IM Louisville Race Report

Right to the point: Slower pace, higher place, prouder race!

Last year I competed in my first Ironman! I finished in 11 hours and 11 minutes and took 2nd in my age group. A great accomplishment. This year I competed in Ironman Louisville, finished in 11 hours and 40 minutes and came in 9th place. Yes, I had a slower pace, and a higher finishing place, but I am prouder of THIS RACE! Ironman has peeled back a lot of layers of who I am and challenged me to become a better person mentally, emotionally, and physically. I am excited to recap the race day and my thought process as the day unfolded.

Pre-Race Conditions: We flew out Friday morning, did the pre-race activities and hung with our families and friends on 4th street live. Saturday morning I had an unexpected fright—the muscles in my left leg locked up on the practice run. The pain started on the outside of my left knee, ran up my IT band, into my gluet and hamstring. It felt like the muscle seized up, was holding on, and would not release. I have been injury free all season by training smart, stretching regularly, and receiving weekly massages. The pain I witnessed on this practice run scared the crap out of me! I walked over to the ART (active release therapy) guys to have them take an assessment and hopefully fix me. I got the response, “WOW, I have not seen hip flexors this tight in a long time! You are so tight that your other muscles are trying to compensate and throwing everything outta wack. You should have come to me yesterday.” – haha, great, just what I wanted to hear. He worked on it for 30 minutes, but the pain was still there. I prayed to God that he would heal me and then tried not to waste nervous energy thinking about it—it was outta my control. Our family and friends enjoyed a yummy pasta dinner together Saturday night and then we hit the sheets to get our bodies rest and our minds right.

Race morning: Ironman Louisville’s swim is unique from the traditionally Ironman “mass” start. Instead of having all the athletes begin the swim together, they have a time trial start where athletes form a long line and then jump into the water two at a time. Therefore, because each athlete begins their swim at a different time, athletes are racing the clock instead of racing eachother. This type of swim start forces the mind set of focusing on my own race rather than the competition. I focus on my race plan and let the results manage themselves. I race my race plan and make my competition change their plan to catch me. About 7 of us Dallas athletes jumped in line together. We gathered in a circle, bowed our heads, gave glory to God and prayed for protection.

Swim: After prayer we were off swimming in the stinky Ohio river! If you know me, you know I learned how to swim last year in March 2009. With that being said, I came out of water in a slow 1 hour and 29 minutes. This was just a few minutes slower than AZ which was a wet suit legal swim. I saw my family cheering for me in transition and prepared my mind for the bike! I was 83rd in my age group coming outta the water. Yikes!

Bike:
Theme words for the bike would be Hot and Hilly! In addition to the time trial swim start, another unique feature of this race is the hot temperatures and humidity. It is said to be the hottest race in the Ironman circuit! IM Louisville 2009 got a lucky break on the weather, which is reflected in the results… finishing times of the winners in 2009 compared to 2010 vary by about an hour! Climbing isn’t my greatest strength, but I had an absolute blast with this bike course! The constant climbs held my attention and added some prestige to the challenge. The combination of heat and hills resulted in a lot of dehydrated athletes, several crashes, and 388 DNF’s. Athlete’s were frustrated on the course. Being the social racer that I am, I made it my job to offer encouragement to the athletes surrounding me—The nice thing about Ironman is that our names are written on our bib numbers. I encouraged athletes by name, telling them they looked strong. I sprayed cold water on surrounding athletes at aid stations to keep them cool, and prayed for athletes along the way who had crashed, gotten a flat tire, or were puking their guts out (there were a lot of those). At one point during the race I started to feel a little sick. I looked down at my HR monitor and was still averaging a good pace at a low HR. I thought, “How in the world am I holding 19mph right now?” At that moment I passed my family on the course, they were smiling and cheering for me. They were believing in me. I then looked up in the sky and thought, “I know how I am doing this right now—through Him, and through the power of prayer.” I started to cry a little bit as I thought of all the people at home who were praying for the protection of my body and mind. All the people who believed in me, even when I don’t believe in myself. It was an overwhelming feeling of gratitude and thankfulness. This feeling carried me through the net 80 miles of the race. I couldn’t stop smiling. I felt so honored to be competing and to have so much support and faith from others. I finished the bike in 6 hours and 9 minutes, a pretty solid time with the hills and heat! I was now in 24th place in my age group, I passed 60 girls on the bike! Moving up. I HOPE THOSE CHICKS CAN RUN!

Run:
I always look forward to the run- I LOVE IT and I am confident doing it! I have had solid practice runs all season and in my heart, I knew even with the heat, I could run a 3:30 marathon after the 112 mile bike. The heat doesn’t bother me too much, I had full faith that I could do it! I started my run conservatively, averaging about a 7:40 pace with a pretty low HR. At mile 3 I decided to slow it down even more, knowing I had a long run ahead of me. I was now averaging about an 8 min mile with my HR in zone 1--this would keep me on track for my 3:30 marathon. My tight muscles from the practice run were still there- I tried to ignore the pain and kept myself together. At the halfway point, I was right on track, feeling strong, low HR, and averaging a 7:50/8min pace. Between miles 16-18 my leg completely seized up. I knew I was going to have to dramatically slow my pace, if I didn’t I would end up walking the marathon, and that was not an option for me. I have never had to fight through pain like this in my entire life! The smiles and laughter on my face turned to tears of pain. My left leg was throbbing and I actually felt like it might tear. Aerobically I was fit to run my 3:30. The run unfolded another way, handing me a situation outside my control. I managed the best I could- mentally and physically. I remained positive, still encouraging others around me. Trying to smile. Thanking the volunteers and spectators for their encouragement. I was going to finish. I was going to be an Ironman. Again.

Finishline:
I bursted with tears of relief and joy as I crossed through that finishline. My friend Edduardo Guerra, who has mentored me through this sport (infact, I bought his bike from him) caught me at the finishline. He was volunteering and his wife Stacy was competing. I felt sick. I was cramping, dehydrated, and shivering. My family came to the finishline, crying as well, so proud of me! Edduardo brought me into medical where I got an IV, recovery massage and pizza. SO many IV’s were given out. I placed 9th in my age group. I moved from 83rd out of the water, to 9th place!

Overall Thoughts:
I will share something with you about myself—I demand a lot of myself with little celebration. I work hard and I expect myself to perform with positive results. Throughout school I demanded myself to perform in the classroom. I studied hard and expected myself to get A’s, that’s what I did. Graduation was not an accomplishment, it was expected. (this does not come from my parents- it comes from me- weird, I know). In my job, I work hard, and I expect myself to close sales, that is what I am supposed to do. During my first Ironman, I crossed the finishline completely unemotional – of course I finished, I worked hard, and that is what I am supposed to do, perform and finish strong. Leading up to Ironman Louisville Blake worked with me on celebrating accomplishments and being proud of myself. Finishing Ironman Louisville was a celebration for me! Finishing was not promised, it was a fight and a gift! This ironman was special for several reasons:

1.I truly respect the Ironman distance and I acknowledged the achievement. I am proud of my finish. I experienced pain like none other and I persevered and fought through. My mind told my body to walk but I pushed on and still finished with a strong marathon time of 3:50.

2. I worked my way from 83rd out of the water to 24th on the bike, to 9th place on the run! Awesome.

3.Toeing the line was an accomplishment in itself. I made it though the long season managing the demands training requires on our minds, bodies, job, schedules, families, and friends.

4.I give the glory to God and thank Him for not only protecting my body- but for protecting my MIND from negative thoughts. I tend to be hard on myself. Not this race, I gave myself praise through the entire thing—even for my slow swim  Good job Jacqueline!

5.Here is an oxymoron: I focused on myself and I focused on others. I focused on my own race plan and didn’t worry about where I was within my age group, but I focused on others in the sense of showing good sportsmanship and offering encouragement. Thinking outside myself brings so much joy and helps lessen the pain.

6.I am -vVery appreciative for all the family and friends who were praying for me, tracking me, and encouraging me. THANK YOU! A special thanks to Blake for his constant supporrt, encouragement, and growing me to be a better person. It's not easy to date an Ironman. I love you.

Food for Thought:
Don’t complain or criticize courses or weather conditions.

I read an article in Triathlete magazine that changed my mindset on racing in brutal weather conditions or on tough courses. The article talked about how athletes today are too focused on a fast finishing time instead of enduring the challenge. As a result, athletes blame weather conditions, courses, etc for slower times instead of understanding that times vary course to course and year to year. The article states, it is the CHALLENGE of the day that makes the title of being an IRONMAN such an honor- the challenge of fighting the heat, hustling through the rain, pacing up the hills, struggling through pain. Each course offers unique challenges on the course, and each year offers varied challenges depending on the heat, wind, rain, etc! Times are relative to the athletes on that given course on that given day!