Ironman Cozumel

It took going to Cozumel Mexico to convince me to do another Ironman.  It's not that I hated the 1st one, in fact, it is the opposite.  I had a great time doing the 1st, but I was worried it was the nostalgia of the 1st one and the big group we went down with that really carried me through it.  I also had a pretty good ironman race, even though my only expectation/desire was to finish it; but for every one after I would have a time to try and beat and I know how Ironman can be, certainly I couldn't expect to always have a great day...

But going into ironman #2, I wasn't expecting to beat my 1^st time, I knew my training was well off the mark.  Sure I have some good reasons, but I know they amount to excuses, so I won't list them.  But on top of the lack of training, I also wasn't quite recovered from a week long chest cold and prior to the race I had some traveler digestion problems in Mexico (you know what I mean, it's not a pre-race condition you want), and because we were racing in a foreign place I would have to function without my regular morning race breakfast (I'm a little particular)...

But it is what it is and I was more relaxed than before the 1st Ironman.  I hoped I'd be able to finish, but I was even okay with the possibility of not finishing.  I mean when I signed up a year ago, I was completely unable to swim due to my shoulders and I had spent a year off running and biking at that point, so not being able to get this race done was a possibility from the get go; and really I take finishing (story spoiler) as a blessing as being able to get through an Ironman is an indicator I've come along pretty well in a year!

The swim 3.8k

The race started at Chankanaab National Park, where there is swimming with dolphins (we plan to go back there later this week) and as we went around the dock to enter the water for the start, there were dolphins flipping and jumping, so amazing!!  We also had our first scare of the day - there were so many people on the dock, right below our feet, a big portion of the dock actually gave way and buckled, it was pretty scary! but no injuries (besides the poor dock)

It was taking so long to get people in the water that they actually had to break down the barriers for us to jump off.  Bill and I finally made our way to the edge, held hands and jumped in the water with only a couple minutes before the start.  This was my 1st mass start, I tightened up my goggles, having heard some rough stories about mass starts, but it wasn't too bad.  The start was very wide and I wasn't going to be too aggressive picking my line; oh well you swim a little further, but not being trampled is a good trade-off.  We gave each other a quick kiss and it was go time.

Salt water, (we got a little practice swim in prior), it's a bit different!  I found with my cold it made my throat dry and I did have some coughing fits in the water, and it took a long time on the bike to not notice the salt taste. On the other hand though, we were swimming in a water wonderland, the water was so blue and clear and wonderful.  I saw amazing coloured fish, I saw a sting ray.  I also believe I got a couple jellyfish stings, I didn't see them, but I felt some pricks and then my arm had a tingly numb feeling, but it was fairly mild.  (Bill said later he thought he was stung too sort of confirming my belief that’s what it was)

The water temperature was lovely, no wetsuits allowed and it was just a very pleasant cool swim (I may be biased towards the swim portion, but it was definitely my favorite part of the race).

Those tightened goggles became too much for me, my eyes were being sucked out of my head.  I had to stop and slightly adjust them, narrowly avoided being sunk by other swimmers when I did, but didn't avoid getting salt water in my eyes.  But at least, my head wasn't throbbing from the tightness anymore... so I could continue to enjoy the swim.

The swim did seem long, I guess the conditions were a bit rough (wavy/choppy), I heard people comment on the roughness after, but I thoroughly enjoyed the swim!  It was a really amazing experience to have in an ironman.

Swim time 1:13.15 (Bill 1:23.54)

pr-race ride - beautiful!

The bike 180k

The bike course is flat, but around the bottom of the Island it is known to be windy and hence not considered a simple ride, I knew this going in.  Shortly after coming out of Chankanaab National Park, we went past our resort, all our cheerleaders were out, Cadence, Dahlia, Terri, Gord, Lorna, Ross and Lynn.   I felt quite pumped up to see them and I was feeling pretty good starting off on the bike. 

We would go around the island 3 times on our bike.  On the 1^st lap the windy section was windy but not deadly, this section provided a beautiful view, incredible turquoise blue water, fun looking waves, but I got into aero position and tried to take in as much of the area as possible from this position.  Oddly this part of the island only had a few spectators out, making it sort of lonely. 

After that, we rode through a poor looking town, but I think everyone in the town was out cheering for us.  It was really touching!

Then we made it to the main town, the end of the lap, tons of people were out cheering, having loads of fun.  The town was electric!  There was music pumping constantly.  On the second lap, Bill passed me going through the main town, it added to the craziness of everything going on in this section.  He was looking good and it appeared he was really enjoying the ride.  I whooped him on, but I was feeling pretty rough.  

pre-race ride

The 2^nd time through the windy section had been very brutal; the wind had intensified substantially.  There were a few big gusts that really scared me.  I had the knuckle grip as I actually felt the wind shift my bike on the road.  It was a necessity to get down onto the aero bars despite my growing discomfort in my back and neck.  Even though it was basically flat, it felt like a really long slow steady climb.  I don't think I have ever ridden into such a strong wind for such a long time; it was tiring and I started to realize I was going to be having some trouble as this point was only half way through the bike.  

Once through the windy section for the 2^nd time I rode upright trying to stretch things out hoping to be able to handle aero-position for the windy section of my third lap.  But by then my back was in spasms, my neck in terrible pain, and my butt not much better.  I wanted off the bike, even thought about stopping and dropping out when I went by the hotel at the beginning of the 3^rd lap, but I couldn't make myself stop... And I entered the windy section again for the final time, it was still intense and I could only handle aero briefly and then I had to sit up for a while before trying again, each time I handled it less and the up-right time was longer.  But at this point, you tell yourself you've gone this far, just finish it. 

My stats say it all really: 19.1 mi/hr for the 1^st lap, 16.8 mi/hr for the 2^nd, 13.7 mi/hr for the 3^rd.  It took Bill two laps to make up my 10 minutes advantage off the swim but in the last lap he put 40 minutes into me.  I made it to the end of the bike, but had no idea how I would be able to run…

Bike time: 6:55 (Bill 6:04)

The run 42.2k

First thing I did on the run course was take some aspirin.  I was drinking, and eating pretzels, walking that bike out of me and hoping to be up for at least some running.  Dahlia had made a friend at the resort and their family was out cheering on the course and they cheered for me “go Dahlia’s mom”, it made me laugh and start to run.  And running was at least a little better than I imagined!  The run was also 3 loops, or actually out and back for 6 x 7km lengths. 

I finally saw Bill coming back when I was on my 1^st length, and took a mental note of how far apart we were.  He was obviously a fair bit ahead, but he was walking, so I knew he was having a tough time too but we exchanged encouragement.  I felt like I could keep shuffling/running and get it done; and next time we crossed paths I was a little closer to him.  By ½ way, I had gotten myself down to 24 minutes behind him and was figuring I’d be finishing with a race time of around 13.5 hours.  I was closer still to Bill each length.  Having Bill out there gave me something to focus on, it mentally kept me going.  It may sound like I'm ultra competitive but I really just needed that carrot... Of course, I would have loved to finish together with him and I even thought maybe I could…Our cheerleaders had situated themselves at the end of the loop/near the finish line.  Before the last lap (14k to go), Cadence yelled something about going to catch up to dad, I know she would have loved it if we finished together too.  

Bill finished - looking fine

I told them after that I was feeling pretty good at that point and actually thought I might have caught up to Bill, but they tell me I wasn’t looking very well, I was apparently running with the slant, the awkward lean to oneside; probably due to my neck and back pain.  And even though I felt like my legs were holding on and I’d be able to keep running the last out and back, the way I looked was more accurate, because just 5 minutes or so after the turn, things took a turn for the worse.  I started couching, gagging and eventually was sick to my stomach.  I sat off to the side for a second, then when I got back up I was extremely dizzy I had to do a wobbly walk.  There was no more running for me.  I was going to walk the last 13k plus if I was going to finish.  And unfortunately walking meant a loss of focus on moving closer to Bill, and this loss of focus meant my pains were no longer masked.  
My back was extremely sore as I continued to walk along and my stomach remained upset.  I was sick to my stomach 7 or 8 more times.  I stopped on the side of the road multiple times, having to talking myself back up.  I had an official beside me for a while asking me if I wanted out, I kept saying no, I want to finish…  I finally made the last turn around, only 7k to go… One time I was being sick off at the side of the road and I think I puked on a crab, because all of the sudden this big crab started his sideways shuffle scarring the daylight out of me as I hadn’t even seen it prior!  I didn’t sit down on the sidewalk again after that…  other racers told me to stop in the med tent to get some electrolytes to help me.  I stopped, but felt they didn’t really understand my problem.  Their English wasn’t that good, my Spanish worse.  They didn’t give me anything to calm my stomach. They just took my blood pressure and then they said they were going to call me an ambulance.  The last thing I wanted was to go to a Mexican hospital, so I said no thank-you and got up and kept walking.  It was the march of death, but really where better to feel like crap, the town was crazy and I was, somewhere in the back of my mind, still happy believing that I was going to finish this.  
It was a fun run course (all other things considered).  It was flat and I love out and back courses when you see all the racers.  Many other racers encouraged me on, some stopping to walk with me or just giving me a friendly word of support or understanding.  Plus there were mega numbers of people lining the streets cheering, bands were playing, people were dancing & singing.  And I had the time to soak it in and really understand the magnitude of this event.

 oh ya, that hurt!

And eventually I did get to the finish.  I heard the family cheer me in, heard the announcer say "Melanie you are an Ironman".  I looked at the time on the clock, well it was a bit of a shock (walking takes a long time) but #2 was in the books.

Run time 6:29 (Bill 5:37)

Total time 14:51 (Bill 13:22)

Post-race:  recovering on a beautiful beach, sand, sun and waves, with corona in hand, and family around, I certainly can’t complain!