News & Reviews

Ironman makes you stronger. This race, maybe more than my other 4 ironmans, definitely tested my mental and physical strength. I crashed on my bike 3 weeks before the race, landing hard on my back, making it too painful to run for 2 weeks. I did my best to accept it, stay positive and move on...kind of like things that may happen during the ironman...

Here's my story of Ironman World Championships 2009, enjoy!

When I arrived on the Big Island on Sunday night (after a very long day that started at 5am), the airport had lost both my bike and my checked luggage, ugh. Another test to my mental strength. "A good omen by Madame Pele", is what I was told by another passenger waiting for his luggage. (Lesson #1 learned - pack underwear, phone charger, and other necessities in carry on!) My luggage and bike arrived the next day, thank goodness!

Race week I felt pretty anxious and started having doubts about my fitness seeing the most ridiculously lean and muscular age groupers and pros running and biking up and down Alii Drie all week. Then on Thursday we had a Mark Allen team breakfast where both Mark and Luis gave us pep talks on mental tactics and race strategies and I felt much better and more just excited for race day, which is the state of mind I like being in. I attended the pre race banquet on Thursday night, where they highlighted a few inspiring racers, including Rudy Garcia-Tolson, who would be the first bilateral above knee amputee to finish the ironman and would be using solely glutes to do the entire 112 mile bike ride.  "A brave heart is a powerful weapon" is his mantra. Very inspiring, and I recited his mantra a few times to myself before and during the race. Rudy ended up just missing the bike cutoff but swam a smoking fast 1:05 and will finish ironman next time.

2.4 mile Swim. Finished in 1:03, which is 1 minute slower than last year and not great, but I tried to stay relaxed and calm for most of the swim since I knew I had a long day ahead! Got out of the water and got a light spray of sun block on my back only (Lesson #2 learned-make sure to use the sun block lotion, and lather it on before and after the swim!!!).

112 mile Bike. Started off feeling good, and tried to pace well and take it easy even though guys were blowing by me. Then I noticed on hills that every time I tried shifting to the lowest gear on both my small and big chainrings, it would slip three or four gears higher. So, for the entire 112 miles, to use any of the lower gears (which you definitely need A LOT on this course) I had to hold them in place by either climbing in the aero position or holding one hand on the gear and one had on the handlebar (thank goodness for no crosswinds). For those of you who know my biking skills, I don't need any help making hills harder to climb, ha! The winds were at our back for most of the way out, but it was HOT! I was downing my fluids much faster than I had planned, but was thankful I decided to pack an extra bottle of Fluid Energizer in my special needs bag.  I went through 5 bottles of fluid energizer and a bottle of water in less than 4 hours. About 10 miles before Hawi we hit some head winds, but not the scary crosswinds we encountered last year so I was happy. I thought this could be an easy bike leg this year, no crosswinds! Hit the turnaround and grabbed my special needs, only to have the bottle launch out of my rear cage a few miles down the road so I was forced to drink gatorade the last 2 hours of the bike (Lesson #3 learned - put valuable bottles of FE on front cage). After the turnaround we had about 10 fun miles of tailwind, then the work started - relentless headwinds on the Queen K the entire way to Kona. My hopes for an easy bike ride diminished as it seemed to take an eternity to get to each of the last few 5 mile markers. I started feeling lower on energy (probably because I lost my drink mix), and became more and more frustrated with the shifting (or lack thereof), and dropped my chain at one point after it slipped out of gear. I was so ready to be done with the bike ride! Finished in 6:28.

26.2 mile Run. Started off feeling ok, just glad to be off the bike. It was very hot, but I was hitting sub 9 minute miles and putting ice in my hat, grabbing cold sponges, and alternating gatorade and water and gels. Once I reached mile 8 or 9 I started slowing a bit, but was still running 9-10 minute miles. After 13 I began just putting one foot in front of the other, telling myself to just keep running no matter how slow it is, just no walking. I wasn't sure what I needed so I started alternating coke and water, grabbed soup at one point, pretzels, and took a salt tab or two. I saw coach Luis before the Energy lab and slapped his hand and he told me I felt very dry and needed to drink, so I stuck to water and gatorade for a while. My no walking plan lasted until mile 20, then I was forced to a walk because I felt like my legs would give out if I tried to run. It was almost laughable because I was debating whether my shuffle was faster than my power walk, I couldn't tell. I never considered crawling or laying down for a little nap until this ironman. I do think I lost some run fitness during my time off after the bike crash, and think this may have contributed to feeling so bad in the second half of the marathon. I just felt like I wasn't trained up enough for the marathon. I got passed late in the run by a guy with one arm, which put my race into perspective (complaining about having to hold my shifter into place with one hand, etc.....suck it up, Lindsay!). Finished in 5:18.

My final time was 12:58, which was 2 hours slower than my goal time. As the President of Ironman said at the Awards Banquet, Ironman isn't about the time you cross it's about the experience and living your life to the fullest. You gotta love it and have passion for it because it's definitely not always easy. Even though I did not have the race I was hoping for, I still got to compete among the best athletes in the world at the most beautiful place in the world. I am grateful everyday for this amazing sport and for the awesome and inspiring athletes I meet through it. And I hope that this year was just training for years to come at Kona, where I hope to race stronger and faster and finish in the top of my age group!

Thank you to Cary Craig, my support on race day and race week. I don't know what I would've done without you, especially at the finish! And thanks to all the other Mark Allen athletes there- I loved seeing everyone out on the course! Thanks to Luis and Mark of Mark Allen Online, the best coaches in the world. And thanks again for all those who donated to my trip and MS Society, especially Performance Fitness Training and Hershey Pediatric Ophthalmologist. And lastly, thanks to my family and James, for supporting me through a long racing and training season, I couldn't have done it without you! MAHALO!

Lindsay Zemba - Team Mark Allen Online