STAY OPEN FUCKERS TO NEW OPPORTUNITIES
I am so lucky to have stumbled upon IRONMAN Maryland - A race that is loved and cherished by so many local athletes. I didn’t understand why, until I raced it!
I was originally registered for IRONMAN St. George in Utah, May 2020. Covid hit and St. George canceled. I deferred to IRONMAN Maryland for September 2020 thinking I would have a higher chance of racing in a local race during a global pandemic.
Of course, IM Maryland canceled and I quickly registered for IRONMAN Cozumel which did happen. But now I was stuck with IM MD for 2021, a race that I wouldn’t have picked under normal circumstances for myself.
In 2021, I deferred IM MD to 2022, since I qualified and raced in IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship, St. George which was on the same day as IM MD.
For the first half of 2022 I struggled to get motivated to train for IM MD. At one point, I even considered not racing it. That is when I knew, I needed to change my attitude towards this race.
I started looking at IM MD as an opportunity to train and race in a local venue - something that I don’t get to experience often since I love to travel for my races.
For training, I drove to Cambridge, MD 3 times to ride the bike course. Honestly, it helped me tremendously knowing the bike course and getting familiar with the run course as well.
Now, that I have raced in IM MD, I am forever grateful for this event. I have discovered an incredible venue with a beautiful course that accentuates my strengths. IM MD is my best overall IRONMAN distance race performance. This race showed me what I am capable of, and it gave me a real taste to hunting down a Kona slot.
Finishing time: 11:20, 6th place in my age group 45-49.
The moral of the story…stay open-minded to new opportunities. Nothing gets handed to you, but you can stumble upon life-changing opportunities when you put yourself out there and are open to try new things.
SWIM (1:12 HR)
The swim was in the brackish waters of the Choptank River. The water temperature on race morning was 76.1F, making it a wetsuit legal race. I opted for my sleeveless X-Terra wetsuit that I purchased earlier this year and used at IM 70.3 Galveston in April.
Normally, in water temperature this warm, I would have used my Roka swimskin, but I wanted as much skin coverage as possible without overheating to protect me from jellyfish stings. The warm water in the lower Chesapeake Bay this time of year attracts a lot of jellyfish.
In preparation for this race, I purchased an anti-jellyfish sting lotion. Still, I got stung numerous times wherever my skin was exposed. The worst stings were across my face, lip, earlobe, neck and wrist. Despite the uncomfortable stings in my forearms and the painful stings in the more sensitive areas of my face, I never stopped swimming and just kept on going.
The only time I stopped swimming was on the 2nd lap when I got kicked in the face and the right side of my goggles started to leak. I do have to note that for this swim, the field never spread out. It was full contact from start to finish. I was hit in the ribs a few times and I even got one nice punch to the jaw.
I seeded myself towards the front of the 1:10 – 1:20 wave. It was not your typical swim roll start where groups of 5 swimmers are sent off between with 5 seconds between groups. Instead, we were lined up in 2 lines and marched heel to toe into the water from the boat ramp and started our swim as soon as we crossed the timing mat.
Overall, I had an incredible swim. I felt strong, happy, grateful, and fast and only annoyed at the jellyfish and my leaky goggle at the end from the face kick.
Swim time was 1:12, 8th in my age group. Swim pace was right on point with race swim expectation. Not a swim PR as IM Cozumel was 59:48 but that is an assisted swim, you swim from point to point with the tide.
TRANSITION (TI = 5:17 MIN)
I came out of the swim a bit annoyed as my neck, earlobe, wrist, and forearms were all burning up from the jellyfish stings. I pulled my wetsuit half way down as I grabbed my bike bag and I headed to the chaining tents. I spotted a kid’s pool with fresh water so I stopped there to strip the wetsuit from my legs and dip my feet in clean water. In the tent I sat down on a chair as I slipped on my cycling shoes and helmet, and asked for assistance to get sprayed down with Benadryl on my neck, ear, and forearms. I exited the tent, grabbed my bike, and off I went to start the bike leg.
BIKE (5:44 HR)
My biggest fear on the bike was boredom since I had already biked the course 3x prior to race day. Instead, time went by really fast. I was focused one hour at a time between fueling and pacing. I was also entertained by faster riders passing me, finding riders to pass and chat with, and my friends and hubby cheering for me at mile 65 where I stopped to grab my special needs bag.
I am extremely proud of my bike execution for this race. I had a strong bike load coming into race day. I paced the course well since I was very familiar with the course. I also had a bike fit prior to the race with Chris Richardson to address getting a new saddle. I got a saddle mapping and got fitted to the JCOB triathlon saddle and upgraded my aerobars with the TriRig Scoops. I also changed my fueling for this race. I had been racing with Ucan since 2019 and simply got tired of the Ucan super starch consistency when mixed with water. It would all just settle at the bottom of my torpedo bottle and I would always end up short on calories. For this race I used 4 bottles of Tailwind at approximately 250 calories per bottle, 4 Maurten gels, and a small can of coke in my special needs bag.
At the aid stations I grabbed water bottles. Looking back at the aid stations, I overhydrated on the bike leg with the combo of water from aid stations and my 4 bottles of Tailwind since I stopped to pee 4 times!
Bike time was 5:44, avg. pace 19.48 including the 4 pee stops and stopping at mile 65 for special needs bag. Came off the bike holding 8th in my AG and a PR on the bike!
TRANSITION (T2 =5:03 MIN)
I could have transitioned a bit faster if I had opted to stay in my tri kit, but I had planned to change into running shorts for this race. I have raced both ways, and I do feel a bit more comfortable running with shorts instead of a tri kit. Something to consider for the next race, staying in the tri kit for the full race like done in the past.
RUN (4:13 HR)
My plan was to run off the bike with my planned race pace for an IRONMAN marathon and walk each aide station to fuel and hydrate. I took in Gatorade, water, and Maurten gels every 30-40 minutes.
In the first few miles, I had to stop taking in hydration as I could hear the water slushing inside me. Instead of drinking water I would crunch on ice and take my electrolytes with my Base Electrolyte salt tube. Always have a Plan-B my friends. Once the sound and sensation of my ‘stomach slush’ went away, I went back to drinking Gatorade mainly.
I felt strong physically and mentally until mile 20, 6 miles to go until the finish. My IT band started to tighten, and then my quads. It felt harder to start running after each aid station, and my walking breaks started to lengthen past the aid stations. I saw a few females pass me that I had passed earlier in the beginning of the run. I didn’t know where I was in my age group, so I did all I could to keep pushing forward.
I finished the run in 4:13 with a pace of 9:39, 6th overall in my age group.
I was battling 5th place for a while going back and forward with another women as my friends told me at the finish line, but I had no idea during the race. All I knew was that I was 8th coming off the bike and I ran my race without knowing who was in front of me or behind me.
Looking back at my run training, I could have benefited from a bit more run volume. But at my age, 47 and hunting for a Kona slot, I am right at the edge of what run volume my body can safely take without risking injury. IRONMAN is such a long day. So much can happen in 140.6 miles. Details matter, and I executed my best on race day.
