Ironman 70.3 Miami

Hey everyone sorry about the huge gap between my post! Life just got a bit ahead of me and I had to catch back up! Last weekend I went down to Miami with my dad and mom and competed in the Miami 70.3 Ironman. Miami was amazing and I wanted to take a moment to share my thoughts and experiences...

We arrived in Miami two days prior to the race. After 12 hours in the car it was good to get settled into the hotel room! Ann and I went for a nice run on the downtown streets to shake out our legs and saw the diversity of people that live in Miami. The next day we took the tram to the race site for packet pick up. The Athlete Village was filled with vendors and cool exhibits. A number of athletes approached me with questions about my Hoka Huaka shoes and some of the other Hoka gear I run in. I had an opportunity to have my swim analyzed in an endless pool and received some tips to help me improve my swim stroke. We finally headed back to the hotel to prep our bikes get in a quick bike and run. After dropping our bikes off at the race site we went for the best pre-race dinner ever…sushi of course. We headed to bed early which is always a good idea the night before a race. I find I spend half the night staring at the ceiling with my mind racing and cannot sleep no matter how hard I try. Race morning came after what felt like forever and we got up and had breakfast consisting of one Bonk Breaker, Banana and a cup of coffee then headed to the race site to prep our transition areas. I love listening to music the morning of a race so I had my music on as I got everything prepared and then enjoyed chatting with my fellow rack mates which always helps me with the pre-race jitters. With about an hour of waiting, the Pros finally went off in the swim and I still had an hour and a half to wait for my wave. As my wave crept closer and closer, I wished my dad and Ann good luck. Both of them had earlier waves than I did and I spent the next 40 minutes hanging out with my mom Amy stretching and warming up my arms for the swim. FINALLY they started to gather my division wave at the back of the wave line. With some introductions amongst ourselves and some small talk with the athletes in my division, we started to break the pre-race tension and have a few laughs. They called us to the dock to jump into the water to go to the swim start. As we swam to the line all the small chat came to an end and my mind turned to racing and my race plan. The water was at a perfect temperature (78 degrees) and there was a slight current fighting against us. I had already decided I was not going to let anyone slow me down. When the gun went off we all burst from the line like a giant wave. I could tell I was leading a pack and sensed a few guys leading another pack to my left as we raced to the first turn buoy. Right before the turn, our groups came together and we became one large mass of fit and fighting guys pushing the pace to see who would break first. I opted for a full length vs ¾ length long stroke and kept the cadence a little lower with a steady tempo kick. The color of our caps started to mix with all the other color caps as we caught up with the wave ahead of us. About half way through the swim it was difficult to catch the green cap color of my wave among all the other colors of caps. With the last turn buoy past me, I knew I would be swimming against the current again so I reached farther on the catch and dug deeper with a full length pull knowing I would not need my arms much later on in the race. Coming out of the water I raced to my transition rack and got out as fast as possible I wanted to be on the bike which is where I always feel the strongest. Heading out on the bike, I had to constantly stay to the left as I passed everyone that started ahead of me. Going through the city heading to the highway was tough due to the rough roads. There was a slight head wind going through the city and as I got onto the highway it turned into a crosswind. This made it harder to pass with ease because everyone was fighting against the wind making it unsafe. I did not let that stop me. I had built up momentum and planned to capitalize on this to put time on everyone in my division. About 23-26 miles out the crosswind got the best of one of the athletes riding past me. We were riding in the left lane as the cars traveled to our right with cones separating us. As the athlete was passing me, a side wind came through and took him off guard and pushed him into me. It forced me to the right towards traffic and with a haul truck coming up behind me I only had one way to go…straight into a traffic cone. I was traveling about 25 to 27 mph - moving too fast to really react to what was happening so I hit the cone and flipped over the bike. I took the full impact of the fall on my right shoulder and slid a few yards on my side. I quickly got up to check my bike making sure I could still ride it. An officer who saw the wreck ran over to me asking if I needed medical attention and I simply said “no”, got on my bike and took off faster than I was going before. I knew I had lost some time with that mishap and I knew I had to make it up plus some. As I got closer to the turnaround point on the bike I started to really feel the pain in my shoulder and hip which was a lot stronger then the pain in my leg muscles. I took a quick look over my shoulder and saw the damage I had done in the crash and realized how badly I had been hurt… some of the injury was down to the connective tissue but I didn’t want that to slow me down so I put my head down and just pushed harder. With my right forearm being badly scraped I had to grip my aero bars differently. This made the ride uncomfortable but I knew I just had to push through it…I came to prove my metal!  Having a tailwind heading back into the city made the ride a bit easier for me but I was starting to worry about the run because I began to feel my right hip swelling up and a bruise forming on my left knee where it got caught up in the bike when I fell. Maybe about 3 miles out from the transition I saw my dad ahead of me which made me excited because I knew I was making up a lot of time on everyone else. After passing him I started to go through my transition in my head and thinking about everything I needed to do. As soon as I saw the transition area I got out of my shoes and prepared myself for the dismount. Right as I hit the dismount line, I ran off my bike with a good side dismount and began running into transition to my running gear. Heading out fast trying to get my legs moving after the bike, I went through the first aid station getting a sip of water and dumping water on me. I hit my first mile on pace but my injuries and the heat started to affect my gait and how I felt. I just knew I needed to stay hydrated and cool so I got something to drink at every aid station and covered myself with water. Occasionally I would even put ice in my hat and down my kit to keep my body temperature down which was a good idea because I started seeing people dropping out right and left. Later I learned that even some the Pro field spent time walking due to the heat. By the time I got to the last 3 miles, I knew I was closing in on Ann but my run was down to a slow jog. I bonked about 2 miles back and my shoulder was throbbing and my hip was so swollen that it just hurt to move. I knew I had to finish strong so I picked my head up, corrected my form, and took off. As I saw the finish arch drawing close I heard Amy yell that Ann was right in front of me so I broke out in almost a complete sprint. Everything was numb at this point; nothing hurt and I watched as Ann crossed the finish line seconds before I did. Then it all hit me…I had finished!  After that everything went as usual. A nice stop by the medical tent to get cleaned up and I got to watch my dad finish as well. There was the usual food frenzy and finally the award ceremony. I placed 2nd in my division and secured a spot in the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships in Austria for 2015! It was a fun challenging race and a great experience! I cannot wait until my next race! But for now, I get a week off, then back to training!