B2B Ironman Aquabike

Pre-Race
I decided to sign up for this race about 4 weeks before the start, but had been training hard for this type of distance for many months. The weeks leading up to it weren't ideal though. A lot of stress came with family gatherings, a lot of trainer rides came with the hurricane and then a lot of solo training came with my training partner and coach racing at Kona (amazing job!). I did the best I could and was feeling okay going into the race.
I left for Wilmington Thursday after Physical therapy because I hate traveling the day before a race. On Friday morning the Endorphin crew met at T1 and we headed over to the channel to practice our swim. It was clear that the swim was going to be fast, as the current was hauling, and I was holding 1:04 pace when my open water pace is usually 1:18. We were convinced that you could make it well before the cutoff time by simply floating down the channel. I still stand by that remark. After a good warm up swim, we grabbed our bikes and went for a nice ride right along the water. Hundreds of athletes were out enjoying the weather and taking the time to get some good warmups in.
Went to packet pickup and the expo and made it home to the hotel for a much needed two hour long nap before heading out to team dinner with the Endorphin crew. I'm close with a few of the people, so it was a great time to sit down, enjoy a meal, race strategy and conversation with the ones I don't usually see. Brian publicly announced that I was going to break the swim record. I wasn't going for it. I was going for a strong swim but had a race strategy that I had to follow. If it was just an open water swim, I would've been all over that, but the fact I still had 112 miles on bike made me a little more conservative on the swim. 

Race Morning 
Dan and Meghan came Friday night around 10:00p and we discussed morning details and finished packing up. It was really good on the nerves having them there; I tend to overthink everything so having people there reduced that stress for me. Alarm went off at 5:00am and I got moving with making some breakfast - gf toast with peanut butter and banana, a pint of raspberries and a bottle of infinit. It's always challenging, race morning, for me to eat enough food because my stomach is somersaulting around but I knew the infinit would provide a little extra in there. 
Made it to transition at 6:00am, pumped air in my wheels and set up my transition bag. The biggest unfamiliarity for me was the fact I couldn't keep my things at my bike. I loaded them in to a bag and put it into a line with other bags, the goal would be to run in from the swim, pick up the bag, run into a tent and get changed, grab bike and head off. The whole things just seemed like a lot and I was anxious about it, but tried to suppress it. 
Made it on the bus to race start and sat next to a girl from Blacksburg, VA. We chatted about the course and she told me to get ready for a long and boring ride. I didn't know she was that accurate until later. Our bus got stuck behind a stuck bus so we had to walk to the beach. After looking around for Dan, I found Gretchen and Tim Brown from EF and hung out with them for a long time. That kept telling me I was very frigidity and when I revealed it was my first Iron distance race, they backed off and said I was allowed to be that frigidity. They reintroduced me to John, a VHBG staff member, who became a close friend on the bike. 
Tim and I made it to the beach 4 minutes before the gun went off. A lot later than I would have preferred but it took out the nerves before. Fought my way to the front of the line and finally found Meghan and Dan, fist bumped and was wished luck and got in line to start the swim. 

Swim (0:45:08)
The gun went off and I was running towards the water. I noticed some people continued running while others dropped and started swimming. I went until the water was a little more than knee deep and I started swimming best I could. Being my first land mass start, I don't think I was fully prepared for the amount of kicks, fists, punches, swimming on top of people, viciousness. It was a brawl to get positioning for a solid ten minutes. I knew that I was supposed to find a pack and stick with them. Not lead but follow feet. I picked a group and realized quickly they were way too fast for me. I quickly dropped off and found another group but realized I was too fast for them and became the leader...I made them drop off me. I don't know how far into the swim it was until I remember thinking there must be a person behind me, but I stopped and let them go and then I trailed their feet for awhile until he started getting way off course. 
The water was not calm like Friday as I remember, it was really choppy and about every 4th stroke I took, I got swamped with salt water. The course, in theory, would've been easy to follow, but there were no where near enough sighting buoys. And the ones that they had were all different colors and sizes so it made figuring out turns challenging. 
I spent the majority of the race doing my own thing as I am most used to, and that seemed to go well, as I was the second woman out of the water. I was told by a spectator that the lead woman had me by about 2.5 minutes. I later found out that she was an Aussie pro, so I was the first non-pro woman out of the water! 

Transition (0:04:25) 
Hopped out of the water and soon got my wetsuit stripped off of me, ran through the warm water showers and came around the corner to a roaring sound of spectators, a bunch of them in red. Thanks Endorphin! Although I hadn't run in a long time, I felt strong and ran my way to grab my bag. I was the only person in the changing tent and kept focusing on the same words, "Think slow, act fast." Sat down and threw my wool socks on and bike shoes, helmet and sunglasses. I attempted putting on one arm warmer but I was still too wet and I didn't want to take too much time, so left it, grabbed the other one and ran out to grab Zeke. Through the 2500 bikes, I was able to find mine no problem while people were clapping and cheering me on. Ran out, threw my second arm warmer at Gretchen and got on my bike. I should definitely continue learning the flying mount because I lost a lot of time trying to just get on my bike like normal. 


 Bike (05:43:11) 
Miles 5-40 were awful. My heart rate was maxed out the first 45 minutes, I think I took in entirely too much salt water on the swim and I was doubting myself every pedal of the way. I threw up three times (salt water hopefully), and I considered DNFing every mile. It was the first time I had felt this awful and had this many doubts. It just kept going through my mind that I wasn't prepared mentally or physically for this. I knew that I had put in the work and it was just another long ride on Saturday but I couldn't get in the right mindset. 
Finally, at mile 40 I gave myself a pep talk, said a prayer and kept repeating it until I believed it. My two friends drove all the way here to support me and only see me for about an hour, I had a team to support me, a coach who believed in me, I had put in the work for several months and most importantly God was there to help me along the way. Mile 40 I dug deep and I turned my bike around. 
I saw John from VHBG around that time, as well, and having him make a comment about the wind, made me feel better that I wasn't the only person struggling. I continue to dig and kept taking in infinit and water that I grabbed at aid stations. I used base salt a few times in the first half as I felt cramping and thought the salt would help...it did. 
According to the race packet, special needs was supposed to come at mile 54, it came at mile 58. That threw me off and the fact I was out of nutrition for 8 miles made me sweat a little bit, but I was more excited to see the porta-johns when I rolled up. I had been trying to go on my bike for the past ten miles but I don't think I was gifted with the ability to pee while exercising, so the first thing I did was rack my bike and dart for one of the toilets. It made me laugh that one of the guys was saying that it was a competition to see who could pee the fastest and we joked about having to go on the bike. I had only seen 8 women pass me and the rest of the ride was with a lot of men. 
The volunteers at the special needs station were amazing and helped me through what I needed. I grabbed three nutrition bottles and hopped back on my bike. The same guy who had commented about the pee competition came up beside me and asked how I was feeling. I replied that I felt like a million bucks and he noted that those stops are always at the best time for the mind to recover and I agreed. Getting out of areo position was a much needed change, as well. 
I knew that my race wasn't about the speed, more about my heart rate, but for me to have a good mentality going into the back half, I knew I had to feel accomplished in my ride. I wanted to choose a section where I could ride 20+mph. So, I chose miles 60-80. All I had on my watch was distance and time, so I just knew I had to complete that section in less than one hour, and I did. I finished 20 miles in 58 minutes and it was the best I had felt the whole race. I was able to settle in to a good rhythm and just hammer out a solid split. From 80, I knew I had to begin my build up. 
The last 20 miles or so my heart rate was low but I felt really good, but just a learning experience that proves I could have paced it better (those first 40 miles, for sure)! I passed about 15 people on my way into the finish which made me feel good about me finishing strong and what I could do in the future when I could actually run. 
I was so happy to see Meghan and Dan there at the end of the chute because I knew I was done. I ran into the convention center and done. Swim, bike, done. Can't wait until I can compete an actual ironman! 
After looking at my bike splits, it became apparent that I negative split the back half by about 15 minutes!! I think it's pretty incredible that I was able to turn around my crap attitude and finish hard! 

Post Race (06:32:42)
I got decked out in a sweet medal, the most comfortable t-shirt and pajama pants and a trucker hat that so doesn't look good on me. Thank you to everyone who had a part in the weekend! I couldn't have done it (like I did) without you all! It was a great learning experience which will provide valuable knowledge for the future of my races! Ice and compression pants to come.