Oh yeah! I have finished my third Long Course (Half-Ironman distance) triathlon! I completed a rainy and soggy (but FUN!)
Ironhead PrairieMan "56.3" on Sunday in 5:01:24. (The bike course was re-routed and shortened to 42 miles due to flooding on some of the roads. It's been raining here for four straight days.) I finished 12th out of 28 in the men's 35-39 age group, 59th out of 134 male finishers, and 62nd out of 170 finishers overall. Needless to say, I am ecstatic about my performance.
Here are my splits:
- Swim: 43:20 (48th place)
- T1: 3:12
- Bike: 2:03:36 - 20.4 MPH (25th place)
- T2: 1:07
- Run: 2:10:07 - 9:56/mi pace (96th place)
- TOTAL: 5:01:24
From the Garmin Forerunner 305 info, it appears that the distances were longer than advertised. I had the bike course at 42.97 miles (20.9 MPH average speed per GPS) and the run course at 13.37 miles (9:43/mi pace per GPS). Fellow finishers also commented that they thought the swim was a little long too.
Random thoughts:
Pre-Race: Loading up my car the night before, driving to
Lynn Creek Park in the rain, setting up my gear in a downpour ... I was seriously questioning my sanity. Luckily, I had brought along an extra trashbag - a staple of winter running pre-race wear - couldn't believe that I was actually using one in the summer! My cardboard bike number had already eroded away (along with everyone else's) and there was no body marking. Except for the race belt & bib - no numbers today.
I ran into Steve, who was doing his first tri ever, Sabrina & Tim, and Tara in transition ... and Melissa at the pre-race meeting. Nice to see familiar faces. On a day like today, fan support is pretty much limited to fellow racers and the great race volunteers. The "sprinters" started 30 minutes before the Long Course so Melissa and I huddled under Sabrina's umbrella to try to stay dry (well, drier) before our start at approximately 8:00 AM.
Swim: Not too bad. The water of Joe Pool Lake was in the low 80s and actually felt much warmer than the air temperature! There was a little chop in the water, not sure if it was because of the rain or the boats out there. Regarding the boats, I really wish they could stay further away so their wake wouldn't affect the swim course. Also, the motor fumes were horrible - between that smell and the chop, I was getting nauseated. Ideally all boats near the swim course would only have exhaust-free electric motors!
T1: Wasn't feeling the greatest after the swim so I pretty much just walked from the lake to the transition area. I actually missed my rack and had to backtrack 2 or 3 aisles to get to my bike. Helmet, glasses, wet socks, wet bike shoes ... the trash bag I had set over them helped a little bit, but on a day like today it's pretty much a lost cause.
Bike: Not as tough as I thought it was going to be. Though, you know how you're supposed to spit in your swimming goggles to keep them from fogging up ... I should have done that to my cycling glasses! I must have wiped my glasses lenses at least 10 times during the 42-mile 3-loop bike course. Not the safest thing to do when riding at 21+ MPH down in aero and in rain.
Actually, the most treacherous part of the course was occasionally having to move from the right lane to the left lane to avoid large pools of water collecting on the side of the road. The changing of lanes itself wasn't too bad, but Lake Ridge Parkway like many suburban concrete roads had "turtles" on the white lane markings. Those bumps might not seem to bad in a car, but when going over them on a road bike, there's a possibility of catching some air and there is definitely some jarring of the hands.
Because of the cooler weather I didn't drink very much - just going through about 20 oz of water from my
AeroDrink. I had grabbed a Gatorade at the aide station but ended up not needing it at all - I guess I will count that as a race souvenir. Because of the danger of the ride, I didn't eat much either - just one AccelGel about an hour into the ride. Hopefully, my lack of nutrition won't hurt me ...
T2: Uneventful. I had already resigned myself to soggy running shoes and was not "disappointed". Ditched my helmet and glasses, switched shoes, and grabbed my hat and I was off.
Run: Having done the
F1 Duathlon earlier this year, I was familiar with the course (PrairieMan run = F1's 2-mile run + 11-mile bike) which is always a nice feeling. The rain felt great, but the puddles on the road were annoying. Luckily, those were mostly just at the beginning 1.5 and (since it was an out-and-back course) final 1.5 miles. The road on the dam (being elevated) was fairly dry. I started at a steady 9:30-10:00/mi pace and my heart rate was in the mid to high 150s, which is pretty good for me.
I had two AccelGels with me - I took the first one at the 0.5 mile water stop and the second at the Mile 7 aid station. It was around Mile 3 that I realized that I had forgotten to put on (well, actually, forgotten to even set out in transition) my
PattStraps - they were sitting safe and sound in a closed Ziplock bag in my tri-bag. D'oh! (Luckily, as I write this Monday night, I appear to have escaped any IT Band issues - phew).
There was a short, but fairly steep hill to get to the turnaround at Mile 6.63, but after that I think I actually accelerated on the return. At around Mile 7.5 I saw Melissa (at her Mile 5.5) and she shouted "Don't let me catch you!" - I think that may have helped me for the final 5 and half miles as well . Yep, the stats confirm this: 1:05:39 for the first 6.63 miles, and 1:04:28 for the final 6.74 miles. Woo-hoo, negative splits! (Thanks, Melissa :-)
After another water and walk break at the Mile 10 aide station at the base of the dam, I knew I was getting close. I ran past the lot where I had parked my car and once again waved at the one hardy fan standing under an umbrella and cheering as loudly as she could (I saw her going out and coming back in on the bike, and going out on the run as well - 5+ hours standing in the rain - wow!) Aside from her, the only cheering section on the run course were passing fellow athletes on the out-and-back and the great aid station volunteers.
A final loop at the eastern park of the park road and there I saw it, the finish line. Oops, nope, have to do the final loop down by the water - only about another 1/4 mile, but that was a little deflating. Oh well, just a little bit more running and then a charge up the hill from the water to the finish. Done!
Nobody at the finish line except the volunteers to collect the timing chip and hand me my finisher's shirt and mug. No finish line photo - the photographer had long since left - and the only other people were fellow Long Course triathletes sitting under a canopy eating pizza and drinking Gatorade & Vitamin Water. But that's okay. Today was the kind of race (and kind of weather) that is just for the athletes. And it was great. Out of the three half-Ironman distance races that I've done, this one was the most enjoyable despite the lack of festivity and fanfare.
In fact, the ONLY regret that I have about the race is that the bike course had to be shortened. Unfortunately, I still have not done a true 70.3 distance. At last year's
Lone Star Half (completed in 5:59:01), the bike and run courses were 55.09 miles and 12.55 miles respectively per GPS. And then at
Ironman Longhorn 70.3 (5:46:32), the bike and run were pretty much spot-on (55.94 and 13.03), but the swim about 500 meters short - there is no way I can do 1.2 miles in 33:45. I figured if we had done another loop (~13.5 miles) on Lake Ridge Parkway, even at a more conservative 19 MPH pace, that would have added about 43 minutes to my time ... for a 5:44 total time ... definitely would be a PR and at a true (even slightly longish) 70.3 mile distance to boot. Oh well, there's always next year - right?
Post-Race: Water, water, everywhere. As I detached my AeroDrink, I was initially surprised by how much "remaining" water I had to dump out of it - "gee, I thought I drank more than that on the bike?!?" ... seconds later I realized that it had collected "a wee bit" of rain during my 2+ hours on the run and time spent for post-race refreshments. Ditto for my super-heavy backpack, it was only when I got home that was reminded that the water-proof lining of my tri-bag was in serious decline (note to self:
order a new one) and discovered that my towel and spare clothes had absorbed 10+ pounds of water.
The morning/night after, I'm pleasantly surprised to find that my body bounced back pretty well - my knees (no IT band issues), feet (no Body Glide and wet shoes & socks and yet no blisters - what are the odds?) and legs in general survived pretty much unscathed. The only sore parts are my shoulders (I gotta keep my upper body loose on the run!) and back (not enough long bike rides!), and they should be good to go in another day or two.
Okay, so when's the next one? :-)
A lot of my tri friends were out doing the PlayTri Stonebridge race this morning but since I'm training for December's White Rock Marathon, I need to get my running miles in.
