Here are my final stats with me falling about 10 minutes short of my goal...
Swim: 35:51 (1.2 miles… plus a couple hundred yards) – Goal under 35
Bike: 3:09 (56 miles… was the hardest part for me mentally) – Goal close to 3 hours
Run: 2:16 (13.1 miles and was a new PR for me by 4 minutes from April) – Goal under 2:30
Transitions were really slow because I took my time to regroup before the next leg.
My race report will have some “excerpts” from my 16 year old training buddy Chris who did his first 1/2 Ironman with me and a link to his dad William’s blog also which both provide some extra insight to the race course. This is pretty detailed mostly for my future recall so bare with me.
Joe, JJ and I drove to the race site Saturday afternoon as a big storm front was coming in so I could pick up my race packet and survey the situation. I noticed the bouys were not in a straight line, there was a lack in potties in transition, and we were going to be pretty well crammed together in there so was prepared to deal with this the next morning. We drove the run course so I had a good picture in my mind of how that was going to work. Now the picture in my eyes was another story as I misplaced my contacts which I ironically found after my post race shower... so I raced with ok vision for the swim and mostly looking over the top of my regular glasses for the bike but tried not to let it get to me.
“The Transition Area: For a ‘State Championship’ it’s pretty unorganized and obviously low-cost. They crammed about 1800 people into a transition area up and down a hilly tree covered area, so things were tight.” But it was nice having an assigned space and mine was near the bike in and out opening.
Before the race I caught up with the three teammates I had racing with me that day including my riding buddy Galen who ended up having a fantastic race after two rough ones the last couple of years. We were all pretty grateful for the weather Mother Nature had dished up. It was overcast and cool in the morning and humidity was pretty much gone. What a blessing after weeks of scorching heat and humidity in Iowa.
I had my typical nervous stomach which is good as it helps clear out anything that might be an issue later in the race. As I was heading down to the beach for the race start they still had transition open and folks in the registration line really not well organized. I don’t know why folks wait until the last minute to arrive for the race start (enormous lack of parking in the area) and it really did complicate things to have a sprint tri going on at the same time as a ½ Ironman.
Just as the race was queuing up to start a”huge fog cloud rolled in, and you could barely see 2 buoys from the start line. For some reason they decided that it apparently wasn’t an issue and started us on time, a decision I hope they don’t make again. The swim started off fine and we all dealt with the fog. The course itself was supposed to be straight out and back but curved to make a J kind of thing. So after the turn around, we couldn’t see the next buoy or much of else for that matter. The only logical thing was to swim in what I thought was the right direction, which, of course, it wasn’t.”
I am pretty sure I did an extra couple hundred yards and at one point was way off course beyond oncoming traffic which really pissed me off because I couldn’t get into a good rhythm due to great difficulty sighting the buoys. I really couldn’t use my swim skills to a time advantage like I usually do which likely added 3-4 minutes to my time but I did manage to stay calm and just kept sighting off the largest group of green caps in front of me going the same direction.
Another thing I had never experienced before was the mixed group start. They had us in waves of 40 – 50 people by when we registered so there was a mix of ages and genders at the start. We also didn’t have the normal age marking on our leg (the body markings they did do were pretty much useless and were mostly gone by the time I finished). There was pretty much no way to know where you were in the pack of folks in your competition group which was probably ok since I was only focused on competing against myself. The last cool new thing about the swim for me was the wetsuit strippers so I ran out of the water got my suit down to my hips and lay down on a mat and my suit was off in 3 seconds flat… SWEET!!
Bike: “Small rollers and flats the whole way except for one rather large downhill with the uphill being made up slowly over 5-6 miles. By all means a fast course, but not flat.” The weirdest part of the course was a hard right straight into an uphill with a water stop part way up it at around mile 32.5. I planned to carry my own nutrition on the bike so I wouldn’t have to swap out water bottles and such and for the most part that worked out for me however I wish I would have had two water bottles and one “Gatorade” instead of the other way around as it wasn’t a hot ride and I would have rather taken in more food nutrition instead of liquid so ended up with a full bottle of “Gatorade” at the end of the bike and probably was a little deficient in nutrition going into the run.
There was an obvious lack of course officials on the bike course. In the last couple of miles before the sprint tri folks and the ½ Ironman folks separated, I was passed by a group of 15 riders, quite obviously drafting, who nearly ran 2-3 of us off the road. It is an individual sport people (and highly illegal), so very annoying when people are blatantly cheating.
For about 5 miles (felt like more) in the second half of the race, we rode on perhaps the worst roads they had to offer and it was a legitimate challenge to put forth effort and not crash. Sadly my mind got the best of me here and my planned mph dropped way down so after about 15 miles of smooth, then rough, then rough and windy, etc changes every couple of miles I had to pull myself together and focus on getting the last 12 – 14 miles cranked out. This being my first time doing a ½ on top of my longest training rides being in the 40 mile range, I really didn’t know how much to hold back and I think that didn’t help the situation any.
Run: The run started by meandering for 3-4 miles through the edge of town along the lake neighborhoods. I saw William and Chris bring it in while I was still in my 2nd and 3rd miles or so… God bless all the people who were running sprinklers for us and all the people working the corners and water stops!! The sun had come out with around 14 miles left on the bike and the run was going to get hot with temps in the low 80s by the time I finished.
After the town miles we spit out on a county road running the wide shoulder with runners going in both directions in about a four foot space. There was a long shallow uphill section with no shade from around 4.5 to the turnaround loop. This was the section where I just kept focusing on putting one foot in front of the other (thanks cousin Jen for that advice in April). The turnaround was about a mile with mostly gravel but with some very welcome shade. Historically I know I start to bonk around miles 5, 8 and 11 so I tried to make sure I was taking in a gel or Gatorade a mile before those points, and taking in water, and the blessed ice down the shirt for the rest of the aid stops. We had aid around 1.5, 3, 5.5, 6/7, 9.5, and 11.5 so it seemed to be perfectly spaced for my needs.
On the run course I saw a couple of great quotes but now can only remember one… “Someday you will not be able to do this anymore… (and on a second sign behind it) but today is not that day”. This was posted around mile 7.5 on the run and I thought hell yeah!
Things nagging me besides the hot sun on the run were my right pinky toe (missed the glide there apparently and got a blister) and my left ankle (the one I twisted in June) which I stupidly put my timing chip strap on. I pushed through all that and strangely between the ‘smile’ and ‘have fun’ I had written on my arms I managed to experienced a serious runners’ high around mile 9 so I had to hold myself back for a mile or two before I cut loose and pushed it to the finish line. I am pretty sure I smiled all the way in from mile 9 or so.
The end… I felt really strong coming in to the finish like I still had more in the tank. I was really emotional in a good way when I crossed the finish line as I usually am and Joe asked if I was ok and I said just happy. Chris put this quote out: “Why do people run? Because it feels so good when you stop.” -? And I could so relate.
So how am I two days after? I went to yoga/Pilates class yesterday and my quads are a bit sore like I was lifting weights but all in all I feel great. I am anxious to get back to training and will be heading to the pool today and getting a run or two in this week but mostly taking it easy for two weeks (hiking in Colorado and puttering in Kansas City) before getting back into ‘training mode’ again. I have three more races on the plan for the year… a 10k run where I am shooting for a PR in early Sept, an Olympic tri race where I hope to improve on last years time at the same venue, and another ½ marathon this time with Joe in October… then maintenance mode or something like that anyway.
So in hindsight... did I learn something? Heck yeah... Will I do another 1/2 Ironman ... MOST DEFINITELY... Will I do a full Ironman someday... uh... my logical mind says you are nuts, but my heart says probably. In the meantime I feel like a super hero undercover as a full-time working mom of two young kids... I wish I could shout out my joy of my accomplishment to the world. I love to train (yes the more I exercise... the more I want to exercise) and have goals for my fitness so as Chris said to our triclub in his race report “I must be crazy. But aren’t we all?”
William "mister hard core triathlete" race report blog... http://wsjinames.blogspot.com/2011/07/0-0-1-1501-8557-iowa-state-university.html
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