Swim, Bike, Run, Pray #5: St. George 70.3 Race Day Report

I struggled writing today’s post. Saturday’s elation at finishing an extremely difficult race, made harder by the weather, was quickly replaced yesterday with self-recrimination and sadness. Not quite as bad as I’ve experienced with past races, but it’s still there.

Me with dad, hubby, and kids
just before race start

On the one hand, the fact I even finished is a miracle. So many things went wrong during my race, that I’m amazed I kept going. About 700 athletes didn't finish. On the other hand, I’ve had two main thoughts going through my head:

1. It was so incredibly disheartening to get passed by so many people on the bike. They flew past me on the hills like it was no big deal, from the first big one, referred to as Nemesis, to the last one in Snow Canyon. Meanwhile, I barely inched along, had to stop multiple times for various reasons, and took a lot longer than I’d planned. I just can’t describe how much that affected me mentally. I felt like all that training, all the hours I put in for 5 months, was for nothing.

2. Everyone has been telling me and posting about how proud they are of me, of how awesome I did, etc. But I don’t think I earned it at all. I was one of the last ones out there from my triathlon club. I put in so much time and effort. My physical game was totally off.

Despite all of this, I pushed through the race and finished. It took me 8 hours and 10 minutes, but I didn’t give up. Even though I wanted to multiple times on the bike. And if there’s one thing that came through loud and clear, it was that prayer works. So in an effort to push out all the nastiness that’s been fighting its way to the forefront of my mind, here are the top 10 good things that happened during Ironman 70.3 St. George.

1. It’s obvious I’ve come a long way with my swimming. Despite the waves, the cold water, the athletes swimming right into me who weren’t sighting at all, and the kayaks I had to dodge that were trying to help people, I was like a fish!  Other than some nausea, I felt great on the swim, enjoyed it even. Sometimes I almost laughed when the waves rolled around me like I was on a water bed. And when it started raining, it smelled so good (unlike the gas smell from the boats, yuck). The water is so pretty, even when it’s raining. I think the swim was actually my favorite part of the day. I couldn’t say that 3 years ago!

2. Although my chain came off twice while trying to switch between the big and small rings, I didn’t get a flat tire or lose a water bottle. Plenty of people did.

3. I noticed that my nausea went away after I used Base Salt, which I’d forgotten about until about mile 28 of the bike. That and I realized that I’d been so stressed about my chain coming off again, I was in knots inside. But, I’d gotten it unstuck twice already, so I could do it again if I needed to. That relieved a lot of stress.

4. All the positive thoughts and sayings I’ve been flooding my brain with the past few months finally paid off. I had multiple things to think about to push out the negative thoughts every time one came in. I don’t think I could list them all here if I tried. Different phrases popped into my head at different times that seemed to be exactly what I needed at that time. Probably the most helpful was, just go another mile and see how you feel. Then, this hill will be over soon. Followed by one from our team pep talk before the race: this is your moment; you get to choose what you do next. I chose to keep going.

5. The volunteers were amazing. From the guy who helped steady my bike at the last aid station before Snow Canyon (I was shivering so bad I couldn’t keep it steady to hoist my leg over and get going. He even gave me a little push.), to the lady in T2 who helped dry my feet and put my dry socks on because my hands weren’t working they were so frozen, to the great volunteers at the run aid stations who had funny signs, called me by name, and cheered me on.

6. I don’t know how I made it down from Snow Canyon. Because of the cold rain and wind, half of each foot was frozen, my hands were so stiff I couldn’t shift into my big ring so I had to coast down to T2, my right calf started spasming uncontrollably, and my bike was wobbling dangerously – not from the speed-generated wind, but because my entire body started shaking from being so cold. In addition, my arms and shoulders locked up from the cold, so I couldn’t move very well from aero to a more upright position without risking a fall, but I had to use my breaks, so I did it, but almost lost it, and then my water-logged breaks didn’t even work that well. For all intents and purposes, it’s a

Coming into T2, trying
not to cry

miracle I made it safely down.

7. One of the things I told myself was, this can’t be like Cozumel, you have to finish this bike so you can go on the run. The run will warm you up and you’ll feel better. It’s your favorite part of the race, and you don’t want to miss it! Again! And I was right. I felt a lot better about a mile into the run. That combined with getting more nutrition and water into me, the comradery from my tri club mates, and my awesome husband who chased me around on the course, made for a good experience for the last third of the tri. Despite a blood sugar drop about mile 7 and GI issues from mile 9 to the end that slowed me down significantly. And more cold wind.

8. I didn’t feel as sore after the race as I have after other races – and this was a really tough course. Today I’m barely sore at all – the worst is the wetsuit hickey on my neck.

9. Men, you may want to skip ahead to #10. This may seem like a small thing, but the women in the audience will appreciate it. I’m always super regular, and Aunt Flow was scheduled to start two days before the race. One more thing to worry about. But, miracle upon miracles, she went on a little vacation and came four days late. Happy dance that I didn’t have to deal with that on race day too!

10. Finally, prayer works. After I crossed the finish line, there were so many friends there who cheered for me and congratulated me. One in particular came up to me and said after she’d seen me standing on the side of the road in Snow Canyon, and seeing how down I looked, she started to cry and pray like crazy for me. She continued to worry and pray for me, hoping I pushed through and finished, because she said she’d known if I could make it to the run, I’d finish the race. And she was right – when she saw me coming into T2 as she headed out on the run, she finally relaxed, knowing I 

was okay. It really touched me that she cared that much about me finishing. And for the 4^th or 5^th time that day, I had tears too. Her prayers worked.

Just like in the race, we have so many people running with us who are cheering us on in life. They may be faster or slower than us. They may be going in opposite directions sometimes. We may only get brief glances of them, or a little smile or thumbs up. Sometimes, they might not acknowledge us, even when we need it, because they are in pain too. But that doesn’t mean they don’t care. Then sometimes, we’ll get a huge “Go Mandy, you’ve got this, you’re awesome!”

How many of our friends and family who have passed away are worried and praying for us? They know if we can just make it to our “run”, then we’ll finish our race. Won’t it be amazing to see them all again when we cross the finish line? To feel their love for us, their excitement that we did it, no matter how slow we were, or how many times we messed up and had to stop and try again?

Friends and loved ones, whether alive or dead, didn’t care that I took an hour and 10 minutes longer then I’d planned, or that I didn’t time my nutrition well, even though I’d planned to. They didn’t care I had black grease on my hands from fixing my chain, or who knows how many germs from multiple stops at the port-a-potties. They didn’t care I had to stop so many times, that I had to ask for help, or that I had to walk up a hill with my bike when I felt I couldn’t pedal one more stroke. All they cared about was that I faced the cold, the rain, the wind, and the depression, and I finished the race. It was enough.

One final note. While I appreciated all the support from friends and family on race day, it really came down to one thing – me making the decision to finish the race. I had to put in the preparation. I couldn’t depend on anyone to make me finish, I had to decide to do that. And if that isn’t mental toughness, I don’t know what is. Mission accomplished.