Ironman 70.3 World Championships Race Report

Lake Las Vegas, Nevada – Sunday 9 September 2012
Race Report by Sarah Grove 

This race is not just another Half Ironman race, it is the Half Ironman World Championships where some of the best athletes from around the world gather to race. It is also a race being held in Las Vegas – essentially a desert. It was held in Vegas for the first time last year after being moved from Florida and athletes sweltered in 38+deg of dry desert heat.  And last years race saw only 1500 of the 2000 starters cross the finish line. A quarter of the field succomed to the course and the conditions and couldn’t finish the race. Athletes this year now had more of an idea of what they were in for, but did they really know how tough it was going to be?

On arriving in Vegas the week leading into the race the heat wasn’t oppressive as there is very little humidity but it was searing. After the sun rose it was hard to stay outside without feeling it burn through your clothes. Overnight temperatures rarely dipped below 30deg, meaning by mid morning it was already eyeing off 40deg. We knew it was going to be a hot day. The question was how to best survive the heat on race day.

The Reconnaissance
After settling in for a couple of days we headed out on the bikes to check out the race venue and course. First thing we noticed was the smooth smooth roads and wide bike lanes. What a luxury! The flats were fasts, just a pity only around 10km of the race resembles anything flat for more that 2km. 🙂 Heading out into Lake Mead National Park where the majority of the bike leg was held we quickly learned that all reports were spot on. The course was hilly and extremely hot. Our 90km ride saw me consume 4ltrs of fluid and if I hadn’t have run out would have done another litre+!
We drove to the bike finish (T1 and T2 are located around 30km apart) to check out the run, Ironman Expo and athlete check-in. And just as we expected a nice hilly run with no shade to speak of. There wasn’t going to be any records broken here!
Athlete check-in was something like signing your life away. Six different forms full of waivers and disclaimers for everything you could think of. (Lets hope nothing happened!)  The swim course was only open for practice the morning before the race. Held in Lake Las Vegas – a man made privatly owed lake. Athletes had to ‘chip in and chip out’ so organisers knew who was in the water and that every athlete returned to land safety. (more regulations!) We had already been told the water was 28+deg and they weren’t wrong. Although feeling fresh when you jumped in, start swimming and it wasn’t long before you felt it the warmth. (I wondered how many litres of fluid I was going to lose during my race here?) The water itself was similar to swimming in Kialla Lakes at Shepparton but with a nice little ‘smell’ about it. You could just see your elbow in front of you if you looked REALLY closely. 🙂

Race Morning
An early start. 3.30am wake up to be at the venue by 5am, transition closing at 6am. Sounds simple. But when 2,100 other competitors have the same idea and only one road into the venue it was chaos. 30min sitting in traffic, the time ticked past 5.30am, the nerves started to kick in. Athletes were jumping out of cars and leaving their loved ones to make their way down to transition by foot. We didn’t have the luxury with the both of us racing. What to do! Ollie urged me to head down and he’d throw his gear over the fence to me if needed. But luckily we made it into a make-shift car park and down to transition with 15min to spare. I felt for the others still sitting in their cars behind us though. A lot of nervous tension there!

The hard part about organising yourself for this race was T1 is located separate from T2. (ie the race starts and finishes in different locations). This meant dropping off your run gear the day before at T2, and your bike and bike gear at T1 in the hope that you don’t forget anything. Race morning you just had to bring down your nutrition/fluids and anything else you wanted on your bike. Nothing was to be placed on the ground ‘clean transition‘ was all I heard from volunteers and organisers. Everything had to either be on your bike or in your bike transition bag (hanging off your bike). Preparing my bike I did my usual stand back, check and check again that I have everything. NO! One important item missing. The straw for my aero bottle. Sh^t what am I going to do. I had planned on running fluids in my aero bottle, and one bottle cage, with the rear cages as spare for pickups on course. There goes that plan! After a little panic attack there was not much to do other than change my plan. No point stressing about it. I was given some great advice by Coach Greg before the race “Control the controllable. The rest will take care of itself.” I put this into the forefront of my mind and headed to the swim start.

For the swim start we were herded in like sheep. All in little groups shuffling along the blue mat as each wave jumped into the water 5min apart in preparation for their wave start. The pro’s went off at 6.40am and the last of the age group waves at 8.00am. Luckily for me my wave was relatively early. In the water and waiting for the start. One girl said to me, “my god it’s cold in here!” I couldn’t believe she had said it was cold when the water temperate was recorded at a touch over 28deg! I simply said ‘I wouldn’t be complaining, you will be wishing you were back in here later!‘ with a little smirk on my face.

The swim
The swim in Lake Lake Vegas was pretty straight forward. A big rectangle, follow the buoys one way, turn around and head back the same way. Why then I was swimming from left to right I have no idea! The swim was pretty uneventful, but 10metres from the exit ramp I breathed to my right and right there was Ollie, he’d started in the wave after me and right there amongst the hundreds of other swimmers we’d managed to literally nearly hit each other. After the months of training hour after hour alongside Ollie leading to this point it spurred me on to pick up the cadence and hit the swim finish. To me – this was another training day with him and I was excited! I exited the water not long after him and made the long run around to transition.

The bike
The first hill for the day was running your bike out of transition. Mount your bike and your  straight into another. A 2km modest climb out onto the hwy to head into Lake Mead National Park. This is where the fun was to begin. I’d ridden it twice before. I knew the climbs, the down hills, the cross winds. What I didn’t know though were where the aid stations were. They’d told us at the athlete briefing that they would be 10miles apart (16km). Great 5 aid stations. Plenty of chances to refill and refuel. (Or so I thought)
20km into the bike and my mind was already starting to tick over. “I’ve only done 20km’s, I’ve still got 70km to go. How am I going to do an Ironman? How far to the turn around? How far to the aid station? Was that a girl who just passed me? How many girls are in front of me? God my swim was bad. ” I had to quickly shift my thoughts if I was going to get through this race well. So I refocused back on the job at hand and I actually realised that I felt good. I was passing guys (and more importantly girls). I was ‘controlling the controllable.’ And the rest was starting to take care of itself.
At one point I passed a lady and she yelled out “you go girl, your smashing those hills” a little confidence booster to raise the spirits again.
Around the 60km mark and my fluids were starting to get low. This is when I started to worry. I had already consumed 2 bottles of Shotz and 1 bottle of water. And I was starting to get extremely low. I had no idea when the next aid station would be – it was already over 20km since the last one. (not the 10miles they had told us!) So I started to drink conservatively. The water I had left was now used to drink rather than pour on myself. “I could be in trouble here!” I started thinking. The last climb in the National Park – similar to Devils Elbow and I could see in the distance the blue volunteer shirts. Thank god! Water was in sight. Ditching the empty bottles and grabbing electrolytes and water. 25km to go – we’re on the home straight. The last 25km is ‘relatively flat’ compared to the 65km we’d just ridden, but still a few climbs to get through before we could ditch the bikes.

Rounding into T2 I was glad to be getting off the bike, just like in Ironman you jumped off and handed it to a volunteer. But as soon as the legs hit the ground they were in for a big shock. I felt like I was hobbling, the tough bike course took more out of them than I thought! But there was no time to think about that as your race number was being called out so volunteers could find your T2 bag with your run gear. Here goes!

The run
T2 bag in hand and into the change tent, into the runners, (quick toilet stop) and out onto the run. Organisers were kind enough to put the first 1mile of the run downhill. How nice of them! 🙂 But that was the only one of three good things I can remember about the whole run. The others to come…

The first aid station but 2km in and it felt like it was an eternity away. I just thought to myself. ‘This is going to be a long race!’ The legs hadn’t really kicked in yet and the heat was searing.

My dear mum had given me some words of wisdom before the race. “Remember what I said about the weather. It’s not hot, it is all in the mind. Just tell yourself that it is not hot – it is always hotter somewhere else.” Thanks mum – but unfortunately that didn’t work! 😉

“Go rocket!” I hear my name called out – hang on what that Ollie? What was he doing on the side of the course? I knew leading into the race he was possibly going to pull out on the run, but now I didn’t have him out there with me. That wasn’t in my game plan. We trained together all the time, I wanted to race alongside him too. He meant as much to me in the race than the race itself. But all I could do was wave and keep running….. This was my race now. Just me and this course.

Shortly after that I came across an old man holding a little yellow sign with just the word ‘believe‘ written on it. Such a simple word but so powerful. At the Athlete Welcome Dinner on the Friday Night before the race, they interviewed a pro athlete and part of his talk he touched on believing in yourself “It’s all good and well to believe in yourself and your ability. But you have to believe in what you believe. Not just believe, but you have to truly believe.” This stuck with me for my race and as I ran past this old man on the run, I knew I was going to finish this race giving it everything that I had. I truly believed that. (second good thing I remember about the race)

After the first 2kms down hill, you turned around and came straight back up it. A perfectly timed aid station at the top, you then rounded past the finishing line shoot and up an even sleeper 1.5km hill. The aid station half way up helped ease the pain. Water. Electrolytes. Gel. Keep moving. Lap one down and the legs started to feel good. So going through the motions. Run. Drink. Gel. And now coke. It was great to see Jeanette, Paul and Steve Mac on course. I tried to keep myself amused by wondering where they would pop up and cheer.
Half way through lap 2 – 10km into the race and another bump in the road. I could feel stitches start to form in my stomach. I’d been here before. I knew what was happening. My stomach was starting to shut down from the nutrition and lack of fluids to process it. Each km I went through the pain got worse. Right think. What to do? Stop and stretch? Slow down and hopefully they’ll pace? I did both. But as I stopped for a stretch I saw 2 girls pass me in my age group. That’s not supposed to happen! “Control the controllable – this was my race not theirs“…. I continued on keeping them in my sights. And it wasn’t long I had crept back on one of the girls.

The road by now was covered in athletes. Some looking strong, others in their Ironman shuffle and the unfortunate on the side of the road who had had enough. It tore me to see strong fit men on their knees succumbed to what the course had thrown at them. I can only imagine the training they had put their bodies through just like I had and they still could not bring their bodies to finish this race.

Wondering what the third good thing about the run was? The down hill to the finish line. Oh yeah!

The aftermath
The first person I saw when crossing the finishers line was Ollie. I was near in tears. That was the hardest thing I have put my body through ever! I was in pain, my body was physically and mentally exhausted. My stomach was in agony, all I wanted to was lay down. I needed to lay down. And that’s exactly what I did. I found a piece of concrete and laid my weary body down. The relief was enormous. The race was over. I had done it. I had raced against some of the best age group athletes in the world. I didn’t care where I finished, the result meant nothing to me. To cross that finishing line was the biggest achievement. And the feeling was amazing!

Thanks to everyone for their support leading into the race and the well wishes afterwards. A big thank you also goes to those who helped me get to the start line including my long time sponsors Brooks Running, the guys at Lakeside sports Medicine Centre – Simon, Justin, Khahn and Tara, and everyone in Tri Alliance. You guys are awesome and makes what we do so enjoyable!

The result
Swim: 37:58  – 80th out of the water
Bike: 2:48:39 – 25th off the bike
Run: 1:44:37
Overall: 5:16:23 – to finish 13th overall.

For full results from the race click here 
For more details on the race click here

And for now – REST and then to regroup and refocus. In just under 13 weeks I’ll be taking the my next biggest race this year – my first Ironman race in Busselton. 🙂
Sarah