Ironman Brasil!

Full disclosure on results are at: http://www.championchipbrasil.com.br/resultados.asp?id_cliente=56

Before the race: Woke up around 4:30 and hurried down to the hotel breakfast.  Wolfed down many a carbohydrate and headed to the race venue.  Arrived, got set up and numbered and everything without a hitch.  Couldn't really find the other members of our group until I went down to the beach.  As I stood on the beach waiting for the start, I checked my heart rate. 130!  Holy cow.  I didn't feel that anxious or nervous but apparently I was...normally my HR is around 60 just standing around. yikes. 

So, the swim. Before the swim there was this dog. super excited, little, and white, running up and down the beach.  I was feeling a bit concerned for the dog and the danger of it getting run over by all the stampeding athletes.  Volunteers were all holding a banner, which formed a sort of gate that would open eventually to let the dam break.  A bit annoying was the lack of a countdown, just a cannon being shot off to tell us to go...that was a bit of a surprise. The swim was rough, the waves were short and steep, maybe 3 to 3.5' tall.  I was sighting very frequently, breathing only one side and always having to lift my head way out of the water and frequently getting seawater rammed down my throat. My view was a constant switching of seeing just the murky water, waves, noise, maybe a buoy, but mostly other people. Very very chaotic and i was proud of myself for handling the pressure and chaos as well as i did. finally time to head back in and with the waves at my back much much easier to do it. Came out of the water, looked at watch, oh no 31 something minutes and i came out of the water wayyyy too far to the left, had to run quite a ways to go through the tent, then back out again. At that point I really didn't feel like getting back in.  2nd time seemed worse, far more waves, wonder why, and they seemed to come in pairs which was bothersome. but it went much much faster which was good. So very happy to see that time was under 57 minutes, which was a PR for me by about 40 seconds, and the previous time was in just about ideal conditions. Oh and also as i was approaching the shore my right hand suddently felt like it had stumbled into an acupuncture practice session...a jelly fish! stinging me! 

Swim time: 56:56,  75th overall, 12th in age group

(warning: moderate amount of grossness follows in next paragraph!)
bike: after a good transition, bike started off alright. The legs didnt feel that good though for the first 2 hours or so; dont ask me why! Shoulders sore from the swimming, that has never happened before, it was literally my shoulder joints that hurt, not the muscles. I didnt feel super powerful, but I wasnt really trying to be super powerful. Just trying to keep a steady rhythm and power going through the whole thing. The wind made it a bit more challenging. Another challenge was that my HR monitor had decided to check out of the porter support club. it was working fine right before the race, oh well.  The out and backs through the tunnel weren't super fun but the views riding along the beach in downtown were sufficient to keep one entertained. People passed me a fair bit, I guess due to the good swim time and the fact that the bike is my least strong leg. The first loop was a bit slow and then slowed a bit more on the 2nd. However one highlight from the bike portion was managing to pee not once but twice on the bike...on myself. Hey don't judge!  Every minute counts!  I saw several people slowing down, lowering pants and peeing while still rolling along. this struck me as a bad idea due to the inherent loss of control of the bike...so when the urge came to pee, i went! much easier than i imagined. and just think of all the time i saved.
Bike Time:  5:17.54, 176 overall, 19th in age group.

ahhhh so i was looking forward to the run so much. i have come to the conclusion that the run is my strength and so hoped to pass many people on the run. transition was seamless, I started out, the first k was too fast, 7:10 pace or so, but then the next 4k i worked very hard to bring the cart and horse under control to a pace healthily above 8 min/mile. i saw many people blazing out on the first miles and just thought to myself just wait my friends, just wait...
so the first loop, big hills. several of them. But, I told myself, no sweat. just shorten your stride and pace dramatically and you will be fine. And i was. The first 15 miles went by so easily, felt as though I was just gliding along. Took in plenty of calories, said hello to a number of spectators and fellow competitors, and was really enjoying the marathon.  aaaaiieee then mile 15 things just ceased to be going so well. legs were punching their ticket and checking out of work. So i spent the next 11 miles doing some walking (d'oh!) and some painful running. towards the end, the last 8k, i was able to run a lot more consistently and finished with my mom! that was great. what bothered me the most was my mental attitude..during the run i found myself talking about giving ironman a break, etc, but luckily the poor attitude did not persist beyond the finish line...already signed up for another one next year!

I should also mention that it was my mom's b-day on race day!  So it was really wonderful to have her down there for support and to finish with her!

Run time: 3:42, 171 overall, 26th in age group

Total Time: 10:02, 96th overall, 15th in age group. (1500 people total, about 120 in my age group)

thanks for reading!