Great weather, great race, great friends at WL 1/2 2007!!! It was a great day for racing and me and many of my friends had solid performances.
For me -- 5:03:23, 20th place in age group, top 20% overall men and top 1/3 in age group.
Wow. I am really happy with this. My first 1/2 Ironman, my fourth triathlon...and all this exactly one year after my first triathlon, the White Lake Sprint. I've come a long way in my abilities!
Over the past four months I have been following the guidance of my coach and the tips of my tri-friends from the Finley YMCA tri club. My training has gone very well with few injuries and lots of fun. My pre-race taper was excellent with small workouts right up to the day before the race. Now for the story.
The water was 71 degrees and fairly calm at 7:05AM when I entered. At the horn my intentions were to start slowly and methodically with bilateral breathing as I headed towards pylon #1. That fell apart quickly. Luckily, my pace and breathing were good but I immediately became more comfortable with 90% left side breathing on every stroke. As I've learned from training this causes a lousy pull with one of my arms and causes a crooked swim. As a result my swimming was zig zag for 2/3 of the swim since I had to straighten out with every sighting. Here is the funny part. After rounding pylon #2, which was 2/3 into the swim, I swam so crooked to the right that I sighted and noticed that I was facing back into swimmers coming at pylon #2. Disoriented, I decided that I should round the pylon again so it wouldn't look like I cut the corner just in case I was being watched. Safe to say I added about 1 or 2 min to my swim right there. After that mess I decided to concentrate on my reach and stroke and began swimming better as I headed towards the swim exit. My best part of the swim was the last 1/3 after I had the pylon error. I was going strong right up to the ladder as other swimmers were seemingly fading in endurance. Still left breathing only.
During the latter half of the swim and upon exiting the water I noticed that many of the black and yellow caps were around me. They had started 5 and 10 minutes behind me, respectively. Thinking that meant I had a poor swim I looked at my watch as I crossed the timing mat...44min! That is slow but very good for me. I was ecstatic that I had done this with the zig zagging and double pylon issues. I ran into T1 smiling! I then sat down, stripped my wetsuit, got my super-bike, and exited in just over 2min. A decent transition for me as well.
At transition exit I hopped on the bike and immediately began thinking about settling my HR. It showed 150-165 constantly for the first 1-3 miles. Thinking it would come down on its own I continued to pace at about 21-22mph. I felt good and began drinking water about mile 6 or 8. At mile 10 my HR was still in the 150s. While that is generally OK, it is zone 3 for me and a bit risky since I train averaging about 135. But I felt good so I didn't slow down. I still felt I could go harder so I settled in right at 21-22mph. HR stayed at 150+. This continued for the entire remainder of the bike with a few bursts to 23-24mph to pass. I would estimate that I passed 8 riders for every one that passed me. Most of the bikes that passed me I passed back later. Felt really good. While on the bike I ate three gels, one bottle of carbo pro (200 cal) and three bottles of water, two of which I picked up going at least 17mph at the handoffs. I passed two friends which gave me an extra boost. I actually got stronger in the last 5 miles of the bike and hammered a few riders who were cat-and-mousing with me. Best of all I was not bothered by my crotch or my upper back which generally give me discomfort on 40+ mile rides. Adrenaline helps I guess. Oh yeah, and I peed twice during the bike without stopping and without just going in my shorts. Timing that so nobody was behind me was tricky.
Upon entering T2 I hit my split timer and it read something like 2:38. I didn't see it really closely but I knew my bike was solid due to all the bikes I'd passed. I also knew at that point I was close to being the leader of all of my tri club friends in the race...and the run is generally my strength so I was hoping to go out easy and turn it on quickly as my legs got comfortable.
Uh oh. I had realized about 50 miles into the bike that my caloric intake was a bit below the target. I also thought about the fact that my HR stayed zone 3 for the entire ride. As a result I thought it would be wise to do some "make up" and consume a 100+ calorie solid food bar in T2. Solid food has not really slowed me down on the run in my marathons. After all I did eat a slice of pizza at mile 8 in the NYC marathon this past fall! Well, I was wrong. A mile into the run two things went bad. First, my gut began to jiggle inside. I felt that nothing was digesting. Second, my lower back was killing me. Amazingly, I decided to pee and with that my back problem went away. But my stomach issue continued. Remembering the advice I'd received from my coach I ate two e-caps and drank only water for a few miles. After stuggling through jelly-belly I began to feel a bit better. Thinking that I needed calories I drank my gatorade endurance from my belt and took in a few cytomax's from water stations. About mile 6 I began to feel better and turned up the pace. From that point forward I increased my speed steadily and continued to drink half cups of cytomax. It seemed to go OK and excitement masked any lingering issues I was having.
The run course was a double out-and-back so I regularly passed most of my friends. I made sure to say hello as I passed them. Some of them were a bit delerious but others cheered me on as I cheered them on. It helped keep me fired up.
As I passed mile marker #10 I knew things were going well. I was passing people who were on lap #1 and lap #2 in great numbers. My run background was helping me out huge. I believe I was not passed by more than 1 or 2 runners in the last 8 miles of the run. On the last straight away at mile 13 I saw my son Travis standing there looking for me. Then I saw my wife Heather and Daughter Olivia there too. They were screaming for me as I passed. My wife, six months pregnant, had made the 2 hour trip with the kids to see me finish and spend the day with me celebrating. What a boost for the end!
Then came the finish line. I crossed with a strong stride, not sprinting or anything crazy like that. My name was announced as I took my chip off at the end of the chute. I felt great and I was done!
This feels like a strong step towards IM Wisconsin. I'll take the next few days off generally (while traveling in Portugal for work) then get into the Summer program and look towards my two "C" races coming in the next month.
