Tami Ritchie: December 2011

Ironman #1 done! That is about all I can say though. It was quite an interesting race! I did not finish well, but I finished through some crazy circumstances and at least I was able to finish. Sometimes it is hard to remember to look at the good things when it seems like so many things go wrong, but I was reminded of that when I saw people dropping out of the run, or the guy that couldn't even finish the bike because his tire was punctured, or the person who was bit by a barracuda on the swim (though maybe that one was just a rumor?).

Leading up to the race I was feeling great. Workouts felt pretty good and I had a weird sense of calmness. I never really got nervous. I knew I was capable of finishing the distance and my training had gone really well so I had goal times in mind besides just finishing.

Practice Swimming

SWIM- The swim went great! It was a big cluster headed out until about the first turn (maybe 500m or so). After the first turn the next one is maybe only 100m away. After rounding the first turn buoy I saw a group of people just ahead and decided to try to catch them and swim with them. I caught up with them just in time to make the second turn bouy. Swam with this group the majority of the rest of the swim. With about 400 meters to go a group of 3 of us (I think) broke away a bit and swam into the finish together. I ended up being first female out of the water. The water was gorgeous with 100% clarity, 84 degrees, and a few things out there that sting you (feels like a mosquito bite, because I missed those so much!). Overall great swim course and great swim for me.

Windy side of bike course

BIKE- All the pictures but the one of me on the bike are from the other side of the island. AKA, the windy side. The other one is in town.

I came out of T1 in second, just a few seconds behind. Started the bike and felt pretty good. Kept it really easy to start off but the windy section comes up quick. Managed through this part and the rest of the first loop well. Once you hit the other side of the island and head back inland, you have a tailwind and feel like you are just flying, it is awesome! Right after that you hit town and that is pretty awesome too because everyone is out cheering (and drinking and eating). I believe I was in third after the first loop.

Second loop was great too. I was still feeling fantastic and ready to conquer the third loop. Coming into town I was in fifth place, rounded the corner by T2, and stood up to get speed going again. The road here was really rough. Went to sit back down and something wasn't quite right. My seat was sideways! I stopped and got off my bike and looked at it. About a million thoughts went through my head all at once- how do I fix it? where is bike support? my race is over, where are all the bike pieces? why are so many people taking pictures of me standing here? I probably can't finish, that guy said bike support was right around the corner but I dont see them, did I come down to Cozumel to swim 2.4 miles and bike 75?, and so on.

My bike broke right in town and I walked about 2 blocks with my bike looking for support. There were no where. Come to think of it, I never saw them the entire 112 miles. I ended up walking right to where my parents were cheering. Part of me thought, "well, bike support isn't here, mine as well walk back with the rents and call it a day." But then something in me changed and thought, if there is a way to finish, I will find it! I'm not sure what is was or why. Maybe because I realized I wasn't going to get any help with my seat and I realized just walking two blocks back to my condo would be a serious cop-out and I did not put in all that time training and traveling to let something like a silly seat stop me. So I went into MacGyver mode, 'tied' my seat down, and kept on rolling.

The photos are below, but it is still hard to tell. The bolt that holds the back part of the seat broke somehow. I lost the bolt and the thing that going on top of the seat bars. I did recover the piece that goes below the seat bars but just stuck that in my bag because I couldn't do anything with just that piece. So I had the seat, but it was basically unattached. As long as I could tie it to the bike frame enough so that it wouldn't compeltely fall off, I figured I could at least finish. So I took my bike bag and attached the bottom part to the seat tube, but instead of doing the top part like normal and velcroing it, I wrapped it around the seat bars and tied a knot in it. This way the seat would not end up on the ground if I were to stand up (in theory anyway). So the seat was there but wasn't secure. It wobbled forward and back, side to side, up and down. So I had to sit on it one exact way or I would slide of the front, back or side. Not to mention without the other pieces in there supporting it, I was one of those to whom you would say "your seat is too low." (maybe I should post of picture on slowtwich?)

40 miles later I made it to T2, in 12th I believe. My nutrition plan had gone to heck in a handbasked, I hadn't relieved myself like I normally would have, and I'm pretty sure my legs took a beating from biking in that ackward position. I didn't dare stand up for that last 40 miles for fear of a bump moving my seat and ending up with a carbon colonscopy. After all the above issues, the majority of the first 3 miles was walking to try to fix all the issues...had to make a pit stop, eat as much as one can eat at that point, and to be honest, decide if I was going to finish or not. As long as I'm on a negetivity kick...in T2 I dumped out my bag of stuff..with run shoes and gels. While I was putting on my shoes, a volunteer grabbed my gels and gave them away to another competitor! The bike course was beautiful and pretty pancake flat. The windy wide can be a bit rough, it's not that it slowed me down all that much, more that you just take a beating from the wind-it never lets up. The people in town are great motivation. Plenty of aide stations on the bike and they knew how to hand of the water bottles very well. Very lacking on bike tech support, but otherwise a great bike course.

After 3 miles I was able to run. I ran the rest of the way with the exception of a few aide stations (well, if you can call it running). I could tell my legs took an extra hit from biking with a lower seat and sitting on a different spot on the seat, but GI issues were my main problem. It is impossible to say that this would not have been as issue if my seat did not break, but I do know it would surely not have been as much of an issue. I was taking in Coke, Gatorade, bites of Powerbar, gels, I even tried a pretzel, anything to get calories in. I could not get them in fast enough. I had 2 more bathroom stops. It rained, then it poured, then it rained some more. The streets were flooding. In places we had to run through 5 inches of standing water (or sewage). The volunteers were great. Even though it was pouring and crazy crabby sweating triathletes are going through shouting what they need, the volunteers were happy and tried there best to get each person just what the wanted. Plenty of aide stations. The people in town cheering were awesome too. If they ever saw you walking or looking in pain, they were right there with encouragement for you.

I did finish the run, and thus the ironman. My run was much much slower than I was hoping for and then what my training was showing I may be capable of. On the plus side-my swim was great, if I subtract 'standing time' from my bike I still averaged over 20 mph (I'm happy with especially considering how I biked the last 40 miles), and I did finish...not happy with the time but I must remember it is still an accomplishment to finish. And I am still healthy and happy and have so much support from so many people. The result was not what I was hoping for but I have so much to be thankful for and so much to look forward to, it's impossible not to be happy.

Thank you to everyone who providing words of encouragement before and after that race. Each comment really does mean so much to me, and reminds me what is really important. I hope I can provide as much support to all of you too.

A special thank you to DiscountTriSupply.com, Kyle's Bikes, Krueger Chiropractic, and to my mom and dad. Without them none of this would be possible, sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky to have such great people in my life!

The night after the race I was online looking at the ironman race schedule.

#2 will be IM Texas on May 19...and my seat may be duct taped to my bike! (or Kyle is going to get me a stainless steel bolt!)