spin / second sole multisport team

Lauren Trocchio got a big monkey off her back this weekend at Ironman Florida, where she finished in 11:52.  Focusing on playing it safe helped vanquish the demons from last year’s Ironman Louisville, and she sounds very excited.  Huge congrats to LT for a great race…  “Lauren Trocchio….    you are an IRONMAN!”

Don’t miss her race report!

She wrote:

In order to give an accurate race report for IM Florida 2008 I have to step back to IM Louisville 2007. For me the events will forever be linked. In 2007 I attempted Louisville in a less than desirable situation (aka life happens when you work for the government) and sorely paid for poor nutrition. After walking 8 miles of the marathon in a daze I crawled into an ambulance at mile 15 of the marathon. Jim and Andrea were my saving grace that day, and I don’t think I could have faced the decision without them there. The next day I hopped onto a plane back to Maine…after crying in the airport bathroom. I’m not the first person in history to DNF but it took almost 24 hours to hit me that I’d spent a year training to get a couple of bags of IV fluid and a ballcap that would forever remind that I was not yet an Ironman. So two months later I did what any (in)sane person would do…I signed up for IM Florida and began training again.

Fast forward to 2008 and I’m in Panama City Beach getting ready for the race. Louisville was looming like a monkey – nay a GORILLA – on my back and by race morning I was so nauseous I barely choked down any breakfast. I knew it was all nerves so I kept forcing in food and liquids up until the start. The air temp was about 50 F and the water was about 70 F. Since Louisville was a time trial swim start this was the first time I dealt with over 2,000 type-A triathletes strating the swim together. I managed to push my way to the front of the pack but I still kept getting punched and kicked. I basically maintained a warm-up pace for the swim knowing the true test for me that day day laid outside of the water. I managed to come in at 57 minutes and 106th out of the water. I kept my transitions low key as well. When I left on the bike I was slathered in sunscreen but ended up freezing for the first 2 hours. The hands barely functioned to grab things out of my back pockets, but I managed not to lose anything in the process. The head wind was just about to really start getting under my skin when at about mile 70 when we made our way back to the start. Again, I played it safe on the bike and kept the HR in a low aerobic zone. And I was doing such a lovely job of eating and drinking that I ended up peeing about 6 times while on the bike. Thank goodness I had practiced the art of peeing and pedaling otherwise there would have been a lot of stopping. I came in off the bike after 6 hrs 9 min.

As I jumped off the bike and started off on the marathon I distinctly remember thinking what a difference from Louisville. I could actually run and use my legs and my stomach was processing nutrients! I actually kept backing off a bit to keep my HR down in the beginning, but my legs were holding up wonderfully. At the half-marathon point I realized I was not only going to finish but I had a chance to break 12 hours. I stopped to pick up a special needs bag and use a porta-pot around mile 15. When I sat down in the porta-pot I realized I was a bit tipsy but I was fine if I kept running. And I definitely didn’t want to be found in a nasty IM porta-pot passed out. I forced down some more gel and gatorade, fought off a few stomach grumbles, and belched so loud I kept the spectators entertained. When I reached the point for the last 10K I almost couldn’t believe it. I was about matching the pace of a fellow Army guy at this point so we stuck together and brought each other in. The run time was 4:37. I saw Luke and my mom at the finish line and I thought tears would start coming, but I was just too tired. I had finished in 11:52. I never really hurt that bad but I was tingling all over and just wanted to sleep. So at least when I went to the medical tent this time I was wearing a finisher’s medal:) Unfortunately they decided to let a student train on my veins. After 3 different needle spots and 2 bags of fluid I was back on my feet and drinking chicken broth. Here’s the cheesiest part of the race: every swim stroke, pedal, and run step I was hearing Jordan Sparks’ song “One Step at a Time” in my head. Don’t ask me why. The tears never came until Monday morning when I was brushing my teeth and heard the song playing again, and just like that the gorilla was gone.

Filed under: 2008 |