1. The night before the race eat your final meal early. Don't overeat and don't just slam down a bunch of bloating carbs. CHECK: Chicken, sweet potatoes, sauteed veggies and a bunch of water all down by 5:30.
2. Be sure your remaining items are packed and ready to go the night before. Layout everything you are going to wear as well. CHECK: TriTats, Tri kit, heart rate monitor, warm clothes, flip flops.
3. You might sleep a little, but the night before is NOT when you sleep. That should have been done the week prior. CHECK: Went to bed at 7:30, tossed and turned from about midnight until I woke up at 3AM. It's okay. I am rested.
4. While you are eating your breakfast, do something that brings you joy and gives you peace. For some its prayer, for others its reading, for me its prayer and then comedy. FRIENDS to the rescue.
So on the morning of race day I woke up bright and chipper at 3AM. I had to put on all of my TRI Tattoos before I left which had me a little nervous. Once I got them going it was a really simple process and went really fast. I LOVED the tri tats. They felt really official and I was given 2 M dot Tattoos that I put on as well.
I was ready to go. I sat down with Netflix and watched FRIENDS while eating 2 Honey Stinger waffles with PB and a whole banana. 24 ounces of water washed it down as well as a couple salt sticks (electrolyte tabs). Dawn came to get me right at 4:20 and I was ready to go. I am so thankful for her because in all of the early morning schedule I had failed to be sure my watch was on my wrist! Thankfully we remembered before we were too far away and were able to turn back for it.
We got to Tempe Beach Park right as transition was opening up. My pre race plan was to 1. Check my bike, pack my bike with remaining food, be sure my bottles were filled and pump up the tires. 2. From there I needed to head over to the transition area and check both my swim to bike gear bag and my bike to run bag. All good. I also ran into one of my favorite IRONMAN friends, Mary Knott and 3. Meet my Racelab team at a designated meeting area to get suited up, encouraged and calmed down for the start.
I was so ready, and I was so at peace. When I got to the Racelab group my smile was tangible. Dawn was there and helped me get my wetsuit on as well as a Sharpie M dot on my head and a Racelab man on my calf.
Then we had this incredible huddle where Bettina the head coach of Racelab gave us a motivational speech encouraging and calming us. It was perfect........and brought some happy tears. It was time.
With my swim cap and goggles in tow I headed over to the line up of racers. I had to make my way up to the 1:10 to 1:20 marker which was a little stressful.
So many racers all packed into a small space. I made it and then desperately looked for my husband. I just needed to see him before I started. There he was, with my girlfriend Rebekah.....and Dawn! Okay........hugs..............peace...........I got this.
The canon blasted and the rolling start began. I got to the stairs, hit the Start button on my watch and leaped into the cool waters with nothing but excitement......I MADE IT!
The water was cold. Not freezing, but in my sleeveless wetsuit it was chilly at a mere 65 degrees. I hardly felt it. I calmly settled into my stroke....the one I had done a million times before and smiled. I Got this.
I battled a few people but I settled into my space and swam pretty smoothly the entire time. It was so wonderful. I LOVE swimming. It was so cool swimming under the bridges and looking up to see the hundreds of spectators looking down in awe.
It was empowering and beautiful. I had a hard time following the course on the way out because the buoys were very challenging to sight with the sun in our eyes. I am so thankful for the kayaks that helped keep us on course. When we made it to the half way turn I think I squealed with glee in the water. I stretched my strokes out, made the turns and headed back towards home. I remember saying to myself, "Bethany, you are half way done with your IRONMAN swim!!!!" I was having so much fun.
On the way back 2 times I got caught between two big men. I punched one and kicked the other but they still refused to move so I gave a little bit of time back to the clock while I slowed, let them pass and found my space again. Women are so different. If we bump into each other we keep our pace just move away from each other, but man some guys just bulldoze through the crowd. It's okay, I passed both of them and kept moving towards home.
As I rounded the final buoy my heart was literally bursting with joy. I had had such a great swim and while I was anxious to get on the bike I could have easily gone another round.
I reached the stairs, grabbed a strong volunteers hand, ran up to the top, past the wetsuit strippers, paused my Garmin and saw that my swim time was 1:20. YES! I had nailed my goal! I flew up to transition and heard the Racelab team cheering my name. My smile was so big it hurt. Dawn was in transition ready to help me gear up for the bike and as I ran up around the tent to grab my bag I heard her voice, "Bethany.....you KILLED it!" Yeah I did!
I grabbed my gear bag and ran to Dawn. She was AMAZING! (Note to any IRONMAN wanna be.......get yourself a friend/coach/teammate to volunteer in transition). She stripped my wetsuit with ease, got my socks, bike shoes, helmet, nutrition heavy jersey and arm warmers on in record time. Before I knew it I was headed out of the tent (she gathered up all my gear.....THANKS DAWN) and I headed towards my bike.
IRONMAN races are incredible because they are full service. Volunteers are everywhere to help and it is AMAZING. I exited the tent and ran towards the rack with my Lady Dash. As I approached, a volunteer yelled, "1610 is coming!" and by the time I made it to the rack, Lady Dash was waiting for me. I grabbed her and ran out of transition to the Mounting area. I was ready.
I smiled, took a big deep breath, clipped my right foot in, pushed off and headed out to the bike course...........
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