as reported by Andrea Fisher on andreafisher.com

November 4th , 2006

Panama City, Florida

I'm not quite sure why I've been subjected to really cold race days lately. As my husband likes to say, "It's EL NINO! That's to blame!" Whatever the reason, my last two Ironmans have been frigid. Race morning in Panama City, Florida saw a wind chill of 38 degrees. I don't know about most people, but if I were to wake up and see that on the Weather Channel, I'd crawl back into bed and revisit my pillow for a while. Unfortunately that isn't an option on Ironman day, and I can't climb back into hibernation. Instead I layered every piece of clothing I had, ate my breakfast and headed out to the race start.

I was excited to race mostly because after I crossed the finish line I would be done with my season. I could kick back, be lazy and enjoy being normal for a while. My last Ironman had left me with bitterness, depression and regret, so the last thing I wanted to do was end the season on that note. I wanted to close my season with a smile on my face. I wanted to go out on the racecourse and know, deep within myself that I had given everything I had on the day. This was my last chance to have that closure, and I was anxious to get going.

The ocean was pretty rough, but that's the way I like it. The rougher the better as I know it plays on my swimming strengths. Loop one was pretty uneventful until I went to stand up and exit the water for loop two. My entire freaking body went into a giant cramp. I literally stood up and was stuck in place as my hamstrings, calves, back and feet locked up. I looked up and saw my pack exiting the water and re-entering for loop two. CRAP! Ok, one foot in front of the other. Force it. I tried to run, but that only made it worse. I was about to ask for a walker or cane just to get back into the water. I eventually made it back in, but at this point my pack was about 50+ meters in front of me. I began swimming and somehow things loosened up a bit. I bridged myself back up to that pack after the first turn buoy and actually began to drop some of the swimmers in the group. For the remainder of the swim I kept saying a little prayer and hoped I wouldn't cramp up again on my final exit. As I came into shore I put one foot down and realized it was going to be ok. I ran up through the arch and exited the water in first place.

In T1 I started putting on layers and layers of clothing. I wasn't going to let myself freeze again like Ironman Wisconsin and eventually have my race suffer because of it. I had a bike jersey, vest, arm warmers, socks, and gloves on by the time I exited transition. I was going to stay warm this time, and I didn't really care if I looked like Nannook of the North.

Out on to the bike I kept things relaxed. I had my PowerTap on my Bontrager race wheel, and it was exactly what I needed in the windy conditions. I knew the power numbers I wanted to hold, as well as my cadence and heart rate goals. I honestly never looked at my miles per hour during the race, and it worked perfectly. I rode steady, consistent and strong throughout the entire ride because of this. The headwinds were howling up to 20+ mph, but because I had my power to watch, I remained exactly where I needed to be. I was at the front of the race for the entire ride, which in itself can be extremely hard to do. You don't have anyone to key off of, you don't have anyone to give you feedback, etc... I knew the other women would be chasing hard, but I remained focused on myself and my own goals.

At the out-and-back section of the ride, I finally got to see the rest of the women's field. Drafting has always been a big issue at this race, but for the most part all of the women were riding legal. I was really happy to see that; however, there were two pro women who were drafting big time. I'm not going to say who they were, but both of them ended up placing in the top 10 overall. The Ironmanlive spotters watched them do this the entire bike ride, so I know it wasn't just limited to the out and back section. It's definitely easy to run a blistering marathon split when you’re sitting on someone's back wheel for the majority of the 112-mile bike.

I came off the bike in first place and hobbled into T2. During the bike I had spent a couple hours throwing up and experiencing bad leg cramps. My shorts were covered in white as I came into the transition tent and honestly I was pretty worried I wasn't going to hold up for this marathon. I changed, got myself together and exited the tent with Carol Sharpless. She was having the race of her life and looked very strong. My goal pace for the first half was to hold 7.40 miles. The first three miles were perfectly on pace, so I was pretty confident. Bella came by after a bit and looked fantastic. There was no way anyone was going to threaten her for the win today. I kept with my 1.40 half-marathon pace and thought that I would definitely pull Carol back in. After the turn-around my legs started to quiver a bit, and my pace fell off for about four miles. That's all it took for me to lose ground on Carol and be caught by two other women. I got in more salt and Gatorade, tried to relax and then managed to pull back on to my original pace. However, by that point I wasn't going to bridge the gap up to 3rd and 4th place.

I came into the finish chute in 5th with one of the tightest pro women's race I've ever been in.

I'm proud of my day, even though I was still mentally tired from my previous Ironman race in September and glad I finished things out as strongly as I did. I finally have some closure on my year. I learned so much from my race in Florida that will benefit my winter training and give me a good start on next year's season. I want to thank all of my sponsors and friends for their support this year, and I want to say a special thanks to Bontrager and PowerTap for providing me with the awesome wheel set up. It made such a difference on race day! Now it's time to relax and enjoy the down time!

Cheers,
Fish