and felt more or less the same. I kept running and finished the race.

 

As it happens, I got the timing wrong. I came down from altitude 12 days before the race, the same way I had in 2007 when I finished 2^nd at Ironman Canada.  I felt confident it would work again. It did not. I don’t know why I needed longer this time after my block at altitude. Maybe it’s because I am older? I really have no idea.

Some of the guys who I had been training with in Sedona felt the same way on race day. Ronnie, Macca, Bart- they all had a similar complaint. One of my friends found this video clip of Macca discussing the same topic:

 

So that was my day. All I can do now is learn and move forward. As the champ says "no excuses, i shall return".

 

Big thanks to everyone who contributed to this year so far. Most of all, my husband and coach Clint Lien. My sponsors, especially Zoot, Rudy Project, Sportexcel and Trek ProCity. My rehab people, but especially Rob Hasagawa who has kept me healthy for almost 2 years. Coach Daz and Rick who really got me to the race in good form. Not to mention all the other friends and family who continually help with the project that is my athletic career.