Joz's Ironman Arizona Race Report - Nov. 2010

A very late Ironman Arizona Race Report by, JOZEEE

What you ask am I doing writing this now?? Well it has been 8 months and the other day when I ran for the first time since my surgery I could not believe I had done an Ironman only 8 months ago. Below is the last paragraph of my Ironman Canada 2009 race report. I printed it off to show a newbie triathlete and decided to read it and boy I realized the last paragraph was the start of my IMA report:

“
. A special thank you to Cindy for the beautiful flowers, Kelvin for your words of wisdom, Angie for getting me to the start and always being there, John for your undying patience, Hope for keeping me company on long rides, Caroline and Nola for always listening and my family who did get up at 4 in the morning and were there every moment of my day. I truly believe I am still on my Ironman journey and I will finish it next time. I will take all the positives from IMC this year and all that I learned to my next IM. What an amazing team we have, we are all so blessed.”

So After Canada I went to Arizona with Nola in November and watched and volunteered to see if this would be my next IM. I needed to finish my journey and if that meant it was to be in Arizona than so be it. That Monday morning I registered for Ironman Arizona. My confidence renewed, my determination to succeed and my desire to be an Ironman was set in motion.

I got right back to training as soon as I got home and put my nose to the grind with nutrition. Angie and I discussed the plan and my goals for 2010 with much enthusiasm. I believe we both felt this would be a good year for me. I raced every month starting in April, either a run and or a triathlon. I raced right up to Banff in September. The other 4 girls and I put a lot of miles on our bikes taking advantage of every sunny day. I did the IM camp in July and road the IM Canada course with Cindy and Carla in August. We were able to bike outside right up until the week before we left for Arizona. Loved it.

I headed to Arizona with Stephanie and now X-husband 5 days prior to race day. The condo was beautiful and It was great staying with Trish and Jim. They are wonderful room mates and Jim was good for Kelly. Steph and I enjoyed some light shopping but most of it was pre-rides, swims and light runs with the girls. I fell in love with the bike
Route and felt confident this ride would be good if the weather gods cooperated.

I woke up race day at 4am. Trish and I enjoyed breakfast and coffee together and than we dragged the family to the race start. I was nervous but not like I was at Canada. Angie called me and said it was going to be windy. She said to keep a steady effort and not to give into temptation to go harder and blow up on the run. Excellent advice I would later find out. I Found my bike, pumped the tires, layed everything out, got body marked. I even ate my banana 1 hour from race start, had a gel on the way to the swim. Linda Vandyke stuck with me and kept promising she would get me thru. Her and Cindy were the 2 people I saw thru every part of my day and always told me to keep going.



The swim start was serene. Still dark, cold water and hard to see anything out there. Not good for someone with bad depth percecption. Under the bridge Linda tried to drown me when she hugged me to keep warm. Hard when your treading water. All I kept thinking
Was how am I going to start my watch and tread? You couldn’t hear the countdown or anything and before I knew it the gun went. It was mass caos. People were banging me, hitting me, pulling at me. Bastards!! I just put my elbows out and thought every man for himself. The first half was ok but I was cold. Especially my legs. The booties were full of water and felt weighted down but they were not mine so couldn’t chuck them. Before the first turn I had my first cramps. Both legs, and bad. So bad I yelled Kyak. Hold on, massage, relax, go again. Second cramps just starting back. Same! Yell kyak, massage, relax, go. Third time about 750 to go. I looked at my watch and thought crap. I was at the same time I had actually finished Canada swim. Well get it done and try not to cramp. Not like I could, but maybe mentally I could….lol Finally crawled out at 1:57. Geesh that was disappointing, I let it go. That part was done. But now I was out I actually felt ok. I ran to the change tent.

I was so excited to get on my bike. I felt good, strong and relaxed. I got going on the bike and went thru all my plans. I had 5 bottles of infinit, 1 water, honey bee waffles, gels for 1 per hour. It was windy but Angie’s words “stay steady” played in my head. I kept my HR steady and tried to maintain that. At the end of the first loop it was raining and I was so excited because after a hot Canada this was a breath of fresh air. I could handle the wind better than the heat. The rain did something to my computer and I had to stop and try and fix. All I had was cadence but I could work with that. I think it happened for a reason too. If I had speed and time I would have probably tried to keep it up instead of my steady effort. So its true “all things happen for a reason”. The second loop was a bit harder and fighting the wind was frustrating at times but we got some breaks when we turned. Loop 2 done. Going into the third loop it rained two more times. I was looking forward to the tail wind coming back but it turned and I was fighting it again. I stopped at special needs and grabbed my gingerale that was still slushy. That came with me and was sooooo good. By then that’s all I wanted. I did get my gels in on the hour, and my infinit too. I kept my effort steady and even though I knew It was slower I would be ok for the run. It was actually the swim that lost me 25 minutes for the run. Angie and I were hoping for 7 ½ hours for the run.

When I started running it was 5:10 ish. I new I had to pull this run out of my ass and had to push thru some discomfort. It felt good to run. I don’t even remember running at Canada. This day was different. No gut issues, no nausea..yeahhh. I yelled “I’m running as I left transition” That in itself was amazing for me. The first lap I made up a bit of time and felt good. When I started the second lap my stomach was a bit gurgly. I had to stop and pee than stop and well all the food on the bike needed to evacuate my body. That took some time. It also made it difficult to eat anything, so I chewed on ice the rest of the second loop. Start of the third loop was a “HOLY SHIT, WAKE UP, GET MOVING” moment. I didn’t have a lot of time and I realized what was going to happen if I didn’t reach down inside myself. Nola offered to run with me but I was scared of being DQ’d and only realized a bit later everyone at that point had friends and family running with them. Sorry Nola! You know you were in my heart. A fellow I had met said to stay with him and we would make it. He would pass me on the flats and I would pass him on the hills. Yah I passed him on the hills…lol I could always see him. Allison and Kelly met me on the other side at about 5 km and they were surprised to see me. They said I had really picked up the pace. They ran with me back over the canal and Kelly stayed at transition and Stephanie my daughter who doesn’t run joined Allison and I. She said “Mom if I can do this so can you”. Funny thing was is I knew I could do it. There was moments of oh forget it just quit, just walk but an old familiar disappointment and embarrassment of IMC would pop up. I needed to do this more than anything. This meant so much to me. Stephanie got behind going up the hill in the park and Allison had to remind me that I wasn’t a mom at this point and had to let go of her. She would be fine. Steph managed to find short cuts and catch up. Allison just kept pushing me and helping me to stay in the moment and fight. To be light and quick on my toes. Angie’s text to Kelly saying tell her to tell me too dig deep and do whatever it took to finish this race went thru my head. All my friends and family back home praying for me to finish and sending positive strong thoughts. You were all on my shoulders. As I came off the last bridge I asked the guy how much further. He said 3 Km. I only had 20 minutes to finish which meant less than 7 min km. Ouch!! Ally yelled to tuck in behind her and focus on her IMC finisher jacket. Sue Daniels was there yelling go, go, go. Angie says to keep going, go hard. I had cramps in my feet, my legs had no feeling, my jaw hurt from clenching, my abs hurt, my hands were like sausages, I felt horrible. I tried to stop once just for a second and Sue yelled “DON’T YOU STOP, I PROMISED ANGIE I WOULD GET YOU IN”. So I kept running. I was crying it hurt so bad. Ally said after she would go faster and look and I was still there, she would go faster and I was still there. I did that last 3km in 17:32. That means I ran the last 3km of my Ironman at a 5:50 km. I don’t run that doing speed work. All the way along people were yelling, you have 18 minutes, 15, 13, 12, minutes. Finally one guy yelled you still have 10 minutes your going to make it. Ally had people join in behind so they would finish too. As I came under the last bridge there was everyone who had been there thru this journey with me. Nola who had been there every step of the way, Scott and Cindy who had also raced and came to be there for me and of course Chris hobbling along behind me trying to keep up, giving Angie a play by play of my finish, (Angie you have no idea how much you were there, I felt you every step of the way and you were the first person I talked too and cried with.), and my amazing daughter who ran the last 8km with me and kept me going, Linda Vandyke waiting to hug me and take me for a massage. The Finish. Wow! People yelling, banging, cow bells, the announcer “JOANNE ZAWADA YOU ARE AN IRONMAN”. Wow!
It is all worth it. It is amazing. The most fulfilling, gratifying thing I have ever done in my life. If I forgot anyone I am so sorry, know you were all there, John Bosma my confidant, friend and supporter, Tara supporter and payed it back lending me that amazing helmet and knowing my song at the end was “I’ve had the time of my life” Sarah and Kelvin for always listening and saying the right things, Linda for all your words of encouragement, Carla, Cindy, Trish and Paddy for miles and miles and miles on the bike and so much fun training. Will I do another one? Probably. But not right now….lol