Ironman AZ Race Recap Part II

All righty now that the Thanksgiving festivities are over, I managed to get way to full which I hate doing note to self don't let that happen again, but I redeemed myself at the gym the next day, maybe?  I'm beginning to be able to think straight again.  In case you missed part I of my race recap you can read it here.

Bike 7:21; avg pace 15.21 mph


After I managed to get my face to warm up a little and not be in this permanent frozen look of fear and shock (which in my head I thought was smiling) I had my bike handed to me and took off.  This is a 3 loop course which can be good or bad.  There is a part that goes through town (which I hated) and a part that goes on the beeline highway (which I loved).  I think the reason I liked it better on the highway is because I could just keep my head down and pedal, not too much thinking I could just detach myself from what was going on and just check my pace every once in a while.  One guy didn't like it so much as I passed him mumbled "Flat course my ass!"  It was all I could do to not laugh histerically, this false flat had caught me off guard the first time on this course as well but this time I was ready for it.  

Loop one was my slowest I think because I had to warm up.  Loop two was my fastest and I felt so good going both up and down I even was whistling and singing on the way back down!  I felt so good and happy at this point and I realized I was steadily keeping my pace at about 2 mph faster than the last time I did this race.  On both loop 2 & 3 there was a headwind on the way back down but the downhill helped neutralize the effect on my pace.

Photographer #1 my awesome mom

Photographer #2 my awesome husband

Loop three my right hip started to hurt and it was radiating down to my right ankle and foot as well as that foot kept going numb.  I have never had this problem before on this bike so I know it's not a bike fit problem.  I'm thinking it was left over complications from my bike accident a few weeks before.  My shoulders and neck hurt by the end but not like I had remembered last time where they had felt like they were on fire.  No this time what hurt the most was downtown from sitting on that seat for so lond and deciding not to change into bike shorts this time I rode in my tri suit which has much less padding!  I kept spinning and standing on the way down to try and get some blood flow down there and a break from the pain... but that is expected.  I had to stop and pee on each loop of the bike course which I suppose is a good thing because it meant I was staying hydrated. 

When I got to the dismount line they were yelling at me to get off my bike, which I did with no objections.  But then they wanted to grab my bike away from me and I wouldn't let go!  It turns out I was instantly dizzy when I got off the bike everything started to spin.  So I had to hold on to the bike for a minute to stabilize myself.  I finally let them have it and took off to transition still feeling dizzy but at least  knowing I wasn't going to fall over.

My dad blew me away on the bike as expected I think he finished about 30 minutes ahead of me on this!  Way to go!


Transition 2 4:41 quicker that the 1st one even with a quick pee stop.  I took my Advil on this one and debated taking one of my anti-nausea motion sickness pills but decided the side effects wouldn't be worth it.