Race Report Ironman Louisville 70.3

Team Iron Ladies Saga Prologue On Oct 13,2021, I was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer with a tumor in my liver. A year of treatment including 6 rounds of chemo every 3 weeks, 4 surgeries, and 6 weeks of daily radiation treatments took me almost 10 months to complete. I had the port removed in September and my last Herceptin injection (these lasted a full year) was Nov 9, 2022. I was declared "NED" (no evidence of disease). Two weeks later, I left for Abu Dhabi for the world championships. I did a sprint race and did not win any podium slots but just competing that day was success. I figured I would never do long distance racing again at that point. I had to walk the 3 miles that day and imaginging I could do much more than an OLY was not possible then. In 2023, I did a few things, the multisport festival competing that summer in Dalls and qualifying for the OLY World Aquabike championships in Spain, I did a sprint in Ponte Vedra and another sprint but I'm not sure which one. I think I ended up doing 4-5 sprints that year. I also did some swim races that year. In 2023 late summer, it was announced that IM Louisville would return as a 70.3 in 2024. When this race was posted, I optimistically signed up for a relay and found a running partner so I could do the swim and bike. The spring of 2024 felt very hard for me. I had broken my knee in September 2023 and was not allowed to swim or do anything for months. I was finally released to train in January but other problems were appearing. I was constantly fatigued and sometimes dizzy and experiencing body cramps all over that would last 20-40 minutes at a time. I figured it was post chemo effects and heavy training. I later discovered it was a natural gas leak. All those symptoms are symptoms of natural gas poisoning. When I finally figured it out, I was 2 weeks from the race. I had had a great deal of trouble breathing, almost had asthma like symptoms on a few rides and had really struggled to do long rides. In July also, my father, who is 90, had some health issues and the situation was complicated by my mother's problems to manage him and the whole household herself. She was not used to my father being unable to care for many things and this created strife and conflict for them both. I was trying to get my apartment gas leak fixed during a 100F heat wave where the apt landlord turned off the AC for over a week twice, turned off the water heater for 4 days and left me with an apartment that was 85+F for about 14 days total. I also had guests twice in that time, fortunately they were there in the windows when the AC was working somewhat. So I had plenty of stress, insufficient appropriate training for the bike distance and health issues to work through. What follows is how that race unfolded.

August 18, 2024 I arrived about 5:30 AM after stressing all night about whether I'd be able to actually get to my parking place that morning. Turns out is was a non issue and I wasted a lot of rest time on this worry. I had my gear all set for the ride, which I was pretty concerned about. I was not worried at all about the swim. I knew I would be fine and predicted a 35 min swim. My run partner had to be changed midway through the run up to the race because IM would not accommodate my original partner's need to use a handcycle for the run. We were both very disappointed. I therefore dedicate my race to Ruth Buffalo who valiantly gave up her spot in time for me to find a replacement: Steve Martin who did a fabulous job on the run. Steve met me at the transition site and once I was set up I walked with him and chatted during the 1 mile hike to the swim start. Steve offered to be my Sherpa instead of me leaving my morning bag at the swim start and hunting it down at the finish...I've never had a Sherpa before..I liked that! I got stuck in a porta potty line and missed finding Susan DiCiccio to swim together which bothered me but I knew she'd be fine. The swim chute was filled when I finally got there after using the potty and I was unable to move up to the 35-40 min pace section. I ended up in the 43-45 min section. This caused a few problems on the swim.

Swim Leg The entrance for the swim was three ramps to the river that you could just walk into the water and swim off. I was sent to chute 2 in the middle. I set off and took my time getting settled for the long swim. I felt great. No wet suits were allowed as the water was too warm, but that's fine with me. I remembered to turn on my Form Goggles (that have a straight swimming function that helped a bit) and my triathlon setting on my Garmin so I was doing well at the outset. The water was calm but the swimmers were nuts. I got bumped many times on the swim, swam around a LOT of people, got slapped, and kicked in the chest once...really it was more of a contact sport than I had expected given the time trial start. I managed to keep calm and keep swimming and while I did not get a 35 min PR, I did match my best 1.2 mile time pre cancer at 42 mins on my garmin (official time is 43 mins) so I was satisfied with my swim. The trip to transition wasn't too bad on my feet or too long. I decided to walk and get my HR down and my breathing down. I saw Steve as I went through the exit chute from the swim. He's really amazing. :) I got my gear together, helmet clipped, shoes on, gloves on, took some nutrition, stuffed my pockets with the packets of nutrition for the bike and headed out thinking, "Here goes nothing."

Bike Leg The walk to the mount line must have been 3/4 of a mile, it seemed to take forever. My T1 time was like 10 mins due to this and my decision to take my time. I knew a few minutes wasn't going to make that much difference honestly. I'd be back of the pack on the bike finish most likely. The ride out to Lagrange feels pretty fast and I was able to get some good 17-18 mph speeds on the "flat" which is actually a slight descent for about 10 miles. Then the turn onto 42 and the hills began. They are long hills so the climb slowed me down and the descents didn't give much uptick in speed. I did my best on this section but very soon, my left leg began to cramp on the inner thigh. I just kept spinning and ignored it but this affected me for about 15 miles. (about and hour) I had hoped to start the bike by 8AM but I was close to 8:20 by the time I was on the course so my estimated bike times were off by about 20 minutes. I got close to catching up to my estimates by about 30 miles but the ride back was not as fast as the ride out...headwinds and a long ascent tired me out. I made it to the first turn and was passed by a few folks who knew me and called out to me around mile 15...that would continue all the way to mile 45. I also had my left had cramped, so my thumb could not grip the handlebar for about 30 mins and my right torso cramped up for 15 mins later in the ride. I was surprised at how many people were behind me and who continued to pass me through the whole race up to about 45 mile marker, honestly. Anyway, I had planned to stop and get off my bike for a couple of minutes at mile 30 rest station and I did. However, although I took water and drank a lot and ate some sport beans, I forgot to replenish my water bottle which was at about half at that time. I didn't run out by mile 43 rest station but I was pretty close. I sort of decided that since I wasn't going to run, I'd push myself and not worry as much about nutrition and hydration, although I did keep drinking water, my stomach wasn't too happy with more sport beans or my electrolyte drink mix so I had only water from about mile 40 to the end. It wasn't too hot but the hills really took it out of me. I enjoyed the downhills as much as I could, passed people on the hills down a lot only to be passed as I slowly labored up the next one. One hill had a bump and bridge and there was a maze of water bottles scattered all over and I was going about 35 mph through that area, dodging bottles and passing several riders. I did okay though and kept the speed for the hill up pretty well. I got the turn on 42 and knew I had a lot more work to do to get back. I kept track of the time and it looked like I might make 4 hours (the goal) but the ride back had me doing like 11-12 mph for much of the ride and I ended up arriving at 4:20. I was pretty beat up at that point. I could barely get off the bike, I had to lay it on the ground and step over it because I could not get my leg up over the bike. My kit, which I had worn before but not for a really long ride, had chafed me a lot. I have NEVER had chafing before so this surprised me. I had to walk that long walk from dismount to the transition area and I was very gladdened to see Steve still there patiently waiting for me to arrive. When I racked my bike and gave him my chip I started to cry. I apologized for taking 20 mins longer than planned and worried I'd put him in a bad position for a finish. He reassured me, gave me two high fives and took off and I immediately collapsed in sobs with fatigue and sadness that I had done so poorly. Karen was there and she gave me a hug and told me it was all okay, which I needed. I laid down next to my bike and called my daughter who is rather unfamiliar with triathlon racing venues and had not found my transition spot I tried to direct her to. She was at the after party which I had gotten a wrist band for her to attend. I was so late arriving back, by waiting a few moments I was able to gather all my gear and take it out of transition to the car and then walk to the after party...quite a long walk. I met Desi at the Landshark tent and we walked together. (I had arranged for her to have parking in the same lot which was halfway between the transition and the party on 4th street). We loaded my bike and gear and slowly made our way to the party. My legs took about 2 miles to finally loosen up. I knew I'd made a good decision to do this as a relay because I would not have been able to do that run at all with my legs in such terrible condition. We found seats and food at the party, and sat to wait on Steve to arrive from his run. Run leg We tracked Steve on his run (Team Iron Ladies...which he thought was funny) and saw him arrive in the chute. His wife Shonda was there and she and I met for the first time as we waited for him to arrive. I thanked her for sharing her husband with me and told her how much I admired him, what a great guy he was and how well he was doing. His speed got him at the finish by 7:29 total time for both of us and about 2:30 for him 13.1 miles. He had said he could do it in 2:15 -2:30 and he did. I felt like I let us both down a bit because that extra 20 minutes put him on the course later with more heat, but he smiled and was happy as he finished. Epilogue In retrospect, I am happy with my performance, although my bike was almost an hour slower than my former 70.3 races, I did as much as my body could do that day. I didn't leave anything on the course. I am pleased with my swim and lately I've been considering doing long distance swim races or swim vacations. I really love to swim. I'm still training this week to get ready for the Bike to Beat Cancer ride and the Oct world championship OLY Aquabike race which will be pretty flat. I have not decided to sign up for 2025 IM 70.3. I may try to do a different race location. Knowing that cancer could return, I sort of feel like I need to see the world more than just do the local race again but we shall see. One never knows what the future will bring. My Coached athletes NOTE I coached 3 people for this race. All 3, Charlie Pulliam, Kendrick Ford and Hannah Diehl finished the course in official time. I was extremely pleased and proud of my first timers at this race. I had no doubts they'd finish but you never know. There were some wrecks and in fact Charlie did wreck at mile 55, but he picked himself up and continued on. Traveling this journey with these 3 was very fulfilling to me as a coach. I can't keep up with them physically but I was able to prepare them very well for their races and help them on the road to success.