Ironman Louisville Post Race Report

Ironman Louisville: 11:50:53

11/77Age Group, 509/2600 Overall, 71/599 Female

Ironman Louisville was the final race along my Quest for Kona. (this year, hah) This last race had special meaning to me for many reasons. It was the culmination of a year long attempt at 7 US Ironman races and I was also racing for a greater cause. Through the Ironman Foundation, “”Your Journey, Your Cause” program I was able to raise $840 towards the fight against brain cancer. Thank you to all who donated to this cause!!

Ironman Louisville is different from many of the other US Ironman I have participated in. This race is in an urban downtown setting featuring University of Louisville, Churchill Downs, the Louisville Slugger and the roaring Forth Street Live finish line.

Prerace:  All of Ironman check in and race information is at the Galt Hotel. This is a very large hotel conveniently located between Transition and the finish line. If you are wondering where to stay in Louisville the Galt is the primo spot. It’s only about a quarter to a half mile walk to both transition and the finish line. Race check in was a breeze and all sings pointed to a lucky race. The number 7 was prevalent in a lot of situations. IMLou was my 7^th Ironman of the year. 2013 IMLou was the 7^th running of the event. My bib number 232 totaled 7, 2+3+2=7.  I had a room on the 7^th floor. This was my lucky race. Then Saturday happened and all the bad luck hit. It started with my traditional pre-race brick. Well the city had just recently street swept the roads and I went through a VERY wet, muddy, and dirty stretch. It was only about 500 ft but it totally covered my bike and me from head to toe in mud. And no, I didn’t take any pictures. When I got back to the Galt, myself and my bike took a fresh shower. Hah, yes I put my bike in the hotel shower. Nothing else would have gotten it clean, it was that bad. Then I started feeling really weak and tired. I ate lunch and immediately got sick. All I thought was “no, this stupid stomach bug is back.” To say the least, I was starting to think my lucky number 7 race was not so lucky. But just as in Ironman when things go wrong they can quickly change course and it did for me that night. I started feeling better and I was getting pumped for the race. We headed to a team Triattic dinner at Bristol, a downtown restaurant (an AMAZING eatery by the way) with first time Ironman athletes, Marty Hufstetler and Tony Roelofs. Then it was off to bed for the early 3:30 am wakeup call.

Race morning: 3:30am wakeup call is not early enough for IMLou, I found that out later.  Coffee, yogurt, and an English muffin with nutella, yum! Then I headed to Transition at 5 am. Got bike ready with fuel, tires pumped, and fully charged GPS watch in T2 bag and then it was off to swim start. ImLou features a time trial swim start from two boat docks. This swim start is unique to this race and takes away a lot of anxiety from first timers whose fear is the mass start. It is a first come first serve single file line of 3000 athletes. Try and picture that, it was more than half a mile long. This year they specified no place holding and only athletes were allowed to get in line. They allowed the line to start forming at 5:00am. When I arrived around 5:40am, I was SHOCKED at how many people were already there. The walk to the back of the line took a LONG time and I must have easily been over 2000 athletes back. I knew the start of the swim was going to be crowded. I had a pre-race snack of a banana, stinger waffle, and bottle of heed about 45-min before I hoped in the water.

Swim: 2.4 Miles, 59:49 – 1:23/100yd

HECK YEA!!!!!!!!!! I was finally under an hour. Going into this swim I knew I had put in some quality time in the pool and had improved my speed. With the number of Ironman races I had done over the past three months the pool became my source of high intensity workouts and it paid off! I hoped into the water 25-min after the clock had started and was in the back 1/3^rd of the age group field. The first part of the swim is upstream alongside an Island and boat dock. The space is very small and I had a lot of people to navigate around. The first 100-200 meters wasn’t bad, then I hit a lot of people who were slower than I was. To top it off the sun was right in our eyes and made it very hard to see the first 800m. I focused on my form and turnover and tried my hardest to not fall into my relaxed easy stroke. When I swam up on someone I cut to the left mostly and this worked well. Within two to three strokes I was past but then another and another. If I had lined up earlier I could have easily knocked off 2-min from my time. Once I rounded the turn buoy headed downstream the current didn’t feel as quick as it had the day before. Supposedly they lifted the dam gates to slow the flow of water. It was similar to swimming in a lake. Halfway down the Island it was as if I was swimming solo. I wanted to swim as fast as I could with maintaining form and without getting fatigued. I had passes the majority of the crowd and had clear open water. I kept my tempo and pace and continued to push the entire way. I rounded the last buoy and headed up the steps to T1 looked down at my watch and saw 1:00:?? and thought there is no way, I must have hit the lap button at some point in the swim and restarted the timer. Come to find out later, I had actually broken 1 hour!!! That was a big pick me up at mile 25 of the bike when I found out!

T1: 3:39

Flawless. I had already planned to go sockless because of the heat and knew I would be drenched from water early on. All I had to do was put on my shoes, helmet, sunglasses and shove salt pills into my tri top pocket. I found my bike without any issues (always remember to count rows and look for landmarks) and off to begin 112 I went.

Bike: 112 Miles, 5:58:08 – 18.76 mph

Data: http://www.trainingpeaks.com/av/BMID6HJWFN3L4ALL7ZLR6T6UYQ

This course has it all; flats, rollers, a few big climbs/descents and beautiful scenery.  The first 10 and last 10 miles of this course is flat. The middle 90 or so miles has about 2,800 ft elevation gain. This course is very comparable to the riding we have here in North FL and South Georgia. Coming off of Ironman CDA and Ironman LP I knew I had developed a lot of climbing strength and was excited for this event. My goal was to hold upper Z2-lower Z3 HR and not let my HR go over Z4 on ANY of the climbs. I did this to a T!!!! I had one of the best rides I could have asked for. My max speed on this course top out at 41.3 mph. That is faster than CDA and LP, partly due to the better road conditions. The course has two loops that are roughly 30 miles each. During this stretch you go through the town of LaGrange, KY. This small town welcomed the Ironman athletes in full force. They had the road barricaded and hundreds of fans screaming. There were a few very technical sections with steep climbs and narrow roads along this loop. The first loop was not a problem, I hit every hill and knew which gears to be in and felt great. Starting the second loop the congestion on the course got thick. I had a close call on one of the steep windy roads and almost went down. Coming around a corner to a steep climb 4 people were walking their bikes up the hill behind them was a group of slower riders that had went to pass on the left and here I came ready to power up the hill. I knew I could go up and over it in the large ring because I had done it on the previous loop. Well the second I was about to go by the group they got in my way and it was steep, I mean over 10% steep and I tried dropping into small ring and my gear didn’t drop. The amount I had to slow down I now had zero momentum and almost wiped out. At the last second I was able to unclip and was then on a steep section with my bike in the wrong gear so I just ran up that hill as fast as I could. Darn….that bothered me for a few miles but I quickly let it fade. The last 10 miles it started to get VERY hot. There was little wind and it just felt like a sauna. My effort started to fall but luckily this was the flat section so I was able to keep my pace up.

T2: 6:14

Not as efficient as T1 and I took my time. I hoped off my bike onto the sidewalk and was welcomed to no scalding surface like at IMTX. Yeah! But it was HOT out!! I walked to keep my HR down and got into the tent and drenched myself with ice water. Took a quick pit stop before heading out of T2 and onto the 26.2 mile marathon I went.

Run: 26.2 Miles, 4:43:03 – 10:48 min/mile

Data: http://www.trainingpeaks.com/av/SCSA7ZBV73LFEW53IAP6GFYGLE

Nope, no magic here. I was hoping to go under 11 hours in Louisville and I KNOW I can do that. But this being the fourth marathon in three months I had run my legs weren’t responding. I never felt like I had the get up and go. I did what I could to make it through every mile without walking. That was a success but a HUGE challenge. I did a great job with my nutrition and hydration. Cramps were never an issue and stomach aches never showed up. I just didn’t have it. Much of that was due to the amount of racing and miles I have put on my legs. But what I have learned and what I continue to be so passionate about is the fight to continue. Although I knew I wasn’t going to run a 4 hour marathon, I never gave up and did what I could. The run course in Lou is very flat with a surprising amount of shade. The course heads south on 3^rd street goes through the University of Louisville campus, in front of Churchill Downs and down the southern parkway with big plantation homes and huge trees. The crowd support was fantastic and the aid stations were stocked with all the ice, water, and cold sponges you could ever want. At no point in the marathon did I let my pace bother my mental strength to push forward. It would have been easy to walk but I didn’t let that happen (well outside of aid stations that is). I have so much support from family and friends that help give me the strength and power to push through. Without that or without the passion to give it my best effort none of this would be possible. In the final couple miles I have never smiled so much. I knew I was going to accomplish a goal that so many thought was impossible. I had worked very hard over the last year to maintain fitness, avoid injury or burnout, and only grow my love for the sport. The Ironman saying holds true, “ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE”!



I also have to give an EXTRA special shout out to Natalie Radford. She was the best Sherpa and friend could ask for. She waited on me hand and foot. Carried my gear to transition and swim start race morning, cheered for me every step along the way of the course and also got my bike and now very stinky gear from transition and back to the Galt (when I passed out). Thank you for taking such good care of me the entire weekend!

Charlie also surprised me (Marty and Tony) and was able to get off work to come to Ironman Louisville. He did equally as much over the weekend and was a HUGE help to our team. Thank you Charlie for making the trip and being their for all of us!

I will continue to post on the quest for Kona page because it is not over!!! Check back for a full rundown of the Quest. I will be writing blogs about the training it took to finish 7 Ironman races in one year, the challenges I faced, my favorite courses, etc…..This is just the beginning.