Wow…that was a new experience. I ended up with a PR by five minutes, and you will see below that I’m shocked with that as my run was less than stellar. I guess I can attribute the PR to a good swim and an awesome bike.
So let’s start at the beginning, which would lead us to Friday. Eric and I hit the road with Keifer in tow…
Keifer has been having some issues with his paws and has to wear a cone when is alone as a result, so we didn’t want to leave him and his medical regimen with Eric’s parents. So he made the five hour drive to Michigan with us!
We arrived in Benton Harbor and headed to pick up my race packet. Luckily we arrived when we did because I only had to wait in line for about 30 minutes, where as the people that were getting in line when I was leaving were up for at least an hour wait.
After getting back in the car we decided to head to St. Joseph to walk around the town for a bit before we could check in to our hotel. It was a cute little area, and there was a fun dog bakery, which of course meant I had to buy a little treat for Keifer. We were then able to check in to our hotel and Keifer received a little beer and burger.
Yum!
My parents arrived soon after and we got my traditional pre-race meal of Papa John’s pizza. Then we hit the sack early to prepare for a 4 a.m. wake up call.
4 a.m. came super early and we were up and getting my stuff packed up in the car as well as Keifer. We arrived at the parking area and had to walk about a mile to the transition area. I had checked out the radar that morning and knew there was some rain coming, and luckily I remembered to grab some umbrellas out of the car just as we had started to walk. So after running to grab those, we were on our way to get my stuff set up. No sooner did we walk into the park it began raining. And it continued to rain for the next two hours. I didn’t even attempt to set all of my gear up outside of my bag. I just organized it in my bag and planned on just grabbing it out as needed so it would stay dry.
Let’s just say at this point I wasn’t really looking forward to the race and was keeping my fingers crossed that the rain would stop once I was in the water. When there was about 30 minutes left until my wave was set to go, Eric and I started to make the long trek down the beach to the starting line with hundreds of others in tow.
You can’t really tell from this picture, but the line of athletes spans about as far as you can see in this picture. And those white specs are, in fact, rain drops. Boo rain.
The walk was awful. Walking on the beach is a good workout, but not a workout you want to do before heading out for 70.3 miles of triathlon! I survived though, and obviously I wasn’t alone in having to conquer this before the race.
We arrived at the start line just in time for me to hop in line with my wave before the big send-off. I threw on my cap and goggles, and set off with all of the other 25-29 year old women.
Who knows where I am in this crowd…but I’m there.
The swim went really well. There was a little bit of a current, which I really only felt at the very beginning. I made my way out of the crowd and found my little niche. It was basically just a straight shot across the shoreline, so I didn’t have to do much sighting. In no time I found myself heading out of the water onto the beach into T1.
Swim Time: 36:53 (Swim Time in 2009 70.3 – 40:27)
Upon departure from the water, I was greeted with a large sandy hill. I thought to myself, “this is a cruel joke” and began running but then threw that idea out and did some walking instead. No sense in tiring myself on a hill of sand when I had a long bike and run ahead of me!
I’m in the orange cap and blue shirt. The people in the blue caps and the green cap are from waves that started before me, so I had caught up to them. As you can see, there’s a guy behind me just a bit, and his wave started after me…you win some, you lose some!
Now, with a race this large, the transition area is ginormous! I seriously felt like it was a mile long, and getting to my bike was task in itself. Again – started running and decided that was a bad idea.
T1 time – 3:27 (2009 70.3 T1 time – 3:26) – I didn’t put on bike shorts this time around and it seems to have turned out pretty comparable when last year was a much, much smaller transition area.
I have to say, my bike kicked butt this time around! I felt really good (other than the lingering lower back pain I’ve been dealing with) and I was smokin’ it. Yes, I did get passed by quite a few people, but you have to take into account that all the men started after I did, so I knew that was going to happen. It was actually fun because I got to see all the fast men zoom past me on their super expensive bikes. I could tell who was trying to earn their spots to Ironman Hawaii (the top couple people in each age group earned spots). Although I was passed by quite a few people, I did some passing of people myself! I kept eyeing a woman in front of me and just picked them off like sitting ducks. I was feeling good and I can tell that my efforts on the bicycle this year have not been in vain.
My parents and Eric had set up camp along the bike route.
I spotted them in the last half of the ride and they got some good pictures of me.
(Butt)
After I passed their stake-out spot they hopped in the car to head to a spot on the run. They drove right past me and got some more drive-by action shots.
I pushed through the end of the bike and made it back to transition area in great time!
Bike Time – 3:02:46, 18.4 mph average (2009 70.3 Bike Time – 3:24:38, 16.4 mph average) – Boo ya!
I don’t really remember much from T2 other than dreading what was ahead of me. My back was in a lot of pain at this point and I didn’t know what was going to happen with running. As I was taking off my bike shoes I noticed that my legs were gross…Sand, dirt, and who knows what else were all over them. That’s what happens when you run on a beach and then head out for a ride on wet roads. Yay.
T2 Time – 3:30 (2009 70.3 T2 Time – 2:19) – I attribute the slowness to the vast expanse of transition area I had to run through…err, walk through.
The run is where the wheels fell off (which is usually the case in all of my triathlons). I started off with hopes of holding onto a 4 minute run/1 minute walk. Unfortunately my back had other plans. I quickly figured out that a 3:00 on/3:00 off interval would agree with my back. I went into the race saying that I was not going to kill myself or injure myself as I have a month until the most important race. So, walking half of the half marathon was going to be the way it would be. I just happened to get lucky that everytime I came within sight of Eric and my parents I was on a run interval – so I basically looked like I was doing great and just running.
The run was a two loop course around the Whirlpool campus and nearby neighborhoods. There were quite a few hills on this course, which caught me by surprise. There was one hill that had everyone walking due to it’s steep grade.
It wasn’t fun, but I got it done…and I feel confident that I can hold onto a similar interval for the Ironman. At times the run portion may be more of a shuffle…but I’ll keep my feet moving. I am very concerned about my back, but I just have to hold on for a few more weeks and then I can let it rest as long as it needs.
Before I knew it, I was heading into the finish line and was greeted there by TONS of spectators as well as Eric and my parents!
Sweet, sweet finish line!
Run Time – 2:36:36, 11:58/mile pace (2009 70.3 Run Time – 2:17:05, 10:28/mile pace) – Not quite what I was going for, but I’ll take it!
Eric snapped a picture of the crowd just to give an idea about the large quantity of people that were there. The transition area is behind all of the people, but he wasn’t able to snap a picture of that.
Today I’m feeling pretty decent. I’m definitely a little sore and my lower back is killing me, but I’ll survive. I’ve already got a massage scheduled for tomorrow to work on the lower back issues and to refresh my legs.
I’m feeling confident now for my Ironman. Yes, it is double what I just did. But considering I found this race to be relatively easy (minus the run – although with my lack of running, it wasn’t too bad in the end), I feel confident I can conquer it all.
My next big task – a century ride on Saturday. After that it’s all downhill. I can’t wait for my taper. Maybe I’ll do something fun and normal with my weekends for once!
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