Congratulations to U25 athlete Izzy on a 2nd-place AG finish and 70.3 World Champs qualification at IM 70.3 Florida! We’re so proud of you, Izzy!!
I think the biggest lesson from this race was how to navigate the uncontrollables. I consider myself a bit of a control freak and it makes me really anxious when things don't go as planned. The night before every race I often ruminate over everything that could go wrong that's completely outside of my control. Until this race, I was lucky enough to avoid those circumstances but the Florida 70.3 was a new challenge.
Going into the race, I had been feeling under the weather all week with a headache and congestion. Nothing serious but I was so worried that my body wasn't ready for what I was going to put it through. I was nervous about that to begin with and then the moment I jumped into the water the left side of my goggles filled with water. I quickly suctioned it and no more water leaked but it resulted in a half-blind swim with my left eye shut the entire time while I navigated the complex M-shaped course with my right eye. A minute later, someone clocked me in the head and I started seeing stars. I had a momentary panic attack that I wasn't going to be able to complete the swim at all and the whole race would be a failure. I talked myself out of it though and was able to recover into a rhythmic stroke. However, these three misfortunes just added to my initial anxiety and made the start of my race extremely stressful.
From the swim to the bike I was feeling really strong. My bike felt so speedy compared to the last race and I was gaining confidence watching my pace climb steadily. I got to 20 mph and felt like I could sustain it forever. It was also such a beautiful course and I found myself smiling the whole time as I whizzed past beautiful orange trees and beaches. 20 miles in I got a notification on my watch that it had 10% battery remaining and started freaking out again. How did it not charge all night?? I was so mad at myself for such a careless mistake and worried that my entire race strategy would be thrown off as a result. I wasn't going to know how often to fuel or what my pace and heart rate were. So I decided that this was an opportunity to make friends with everyone I encountered on the course and rely on their Garmins to gauge how I was doing. It ended up kind of being a blessing in disguise because I got to talk to so many people on the course and learn about their backgrounds. I was amazed by how fast the bike went by because instead of fixating on my pace and miles I was just chatting with people and enjoying the ride.
At mile 50 we hit a rough pavement section and it knocked my water bottle cage off and I dropped a chain. I had to pull over to the side of the road and frantically fix my chain praying that it was only a chain and nothing more serious. Luckily it was fixed in a matter of minutes and I spent those last 6 miles praying that I would just make it to the end without any more issues.
Moving into the run, I could immediately feel how unsustainably high my heart rate was. Since I didn’t have a watch, I had nothing to gauge my pace or HR off but I knew it was probably way too high (turned out I was at 185 which makes sense...) Again, I decided this was my chance to pick a new friend to pace off of and I found a friendly triathlete from Florida who ran by my side the entire way. I was aiming for a 7'15'' to 7'30'' pace but once we hit the first hill at mile 2 and the temperature climbed to 85 degrees I knew this was not going to happen. It was SO HOT I felt like I was going to pass out every time I picked up the pace. So I gave up on pace entirely and just put my head down trying to survive one minute at a time. I had to stop at every single aid station to put ice in my jersey and dump water on my head. This was the hardest mental battle I've experienced in any race. The entire time by mind was telling me to stop as my HR and body temp kept climbing. Usually the run hurts physically but I've never struggled this much with my internal dialogue before. Having my new friend by my side was a saving grace because I kept telling myself that as long as he kept running I would stick with him. We were in it together. Every 3 miles we would fist bump and force a gel down our throats with a gag but it really helped having someone to get me out of my head and hold me accountable with my fueling strategy.
By the second half of the run, everyone was suffering. Most people were walking or slowing down a ton but it was pretty amazing seeing how high the energy on that course stayed throughout the physical pain. Everyone was cheering each other on and it was the most positive community of racers I've seen. It felt like trauma bonding in a way as we all laughed about our long lost PR goals and just put one foot in front of the other to get to the finish line. The last mile I emptied the tank and got my pace down to 6'10'' as I sprinted through the finish with my mom waiting for me in the distance. The whole run I had been picturing that moment of crossing the finish line and collapsing into a ball and I have to say it really did feel amazing. I fell to the ground right at the finish line and didn't get back up for a while as I tried to slow down my breathing.
I honestly still had no idea how the race went because I wasn't tracking my pace or overall time at all but the second I saw my mom she cheered "YOU GOT SECOND MY GIRL!" and gave me a huge hug. This was the best surprise ever and finding out that I beat my goal was the best reward that any athlete could ask for. I went into this race aiming for 5.5 hrs and 5th place and beat that goal by quite a bit. I stuck around for the awards ceremony and slot roll downs and was given the only spot in my age group to compete at the Ironman World Championships in New Zealand in 2024! Despite everything that happened along the way, I am really happy with how the race turned out and SO EXCITED to compete in New Zealand.
Putting this race into perspective, I think it was really good for me that it didn't go exactly as I hoped. I learned how to work around obstacles and not stress out when there are bumps in my ultra precise strategy. I am confident that I will go into my next race so much less anxious because this race proved to me that I CAN handle anything that comes my way. And I firmly believe that there are truly no bad things, just good content and good plot. All my (relatively minor) misfortunes weren't bad things, they were good content that gave me some laughs afterwards, new friends, and a good story to tell. I will carry this lesson into my life outside of triathlon and tackle life challenges or seemingly bad luck with the same perspective.