Beach2Battleship Race Report

Here is my full race report for Beach2Battleship Iron Distance Race.   You  might also want to read my quick race recap: Ironman=Pain and my Race Picture post.  As usual, this report is a doozy!

Official results:

Swim: 01:00:27
T1 + Bike: 06:16:30
T2: 00:13:26 19
Run: 04:34:07
Drafting penalty: 00:06:00
Total Time: 12:10:28
1st Age Group
20th Overall Female

Days Leading up to race:

Before doing this race, I had studied the Endurance Nation Four Keys to Ironman Execution. It talks about staying within your own box during the race, and saving yourself for the line, which starts at mile 18 of the run. If anything happens during the race that interferes with saving yourself for the line, put that out of your box and let it go. I also read a couple of other pacing strategies which said the race starts at mile 80 of the bike, so if you feel good, pick up your bike pace there.  So, this was my plan for the day. In retrospect, I can say this was a great plan and anyone doing an Ironman ought to read that Four Keys article over and over and over.  Unfortunately for me, my line came at mile 7 of the run.   Since I had come into the race expecting to hold strong when I hit the line, I was able to do it.   It was so difficult to stay strong for 3 hours of pain, tho, let me tell you.

I had a really bad cold and chest congestion leading up to this race.  Thankfully, I did not have any fever.  That would have been a different story, especially with the terrible swine flu going around this year.   I was NOT going to let a little cold change my plan to shoot for a 12 hour goal.  NO EXCUSES!  And if I could make a 12 hour time, I might just beat the woman who won last year and take 1st place age group.   I planned to take Sinus meds to help me feel better. It really did help me feel pretty normal, but it messed with my heart rate.   So I was not planning on looking at my HR data…just going to race by feel!   Stay in my box. Save it for the line.

Day Before:

My stomach started feeling queasy.  I didn’t know if it was due to my cold or just nerves or what.  So, I bought some Rolaids at the hotel snack store.

Oh my gosh, it was so stressful to pack up all my gear bags and check my bike into the T1 area.      I was so nervous I would forget something.  I double and triple checked all my bags and almost mis-labeled the T1 and T2 bags in reverse, Yikes!   As an afterthought, I stuck the tube of Rolaids into my T1 bag.  That turned out to be a good move.   I made a comment to the guy who had parked next to me about how this day was probably more stressfull than the actual race.   Turns out I was WRONG!

Pre-race routine:

I woke up at 4:30 am.  I ate a banana, some bread leftover from last night’s dinner with peanut butter on it. Yum.  I gathered all my swim stuff and special needs bags and headed down to the hotel lobby. They had a Starbucks there that had opened early just for the athletes, so I bought a large skinny latte. Woot!

I boarded one of the buses headed toward the T1 area.     I checked in my Run special needs bag, put my nutrition on my bike, checked that my tires were still firmly inflated,  and double checked my T1 bag. It was very cold, so I put my neoprene cap on my head. I probably looked like a total dork, but I was warm and I was acclimating myself to the annoying chin strap.

Then I got on one of the trolley’s down to the beach swim start.  There were a bunch of people hanging out on a ledge putting on their wetsuits. I chatted with them a little bit while I waited for a spot to clear up. When a couple people were done putting on their suits, they sat down on the wall, rather than heading down to the beach!  So, I asked if I could squeeze in between them. I put on my wetsuit, booties, body glide, pam spray, all that stuff.

I drank about 60 ounces of water throughout the morning, before the start.   I was worried about going for a whole hour in the swim without a drink. I also took a Tylenol Severe Sinus medicine.  Then I packed up my shoes and warm up suit into the Swim Start bag and handed that into the volunteers.  A guy was telling people to make their way down to the start.

Event warmup:

Does peeing on the beach count 😉

Swim

Swim: 01:00:27

Comments:

I hiked down to through the sand dunes toward the beach.  The sun was rising and the sky was pink.   I was really too nervous to enjoy the pretty scenery.    Even with Neoprene booties on, my feet felt cold hiking through the sand to the swim start.    I got to there just in time as they were playing the National Anthem.   I put on my goggles on over the neoprene cap, and then donned my swim cap over that. They started  playin Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” song.  I started to pee while standing in the sand thinking they would play the whole song, but then they blew the horn. I was in the very back and everybody was just taking their time going in. So, I just finished peeing and relaxed and dove in when I was done.   Probably wasted a minute there, but oh well, nothing to do about that now.  Put it out of my box!

I got bumped a little bit at first, but not at all bad for an Ironman mass start of 700 people! Maybe it was good to be in the back. I was wearing booties and a neoprene cap, so I was plenty warm.  My Garmin 310 on my left wrist was interfering flexing my hand and thus my swim stroke. I stopped to try and move it up my arm a bit. Very annoying.

It was pretty easy to just follow the crowd. The channel was narrow enough that it didn’t really matter too much where in it you swam. (Later I learned that the current is faster on the left, and I had been to the right…oh well, nobody sent me that memo!) I experimented with breathe every 3 and breathe every 2 to the right. I seemed to swim straighter breathing every 2. I’d stop and tread every once in a while to make sure I was on target to the buoys.

About half way into the swim, the Sinus medicine kicked in and loosened the gunk in my lungs. I started to have to cough. That sucked. Had to stop quite a few times to cough.

Later on, a little bit of chop was hitting my face every time I breathed. I sucked down quite a bit of salt water. Ick. I was salted out by the time I was done.

The last 15 minutes I had to pee really badly. I started swimming harder, and kicking with my legs just to get done faster so I could pee. My calf started to feel cramped, so I figured kicking hard was a very bad idea. I made a plan to hang onto the pier when I got the end and pee before exiting. When I finally got there, I was like woohooo I can pee now. I grabbed onto the pier and had to really hold on tight so the current didn’t drag me toward the ladder. Wow, strong current!  My watch showed 56 minutes when I got there.  One of the volunteers came over and asked if I was okay. I explained I was just peeing. lol!

When I was finally done peeing, I went over to the ladder and climbed out. My watch said 58 minutes, so it took me two full minutes to empty my bladder. Wow. I figured I saved time not having to wait at the porta potties, tho, so that was a good call. Wish I didn’t have to pee so much, tho.

When I got to the wetsuit strippers, a guy helped me unzip. I told him to be careful of my Garmin.  He yanked hard on my sleeves and the Garmin strap broke off.  Crap, that totally sucked. I didn’t trust the guy after that to help me get my legs out of the suit, so I just ran off. It was a long run on cement to the T1 area. I had my booties and cap still on, so I was not at all cold.

What would you do differently?:

Swim on the left side of the channel where the current is fastest.  Not wear the Garmin during the swim. Take the Sinus medicine a couple hours before the race so I could get the coughing done with before the swim. Or, even better, just not be freaking sick for an Ironman!

T1

Comments:

T1 times got lost so are included with the bike. My Garmin shows 11:37.

As I ran toward the transition area, I heard someone shout out my name.  My husband was standing there, so I ran over and gave him a big hug .   Then I saw Ginger in her Aquaphor jacket and taking my picture.   I smiled and waved.

I got to the Transition area, and sat in the grass to strip the legs of my wetsuit off. It came off real fast and easy, yay!  Then I grabbed my T1 bag and went into the changing tent. It was hot in there and standing room only! I saw my main competitor in their already, and she was almost done. I will call her Irongirl for this race report, because she is super at the iron distance.

I squeezed in near the center table and dumped out my bag. Wow, so much stuff to have to deal with. I dried off, put on my bike jersey, bike shorts, socks, shoes, newspaper stuffed into my jersey, put Aquaphor on my butt, put on my arm warmers which were really hard to pull onto damp arms. Put my helmet on.  I stuffed my broken Garmin into my back pocket.  Then I realized I forgot to put my Zensah calf sleeve on my left leg, so had to take my shoe off, put that on, then shoe back on. I really need that even on the bike, because my left leg swells 🙁 I stuffed everything back into my T1 bag. I was too hot to put on my windbreaker or gloves, so I just grabbed them and was off to my bike spot.   Why did all that take 11 minutes?  Oh, wait, T1 includes running 1/4 mile from the swim exit.

What would you do differently?:

Simplify what I bring along! I decided to do a full change each transition because of the cold. But I was not cold at all, so I could have just worn my tri suit all day. Ginger told me to do that, but I am a cold wuss, so I decided to go for warmth. Hindsight is 20/20.

Bike

Comments:

Bike Time: 6:16:30 (Includes T1 time of about 11 minutes.) PLUS 0:06 drafting penalty

As I ran to my bike, I was still feeling warm. So, I stuck the gloves in my back pocket, and tied the windbreaker around my waist. My rear mount water bottle holders would keep the jacket from tangling in my tire, so I wasn’t worried about that.

I saw Irongirl at the mount line and passed her. Yay! I am usually a better biker than her so was glad to already be ahead. I was excited and started riding a good solid pace. But my legs felt achey and my butt immediately hurt. Not like I was going hard, but just a weird achyness, especially in the groins. I wondered if my lymph nodes were swollen due to my cold. I decided to ignore my legs and just go by my breathing and overall feel of my body.

My first few sips of my water bottle laced with NUUN tasted awful.   I had taken in alot of salt water during the swim, and the slightly salty taste  of NUUN just didn’t appeal to me.   I wanted some plain water, but all of my on board water had NUUN mixed in already, so I had to drink it.   I ate my PB&J uncrustable sandwich, and very soon after got stomach queasiness. Blah! I took a Rolaids. That helped, so I was very glad to have those. I decided to skip solid food from that point on and stick with my liquid nutrition.  My Garmin was beeping from my back pocket every 15 minutes. That was my reminder to take in nutrition.

After about 8 miles, I thought maybe I was going too hard and I eased up my pace. At mile 10, Irongirl passed me. She was going FAST! I picked up my pace to match hers. But I felt like it was too fast, so I let her go and put her outside of my box to race my own race. I thought man, she’s really got bike legs this year. I hoped that she blew up later and maybe I could pass her back.  Or that she had such a stellar day that she’d make top 5 masters, leaving me to take 1st Age group.  That was what was going through my mind as I put her outside of my box.

A little bit later I passed a guy with 41 on his leg. As often happens when I pass a guy, he couldn’t take a chick hit, so he passed me back then slowed down to his prior pace. We played leapfrog for a while. Usually, I will pass a guy like this and hammer for a while to get rid of him. But I didn’t want to do any hammering during an Ironman. So I was thinking of what to do to get rid of this guy as he passed me, and I forgot to drop back 3 bike lengths. Just then a motorcycle official rode by writing something down on his clipboard. CRAP, I just got a penalty for drafting. That pissed me off and I struggled mentally with that for a while. I had to put that outside of my box too.

Since I had gotten behind Irongirl AND gotten a penalty, I considered trying to slightly under-hydrate so as to not have to waste time peeing.  But I decided that would probably be stupid especially since I was sick and taking Sinus medications all day long. So, I stuck with my plan to sip water mixed with NUUN from my aero drink bottle alot, as I felt the need.

I saw Ginger at about mile 20, sitting on top of her car parked alongside the road.  She had driven up ahead of me to snap my picture.  I wish I had had a camera to snap hers, too.   She yelled out that Irongirl was a couple minutes ahead.   I thought “I know, I know!” as I sped away down the road.

At mile 30, I had to pee really badly. I toughed it out for as long as I could, trying to wait until the half way point. But at mile 47, I was just way too uncomfortable, so I stopped and peed in the woods. I took a long time, emptying my bladder fully.

I was averaging about 19.5 mph and – except for occasional stomach queasiness and the achy legs – I was feeling good. I was worried I was going too hard, so occasionally I’d pull my Garmin out of my back pocket to look at the HR. It was high 130’s, which is Zone 1. yay!

Since I had already gotten one penalty, I was very careful to drop back 3 bike lengths any time some passed me. One time a guy passed me, then he immediately slowed way way down while he fumbled with his water bottle to drink. I passed him back and yelled at him to not pass someone and then slow way down. He yelled back “Gimme a break, I was drinking water!”.  Jerk. I didn’t say that, of course, but I thought it.

There was a long stretch from 50-60 miles where nobody was in front of me, nobody passed me, and I started to worry that I missed a turn. I kept looking back and there were some people behind me. I figured nothing else to do but trudge along and hope we were all on track.

At mile 60 I had to pee again really badly. Crap! I knew I couldn’t wait until the end, so I had decided to wait to pee around mile 70.  I figured I could hold it from 70 to the end. I really need to figure out how to either pee on the bike or drink less!

At around mile 80, I turned onto 421 heading south. On my beach training ride, that stretch of road was a nice tailwind the whole way, and I was really looking forward to picking it up and flying.  BUT, today, it felt hard!  I was hoping it felt hard due to a headwind, but I was worried that I was fading because of being sick, or maybe I had pushed too hard all day. Nothing to do but hope it was a headwind, and hunker down into as small a shape as possible.  My speed was 16-17 mph here.  It felt hard. I did not pick up my effort level here, I just hung steady inside my box thinking about saving it for the line.

This was a very difficult part of the course and I was struggling and wondering how I would feel on the run. Sometimes I chanted “box box box box line line line” inside my head. My stomach still felt lousy, so I stuck my Rolaids into my bra, so I would have them for the run, in case I felt icky there too.

I saw Ginger again along this difficult stretch.     She asked how I was doing.  I replied “Great” out of instinct, the way you always say you are doing fine when someone asks how you are feeling, even if you are feeling crappy.

When I got to the two bad ass hills at the very end, I was thrilled. I enjoyed standing up to hammer a bit on them, just to stretch my legs out.  Riding into the Battleship parking, I was confused which lane to ride in. There were runners and cars and there didn’t seem to be a place for the bikers, and there was no biker in front of me. I  just rode down the middle and hoped it was right.  I finally got to the dismount line and was soooo glad to get off my bike. A volunteer grabbed it from me and I was off to T2!

What would you do differently?:

Figure out hydration. Not be sick with a bad cold. Have at least one plain water bottle with me if the swim is a salt water swim.

T2

T2: 00:13:26 19

Comments:

I ran into T2 and first thing I did was hit the porta potty. Again with having to Pee! I probably wasted a total of 9 minutes peeing altogether.  I wonder what the average is?!  Turns out, this was my last pee stop of the day, until 2 hours after the race!

I grabbed my T2 bag and ran into the changing tent. There was Irongirl, almost done getting dressed. At least I wasn’t too far behind her.

I took a long time again in the changing tent. I had to completely change clothes again, and I had to put Aquaphor and bandaid on a blister I had on my left heel. Plus put on my regular watch, sunscreen, compression socks, fill up my palm holder water bottle, take some more sinus meds, and just way too much stuff. Really need to simplify!

I had a bunch of stuff in a ziploc bag. Advil, rolaids, Rice Krispies Treats stuff like that. I had planned on stuffing all that into my bra. I stuffed my broken Garmin into the zip loc bag too, and started running and figured I’d deal with what to do with all the stuff later.

Run

Run: 04:34:07

Comments:

I started out on the run and I was feeling pretty good! What a relief since I had really felt pretty crappy on the bike. And the bike is usually my strength.

I jogged slowly for a minute while stuffing as much into my bra as possible.   My Garmin and medicines were still in the ziploc baggy.  It wasn’t too bad holding that, so I just kept that in my left hand. I looked at my regular watch, which just displayed time.   The time was 2:30pm.  I knew I had to cross the finish by 7pm to get my 12 hour goal.  I thought wow, this is great, I think I can do a 4:30 marathon!

I started running at a good solid pace. I wondered if I was going to hard. I looked at my Garmin and my HR was 155. Man, I better slow down, even tho I knew the Sinus meds and HR creep was a factor.

Part of the Four keys plan was to take the first five miles of the run easy, going from aid station to aid station taking care of nutrition and hydration. That is just what I did. I felt strong, I drank some water at each station, and I tried the orange slices. Oh, those oranges were oh soo good. I looked forward to each aid station so I could have another orange. I felt like I was running from orange to orange.

I saw my family on the main drag through town at around mile 3.  I was so  happy to see them all cheering me on that I cried tears of joy.  I stopped and hugged each one of them.  I was about to run off when my daughter said she wanted to take my picture.  I asked her to take it with an orange in my mouth.   I looked forward to those oranges at every aid station!

At mile 5, I saw a girl duck into the woods to pee.  I thought, great idea, that will be my pee stop on my 2nd loop.  I didn’t have even the tiniest need to pee yet.

At mile 6, I saw Irongirl. She was on her way back from the first lap, meaning she was about 1.2 miles ahead of me. I turned around and watched her run, dang she looked strong.

At mile 7, it felt like there was a stone in my left shoe. I stopped to take my shoe off. I shook it out and did not see any stone. I felt my foot and there was a lump on my skin. It didn’t seem like something that I could get rid of. Since I had compression socks on, I didn’t take them off to inspect. It would have taken too much time. So, I just figured this was a Suffer Section and I would just have to get through it.

I had planned on picking up the pace between miles 6-18, and not hitting every aid station.  But one of the ways to get through a Suffer Section is to satisfy all your needs.  And the orange slices were really satisfying, so I kept stopping to get them.    I was running aid station to aid station, orange to orange.

At mile 8 I saw my friend Ginger.    I told her about my foot. She said I probably got a bone bruise running barefoot on cement to T1. I asked her if I could get a stress fracture by pushing thru the pain. She said that Ironman was supposed to be painful, so not to worry about it and keep going.

So, that’s what I did. Just ran thru the pain and tried not to slow down from it. Each step was like a stabbing pain in the ball of my foot. I tried chanting quick feet quiet feet in my head. But that just made me think of my feet, which made me think of the pain. So, I started chanting quick arms. That worked for a long time. At one point, my hamstring started to hurt. I was actually glad for this new pain, because it momentarily helped me forget about my foot. Later, I was aware of a big bubbly blister on my big toe. Again, I thought “yay, a new pain to help block out the old pain”. These were just temporary moments of relief, and I kept waiting for the foot pain to subside. Usually, when I get pain during my runs, endorphins kick in or something, and the pain goes away. But this pain just kept growing and growing.

As I got closer to the turnaround point, I debated whether or not to change shoes at the Run special needs. I had packed my racing flats in there. I went back and forth, and back and forth what to do.  But in the end, I decided there was more padding the shoes I had on, so I would not change. I saw Irongirl coming toward me as I was going over the bridge at about mile 12. She was still looking strong, and I was still in pain. But I was holding my own, and running my own race.

At the half way point, my watch said something like 4:45.  I was still on target for my goal.  At run special I grabbed my additional Gu’s, and tied my jacket around my waste. I also took 2 Advil. I had been planning to take the Advil at mile 18 to prepare me for the final, painful, 10k stretch. But the pain was too much now, so I took it here even tho Advil interferes with hydration.

The advil really did not help with the pain at all.  I kept wondering what was going to happen at mile 18 or 20 when alot of people fall apart. I had been feeling so bad for so long how was I going to do when I got to the line? I decided I would NOT fall apart at the line. I would keep pushing through this never ending ‘Suffer Section’. I wondered how my friend @GoSonja would have pushed past this suffering. What I really needed was an out of body experience, because my foot hurt so much, and I really did not want to be in this body any longer. Then I thought of the idea to imagine Sonja running instead of me. So that’s what I did. For the entire second lap of the run, I imagined Sonja was running and not me. I chanted “GoSonja, go go go go”. Over and over and over that is what was in my head. It didn’t really make the pain go away, but it helped me keep going despite it.

As I got to the turnaround for the 2nd lap , it was dark, and they did not have enough lighting on the trail around the lake. I had to really strain my eyes to see the ground.  It slowed me down.  I wished I had brought a flashlight.

At mile 18, I tripped and fell hard on my knee. Some very nice folks stopped to make sure I was okay. I said I was fine and they should keep going.  They didn’t, they waited till I stood up, shook out my knees and started running again. As I did this , I again said not to wait for me, that they should go. They were so nice. I gave them a big Thank You!

My knee did not hurt at all running. My hands hurt alot. I was actually grateful for the new pain.  And I was also glad that I was at mile 18 and was not falling apart. Lets see how mile 20 feels!

I just kept running and running and running, zoned out in my pain, with @GoSonja as my virtual runner. Mile 20 ticked by and I felt the same. Pain pain pain, GoSonja go go go.  But I only had 10k left to run. I can do this.   At mile 21,  I looked at my watch.   Time was 6:15.  I knew I could not run 5.2 miles in 45 minutes, so I was not going to make my 12 hour goal.   I was in such great pain that I wanted to stop.   But I knew if I stopped or slowed down, it would just extend my agony.  Only 5 more miles of  suffering.  I can do this.  And the faster I go the sooner it will be over.  So, I kept going as fast as I could.

I was feeling pretty good about being close to my goal, considering I was sick, in such pain, wasted so much time peeing and in transitions. I was a-ok with my day.   At times I would get choked up with emotions because I had done so well thus far. Of course, blubbering makes it hard to breathe so that’s not good. Get control of yourself, Carol. Pain, Pain, Pain, GoSonja, go go go.

Mile 24 was over the highway bridges. I ran very slow and carefully across the metal grating this time. I did NOT want to trip on that. And with oncoming cars, headlights, and dark, it was very hard to see here. I briefly considered that if I jumped in front of one of these cars, then my pain would be over in a flash.   That idea appealed to me very much.   Man, the things that go thru my mind are crazy sometimes.

A BT buddy named Browndog passed me around this section, saying hi and that we can make the 12 hour mark. I said good luck to him, as i knew I could not go any faster than I was going at that moment in all my agony.

On the final highway bridge, there was just a narrow coned off lane. Two guys were walking, hogging the whole lane. At this point, I could not stop, for if I did, there would be no starting again. I yelled passing. They ignored me. I had to duck around them in the gutter, and as I did, I yelled at them they the should NOT be walking side by side here. I don’t know if they responded, as I was so far gone at that point.

I glanced sideways and saw the sillouette of the Battleship against the night sky.  That was such a sight for sore eyes.  And sore feet!   Very soon after I got to the left turn into the Battleship road.  There were cops there directing traffic.   I sure as hell hoped that they saw me coming and were planning to stop the cars.  Because I was not planning to stop until I got to the finish line.

I ran down the swampy road leading to the Battleship.  I saw a timer clock which said 12:02, but I knew there was another 400 yards beyond that point to the finish.  So close, yet so far away.  Some girls from a high school track team ran with me as pacers in the final stretch (that service was provided to everyone). They were running slightly ahead of me, and giving me words of encouragement. It made choked up again.   They ran with me until the very last turn into the finish chute.

I saw my family as I entered the finish chute, and started crying even more.  When I crossed the first mat, I completely broke down in tears, but still had a little more running to do to the final mat. When I finally was done, I just completely broke down crying, so glad to be done with the pain and suffering. The finish line volunteer asked me if I was okay. I said, yes, but that I  just hurt so much. She asked if she could take my chip. I said yes. Someone else gave me a medal, a t-shirt, and another person wrapped me in one of those shiney blankets.

What would you do differently?:

Not get a foot pain! I guess that is what Ironman is. Conquiering those unexpected challenges that you face on race day.

Put a flashlight in run special needs bag for the dark part of the 2nd lap.

Post race

Warm down:

After crossing the finish, my family came and congratulated me. I felt weak, and went over to drink some Pepsi. Then I chatted with Skippy74 and Browndog, and maybe another BT’r for a bit. Then I got really dizzy. I found a place to sit, but was still really dizzy and weak, so I asked my husband to take me to the med tent. I spent 90 minutes in there being treated for dehydration. I kept wincing in pain, and the nurse kept asking me what is wrong. I just kept saying my feet hurt so badly and will you please just amputate them? Hahahaha, she kept saying no!  The electrodes on my stomach are souvenirs from my visit to the med tent!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

cold. foot pain. darkness on the 2nd lap of the run.

Event comments:

Run course was not lit up well enough!!!   Not enough coke on the run course.

Really disappointed in that finish line photo. It does not have a time clock in it, and you can hardly see me.   It’s like the centered around the setup logo or something.