I cannot tell you how excited I am about the last race of the year. Ironman Cozumel was SUCH a fun way to finish a year of three full iron-distance races. It was a perfect(ish) day, in a beautiful locale and I raced with two amazing friends. Plus, Honey was there to cheer for me before, during and after. I loved this race (most of the day anyway) and thought I’d write out my race report (including logistics) and my takeaways.
ARRIVAL
We set up our travel through Ken Glah’s ENDURANCE SPORTS TRAVEL - a service that I highly recommend for this or any race they serve. Getting to Cozumel was quite an adventure and they helped us (and 40 other athletes) manage planes, shuttles, bicycle rickshaws, ferries, more shuttles and taxis not only on the first day but throughout the race, the days after and our departure.
We arrived on the Thursday before the Sunday race and that gave me plenty of time to chill out a little, put together my bike, remember what summer felt like and start hydrating. We stayed at Secrets Aura - my first all-inclusive that made life really easy and set us up for a perfect post-race celebration.
I will say had quite the adventure from Cancun to Cozumel. It entailed a big glitch in our pick-up, me falling on my luggage and banging my shin and skinning my knee (which caused me to cuss in French, not Spanish), an hour trip to Playa de Carmen by shuttle, piling nine pieces of luggage (including three bikes and a golf bag), a 45 minute ferry ride on giant rolling waves and a taxi to the resort. But, we shared the adventure with Ashley and Tristan who were from Nashville and fun to get to know.
FRIDAY BUSINESS
Tonya arrived late on Thursday and Jen arrived on midday Friday. Ace headed out on his first round of golf and T and I spent the morning assembling our bikes and worrying about Jeyo. She finally arrived (and was able to send/receive texts) before noon and we made a plan for packet pick-up and the athlete meeting. We had a light lunch at the pool bar and headed downtown to the expo.
Registration was super easy and more laid back than any North American race. It wasn’t as organized as the races here, but it flowed - and it felt like a party. [For those of you who know what I mean: There were none of those green cards with your race number that you take to the waiver table that you take to the contact info table that you take to get your race numbers and hear the race spiel, etc., etc.] And the swag was pretty awesome! The standard book bag, a fanny pack, a micro-fiber towel and a few other goodies. The expo was okay, but the lines moved slowly and it was smaller than IMLOU or IMBoulder.
The athlete’s meeting was frustrating to me. One, because it was three blocks down the street from the expo. Two, it was 30 minutes late getting started and the waiting area was mostly in the sun. Three, most of the information is in the athlete guide. Plus, we found out later they told one group to keep the swim buoys on the left shoulder and the other group to keep them on the right. Pick a side, yo. [And finally - pet peeve - all the chairs were touching. Seriously, people, you can spread the chairs out. Personal space.] Maybe I was hangry here.
Our last mandatory event of the day was the ENDURANCE SPORT TRAVEL meeting headed by Ken and Christine Glah. They outlined how to navigate the bike and bag drop-offs on Saturday and the swim finish + swim start shuttles on race day. Seriously. I am still amazed at how they coordinated all of us and our spectators all week long. After the meeting, the four of us went to dinner and created a timeline for the next 36 hours.
SATURDAY PREP
Saturday started with a bike check shake out ride. We had all reassembled our bikes by Friday and wanted to do a test ride. It allowed Jen and me to fidget with our power meters (which seemed off) and completely open Tonya’s back brake because every time she’d hit a bump, her wheel would start to rub. We rode out about 3 miles on a side service road that was a lot like riding on roads at home. We returned to the resort, made a few adjustments and then rode our bikes to the swim finish/bike start at Chankanaab park. We racked our bikes and dropped our bags and checked out the swim exit. I have to say this was the most beautiful bike transition. It was shaded and the bikes actually had space between them.
We got an EST shuttle back to the resort, had a bite to eat and headed off to the run bag drop in downtown Cozumel. We were not allowed to access our swim-to-bike or bike-to-run bags on race day, so there was a little stress in making sure we crossed off the items on the transition checklists. We headed back to the resort, ate an early buffet dinner (3:00pm!) and started the final prep.
RACE DAY LIES AHEAD……