Race Report - Milkman 1/2 Ironman Triathlon

Teammates Galen and Andy before the
race - Joe Thompson

Sometimes life presents you with choices.  As my earlier blog post noted I had a rough couple of weeks going into this race.  That meant drastically reduced training, physical therapy, and on and on... Add weather in the 80s and a pile of hills into the mix and I made the decision to take the pressure off myself.  As I did my race prep the night before I was talking through the plan with my husband and cousins and warned them It was going to take me a while to finish.  I said it was likely I'd be walking the half marathon and worse case might not even finish (I never really know when heat will make my MS flare).  I was not going to strain my body to collapse with the heat and challenging bike course so with that I went into the next day with my mind and heart open to whatever experience was put in front of me.

Race day I was up before 5 and the guys and I headed over to the course lot.  My cousin Jay introduced me to Captain America Aaron who does ToughMudder races with him.  Jay and Joe walked over to the transition zone and Aaron and I took the bus with our gear.  With nearly 1000 people racing it was a good sized transition area.  I had dropped off my bike the day before but we didn't have time to check out the course which is pretty unusual for me. I got things reinstalled on my bike and set up my transition area.  I found a bunch of my triracer teammates and Ames racing buddies and shot the breeze before heading over to the lake to check out the buoys.  While chatting and waiting I met another Pearl Izumi Women's Tri team member GiGi and love my extended tri family this year.  The water was in the low 70s as was the air and I opted for a wetsuit.  

Coming out of the swim

This race ran the waves starting in reverse age order with the elite heats and the older folks going first.  I think I was heat nine which put me in a middle heat.  I got a strong start and the sun was high enough it wasn't completely in my face but sighting buoys for the first leg was challenging.  I started to hit traffic about 200 yards from the first turn and found myself in people as I swam through the three heats of athletes ahead of me.  It was a solid swim but I wasn't pushing super hard.  I came out of the lake with 1.2 miles in right at 35 minutes.  YAY wetsuit strippers got my out of my suit in seconds.  It was quite a distance up over the hill back to transition and I jogged most of it.   

I took a few minutes to dry off, get my gear on, drink water and snarf down a Lara bar.  I was convinced that I wasn't going to bonk like I did last year.  Joe, Jay and Jodi  my training buddy Galen's wife all gave me a shout out as I headed out for my ride.  I had three water bottles (one insulated and cold, one with air temp water and one with skratch) and with the heat rising through the ride I made sure to work the warm one twice for every hit of skratch and saved the cooler one for later on the course.  The roads was rough the first ten miles and then the hills came, and came, and came.  I started working on my PBJ bonk bar around mile 20 and finished it off by mile 45.  I also worked through all three water bottles pushing the last of my water as I rolled the last mile into transition, and felt like my nutrition plan thus far was just right for my 56 mile ride.  This was my longest ride of the season by 20 miles since my training derailed with the car crash recovery.  So at this point I am 56 miles and 3 hours and 53 minutes in the saddle which had me at four and half hours so far.

My ROCKSTAR family at the halfway point
of the half marathon - LOVE THEM!!

My new triathlete friend Leslie
and I at the halfway point

Coming into transition I was cheered on by seven people I love (biggest cheering section ever for me) and I prepared myself for a hot shuffle around the lake.  I put on my Pearl Izumi cooling bolero which is wet and fun to wriggle into but worth the five degree cooler temps on my arms.  I had been chatting with a young man towards the end of the bike who'd been cramping and we came out of transition together with my soon to be new friend Leslie from the Madison area.  As we shuffled the first few steps we agreed neither of us was going to push too hard for the 13.1 mile "run" portion of this half ironman so we agreed to make the journey together.

Around mile 9 1/2

By this point the weather was heating up into the 80s and full sun.  Thank goodness for ice at every water stop.  The neighborhood course support was fantastic the first seven miles with lots of sprinklers along the way for us to keep cool. They also had bananas so when my tummy started to rumble around mile five that took the edge off.  I was carrying my skratch in a 16 oz hand bottle and took this one between water stops as needed.

At each stop we would put ice in our bras and in my hat, pour water on my cooling sleeves and drink some as well.  It was a beautiful shuffle the first 6 1/2 miles through older neighborhoods and lakeside houses.  After the water stop at mile 6 1/2  where I took on a banana as well it was a long stretch of sun and busy roads and left us simmering coming into the next water stop which was father down the road then the rest had been thus far.  This stop was at the edge of a large park and also where I found my Aunt Cindy and Uncle Kenny (did I mention my race support from my family was AWESOME!!) so gave soggy hugs and made plans to catch up before we left town.

The last four miles were very urban and sunny and tough and even though we were only walking by that point I was desperate to get to the end of the race.  It takes a VERY long time to mostly walk a half marathon and keep in mind by the time I started I'd already been racing almost four and half hours.  It took me three hours and 20 minutes to get around the lake for 13.1 miles.  The last 1 tenth of a mile was uphill... yes uphill but we finally got there.  I am grateful for the new friend I made on the journey and look forward to racing in the Madison area again in the future.  Final time... don't really care.

I have decided that running a half marathon is much preferred but was glad I made the choice to walk most of it.  A lot of people struggled with the heat and many needed medical attention.  Racing isn't work that for me.  In the end I had the most fun I've had racing in years, with beautiful scenery, fantastic volunteers, a challenging course and my AMAZING family cheering me on.  I promised Joe I would take a year off on the long course races, and promised my cousin Jay I would be back soon to race with him for his first sprint triathlon (something he has talked about for years).

I am truly grateful to still be able to race.  I have two more triathlons and some runs scheduled yet this season but this season is just about having a positive attitude, lots of smiles and making new friends along the way. 

Thank you to the Race Day Events crew for an amazing course and fantastic volunteers and free race photos!  Thank you to my awesome coach John Mongar who encourages me and keeps me in the right frame of mind when I invent struggles.  Thank you to Pearl Izumi for the great extended ladies tri team.  #endureandenjoy.  And last of all thank you to my family for giving me time to do what I love and always cheering me on when I know you are stressing after me.  I love you guys!!  Until next time... get off the couch and experience life.  Thanks for reading.