Before I get into the race report ( spoiler alert; it's going to be long so grab some trail mix and get comfy) I just wanted to say that IM Brasil was an amazing experience. Florianopolis, or Floripa for short, is an island that celebrates the triathlon culture and recognizes race day as a culmination of months of training, sacrifice and dedication, both on behalf of the athletes as well as their supportive families. The pre race culture here was positive and jovial as opposed to the stern " I'm going to kick your ass or at least throw a stick in your spokes" stare down that characterizes other races I've participated in. It was by far the most relaxing IM experience I've had and for that I am thankful, and hopeful that other races will catch on. Also, I really hope the European style cafe in the middle of race expo catches on too.
A few things about this race made it kind of interesting. The first was the lack of women competing. Out of the 2100 competitors in the race, only 175 bib numbers were assigned to women including pros. I have a few theories on why this may be the case, but regardless it gave a much different vibe to the race. A low female count could have resulted in a weak field, but that was actually the opposite of the case as I would find out on race day. The second was the ocean swim, with a water exit half way through and only a total of four buoys. Sighting was a huge challenge, coupled with the strong current and aggressive male field, this was a tough swim.
The third interesting aspect here is the difference in the perception of the race difficulty and the reality. This course was by no means the hardest I have done, but there is a hilly section on both the bike (done twice)and the run that you don't really hear about until you get here. To put this into perspective, ironman Wisconsin which has a reputation for being hilly and difficult has approximately 7400 feet of climbing. IM Brasil, which has a reputation for being flat and fast, actually clocks in about 5400 feet of climbing. 2 thousand less than Wisconsin but still nothing to sneeze at if you are coming into the race expecting a flat course. So on to the race report.
Note: GI issues played a major part in my race day. Blog will likely be TMI, but hey this is part of the sport. We pee in wet suits, we pee on bikes, and we talk about bodily functions. Regression at its finest.
Race morning: bags and bikes had been checked the day before so after getting nutrition on my bike, pumping up tires, it was time to mosey on over to swim start. This part was smooth. I was nervous, a little emotional, but things were going off without a hitch, and I even saw my street dog friend, Giuseppe, roaming transition. I took this as a good sign. My stomach didn't feel great but I assumed it was race nerves and usually this means several bathroom trips right before swim start, and that gets things sorted out. Jeff and I made the 1k walk to swim start, wetsuits half on, expecting to find Porto Jon's near swim start. No dice. Apparently they aren't allowed near the beach. Race was starting in 15 minutes and I was out of luck. Decided to just put it out if my mind and hope it would just go away. Because physiology will certainly be considerate of the fact that in the middle of a race.
Ken Glah, former pro, 30 time kona finisher, owner of Endurance Sports Travel and local Floripa celebrity had told us on our course tour a couple days earlier that we should look at the directions the kayaks and boats were facing in order to read the direction of the current. Based on what we saw, we lined up toward the far right, hoping that the current would drag us toward the buoys, instead of way off course,
Swim 1:06:xx: for all the camaraderie that characterized the days leading up to the race, the swim was by far one of the most violent and ruthless I have ever participated in. Brazillians are incredible swimmers and on this day there didn't seem to be many back of the pack swimmers at all. I lined up in the second row as I usually do but in all honestly, I probably I should have sat 3 or 4 rows back on Sunday. As the swim started I got clocked in the lip pretty hard and elbowed in the eye so badly it knocked my goggles off. Great, what a way to start the day. I sat in the middle of the washing machine fixing my goggles and basically thought that any swim sub 1:10 was going to be impossible today. The current was strong, the swimmers were fierce, and I still hadn't gotten to the mid swim beach run. But, if my countless hours swimming with the masters team taught me anything, it was that while I may not be the fastest swimmer , I AM a strong and consistent one, so I blocked out the commotion around me and focused on long strokes. Despite the lack of buoys, I found that I was as actually spotting pretty well- there were sections of the swim where I found some open water while everyone else swam off course. When I got caught in the middle of it all, I hitched myself on to a pair of feet and let them pull me along for a while. About 2200 meters in was the swim exit to run over the timing chip. I was nervous about this because it meant having to get over the breakers (not easy at 4 foot 11) and run through the sand while trying to keep my HR under control. The beach run we went as smooth as I could have hoped for. I swam into shore while most people walked and stood up on the beach actually feeling fresh ( ( again a huge thanks to coach Greg at masters for beating my butt every practice and a huge thanks to zoot for making this amazing wet suit). I washed some salt out of my mouth with fresh water at the aid station and kept going. At this point I was feeling a little crampy because of the salt water I had taken in during the swim but overall feeling good. I hopped back in, dolphin dove over the breakers ( thanks Karin for the tip!!!) and in to the rest of the swim. Mostly uneventful. As I came into the (buoyless) finish line of the swim I prepared myself to look at my watch to find a disappointing swim time, but as I looked down to hit lap I saw 1:06:xx!! I was ecstatic -given the conditions that was a great swim time for me
T1: there is a bit of a run up a carpeted ramp before you hit the wetsuit strippers, then a little more run after that through the fresh water shower and into the transition to grab your bag. Off into the changing tents then off to grab my bike. Volunteers at IM Brasil are instructed NOT to help with retrieving bags or bikes, or putting your swim stuff into your bike bag for you, so this makes it a little slower, but totally fine. I was in and out in 5 minutes or so.
Bike 5:45:xx: I was excited to get on the bike. Thanks to coach Michelle LeBlanc, I've seen huge strides in my cycling. Better strength and endurance, and just generally more confident. I set out on the ride cautiously optimistic. I knew I had to keep my heart rate in Zone 2 for the ride but I also knew that it would be elevated coming out of the swim and t1 so I was ready to use power as a gage until I got my HR under control. Holy draft packs batman!! Drafting was rampant on this course and I was committed to not get sucked up in it. There was cheating everywhere, and it was sad to see. But I raced my race on my own and am proud of that.
As I got off the cobble stone path that lead out of the transition area I remember thinking something felt off. I looked down at my leg to notice I had no timing chip. F*ck!!!!! The last thing I wanted was to get disqualified ( we later heard that first place in one of the male age groups was dq'ed for not crossing over all the timing mats so I feel justified in my paranoia ). I road like that, having a minor panic attack until the first aid station/ penalty tent. I yelled Oi! ( hello) then "English" to the volunteers standing there. One of them spoke a few words. I pointed down at my leg said I lost my timing chip during the swim( by doing the best air freestyle I could muster). She motioned for me to keep going and said she would call ahead to warn them. I thought this meant ahead to the next aid station/ med tent. So I kept riding, staying as calm as I could. At this point my HR hadn't recovered yet but I was comfortably in my zone2 power. I was feeling good.
As I came up to the next aids station I had two primary goals 1) discuss my lack of chip with the race officials and 2) exchange my bottle of perform ( that I had made that morning with my own stash) for a bottle of Gatorade, which much to our surprise, is the on course nutrition in Brasil.Brasilian Gatorade is different as you can imagine and the last thing I wanted was to mix perform and Gatorade all in one day. I exchanged my bottle and spoke with an official. He told me the call had been made ahead to transition and they were writing my number down at each check point so I could continue in as normal until the run. Relieved, it was finally time to focus on my ride. The first loop was uneventful really. Weaving in and out of packs was annoying and the hils were tough but I rode them conservatively.
EFS, water, power gel blasts, Gatorade. And on to the second loop. As warned the coastal winds picked up big time and my comfortable 20+ mph average took a hit. I also developed a killer side stitch and started feeling some major GI distress around mile 80. I told myself to ride it out. Took a slice of banana at the next aid station which helped a little. The last 30 miles or so were a bit painful. Heart rate was in the right zone but power was low as I granny geared through the wind. I was frustrated but knew I was on course for a huge bike PR. I think total ride time was 5:45. My split/transition times may be off since I have no timing chip and was going off where I hit lap on my watch.
(Um ignore the stomach bloat. This picture is photographic evidence that there was a storm brewing in my belly, and the day was not going to end well)
T2: I ran into transition yelling for my timing chip like some insane person, and a volunteer informed me that someone had called ahead and they had made me a new one and it was already hanging on my T2 bag. Now that is service. I owe those volunteers a lot. In the hustle and bustle I forgot to grab my garmin off the bike mount so I had to run back to my bike to get it. This resulted in a slow t2. Maybe 7 minutes or so? Need to check the watch
Run: ah, the run. My race ended somewhere around mile 5 or 6 and turned into a slower than hoped for trot to the finish. I came out of transition feeling strong. My legs have never felt that good coming off an ironman bike and I was excited to run. I was easily holding 8s right out of T2 but decided to take it to 8:30s for the first few miles to let it all settle in. Around mile 2 or 3 I hit the first monster hill on the run course. Before the race everyone said "walk the hills" and I laughed it off since I've never met a hill I haven't been able to run up. A few steps into this hill I started to walk. It was no joke and not worth sacrificing the rest of my run, which at that point was salvageable. I hit that hill again at mile 6 or so, and it's around then that I decided I really, really needed to use a rest room. My stomach had inflated and I was running looking like I was carrying around a big pasta lunch. Fluids sloshed in my stomach and then GI stress induced stomach cramps were in full force.But being my stubborn self I did not want to stop and waste the time. I could push through 26 miles and run straight through the finish to a portopotty right? Sure.
I gave in at mile 10. I had temporary relief( and a quicker pace) for about a mile, until I had to stop again. And this was my run from about mile 10-26. Bathroom stops every 2 miles or so and really no ability to take in nutrition. Oranges seemed to help and I took a couple saltines. Luckily the run was comprised of one 13 mile loop and two 6.5 mile loops, and the last two loops were mostly flat with the exception of a false flat near the last turn around. Crowds were denser here which helped. But I had to come to terms that my initial sub 11 goals were out the window and I was hoping to just salvage a PR. I managed to finish in 11:32, 6th in my age group and a 6 minute PR.
Now that I've spent 9 glorious days in Brazil, the last 4 or so indulging in pao de quijo, Nutella, pizza, croissants and amazing cappuccinos and sleeping a TON, it's time to get home and refocus. My guess is I still have some recovery to do, but it's time to get my nutrition in order. Day to day I do a good job but it seems like I haven't found a good training and racing combination that will maximize my performance. Or, you know, keep me out of the bathroom. Next major race is Ironman Wisconsin in September, where I hope to return to my old stomping grounds for a great race.
