CARSTAIRS – She might not have placed first or even among the top contenders who competed at the first Ironman World Championship held in Hawaii since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She told the Albertan earlier this month she didn’t perform as well as she had hoped going into the event.
But Carstairs-area resident and personal fitness coach Sharon Styles nevertheless felt that she triumphed against adversity after finding herself momentarily tempted to throw in the towel when her stomach started turning against her.
The 46-year-old triathlete who lives just outside of town was among some 5,000 competitors who attended the Oct. 6-8 return of Hawaii’s qualification-only world Ironman event hosted at the town of Kailua-Kona. The event had never before been held over two days, but there was little choice this year with a substantial backlog of qualified competitors dating back to the end of 2019.
The 226.3-kilometre (140.6-mile) journey’s three legs spanned through the ocean and over paved roads through lava fields.
While many people might think of Hawaii as the perfect vacation spot to enjoy a pleasant day on the beach, the island’s conditions are less than welcoming for an event such as a triathlon.
Tough conditions
“The conditions in Hawaii are tough. It’s probably the hardest triathlon there is just due to the heat and humidity,” she said.
“You’re riding through lava fields and you’re on pavement and it’s very hot, and it’s very windy and very humid,” she said, describing the course as being in a “very unforgiving environment.”
So, as hard as just reaching that level of competition is, performing beyond one’s expectations is an uphill battle that can go either way.
“For me, I did run into some trouble,” she said. “The thing about Ironman is you have to fuel your body the whole day.”
And a long day it is, with the fastest athletes clocking times between eight to nine hours while the slowest competitors might take as long as 17 hours or so, she said.
Along the way, each racer must be mindful to take in fluids, electrolytes as well as carbohydrates throughout the day.
“And if you don’t, you won’t finish,” she said. “For me, I ran into some trouble about halfway through the bike course with my stomach. It just quit digesting.”
Nothing she attempted to ingest seemed to settle; quite the opposite.
“I got out onto the run course and I was vomiting,” she said. “But I was able to kind of overcome those difficulties.”
That primarily involved pacing herself down a little bit until her stomach settled enough that she was able to complete the race.
“When I did finish, I was very proud of what I’d accomplished,” she said.
Asked if that was the kind of situation that might compel some competitors to throw in the towel and try again another time, she said, “I had that thought for a very brief moment.”
Stand Together
But as much as the racers are competing for their best times, there’s also a sense of solidarity among a supportive community of people who root for one another.
“There’s a lot of camaraderie out there on the course,” she said. “A lot of people struggle on that course…and so you get a lot of encouragement from the people around you.”
This year’s theme was even called “Stand Together” and the atmosphere was more one of racing together instead of against each other, she said.
So, Styles said she decided to start walking for a spell until she felt improved enough to once again pick up her pace.
“I just thought to myself, ‘I will finish this if I have to walk the entire marathon. I will make it to the finish line,’” she said.
“Fortunately my stomach did settle; I was able to start getting in some calories.”
After walking for about five kilometres, Styles found her stride and ran the rest of the way.
“I was determined to get to the finish line,” she said.
According to the results posted on the event’s official website, Styles finishing time of 12:08:49 ranked her 69th in her division for females aged 45-49, 528th place in her gender, and 1,102 overall.
“Usually, I do very well,” she said. “In competitions, I place rather high. So actually, 69th in Hawaii was not a good result for me.”
She had previously earned a spot to compete in Hawaii after qualifying at an Ironman in Arizona in November 2021.
“I won my age group in that event,” she said. “It was very exciting.”
Qualifying in Arizona to compete in Hawaii, she said, had been a personal goal.
“I have competed in Hawaii before in 2017,” she said. “So I had it as a goal that I wanted to go back and do it again.”
As a qualification-only event, athletes are competing among the best.
“That’s a big part about Hawaii. Triathletes will strive to qualify for that race for years and years, and just getting there for a lot of people is a huge accomplishment,” she said.
“That’s kind of how I felt the first time I went, and coming back this time I had a bigger goal in mind and wanted to perform a little bit better. It wasn’t quite my day unfortunately, but it was still a very rewarding experience.”
Rewarding experience
Despite being disappointed after not performing quite at the level she’d expected, Styles said the experience was nevertheless rewarding.
“I definitely thought I would have been faster,” she said, adding her initial goal had been to finish in less than 11 hours.
But overcoming the temptation to call it quits when her stomach turned and then going onto rally herself mentally and physically to reach the finish line was worth the effort, she said.
“This is one of the most amazing finish lines you could ever experience,” she said. “The people, the fans, the atmosphere – it’s a very special finish line.”
Generally training daily for a total of anywhere from 14 to 20 hours a week, she enjoys being able to run or bike outside when the weather’s nice and works on improving her swim strokes in either Olds or Didsbury.
“We actually have some of the best riding out here because the roads are very quiet, there’s lots of hills – it’s a really great place to train,” she said, adding, “I find that motorists in Mountain View County are very respectful and very careful when they’re going by you.”
Having earlier this past summer at the end of June brought home a gold medal from a sprint distance world championship event in Montreal, the triathlon in Hawaii marked her second competition this year; but it wasn’t the last.
“Because I wasn’t really able to showcase my fitness in Kona, I got home and I really wanted to race again,” said Styles, adding she’ll be headed to California in early December to compete in a half Ironman event called 70.3 Indian Wells.
Embracing challenge
After completing her first-ever split triathlon in Calgary back in 2007, which featured a 750-metre swim, 20-kilometre bike ride, and a five-kilometre run, Styles said, “I’ve just been hooked ever since.”
Responding to a question about what has kept her coming back for more over the years since, she said, “I love the challenge of pushing myself to do my best.”
Styles also expressed an affinity for travelling, meeting new people and making new memories.
“I just feel really privileged to be able to stay with this sport and take part in these different events across the world,” she said.
Perhaps the biggest hurdle competing in triathlons, she said when asked, is preparing one’s body to ingest calories while training so as to prepare the body to digest while racing.
“That’s a big challenge,” she said.
Asked what advice she might have for any rookie runners out there with aspirations to race in their first marathon or even triathlon, she said, “Just do it. Give it a shot.”
While the best way to learn is by doing, Styles also suggests finding a coach – not necessarily herself – to help ensure one has the right guidance to push them in the right direction without training incorrectly and inadvertently developing bad habits.
