“This year’s VinFast IRONMAN World Championship event at Kona will go down in history for so many reasons.

1. It was the first-ever women’s only championship.
2. Lucy Charles-Barclay broke the Course Record with a time of 8:24:31.
3. Anne Haug‘s time of 2:48:23 broke the Run Course Record.
4. 100% of athletes completed the Swim Course.
5. An amazing 97.23% of competitors finished the race (the highest finishing rate ever!).
6. 16 women finished in under 9 hrs.
7. 769,000 triathlon fans watched this year’s women’s race…up from the 599,000 who watched the men’s race!
8. Former Pro Triathlete Jessica Jones Lasley from Tulsa, OK took the win in my 50-54 yr age group.  Her journey to get here after 16 yrs is something special.
9. And my Liza Coaching, LLC athlete, Michele Santilhano‘s 1st Kona was solidly successful.

For me, after finishing on the podium in my previous five IM World Championships, this was my 1st Kona where I struggled to maintain just 85% of my normal pace on both the bike & the run.

Something’s Not Quite Right

My physical preparation for this race, however, was one of the best I have ever had.  After winning my Age Group last year, my coach Craig Upton formulated a plan based on the same template, but with a few tweaks & improvements which helped me train with a relaxed mindset.  As can happen though, I had a few small setbacks.  I took 4 months off from running due to a shin injury.  And in July I got COVID which necessitated a conservative return to training.

I had a fast swim (under 1hr 03min) in which the effort felt much less than the Ho’ala swim the previous week.  Onto the Queen K & after an hour or so I could tell something was off.  I could get in plenty of nutrition & hydration but had trouble pushing out even a conservative power output.  One of the standard checks I’ve done to make sure everything is OK out on the bike is:  ‘You always need to pee before Hawi.’  But I could not go at all on the bike.

Coming into T2 it was amazing to see my cousin, Jill Jarrett, Kathy Harris, my husband, Jono Coulter & my family.  But when Jono said I was in 8th place & 05 min off of 5th place, I had a feeling I would just be trying to finish.  I knew this when, for the 1st time, I started to walk early on the run on Ali’i drive.  I told Jono, ‘I’m just going to try to have fun… Well, this is not exactly fun, but you know what I mean!’

Things Get Tough

So up Palani where, much to my surprise, I vomited 3x in a row.  Though that did help me feel slightly better, but I lost electrolytes.  After the Energy Lab I knew something was about to be very wrong.  Even though I stayed positive by putting 1 foot in front of the other (this has to be done in order to finish, right?), I was forced to walk often.  Despite my best efforts to get more sodium (I was grabbing potato chips or broth at every opportunity), the muscles in my neck, arms & legs began to cramp…which ultimately limited my efforts.  Of course, I am anxious to determine what went wrong.  In hindsight, I know that in the weeks leading up to Kona I had dealt with some odd sensations from GERD – I struggled to eat outside of training.  This situation very well could have created a possible electrolyte imbalance well before race day.

And Tougher Still

As the sun set on Big Island & the final miles remained, I dug deep to pick up the pace.  The prep, pain & hours spent training are worth it in the end to get across that finish line.  As athletes, we are often Type A personalities focused on completing all our workouts & driving full-gas in training all for the end result of reaching our goals.

There were highlights too!  When in Boise I was able to train with my friends Kristin Armstrong Savola, Sarah Barber & Erin Green & Jono.  The last few workouts I did with athletes in the Bay Area were awesome.  Leading up to the race, I got excellent much-needed recovery by working with my solid team of physical therapists at Revolutions In Fitness & PIVOT Lifestyle + Fitness by KA & massage therapists, Brandon & Laura.  Essentially, I wouldn’t have changed a thing in my physical prep & heat acclimatization for the big Island race.

I am so thankful for the support from friends & family leading up to race day.  My cousin, Jill, Rex & Ivy flew to Hawaii & seeing them on race morning is something I will never forget.  As I shared this magical race start with 2,000 other resilient women, I knew this day was special.

One extra special moment from this race was the number of spectators & competitors who recognized my @fly vie kit & Blue Competition Cycles Bicycle Triad on course & shouted encouragement of “Go, World Champion!”  This was unexpected & gave me strength to keep trying.  WOW, that was cool!

Reframing Expectations

My goal at race start was to defend my 2022 win…but the universe had other plans which I will never fully understand.  Re-adjusting or resetting our goals mid-race to simply finish & not worry about placement and/or reframing our expectations is an important skill to acquire for any athletic event.  Was I disappointed with my 11:00:43 finish time putting me in 19th place?  YES.  However, I am human, & it is important for me to realize that I’ve had many podiums at the Ironman World Championships.  This disappointing performance promotes growth & resilience as an athlete.  In other words, I may learn more from this finish than from a victory.

And as my mother reminded me:  ‘Liza, you need to share the podium with other people so they can experience it too!’

Train on!”