First of, thanks for all of the support near and far. I really appreciate it. I was super excited going into Ironman Los Cabos. As a lot of you know I had to overcome many obstacles last year to get to the starting line of an Ironman healthy and to be able to have a shot at placing well. It was done with lots of patience and diligent and consistent training.
The swim was decent. I had a PR in an ocean swim for 2.4 miles, but I still need to work on transferring more of the pool speed and staying focused on keeping up the pace for the full distance.
The bike was ok. It was hot and windy! The goal was to increase effort each loop. However, that was hard to do without my power meter or heart rate monitor working so I went by feel for the first time ever. It was liberating but also hard to judge if I was truly keeping myself in check with the heat and sun playing into overall RPE. The heat started to get difficult on the bike but I managed. I was hydrating and consuming my race nutrition like a champ. I would actually go as far as saying that it was probably the best I've done nutrition wise on the bike.
The run definitely got ugly. I was happy to get off the bike and start running. I took the first couple miles slower while stopping at aid stations to get some fluids and calories in me. I kept on running the but the heat was definitely getting to me and was altering my pacing plans. I kept it safe and knew that running myself into top 3 wasn't going to happen- the body wasn't cooperating. I actually enjoyed the run course. Each mile I would get the highs and lows of feeling better then worse and so I would adjust my run pace accordingly. I took in ice at every aide station along with gatorade and a couple sips and dumps of water. The 3rd lap was when things got really blurry. My face went numb and felt like pins and needles- which then spread throughout my body. I started swaying. I decided to run walk but that wasn't making the situation any better. My whole body was starting to cramp. My body was totally shutting down on me. Trying to make it to the finish line was not feeling possible even if someone paid me $10,000. I was pulled off the course shortly after that somewhere around mile 18-20 ish? and taken to medical in an ambulance. I stayed in the med tent for 4 HOURS! I took 6 IV bags, threw up from both ends and cramped- all of which more times than I can remember. I definitely started to feel better towards the end though. I was more coherent and wasn't saying weird random words and phrases anymore. They almost took me to the hospital but I summoned every molecule I had left in my body to stop acting abnormal. I did not want a hospital visit nor the cost associated with it- especially in a foreign country... The head medic there said I'd be ready to leave once I thought he resembled George Clooney... and trust me, he really did after that much time. I swear he was a Mexican George Clooney!! :)
I definitely learned some lessons. Even though you can pee multiple times in each discipline and consume the "right" race nutrition and electrolytes... it doesn't mean that your body is actually absorbing them. You can think you're hydrated but you're not. I'll definitely do more heat acclimation and direct sun exposure in my preparation leading up to a warm and humid race. I enjoyed the race and the volunteers here in Los Cabos. I wouldn't change much at all about my race execution here except for a few things. One of the major ones would probably being working "fairly" with some of the age grouper guys on the bike. I guess I'm OK with what happened because it was beyond my control and their was nothing I could've done to prevent what happened on race day. Trust me, it's been a long road to start racing to my full potential again. I've finished 3 Ironmans in 3rd, 7th and 2nd place... but I've also had to drop out of 3 Ironman's now. It's hard- but it's part of the challenge. I'm young and Ironman is still relatively new to me and so is learning how my body will respond in different race environments. These lessons of failure will provide future success- if I KEEP at it and stay positive. Because, trust me, it can eat you alive and make you feel like complete hell if you let a DNF get to you that way- I've been there. But I'm back. And that's why I'm not beating myself over it too much. It's important to have fun and take away from each racing experience on and off the race course.
"Take changes, make mistakes. That's how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave" - MT Moore
I'm bloated as heck, but feeling a lot better today. I'm moving and walking around the best I ever have post-Ironman. We're going to relax and enjoy a little bit of R&R on the beach before we head back to Oregon.
Thanks again for all the support from near and far- and from my sponsors: TYR, LifeProof, PowerBar, BMC, Garmin, Continental, TorHans, CompuTrainer, SIDI, Zipp, and many others.