IMFL - The Bike

The mount line was crowded and having heard it would be like this, I took my bike over to the far right in an attempt to get out of the way. I was barely there for a second clipping in my right foot when some old, heavyset dude said, “hurry up.” I told him nicely to be quiet and took off.  I don’t think my one second of clipping in was the difference in this guy qualifying for Kona or not, believe me.

 

So off on the bike I went. My goal for the bike was to not push too hard. I wanted to have a good run and didn’t want the last part of the race to be a complete suffer fest. I was passed by a ton of people but I also did my fair share of passing. I didn’t let it bother me and I just stayed focused on eating and drinking. Around mile 35 some guy came up along side of me and we chatted for a few. Before he continued on, he said, “these people passing you, you swam faster than them.” I told him that those were my thoughts exactly and that I’d pass them later on the run. 

 

It was warm out and not a cloud in the sky; which was fine with me! I much prefer heat to cold, especially when I’m on the bike. I had a little strategy of staying in my “box” throughout the race. Several times on the bike when my mind started to drift to the run, I would visual my “box”, put myself back in it, close the door and lock it. It might sound silly, but it really helped. I didn’t once look or worry about my speed, I only paid attention to my cadence and stayed within myself. Before I knew it, I was approaching the half way mark and my special needs bag.

 

Making the stop at the half way point definitely hurt my time but I wasn’t in this race to win it. I stopped to mix a new bottle of nutrition, eat an uncrustable and restock on endurolytes since I had lost my container of them around 20 miles back. I also used the bathroom, which was the only time I went until I got home from the race later that night. Yikes!

 

Second half of the bike was uneventful, thankfully. And long. And painful. At mile 60, I told myself to get to 70. At 70, I told myself to just get to 80. I kept playing this game knowing that once I hit 90 I would mentally get a boost to make it to 100 and then the final home stretch. Everything started really hurting by mile 70. My back, which has acted up all through training was in horrible pain. I took advil at the half way point but it wasn’t enough to make it go away. It hurt to be in aero but I had to stay in that position. We had some head winds and being upright just slowed me down that much more. I also started getting this horrible pain on the bottom of my left foot right where my toes attach to my foot. It was so bad that around mile 100 I had to stop, loosen my shoe and stretch my foot a bit. It didn’t really help.

 

Finally, I turned back onto Thomas Drive and was on my way back to transition. This was THE BEST feeling ever!!!! I was so ready to get off the bike and I was so grateful that nothing happened during the ride. As I was coming into transition, I spotted my family and threw my arm in the air cheering. I’ve never been so happy! The longest, most mentally stressful part of my day was over!

 

I dismounted my bike, handed it to a volunteer, ripped off my shoes to give my feet some relief and headed to T2. Did another change in T2 because I rode in bike shorts and also threw on a tank top because of the heat. I felt great in T2; didn’t feel like I had just rode 112 miles at all and I was ready to get out on the run.

 

Bike – 6:22:04, ave 17.6mph*

1636 Overall, 54 in AG

 

T2 – 7:53 (seriously, where does time go? I didn’t think I was that slow!)

 

*(according to my computer, which stopped when I stopped at special needs, I averaged 18mph and it took me 6:12. It really didn’t feel like 10 minutes at special needs, not sure what’s up with that!)