Lavaman Race Results!!!

Get Your Own!

This is long, so if you want the very short summary, scroll down to the bottom of this.

It's been over a month since I completed my third triathlon and I know this is bit overdue but it's better late than never, right? So Lavaman was incredible. After a five month training and fundraising season, I was more than ready to head to Hawaii and conquer the 1-mile swim, 25-mile bike and 6.2 mile run! Here's how it went:

Before the Race:
The night before the race, I had meticulously packed and arranged all my race gear for the morning. We got up at 4:45am, had breakfast, and met everyone at the hotel lobby. I felt prepared, but had a headache and wasn't feeling too good for some reason. At first I didn’t know what it was, but soon figured it out. I won’t tell you what it was but let's just say it was a slight deterrent for the race.

Setting up my transition area

Our whole team rode to the transition area where we keep our gear/bike to transition between events. There I set up everything, got body marked, which came off. I had to redo the body marking, put on sunscreen, and use the bathroom.

The race started at 7:30 sharp and we were meeting at 7:05 for our team picture. After I was all set up I looked at my watch and it was 6:50am and I hadn't even warmed up yet!! I kind of freaked out, but decided to just go for a 10 min run. Coach recommended warming up for at least 20 minutes, but oh well, I had no choice. I had lost track of time. I did my warm up and ran to do the team picture.
After the team picture, Coach does a meditation exercise where he walks us through the whole event with our eyes closed. This really helps us calm down and helps you believe you can actually do it! As he was doing the meditation, I felt anxious to get in the water and warm-up, since I wasn't very warmed up.

The Swim
All pros and men started at 7:30 and all women started at 7:35am. The men went off and before I knew it was 30 seconds to the women’s start.

I was in the water, trying to figure out where the heck to place myself between 300 something women. I'm not a fast swimmer so I didn't want to get run over but I also didn't want to be slowed down by others so as I was trying to get my goggles on right, the gun went off!!! At this point it didn't matter where I was, I just had to swim!
Now, if you've never seen a triathlon swim start, this is literally what it feels like:

The women are especially vicious. I was kicked in the face, and someone actually managed to punch me in the head! Another girl kicked her feet up in the air as I was drafting off of her. I got so mad that I actually grabbed her foot. I guess what I'm trying to say is a triathlon swim is not like a leisurely swim in the pool. You're trying to fight your way between people and people are swimming past you, kicking you and hands are flying everywhere.

Believe it or not, I was completely calm through all of this. I had my earplugs on and I just focused on my stroke and breathing. I kept my rhythm and enjoyed the beautiful water. I actually saw a huge sea turtle below me. The darn thing slowed me down, cause I was trying to look at it!

The swim was two loops around the buoys. Here's a picture of the swim. You can sort of see the swim path. We had to go around it twice, making one mile.
Now, like I said the swim portion is usually not my favorite, but I was amazed at how good I felt throughout the whole thing. I usually freak out and need to stop to take a breath, but I didn't stop once. Actually I did stop once, because my goggles were leaking, but other than that I felt great!

Swim to Bike transition:
When I got out of the water and realized my swim time was not what I wanted it to be, I was bummed. In my time trials, I knew I could do a 34-minute swim or better. My swim time was over 37 minutes. Realizing this kind of bummed me out, but I just told myself I would make it up on the bike!

I ran as quickly as I could to the transition area. According to Ryan's stats I passed 35 people in the transition area. I saw a lot of bikes gone in the transition area. Agh! That means a lot of people were on the bike already. "I'll catch up," I thought. I put my sunscreen, singlet, socks, bike shoes, sunglasses and helmet on, grabbed my bike and ran out for the bike portion! This transition took me 3 minute, 47 seconds. (This is calculated from the time you get out of the water to the time you get on your bike.)
Transition area

The Bike
My strength and favorite part of the race! To be honest, I wasn't too excited about the bike course because it seemed boring and not very picturesque, not to mention windy and very hot! But, it was part of the Ironman World Championship course which made it exciting!

I thought I wouldn't like the bike portion, but I actually loved it!! The beginning portion was tough. It felt windy and hilly, but I soon gained my rhythm and strength and started passing people. I think I passed a group of 20 people going up a hill. This really lifted my spirit so I kept on pumping hard. I knew it wasn't the best idea, but I had to make up for my swim!

This is the view of the bike course. It kind of feels like you're on the moon, but still very pretty.

I don't think anyone passed me for a long time, until this girl with a purple singlet (another Team In Training person) from Los Angeles, also with a Cannondale bike came zooming by me!
"Oh, I'm gonna keep up with her!" I love having someone to pace off of. It motivates me to keep my speed and energy high. Well, I passed her. Then she passed me. I passed her. It became a passing act and a race! I love and hate that :)

I made some comment to her like, " It must be the Cannondales racing." She laughed and we became racing buddies. We kept on racing and after the aid station, I sped in front of her and lost her. But I was still passing tons of people (according to the stats, I passed 112 people). I felt great! I was passing people and making up for my swim. But, there was one problem. How was I gonna run a 10K after pushing so hard on the bike?! "Just do it. You'll be fine," I thought.

Now the bike was not boring as I had thought. But it was HOT! I was constantly pouring water on my head (3 bottles). I took 2 1/2 energy gels and two bottles of Gatorade filled with salt tabs (to prevent dehydration and cramping). It was so hot that I wanted to drink more water, but I knew it wouldn't feel good in my stomach once I started running. I decided to lay off the water and gels and let it all digest in the last 7 miles.

Bike Course

I was cruising and passing more people and finally the turn came, where I knew it was ending. "I gotta stretch my legs," I thought. So the last half-mile or so, I got up on my bike and stretched out my legs. They were tight! But when I got off and started running they were fine! The stretching worked. woooh! My bike time was 1:19:44, almost 10 minutes faster than Pac Grove Triathlon. I was very happy with my bike time.

Bike to Run transition
I ran in with my bike. Coach Gurujan and Dave cheered me on as I stacked my bike, changed into my running shoes, and grabbed my hat and water bottle. I was out in 1 min, 5 secs.

The Run
The first part of the run was on lava and there was an aid station right at the start. I already had some water in my water bottle, but it was warm! As I approached the aid station, I poured it out and yelled, "Give me some cold water!" I got my water and poured it on my head. It felt so good!

I ran through the lava portion and up a small hill and into a cul-de-sac. I did the first mile in less than 8 minutes! This is fast for me. The second mile was much slower, I think about 11 minutes and then I picked up some speed through the rest of the race. It was hot out there, but there were plenty of aid stations with water and ice. There was also energy drinks, gels and fruit, but I just wanted water and ice to pour on myself. I filled up my hat with ice at every aid station and filled up my water with cold water, which I would pour on myself until the next station. It was so hot that I almost felt dry at the next aid station!

Aid Station

Now, the run is always hard. Not just for me, but for everyone. You've already swam a mile, biked 25 miles, so your body is tired and the heat doesn't help either. Now surprisingly, I felt pretty good on the run. I can't tell you how awesome it is to see your teammates out there, cheering you on and saying your name as you’re passing each other. It really motivates me and helps me to continue. I can't imagine not doing the race with a team. It really makes it so fun!
There was one major hill on the run, which I managed to run up (many people walked). The rest of the course was partly on concrete, and the last two miles was on coral rock, gravel and sand. Now this was challenging, not only because it was hard to keep your speed, but I was trying not to fall! But I loved it! It was absolutely gorgeous!! Here are some pictures of the run course.




To the Finish Line:
Even though I couldn't wait for the finish line, I was actually enjoying the race and feeling strong until the last quarter mile, which is entirely on soft sand.

If you've ever ran on sand, you know it's challenging. Well, it's even more challenging when you've swam, biked and are trying to run as fast as you can to the finish line!

It really helped to have people making encouraging comments. One lady was telling her husband, "She's got a great pace going!" Another guy told me I looked strong, while another man made a comment about Team In Training.

"You have no idea what a positive image you're leaving for everyone," he said.

I gotta say this guy's comment carried me to the finish line. I ran with full force and saw some teammates cheering me on!

I made it to the FINISH LINE!!

ACTUAL TIME: 3:03:22

The feeling of crossing the finish line cannot be explained in words. It's a huge sense of accomplishment and you feel like someone injected you with whole bunch of self-confidence. But most of all, you feel happy that you have completed the goal you have been working towards for the last five months. You have raised money for a good cause and you ran in honor of those who can't or won't (because they think they can't).
Now these are all the emotional feelings. The physical feelings are much different. I felt like I was hit by a truck and had to run home in the desert. But I was done, and to the right of me is where I had started, the beautiful water. I took off my shoes and went in the water.

My Results:

Here are my results for Lavaman 2007 in Kona, Hawaii.

Swim Time: 0:37:33
T1*: 0:03:47
Bike Time: 1:19:45
T2**: 0:01:05
Run Time: 1:01:16
Finish Time: 3:03: 22

*T1:Time it took me to run to the transition area and change into my bike gear and get to the bike start line.
**T2:Time it took me to put my bike away, get out of my bike gear and get ready for the run.

Averages
Average swim pace: 0:02:21 per 100 yards
Average bike pace: 18.7 MPH
Average run pace: 9:53/mile

Ranking:
Swim rank: 43/69 in my age group 462/606 overall
Bike rank: 12/69 in my age group 252/606 overall
Run rank: 25/69 in my age group 313/606 overall
Overall Rank: 21/69 in my age group 307/606 overall

What does all this mean? I was strong on the bike, not so strong on the swim, and average on the run. I was 21st overall out of 69 women in my age group. I was 307th out of all men and women in the race (606).

My improvement from my last race was 15 minutes! Most of the time was made up on the bike and transitions. I also improved my swim and run by about two minutes.

I was so shocked at my time and very pleased with my improvement. I wasn't sure what my time was going to be, but I was expecting anywhere between 3 hours and 3 1/2 hours, so I was extremely happy with my time, although I was still slightly disappointed with my swim time. I know if there weren’t so many people around me, I could have knocked at least three minutes off my time. But there's always next time!

SHORT SUMMARY:
Lavaman was absolutely amazing! It is such a great race and I felt so much better than my last triathlon. I guess because I knew what I was doing more. The swim was beautiful, 70 degrees and crystal clear. I felt calm and strong throughout the whole thing. I wasn’t completely happy with my swim time, but I made up for it on the bike. I had a great bike race and was happy with my time. I always have so much fun on the bike portion. The run was HOT and tough, but I kept cool with ice and water. It was so beautiful that I almost forgot I was doing a race. I crossed the finish line pretty strong and with a 15 minute improvement from last year. My finish time was 3 hours, 3 minutes, 22 secs. I was 21st out of 69 women in my age group. It was a blast!

Thanks everyone for all your love and support! I couldn't have done this without the support of my friends, family, teammates and Coaches.

Love,
Nafiseh / Alana