It is midnight and I find my self writing about the challenges of being an Ultra distance triathlete! So far this year my racing season looks like a train wreck, I have had injury, cancelled races due to exorbitant plane fares, lost a major sponsor due to economic hardships, yet like a phoenix I rise from the ashes and begin juggling training for my 11th Ultraman Hawaii in November! As I reflect on my 16 year career as a World Class Ultra Triathlete I realize that the challenges for the Love of the sport come with a high price tag!
Imagine swimming 7 miles, cycling 336 miles and then running 78 miles… Now imagine doing that non stop! As in 1997, that is exactly what I did becoming the 9th female in 10 years to finish such a feat in 51hours and 41 minutes!! When I was asked how I had ran 78 miles my reply was that I had not ran 78 miles but ran 1 mile 78 times!! But getting to that race had been difficult I remember scraping the hull of a 100 ft barge it had taken me 3 days to finish in full scuba gear, but in return I had been given a plane ticket for France were I would participate in the World championships in NICE 2 weeks before I would attempt the Triple, but as I was competing in NICE, were I managed a 10th position I injured a ligament in my left foot! I arrived in Fontanil just out side Grenoble with a serious limp. In 1996, I had been fully sponsored and had not finished the triple due to slipping on my bike in light snow during the night and bruising a few ribs! I was staying with the same French family who immediately referred me to the race doctor.
I was told on the eve of the race that I would not be able to run as my foot would not heal in time, they even treated my foot like a pin cushion and stabbed it like a 100 times with anti inflammatory medicine. In my mind I would be resting the foot while swimming and cycling! So the next morning I swam 222 laps, 7 miles in a heated outdoor pool with the back drop of the Alps, after a massage, I took to my bike for 336miles of cycling, I remember in the middle of the night thinking if I was doing the right thing as my foot was aching, just as I thought I could not cycle anymore, I had finished the grueling miles and gratefully was allowed to sleep an hour before putting on my running shoes! Time was running out, the cutoff was 52 hours, my crew began doing the maths I would need to keep moving. The first marathon went smoothly, the second marathon was with challenges, finally I only had 13 miles left and I had to see the doctor to look at my foot, he looked at me and told me that I would not be able to make 13 more miles he taped up my foot and I said I would run just one more mile.. that mile turned into 13 as all the villagers of Fontanil turned out to cheer and support my decision to finish. The French hospitality was amazing! And I finished the race in third position I could hardly walk and had made the cutoff with 19 minutes to spare! The pain of getting there, the hard work to get flights, the sacrifices I had made where all worth it even if I did not run well for 6 months!! During the award ceremony my life was to take a different path as I met an athlete who suggested that I try the Ultraman in Hawaii in 1998.
So in 1998 I found myself on the Big island of Hawaii preparing for what would become my first of ten Ultramans! It has become again the challenge of the love of the sport! In that it is costly and every year I make sacrifices to be in Kona over Thanksgiving weekend to swim that 6.2mile ocean swim followed by a 90 mile bike to the volcano on Day 1, Day 2 171 mile bike ride around the island and Day 3 a wee 52.4mile run…Does it ever get easier? NO! Does it ever get harder Yes! Because unlike that first time in 1998, I know now that the suffering is all part of the equation! Ultraman to me is so much more than just a race it has become my signature race. Every year I have had to look for sponsorship, find a crew, look for housing, and during all that I have made wonderful friends on this island who have supported me and challenged me to return each year to compete in this wonderful 3 day event making me the only woman in the world to do this 10 times in a row. Every year has had its unique challenges, from a Kidney stone to a 6 hour swim, from climatic changes to body aches! During these last ten years I have also become a much more balanced athlete and realize that with out adequate rest and good nutrition I cannot keep on doing Ultra distance events. Since discovering Hammer Nutrition products I can honestly say it has given me the fuels needed to be able to continue competing in this demanding discipline, as not only is running swimming and cycling important but also good nutrition and recovery.
All the hardships I have endured over the years when I was living a single life in Puerto Rico have given me the base I needed to be able to now live a happily married life in Southern California, still compete in Ultra Distance events and have made my self available to various triathlon groups as a motivational speaker and promote the use of Hammer nutrition products. Sometimes we have to make sacrifices in our lives and push ourselves to new levels, when I think back to the misery of scraping that barge with a paint scraper I never thought for one moment I would be an Ambassador for Hammer Nutrtion with a race resume of over 350 tri events!
