Keri’s Going to Finish Ultraman Arizona!
Pre Race
I went out to AZ two weeks before the race. We were expected to be there one week early for some pre race obligations, but I decided to go out even earlier to allow myself more time to acclimate and prepare for the race both physically and mentally. I’m really glad I did. It took me about a week to adjust to the time change and it also allowed me to spend time riding the bike course and swimming in the icy cold Lake Pleasant.
The time I spent swimming in Lake Pleasant was the most beneficial and something I’d encourage anyone to do if you’re prepping for a cold water swim. Go out early and get in the water. Being able to experience the cold a few times allows the body to adapt and it also helps your mind adjust to it. It’s really about perception. Once I decided that the water didn’t feel that cold, I was able to handle it much better. That being said, I did have on proper cold water gear- a wetsuit along with neoprene booties, gloves, and cap.
The first time I got into the lake the water felt incredibly cold, and it was. The temp was around 55. I went swimming with my new friend Arlo, an incredible distance swimmer and cold water pro. I remember looking at him and saying, “I don’t think I can do this.” He assured me I could and encouraged me into the water. We swam about 2,000 yards. When I got out my lips were blue, my face was numb, I couldn’t speak, and I was freezing. I had never been so cold during a swim. It also helped me to realize, that my plan for eating chews during the swim was prob not going to happen because I didn’t think I’d be able to move my jaw to chew anything. As a result, I reworked my race day nutrition plan to all liquids during the swim.
The next day, I got into the water with my new friend, Stan. Stan is a fellow triathlete and is currently training for 70.3 Oceanside (like my girl, Teddy) and wanted some open water training. This day the water felt warmer, it had gone up 2 degrees, now at 57. It was cold but was a little more bearable. We swam 3,000 yards and when I got out I wasn’t as cold.
The third day, I met up with the UMAZ crew and swam with some staff and athletes. The water was 57 again, but felt much warmer. Each day, I appeared to be acclimating a bit more. My body started to adapt and I felt much better. We swam about 3,000 and it felt great. I wasn’t cold when I got out and I was feeling good! Following the swim I went for a ride with my two new friends Shane and Karen. We rode along the first part of the bike course. The two hills in the begging were definitely a great way to help you warm up.
The fourth time I got into the water, it continued to feel good. It was 57. I swam a quick 1,500 yards just to move the body. I was warm when I got out and felt ready to race.
By the time race day came around, the water was still 57 degrees, but the temperature felt the warmest it had been all week. It was very pleasant and even refreshing. Now the lake itself was a different story. More to come in Day 1 Race Recap.
The lesson- Your perception is your reality. What you believe you become.
Day 1:
It’s race day. I have been preparing for this for about three years. I couldn’t believe it was go time. It felt surreal. I was fairly calm and eager to get this adventure started. For me, this entire race was more about the journey than anything else. It was me against me and working towards surpassing my current comfort zone and perceived limits.
We arrived to the lake at 5:45am to pick up our kayak, attend a race meeting, take a group pic, and prepare for the swim start. Prior to the swim, I got my bike ready & set up my transition area, making sure I had everything I needed ready to go for after the swim. I confirmed my post swim plans with my hubby as he was going to be essential in helping me during the transition. His job was to feed me (warm soup and a sandwich) and help me get into my bike gear. Now I usually wear my tri kit under my wetsuit, but with a cold 6.2 mile swim, I didn’t want to be cold and wet after, so I wore a bathing suit and opted to change into warm clothes for the 90 mile ride (which ended up being 92.6 miles lol).
The water temp was 57, air 54. The forecast for the rest of the day was nice. It was partly sunny, low winds (4-7mph) and temps in the low 70s.
Prior to the race, I took in the incredible sunrise, waved to my kayakers and kissed my husband goodbye...I’d see him in a few hours. The 10 second countdown began, I adjusted my cap and goggles and into the water I went, swimming out 500 yards to the first buoy.
The course was a large triangle that you had to complete 3 times before making the 500 yard swim back into the dock and the start/finish area.
During the first 500, I tried to get to the first buoy as fast as I could and then settle in for the long haul. I found my kayakers and got into a rhythm that unfortunately didn’t last long. It had rained two days prior and the lake was filled with tons of floating sticks, logs, & bark shavings. The bark got in my mouth and I definitely ingested some things that my stomach certainly didn’t appreciate. On top of that there were thousand of these burs (oval prickly things) that stuck to you. They got tangled up in my hair on the back of my neck and scratched at me for hours. What was even worse was that they stuck to my gloves which made the pull challenging and giving me tons of drag, making the swim feel harder than it needed to be. The first loop, myself along with the other racers tried to go around these pockets of wood causing us to add several hundred yards to our swim. When I realized there was no real going around it and I couldn’t get away from it all, I just accepted my fate and swam through it. There was no point fighting it, I couldn’t do anything about it, but embrace the suck.
About every 1,000 yards or 20 minutes I fueled. My kayakers stayed on my right (I like to breathe on my right) and did all the sighting for me, guiding me to each buoy so all I had to do was swim. When it was time to eat, they waved at me and handed me my bottles.
After each loop we did a little cheer. And after loop 1 when my watch said I had already swam 4,200 yards I knew this swim was going to be much more than 6.2 miles. So I stopped looking at my watch and focused on the loops. I ended up swimming about 7.5 miles. My swim time was 4:26. The longest swim of my life, both by time and distance.
At the end of the third loop, as we started to make our way in, I started to get a little tired. My elbows and forearms were killing me and I had enough of the wood and burs. The dock was a site for sore eyes and I couldn’t wait to get to it. As I approached the end and started to stand, I quickly collapsed. My legs felt like jelly. After two more attempts I stared to make it out and up the boat ramp with help from Dan. We quickly got me to the transition area where I could eat, change and be on my way. I was in transition for about 15 min (which was added to my bike time), before setting off for a hilly “90” mile ride with about 4,300 feet in elevation gain.
The ride that day felt good. My crew stoped every 8-10 miles to cheer me on and feed me. I ate sandwiches, pretzels, Skratch chews, and drank Skratch sports hydration and Skratch Super Fuel. I didn’t stop to eat or drink, they handed me my fuel as I rode by. The only time I stopped was for stop signs and red lights (about 8 min of stops this day).
I was definitely well fueled and knew so because I had peed in my wetsuit 8x (which helped keep me warm) and twice on the bike. Pro tip- when stopped at a light just move your shirts off to the side and pee standing. Super useful use of time, but you may get some weird looks.
Once I crossed the finish line of day 1, I quickly rolled out (love my TB12 vibrating roller) had a Skratch chocolate recovery shake, got a massage (provided my the race), and headed back to the house to eat, take an epsom salt bath, reboot my hips and legs (thanks Rapid Reboot) and go to bed so I could do it all again the next day.
The lesson- Every race is probably going to be longer than you thought. Nothing is exact and you will always go over. There’s not much you can do about it, but accept it and don’t waste the mental energy stressing it.
Day 2:
Woke up at 4am to the sound of the wind whipping around outside. I prayed it was just in the back yard, but knew better. The day ahead was already going to be hard with a 172.5 mile ride (they had to change part of the course because of a road closure, which added some distance) approximately 8,400 feet of climbing, along with several stop signs and lights. I knew the 12 hour cut off was already going to be tight and didn’t want to add strong headwinds on top of it. Riding into a headwind makes you feel like you are climbing a steep hill when you a riding on flat ground, but I think the winds can feel worse and are incredibly demoralizing.
The wind was my biggest fear about this race. The desert is windy and there’s no trees or much landscape to help block it. Day 1 was perfect and I had hoped that Day 2 would be the same, but Mother Nature had other plans. I was scared. When we arrived to the start line, it was freezing and windy. Temps were in the low 50s and the winds were about 17-18mph with stronger gusts. The Race Diector warned us about the wind and told us to prepare for lots of headwinds. She said it was going to be a hard ride, but assured us we could do it. Her advice, don’t stop unless we had to. My biggest fears had come true...
Before lining up to the start, I hugged my husband and cried. I looked at him and said “I don’t think I can do this.” He assured me I could, gave me a kiss and sent me on my way. As I approached the start, Cynthia, the other female left in the race, looked at me and probably could tell I was scared. She told me a story about her friend, Mary (who sadly is no longer with us) and said the best advice she gave her at UM Hawaii was to enjoy the journey no matter the outcome. And that’s what I was going to do. I couldn’t change the weather, the only thing I could do was to enjoy the ride, be grateful for where I was and bike my ass off. I needed to be the best me I could be.
The first 40 miles sucked. I was riding on shitty torn up roads, on a highway with cars zooming by at 65mph+ (which only added more wind), and there were headwinds up the hills. It was like god was playing a cruel joke on me. At one point a large gust came and pushed me off the road (thank god this time I didn’t fall into a rocky ditch like I did at IMCA). I looked down at my average speed which was 12pm. I felt deflated. I needed a minimum of 14.4 to get in under the time limit without even factor in stop signs and lights. Now at that point, I could have said that I can’t do this, this is all too much, I haven't even gotten to the the long , steep hills yet and just give up, I could've told myself that I will never make it...but I didn’t. I had several hours and 132 miles to go and anything could happen. I was going to gut it out and fight to the end. I’m not a quitter, knew it wasn’t over til it was over and wasn't going to leave that race course until I gave it everything I had. So I decided to embrace what the course gave me, appreciate the highs (downhills, straightaways and limited wind) and embrace the lows (hills and headwinds). That’s when I started to visualize myself crossing the finish and saying to myself and out loud “Keri is going to finish Ultraman Arizona”. These two things were the only things I thought about for 8.5 hours. The course wasn’t going to defeat me, I was going to defeat it and show it who was boss.
The second half of the course which had a majority of the climbs, I actually started to negative split. I started to make up time. I peddled my ass off. I went from being 15 min over the time limit to being 15 min under and eventually finished with 26 min to spare, 11:34.
When I crossed the finish line, I cried hysterically. This was one of the hardest rides of my life. I felt as if I had already won. I gained so much confidence that day. I felt more comfortable and confident in the wind, felt strong on the climbs and descents, and found something deep inside me that had been waiting to come out.
The lesson- Never give up. It’s not over until it’s over. Even when you’re feeling down and out, keep fighting. When you think you’re done, you’re not because you often have more to give. Believe in yourself and your abilities and just go for it. Even if you “fail”, miss a cut off or whatever, but you can say that you truly gave it your all, than its not truly a failure, its a just a little stop on your journey; learn from the experience, train harder and get stronger for the next time. Success isn't as sweet if there are no failures along the way.
Day 3
The run… 52.4 miles. I had not been worried about this. I had spent so much time stressing the Day 2 bike, that the run didn’t factor in. I knew nothing about the course other than there was a massive hill at the end (no surprises there, the entire race had been all hills) but what I had neglected to notice was that the entire run was predominately one steady incline to that long ass hill.
However, the weather was perfect. The day stared in the 50s and went up to 70. Cloud cover all day. Couldn’t have asked for better.
My goal was to stay around 11-12 min miles. And for the first 42 miles I was doing incredibly well. Where others started to fall apart, I felt great. I was steady and started chipping away and catching racers. Probably should have known it was all too good too be true, because the wheels definitely fell off.
I had a hard time eating solids. My stomach had been kind of jacked up after the last two days, so I relied on liquid calories for nutrition. When I got to the last ten miles, the large hill and a final out and back to the finish, I started to struggle. I am not sure how much was my nutrition and how much was due to fatigue from the previous two days, regardless I needed to keep going. I had made it through similar situations, so I could pull from those experiences to help me press on.
I walked the large hill, but when it was time to run again I was unable to find my rhythm. I was on the struggle bus big time. All the people I passed started to pass me and I was frustrated, but I had to focus on my own race. I knew that if I kept moving and chipping away at the last few miles, I’d finish and claim the title Ultraman. And that’s exactly what I did.
Crossing the finish line on Day 3, after the previous days hard work and grueling effort, was one of the best, most rewarding experiences of my life. The best part was that my hubby, crew, and my new UM family were there to greet me and cheer me in. For that I am incredibly grateful.
I love ultra events and I love the ultra community, but this group and this race stands out against them all. UMAZ will always have a special place in my heart.
The lesson- Put yourself in challenging situations. These types of situations can help callus the body and mind when the unexpected happens. Things don’t always go according to plan. But when you’ve faced obstacles before, you will be better equipped for them later.