I can’t say I was really looking forward to this race. I’ve had major meltdowns in this race last years and some races earlier this summer. However, luck started to work in my favor during the week as I saw weather reports prediciting low 80’s with low humidity through the weekend. My morale started perking up a bit.
My goal was to finish the race in under 5:45 without the need of a saline solution drip after the race.
I checked in and got my coursepack at about 10 pm the evening before. They had run out of shirts. Rats. Oh well. Supposedly I’ll be getting one in the mail i the next week or so. I was also kinda bummed about missing the expo. I know they always have the same stuff, but it’s about the only time I get to window shop for try related stuff.
Headed to Stevensville about 5 miles away where I was staying at the home of a good friend. They live right on the lake. I was already looking forward to the next afternoon when I could soak a, lie on the beach, ad forget about my fatigue. After a few minute jibjabbing with my hosts I got all my race gear organized in my bag. By about 1130 I was getting all ready for bed and I got the most horrible back spasms I had in years. I couldn’t move for more tan five minutes. i had no Idea what migh have caused them except that my wife and I had driven for about 2.5 hours without a break and my back was feeling a bit stiff as a result. After five minutes of this spasm I was stating to wonder if my race was already over. Thankfully it loosened up after awhile and I was able to gigerly get ready for bed. Lights out at 1230.
Woke up at 445. There was noway in HELL I was going to oversleep so I set 4 alarms. It was humorous gathering all the alarmclocks the previous evening as I had left my trusty clock at home by accident. It was so succesful that my wife even woke up. At 430 in the morning, that’s saying something.
My back was still sore and my stomach didn’t feel quite right. Nerves? My wife also complained that she felt a little queasy. Something we ate last night? We didn’t have anything out of the ordinary. My last meal was a sandwich at Tim Hortons the previous evening at 8pm. Wierd.
Started making my brakfast and waterbottle concoctions. Filled all my bottles with a mix of Cytomax and Carbo Pro. I was turned on to Carbo Pro last year and had had some good results training with it. This was my first opportunity to test it out under long race conditions. I filled up my camelback with bottled water. I learned many years ago that one shouldn’t trust the local water if one doesn’t have to. And I always do long races with a camelback. Yeah I may pay an aero penalty,but the peace of mind about not worrying about race course aid stations is worth it to me.
Got to the transition area at 6am. Things were already pretty busy. Found my slot quickly. I always like it when organizers assign slots in the TA. I can’t understand why this isn’t always done. It saves alot of confusion and hassle.
It was such a beautiful morning that my wife and I decided to hoof it to the pier. The race annnouncer had been going on about how smooth the lake was. I had to disagree. It wasn’t choppy, but there was definitely a current. And It seemed to be going slightly from North to South, meaning we’d be swimming into it. Anyway, got to the pier with about 15 minutes before my wave start. WArmed up for about 5-10 minutes and then went to the pier. I started my race at about 712. I jumped in. I did not want to risk losing my googgles and getting my contacts washed out.
I like jumping off the pier and all that. I think it’s neat. But I wouldn’t mind starting from the other park at someday in the future. Why? The sun. As the first wave started the sun started peaking out from the horizon. Directly in line with the swim course. Meaning everytime I looked up I was blinded by the sun. This made sighting the very large bouys problematic. I should note that the end of the swim was marked by a giant green bouy. All the other bouys were orange. Why is this important? When you are swimming into the sun, they all look green. Unless you were counting, each bouy looked like the final green bouy until you got to within about 100 M when the color miraculously turned orange. Kinda morale seeping. Anyway, it was a very very nice swim for being in the open lake. Climbed out of the water in 37m x sec. I still think this swim course is long. That or all the other 1/2IM swim’s I’ve done are short.
Started out on the bike. I was worried about this because of my back problems from the previous evening. My back was still tight, but the swim seemed to have relaxed it. Anyway, my goal for the bike was to keep myself under control and save something for the run. I would be ruthlessly adhereing to my HRM.
Off I went. There is a nice little hill about a mile out of the TA to wake your legs up after the swim. True to plan as soon as my HR climed above 165 I down shifted. No need to gas myself this early. My stomach still wasn’t feeling well. I waited a good 10-15 minutes before I started drinking. I had brought along some solid food but I decided that I would try to rely on my liquid fuel options to try and keep my stomach under control.
The ride out was on nice quiet country roads. i’ve been on roads in better condition, but these weren’t bad. Still, I was reminded why manufacturers never boast “Rides like Aluminum”.
Keeping pace according to my HRM led me bto being passed more often than I liked. Of course, this is why I was wearing it in the first place. I love cycling and love to ride as hard and fast as I can. Especially when ther is competition around. I unfortunately tend to forget that I have to run a great distance after dismounting the bike.
I was starting to notice what a gorgeous day it was. It was 10AM and the temp couldn’t have been much above 70. There was hardly any breeze as well. I was starting to think that today was gonna be my day.
At about mile 30 we finally encountered the newly paved roads eveyone was so excited about. I have only one word to desribe these roads: Ahhhhhhhhhh.
Made the turn towards home before mile 40. Mentally I was still very fresh, and my legs felt great. I and been slowly upping the pace throughout the entire ride. It felt good to pass some people who had passed me earlier in the day. Unfortunately, my back was really starting to feel stiff now. Not only that, I had gas like you wouldn’t belive. Not that I’m complaining about the gas. I needed all the extra propulsion I could get.
The ride back to the TA is LONG. more that 15 miles down 1 road. This can get tedious for some people, myself especially. You also have the steepest hill waiting for you about 6 miles away from the TA. In the previous 2 editions I had blown up on this hill and limped home. Today was different. Paying attention to my HR had allowed me to keep something in reserve. I still had to shift into the small chainring, but I was able to get back up to speed quickly after cresting it. Today was turning into a good day. Got back home with a time of 2:36 on the bike. One of my best 1/2IM rides. Very nice.
My 2nd transition was a little slow was as I had to finally deal with my gastric problems in a portajon. Definitely NOT wasted time. Though I should note that there are municipal portajons at many places around the run course. I should keep this in mind for next year.
I ditched the HRM for the run but made a concerted effort to keep myself loose and under control. As on the bike, ther is a nifty hill in the first mile of the run. Put there just to make sure you are still paying attention. I was and for the first time made it up without cramping or walking.
The sun was now high in the sky and getting a little oppresive to me. I am such a WUSS when it comes to heat you cannot even imagine. I think in a previous life I was a scandinavian or something like that.
Nevertheless the temperatures were still cool compared to my other race experiances. Still I was overheating and starting to feel really crappy about mile 3. I walked for a bit and took stock of what I had left. The air temperatures were cool enough that it didn’t take me long to recover and start up again. From that point on I walked all the aid stations. Took 2 cups of water. I didn’t wanna mess with gatorade because my stomach was still feeling iffy. I relied on the Gu packets I had and the 1 salt tablet I had left.
It turned out to be enough as the run was rather unevenful for me. I think I only walked a no more than 1/3 of a mile, which is something I haven;t been able to accomplish in a long distance race in quite some time. I only started cramping up in the last mile and gritted my teeth to the finish.
Final time 5h40m. My best time on the course. Even better, I walked straight past the med tent and kept on going. THAT felt really good. Sat with my wife in the shaded pavillion as I streched out to fend off post race cramps. We were both very happy as my trips to the med tent are even less fun for her.
To cap it all off I went back to my host’s house and just waded in the lake for about an hour. Perfect. Goofed off for the rest of the weekend.
Notes, comments:
- Jumping off the pier is nice. But I think the swim would be better going from North to South. Just one man’s opinion.
-The weather was almost perfect. Whever was in charge of that deserve a bonus of some kind.
-
I like the race on Saturday. Please keep it on a saturday.
-
Freshly paved roads. Mmmmm good.
-
There were more litterbugs out on the bike course than I care to think about. Thinking about being more confrontational about this next time. You guys are ruining it for the rest of us. You know who you are.
-Race support was excellent. The water at the run aid stations was still chilled when I went through. BONUS POINTS!!
Excellent race. I had a great time. What say you?
