November 23, 2009

As I write this I am on the airplane home from Ironman Arizona; one day post race.  If you have ever done an Ironman you know the deal: you finish, you swear you will never do another one and the next thing you know you have yourself going at least 30 minutes faster if X didn’t happen and you sign up again.  I know, because this is how the post race dissection goes for me.

Does that mean I am not happy with my 4th place finish at Ironman Arizona; no not at all.  I am very happy and it was the best I could put out that day.  But it does mean I still feel there is a better race in me.

When I arrived in Phoenix 3 days before the race I realized the weather was going to be a bit cooler than what I like to race in.  I was bummed but I was keeping my game face on and pushing forward.  All I could think of was how happy I was I packed my arm warmers and a vest at the last minute.

The morning of the race it was just what it had been all week; COLD, I believe in the upper 40‘s maybe 50 degrees at the most.  It was low enough for my Zoot long run pants, a few shirts, jacket, beanie and gloves.  Trying to stay fired up was a bit tough for me as I just do not do well with the cold. But I knew the day would warm up so that kept me motivated.  Once I was set w/my bike in transition I went and did my pre-race warm up run before the swim.  I was feeling ready to conquer what the day gives me.  My training post Kona had been good and based on workouts I really felt there was a solid PR in my body which may get me my first Ironman win overall.  I was ready to finish the year with a BIG result.

I put on my wetsuit and when it was GO time, I jumped in the SIXTY THREE degree water at 6:40 in the morning for our 6:50AM start.  It was pretty dark when we first jumped in; I could not see a thing, and I don’t mean my hand in front of me as I swam, I mean any body else.  It was a little unnerving but after 5 minutes or so it was better and by the time the gun went off there was a bit a light to make it easier.  The swim start was smooth, I lined up way right and most of the group lined up to the left.  I was a bit torn on where to go and in hind site I feel I should of lined up with the group to the left.  When the gun went off I made the break pretty good and I ended up getting hooked in the first group but I was on the tail end.  As we were cruising along I felt fine sitting in but then sort of out of the blue I was gapped.  I have no idea why but by the time we made the first turn around buoy I was solo, and I mean solo.  I swam the rest of the swim completely by myself.  The main pack put 3 minutes on me, the other pack was about 1 minute behind me.  When I came out of the water and saw that I had a bad swim I had to let it go and focus on getting into T2 and on the bike.

The day was still VERY cold.  Colder races this summer proved to me that I need to be warm so when I came out the water I needed to put on arm warmers, a vest and calf sleeves to even give myself a chance to warm up.  My fingers were useless due to the swim; thank god those volunteers helped me.  My transition was slower than normal due to putting on the clothes but I am so glad I did cause that first loop on the bike was really cold.  The bike portion was 3 loops of 37 miles and there were over 2500 people who started the race.  My first two loops I managed to stay solo.  I saw several large groups behind me and by loop 3 I was sucked up by a group that contained quite a few men and another female pro.  It was very hard to stay the distance as we were now catching lots of slow riders.  At one point I had to sprint to the front to try and get out of it but I obviously could not hold the pace and would have to slow down to get passed and then get sucked up again.  I tried to sit in the correct position the best way possible.  I would drop back and then an age-group guy would get in front of me and then I would pass back.  It seemed there were tons of people around all the time. I would pass then get passed back, move to the right, to have 2 guys to my left or have someone jump over as we would pass.  It was crazy.  We would then get strung out, which was great, but then someone would get in front of me to have me drop back to only pass back and the cycle continued.  At times you’d be 2-3 abreast trying to pass but no one letting you pass.  Every time I would try and get the 10 meters an age-group guy would jump in front making me drop back, then I would find myself riding aggressive to not let them in but then I’d be too close.  It was nuts.  Bottom line; with that many people on the course, it seems as though the bike portion of the race is set up for failure rather than success.  By mile 90 we had now caught other pro woman who looked to be in the same situation and now it would get even worse cause as we would pass age group men they would go with us just messing up the mix.  I would try to only race the woman yet I would end up racing and being penalized for the men in conjunction with the women.  It is complicated.  I ended up getting a penalty around mile 100 by being in the draft zone on a little riser w/o passing.  I understand why but I felt like I had no place to go; there were tons of people around, a few to my right, many behind me and some sitting off the back to my left.  Maybe we all need a class on how to deal with the current situations.  If WTC is going to allow 2500 people on a 37 mile bike loop, how can we set everyone up for success and be competitive? Maybe that is the way we need to look at all this; set us up for success.  Anyway, I digress.  I took my penalty at the end of the third loop right before transition, by this time I was in 3rd on the bike.  Once I was in the tent the other female pro who I was with in the group came in too, why the others didn’t get one-who knows.  I sat my 4 minutes in the box and then finished the bike into T2 to start the run.

Due to the penalty I started the run in 6th place about 13 minutes down from first.  As I started the run I noticed I had some sort of asthma thing going on.  My lungs were killing me, my chest hurt like crazy and when I spoke I sounded like I had smoked all day.  I have never experienced anything like that and I can only think of it must of been from breathing so hard on the bike or it was the dry air and pollution.  I started out conservative so I was able to work through the asthma.  Nutritionally I was not feeling so good and my plan I had originally set in place was not working.  I had to stop at a porta potty on the first loop and then by mile 12 I was on coke and water only.  One more porta potty stop after that and I was feeling more normal and could get into my groove.  From mile 16-17 on I would try and pick up my paces and I was able to pick off a few more spots and get myself into 4th place.  I was told 3rd was within range and I kept picking up my pace little by little and I was taking time back as spectators through out the course were giving me splits.  By the time I got to the finish line I was 1 minute out of 3rd with a time of 9:21- a PR by 6 minutes.

I was very tired when I finished; I really just wanted to go to sleep.  I ran hard thinking I needed to finish going for that third place spot all the way to the end and emotionally this was a big race for me.  See, when I went to Kona this year I knew that was going to be my last race; my swan song; my final Ironman of my professional career.  But when I was DQ’d I just felt going out like that did not seem right so Arizona came into play.  But getting “up” for Arizona was hard, very hard.  I did a good job for quite some time but the last few weeks before the race were tough.  What got me through those last few weeks was the belief that I had a good chance to go out with my first ever Ironman win but a PR is where it will end.  I had a good day but not the day I thought I could have.  I am not making excuses for my performance, we all had the same conditions, it is just a matter of how we dealt with it on race day.  I did the best I could that day and that is what I have to be proud of.

My first pro race was in 1998 and it was an Olympic distance race in Arizona.  My last pro race is an Ironman distance race in Arizona some 11 years later.  The first time I ever qualified for Kona was in 1997 as a 25-29 age group triathlete and I turned it down.  The last time I qualified for Kona was in Arizona in November of 2009 as a professional triathlete and I  turned it down.  These are not ironies I thought of prior to the race they are just parallels that I realized as I am wrapping up this chapter in my life.  Coincidence? I think not.  Pretty funny how we can come full circle with out even knowing it.

Let it Go,

Gina Kehr

My next blog post will be my Victory Speech I have always wanted to write on my career as professional triathlete and what lies ahead.