Race Coverage

"This Just Got Real"....

Saturday, 16 March 2019 23:10

ED. On June 11, 2017, MTN posted it's coverage of Ironman Wisconsin 70.3, which was won in Performance of the Year fashion by Dani Vsetecka. We just discovered that she had blogged about her experience. It's a terrific read. Enjoy.

By Dani Vsetecka (4iowasisters.blogspot.com)

“Is this real life?” This is the question I’ve had to repeatedly ask myself for the past few days. It’s difficult to put into words to describe the range of emotions I’ve felt. Disbelief, joy, exhilaration, nervousness, and most of all: gratitude, gratitude, and more gratitude. My last two races (the Apple Duathlon and Madison 70.3) have far exceeded my expectations and I can hardly believe what’s actually happened. The outcomes came, but more importantly so has amazing time with family, the opportunity to build friendships, and feelings of self-assurance.

The highlight of the Apple Duathlon was getting to slap my nephew's hand coming out of T2. All three nephews, my sister, my mom, and I spent the night before the race in my parent's RV basically on the race site the night before. We had a blast "camping" and getting to spend the 4 hour trip (2 hrs each way) talking to my sister ...

a rarity these days when most our time together involves chasing three energetic boys. :) I surprised myself in the race by not being afraid to push hard when I needed to and even though I came away with the win by only 25 seconds, I was happy to redeem my 2nd place and 22 second deficit the year before. Results here.

Going into Ironman 70.3 Wisconsin two weeks later, I was equal parts excited and nervous. I signed up and booked a hotel the day registration opened while lying on a beach one day after Ironman 70.3 Miami. Being such a close midwest race, a lot of my friends were also racing and I couldn't wait to be there with a fun group. But keeping an eye on the forecast earlier in the week, I got a little uneasy. A high of 92 degrees and up to 30 mph winds. Woah. I wasn’t sure if I had acclimated to heat this early in the year and even though I usually do well in hot weather, it had gotten to me a bit in Miami last fall. My coach had some great advice though -- let everyone else waste energy worrying about the weather and just spend my energy on the race. It was true, there was nothing I could do to change it and everyone was going to be in the same conditions. The race would reward the most patient and the strongest - not necessarily the fastest, but who would slow down the least. This took a lot of pressure off. It reminded me to focus on what I could control, race smart, and stay strong.

I arrived in Madison Saturday afternoon and soaked up as much information as I could by talking to other athletes and doing as much visualization as possible. Immediately upon arrival, it was clear this wasn’t a small town race. Traffic, thousands of athletes, and a transition area that sprawled across a giant grass lawn with space for more than the 2,000 bikes that would soon arrive. “This just got real.” I thought.