Race Coverage

Impatience and an XL cap...

Wednesday, 10 December 2014 00:10

By Nicole Heininger

Ironman Cozumel Race Report - Part I -  To start, I never planned to race an Ironman nor make racing part of my life. I originally completed a triathlon to challenge myself. One and done. Years later my rookie season, friends were talking me into signing up for a half IM and I was terrified. This would prove to be my biggest challenge yet and I wasn't sure I was quite ready for it. I knew I would complete the task at hand but I wasn't going to do it half-a$$ed. When I set my mind to something I do it wholeheartedly, therefore, going through the motions was not enough for me, I was going to commit and be all in. So why was I so scared? I had only raced several triathlons, I mean I barely knew how to transition....

 

To sum it up, many triathlete friends gave me ample amount of advice and the race went well. I remember thinking at mile 8 on the run "this is the hardest thing I've ever done, I can't imagine doing a full Ironman". It wasn't until after Liberty Half IM 2013 that I even thought I had any talent in this sport. In fact I still didn't even understand what was special about completing this race until I found out breaking 5 hours in a half IM is pretty darn good. Nevertheless, my season continued and I was urged to sign up elite. So that was that, pressures on, all these elite athletes were starting next to me and I couldn't do anything about it. Looking back I laugh because I would talk about how amazing the elite athletes are excluding myself, as I was just the Rookie. Honestly I was ignorant, I was just: swimming, biking and running to get to the finish line! It wasn't until this year I truly believed in some of the capabilities I have.

In a nutshell it was a very memorable season and it fueled me to tackle the next distance. I most likely would have waited several years to complete the 140.6 distance however, I was talked into signing up for the Madison Ironman 2014. Seemed fitting, as I was eager to plan the 2014 season. After I finished 2013 racing Square Lake, I jumped in a car with friends to volunteer for the 2013 Madison Ironman only to stand in line the following day to sign up ourselves.

Fast forward to this year, I raced IMWI and everything went smoothly, I'm not sure many people can say they felt great throughout an Ironman, but I did. I finished in under my goal time and was more than pleased but there was still something missing. This missing component drove me to sign up for IMWI 2015 but it also made me impatient. This impatience and drive to do better is what got me to Ironman Cozumel 2014. I was ready to do it all again and didn't want to wait a whole year to race another IM.

Part II will post tomorrow