RACE REPORT: Ironman U.S. Championship NYC

    So, the inaugural Ironman US Championship in New York City came and went and now, I’m an official IRONMAN! The weekend was full of ups and downs as there was A LOT of drama surround the event itself. However, for now, I’m just going to focus on reporting on my own race experience and will save my overall event commentary for another time.

RACE BREAKDOWN:

The Swim:

Swim Split: 43:46

About to Enter the Water

    At 6:30am I got shuttled from transition onto a ferry which took me about 2.5miles upstream to the swim start. From the ferry, I got dropped onto a barge where I walked down a ramp and straight into the water to begin my 140.6 mile journey. I had a great time chit-chatting with other participants on the ferry, but once we loaded onto that barge, I barely had time to contemplate what was about to happen before I found myself forced into the water. Because I was in the first boat, I was standing on the barge when the initial race cannon went off. And then, I headed down to the about 50 people behind the first entrant.
    So many people had made comments both joking and non-joking about the cleanliness of the Hudson Swim (especially after the reported sewage dump into the river the day before the race.) However, I really enjoyed the swim portion of the event and thought the whole way about how I wished I could stay in the water for even longer. The water was murky but, honestly, I’ve definitely swam in worse. In fact, I’m almost positive that my local community 4 lane 25-yard pool that’s filled with a million peeing children and floating hairballs everywhere during the summer is more disgusting than that Hudson swim.
    In all, I had a great swim. Admittedly, my wetsuit and the strong Hudson current were largely to blame. To be honest, although I really wanted to put a large effort forth on the swim, I don’t think that I wound up pushing myself very hard. The arms of my wetsuit restricted my arm movement to some extent and I couldn’t really speed up my pace by much as a result. Nonetheless, I wound up beating several of the pro athletes out of the water to become the first Age Group Female Athlete to T-1.

Transition #1:

T-1 Split: 3:33

Exiting T-1 to the Bike Course

This was my favorite moment of the whole race. It was so exiting being the first Female out of the water. Everyone was screaming for me and I had a whole tent of volunteers just standing there trying to help me. I got assistance ripping my wetsuit off and then lost my Bike Gear bag for a minute. But, as there was nobody else really around to stumble into, I wound up getting out of T-1 and onto the bike course pretty quickly.

The Bike:

Bike Split:7:08:39

    Ugh. Where do I begin… my bike was just riddled with problems and challenges. The first steep incline was right out of transition. Surprisingly though, I didn’t have a very hard time with this climb since I had conserved a great amount on the swim. I made it up that first hill without any real struggle. However, as we approached the top, we had to make a sharp right which caused me to have to lean on my brakes. For the next 25 miles or so I truly exhausted myself and wasn’t even going very fast. I had no idea why until I finally stopped by the side of the road to make sure that my tire wasn’t flat. No, my tire wasn’t flat. However, when I had first leaned on my brake, my back brake pads had apparently gotten stuck to my back wheel . I had spent the last 25 miles burning out my legs while biking with my back brake clamped on my wheel.

Looking better than I felt on the Bike Course

    I was a bit upset and defeated as I had exhausted myself for no reason while simultaneously having half the race participants go flying by me. But, the damage was done and there was little I could do besides keep an eye on that back break and trek onwards.
    I’m actually pretty proud of myself for not letting that issue really get to me. Yes, it had severely damaged my overall placement in the race but deep down I knew it wasn’t the end of the world. I was going to finish that bike course no matter how long it would take me.
    From then on I tried not to burn out my legs anymore. After all, I had lost any lead that I had out of the swim. I made the conscious decision to let go of my dream of placing highly and shifted my focus onto just making it through the event.
    As for the bike course itself, it was extremely mountainous and just not meant for Miami folk, like myself, to really be able to excel on. I don’t think there was a single mile of flat land anywhere in that 56-mile loop. So, even had I not had any technical issues, I am positive I would have struggled later on anyways. I just wasn’t prepared for a course that challenging. But, being from Miami, I don’t think that there was any real way I could have prepared myself any better for that course. We just don’t have the resources down here necessary to do so.
    Nevertheless, I made it through the strenuous bike course even with mountains, technical issues, and several lost water bottles. And not once did I lose hope on finishing that race. All I wanted was to get to the end of that bike so I could finally stand up again. But, I never wanted to give up entirely.

Transition #2:

T-2 Split: 6:56

 I didn’t move fast, I didn’t move slow, I just focused on getting on my gear and making sure I spotted my boyfriend and parents on the way out. I didn’t even dread the 26.2 mile marathon run that lay before me. I was smiling and excited to have made it through he bike. I even gave my boyfriend a “high-5” on the way out of transition.

The Run:

Run Split: 5:39:43

The Run (NJ Side)

    As hard as the bike course was, the run course was even worse. But, as challenging as the course was, for the first 10 miles or so, I didn’t even care. I was just SO THRILLED to be off the bike that I couldn’t care less that I was running. I was in great spirits and knew, that although it was going to take me a while, there was absolutely no way that I wouldn’t finish this race.

Super pumped to be off that damn Bike

    My run speed was slow and I walked up some of the more intense hills at the beginning in an effort to conserve for the remainder of the race. I also focused on drinking at every aid station and on getting some natural sugars into my body by way of the aid station orange slices.
    There were aid stations at almost every mile on the run and I, personally, thought all the volunteers were extremely helpful. Yes, there was a slight lack of cold water available without mixing the ice and water cups together. But, cold water upsets my stomach anyways. So I’d rather have the choice of drinking cold water than be forced to do it.
    The first 6 mile run loop went by rather quickly and the second loop was a bit more challenging (especially since we had to climb back up the giant cliff in order to get to the bridge that crossed over to Manhattan). I also noticed after a while that my run speed going uphill was pretty much equal to my uphill walking speed. So, I walked a big portion of the uphill climb. After all, I still had about 10 miles left in the race.

The Run (NY Side):

    It was really exciting to cross over the GW Bridge into Manhattan because, although we still had a long ways to go, we were at least in the same state as the finish line. However, after the excitement wore off, the pain started to increase. My running pace started to decline as I got severe pain in the bottoms of my feet and in my knees. It was a type of pain that I’ve never before experienced. I literally felt like all the bones in the base of my feet had been shattered. Each step was more painful than the next. I started to waddle even when I walked.

Finally making it to the Finish

Regardless of the pain (which I attribute to the extreme hardness of New York City pavement to which my feet are not accustomed), I never once gave up hope. I did walk. But I tried to stick to my mental plan. I took each mile one at a time from mile 18 onwards. I would look at my watch, walk about .2 miles and then try to run to the next mile marker. Sometimes I would stop to walk through the aid stations, but I would always pick up running (albeit a slow run) to the next marker. 19, 20, 21, 22, 23….each mile marker sign came and went and before I knew it, I only had about a 5k left to go.
    The pain in my feet never subsided, but, I continued to push forwards. I wound up picking up my pace in the last 3 miles and had the mental goal to really start to move the second I saw that 24 mile marker sign. I saw the sign, walked up the hill to the top of the park, and then off I went. I gradually increased my pace until I finally saw the 25 marker sign up ahead and by that time I was sprinting almost as fast as my legs could move by then (it wasn’t a full-blown sprint though because I was afraid I’d trip myself or something). But, nonetheless I sprinted. I sprinted through the trees, under the overpass, past the final aid station, around the corner back into Riverside Park, up a small incline, passed a ton of people, and down the chute to the finish line.

   And...that was it...Thirteen hours, Forty Two Minutes and Thirty-Seven Seconds after I went into the water, I was done. I somehow felt like, even in all that time I had held back.  I didn't lay it all on the line.  But, I was an Ironman. And, it was AWESOME.

I'm an IRONMAN!!! Now, when is my next one?!?!?