Race report Ironman 70.3 Morro Bay 2024

Ironman 70.3 Morro Bay (May 18th, 2024) 

Race Report 

Results: 

7th in F60-64 

**Qualified for 70.3 Worlds Taupo, New Zealand

 (I did not take the spot *more on that later) 

My Coach is Marilyn Chychota 

My nutritionist is Kirsten Miller

My Triathlon kit is Cupcake

My local team is The Sacramento Triathlon Club  

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Woke up at 3:45am and took a bit to bring my nervous system down from being jolted out of a deep sleep.

I made my bottles and started eating my race day breakfast which included a bottle of protein powder, eggs and rice as well as my morning hydration bottle of Precision Hydration. I did my prp (pre race poop) took a very quick shower and got ready to leave. 

We left the Airbnb at around 4:50am to walk down to transition which took around 20 minutes. When we arrived in transition I set things up for my race which included things like my bike nutrition & hydration, lots of choices of cycling clothing based on how I felt out of the water and all my run gear and hydration. It also included a dish towel from our Airbnb that I used as my transition towels since I forgot mine at home lol.   

Morning announcements from Ironman told us that the water temp was 57.6F. This number seemed very high to me considering yesterday’s temperature.  

When I went to get in the corral at my swim pace marker we (me and Sydney) noticed that I was walking over on the other side of the fence and could not access the corral line. Unfortunately, a large number of people were in the same situation. It was so packed with people most of us could not see there was a fence. A bunch of athletes were climbing over the fence. Sydney encouraged me to climb over too but I was concerned about ripping my wetsuit so I walked all the way back and got into line. This put me in a much slower swim group than I would normally have been in.  

Swim: I took in a Maurtens gel 5 minutes before entering the water which ended up being super important given what was about to happen in the swim.  

I entered the water at 6:16am and immediately could tell that the water temp was colder than they stated in the morning announcements. So I intentionally slowed down a bit and eased into my swim more than I normally would if it was not as cold.  Real water temp was actually between 52-54F

My swim out was fairly fast and I could feel that there was a slight current next to the docks moving out towards the turn around buoy. I noted that this meant the way back would be a bit harder. I did not know yet that I was about to hit a vortex that was much more than just a little bit harder current.  

As I sighted to the red turn around buoy I saw what I thought was a kayaker trying to move the buoy. When I approached closer I saw that there were bunches of people holding onto a kayak and the buoy was being sucked into an undertow and pushing people against the large wooden marker sticking out of the water. Then I started feeling the swirling water underneath and finally figured out there was a strong undertow pulling us. I was concerned about being slammed into the large wooden poll as the strength of the undertow was massive in that spot. I swam as hard as possible across the undertow area, and off course a bit, in order to get out of range of the poll. It worked but within a minute or two I was in a strong current (undertow) again. I was swimming as strong as possible and going nowhere. I looked around for water safety and there was nobody within range so I doubled down again and swam as hard as I could over to the right where I was hoping it was a lighter current. This is where my heart rate spiked to threshold. This is also the point where I noticed I could not feel my left hand because of the cold.  

I decided that I was making some progress even though it was incredibly slow and very challenging. I was finally moving in the right direction. During this long journey back to swim exit I had to stop a couple times in order to catch my breath and bring my heart rate down in order to stay safe since I was putting in such a big effort to move through the water. If I stopped to lift my head up I was shot backwords by the current so I decided not to stop anymore and just kept going. Then I started noticing that people were being pulled from the water and jetskis seemed to be everywhere. The energy was chaos and panic in the water. However, I decided that I would continue on as I was making some progress. Also, I could not see any water safety people within reach and any that I did see (far away) were filled with athletes hanging on every bit of the kayak.  

My swim splits from Ironman 70.3 Morro Bay 2024

I also saw that most of the athletes that were continuing to swim where swimming completely off course without turning at the red buoys before the swim exit. They were heading directly to the swim exit which cuts off a lot of the swim course. This made sense to me given the chaos and panic out there. However, I decided to complete the course and heading for the turn buoy instead of cutting straight across. My thoughts at the time were because I want to know that I did the full course and it seemed like the correct thing to do.  

When I arrived at the swim exit I was so happy to be on land I thought I had started to cry. However, people that saw me said I was not crying. I also thought that I had walked from swim exit to transition - while crying. People who saw me and even took video of me showed that I was running and waving and saying hi. I guess I was delirious or maybe I was just crying inside :-) 

T1 - This was a very long transition for me as I could not feel my fingers and was kind of stunned from the swim.  

I put on my cycling vest, gloves and arm warmers. It took me around 5 minutes to get my helmet on because I clipped it wrong at first because I had no feeling in my fingers and it would not unclip for me to fix it. And I was not going to leave with a helmet not clipped properly. This was definitely the longest transition I have ever had.  

Bike:  

I was pretty cold at first but then eventually my core and my hands thawed out. I started taking in nutrition within the first 5 minutes of riding because of the long big effort swim and because of the cold. Cold = more calories.  

I focused on executing my bike plan for the race. This included holding certain watts, watching my HR in some areas and staying consistent. And one of the biggest things for me for this race was executing a good nutrition and hydration plan. I have struggled a lot with nutrition and hydration in my races and this was my opportunity to execute it well. 

I felt strong on the bike and continued to execute my nutrition plan well. I did take in a bit more nutrition as I could feel that the swim drained me a bit and it was still pretty cold out there.  

I was able to stay in aero and push on the flats which was a big win for me. I was also able to descend fast which was a first for me in race riding.  

In looking at my ride afterwords I was somewhat disappointed with my bike time but I knew it had been an unusual start to the race so I truly don’t know how much of an impact it had on my speed. My goal watts and speed are a good amount higher than what I performed at in this race, as well as what I have performed at in training. I’m looking forward to my next opportunity in my next race.  

T2 was much swifter and reasonably executed than T1. The pavement even with the carpet was rough to run on with cleats because it was so uneven but I still got there swiftly.  

Run 

My run started out a bit too fast but it showed me that I had some legs left for the run. I intentionally slowed myself down after the first 10 minutes because I kept reminding myself I have 13 miles to run so give myself space to get some rhythm and get things under control. 

I took in a Maurten’s gel after around 10 minutes and started settling into a good pace.  

The hills really got me and eventually I decided to power walk up the steepest parts of the hill in order to keep my heart rate reasonable so I could keep going strong for the second half.  

I was surprised there were not more aid stations on the run course and as soon as I figured out there was only one station with Maurten gels I grabbed a handful. I’m glad I did because they ran out on my second loop. My plan was to take in a caffeine Maurtens for my last 3 miles but I could not find any in the aid stations so I took in a regular Maurtens.  

The cool air in the park loop was very helpful as well as the cheering crowds on the stretch in town.  

I worked hard to keep a good pace and most definitely endured some real pain but I was determined to keep pushing. I also knew that there were two women in my age group behind me so I was focused on keeping up my pace. I did not really know at the time that I had passed another women in my age group during my first loop of the run.  

I was so happy to get to the finished line I felt like I was just about to cry from relief. It was so wonderful to see Bryan (my husband) & Sydney (my daughter) greeting me at the finish!