IM Louisville

Ok I’m finally down to writing the post race report… my coach who I believe probably prefers to remain anonymous (lets just call him ‘Buckaroo”) had advised me to let things sit a while before I wrote anything or made any final assessments of my race….so I waited.. waited for a sign that the time was right and I would have good perspective on the day… last night the toenail fell off..it was a sign.. time to write the report!

Many of you know Buckaroo turned my training on its side this past year, and I made some good strides this season. Leading up to the race, I was very excited to see how I would improve at Iron distance! We had a few mishaps leading up to the race and ended up having to fly with my bike so we called ahead to TSA (thanks Scotto) and my Mom made some of her killer homemade cookies (thanks Mom)and we met the TSA manager at the Sunport… he walked my bike through security and then came and found us in line to let us know the bike was great and had not been messed with… wheeww my blood pressure dropped 50 points!! So FYI if you have to fly your bike… try bribing tsa with homemade cookies.. it seems to work!

We made it to Louisville fine (with only a dash of 30 gates in Dallas due to American being over an hour late – poor Scotto’s knee blew up like a balloon while running in flipflops- the sacrifices he makes for me!) We got checked in very late and headed out to get something to eat… some guys in the bar surmised I was a triathlete and asked if I was “really going to swim in the Ohio River” I told ‘em “no way could it be worse than our local lake”.. they laughed and said there were probably bodies in there.. I said “yeah so” and they joked that maybe girls from NM were tuffer than girls from Michigan (their stomping grounds)… I said “most certainly.”

Friday rolled around and I got the bike together no problem, shifting great etc (see cookies work to bribe TSA). Then about midday someone knocked on our hotel door. “what the heck” Scotto sat on his butt… so I answered the door having no idea who would be knocking…. It was one of my best buds… Mario.. flew in to surprise me and cheer me on… how cool is that! I shouted to everyone in the atrium of the hotel.. “Hey did you see that .. Mario is here!” Later we went for dinner and had a great time – then to the pre race meeting in a huge convention center packed with athletes and terrible acoustics.. the announcer said.. wah wah wah wah wah wah, then something about swim on the yellow buoys and turn on the reds then wah wah wah wah wah wah. Post meeting Scott and Mario decided they were going to go out on the town (4^th street live is very cool in downtown Louisville) – I was on orders to put my feet up. At 1 am Scotto finally returned to the room and proceeded to tell me how much they were proud of me, loved me, knew I was gonna have a great race… blah blah blah – shush and go to bed I told him. He then proceeded to wrestle with the curtains, tied himself and the curtains in a knot and necessitated my exiting the bed only to trip over the chair (which he had pulled in front of him )and drag him out of the corner and into the bed. I had to do minor surgery to get the curtains untangled and shut. By that time he had hit the sack and the drunk snore was full on!!!! I found then that my only solution was to rock him to keep the snoring at bay.... it was much later on Saturday when I explained to him that the night before the night before the race is the most critical night of sleep (all you triathletes are nodding yes to this and the rest of you are thinking what the heck is she talkin about). Saturday I was up nice and early, pre ride got done no problem! Scotto made a peace offering and walked to the pre race swim with me (he nearly threw up only about 5 times). Swim done… took Scotto back to hotel and I got pre run done no prob. Returned to hotel to have the tuffest part of my pre race workout… getting Scotto and Mario to rally for lunch! When Mario finally joined us he had to confess he was even later getting back to the hotel and he had lost his ID and 3 credit cards… oh crap I thought how are we gonna get him home… I assigned them homework for the countless hours I would be on the course on Sunday… FIGURE IT OUT! We went to a great joint for dinner… Bistro 301! Cool little pub, homemade pastas and bread, great beer and wine (although Scotto and Mario shivered at the wine list and both still looked a little green). A pal from ElPaso – Gabby Gallegos – had sent me a gift certificate to this place and it rocked!(thanks Gabby!)

Race day rolled around and Scotto and Mario were on top of their game… they were both on time and double checking that I had everything I needed! We were having a great time when the announcer said “all athletes should be getting in line now.” It is a time trial start and I kinda thought I could wait around a bit before getting in line (also at the pre race meeting they announced not to be there too early, to sleep in and come well rested blah blah blah) so by the time I tried to get in line… I was one of the last 200 folks- all the guys around me were griping… I told them I HATE getting passed so this way I would have a great day and know that with each person I passed I would be making up the stagger… it sounded good anyway. As we waited and waited and waited - at one point they stopped the line and asked everyone to step back… medical team came through pushing an athlete on a gurney (about 2 ft from me) one guy up on his chest performing compressions! The athlete’s face was as blue as I have ever seen any human, his chest was collapsing under the compressions- an IM rep followed them and said “if you all are praying folks, it’s time to start praying!” I think everyone in the vicinity started immediately. It was a reality check for sure, then they re-stationed volunteers along the swim line and had them telling everyone to calm down, relax and breathe! For some reason though I was calm, I usually am before longer races, and I just thought if you have to go, that’s a good way to go… we found out later he did go out that way, didn’t make it and I felt for his family and the race staff who I’m sure were struggling with this tragic event. My swim went well, was strong in the water, down through the narrow section of the river, kept spotting the yellow buoys, made it to the red and everyone was making a nice tight turn, I did too and bee lined it right back for the yellow buoys. I was feeling bad for people, thinking these folks need a coach like Buckaroo, some were really struggling. I felt tuff, for the first time ever I felt like I was racing on the swim portion, not just trying to get thru it… I would spot, pick a line, pick up the pace get around folks and settle back in! It was going good! … then I felt it, the pressure of a kayak in front of me… “swimmer check your course” the kayaker said. I replied “yeah I’m swimming for that yellow buoy right in front of me” , he said “ you are supposed to be swimming for that orange buoy over there”. I looked, was only 125-150 m off course, I laughed, got back on track and just tried to keep focus… the last ½ mile I seemed to need to spot more often than I would have liked but that may just have been due to my little mishap … I could have sworn at the pre race meeting they said wah wah wah wah swim on the yellows, turn on the reds wah wah wah wah wah wah. Saw Mario and Scott out of the water, they were relieved to see me…they had no idea what time I got in the water so I shouted my split (1:18) they knew that was OK and yelled for me to get on it. T1 went well, speed suit top part down during run up, grabbed the bag and was feeling good, got all my gear and the volunteer in the tent said “sorry we are a little short handed you ok?” I told her “ yeah honey I’m great” she asked again a minute later, “No, sweetie, I’m Ok” and just kept it flowing all was good, stood up to run and realized still had speed suit on , laughed, sat back down, hollered at volunteer for my bag back .. it was then and only then that I looked at her… I had been so focused I didn’t realize I had been calling a 70+ year old woman with a blue Mohawk, hundreds of body piercings, countless tattoos, a miniskirt and pipi long stocking socks “honey and sweetie.” I had either been very focused or I was losing my marbles.

On the bike feeling great! First 10 miles were flat and fast. Weather great – about 85, low humidity for Louisville. I had heard the out and back stretch a few miles down the road was the hardest and when I hit it, I just told myself to stay in it thru this section. It was steeper hills than the rest but nothing bad (not like Elephant Man or Silver Man or Buffalo Springs). The tree canopy got to be so thick on this section it blocked out the sun! Amazing considering in NM nothing blocks out our sun. Made it to the turn around and there had been a crash so everyone was nearly walking around the turn around. Picked it back up, but then my Garmin started beeping at me… I figured it was cuz we were under that canopy and it would clear soon, no go…. It was full and I was struggling to delete the old stuff and not lose where I currently was… some guy pedaled up next to me and said “you have the most beautiful bike form” I said “my fricking *&(^^*(*!@ watch is malfunctioning.” “Oh he said that is not so beautiful!” I finally got it figured out but lost some data and my time… passed him back and said by the way “thanks” . From there on I wasn’t exactly certain how much time that had taken me but had to do math the rest of the day trying to figure it out. The course was really pretty, what I remember and when I looked up. It is constant rollers with an odd sort of rhythm, at one point I really wanted a bigger hill or a flat stretch, but no such luck. Just constant rollers. The stretch thru LaGrange is cool and people line the streets, I think it must be like being in the tour and I was able to really push thru this fast stretch on both laps! I tried to get all my nutrition in me like clockwork but just couldn’t get any solids to settle, so I ended up with 1.5 bottles of perpetuem and 6 honey stinger gels, water and 2.5 Perform bottles. Remember my theory about passing folks meant I was making up the stagger, well it never dawned on me just how many folks I was gonna have to pass… plus it was open to traffic, I tried to pass one car on the right and they pushed me onto the rumble strip, nearly all the way off the road, so the next time I went to pass a car, I passed on the left (NEVER EVER DO THIS IN ELEPHANT MAN THE RD IS A PAIN IN THE ASS ABOUT THIS RULE). Did I mention it was rolling hills, so I passed on the left, past the center line, making good time on the up hill, then I see a car coming the other direction so there I am dead center of the road cars coming both directions AAAARRRGGGHHHH. Next pass I opted to go right again, 2 men in front of me, I settled in and thought easy, easy, let em go their pace, but then it got to me and I shouted “Hey #1252, get on it lets go, pump pump pump move it lets go!” They stood up and as I passed they yelled “you go girl” but you could tell they weren’t happy about it. If it weren’t so congested out there I think I could have been faster on my bike for sure just based on that one factor alone.

I hit the last 10 mi flat back into Louisville and despite my math skills at the time, figured I was doing OK. I needed to pass again… I jumped on it… right side and I hear a little boy say “Mom there is one right next to us… she is right there on our right.” They gave me lots of room and so I pushed a little more, about a mile later the road widened and they passed back, preparing to make a left hand turn, for some reason I looked up, the little boy was hanging out the window, eyes as wide as saucers and mouth wide open, I gave him a smile and a thumbs up and he did the same back, at this point I lost focus I envisioned him going home jumping on his bike pedaling like mad, I envisioned him joining a team like Grupo Loco (my kids tri team), I envisioned him doing an IM someday and that his best pal would show up and surprise him too, and get snockered too, no just kidding but it was a cool little moment in time and then I had to refocus!

T2 went great! The guys shouted I was holding steady and to relax and run!!! Buckaroo had warned me not to go out too fast like I tend to do in training but my legs REALLY wanted to run! I kept having to tell myself to slow down! There is a slight incline up onto the out and back on a bridge and that helped to settle me down a little. I felt good thru about mile 5-6 then I started getting hungry… the lack of calories on the bike caught up with me here and I got a little woozy and tummy a little weird… my focus left running and went straight to figuring what if anything I could get in me to salvage the day. I finally got a little coke in me.. then they started handing out the “magic elixir of life” or what others may know as chicken broth. It settled me a little but I knew I wasn’t gonna be able to push I was just gonna have to hold on from here out. The run course is pretty uneventful. We were supposed to go by Churchill Downs but there was a redirection so no go there. Support was plentiful and as I heard comments I thought they were all talking right to me, pick it up, looking strong, I would nod my head and they must have thought I was NUTS. I did get to see Scott and the top of Mario’s head (he is considerably shorter than Scotto) at the turn portion at the end of lap one… that made my day! I had worn my Tyr carbon tri top and bottoms which for the record are the most comfortable bike shorts I have ever worn (and I have done a few 70.3s in them). However, something happened mid run and it felt like I was running with a full diaper on – uggh this didn’t help matters. Next time I’ll change shorts in T2. With a few miles left in the run, spectators were getting a little tired(or maybe just maybe I was) and according to my IM brain a little placating… “looking steady” “keep it up” yeah yeah yeah I thought …finally, with about 4 miles left some guy gave me a ½ hearted cheer something about finishing around 12 hours, I’d had it by then, I said “Dude I was one of the last ones in the water this morning” he said “oh shit, GO GO GO Go Get em!” I was able to pick it up and ran better those last few miles which was a nice feeling. Somewhere along the run my number had torn and I just folded it over into my shorts, as I got closer to the finish line I wondered how Scott and Mario would find me.. we had a plan but I knew they might be wasted again! So as I made my way down the final stretch (which by the way is amazing!) I kept kickin it in, I ripped off my number and held it up, waving it all around! “ Kori wah wah wah wah from Elephant Wah wah the announcer said, You are an Ironman.” The volunteer at the finish caught me and said good race, just a little over 12 hours… I said “No I was one of the last swimmers in. I know I went sub 12.” “oh crap he said, you had a good race, If I had a stud pin I’d give it to you.” I told him “you probably say that to all the girls.” He asked if I had family there and I said “Yes, but I’m not sure they are sober.” He said “I can’t leave you til they claim you. Bout that time, the guys showed up! Cheering, hugging, and somewhat sober and Scotto asked “whats up with waving your number around.” I said “I figured if you didn’t see me cuz you were sitting in the bar at least you’d hear my name called!” But they hadn’t been in the bar, nope, not my crew! There they were, they’d been placing bets on me against Air Force guys and we came through! It was a good day – 11:37 – not too shabby. 2:12 faster than my previous IM which shows first off how pitifully slow I was before and how much better my training went this year with Buckaroo(thanks Buckaroo). I learned so much and that I can do soooooo much better than 11:37 too.

I rallied quick, got the guys back through the airport and home and have already done a few short workouts. So the plan is to add some mountain biking and offroad racing to the mix next season and your assignment should you choose to accept it is to offer up your input on mountain biking – I think I’m gonna build one up myself so if you have a vote on frames, components, wheels etc send ‘em my way, without 25 hours of training a week I need a project for my free time… oh yeah after Elephant Man is over!