Race Recap

Ironman 70.3 Racine....complete!

I could not be more happy or excited about how Sunday went.  I had a great, relaxing week prior to the race.  I was a little nervous about being on vacation for 5 days leading up to the race, but I ended up getting lots of sleep, having little in the way of regular chores to keep up with, and got in two really good lake/wetsuit swims, which really boosted my confidence going into Sunday.

I was extremely rushed at the athlete check-in and expo, and actually missed the pre-race meeting.  I wanted to get my bike worked on a little before the race, but also missed that.  Luckily, there were volunteers on hand in transition on race morning, so I was able to air up both tires prior to the race.  I dropped my bike in transition, walked through the transition area, counting bike racks and walking my route for the run in/bike out/run out, etc.  Then I went to the lake.  There were kids swimming in it everywhere!  I walked in up to my knees and immediately wanted to chase all the kids out.  It was so cold!  62 degrees!  I had originally planned to swim a little after dropping my bike, but I was tired and hungry and really just wanted to shower, eat, and start getting my head around race day.

I picked up my necessary fuel (bagels, Uncrustables, gatorade, bananas, and pizza and breadsticks for Saturday evening meal), headed to my hotel, and settled in.

My alarm went off at 4:00am Sunday.  Getting out of my room and to the start area went smoothly.  I even found on street parking very close to transition/finish!  I got my transition area set up, went through body marking, and hit the port-o-lets.  I had plenty of time and never felt rushed.  Transition closed at 6:30 for the race start at 7:00.  The swim was a point-to-point, ending on the beach by transition, so athletes had to walk the mile up the beach to the swim start.

The pro waves went off at 7:00 and then there was a wave pretty much every 4 minutes after that.  My wave, number 11, went off at 7:37.  Prior to that, I tried to just visualize my race: transition, swim, being calm, reviewed when I wanted to eat, how much and when to drink, etc.  There was a practice area marked off in the water near the swim start.  I went in, floated around, put my face in and floated and breathed, then did about 10 minutes of very light swimming, just trying to acclimate to the cold water.  They announced that the water temp was 61.4 degrees on race morning!  It was cold.  My hands and feet were very cold paddling around in the practice area.

I saw Eric just before my wave went off!  I was really happy to see him.  I wasn't sure if he would be at the start or at the finish of the swim (turns out, I saw him at both places!).  I tried to position myself near the back of my wave, not wanting to get caught up in going out too fast.  This ended up being a bit of a rookie mistake, because I got caught behind some really weak swimmers.  Not that I am, by any means, the strongest of swimmers, but I really got hung up in traffic.  It was a mass of bodies.  I couldn't see any clear path, every time I put my face down to swim, I ran into someone or a body part, and I was being touched on all sides.  I never got pushed down or run over.  I felt a little wave of panic from being very uncomfortable, but I tried to keep breathing and moving forward.  Once the course turned to swim perpendicular to the shore, the traffic really cleared out and I was able to find some open water.  I got into a rhythm and never let up, other than a few times when I had to maneuver around other swimmers.  It was a little crazy...I'd be swimming along, turn to breath and all of a sudden there would be a body right next to me!  I did try to swim behind someone, but found it to be more distracting than it felt helpful, so I went back to what felt comfortable to me.  I remembered some good advice from a very experienced triathlete friend, and swam until my hands and knees were in the sand as I approached the beach.  I swam past people already walking and fighting the water!  I felt fresh and when I looked at my watch, I was thrilled with my time!  Official swim time: 43:06 for the 1.2 miles.

T1 took 5:28.  It went very smooth, no problems finding my bike.  And I was very thankful for the kiddie pools of water to rinse the caked sand off my feet from running up the beach!

Again, a piece of valuable advice from my friend gave me an advantage out of the gate on the bike.  The hill out of transition is enormous, so I was set up in a low gear.  Thank goodness!  I cruised right up and was on my way.  My goal was to finish in 3:30 or under.  The roads out of Racine were in horrible condition, and there was a lot of bike traffic.  I ended up nailing a huge pothole and lost some air in my rear tire.  I had no choice but to continue with it low and hope it didn't go flat.  I felt on target with my nutrition goals on the bike.  I ate my PB&J when I wanted, and finished 2 full bottles of fluid (one water and one Nuun, and about half a gatorade--I also put down about half a bottle of water in transition).  I opted out of my gel because it was so warm on my bike frame that it just wasn't appealing to me when I had planned to take it.  The bike course was nice, not too challenging and lots of downhill.  The rough roads took a toll though.  I really felt beat up by the end, and the rough roads made it feel like the pedals were pulling my questionable knee.  I started to lose focus by the end, and just really wanted to be off.  I was definitely counting down the miles with about 10 to go.  The last 4 miles were into the wind and my knee felt totally destroyed.  I had no power left in it, and I started to focus on how much it was hurting, which let in other doubts: I was hungry, getting tired, it was starting to get hot, I still had 13.1 miles to run!  Also seeing the number of people on the run course already as I was almost back to transition made me feel like I was doing very poorly despite being ahead on both my time goals so far.  I finished the 56 mile bike in 3:20:32.

T2 took 3:50.  I even ended up changing my top for a looser fitting tank instead of the compression top I had been wearing, and swapped out watches for my GPS watch.

The hill out of transition onto the run course seemed very unnecessary on the first loop, and cruel on the second.  The run course was a double loop.  I wanted to start off a nice even, slow pace and then just maintain a comfortable pace for the entire run.  I ended up doing 8:08 my first mile and 8:05 my second.  My legs were a little rubbery still, but luckily NO knee pain on the run!  I could have kissed every single person who had a hose set up in their front yard spraying runners as they went by....it was hot and the run course did have much shade.  When I could see the lake, I kept telling myself that I was going in again after I finished (I didn't, but I did really want to!!  I would have killed for that cold water at that point).  I started to really hurt around mile 9, and my pace dropped off, but I maintained just below 10:00/mile.  I finally needed to use the bathroom, and did take a very fast bathroom break between miles 9-10.  Cups of ice at the aid stations were my savior.  I grabbed one through each aid station, carried as much as I could in my hands and sucked on it while I ran.  I was starving on the run, and ate two orange slices in one of the later miles...at the same aid station I used the bathroom.  I ended up finishing the 13.1 miles in 2:01:04, my only missed time goal of the day (I wanted 2:00 or better), but all in all, I was thrilled with that!  I didn't have to take any walk breaks, and felt like a beast pushing it up that brutal hill on loop 2 past all the walkers.  Not that there is anything at all wrong with a walk break, I just had it set in my head that I wanted to push myself if I could and the day went my way pretty much all day.

My total time (I had the goal of 6:30:00 or better) was 6:14:00!!!  Beat my goal by 16 whole minutes!

In the aftermath, I think I can improve by a small margin on the swim and I know I can run a stand alone half marathon a lot faster, but am stoked with 2:00 after a 56 mile bike.  I honestly feel now that the bike is my weakest leg.  I'm not sure if it is a strength issue, a technique issue, or an equipment issue, or a combination of all those?

I have no plans of signing up for a full Ironman in the near future, but would like to take it on someday.  I do, however, fully intend to do another half.  Running is still my passion, but triathlon has really found a place in my heart.

Thanks to everyone who supported me, sent me messages, encouraged me along the way.  I cannot express my gratitude for my husband and kids for their sacrifice over the past months and for being there on race day to support me.  There is a fantastic picture of me near the finish where I saw them all (the kids for the first time that day)...I have the biggest smile!  My husband's parents were there on race day, and took the kids several times during my training to help me out in getting workouts in.  And of course, my triathlete friends deserve huge props for putting up with my constant questions!

Devastation

I woke up yesterday so excited to put my training for Ironman 70.3 to bed.  This week is an easy rest week leading up to race day on Sunday.  I had a long bike/run scheduled.  But when I looked out the window the weather was overcast (fine) and really windy (not fine!).  I hate riding in such strong winds.  I get frustrated because I just don't have the strength to power through strongly.  My pace slows and I work so hard to basically go nowhere.  Anyway, I headed out and pretty immediately got frustrated but went into the wind for a long time thinking how sweet it would be to head back with the tailwind.

Then my left knee started to hurt.  It felt better when I wasn't pedaling so hard into the wind.  But at a certain point it didn't matter.  It just hurt.  Bad.  I got off my bike and tried to stretch out.  That helped some, for about 5 minutes.  Then the pain got to where I couldn't even push down, I couldn't get into aero position, and I just wanted to cry.  I was far away from home and all I could think is that there is no way I can finish a 56 mile ride in this much pain next week.  I eventually did cry because man did it really hurt, and there really isn't any relief on the bike.

I'm hoping that I just strained something with the excessive force I was using trying to go into the wind.  I really hoping this is not a secondary injury to my hip injury that I've been fighting.  Those tendons are all connected, and so it makes sense that if one is injured it might eventually affect the others.  I just kept playing through the race.  My pace slowed to almost 8 miles an hour, down from the 16.5 or so that I can usually maintain.  That means it would take over 6 hours to finish the bike portion next Sunday, and I would not make the cut off time to continue on in the race.

I didn't go as long as I needed to ride.  I ran just a little bit, and it honestly felt totally fine running.  That is a good sign!  It felt totally fine walking around all day.  Just a little notice of something a couple of times sitting on the floor and one big twinge bending down to pick up a toddler.  I used lots of ibuprofen and ice, and that's my place to get to Sunday, along with lots of stretching.

Fingers crossed it was a fluke!

7 days out

Freaking out just a little.  Race day is a week away.  At this time next week I'll be tucked away in bed, preparing for a 4:00am wake up call.  I'll be rested, prepped, and carbo-loaded, and ready to dominate Racine 70.3.  At least that's what I plan to tell myself for the next week.

The forecast is out, and so far high of 77 and partly cloudy!  That's a tad warm for the run, but it could be A LOT worse for mid-July.  Of course, I think a temp of about 99 degrees would go a long way to make the lake temps more manageable for the swim, but...you can't win 'em all, and the water is going to be an ice bath no matter what the air temp is.

Today I did my last long run and swim.  Again, a time crunch and afternoon plans had me a bit pressed for time.  I cut a mile out of my run and did 13 instead of the 14 my training plan called for.  I was actually ok with that because of a few twinges, which I'll get to in a minute.  I chatted a few minutes with an older man that I see regularly on my morning runs (he ran a 5K last weekend and knew my race was coming up, so we exchanged updates).  After a quick change, I was in the pool for a 3000m swim.  It felt pretty good.  Around 2000m I put my head down trying to work a kink out of my shoulder and felt myself go a little faster and easier through the water.  I continued to focus on my head position and boy did I notice a difference.  I then put my head where I had been holding it and instantly felt more "drag" in the water.  Amazing that I didn't notice that earlier!

Tomorrow I have my last long bike/run workout.  Right now I am sitting on my bed with my new bike helmet on.  Pretty excited to put it to the test tomorrow.  I've got a 50 mile ride and 4 mile run planned.

Status report: I have a few nagging "injuries."  More like twinges.  Probably from overuse.  My hip continues to hurt.  I can't believe it's been so many months since I fell.  I know it took a huge blow and I have given it zero rest, but still!  My right calf has been cramping pretty badly after about 3 miles.  Not good.  To take care of my body I've been using lots of ice on my hip, ibuprofen, lots of fluids, and this week the foam roller has been my calf's best friend.  This morning I wore compression socks and had no problems from my calf.  It was very tight after, but did not cramp while I was running.  Plan to continue the foam roller and compression socks this week.

Funny story: went for a swim/run this week.  I normally shower at home, but decided to shower at the Y before I left.  This change totally messed up my packing.  I only brought one pair of underwear, so after the pool my dilemma became whether to wear underwear for my run or on my way home, or wear the same sweaty pair after my shower.  Gross.  I opted to run commando and, of course, had tight running shorts with me, not the nice ones with the built in underwear.  I had planned some speedwork and hills on the treadmill, and wouldn't you know the only other treadmill in use happened to be the one directly behind me.  Umm....felt like that guy got a nice show during his workout.  I have spare socks, shirts, etc all in my bag.  Clearly, I need to add another article to that stash of extras.

Long Bike

Yesterday I rode another 50+ miler.  I was supposed to ride 60, but cut it off at 54.  Mostly again because of time.  I had spent 2 hours the previous day running, then worked that afternoon/evening, and I was out the door at 6:50.  I had missed a lot of time with my babies, felt the 54 miles was a good workout and was closer to home than making another detour to tack on a few more miles.  I parked my bike, slipped into my running shoes and took off for a 2 mile run.

After my 14-miler Saturday morning, then all the time spent sitting at work, and then 3:23 on the bike, my legs were sore!  It does not help that the first part of my run is a very steep downhill.  The pounding on tired quads is a very strange sensation.  After about 1/2 mile, though, they loosened up to the point that I felt a relatively normal running stride, and though I felt very tired and thirsty (argh!), the two miles was no problem.  Could I have made it 11 more?

I was disappointed that I felt thirsty...I had to pee, so I drank a fair amount on my bike, but not enough when I looked at my bottles when I unpacked my bike.  I think I'll have to come up with a game plan to drink every x minutes or x miles.  It will probably be a little cooler in Wisconsin than it is here, and hopefully a little less humid on the lake front, so that will work in my favor.

Today is a rest day, then back at it again tomorrow.  Last week of long workouts!

Almost forgot...I rode my 54 miles in 3:23.  This time is still a bit slower than I thought I could do, but it still puts me at my goal time of about 6.5 hours total for the race.  If there is not a ton of wind, and I can push myself a little more in some spots, I can knock down that time a little.  I rode a very hilly route yesterday; good for legs, and more climbs than the race route, so hopefully that's a good thing for my bike split.

Crunch Time

I had a small panic attack this week when I realized that race day is almost in the 10-day forecast.  Insert expletive.  Officially, it is two weeks from tomorrow.  I have been logging early workouts, long miles, fine tuning nutrition, and generally feeling very nervous and unprepared.  I have covered more than the distance in each of the three disciplines more than once in training, or technically only once in the run, but multiple times now I have exceeded the 1.2 mile swim (I have swam over 3000m several times), and surpassed the 56 miles on the bike twice and gone 48 one time, and today ran 14 miles and hit 12 miles twice.  I am overwhelmed and nervous about cut off times and the icy water remains my biggest concern.

So...as I said, I have swam 2 miles on two occasions now, and 3000m twice.  That is a long way!  Granted it has been in the pool each time, so that's easier.  I feel confident in the distance in the pool.  I'm hoping to log one more long open water swim before.  Working in my favor is that we'll be in Wisconsin the week prior to the race, vacationing at the lake!  While it is not Lake Michigan, it is still an opportunity for a few days worth of open water, and I'll probably practice in my wet suit one more time as well.

Tomorrow I have a 60 mile ride scheduled.  Last weekend, I had to cut my ride short by 12 miles and only rode 48 because we were socked in by fog in the morning and I had a baby shower to get to in the afternoon.  I did manage a 15 minute run after those bike miles.  It is taking me only about a mile to feel like my legs are lead now after a long bike.  Woohoo!  Also...loving the PB&J on the bike.  Praise the inventor of the Uncrustable!

While all this is going great, I still feel grossly underprepared.  I'm not sure what would make me feel more prepared.  What would I gain by a few more weeks?  I do know that I feel very, very tired.  I am looking forward to race day if only to have a bit of a break from the multiple hours of multi sport training.  I am pretty stoked to spend a few months just running in preparation for the Columbus Marathon.  

And, even though I have no idea what I'm doing as far as training goes, I plan to tweak my plan for race week and add in some rest days.  There are none!  That just seems crazy as tired as my body feels.  

Will be sure to update on my long ride/run tomorrow.  And, any positive and calming vibes for the next two weeks are much appreciated!