Cozumel Ironman -My first Ironman race
I didn’t feel very confident going into my first ironman
race. I have had numerous injuries
throughout the year, which prevented me from fully preparing and training. From March through mid September, I was
unable to run (not even a mile). I
had chronic and painful IT band.
In July, a motorcycle cut me off while cycling that sent me straight to
the hospital. The road rash was so
bad I completely stopped from training for 2 and half months and totaled my tri
bike. In mid September, I got into
another bike accident with a kite, a kite boarder’s kite. Can’t make this stuff up kind of an
accident. So I didn’t feel ready
and was planning on canceling my trip/race but Cliff told me I should at least give
it a try. …
My husband, Tomasz and I arrived in Cozumel on Friday,
November 25th.
The flight was delayed from Dallas to Cozumel so we arrived late in the
afternoon. We rushed to pick up
our race packets and attend the last mandatory meeting, which was in
Spanish.
Saturday morning we went to the swim start for the practice
swim. They had half of the course open but I didn't want to swim that much so I
cut it short and swam for about 15 minutes. Seeing the course before hand was
really great. Feeling the jellyfish stings before hand was also good because I
knew what to expect on race day. The
water was warm and the visibly was 100%. It was my first ocean swim J. After the swim, we
spent most of the day in the hotel setting up our bags for the race. I was triple checking to make sure I
didn’t forget anything. At 2pm, we
cycled with our bags to T1 and set up our bikes.
Race day, we woke up at 3:00 AM. Tripled checked again to make sure we weren’t forgetting
anything. For breakfast, I had
three pancakes, two bananas, and two bottle of water.
We took the bus shuttle to T1. Before the swim, just standing, my heart rate was 113. I was so nervous and scared. Scared of the massive swim start. My plan was to start all the way toward
the back of the pack. My goal was
to finish not die J.
During the swim, I tried to draft off faster swimmers but to
my surprise, a large portion of the people in front of me were slower than I. I held on to a swimmer who was swimming
at a slower pace but I thought it would be good if I also swam slower and saved
my energy for the 17hrs that was ahead of me. Numerous times throughout the swim jellyfish stung me.
Exiting the swim was great. I didn’t feel tired at all. I ran through the showers and into the women’s tent. I was so nervous that in the changing
tent I locked my Garmin. I announced
to all the ladies in the tent if anyone knew how to unlock a Garmin. Well, no one knew. So I made my second announcement " I
need internet access now, who has Internet”? All the ladies in the tent looked at me weird. I tried to unlock my Garmin for 17
min. I was so engaged in trying to
unlock my watch that I forgot to apply sunscreen on my face. After pressing every single button in
my watch it finally unlocked. Swim
time 1:22
T1
As soon as I got on my bike, my heart rate alarm went off
letting me know that I was way above my target hear rate. I decided to listen to my watch and
slowed down a little. My cycling
is still a bit weak and my biggest fear was not meeting the cut off.
The ride is three loops going counter clockwise around the
bottom half of the island.
The loops around the Island were brutal. I had never experienced such strong
headwinds and cross-winds. It was
extremely difficult to cycle.
During the second loop, my saddle was painfully uncomfortable. The chaffing and numbness was
horrible. The last loop,
around mile 90, I thought about quitting.
The pain was becoming unbearable. During the last 13 miles, it began to rain heavy. I could barely see through my
sunglasses. Some of the streets
were flooded and biking was difficult and scary. I was so relieved to get off
my torture machine and off to the marathon.
Bike split 7:33
T2
As soon as I started to run, I had really bad stitch pain. This will be a run and walk
marathon. The run is broken into 3
loops passing twice next to the finish line. People of Cozumel were fantastic and made me feel like I am
Chrissie Wellington. Some even
wanted to have pictures taken with me.
After mile 4 stitch pain went away and I started taking GU every 30
mins. At mile 12.7, a shooting
pain from the right knee to the hipbone stopped me. The pain was so sharp I could barely walk. Thank God after a few minutes it went
away. From that point on, the pain
would come on and off. At mile 18,
I started to feel very dizzy.
Everything was spinning. I
was feeling so dizzy, I even dreaded going to the bathroom for fear of passing
out. On the next station I took in
a banana and this helped with the dizziness.
The last 3 miles were the most difficult miles of my
life. The pain in my quads was
almost unbearable. There were many
moments I thought I wouldn’t finish.
I had to search really deep within myself for strength.
25 yards toward the finish line, I was overwhelmed with joy;
I knew the pain was finally coming to an end.
Crossing the finish line and hearing the announcer say,
"Marianela, you are an Ironman" was something I dreamt about for a
long time and I am so happy to have achieved it with help of Coach Cliff.
Run: 5:19
Overall time: 14:41
My next race/journey will be Lake Placid 2012 J