Athlete Race Recap: IRONMAN 70.3 Cozumel & IRONMAN 70.3 Washington Tri-Cities

Christina Barker and Susan Doberneck both raced IRONMAN 70.3 events this past weekend!

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IRONMAN 70.3 Cozumel

On Sunday, September 22, 2024, Christina Barker raced IRONMAN 70.3 Cozumel in Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico!

This race has been on Christina’s radar and bucket list for a long time.  She traveled to Mexico with fellow Full Circle Endurance athlete Daria Bakina to take on this scenic and challenging race.

A lot of athletes are lured to IRONMAN 70.3 Cozumel because the island is so beautiful, with long stretches of beaches and a lot of reefs to explore and because the course is exceptionally flat.  (And flat courses usually translate to athletes as easier and faster courses.)  However, the island’s beauty masks its true nature: That it is extremely hot and windy.  Extremely hot and windy.  So while yes, the course is flat, it is definitely not easy - by any stretch of the imagination.  My experience coaching athletes preparing for this race and IRONMAN Cozumel has shown me that telling athletes that it’s hotter and windier than any race they’ve done isn’t sufficient.  Athletes typically cannot fully comprehend just how hot and windy the race will be until they experience it themselves on race day.

Christina faced some challenges managing the heat in training leading up to the race, but those hard training days gave us some very important intel about what strategy would be best for her to implement on race day, especially when it came to her fueling and hydration.  Upon Christina’s arrival in Mexico, we had her do an easy bike ride to get a feel for the ambient conditions.  This ride went well and we felt that she was ready for race day’s hot conditions.

She also struggled with some hip flexor issues in training, particularly on the run.  We decided that implementing a 50:50 ratio of run:walk intervals during the race would be the best strategy to try and keep her hip flexors happy.  With all of this information and thoughtfulness, we felt she was ready to take on race day.

Christina had a good swim.  As predicted, the bike was extremely windy and very hot.  That being said, she managed her effort well and rode at the proper exertion level to ensure that she had sufficient energy for the run.  As Christina started the run, she really started to feel the heat of the day.  She stuck with the 50:50 run:walk ratio, hydrated well, and cooled herself with water and ice at every aid station.  She was on track for an official finish, which was something she really wanted after getting a DNF at IRONMAN 70.3 Musselman last year.

Unfortunately, Christina’s hip flexors became a really major problem for her around Mile 8.  She was unable to run anymore and had to walk very slowly for the remainder of the race.  This resulted in her crossing the finish line in 8 hours, 55 minutes, which is 25 minutes over the time limit for an IRONMAN 70.3 race and means that her official result for IRONMAN 70.3 Cozumel is a DNF (Did Not Finish).

But as I’ve talked about so many times over the years, a DNF is not a failure.  While yes, a DNF does mean that an athlete doesn’t get an official result from a race, a DNF also means so much more than what translates to in terms of results.  As former Full Circle Endurance athlete Yvonne Brown said so eloquently so many years ago: DNF stands for Did Not Fail.

Throughout this summer and right up until this issue presented itself on race day, Christina did what she could in the time she had to prepare for this race.  She managed what was within her control to manage.  When this adversity popped up on race day, she still managed it, deploying the tools she had in her Athlete’s Toolbox to keep herself moving forward until she finished all 70.3 miles of the course.

It’s for all of these reasons (and more!) that I am so proud of Christina…and of all of the athletes who I’ve coached who have received DNFs over the years.  Their race results don’t change how I view them as athletes or humans.  I am proud of the effort they put in to achieve their goals and of them for giving it their best effort on race day.

Unfortunately, DNFs are a part of endurance sports.  When we set our goals high, we have to accept the reality that there are two possible outcomes: Achieving the goal, and not achieving the goal.  Too many people pretend or trick themselves into thinking that only one outcome (success) is possible.  Christina set her goal high - to finish a very challenging race.  She did finish the race, even if it was outside of the course time limit.

Please join me in congratulating Christina on a job well done!

IRONMAN 70.3 Washington Tri-Cities

On Sunday, September 22, 2024, Susan Doberneck raced the inaugural IRONMAN 70.3 Washington Tri-Cities in Richland, Washington!

The Tri-Cities in Washington State are Richland, Kennewick, and Pasco; these three cities are situated at the confluence of the Columbia, Snake, and Yakima Rivers in the southeastern portion of Washington State.  This is an absolutely beautiful region and a wonderful setting for a new IRONMAN 70.3 event!

While Susan has raced IRONMAN 70.3 events before, it’s been a few seasons since she’s done so.  She decided to do short-course triathlons (Sprint and Olympic Distance races) last season to both take a break from the time commitment that long-course triathlon training requires to and to focus on some skills building.  We’ve worked hard on increasing Susan’s comfort level with bicycle handling skills and cycling on varied terrain.  We’ve also really worked on building a strong and robust running base.  All of this set Susan up well to begin IRONMAN 70.3 training this year.

Earlier in the season, Susan raced an Olympic Distance Triathlon and learned a very valuable lesson regarding fueling and hydration.  While she had a good result, during that race, she significantly under-fueled and under-hydrated, which led to her having a very, very challenging run.  Quite frankly, it was far more challenging than it needed to be, especially given how fit Susan was heading into that race.  If her fueling and hydration had been sufficient, she would have been better able to leverage the high level of fitness she had in that race.

After seeing how the lack of a sufficient fueling and hydration strategy impacted how she felt and her end result on race day, Susan made fueling and hydration a priority in all workouts after that day.  This led to her having a very solid and well-practiced fueling and hydration strategy for IRONMAN 70.3 Washington Tri-Cities.  (This included a plan to wear her hydration vest for the run…something she was not thrilled about when I suggested it and a good illustration of just how much she’s embraced the Discomfort Dragon over the last year.)  Combined with some hill-specific work we’ve been doing on the bike, the run fitness she’s built, and her incredibly strong swimming background, she was ready to take on this race!

After a lovely downriver swim, the bike and run courses ended up being a bit more challenging than Susan thought they would.  That being said, this is where all of the specific work Susan put in training - the bike handling skills, the hill work, the fueling and hydration strategy, and more - benefited her.  She was able to tackle the challenge of the course, keep moving forward, and cross the finish line with strength.

Congratulations, Susan!