Ironman Louisville Race Report

Sunday at 3am: Wake up because of some stupid girls in the hall. Kind of wanted to punch them in the head. Tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't so I got up and started eating. Cliff bar down. Awesome. I always have trouble eating solid foods before a race. 1 packet of instant oatmeal, went down a little harder. Now onto the baby food. 4 jars of baby food = 200 calories. Total breakfast = 570 calories and 16 oz of water. Cover myself in sunscreen and get dressed. Choice of clothing: tri shorts and tri rib top. Exacty clothes I wore for my very first triathlon 2 years and 1 week ago. I chose the tri shorts because bike shorts were to bulky for me. I always trained in tri shorts or just plain shorts on short rides. I double check my bag and I am out the door at 4:20am. I am way ahead of schedule now because I woke up an hour early.
4:40am I get to transition and was pleasantly surprised that we could already get in. It was not suppose to open until 5. First action was to pump up my tires. I ask a girl next to me where the pumps were and she said you had to bring your own. What? That is crap. You can't put a pump in your morning bag or leave it anywhere so how was that going to be possible for me since I didn't have anyone to give it to either. How dumb. I managed to borrow one from another girl nearby. Ok that is done, water bottle full, spare kit on bike, bento box with nutrition. I am ready. Stop at the potty before leaving transition, came out and guess what I see. The bike pumps. Not only are there bike pumps, but they have someone do it for you.
5am: walk to swim start that is .75 miles down the road. It was kind of scary because there wasn't many lights, but it was better that 3000 of my workout partners for the day were also heading that way. I get to the start, get body marked (almost forgot) and got in line. I wasn't to far back. Within 500 people of the front. 5:20 I sit and wait. People walking by thought the line should be ending soon. Nope, sorry, you guys have a long ways to go yet. Port-a-potty line got long fast so I decided to go. 6:30 came and I needed to pee again. I headed towards the bathrooms when the line started moving. Crap, I didn't want to lose my spot or lose my bag so I started jogging back to the line. The guy in front of me had grabbed my bag, thank goodness, so I didn't lose my spot. I got in line, but still had to pee soooooooo bad. At this time the line kept slowly inching forward so I could never relax to pee. 6:40ish, the first national anthem was played. Right after, the 2nd one was sung. Hmmm...is this necessary. After they were done, the bugle player played the little "tune" that is played before the start of the Kentucky Derby. That was neat. About 2 seconds after, the rest of the pros jumped in the water and at 6:50 they were off. They now started filing us down the ramp to the docks. I had to get rid of my morning clothes which sucked because I was cold and still had to pee. At this time it was getting very painful. I got my goggles on and soon enough, it was 7 and people were jumping off the dock. They split the line into 2 to get people into the water faster. They said one dock didn't have an advantage over the other. That was crap because I had swam for a good 15 seconds before I even got to the 2nd dock. Oh well, it was 15 seconds, lol. So I get to the "line split" and they are yelling at us to hurry and run down to the dock. Holy crap, I am going to slip and fall before I even get going. Well I made it to the dock and jump in. I did a scissor kick so my shorts didn't ride up and held onto my goggles. My shorts rolled up a little bit and my cap slid up a bit, but all in all, I was in the water and swimming and still having to pee more than anything else in the world. We had a short up stream swim. I don't tie my shorts in a race because it always ended up being a pain when I had to stop and pee, but I wish that I would have because with the combination of my stroke pushing water down my body and the current, the tops were catching water. Great, I am swimming with a parachute. Everyone else was to the left so I stayed to the right side of the channel. No draft, but I also wasn't getting swam over the top of. Ok I was, but I am telling myself it would have been worse on the other side. I am about 30 min into the swim now, still having to pee, it hurts. My goggles start fogging up. Awesome. I keep swimming. I see the turn buoy and also what appears to be someone walking? Sure enough, I put my foot down and I could stand. First thing, I pee and pee and pee. Oh my gosh, that was the most awesome thing ever. I clear my goggles and do a little bit of walking and then jump back in. The rest was pretty uneventful except I got kicked in the stomach and elbowed in the eye. I get to the swim finish and climb out of the water.
Swim time: 1:38:59 Rank: 1961
Goal time: 1:45
I walk and grab a water. I jogged the rest as my body wanted to get going. I got my bike gear bag and head for the tent. The day prior we dropped off our bikes and gear bags. Each participant got a volunteer to "show" them around transition. They showed you were your bike was, your gear bag, the potties and which tent you were suppose to go into. Now during the race there was a guy standing by the tents saying men here, women here. I ran around to the other tent, get in there and sit down. Some random guy comes in and is like, where am I suppose to go? Haha, yeah right, he just wanted to see all the naked women. I put on my shoes, helmet, sunglasses, race belt and my "arm warmers" (tip for those who don't already know this: Since I didn't have anyone else with me to throw my gear to, Everything had to be replaceable, which means my arm warmers. I took a pair of mens tube socks, cut off the toes and used those, works great). I didn't have a volunteer to help me with my bag like others say, but there were people in there. I started putting my stuff in my bag and the woman was like I will get it. So I left it and and headed for the potty. Wow, I have to pee a lot. I run to my bike and I am off.
T1: 6:17
I feel good. It was a gorgeous day and I was having fun. Bike was flat for about the first 10 miles then the hills started. I don't remember much for the next 5 miles. Mile 15 was the out and back section. It was basically 2 mountains. You went down one huge hill and climbed up a second and then turned around and did it again. They weren't steep, but very long. It was a cool section because the trees lined the road and created a tunnel. After that section, there was another short 5 mile section until the start of the loop. I don't remember much other than thinking, I wish I was at mile 60 and not 30. I get to mile 40 and I was starting to lose energy. Up to this point I was eating a gel every 30 min and a salt tab every 30 min opposite the gel and drinking water and a few sips of gatorade. I downed 2 gels. Stomach started getting icky so I ate a salt tablet and it all settled and now I had energy and could go. I also started grabbing bananas which were awesome energy. The loop goes through the small town of LaGrange. It wasn't as neat as I had built up in my head, but it was pretty cool. You go through there so fast because it is basically all down hill so you are flying through there. The next 10 miles or so was either flat or slightly down hill, very few climbs and also were I killed the course. After that starts the very narrow, rolling hill section. This was fun. The back section was also rolling hills, but they were a little bigger. Start of the loop has some fun down hills and some good climbs which I took very easy both times. After I got through LaGrange the 2nd time, I just gunned it for home. I felt great and really took advantage of the down hills. At this time, I still have not stopped to pee on the yet because there was always a line at the potties. I had to pee so bad that I could not ride aero because it hurt. I new I had a good 10 miles until the next aid station. I was not going to make it. I stopped and just squatted along the road and pretended to work on my bike. I was there for 5 min it felt like. Holy cow. The rest of the way home, I passed all the people that I had kind of been "riding with" and was pretty much alone for the rest of the ride. I past a few people on the flat section coming back, but there weren't many other around.
Bike time: 6:28:49 17.3mph Rank: 1423
Goal Time: 7:00
I enter T2, volunteer takes my bike and I start running towards my gear bag. Holy crap, can't run with cleats on so I stop and take them off. I get to my run bag and head for the tent. Yeah, I got my personal volunteer this time. I sat down and she dumped out my bag. She asked me what she can do and I said she could rub my neck and shoulder, jokingly. She said whatever I wanted. I turned her down and said that i wouldn't want to leave then. I put a bandaid on my one toe I knew I would get a blister on, body glided up my feet, pair one on, pair 2 on, shoes on, and change my tri top to a regular sports bar. I changed out of the tri top because those come up higher on my chest and tend to rub and really hurt no mater how much body glide you put on for long race. Dumping enough water on your head washes it away fast. Grab my visor and I am off...to the bathroom. Pee...again. Ok, now I am off.
T2: 7:19
I head out on the course. I feel surprisingly good. I thought I burnt my legs out on the last part of the bike. We have a short section through town and then get to the bridge. There was huge expansion joints on the bridge and I thought to myself as I am running up to one, don't fall and then what do I do, almost twist my ankle. Wow, not walking for 25 more miles. I head off the bridge. Mile 3 was about the start of the loop course. Wow, miles 2 and 3 were at 8:15 pace, that didn't last long and I knew it wasn't going to. Plan was to run in between aid stations and walk the stations. This worked out good. Aid stations slowly got longer and longer. At mile 6, I had to stop at the bathroom very badly. Not peeing this time. Not cool. This continued about every other mile now. Just before the end of the first loop was the run special needs bag. I got mine and sat down with it. I took a couple aleve, rubbed biofreeze on my thighs, rubbed bees wax under my arms, put more bandaids on my toes, I mean blisters, and refilled my salt tablet dispenser. I had another pair of arm warmers in there incase I got cold. I almost took them, but decided not to. I was actually chilly when I would dump water on my head so I stopped doing that and figured I would be fine. At this time I also got to look through what else was in there. I had my friends put items in the bag that they thought I could use for the rest of the run and words of encouragement. This was awesome and some were very funny. Gave me a good laugh. I am sure people were wondering what I was laughing so hard at. I ditched the bag and start off again. By this time, I was not tired yet, but my muscles were sick of vibrating. If I could have had any item that they would have given me at this time, it would have been a compression body suit. Anything to keep my body from vibrating. Quads started first, I could kind of run and hold them a bit, until it moved up to my abs and then my arms. Compression clothes are awesome, I just wish I had some. Mile 14 runs you down the finish roads and then 50 yards from the finish, you turn and head out for the your 2nd lap. wow, that is going to be exciting when I get to really finish. It was the hardest because everyone was like, you are almost done. I was like in 12 miles :) I headed out for lap 2. There was a guy that was running by me through that area. He had to walk so bad, but didn't want to with all those people. I laughed and left him behind when he started walking. It is now mile 15 and I have need to stop again at the potty. Finally I think the upset stomach is gone, now just peeing. No more liquid. The chicken broth had made an appearance at mile 16. Sweet. It was now grapes and chicken broth. the bananas went bye bye at about mile 10 when i ate one and it tasted like what I left at the previous aid station :) Pretzels also tasted mighty fine at this point too. I hate pretzels. I quit eating pretzels because it made me thirsty. Last potty break was at mile 19, Yes! In the mean time, I made it to mile 18 and then had to walk. It now got to a point where, if I could get myself to start running without it hurting, I could run farther. I tried to run 5 min and walk 1 min. I would run about 2 min and walk 45 sec until mile 19. The vibration of my body was what hurt. The Ironman shuffle was very prominent ever from the beginning of my run from several people. I am sure it didn't take long for me to develop it. I continued to run about 3-5 min and walk 30 sec. until mile 22 when I was able to run all of that. I had a hard time in mile 24. I told myself I am running all of 25. I got to 25 and it hurt so bad, but I pushed through it. The crowd really helped. I came down the road, made a left turn and a right turn and headed down the last stretch. I was so excited and the tears started. I could see people finishing ahead of me. No one else was around me. I hit that Ironman carpet for the last 50 yards. I couldn't hold back, I was trying to smile, while almost in tears when I crossed the line and heard "Kelly Kalvelage, you are an Ironman" (I have tears in my eyes as I am reliving this while writing this) I had finished.
Run time: 5:11:52 11:55/mile Rank: 1625
Goal Time: 6 hours
Finish time: 13:33:17
59/87 Age Group W25-29
319/525 Women
1590/2352 Overall
Goal time: 15 hours - try to not get a glow stick.
Guess what? NO GLOW STICK FOR ME!!!!

Immediately a volunteer came up to me, put my finishers metal over my head and wrapped me in that silver blanket thing. It was hot and I did not want it touching me, but she kept wrapping me in it, lol. She walked with me out of the finish area. She asked if I wanted something to drink. My answer: I want a cheeseburger. She said there was food at the convention center and then wanted to know if I wanted a finish photo. She says here is the line. I said I am not waiting in line, I am hungry. She asked if I knew where the center was, I did and then offered to walk with me, but I was ok. I got down there, ate or should I say inhaled 2 slices of pizza. I got my morning clothes bag and put on my long sleeve shirt as I was getting chilly. I slung the bag over my shoulder and just about died right there. That hurt so bad. It was at this time that I realized just pressing a finger on my arm hurt like the devil. Wow, nobody touch me. I headed outside to catch up with a friend that arrived sometime during the run. He gave me a ride to transition and then took off back for Iowa. I got to transition to get my gear bags and bike. I put on my bike shoes and helmet. I got on the bike. Owwwwwwwww.... groin area is not liking this one bit. I force myself to get on and ride back to the hotel, which was directly outside of the finish line. We couldn't have someone bring this stuff there for us? That would have been awesome. I get back to the hotel, get in the elevator to my floor and step out. Cleats are still hard to walk in so I take them off. This the point where I noticed I had a lot of blisters and one in particular was right in the center of the ball of my foot which hurt like hell to step on with bare feet. I stumbled back to my room, threw my gear down and proceeded to make phone calls. Oh my gosh, it was such an incredible day that I will never forget. I will do an Ironman again, there is no doubt in my mind. If you asked me during the run, I probably would have threw my pretzels at you, but now, I want to do it faster :)


Only thing I would do different is put bandaids on before starting the run. Since this was my first marathon, I didn't know what to expect.

Learned: compression would have been nice to have
Overly hydrated causes you to pee...A LOT
Raspberry creme gels are still awesome, tangerine is not
Go to the welcome dinner, it is fun
The days before the race are busy - I will put up another post about the days leading up to the IM
I am slow on the uphills. Need to work on that, but I knew I was :)


Stats from Athlete Tracker (there is discrepancy between the tracker, results online and official text results)

TOTAL SWIM 2.4 mi. (1:38:59) 2:36/100m 1968 1923

FIRST BIKE SEGMENT 22 mi (1:18:41) 16.78 mph
SECOND BIKE SEGMENT 37 mi (56:57) 15.80 mph
THIRD BIKE SEGMENT 67 mi (1:46:17) 16.94 mph
FINAL BIKE SEGMENT 112 mi (2:26:54) 18.38 mph
TOTAL BIKE 112 mi. (6:28:49) 17.28 mph 1572 1525


FIRST RUN SEGMENT 3.38 mi. (30:27) 9:00/mile
SECOND RUN SEGMENT 8.25 mi. (52:28) 10:46/mile
THIRD RUN SEGMENT 13.1 mi. (56:28) 11:38/mile
FOURTH RUN SEGMENT 15.33 mi. (32:27) 14:33/mile
FIFTH RUN SEGMENT 20.19 mi. (1:01:51) 12:43/mile
SIXTH RUN SEGMENT 25.04 mi. (1:04:36) 13:19/mile
FINAL RUN SEGMENT 26.2 mi. (13:35) 11:42/mile
TOTAL RUN 26.2 mi. (5:11:52) 11:54/mile 1590 1546