Ironman St. George 70.3 Part 3

As I came into T2 (bike to run transition), I was feeling fairly good and thought I was ready to take on the next big challenge: the run.  I did have to take quite a bit of extra time to put on an ankle brace for running and get everything sorted.  This led to a 3:52 T2 transition time, but then I was off.

The third leg of this race is where I knew my challenges were going to really live.  The run portion had a reputation for being brutal with high temperatures and over 1000 ft. of elevation gain.  Additionally, I was coming off of ankle surgery from the middle of January which left little to start running, let alone train effectively for the half marathon portion of the race.  In fact, I was unsure if I could even make it through the race to finish coming into it and had shifted goals for the race heavily.  A successful 10 mile run a week before the race had me hopeful at least. 

The first several miles started off alright as I tried to be patient and focus on eating and drinking to get the nutrition I needed.  In this, I was mostly successful and came through 10 km at about 52 minutes.  I could tell my feet were already in some trouble as they were not used to the pounding of running on pavement.  It started with my right foot but also carried to my left.  Around mile 7, I really started to have trouble dealing with the pain and dropped off my target pace and had to start incorporating some walking.  

The downhills were taking their toll on my ankle and the uphills were challenging as the muscles were struggling late in the race.  Looking at pictures like this one above, it is easy to take myself back to the pain and the struggles that were experienced as I worked hard just to keep going.

 

 

The course was always heading uphill or downhill with no easy portions to be found.  Late in the run many people seemed to be coming by me, though everyone seemed to be hurting in some way or another.  

 

The final three miles of downhill (which should be fast) were a struggle. I started to have significant nerve pain coming from my ankle with each pounding step descending down the road, but I was determined to finish even though I knew I was disappointed with how things were turning out.  I think the battle for me is more mental than physical, even given my ankle situation.  People always say that you learn a lot about yourself during races like these because there is nowhere to hide.  The battle is to keep going and pushing while knowing that if you stop and walk the pain goes away.  I know that to be successful at this distance I need to train myself to lean into the pain and suffering that often comes with pushing yourself this far...still more for me to learn.

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The run did finally end with a split time of 2:18:39 (10:32/mile) which was 149th in my age group.  My overall race time was 5:33:25 for 65th out of 254 in my age group.  There is much to be disappointed about for me in this race, but I also want to recognize that I also had some great things.  I am thankful to be racing again, especially after COVID-19 and my ankle surgery.  The swim and bike legs were probably the best I have had in a 70.3 distance event and I was able to finish the race!

 

 

I am also thankful for my teammates and my coach.  We are all working together to push each other to be the best we can be.  Some had good days at St. George and others not as good, but we were there, competed together, and celebrated afterwards.  I look forward to some rest and then getting back to training to keep getting better with several more races coming up this summer.