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| Post Race |
Rev 3 Knoxville Race Report
Half Rev (Ironman) Distance
Sunday, May 6th
This race is the second most important on my calendar this year, it was
my warm up half ironman prior to my most important race of the year, Ironman
Canada in August. This is the race that was to test my fitness as well as my
nutrition plan. For a couple of weeks before the race I was dreading this date.
I knew I was ready for the race physically but was just worn out mentally and
emotionally from some tough training weeks and some tough days at work. I kept
finding issues to worry about and wasn’t sure where to set my expectations for
race day.
I was excited about doing my first Rev3 race and the race organization
and venue did not disappoint. The race swag (headsweats visor and T Shirt) were
nice, the expo and check in were fairly efficient though I didn’t have time to
look around at all the expo vendors. The Knoxville venue was very nice and
everything was within walking distance of the hotel.
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| My IM Canada training mates, Sarah and Monika. Discussing the finer points of the pre-race meeting and rules. |
As usual I was up bright and early (4:30am) to get ready for the race
but that was OK this time as I had managed to get 7 hours of uninterrupted
sleep on Saturday night. Woot! I met my Ironman Canada training partners, Sarah
and Monika, in the lobby and we walked over with a former TNT teammate, Renee,
to transition to set up all of our gear next to our bikes. One of the things I
really enjoyed about this race was seeing all of the other diabetic athletes
from Team Type 1 and Triabetes. I talked to one of the Team Type 1 athletes,
Sebastian, in transition. He asked how my blood sugar was – not good, 310 when
he asked – and told me he had been high overnight. It made me feel like I was
in a community of others that understood the challenge I was going through on
race day – that was pretty cool. I confided to Sebastian that I HATED walking
away from my CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) when I left transition. Evidently
it’s not just me that feels this way. It’s particularly upsetting when you’re
walking away when your BG is 310. I knew then I shouldn’t eat anything else but
also didn’t want to put in an insulin correction because having any insulin on
board when I started my swim could drive my BG very low. So I decided to do
nothing assuming it was just my nerves driving my BG sky high.
We walked over to the swim start, got into our wet suits, listened to
the national anthem and got in line for the swim start. A woman behind me put
her hand on my shoulder and said “Are you okay? You are shaking like a leaf”.
We had met up with several TNT friends and everyone looked at me. It was funny,
I was totally fine. After all the worrying and anxiety, I actually was not
*feeling* nervous but it must have been coming out through my tremor. Very
quickly we were walking down to the dock and jumping into the water. Monika
went to the front and Sarah and I went to the middle with Cristin and Heather
from TNT. Then we were off!
Swim
Expected: 45:00
Actual: 39:42 (+8:00 Augusta)
This swim start was one of the roughest I have been in. It wasn’t
particularly crowded but everyone was a little combative to get their line at
the start. You would think that would freak me out – but it doesn’t – I just
put my head down and keep going until I get some breathing room. Once things
cleared up I tried to just concentrate on staying in my ‘bubble’. Racing my
race and not getting caught up in what others were doing around me. When we
started the race we first headed upstream to a series of buoys, it seemed like
that set of buoys came up pretty quickly and I got into the typical light scrum
of people getting around the buoys. No problem, again just a matter of getting
back into my bubble. I was swimming right next to another woman for quite a
while, almost shoulder to shoulder. I don’t like that feeling so I tried to get
away from her several times but couldn’t manage to quite separate from her. I
felt like we were headed for a collision at some point and sure enough I felt
my right hand make contact with something hard as my arm was entering the
water. I think it was her goggles. Oops! Further reinforces that I don’t want
to swim quite that close to someone. At some point I realized that I was making
fairly good time though I wasn’t wearing a watch to track how I was doing. I
just knew that for once I wasn’t doing this swim in ‘sections’. Usually I end
up pulling up out of good swim form every 500 meters or so. This time I only
did that twice – when I rounded the buoys and when I gulped a lot of water
fairly close to the end. Quicker than expected the dock came into view and I
lifted myself up out of the water.
Pretty good swim! Only 8 minutes slower than my Augusta time which is
incredible considering that the river in Augusta has an amazingly strong
current and this one had none.
What I did well: Stayed in my ‘bubble’
What I could improve on: Kicking – could feel myself falling into bad
habit of ‘pedaling’ the water.
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| SO happy to be out of the water! |
T1
9:44
I wrote off transition times long ago, and a good thing I did as it was roughly a quarter mile run from the swim finish to our transition area. Checking my blood glucose in
transition is a must so there is no point in trying to scramble to go fast as I
will just get worked up and not be able to accomplish my blood check in a
timely manner. BG check in T1 was 84 – just shows you what can happen in a
short time when adrenaline and exercise are involved. I struggled with the
wetsuit a little bit too - so, yeah – 9:44. It is what it is.
Bike
Expected: 3:00 – 3:30
Actual: 3:18:33 (+8:30 Augusta)
I knew this was going to be a tough, hilly bike and the promise was
more than fulfilled. This isn’t exactly the course that I am best suited to – shorter
climbs and more rolling terrain are more my style but this is definitely a lot
closer to what I am going to see in Canada. I was most concerned before the
race that I not slack off on the bike so I had my zone 3 heart rate written on
my forearm and made sure that I never fell below it. I definitely didn’t, if
anything I stayed in zone 4 a great deal of the time. I chatted with a couple
of the guys I rode next to a good deal of the time, I would pass them on the
climbs and they would pass me on the descents. The only true mistake I could
point to was having to stop for a few moments to switch one of my water bottles
from the back of my bike to the front of my bike.
Around mile 38 I could definitely feel the fatigue setting in right
before I encountered a long, gradual climb that wiped me out. I got a good lift
on the out and back portion of the course when I saw my training partner,
Monika, and some other former TNT teammates. Unfortunately I probably put a
little too much oomph into trying to get closer to them and suffered when I got
to another long climb at mile 45 and then another short, steep climb at mile
52. At that point I was very done and ready to be off the bike.
I managed to average 17.1 mph according to my bike computer. I wish I
would have done a little better but not having ridden the bike course before I
couldn’t be sure how to gauge my effort across the course.
What I did well: First time ever – I didn’t have to take a bathroom
break on the bike and I never totally slacked off.
What I could improve on: Know the course – I could have gone faster on
this course had I known the best places to push it.
T2
7:01
Blood glucose check – 72. Not exactly where I wanted to be, so I spent
some extra time sucking down some gel in transition as I got ready for what I
knew was going to be a HOT run.
Run
Expected: 2:15 – 2:30
Actual: 2:35:34 (+1:00 Augusta)
As soon as I came out of the garage where we had transition I knew just
how hot this run was going to be. Someone had told me at the expo the day
before that there was a lot of shade on the course but I didn’t see any shade
for roughly the first couple of miles. While I didn’t feel great, I obviously
felt a lot better than most everyone around me as I started passing people
quickly that had already resorted to walking. I had a plan for this run that
involved very quick small steps, salt pills every hour to help with electrolyte
loss from swimming, and water and ice at every single water stop.
The plan went really well until I started hitting the hills on the
course. Seeing everyone walking those hills made me lose a little heart. I made
it up and over the first few hills but once I got about 3.5 miles into the
course I began to wish for the sunny portion of the course again because at
least there weren’t any hills. Not long after that point we got to a truly
brutal looking uphill that I knew was pretty long because there were people
flying down it who were completing their race. This is where I first began to
feel a little bit defeated as there was no chance I was going to be able to
shuffle up that hill or even quickly walk up it – it was steep and it hurt. At
the top I knew I was in for a very tough next 6 miles on an out and back
through a hilly neighborhood so I grabbed a handful of ice to put in my sports
bra and began what I knew was going to be a long slog.
Your body and mind begin playing tricks with you at this point of a
race. My lower back hurt in a way that I rarely feel, and my right hamstring
kept threatening to cramp. I twisted my ankle at one point and kept thinking
about how much I wanted this to be over. The walk breaks began happening on up
hills and got a little slower with each break. This is when I knew it was
important to get my mind right as this feeling is typically mental. The pain is
real but it is only temporary, one thing you can count on during a race or a
workout is that no feeling is permanent. If you are feeling bad it won’t last…
and if you’re feeling good that also won’t last. J
It is important for anyone doing endurance events to recognize that this is the
case and to battle through it. It was touch and go for about 2.5 miles but I
managed to battle back and get my run going again. It still wasn’t pretty but I
started managing to pass a few people again rather than getting passed. I also
saw Monika again on the other side of the road which made me happy and gave me
something else to focus on for a few minutes.
I finally made it to the turn around and slogged it back to the top of
the hill point that marked a little less than 4 miles to go. I made my lone
bathroom stop of the day, got more ice and started down the hill. It got brutal
again when the downhill beat my quads and back into submission again. Cramping
threatened me again and my mind began to wander. It took a lot of will power to
keep shuffling from water stop to water stop where I allowed myself to walk. At
one point I got to an uphill and decided to start walking but quickly realized
it felt no better to walk than it did to shuffle/run so shuffle/run it was.
Again, it was pretty sad out there with a lot of people struggling to finish
their day. Seeing that there were still people heading out on the run course at
this point made my heart break for them. There was very little crowd support
out on the course so I tried to cheer people on when I had the energy and heart
to do so.
Finally I approached World’s Fair Park and got into the last mile of
the course. I began to see friends and got that last bit of excitement to get
across the line.
What I did well: Fought through some hard mental moments. Kept my feet
moving for the most part.
What I could improve on: Do the above even better for Ironman.
Diabetes/Nutrition
Blood Glucose ranged from 72 -
301
Really pretty happy with this and just as important as swim, bike, run
for a diabetic!! It would be nice if I hadn’t started quite so high but that
appears to have been a result of adrenaline driving my glucose levels up. I
went through almost a full container of gel on the bike (approx. 5 servings), 1
pack of Powerbar gel blasts, 2 bottles of Ironman Perform Lemon/Lime, 2 bottles
of water, 4 gels on the run, countless cups of water, and a few pretzels. Whew
– so I was really eating. I only had to make one small -15% basal rate
adjustment on the run for a couple hours.
Total
Expected: 7:00:00
Actual: 6:50:39
So I can’t be disappointed in that overall time. I definitely wonder if
I could have done better on the bike. My only battles on the run were with my
own mind. All in all I think this bodes pretty well for Canada if I keep my
mind strong and focused at the task at hand.
14 weeks to Ironman Canada!
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| Picking up our bikes after the race - we all had a pretty good day! Sarah even finished second in her age group. |
