First I’d like to thank everyone from the forum who took the time to give me advice and encouragement. I heeded most of it and I’m sure it made my first race a much better experience. The tips from Gordo’s site were also great. I followed his tips for pacing your first half iron and they worked almost exactly as he described.
I did the Soma half Iron in Tempe and it was an incredible race. Very well organized with great support from the volunteers and onlookers.
The Swim. Swimming is definitely my weakest sport so I wanted to get through it without panicking and ruining the rest of the day. My predicted time was around 45 minutes. I don’t do much open water swimming so just looking at the distance got me a little scared. “Lose Yourself” by Eminem was playing at the start so I ended up having that song in my head for a good portion of the race. Good motivational race song.
I started near the back of the pack on the outside and tried to just swim easy. At first I had trouble finding a place to swim without hitting other peoples feet or arms. Once I got into a rhythm I was fine. Then the second wave started to pass and I got a little caught up in the excitement and had to backstroke to catch my breath. I got punched in the face a couple of times but nothing too bad. I repeated that pattern a few times and finally made it out feeling pretty good in around 46 minutes.
The Bike. Transition went smoothly and I got on the bike feeling good. It didn’t take long to settle into a comfortable and relatively easy pace. My goal time was around 3:15 at around 17mph average based on my best Olympic bike time of 19mph. After a few miles I was riding an average of almost 20mph. This seemed too fast but my heart rate and effort level was right on track. The course was extremely flat compared to where I usually race so I kept the pace and watched my heart rate. I was getting passed an awful lot that first lap and it was definitely a bit discouraging. I felt strong and had the urge to up my effort level but I just kept repeating something I read on Gordo’s site.
“Overall, the purpose of the bike is to replace what you lost on the swim and prepare yourself for the run. There are ZERO benefits to hammering - let the hammerheads go. You will see them later [if you don’t then they are faster than you anyhow ;-)”
So I let them go. And they went. Lots of em. I was having a great time and feeling good though. It was so cool to see Chris Legh and the other pros passing by on the out and back course. He looked so calm and cool, like he was barely trying. T hen on the second lap the passing slowed down substantially. I actually started passing people. I even saw some of the people that had flown by me earlier. Somehow and I’m not sure why the song “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Taylor got in my head. I tried but could not make it go away. I ended up with a time of 2:47 at 20mph which was far better than I expected and I felt great going in to the run.
**The Run. **My best standalone half marathon time was 1:32 - 7 minute mile, so I was planning on running at around an 8:00 to 8:30 pace between 1:45 and an hour. My legs felt a little heavy for about the first mile but I quickly settled in to a comfortable pace. I looked at my Timex S+D system and my pace was around 7:15. It seemed too fast but I was feeling great and my heart rate was still at a good place. I was using Gordo’s method of dividing the run into four 5k’s and as I started the second 5k I thought back to his hammerhead comment. I was passing a constant stream of people and I made a joke to myself that I was going hammerhead fishing. I had my usual run song “Born To Run” by Springstein in my head. I had only been passed by one runner and I was really surprised at how good I felt. Around the last mile of the first lap I heard footsteps coming up behind me. I realized it was Heather Fuhr on her second lap as she passed me. I thought that was the coolest thing to be running with her so I tried to stay with her for a half mile or so. That was the first time I felt out of my comfort zone so I backed off and got back to my rhythm. I picked up my pace gradually and finished feeling pretty strong in 1:34 - 7:11 pace.
Overall it was a great day and this is my new favorite distance. My time was 5:14:39. I think I’ll try a couple more of these before I attempt a full IronMan.
Blas
