What a weekend! Since we live in Lexington and didn’t want to pay another $200 a night at the Seelbach, Gary and I decided to drive up on Friday to check in, and drive back Friday night. We saved money, but it led to a stressful Saturday morning for me. I didn’t get to the Gatorade swim like I wanted to. After a little bit of an emotional meltdown Gary and I got on our bikes to spin out the legs a bit. I’m pretty lucky to have such a forgiving and patient husband. After a little ride and a little run I was feeling much better. We got our bikes checked in, grabbed some food and headed to the hotel to pack our special needs bags and put our feet up for the rest of the evening.
I woke up Sunday morning feeling well rested but really nervous. We had decided that with the time trial start being first come first serve we would not worry about where in the line we ended up. As we were walking to the end of the line we ran into Ron Shashy who I had swam with a few weeks prior at the YMCA open water swim at Cave Run Lake. He promptly placed me in line in front of him in hopes of catching a ride on my draft for the swim, not that he needed it one bit. It didn’t seem like the others in line minded that we jumped in (at least I hope they didn’t). The race started and I was surprised at how quickly we made our way down to the water and started. I jumped in and lost Ron immediately. So much for our master plan. The swim course is 1/3 out against the current and 2/3 back in with the current. I took it easy going out, and felt really good. I checked my watch after the turn around and it read under 22 min which I was happy with since my effort low and it was supposed to be against the current. As soon as I turned around I swam a little wide towards the middle of the river to try to catch the current some. After a few minutes I started feeling really nauseous. The more I swam the more nauseous I felt. The more nauseous I felt the angrier I got. I could not believe I was getting sick in the swim! I had never DNF’d a race and it was going to happen after the swim, are you kidding me?!? Nine months of training and I’m not even going to get on my bike?!? I went through hot and cold spells, tried not to throw up in the water, and what seemed like forever, floated back in to the shore. I made it up the stairs out of the water and walked to transition. I saw Jeff and Neeley and told them I wasn’t feeling well. Jeff said “you’ll be fine!” which is maybe what I needed to hear. I decided to keep walking and see how I felt. Surprisingly the more I walked the better I felt. I got my transition bag, sat down and started to put my shoes and helmet on. I was feeling so much better – I couldn’t believe it! The river had been a little choppy and since the nausea disappeared almost immediately once I hit land I am assuming it was just motion sickness. I’ve never had that happen before, but it sure felt good to be sitting on my bike. I swam about 5-8 min slower than I thought I was going to, but at this point I was just glad the nausea was gone.
The crowd at transition was incredible and I was starting to feel a lot better about my race. I turned my Garmin on before I got on my bike and I was happy to see my heart rate below 150. Gary and I had decided a few days before on a HR cap of 150 for at least the first 87 miles. I thought this was going to be a lot harder than it actually was. The first part of the bike is the most challenging and the biggest hill is in the first 20 miles or so. However, so is the longest descent. I kept my cadence high up the hills, and tried to take full advantage of the down hills. I knew the first part of the ride would be the slowest, and the mph read around 17 for a long time. I had been hoping for 17.5 overall for the day. I stayed with my plan of a 150 HR cap and convinced myself that feeling good was much more important than going fast. Gary passed me on the out and back part of the course. It was really nice to see be able to see him for a little bit. After some exchanged words of encouragement, he was off. The course was beautiful once we got out of town. The gorgeous rolling landscape almost made me forget that I was racing. I was really enjoying the ride. Lagrange was so awesome. The crowd was so uplifting and loud! We went through the town twice and both times I felt like someone in the crowd handed me a new pair of legs. Throughout the ride I saw my average increase to 17.5. This made me happy, especially because I felt so great. I got to mile 87 and since I was on pace and feeling great, I decided to continue at the same effort. I had thought about pushing a little harder, but I kept thinking that the more I save now the more I will have for the run. The last 25 miles or so of the course are pretty flat, and downhill. All I wanted to do was keep my 17.5mph average and finish feeling good. Then something happened that I did not anticipate. I had feared a headwind for the last 25 miles like we had when we rode the course a few months earlier. So even with the fast road, the wind made it so my effort had to increase to keep pace. However, we had no headwind! I kept my effort the same, and watched as the numbers crept up to 17.6, 17.7…all the way to 18.0. I got off the bike in 6:13. I couldn’t have been happier.
I took my time through transition, and figured out what I needed to do on the run to do a sub 12 hour Ironman. All I needed to do was a 4:28 marathon! I could do that! I had planned on trying for a 9:30-9:45 min/mile pace, but since I had so much of a buffer from the bike I decided to go for 10 min/mile pace for the first half and really enjoy the race. I came out of transition and saw my girls, Kirstin and Jill. They were so motivating! It was really hard to slow myself down to a 10 min mile for the first 4-5 miles. I kept falling into a 9:15-9:30 pace. I felt so good, but I knew I needed to conserve. The run course was a blast, especially around town. Once you got farther out on the out and back it was pretty quiet and a little tough to stay motivated. Coming back in to town on the first loop was great. Seeing the girls gave me just the spark I needed. The turn around on the first loop is right by the finish line which is kind of tough, but I was feeling so good I honestly didn’t care too much. I worked on keeping my heart rate in the 140s and at a 9:45-10 min mile I was right around 139-141 the whole time. I enjoyed seeing everyone on the run course. I saw Royden first, then eventually saw almost everyone, Gary, Tyson, Rodney, Paula, Saori, Alan. It was great, and everyone looked so good. On my way back to town just after mile 20 I got to see Beth for a bit and she gave me some great motivation. I was pretty sure I was going to make it, but I know that in a marathon, especially an Ironman, it’s not over until it’s over. I kept on pace, allowing myself to walk a little extra at each aid station. I felt really good that I never had to walk except at the aid stations. It was probably the best I have ever felt during a marathon. It actually went by pretty fast. Once I got to mile 23 I started to hurt. I was grateful the hurt/fatigue held off until then. By that time I didn’t even care, I was almost done! As I came back into town it was hard to hold my excitement in. The crowd, the girls, 4th Street…it was extraordinary. The only thing I regret about my finish is how quickly it was over. I sort of wish I had taken my time coming down the finish line. I still can’t believe I broke 12 hours! To top it all off, Mike Reilly, the ‘voice of Ironman’ was there, and as I came down the finish line I heard his voice, “Nikki Ditsch from Lexington, Kentucky…YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!” I just love hearing those words.
All week I had played around with the numbers and I figured that everything had to be perfect for me to go under 12 hours. Going 11:55 feels that much sweeter especially considering it wasn’t the perfect day (swim). I have to admit, I still can’t help but smile when I think about that race. What an amazing day!
Results:
Time: 11:55:24, Overall Place: 716, Division Place: 25
Swim time: 1:09:44, Overall Place: 323, Division Place: 17
T1: 5:58
Bike time: 6:13:43, Overall Place: 1102, Division Place: 24
T2 3:44
Run time: 4:22:14, Overall Place: 803, Division Place: 30
