Katie's Ironman Arizona Race Report

So it's taken me a while but it's time I finally put my thoughts about my first Ironman down on paper, or on keyboard I guess. The overall word that I can use to describe the weekend was calm. For some reason, I wasn't anxious about what I was about to do. I just went through the motions of everything I had to get done prior to the race. Even during the race itself I felt pretty calm. We had check in on Friday, a practice swim on Saturday along with a short bike/run, packing our transition and special needs bags (ok I might have been a bit stressed about this because there's really no second chance with packing the bags), dropping the bikes and bags off, and figuring out the logistics of race day. I guess since we were so busy doing all of that, I didn't have time to freak out about what the day was going to bring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pre-Race Pic! Ready to Rock!

Race morning came and went quick. It was busy with trying to get calories in, get to the race site, get the bikes loaded with food and drinks, get bodymarked, hit the bathrooms (holy heck they should have had more of these!), get wetsuited up, and get ready to jump in. My dad and I were both stressing big time at this point. It just felt like there wasn't enough time to get it all done. But we did and soon enough we were being corralled over to jump in and get in position to start. Luckily we found my sister, Anna, and she got a pre-race pic of us. Apparently we both looked scared! A quick hug and good luck and it was time to split up and hopefully catch up to each other later in the race.

The Swim:
Goal: 1:15 Race Time: 1:12:37
 I walked down the stairs and wasted no time jumping in. I knew there were 2000 people behind me waiting to do the same thing. The water wasn't too cold. I had definitely swam in much colder water many times at Lake Natoma. I knew I wanted a position towards the front of the pack. I figured it was better to be swam over than to have to swim over too many people since the visibility was pretty poor in the water. On my way there, a guy kicked me in the leg. He turned and said sorry. I told him I was sure it was going to happen a few more times that morning! I got myself up to the front in time to hear the National Anthem sung. I can't even describe the way I felt floating there among over 2500 people knowing we we had all been in this journey together over the past year and that we were going to all experience the same day. I was surprised at how emotional I felt thinking about how the entire past year had come down to this. Mike Reilly got everyone pumped up and all of a sudden I heard the cannon go off. Off we went!

The swim was nothing short of madness. It didn't take long to realize that this was going to be much rougher than I anticipated. It was a fight the whole way through. I was very quickly grateful for the close contact swim practice that Coach Jen had done with me a few months prior. If I didn't have experience with someone basically swimming on top of me, I would have had a panic attack. For most of the swim, I had people getting tangled in my arms, trying to push me out of my position, and ending up right in front of me. It took a lot of maneuvering and a lot of mental work to keep myself calm. For a long stretch, I had a girl swimming on my right side. She kept trying to get right on top of me and was getting too close for comfort. I finally got so fed up that I forced her to swim right up on someone's feet. She was gone after that.

My biggest problem was that it was so choppy because of all the people in the water. I kept taking in tons of water. If I wasn't swallowing it when I tried to get a breathe, it was going down my nose. I had to stop a couple of times just to catch my breathe. Then all I could think about was how the race official was telling us on Friday night about how your lungs can fill with water causing you to have seizures and all sorts of other problems. Great. I'm a good swimmer but I'm about to drown because I'm swallowing so much water. Seriously, these are the thoughts going through my head. How do I know if I swallowed too much water? How do I know if I need to stop? I started to burp a lot after the turnaround and figured that must be a good sign. Or my lungs were just making room for more water. Either way I'm going to keep swimming.

The only time I actually got some swimming space was just before the turnaround and just before the end of the swim. Otherwise it was bunched up the entire time. Once I got close to the bridges and I could see the stairs to get out, I got excited. I didn't know how long I had been swimming, but I knew it was 2.4 miles and it was almost over. I put my head down and got in to the stairs. I could see there was a volunteer at the bottom waiting to pull people up. But I pulled myself up on the stairs and stood up. I was not prepared for how uneasy I would be standing up! I had to grab the railing to steady myself. Luckily there was another volunteer right there who helped me get to the top and unzipped my wetsuit for me. I caught a glimpe of the race clock and saw my time was 1:12! I was stoked! I was hoping for 1:15 or better and I nailed it! I immediately started to work on pulling off my caps and pull the top half of my wetsuit off. Then I ran down the line of wetsuit strippers to get to one farther down. In hindsight, I probably should have picked a bigger guy instead of a small girl but she was the one I picked. Lucky her. I threw myself on the ground and she yanked the wetsuit off pretty quick. I grabbed it and got to running. I was only wearing a swimsuit so I was feeling a bit exposed but didn't feel any cold. I ran down the chute with tons of people cheering us on. I tried to pay attention to them and smile. It was pretty exciting. I ran down the line where my transition bag was, grabbed it, and ran off to the tents. A volunteer was right there when I came in to help me. I grabbed a seat and literally had no idea what to do. The volunteer started to empty my bag and asked me what I needed. I told her I had to change. That was kinda obvious but I was clearly not thinking straight. She started pulling my clothes out and helped me get my bra and tri top on. I kinda glanced around the room and saw that every girl in there was literally being dressed by these amazing volunteers. My voly (this is what I'm going to call them) handed me a pb&j sandwich from my bag and I tried to get a few bites down. I got the rest of my clothes and gear on. She packed my wetsuit back in the bag and I was on my way. From there, I ran out into the bike area. The volys directed me to keep running down to my section. I was towards the end so I ran down, found my bike, and headed out. I had to walk because my cleats didn't have any grip and I did not need to be falling down. It was a short walk to where we mounted our bikes then started pedalling down a chute of cheering people. I can't explain how awesome you feel when people are cheering for you and they don't even know you. I know from experience how much energy it takes to be a spectator but it truly does mean the world to the athletes. I caught a glimpse of my family on my way out and that got me excited. I was hoping they were excited after watching the swim start. I knew it would be a long day for them.

The Bike:
Goal: 7:00 Race Time: 7:00:03
The bike was 3 loops. It started in town at the Ironman village area, headed out with a few turns, then took a good stretch out on the Beeline highway. I really didn't know what to expect from the bike. My goals were to not get a flat tire and to keep my fueling on track. I immediately started to get some water in me since I hadn't had any in almost 2 hours (if you don't count what lakewater I drank). The course was marked well with cones all over the place and volys at every turn warning us to slow down before the turns. I tried to make sure I thanked them as I passed. Once I got on the Beeline, I was happy that I was keeping a really good pace. The race marshals were making their presence known and at one point they pulled up right next to me so I had to make a pass I had started to doubt I should make. But if you start a pass and back down, you can get a penalty so I had to go for it. Not long after that, another motorcycle pulled up and it was a guy with a camera. He said he was going to ask me some questions. He asked some stuff about what made me want to do the race and how I was feeling. I'm not sure if I really said anything worthwhile, but they did take that video and put me in the IMAZ race day video talking about how it will be cool to be able to always say that I'm an Ironman! Pretty cool! And it was a nice distraction. It made me think about the big picture and not focus so much on how long I was about to spend on my bike.

Then I got to the little incline I knew was coming. My speed slowed quick a bit more than I had hoped but I kept plugging away. I hit the turnaround and was happy to speed up to 20+mph and notice we had a tailwind on the way back to town. I tried to take full advantage of it. But on that stretch back to town, I also started to have some pain on my right side. I had already been feeling like I wanted to throw up but now this was actual pain. I couldn't take a deep breathe and kinda started to freak out. I was trying to figure out what side my appendix was on because I thought that maybe it had burst. Or maybe the water from the lake really had filled up my lungs. I had no idea. Your mind goes to crazy places out there. I even debated whether I should stop at an aid station to talk to a medic. But after I hit the turnaround back in town to start my second lap, it subsided and I forgot about it. I think seeing my family helped with that. I was about 10 minutes ahead of schedule so they weren't ready for me yet!

The next 2 laps were fairly uneventful. I was drinking frequently, taking salt tablets, and felt pretty good the whole time. I stopped at special needs and took a little break to eat my pb&j sandwich and get off the saddle. I also had to stop a few times at the aid stations to refill my bottles. The volunteers at the aid stations were amazing. Tons of energy and there to do anything you needed. I was never dying on the bike. I got a little uncomfortable a few times but never in any pain and never felt like I couldn't keep going. I attribute that to staying on top of my nutrition for once. The wind did pick up a bit and the last lap got a bit lonelier as less athletes were on the course. I kept tabs on where my dad was during the bike. Our expectation was that he would catch me by the third loop and finish ahead of me. But he was about a half hour behind me the whole time and wasn't making up time. By the third loop, I knew that he wasn't going to catch me and that I now had to make the decision that I had gladly hoped to leave up to him. I was going to have to decide whether to do the run on my own or wait for him so we could run together.

The last stretch into town was just a fun time. I enjoyed it and paid attention to all the spectators who were still out there cheering us on. I came into the home stretch, handed my bike off to a volunteer. Another volunteer was ready with my transition bag and I headed into the tent to get changed once again. I took my time in transition, as did a few other women in there. I think we were thankful for a short break. I ate my pb&j sandwich (I swear these were key to having a good day), got changed, hit the bathrooms, and tried to do the math on how much time was between my dad and I and how we could catch up to each other. I definitely could not do any math so I just headed out to start my run.

The Run:

Goal: As long as it takes to finish under 17 hours; Race Time: 6:31:53


How far back do you think he is? Should I run? Should I walk?

I started out running and felt pretty great. The crowds lining the lake were amazing. I was quickly mixed in with lots of people who were already on their second and possibly even third laps. I ran a while and then started to walk. I knew that if I ran now I wouldn't be able to run with my dad. I knew he didn't have the bike he wanted and I knew that we always run much better when we're together. So I walked and waited for him to find me. Around mile 5 I talked to my family. Then I was walking with a guy (maybe Jared?) for a few miles. He was having quad issues. It was nice to chat with someone for a while. It was his first IM as well. Then around mile 8, right when I was approaching my family again, someone grabbed me from behind. It was my dad! He was doing great! I was immediately worried that I was going to hold him back. We started running and I know we were running fast. I had to let him know to slow down a little bit. Since I hadn't been running, I didn't really know how I was going to do. But we got to running and felt pretty good. I got us on a 5/1 run/walk interval which helped to get us into a rhythm for a while. It was great to hear how his day had been going. We jammed through the second loop pretty well. Had to stop every so often so he could stretch his hamstring that was seizing up on downhills. I had a bug fly straight into my throat and literally thought I was going to puke. I know I looked like I was going to. That took a good minute to clear up! We chatted with people as we went by, especially this one husband/wife team that we kept leapfrogging with. They were pretty cool. A lot of people were walking by this time. The sun was down and it was starting to cool off. We kept running and passing people. I did have to stop at special needs to restock on my nutrition which was good because it meant I was actually eating! When we started the third loop, it really started to hit us that we were going to finish this thing and in pretty good time! We said goodbye to each landmark that we passed and just appreciated where we were. Around mile 19, while we were on this bridge, I noticed a definite change in how my right foot felt. I knew a blister on my toe had popped. Crap. It was causing me to change my run stride which I knew would lead to problems. Luckily we were coming up on an aid station. I found the medics who let me sit down and throw a band aid on my toe. I was glad that was all I needed from them! With my shoes back on we were ready to go.

We were just running as much as we could and walking whenever we had a hill, an aid station, or a cramp. That worked out pretty well. I was glad we had both made it this far with no stomach issues since that's a problem I tend to have on my long runs. But I was feeling good! It was so great to go through each of those aid stations for the last time. To cross the “poopy bridge” for the last time. To cross the Mills Bridge with the people cheering for the last time. It was a little discouraging to see people with medals on driving home, but they cheered us on too and I knew I was going to have one of those medals soon enough! Once we crosed the last bridge, we were on the home stretch. It was dark, there weren't a lot of people around, and it was so peaceful. We stopped to make sure we were both presentable before getting to the finish line (priorities, right?). Then we finally got to make that turn towards the finish line. We tried to space ourselves so we would finish without anyone too close to us. It was an indescribable feeling at that point. I was getting a little choked up but the excitement took over. We ran down the chute, high-fiving people as we went. I know I had the biggest smile on my face. I couldn't help but feel like a rock star. Just before the finish, we raised our hands in the air together and crossed that finish line. I heard Mike Reilly call my name and tell me what I trained all year to hear...“You are an Ironman!” I felt amazing. I felt like the day went by so quick. I felt like the year went by so quick. But it was all over. I was proud of how I did that day. And most important, I had been able to finish with my dad which was the icing on the cake. I can't tell you what a great experience the whole year was to push my limits, do what I never thought I was capable of doing, have people say that I inspired them, and to have done it all with my dad. It's something pretty amazing. I think now I can finally consider myself to be an athlete. Afterall, I am an Ironman!

 

Ed's Ironman Arizona Race Recap

I knew that Ironman Arizona was going to be the biggest physical challenge in my my life and as race weekend approached I also knew that it was going to be a very emotional event as well. The week leading up the race included the most enjoyable workouts of the season. I knew I had put in the work and I was just really enjoying every workout. My body felt good, strong and ready to take on the race. I often found myself smiling as I ran, just because.

Race weekend was so exciting. I thought that I would get stressed out the closer I got to Sunday, but found that my excitement level was climbing. Friday I met Katie at the Phoenix airport and we headed to the event location in Tempe. At check-in, as Katie was checking in, I gave my name to another volunteer and his response was, "Oh, you're doing this too?" Twice this happened to me. Did I not look like an Ironman competitor or what?! Seeing all the really fit people around there still made me feel like a wanna be, but I was there to join this club on Sunday.

One of the logistical concerns that Katie and I had been discussing was how to meet up on the run. In theory, I would pass her on the bike course and we would have a time differential on the run to deal with. How much time gap could we realistically deal with to end up together or just run our own race. At the athlete dinner Friday we saw a video from previous races and saw husbands and wives coming in together and it was inspirational. Afterwards Katie asked me a simple question, what was more important to me? Simple answer, to finish with my daughter. The plan was set.

 

Saturday we went down for a practice swim in the lake. Talk about no visibility! You could not hardly see your hand in front of you. We then went for a short bike ride and run and we felt ready. Back at the condo we had to prep our various gear bags for drop off later and that is confusing. You don't want to make a mistake and forget something important. That evening we talked to Coach Jen, who wanted to know if we had questions and how we were feeling. Amazingly, I was feeling pretty calm and ready to go. Not anxious at all. It speaks volumes to how Coach Jen had prepared me.

Race morning I was awake at 2:45! I could not go back to sleep. We headed to the race location and got there a little later then planned. This is when the stress level was set at nuclear! We both felt like there was not enough time to get everything done. It was nice to talk to a lady in the port-o-potty line who assured us we that we had time. She had done 8 Ironman races previously. I asked her if she ever got emotional and she said yes. She would cry in her goggles, on the bike and run! The people that you meet are so great at helping calm you. We suited up and were headed to the water when we saw Anna, who took our photo. Trust me, this was the first smile of the day. Katie gave me a hug and said she would see me out on the course and it was time to get to work.

 

Swim - Goal Time 1:30. Race time 1:31:51

The swim is a deep water start. They have to get 2500 athletes in the water and into place in about 15 minutes. You jump in and start swimming to the start line because there are people jumping in right behind you. I swam up just past the second bridge. My intent was not to be too near the front, but in looking at the video, I was up in the front third. Bobbing there in the water I took the time to spin around an really take it all in. Being in the water at my first Ironman race with all of these people! I promised myself that I would be present and in the moment to really enjoy the full experience of the day. When the cannon went off I didn't even think, I just swam. I tried to draft when I could, but it was difficult because of the lack of visibility. For the next hour and a half, I ran over people, kicked and hit people, while they were doing the same to me!.I spent very little time in clear water where I could just settle in and do my thing. At times I came to a complete stop because I ran into someone and then had to fight to get going again because people were coming over me. Surprisingly, this was not frustrating. The turn-around came quicker than I expected and it was time to head back. I missed one marker buoy on the way back and got a bit off course, but did a good job over all. Getting out, I experienced my first cramps of the day, but a volunteer helped up the steps and was on my way to get my wetsuit stripped off and then on to transition. Transition was slow because there were just so many guys packed into the tent that it was real inefficient to change. Looking back, I am very happy with my swim.

Bike - Goal Time 6:30 Race Time 7:14:58 (ouch!)

Well, it is said that a race of this distance will not always go according to plan and my bike certainly did not. I was only a few miles into my bike when I realized that my right upper hamstring was real tight. I hoped that it would loosen up but it never did. This altered my riding in two ways. First, I was not real comfortable in the saddle all day. Second, being down on my aerobars only made the muscle tighter, so I only spent about half of the race in the aero position and only in short intervals. The aero position is a more efficient and powerful position to ride in. For me, the difference is good for over a mile an hour of speed that I gain when I am on my aerobars. So, I just had to work through this. Coach Jen had told me I needed to learn how to handle adversity so now was the time! And a friend had told me to remember three words, "your very best". This became my mantra for the ride. Loop one brought headwinds outbound and a nice tailwind coming in. Loops two and three brought a change in wind direction that was more like a strong crosswind, so no help at all. My first two loops were about the same time but I slowed on loop three. I saw Katie multiple times and could see that she was riding well and kicking my butt, as the gap was growing, not shrinking as planned. Because of the cramps out of the water I was eating bananas at every aid station to help. I became quite adept at grabbing one, peeling it with my teeth and eating on the fly! At mile 100 I started to get a quad cramp but was able change my position a little and work it out. About this time I passed a young lady riding with a prosthetic leg. That's right, I did pass a one legged woman. I shouted out to her how awesome I thought she was and her reply was that we were all awesome because we were doing Ironman! It hit me that yes, I was doing it! And then I cried a bit just thinking about the journey all year that had brought me to this point. And then I really enjoyed the final miles and took it all in.

Run- Goal Time 6:00 Race Time 5:50:41

Transition to run was a bit slow. I was cramping just putting my shoes on but finally got on the course. I knew I was way behind Katie and this was my first disappointment of the day because I felt like I had let us down and we would not finish together. I have done six other marathons but my approach to this one was so different. In my mind it was just three loops of just under nine miles, no big deal. I was calm and just went to work on clicking off the miles. My plan was to walk the first minute and then settle into a five minute run / one minute walk routine. Since I was cramping I decided to walk the first 5-6 minutes and see if my muscles would settle in. As I was walking, a lady came up and put her arm around me and gave me a pep talk until we had passed the aid station. I thought, how bad do I look? I'm just getting started! Once I started running I realized I was actually feeling pretty good and was running at about a 10 minute pace during my run intervals. I saw Anna at around mile 3 and she told me Katie was 20 minutes ahead. I knew I had my work cut out for me. Turns out, Anna lied and Katie was much further ahead but they didn't want to discourage me! I dealt with hamstring cramps on the downhills so I did my best.

As I mentioned before, you meet some really neat people in this sport. During one of my walk intervals I walked with a 21 year old young man who had done the swim in under an hour but was struggling on the run. He tried to keep up with me but couldn't after a while. I ran with a 34 year old lady who was doing her second Ironman. Her father at age 63 was doing his first. She was trying to catch him the same as I was trying to catch Katie.

Finally, at mile 8, I caught up to Katie. She had been walking the first loop so that I could catch up, what a great kid! I was so happy. So off we went into the night to finish together what we had started together. We ran well, usually keeping around a 10 minute pace during our running. We would modify when I had to stop to work out a cramp or to patch up her blister. Or when she suddenly stopped and I thought she was barfing but she had actually taken a bug down her throat! My nutrition was good except at mile 19 when I felt my energy level drop but I was able to fuel and was ok in short order. My hydration was dead on as well all day.

The last loop was so exciting, realizing that I had this in the bag. We were running well and passed a lot of people. I am sure that Katie was ready to smack me. I had a huge smile the last 2 miles. A half mile out we stopped so I could fix my hair. Katie didn't want to go through the finish line with my hair a mess! That last half mile was so incredible. People are congratulating you and cheering for what you had accomplished. The energy coming up the street and then making the corner to the finish is like nothing I have ever experienced in my life. The finish chute is fairly narrow. With the two of us side by side we could high five people. Then I raised my arms with Katie as we crossed the finish line and heard the words that I had worked so hard to earn. "Ed Cortopassi, You Are An Ironman!"

 

Goal Time - 15:00 Race Time 15:11:37 (close enough!)

 

I am 52 years old. I am an Ironman. And I can't wait to do this again!