Cheryl Iseberg's Half Ironman Race Report

70.3 Hawaii Half Ironman
Race Report - Cheryl Iseberg


In my best imitation of the sports announcer Al Troutwig “you find yourself on the Big Island of Hawaii”. Beautiful music is playing in the background. Pan to show the lava fields and waterfalls of Hawaii. You triathlon freaks know the rest of the lead for this story.

So, I have found myself on the Big Island of Hawaii for the second time in 8 months. Rob and I volunteered at the World Championships (Ironman Hawaii) in October as finish line catchers. We caught a glimpse of the magic and also met someone that would make an impact on my life. Many of you know and have contributed to my Janus Charity Challenge effort for Ironman Coeur d’Alene for Jon Blais aka “Blazeman”. Jon is the first person to complete the race with ALS. I was lucky to meet him and shake his hand in October and I am doing my best as a Blazeman Warrior to raise money for ALS at Ironman CDA.

A lot has happened in the last few weeks so this race report will be long (ok as usual) to get everyone up to speed. A week before the race I got some very interesting news that lead to a frantic email to my friend in triathlon and life, Patty Swedberg. The email went out in pure panic and desperation upon the news. Patty responded and jumped on a plane within 48 hours to join me here in Maui for our first ever Maui Training Camp. One I hope we can do each year J

We started a regiment of eat, train, call husband and talk for 2 minutes, eat, train, and sleep. Some of us eat more then others CLEARLY. Coach Phil I tried to get those last few pounds off of Patty but she insisted on sherbet and cheesecake. We had a good week of dedicated training. We are both focusing on June 24th and looking for redemption.

At the end of the week as we changed modes to Patty flying home and Rob flying in for a visit and to join me on the Big Island I received news that Jon Blais had passed away on May 27th. Jon was a true warrior on the fight of this terrible disease and showed what could be done with courage, strength and honor. Jon was diagnosed just two short years earlier. This information set me back. I wanted so much to be able to send an email to the rest of the Warriors of my accomplishment at Ironman CDA and I wanted him to be a part of that. I was not prepared to loose him right now but I know that he is at peace and I find comfort in that. I know the next time I meet him I will not have to lean over a wheelchair and lift his hands into mine but perhaps we will be coming out of the water together toward the end of great swim.

The trip to the Big Island is a short one from home here in Maui, just a 30 minute flight. We found our way to the race location and I knew this was going to be a great venue and race. It would be hot, humid, and windy. Perfect race conditions J My warm up bike ride was very windy and I soon realized that Maui winds do not equal Kona Winds.
Note to self, ride the white line so when the wind gusts come you have room for when you bike leaps and yes I mean leaps several feet over to the right. I knew the course was tough but I was not in panic mode. This race was not a goal race for me but a warm up to practice my nutrition and have a good training day in preparation for Ironman CDA. This thought made the pre-race panic attacks manageable well that in a few $15 drinks at the hotel bar.

As always, beautiful bodies riding sleek machines through the hotel complex. You wonder if these people do anything but train. This is always the time you start to wonder if you really belong in this league of triathlon freaks. Type A personalities everywhere but some things never change. A day of worry turns into “ok let’s do this”.

The day of the race is beautiful and the beach is fantastic. There was supposed to be cannon to start the swim but I never heard anything I just saw this mass of people running down the beach. Huh, ok let’s run as far down the beach before we swim. Sounds like a cool idea. The water is warm and clear. Not a lot of fish or reef but its nice. The current is running out and toward Maui. The first few buoys are tough. I have to fight off the other 1000 athletes struggling to figure out open water swimming in salt water without a wetsuit and fighting a current. I love the challenge and make my way through the blue caps (men) and leave them behind. On the backside of the course the kids are all way off course fighting the current. I make my way inside the buoy line and find a good deal of open water and no current. I love it! I take my swim as a nice swim in the ocean. No real pushes of power or kick. Just a nice 1.2 mile swim at a good pace. Coming out of the water in a near perfect time. I feel great despite the complications of a sinus infection and I take the time to go through the water showers to get the salt off of me. This is key to salt water swimming – get the salt off of you before proceeding on the bike for several hours of sun or you will suffer from that poor decision making.

I make a good transition and make my way up to the Queen K highway to race one half of the Ironman World Championship course. I think about Jon and ask for his help to keep things going well for my race. I see a lot of athletes with bike issues including many flats. The bike tech guys are on top of everything so people are not waiting long. I pray as always to the triathlon gods to let this not be the day that I encounter bike issues. My new ride and new Zipp wheels are screaming fast and I take the time to enjoy the ride. As the course gets more difficult as we make our way to the turnaround at Hawi, the wind picks up and the incline changes. I make sure just to focus on the plan from Coach John and keep a good pace. My mind wonders to Jon Blais again. How on earth did he ever do this race? How did he will his body to go up and down these hills and suffer the winds that never stop?

I am greeted at Hawi with “welcome to Hawi and God Bless” by a young bike rider. Perfect. This is just perfect.

I then proceed to drink up and eat. I was not prepared for the serious downhill I was about to encounter. I think my bike was giggling with pure joy down that hill. I of course was hanging on for dear life hoping for no big gusts of wind. I don’t know what the hell to do when you’re screaming (literally) down a hill at 66 mph and a gust of wind comes. Yes, kids, 66 mph was the top speed I reached and I took a picture of my bike computer to prove it to all of you race fans.


The lava fields are hot and I find my way back to the hotel and transition to the run. Of course as all of you know I always try to make an entrance and nearly flipped over as I unclipped. I have to blame that on my bike shop boyfriends who convinced me to swap out pedals and new shoes a month before a race. Not quite ready for prime time boys but thanks for thinking of me and I do think the carbon shoes made a difference.

So, T2 goes well and I stop to lather up with sunscreen. I have a pretty good base of tan from Maui but I know this Hawaiian sun and I take the time to get sunscreen on my back. Good plan for my triathlete friends now have some interesting red lines on their backs they are now sporting after the race.

I feel strong but hot at the start of the run. I take the time to hydrate, walk and cool down and thankfully within a few miles I am a new girl with a new attitude – that’s a song right? I feel much stronger then I have in any other race of this distance and I am sporting a smile (Rob said “no mean face” today so I was trying to comply). I have a pretty good run even though it was quite warm and I finish strong. This is a great race for me and I am pleased and tell myself “bring it on for CDA” during the last mile.

So to circle back with why Patty boarded the next flight to Maui. Many of you know this crazy dream of Ironman has been a part of my life for a long time. Many years of thinking of my hero Julie Moss before even starting any sort of training. To be exact, it has been 25 years since I watched her on television crawling to the finish. Doing an Ironman always seemed doable. Competing in Ironman Hawaii always seemed like a pipe dream. Something always to dream about but never to be attained by someone like myself a steady middle of the packer who sometimes can drift to the back of the back J One of the reasons is that Ironman Hawaii requires qualifying for the race which requires fast twitch muscles which only happens when the MS is causing trouble and never in the muscles it needs to be J

So, several months ago I saw an ad for something called the CEO Challenge. Which the short version is a bunch of 40 and 50 year old men competing against each in various sports. Once I logged on to the web site I realized I had to sign up. They only allow business owners or C suite executives with a certain level of yearly revenue from their business. The key part was they made the revenue limits lower for “women business owners” which really pissed me off. I don’t need anyone to lower the expectations for being a woman. So, to race with the boys, I signed up for the CEO Challenge at Ironman CDA. This challenge gives bragging rights to the fastest CEO of the race but also gives out rare Ironman Hawaii slots. Originally I did not qualify to compete for a slot because there has to be at least two women competing and the other woman had to pull out because of a diagnosis of breast cancer which is tragic. I had put the whole thing out of my mind until I was notified the week before the race that there was another woman who might sign up thus we both would be racing for a slot in October. Thus the email to Superstar with a clear panic attack coming on and her race to the airport to come to Maui to assist. Patty is also trying to qualify for Kona through regular age groups slots and after she beat me up for a week, I know she will be there.

Jon Blais died on May 27th and we were officially notified on May 29th that the slots had been approved and the race is on in CDA for us two women. The fastest woman will be going to Ironman Hawaii in October.

At first Rob was on strict instructions (along with Patty) not to tell anyone of my fate. I had vowed not to share this secret with others. Perhaps because I felt I was not worthy of such a slot but more then that, it probably was that I could possibly not be good enough and I might be beaten at the finish line and I would be embarrassed. It has taken a while for me to realize that that is not in the spirit of how I race or approach life. It is not about being beat or being embarrassed about telling people your finish times. No, it is about you doing your best on that day whatever your best is. If you did your best then there is glory in your effort regardless of the finish time or finish place. I truly think that Jon was part of the good race in Hawaii this past weekend but also had a hand in the last minute entry of the other woman in CDA to race for a potential slot in Kona in October.

You all now know that a dream may come true on June 24th and I hope that on that day you will think of me and wish me luck with plenty of speed on that day. I know every positive thought sent my way will help me have a great day. Win or lose – it will be a great day.

Back to Al Troutwig – queue beautiful music and the pictures of lava fields of Hawaii “you learn a lot about yourself on the Big Island of Hawaii”

Thanks to everyone for the continued support.

Livestrong,
Cheryl