My biggest worry going into Ironman Brasil was that I was just too happy! The days leading up to the race were just SO much fun. I was meeting people, eating great food, laughing, and butchering multiple languages in single conversations! The pre-race vibe reminded me a lot of a laid-back version of Hawaii and I was loving it. NOTHING could get me down.
A little pre-race excitement
The day before the race I was prepping my transition bags and managed to slice my finger on a pair of scissors. Not thinking much of it, I just ignored it for a couple hours until it conveniently started gushing blood just after bike check-in. Lucky for me, a bloody hand is the universal sign for “I need a med tent” and some friendly staff led me directly to three doctors who immediately got to work right then and there at the Expo.
I think most people already know Hillary Biscay is an amazing athlete (Brasil was her 60th Ironman!), but I’m not sure everyone knows just what a great person she is. Hillary found me in the med tent and basically held my good hand while the doctors stitched up the other. She even distracted me with questions about breakfast and my old job and I know it takes a special person to listen to me ramble on about public accounting!
I have to say a huge THANK YOU to Hillary for both the med tent incident, and for letting me shadow her all around Floripa before and after the race. Hillary has been a mentor to me since I was a 12.5 hr Ironman rookie and my respect for her only grows with time. She’s a great ambassador for the sport and I love watching her continued success both on the race course and in her other business ventures!
The Ironman Brasil med tent docs did an amazing job fixing my finger and it didn’t give me any trouble on race day. I recognize how lucky I was to have everything unravel at the Expo where the super kind and patient medical staff was ready and able to take care of me before the race even started. Major thanks!
And the excitement wasn’t quite over…
Race morning my rookie pro adventures continued. I quickly checked my bike and transition bags before making the 3/4 mile walk down to the start carrying my morning clothes bag holding my dry clothes, cell phone, hotel key, and some cash. The problem? The morning clothes bag drop was back at transition. And by the time I figured this out, I was out of time. I was about to start searching the bushes for a place to stash the bag when Pablo Gomes, a Brasilian athlete, offered to take my bag and leave it with his wife and children.
Pablo and his family definitely kept me from having a pre-race panic attack. Even if I never saw the bag again, I was overwhelmed by their kindness and it left me feeling better than ever about having the opportunity to race in their beautiful country!
But finally, I made it to the swim!
The Ironman Brasil swim course is an M-shaped course with a short beach run in the middle. There are only four turn buoys on the course, but the buoys are HUGE and easy to sight.
Wetsuits are allowed and I thought the water temperature was pretty comfortable (maybe around 70 degrees). The swim start is a mass running start from the beach with the pros starting in waist deep water 15 meters in front of the age groupers. I’m not sure about the official race demographics, but judging from the size of the men’s change tent vs. the women’s change hallway, I would guess at least 85% of the competitors are male. Make that young, fast, South American males who know how to swim. Translation? A VERY fast swim start!
On race day there was a slight right-to-left current that had most of the pros lining up to the right of the first turn buoy. Even though my finger felt fine, I lined up to the left just to be safe. I may have sacrificed a bit of time, but I had pretty clean water all the way to the turn. The sighting back to shore was a little tough, but luckily, by then I had a couple people around to keep me in check. Because of the current we overshot the first exit by a bit, but I think that was inevitable and didn’t really slow us down too much.
This was the first race I’ve done with a mid-swim run, and getting back into the water was really weird. My legs felt like lead, which may have been a good thing since I wasn’t supposed to be kicking anyway. I knew there were a couple people ahead of me, but I was comfortable with my effort and just focused on moving forward. The water was full of tiny jelly fish that didn’t sting, but definitely felt a little strange and reminded me to keep my mouth shut! I finished the swim feeling strong and ready to get on the bike!
OMG, I’m biking in Brasil!
Coming out of the water I wasn’t sure of my position. There were some stellar female swimmers in the race including the great Amanda Stevens, and we were all wearing the same color caps so it was pretty hard to tell men from women in the water. But once on the bike course the three motorcycles in front of me, police car behind, and more photogs than I could count tipped me off that I was leading the women’s race. To say it was “cool” might be an understatement! I felt like a celebrity!
Before long, Amanda herself shot by me like a rocket. From that point on, I pretty much felt like I was going backwards as Mirjam, Silvia, Jessie and a TON of age-group men flew by me. There were some low moments, but there were also a lot of highs just from the absolute beauty of the course. I definitely caught myself thinking how lucky I was to be biking down a highway in South America. Not a typical Sunday morning activity for this girl!
The bike course is two loops with four significant climbs, two trips through the tunnel, and several U-Turns, one of which was actually up and over a curb. At least one lane of the road is always closed to traffic, but sometimes motorcycles would weave in and out of the closed lane. The road surface was much better than I expected, but I still spent a good amount of time riding pretty “heads up.” And on more than one occasion I thought I was catching someone, only to find out the cyclists in front of me weren’t even in the race!
Riding the IM Brasil course was definitely different from the typical North American Ironman. There were a lot more surprises, which required some different tactics, but I enjoyed the adventure!
My best Ironman run ever!!
Coming off the bike, I was feeling pretty good. My run training has been going well and I knew I had a great marathon in me. I started the run just behind Ken Glah, and it was fun to hear EVERYONE cheering for him. Such a local celeb! It also came in handy because just after I passed Ken he yelled “RIGHT TURN!” I was so focused I’d nearly missed the turn! Thanks Ken!
The run course is a 13 mile out-and-back loop with a couple VERY steep hills, followed by two mostly flat 6 mile loops. I started the run in 5th, but was quickly passed by the fleet footed Sara Gross. I wasn’t too disappointed because I was still ticking off my fastest Ironman run splits ever.
Going up the first hill I spotted Blake Becker, a male pro from Wisconsin who I’d gotten to know during the week as my hotel neighbor. Up the second hill was Petr V, my other neighbor, and on the third hill Sonja was there, hand out, reaching for a high five! It was really motivating to see friends out there during the most geographically challenging part of the course!
Sometime during the hills I passed Mirjam and moved into 5th. But that position was short lived as by the time I reached the halfway point she had regrouped and managed an impressively strong surge past me. The next 10k were probably my hardest of the day. I was getting a little mentally down and just wanted to be finished. I went into a bit of disaster recovery mode and started drinking tons of Pepsi.
Between the Pepsi, some cheers from the EST staff from my hotel (so impressed they recognized me!), and a quick internal chat with myself, by the final loop I was feeling better and prepared to fight until the finish. I passed Silvia to move back into 5th, but I had Ariane, Anne, and Hillary hot on my heels and I knew I couldn’t let up!
By the end I was practically thinking in Portuguese, kilometers, and Celsius, but I made it! Fifth place and a new PR!!!
Stats
2.4 mile Swim – 46:21
112 mile Bike – 5:05:52
26.2 mile Run -3:26:25
Total Time – 9:24:43 (5th place PRO Female)
But wait, there’s more!
After refueling both at the finish line (they had a pizza oven on-site!) and at the EST hospitality house, I headed toward the shuttle back to the hotel. I hadn’t taken ten steps when I heard someone yell “Haley Chura, Atlanta!” Looking up, I saw Pablo’s family holding my morning clothes bag!! I have no idea how they found me, but I sure was happy to see them!! Endurance sport athletes and their families are a great bunch, no matter where they call home!
Also, for some reason the race results had my country listed as Brasil.
No, this trip was not a secret visit back to my homeland. I’m as American as a cheeseburger. But I’m also not complaining since I think I may have benefited from some extra cheers on race day! When I checked in before the race I was actually registered as a pro male (hence my low race number) so ending up as a Brasilian female was a MUCH better option! (Also, I made a point to spell “Brasil” with an “s” throughout this post because otherwise my coach, who is Brasilian, would probably get my visa revoked and I’d never be allowed to return!)
A few Obrigatas (Thank Yous!)
Thanks to my friends and family for always supporting me, even when I do things like quit my job and fly off to Brasil!
Thanks to my Dynamo Multisport teammates, training buddies, and coaches. Coach Maria keeps me (and 60+ other Dynamo Masters swimmers) fast in the water and Coach Matthew is the calm voice in my head, giving me the courage to keep moving forward even when things don’t go exactly as planned.
Thanks to my industry sponsors; another swim win in my TYR Freak of Nature wetsuit, a run PR in my Mizuno Ronins, and lots of compliments on my new SOAS kit! And all that travel would have been impossible without my 110% Compression wear keeping my legs fresh and Albopads keeping my bike safe!
Thanks to everyone I met in Floripa for making my trip there so special! I had the time of my life and can’t wait to go back!!
