I FUCKING PODIUMED

One of my goals while living in Guatemala was to race in a local triathlon.  As a triathlete, I felt it was important to support the local tri community and shed light to a country that doesn’t get much spotlight for its sport.

El Paredon 70.3 was set on the beautiful black beaches of the pacific coast of Guatemala and it did not disappoint.  Honestly, it was one of the hardest hot weather races that I’ve ever done at this distance.  Yes, way hotter than IM 70.3 Cozumel and IM 70.3 Puerto Rico! 

This was the first time that El Paredon hosted a 70.3 distance triathlon and race was capped at 175 participants.  Overall the race run smoothly from race package pickup to the finish line.  But as a international triathlete, that has raced in 3 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships, 12 IRONMAN 70.3 and 3 IRONMAN 140.6 in the USA, Canada, Europe, Africa, and Mexico there were moments in this race that felt chaotic. 

Part of the chaos on race day is the way of life that most third world countries operate on a daily basis.  Also be aware that my perspective comes from a European immigrant that used to live in Chile as an adolescent before moving to the USA for university and then became a gringa after living in USA for almost all my adulthood. What once I used to make fun of all the laws, rules, regulations, and safety standards in the USA, I now appreciate them after living back in Latin America.

I will go further into detail on this in my race recap.

 Swim

The swim was absolutely stunning inside the channel of Marina del Sur with a mass start.

Males went in first, lining up in the water before the horn.  For the females it was a bit confusing to know when to start lining up, as there was no indication for our swim start.  Once a few females started to go, this was my own indication to just jump in and start swimming. 

The first few meters took a bit of maneuvering around slower male swimmers. 

The course was pretty much an out and back inside the Marina del Sur channel with 2 turns and 1 turnaround, creating a figure L.  Going out we encountered tide current and at the turnaround we swam with the incoming tide. 

For 1.2 miles / 1900 meters swim we encountered a total of 3 buoys.  A red buoy at the half way point indicating the turnaround, a yellow buoy to indicate end of the channel go back to the swim start/end, and a red buoy to indicate boat ramp to finish swim.  With only 3 buoys it took a lot of extra navigation to make sure you were staying on course. 

I heard from a few athletes that they missed the yellow buoy turn, swimming past it.  I didn’t swim past it, but instead was sighting it versus cutting back into the swim start as most others did. 

Considering the confusing start, lack of buoys to sight, and warm water temperature of 84F/29C, I had a great swim.  Swim time was 36:59.  Not my fastest nor my slowest but I definitely came out of the swim dehydrated.  I always pee in my swim to bike transition and I didn’t on this race. 

There is no way to swim in that water temperature without overheating.  Hence why I opted to swim with my sports bra and my tri shorts leaving my tri top in transition.

BIKE

Here’s where most of the chaos was felt on the race.  The 56 miles/90k course was 4 loops on open traffic roads.

I had 2 close traffic accidents. 

The first one was with a chicken bus that was over passing riders on the opposite side and the chicken bus was headed straight towards me.  These are rural roads that are narrow already for two cars with no shoulder.  I was forced to stop and do my best to get out of the way of the bus.

The second incident was with an athlete’s support vehicle on the bike course!  There is a stretch of the bike course were we pass transition for 3 miles, turn around, and bike back 3 miles into transition.  This section is also the first 3 miles of the run leg.  Runners were instructed to stay left on a coned off section for those 3 miles to avoid incoming bikers. 

I was headed to the turnaround point on my bike when I noticed a vehicle in front of me was slowing down and then came to a complete stop on the road.  I was forced to slow down and slowly pass the vehicle while I noticed the women was starting to lean out her window while a runner came between us to grab hydration bottles from her.  They almost took me out and I totally lost my temper.  I angrily yelled at both of them.  

Triathletes, if you want your country to be recognized international, this behavior needs to end.  Receiving outside assistance is an immediate disqualification (DNF).  This rule is in place to keep all athletes safe and hence why it was mentioned in the athlete briefing for this race several times.

Other events that happened on the bike course was making sure a cow didn’t cross my path and avoiding starving dogs crossing the street looking for food.

All in all, considering the quality of road surface, open traffic, all the turnarounds, missing my first turn, opting to wear a bra instead of my fast trikit, not using a aerohelmet, starting the bike leg dehydrated, never peeing on the bike leg either…. I still was able to produce quality power targets and finished the bike in 2:52. 

Again not my fastest bike for a 70.3 and yet extremely proud considering all the above.

RUN

I knew heading into this race that the run was going to be hard.  Between the humidity & heat index off 100+F / 38+C and not running much after IM 70.3 Texas, it was to be expected that I would struggle.  What I didn’t expect was to have a meltdown. 

After finishing Texas 70.3 on April 3rd my goal for April was to recover, vacation with my best friends for one week in Guate, and be extremely smart on how I approached El Pardon 70.3.  El Paredon was my B race and I didn’t want to risk any injuries as my next A race is IRONMAN Maryland in September. 

In April, I was able to maintain my swim fitness and fit in 2 quality long rides and a couple of shorter bike trainer session.  But for my run, I had decided to cut back my weekly mileage to allow ample recovery from Texas.  Unfortunately post vacation I came down with a cold and wasn’t able to get in any long runs as I had planned.  The longest run post Texas was 1hr.

As I transitioned from bike to run I finally peed but knew I was starting the run heavily dehydrated.  At mile marker 3 I started walking.  I felt over heated, high heart rate, out of breath and me saying out loud… “fuck” several times.

Between mile marker 3/5k to miler marker 7.5/12k the turnaround, I went into a dark phase. 

At the turnaround marker I saw Jimmie.  When he asked how I was doing?  I put my head down and had a total self-pity meltdown party.  I told him exactly how I felt:  “I am walking so much”, “I am overheated”, “I can’t run”… “I totally suck”. 

I have no idea what he told me exactly, but what registered was: “Esther, it IS fucking hot, you are not the only one walking, everybody is suffering…”. 

To date, this is my slowest run in a 70.3 race.  When I finished, I didn’t even stop my watch for another 30 or so minutes.  My run time was about 2:32.  

FINISH LINE

The reason why I didn’t stop my watch at the finish line is because I blacked out.   

I crossed the finish line and someone put my medal around my neck, someone else removed my timing chip from my ankle all while I held onto a metal barricade.  As soon as I lifted my head up and went to take a step forward to move out of the finishing line, my head started to spin and I found myself nosediving into the black beach sand. 

Out of nowhere my husband grabbed me before I hit the ground and he pulled me into the shade. With the help of my friend Gabby, they sat me on a massage table while the therapist prepared an ice bag for me.

Call it heat stroke, dehydration, or having a high heart rate when crossing the finish line and then coming to a complete stop ……… maybe a combo of all three, but it wasn’t pretty.

After cooling the body down with ice bag and drinking as much water as I could, they moved me to the medical tent to take my pulse, blood pressure, and respiration rate.  Once I was able to bring all my numbers to normal ranges they let me go and that is when I realized I hadn’t stopped my watch yet.

PODIUM

My finishing time was 6:06 giving me top overall female at El Pardon. 

Lola took 2nd place finishing 6:12.  She is Guatemala’s Olympian cyclist who went to Athens and a total powerhouse of a human.  Daniela took 3rd finishing 6:33.

What I am most proud about from this race other than the podium, was my ability to overcome all the adversity and fighting through such a tough race.  Honestly it was a rough experience but I know this will make me stronger for future races. I also want to acknowledge how strong and resilient Guatemalan athletes are. You guys make it look easy. I am humbled to race among you!

Thank you so much Guatemala for offering an unforgettable 70.3.  It was an absolute pleasure racing among top athletes in Guatemala and making new connections and friendships. 
I am looking forward to racing again in Guatemala and bringing more gringos to race here with me.  I have been eyeing Gran Jaguar 70.3 in Tikal, Petén ever since visiting Tikal National Park last year.

See you all there and let’s keep raising the bar in Guatemala! One race at a time!