I
had high expectations for myself for this half ironman. In January I
had a PR half marathon 1:27, without tapering much. Another reason
for the high expectations, was because the last few triathlons in
2011, I performed well. Two of my half's were under 5 hours last
year. So I was hoping to go under 5 hours. I hoped to perform well
not only for me, but also for my sister and her family who came to
watch me race.
On
Saturday morning my sister, her husband and 3 kids packed into the
van and drove 4.5 hours to Galveston Texas. Once we arrived I went
for an easy bike ride and easy run. On the run my hamstrings felt
like rubber, this was weird because I went for a run on Wednesday and
my legs felt fine. Oh well, maybe race day they will be fine. My
sister and her family and I went to dinner and went to this awesome
candy store Laking's, were I bought some delicious ice cream. We
checked into a hotel, and did an easter egg hunt with the kids
loved!!
Race
morning, woke up early had some delicious breakfast, and then headed
to the race start.. My wave did not start until 7:45. So I relaxed
with my sister inside this nice building, for at least an hour and struggled putting on my wetsuit. Then
I realized it was almost time for my wave to start so I ran weaving
my way through the crowded pathway to get into the water, nice little
adrenaline rush. It was about a 3-foot jump off a pier. When the gun
went off I started swimming hard, but soon realized I was not headed
in the right direction. After making a course correction I soon found
a good rhythm, 20 strokes, site, 20 strokes...My shoulders quickly
fatigued, the joy of swimming in a wetsuit. The water was slightly
choppy. The swim wave I was in was nice because we were spread out,
so I couldn't really draft off anybody, and didn't get hit. I love having wave starts
versus mass start chaos. The swim was over soon and headed to the
wetsuit strippers...34:14 (1:46/100m pace). I chose the wrong wetsuit
strippers because they struggled peeling the suit off.
I was glad to have some gum in transition to get rid of the salt water taste in my mouth. The bike course was flat, and drafting was actually at a minimal. I heard the winds were over 20 mph and the first 26 miles were all cross-wind and head wind. The first ten miles felt a little rough, I think it was just recovering from the swim. But then I focused on my pedal stroke, and felt like I got into my groove...The first 28 miles I averaged 19.26 mph. Coming back I was 12 minutes faster 22.35 mph, thanks to a slight tail wind....I had 6 gus on the bike, and grabbed fluid at all four aide stations. I didn't have any GI issues, jut felt dehydrated and some slight nausea. I was a little clumsy at the aide stations. The first aide station the cap to the perform was partially unscrewed so it went everywhere. There was another aide station that I couldn't open the perform lid for some reason so I grabbed another bottle. The aide station was nicely spread out making it easy to grab both water and perform. The course was beautiful, along the seawall in Galveston. When I was about to finish my bike ride I heard the cheers from my family members. I was psyched they recognized me on the bike...
Bike
2:42:25 (20.7 mph)
T2 2:03
Run
1:50:24 (8:25 pace)
Then
the miserable run. I could definitely feel my hamstrings, but
thought I could push through the fatigue feeling, and it worked for
the first few miles. I had to pee a ton on the first few miles, I
couldn't relax enough on the bike. The third mile was a little
rough. My legs felt like lead, especially my hamstrings. My wet
shoes felt like weights, even though I know my shoes are light. The
last 10 miles, were miserable, and definitely had to use a lot of
mental toughness to get through. The course was a 4-lap route that
was completely flat with the exception of one small bridge that took
us down by where we had jumped in the water earlier to swim. The run aide stations were a little chaotic. My
family members cheered for me throughout the run course and made
these awesome posters, their cheers definitely helped make it through
the run. It felt really humid and hot, unfortunately I forgot my
hat...so I dumped water over me at every aide station. . I tried to
focus on my form, and told myself I am quick, light and
fast...however this wasn't working, because I didn't even feel like
myself. So my new game plan was to keep moving my legs. It was a
little heart breaking being passed by so many people...usually I feel
fairly strong on the run, but for some reason today my body couldn't
keep up with what I wanted it to do...The last few miles I started
having a hard time breathing and coughing. The cough persisted for
three hours after the race....The run was really hard mentally and I
have analyzed many reasons why, but it was a great course, and great
to have my sister and her family cheering me on....Here
are some of my theories a to why it was not the best race...
- I was picking up my nieces and nephew way to much, using hamstring muscles I am not use too
- Focusing on the upstroke of my bike stroke fatigued my muscles
- My bike seat was too low
- Didn't taper enough the previous weekend I had a 80 mile ride, 8 mile run
- I am not use to humidity, and maybe on top of the immodium, I was dehydrated.
- Maybe I haven't been focusing enough on biking and so my body wasn't ready to run after the bike.
- Maybe driving 5 hours the day before the race, exhausted me.
- The last few years the first race of the season has not been a good race, so maybe it was just being the first race of the year syndrome.
- Maybe I have exercised induced asthma, making the run harder than it should have been
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