Day before the race at the swim entry.
For those of you who just want the facts:
- First race as a professional triathlete
- 5th place Female Pro goal was to be top 3 (only about 8 minutes behind 3rd)
- Swim 58:46 (Goal 58)
- Bike 5:30:33 (Goal 5:15:00)
- Run 3:13:25 (Goal 2:59:59)
- Actually decent transition times!
- Got sick on the bike 10-15 times :(
The luggage claim in Taupo. I love this city!
I woke up 2 hours before race time and ate my usual breakfast of buckwheat almond meal pancakes with a little butter on top. I usually have no problem getting them down but I was still full from dinner (brown rice pasta and chicken) the night before!
After breakfast Scott and I went down to transition to get set up. All the pros were so quiet and reserved and I'm always so talkative right before a race. Pumped my tires and checked my brakes (not rubbing on
tires). I put my nutrition in my bento box (thanks again so much Rich Adams!).
Then I was off to the lake. There was a Mauri group that did a Hauka on the
beach there and then got into their traditional boat and went out into the
lake. I hurried and got my wet suit on and was worried because I saw some other
pros with theirs on already and lined up to go into the water. I need to be
more confident in my own routine and plan. I think especially being my first
pro race I was looking out to others to see what I should do. I should trust my
own process and plan more.
Racking my bike the night before.
Setting up transition.
I ate my 100 cals of Chews and said good bye to Scott. I
ended up having plenty of time to get into the water. Right before I got in
Scott told me that Maureen Huff dropped out for some reason. I stood in the
water up to my waist and waited there as the guys went out to warm up. Scott
whistled to me and I saw him on a dock with some others. I told him “I love
you!” then realized there were lots of people there and so I said “him, only
him!” That got a good chuckle from the crowd on the dock. I chatted with a
couple of the other pros then went and warmed up a bit.
Thank goodness for my BlueSeventy Helix wetsuit! The water
was “refreshing,” but could have been much worse. This was my first race in
this nice of a wetsuit and there is a HUGE difference! The Helix feels like a
shirt on your arms so it doesn’t restrict your range of motion. I also have
always gotten tight hip flexors when I swim with a wetsuit but the Helix allows
for full range of motion and so no tight muscles!
I was pretty dark out as the sun hadn’t risen at 6:46 when
we took off. Meredith Kessler started on the front line with Gina Crawford
right behind her. I knew both of them would take off fast and didn’t know much
about the other girls times. The cannon went off and we were off! I was able to
stay right on Gina’s feet for 200-300 meters (a couple minutes) but then my
breathing was getting to “panicky” I think more because of the cold, but it was
definitely a pace I couldn’t hold. The way out I kept counting the buoys and
hoping no one was getting a free draft off my feet behind me. I kept having coach John in my head telling me to keep my head down. About ¾ of the
way out to the turn around a boat came up alongside me and they videoed me for
a while. I think that was my first “real” pro moment. I thought it was amazing
and awesome. On my way back in the wind wasn’t in my favor and so I had to only
breath to one side or I would get a mouth full of water instead of air. I saw a
male pro up ahead and wanted to try to catch him. The water smoothed out as I
neared the finish. I had miscounted the buoys so I wasn’t sure how many I had
left but decided to swim 2 more and then start kicking harder (get the blood to
your legs so they won’t be jell-o when you stand up to run through transition
and onto the bike). I caught the guy on the last turn in about 200-300m to go.
I wasn’t sure where the exit was and kept trying to look for it when I was
spotting. I stood up a little too early and ran through the water but once I
was up and realized my mistake I wasn’t going to go back down in the water and
swim more.
BlueSeventy Helix, best wetsuit EVER!
Onto transition 1 (T1)! This was the longest transition run
I have ever seen. We ran along a road, up a hill, and up stairs into transition.
Scott was there and I saw his fingers say 4, not bad. I knew it was Meredith,
Gina, and ?. I was the only one in the transition tent and had at least 5
ladies helping me. One shoved things in my pockets while others helped put my
socks and shoes and arm warmers on. As I ran out I got sprayed down with
sunscreen (which didn’t end up working at all). As I was exiting transition I
heard “Jocelyn McCauley, 3rd female pro out!” I was trusting Mike
Riley (announcer) over Scott. There ended up being a male that had the female
pro swim cap on so he wasn’t sure if that was a girl or guy (hard to tell in a
wetsuit). Awesome! 3rd! Just have to keep this place to accomplish
my goals! I looked at my watch and I apparently didn’t start it before the swim
so I quickly tried to fix it so it would capture everything for the bike ride.
During the first little bit I had a camera man on a motorcycle ride next to me
on and off for the first of the two loops on the bike course. That was my other
“this is real” moment.
Steps into transition.
The bike course starts with a pretty big hill; and I was all
about trying to keep my heart rate (HR) regulated. My goal HR was right around
150-155. Well this is right about the time that I realized that something was
amiss with my watch. I had taken great care to set all the data fields how I
wanted them (what the watch was going to show me ex: speed, avg speed, Hr,
average HR, distance in KM or Miles ect.). Well, I couldn’t figure out what my
watch was displaying. I thought one of them was speed but soon I realized I
wasn’t going 21mph up the big hill. It took me until around 30-40Km to realize
what the data fields were. I kept seeing Scott out everywhere along the course
which was super fun and exciting to see him so many times. It was when I was on
my way back into town on my first loop about to start the second loop when I
started REALLY not feeling so awesome. The whole time I felt like I had a
thanksgiving meal in my stomach sitting there like a brick. I started getting
nauseous and to spare you nasty details lets just say I got sick 10-15 times on
the bike during the second loop. I kept my nutrition in but it just didn’t want
to stay there.
Picture by Scott
Nutrition during the bike: 3 Bonk Breaker bars! Thanks Bonk
for #fuelingmyjourney! 3.5 bags of starburst jelly beans, being Easter time I’m
going to have to restock during the sales! 600mg salt (salt tabs)/hr
Impressive picture taking while cheering!
I never ever, ever have been so close to DNFing (quiting) in
my life. There were many things powering me through that awful bike portion: my
family and all the sacrifices they have made to get me here, my “family” in
Cincinnati that I knew were tracking me and cheering me on as loud as they
could, my family and friends all around the world that I have been blessed to
get to know, and my sponsors who truly want me to be the best that I can and
have helped me to continue to progress.
I told myself that I had to get into T2 and do at least one
loop of the three loop run course and then I could reevaluate from there. I
thought I was going to fall over when I got to the dismount line. My hip (had
been hurting me 2 weeks prior) almost gave out, but Scott had given me a
priesthood blessing (blessing given by someone holding the priesthood in my
church, this one was a healing blessing where hands are placed on your head which
is anointed with consecrated oil). I knew that I would be able to run a
marathon on my hip and it would all be ok as long as I was cautious. I hobbled
through to the tent and got changed and strayed with sunscreen once again.
Scott got a whole group of people to cheer for me!
Off to the first loop of the course I go! As soon as I
started running I felt better. It’s so weird to me that I can be so sick on the
bike and then 5 minutes later I feel great running. I think I have conditioned
myself through the many, many years of training, to run through anything no
matter how uncomfortable. In college I ended up racing a 10K on a fractured
patella. I’ve run when I’ve had the flu, really it is a rare day that I will
not run. I thought I was
completely out of the race at this point. I was in 5th and didn’t
think it would be possible to catch 4th or 3rd. I
continued plotting along still seeing Scott so many places out on the outer
loop of the course. When I was half way through he told me that I could catch
the others and that they were slowing down. I don’t think he knows how much
hope that gave me to keep pressing on. The wind that had picked up on the
second half of the bike was in full force each loop on the way back into town.
My hat nearly blew off several times! I loved the support on this run course.
The whole course had people along it who cheered for you by name (name is on
your race bib number). The Kiwis know how to welcome you into their town. Each
loop you had to get a different colored bracelet that was more like a 70’s
scruncchi. This was to signify what loop you were on. I loved it especially for
the age groupers because then they would know where they stood in the race
compared to the people they were passing or who were passing them.
Nutrition for the run: 3-4 scoops of SWORD (electrolyte mix
with some carbohydrates) this is the only drink that is not overly sweet and it
doesn’t foam. Truly delicious if you haven’t tried it you should!
2 packages of Bonk Breaker Chews! If you didn’t know they
make two different flavors of chews now! One flavor has caffeine (strawberry)
and one without (orange tangerine). These are better than Cliff shot blocks
since they aren’t as big so they are actually manageable to eat and run at the
same time.
I saw Scott one last time a little less than 2 miles left in
the course. I was hoping to myself he would be at the finish line when I
finished since I knew he could actually get into the finishers shoot (VIP). I
came running down the shoot and had the biggest leap of any of my ironman races
before. The leap started because when I would go out for a run I would
sometimes hint at Scott to join me for the end of it. If he came out, I would
leap for joy when I saw him. It was the same this day; I saw him right at the
finish line and was so happy he somehow made it to see me finish. I got my
metal etc. and then was greeted by my drug testing lady… wahoo! It didn’t take
nearly as long this time compared to Kona but more because I was prepared to do
it than being more hydrated. It was fun to hang out in the testing area and talk
with the other top 5 female pros there. I got my massage and then we went to
the grocery store for some things I was craving, olives, pickles, and soup. We
went home and then ended going back out for the end of the race until it
started pouring too hard on us. It wasn’t the race that I was hoping for, for
my first pro race, but it was a good start. My best swim and run splits with my
worst bike split by far, still barely ended up with a PR 9:50:00.
That’s then end of the race report but I would be so ungrateful if I
didn’t publicly thank several people. First off my husband and daughter for
making this crazy dream become reality and letting me spend time training and
other sponsor commitments. He is the man of my dreams and is so patient, kind,
forgiving, and loving as I figure life out in my own time. Thanks to my sister
and Coach for always believing in me and putting up with my millions of text
messages with questions about training and racing and life.
One of my runs along the lake front.
Thanks to the rest of my family as well. My parents were
life savors by taking care of Emi while we were both in New Zealand and made it
possible for Scott to be an amazing cheer squad and for us to have an amazing
time after the race as well.
Thanks to my sister in California for help getting this
awesome new laptop I’m currently using for this race report and for tracking me
and bragging about me. It makes me feel so special.
The church is so amazing world wide. If was fun to go to this ward with very traditional Mauri people with the traditional tattoo on their face.
Thanks to my many fiends in Cincinnati. Thank you to Allison
for being the most awesome training partner ever and letting me borrow her
helmet and pillow to sleep on, on the plane. You are the best! Thanks for the
laughs and all the fun times and the ginger chews that got demolished on the
way to New Zealand (I had to pick more up in NZ, addicted). Thanks to her
husband TJ for being part of this crazy team of sponsors by being my
chiropractic care. Some how he keeps my body in one mostly harmonious unit even
though I try to tear it apart all the time. Thank you to Bryan and Tiffany for
letting me borrow your bike box (again) and feeding me yummy NZ dinner before I
left. You guys are always so thoughtful and looking out for me. Thanks to John
Book for letting me tag along with your swim team and giving me so many
pointers for my swim. Thanks to Mike for all your humor and sweet texts
checking in and also for that trainer ride, you have no idea what a negative mindset
I was in till you came! Thanks to my other training buddies: Rich Adams, Scott
Goertemiller, Brad Deaton, Cole Casey, and many more for the fun times. Thank you to Kenny Young who hooked me
up with Reser Bicycles!
Yes, there was a gluten free buffet table and both the welcome dinner and the awards banquet!
I’ve had so much help with my daughter so thank you to Diane
Kendall, Emily Stahlbaum and my neighbor Emily Blank (you are a life savor!).
Meredith Kessler who won. Very nice class-act woman, it was an honor to meet and chat with you.
Thank you especially to all of you who have sent sweet notes
of good luck and have been tracking from afar. It been amazing to see people
that I haven’t talked to much from High School and College involved in tracking
me. I would miss way too many people if I started naming names!
I know I will undoubtedly miss people and I am sorry and
know that you are much appreciated and I wouldn’t be able to do this without
all the love and support that I have.
To end this report here is a picture Scott took on our favorite thing we did in New Zealand; hiking the pinnacles.
