Well IM NZ is in the books and I couldn’t
be happier, or sadder.
Travel went well, except for a ‘little’ hiccup in MN that almost
kept us from getting on the plane, and more probably from the entire trip
altogether (I’ll spare you the details, mostly because I’m trying to strip it
from memory, but HUGE thanks to cuz D), our air travel to NZ went pretty well. T did great, slept on the
long 12 hour flight from CA to NZ, and did the 4-hour car trip to Taupo without
too much fuss. I wasn’t really able to
move around or stretch much during the flight, but stayed hydrated, and
basically just tried to go with the flow until we got to our final destination
for the race. Got a quick run in on the day we arrived as well. Got up early on our first
full day. Assembled my bike to make sure everything was OK. I took off my rear derailleur this time
because I thought it would be prudent for such a long flight – note to self –
make sure you know how to put it back on correctly – Because as I was getting
the bike together I just wasn’t 100% sure I did it correctly and ended up at
the closest bike shop to ensure my bike was A-OK. $50 later and a day in the shop was well
worth it. Pre-race week - Got my
swim/bike/run workouts in for the most part.
Skipped my last run before the race because it was very hot by the time
I had a chance to do it, so figured it was better to rest. I felt like I did a good job ‘relaxing’
before the race, but I was also on vacation in an amazing place with another
family, so I felt like I had to ‘do’ something at least one of the days before
the race, so on Thursday we all did the ‘craters of the moon’ walk. It was hot and I was pretty tired by the end
of it. Should have skipped that, but I
skipped my run instead and just let the stress that I may have used up too much
energy roll off my back. Registration
went well. Bag/Bike drop went well. Got my bearings wrt where my bike was in
relation to swim in/bike out/bike in/run out.
A girl I met during one of my swims was right next to me on the bike
racks, and she let me borrow her pump, so that was set. Just needed to get special needs and race
stuff together and show up.
Goal Achieved – Truly wanted to do my best at being relaxed and
not getting hung up on things I couldn’t control. Certainly with a trip that long with a
toddler, something is bound to go poorly, and things definitely did, but we
rolled with the punches and I think I achieved this in my book. This will serve me well for the rest of my
racing (and mommy) days. This was actually
a huge achievement for me.
Learning point #1: Make
sure to know how to 100% reassemble your bike, or know that you will take it
into a shop and have a plan for that. My
situation wasn’t a big deal and was remedied fairly easily, but would have been
nice to not have had to take it in for that full day and the 2 extra stops we took into town
that day.
Learning point #2: Don’t
feel like you have to ‘do something’ when on a bucket-list vacation race. Sitting on the beach three days in a row in
the shade watching your son have a blast is still ‘doing something’ J
Learning point #3:
Although I do feel like I was much more laid back and calm about things
in general on this trip, I felt like I could have been more organized. I did have checklists of checklists, but I
felt like when we got to NZ I didn’t know where anything was and I wasted a lot
of time searching for clothing/tools/race items etc. It added a layer of stress.
Saturday 3/7 – RACE DAY!!!!!
Got up early
no problems. Actually slept really well. My husband covered 100% of the logistics with
the kiddo for race day (and pretty much almost everything kiddo related up to
now), so that really took a layer of stress away from me. Had my coffee and breaky and we were on our
way. The race venue was really easy for
parking and maneuvering around the course, certainly compared to other IM race
sites we have been to. Race morning went
pretty much as expected. We had about 15
minutes before race start to get in the water for warm-up so a quick good-luck kiss
from the hub and I was off. I did some
drill/swim/drill/swim as planned. Tried to move up to the front of the pack,
started getting a little elevated heart rate as things were a bit more
congested, and then the gun went off. I
didn’t think I was that stressed until the swim started. Immediately, I wanted to quit and decided
never to do another triathlon again J Man it was packed. I felt like I couldn’t get a breath. There was no such thing as form for the
first half mile. It was bad.
I felt like I couldn’t race the first part to get ahead because it was
so congested. Still pulled off a PB at
1:03 – so happy with that.
Learning
Point #4: If I’m going to go hard at the
beginning of the swim, get in the FRONT, and get going, then settle in.
Transition to
Bike went as expected, I’m never as smooth as I plan, but still better than
most, but I could stand to practice that a bit more simply by racing more. Then the bike. Oh was it cold at the beginning. I felt like I just couldn’t warm up. My hands were so cold that I felt like I
couldn’t really shift or brake effectively.
But as the rain subsided and the sun came out, things got better. About 90 minutes into the bike I felt as
though my ‘line’ was fast approaching and got a bit nervous, but I seemed to
pass through it as I came back into town at the turnaround and saw
supporters. That gave me an extra little
boost to get through the second loop.
Nutrition – My plan was working fine….except I really had to pee….and I
had a hard time peeing while riding. So
I just kept plugging away with my electrolyte/nutrition trade-off. I really started to get some bad cramping,
but it really felt like it was from having to pee so bad. I was afraid to back off my nutrition too
much as I didn’t want to get behind, but I did feel as if I was hydrated and
full of calories. I never got ‘wonky’,
so I really don’t think it was my nutrition, but that’s something else to test
the limits on wrt my keto-adapted athlete approach. The roads were crap. My seat was actually OK, but my shoulders
felt like they were going to fall off when I would come up out of the aero
position – which proudly wasn’t often. The wind was a tough mental game. I kept on taking myself to my many 5-hr trainer
rides and one 6-hr trainer ride. I just
got it done. Not happily, and pretty
much decided I never want to do another IM Again J but I did it.
I pulled a 6:30, which was longer than expected, but I wasn’t really
affected by it.
Learning
Point #5: If you have to pee on the
bike, and can’t physically do it, take the 2 minutes it takes to stop at an aid
station and go to the porta-potty.
Learning
Point #6: Trust your keto-nutrition and
take in fewer calories during the race.
Learning
Point #7 – AGAIN, because it needs repeating, TRUST my keto-nutrition. I could have taken in less on the bike,
dropped my water a bit and been able to take in more sugar on the run to spread
it out a bit.
Learning
Point #8 – Focus on Run form, and strengthen bigger running muscles to help
improve my speed and less time out on the course to injure my knees
Learning
Point #9 – Since 9 is my lucky number, seems perfect to finish on this. Find success.
PB Swim. PB Run. PB overall time.
Felt like I never even really hit my line,
but I approached it many times, and just got through it. And I felt good enough to make it to the
midnight finish with my husband.
Incredible. What an experience. As I approach the end of my travels in NZ, I
can recommend this race, and certainly this country for a bucket list trip.
Thanks for
everyone’s support – I couldn’t have done it with this much flair without you J
Cheers,
Leslie
