So, on Sunday I did my second 70.3 (half-Ironman). The first was Longhorn (Austin, TX) 70.3 in October of 2008, the results of which I put in my last post.
I will cut to the chase, everything went pretty well until the run, then the wheels kind of fell off the cart. I finished, the run was just crappy.
Now I will go back to the beginning. Drove down on Saturday, took care of getting race packet and putting bike in transition. That part did not go too bad. They had things setup pretty good and getting through the process of packet pick-up went pretty fast. They could have done a better job letting people know where the transition area is located, in reference to where we had to pickup the race packet. I didn't see anything displayed that would make the location obvious to people.
Anyway, I stayed at my Dad and Stepmom's house in Kenosha, less than a half hour from the race site. It was nice to be able to stay close and not have to pay.
I got up early, as usual, on Sunday had a breakfast of two yogurt cups and two bananas. This is less than I would normally have, but it felt like enough. I guess that nervousness was making me fuller than I actually was. I got my stuff together and headed out, stopping at a gas station to get coffee and a couple of donuts, my usual pre-race pick-me-up.
Transistion area opened at 5AM, with the first wave (Pro Men) heading out at 7AM and my wave (Men 35-39, A-J) heading out about 8:17AM. I got there at about 5:10ish. They had a lot of people body marking and I did not have to wait. I got through and went right to my bike and setup my area. The quarters were pretty tight, probably the closest transition spots I have seen in a transition. I thought I heard some say that the Spirit of Racine had a limit of 1500 people and now the 70.3 had a limit of 2000, using the same transition space. Even though it was tight, everything still got in ok.
Once setup I kind of hung out in transition. I saw, and talked, to more people from MN than I thought I would have. I saw 5+ people I knew. I was surprised, it was nice to have some people to talk to while waiting.
At about 6:40 I started walking, along with everyone else, to the swim start. It is a point-to-point swim and takes about 15 minutes to walk to the start. As I walked to the start I finished off a bottle of Gatorade and a Clif Bar. I wish I would have had my camera to get a picture of the 2000 people, plus spectators, walking down the beach to the start. It was a very cool sight.
From about the time of the Pro start, until the start of my wave, I was either talking with people I knew or warming up in the lake, trying to keep down my nervousness.
The weather all morning had been cloudy, humid, and cooler than expected. That would change drastically as the day went on.
The start went well, I stayed outside, took the first turn bouy wide to stay out of the usual traffic, and just swam. There was a little wind and chop, but nothing major. I really don't have much to say about the swim, it was uneventful. I was a little disappointed with my time, but at the same time I felt pretty good coming out of the water. I think coming out of the water feeling pretty good is more important. I checked my watch when I got out of the water and under the swim finish arch, I was at about 37 minutes, when I ran up the beach and hit transition, where the timing mat was located, it was about 39 minutes. My swim time, and everyone elses swim time, includes the run up the beach. It would have been nice to have the timing mat at the swim finish, rather than the transition start.
To sidetrack for a moment. My Dad was there, he was right at the swim finish, and then when I was in transition he was right behind me at the gate around transition. It was good to have him there. He was there the whole, long day. I was happy for this.
I got out of transition with no issues. At this point the weather was still cloudy and fairly cool.
The bike starts in the streets of Racine, so I spent some time both in and out of the aerobars, for safety reasons. Once we were more out in the "country" I switched to aerobars. The course has a couple of decent climbs, some rollers, and some flat areas. There were times on the course when the headwind was pretty tough. I am not sure at what point it happened on the bike, but the clouds went away and it got hot and humid. I was taking in alternating water and Clif Lemonde every 5-20 minutes, kind of by feel. Coach Kris recommend every 5 minutes, and I tried to stick to it, but didn't do as good a job as I would like. I did drink all the water and sports drink I had on board. I got water from 3 of 4 bottle stops, I missed the hand off at one and did not stop for safety reasons. A lot of the water on the bottle stops went on my person to cool off. Kris also suggested eating a bar after about an hour and a half on the bike. I ate about a half a Clif Bar, I had trouble stomaching it and chewing it, and most of a gel pack. I also had one of those gummy Clif Shots. I should have probably ate more, but I think the heat was making it hard to eat.
I was doing 20MPH+ for the first 30 miles, then my speed started tapering off. I know the last 10 miles I really started slowing down. My lower back really started bothering me and I had to sit upright a lot of the time and stretch. Like my swim, I would have liked to have gone faster, but I am happy with the results.
About 10 minutes out of T2, it clouded up and downpoured for about 10 minutes. Unfortunately, as soon as the rain stopped it got more hot and humid. Just in time for the run.
I went into T2 feeling ok and was going to go with the plan to run to each aid station and then walk through the aid station taking in fluid, etc. It was hot and HUMID. Nasty.
I wanted to start out slow and build up, I started out slow, and never got to the build up part.
The course has little to no shade and there are three areas where there are uphills and the rest is basically flat. The uphills are not that bad, if you are fresh, I was not fresh.
I jogged the first loop and used the water stops. I walked through them and made sure to sip and not drink and to take in a variety of fluids. The only food I took in the whole time was a few orange slices. I was putting ice under my hat, which occasionally gave me a headache, and/or in the back of my tri top. The ice did help. I started feeling nausea and general crappiness by the end of the first loop. I did very little jogging the second loop and walked most of it.
I wasn't the only person having trouble, there were a lot of people out there sufferring in the nasty weather. I guess there was some solace in that.
In a nutshell, I finished. At the finish we got t-shirts, hats, and finisher metals. My dad was there, and that was really nice. Even though I could not talk to him because there was no saliva in my mouth, nor would there be for a couple of hours. They had bagels, Cousin's subs, and lots of beverages at the finish. It was hot and uncomfortable, and after taking in enough to get me to my car and back to my Dad's, I got out of there.
I took my first ever ice bath when I got back to my Dad's house, it felt great. I picked up an 8 pound bag on the way back from the race. I filled the tub with cold water and let me legs dangle in as it filled. Once it filled I got all the way in and opened the ice bag. Glorious! My dad was afraid to have me do it, he thought I would go into shock or have a heart attack, I assured him it was safe and a lot of people do it. He seemed doubtful. Of course I survived. Would have been pretty bad for me to have spent 6+ hours out in the heat doing a Half and then die in an ice cold bath tub.
I know why the run, and to a lesser extent the bike, are not as good as I would have liked. I don't/can't spend all the time training on those two to do a Half well/better. I am still recovering from my leg injury and have not been able to put in the run volume or speed work. I also need to practice nutrition better at that distance. I don't think I know how to take in solid food well when racing.
Putting everything in perspective, I am happy with how I did. I would rather have had the day I had on Sunday, then sitting on the sidelines like last year.
2010 Racine 70.3 Results
Swim (1.2 miles) - 39:20 (1:52/100 yards), includes ~2min run up to T1
T1 - 3:42
Bike (56 miles) - 2:48:14 (19.97MPH)
T2 - 3:14
Run (13.1 miles) - 2:42:51 (12:25 min/mi), ugh
Total - 6:17:21
Overall - 1016/2002
AG -128/245
I did the Tuesday Night Time Trial this week, two days after a Half. Almost thought better of it, but thought it would be another good learning experience. It actually went better than I thought it would. I could feel my inability to generate power. It didn't hurt, I just could not turn the crank. When I was done, I didn't feel that winded, I just felt more tired. After the race I went for a light half hour jog.
Time (11 miles) - 29:57 (22.04MPH)
Average for 5 races completed this year - 30:11:21 (21.98MPH)
I am doing the Chisago Lakes Sprint on Sunday. I did it in 2008 and I don't really remember anything about it except the run. I remember the run because you go up a large hill at the start, then it is mostly flat. I remember it was hot in 2008. In 2008 the bike was 17 miles, this year it is 22 miles. The website states the bike is all new and a flatter course. I hope that is true. I don't really have a plan except to go out and do it hard. Not sure what will be left in the tank after last weekend. Should be interesting to see. I will post my results from 2008 when I post my results from this year, after Sunday.
