I wish I could explain how nervous I get before a race. I realize that in the scheme of things, a triathlon means nothing. But I still get so nervous that I want to barf. I had absolutely nothing to lose going into IM Florida. I already had a great season as a first-year pro. Yet, I was nervous. I started thinking about how “I can only do what I can do,” and I just can’t wait for the race to start, so all the nerves will be put to use.

An Ironman is one of those things that you have done, you know you can do, but you don’t know what that particular day will hold. Saturday, November 3rd was a great day for me.

The water was calm, warm and dark. The gun went off and 30 minutes later I was done with the first loop of the 2.4-mile swim. 30 minutes! I was so excited! I swam my last 1.2-mile race (Cancun 70.3) in 34 minutes. Maybe all my swim lessons were working! Maybe it was my new F2R wetsuit. I got out of the water after 2.4 miles, and the time on the clock was 1:03 something. My goal was to go 1:05, like Ironman Lake Placid. To beat that time, I was thrilled.

After a slightly discombobulated transition I was on my bike with the knowledge that I was 22nd out of the water. I knew I was going to have to ride with a bit of a fire in my pants to catch up to the girls that were out 13 minutes ahead of me. I knew where I was supposed to ride in terms of what watts I should be holding. What I also knew was that if I wanted to do well, I needed to use my bike as my weapon. I was a little nervous about the bike ride because I had gotten a new frame the week before the race. Although it was the same BMC TT02 I had been riding, I changed a lot of things about my bike right before I left. My sponsor Scott Thomson at QBP had sent me new Zipp Vuka Bars and new chain rings. David Cathcart at CycleOps had sent me some Blackwell Wheels to borrow for the race with a PowerTap built into them. Jay Courant at Endurance PTC had to deal with my bike fit one week before the race. I came in with this new bike, new parts, new wheels, and he put together the best bike fit he could. Apparently he did a pretty phenomenal job.

I went out harder on the 112 mile bike course than I was supposed to. Going into the race, my coach, Matt Dixon at Endurance Performance Training Centers, ran a series of physiological tests that showed I was capable of holding 15-20 watts higher than the conservative watts we had decided on for race day. I took that knowledge with me and rode. I kept an eye on my PowerTap but went above what my race watts were supposed to be. What I also thought about was the amount of really talented athletes that were in front of me, and how long it was taking me to find them on the course. I rode harder just trying to hunt them down.

For the first time in my short career, I veered off my bike race plan to try to find “the race”. At mile 80 I realized why I had a race plan. I realized why I preach to my cycling students (at Endurance Performance Training Centers) about the efficiency benefits of holding steady power versus constantly yo-yoing between a higher and lower power. Even though both types of rides end up with the same average power, one way leads to efficiency while the other leads to fatigue. I realized I had made a mistake. I know.... I had the fastest bike split in Ironman history. But the fact of the matter, is it was not a smart ride. I usually don’t get caught up in “the race” but rather I ride my ride, governed by my PowerTap. That day I left my plan and my run paid the consequences.

Don’t get me wrong. I am thrilled with my results. But we all know that hindsight offers such great clarity! If I did that ride again I would only change one thing. I would ride my watts from the beginning and hold those watts all the way through. Other than that the ride was perfect. I stretched when I had a tailwind, I got out of the saddle to open up my hip flexors when going over the slightest riser, and I played with my cadences.

Needless to say I got off the bike with no legs. In fact, the last 40 miles of the ride I had no legs. I dropped an average of 40 watts from miles 1-80 to miles 80-112. Oops! Off I got with the usual sigh of relief to be off that bike saddle. I had this girl right on my tail through the transition area. I passed her at about mile 95 of the bike, and she stayed on my tail all the way into the transition area. I had another horrible transition that consisted of having my fuel belt come un-velcroed as soon as I started running. No big deal, just a huge part of my race plan was to really stay on my nutrition and my hydration. I figured if the fuel belt fell off that early it was just going to be a nuisance. I ran on. Oh god, I thought, all my ClifShots are in my gel flask on the fuel belt. I ran back to grab my gel flask. In the process of this mess, my tail-gaiter had now passed me like she was some gazelle, and I was the injured baby wildebeest.

I had screwed up on the bike, and now I was going to have to be really smart on the run. I was in 3rd and then 4th into the first mile with big hitters in front and behind me. I could chase down the girl that just passed me, but I knew there was not another gear in my legs. My first few miles of any race (off the bike) are about finding my legs. I have found that it takes a while for me to “warm up” my legs, but it pays off in the end if I let them come to me, instead of forcing myself to find them. After about mile 5, I was passed again. Now I was in 5th. I just kept thinking, how is this happening? These girls were running by me like I was standing still. Oh well, I thought, I can only run what I can run. I did very little run training this year so I knew I did not have a lot of gears in my run. I simply stayed at my pace. I made sure I was always drinking my Clif Electrolyte drink out of my handheld water bottle and I was taking in a ClifShot every 20-30 minutes. Endurance and stamina was going to be my only hope.

One of the best things I have learned this past year is race nutrition. Last year in Kona I won the amateur race. But what happened on that race course has changed the way I train and race. I only drank water on the bike in kona and ate one ClifBar and one ClifShot because my body did not feel like eating or drinking anything else. I ended up walking the last 5 miles of the run in Kona and have very little recollection of what happened after I crossed the finish line and went straight to the med tent. I had suffered from hyponatremia. I spent this entire year working with ClifBar to figure out how to keep myself nourished during such physical exertion. A huge thanks to Clifbar for making such clean and organic products and for showing me the way to proper nutrition.

What allowed what happened next was that I stayed with my nutrition plan on the bike. I made it through the first lap of the run only being passed by 2 girls, and a bunch of age group men that I swear were running 6-minute miles! Lap 2 started with passing the girl that had passed me in transition, she was walking now. I started to get a little more confident cause my legs felt better, and I felt like I was holding a steady pace now. Then, the reigning champ, Bella Comerford, ran by me. She ran by me with vigor but then she never got any further away. She must have passed me and then slowed back down. I was back into 5th place. People from the crowd kept yelling, “just stay with Bella”. While we were within 20 yards of each other we passed Katja. She had given it all she had but was out of gas; I slid into 4th.

I feared passing Bella. I was afraid she would pass me back. What did I have to lose? I debated if I should pass her now or if I should wait until later in the race. My pace stayed steady, and I passed her around mile 21. I was back into 3rd. I was going to be happy with third, fourth or fifth. This was my second Ironman of the year, and this was my first pro year. When I got to mile 25, I did not know how close my competition was. All I knew was that I was almost home, and I wanted to be third, not fourth! The home stretch, people were cheering like third place was mine. I relaxed a little bit and enjoyed the crowd’s cheers, my family's smiles, and the blisters on my feet that were about to be done. I had done it!

Better than crossing that finish line in third place, was having my family there waiting for me, smiles ear to ear. They make fun of me all year for watching my diet, training, complaining about my bike seat and what effects it will have on being able to have babies, falling asleep at the dinner table after 12 hours of work and 3 hours of exercise, and talking about the indigestion I get after a long ride and all the sugar that I ate. When they come to watch my races though, I know they are proud! They are proud of the discipline I have had; they envy the energy I have, and they understand when I finish why I continue to put my body through this. They are smiling as big as I am. I am smiling at them smiling at me! Its all worth, it isn’t it?