Ironman Racine 70.3 Race Report

I would consider today a success! Read on....

Pre-Race: Given my previous posts - recent lack of sleep and training, as well as the issues with my bike, I had cautious expectations of the day. Since it was supposed to be a practice race for the big deal, that took a bit of the pressure off. Weather was 75 in the morning, but overcast. Probably got up to 85 or so with more sun in the late morning and early afternoon (HOT). Had a bagel and peanut butter and a bite of a banana, and me and my iron sherpa (hubby) were off. Saw our friend Tracy at the start - she just signed up for an IM in June 2011.

Swim: WOW WAS LAKE MICHIGAN COLD. Announcer said it was 64 degrees, and it was by far the coldest water I've ever swum in. Try not to panic when you put your face in the water and the water is so cold that your lungs close up....its not easy. After two minutes of head up freestyle and breaststroke, and thinking why the hell am I doing this, I stuck my face in the water and got to it. Swim was a bit slower than I wanted, probably due to the panicking in the beginning as well as not-exactly-flat Lake Michigan. After that hell was over, it was a long run through deep sand to transition. Total time - 37 minutes, 41 seconds, 15/82 in my age group.

Bike: So I figured that I would be no faster than about 17 mph on this course - its very flat compared to what I've been riding, but still, I've never shown any capacity for speed. Crusing out of Racine, I was going about 19-20mph with almost no effort - I figured I was riding a slight downhill or had the wind at my back. I started by drinking water, than Infinit every 10 minutes. It was overcast at this point so not too hot. After the first hour, I was still averaging a bit of 19mph and felt fantastic. I will say my heart rate was a bit high - in the upper 150s to lower 160s, where I would have like it to be in the 140s, but I didn't feel like I was pushing it at all, so kept with it (I will not do this in the IM). Stuck with drinking Infinit every ten minutes and played leapfrog with a few nice people, including Karen from Iowa. Once saw a three-pack of my fellow age groupers go by together, totally drafting and could see them continue to do so for a while. I hate cheaters. Anyway, I absolutely had a blast on this ride - so fun and I loved how good I felt and how fast I was going of course.....I had estimated a 3:20 bike split, so imagine my surprise when I beat that by almost 30 minutes! Total time - 2 hours, 51 minutes, 55 seconds; 16/82 in my age group.

Run: By the time I started with the run, the sun was out 80% of the time. It was HOT. I ironically thought multiple times during the run, how nice it would feel to get in the lake. Started out on the run feeling good and running between 8 min and 8:30 pace - once again, faster than my planned 9 min pace. But, once again, I convinced myself I felt good. The run was two loops of 6.55 miles each. The first loop passed by without too much incident - the run was flat for the most part and I was drinking water every mile, mixed in with some sports drink and cola. At the start of the second loop, I was starting to feel my stomach turning against me. I'm sure this had to do with my higher than appropriate heart rate most of the day, as well as the heat/slight dehydration. By mile 10, I was not feeling good, and my miles were more like 8:45-9:00. About mile 11 I decided that to avoid serious stomach issues, I was going to run for 3 minutes, walk for 30 seconds. When I started doing this, I met Bob, who claimed he had been using me to pace and got me to run with him. Although we took a couple walk breaks, Bob and I made it to the finish in one piece, and I definitely owe my sub 2 hour half marathon to him. With the exception of the last couple miles, once again, I would say I had fun out there! Total Time - 1 hour, 54 minutes, 51 seconds; 13/82 in my age group.

Total Half IM time - 5 hours 31 minutes, and 27 seconds!! 13/82 in my age group!!

Overall, I was really happy with my day. Five years ago, much less prepared, with a bike that didn't fit me, I did this race. It was over 100 degrees and I got a flat tire, and although I finished, it obviously was not my best performance. I definitely feel like I avenged that today! While today will boost my confidence as it relates to my training and the IM, I am trying to be cautious. I definitely would have had a death march full marathon today, given the heat and pushing my heartrate too hard during the bike and run. Also, 2.4 miles of swimming is going to feel ridiculously brutal. So, my lessons are 1) swim more, 2) drink more, and 3) keep my heartrate down in the early part of the race!

Me and my trusty steed post-race.

Extra Long Taper....

First, here are my June totals:

Swim - 25,700 yards, 7 hours and 48 minutes

Bike - 411 miles, 24 hours and 37 minutes

Run - 119 miles, 17 hours and 41 minutes

Total - 50 hours and 6 minutes

June was a big month. I've officially crossed the 10 weeks to go barrier and as of tomorrow, have only 8 weeks to go until the Ironman. Crazy. While June was a great month, the first two weeks of July left something to be desired. For the first time during my training, work really got in the way. Seriously. For the past two weeks, leaving work at midnight has been early. Last Sunday (yes, Sunday) I worked until 2am. I've been sleeping only 4-5 hours a night, even with skipping workouts, so honestly, skipping workouts was the least of my worries (other problems include house is a mess, bills not being paid, cancelling social plans...). I still managed to get in full days of training on the weekends, and even did more than my "plan" prescribed on those days, but I was back down into the 10 hours per week these last two weeks, when I was supposed to be near 14 hours last week.

The good thing is, I have my Half Ironman practice race tomorrow - Ironman Racine 70.3 - so this past week was a taper week. I've decided to call the last two weeks my extra long taper for the race, and just am trying to put it behind me that my training has not been up to par for the past two weeks. Tomorrow is supposed to be ridiculously hot and humid - about 90 degrees and with a possible chance of storms. Yay....its only slightly better weather than the first time I did this race, with a 112 heat index and not a cloud in the sky (I also got a flat five miles into the race). So, I am out to avenge that race. Funny to think that this distance really does not phase me at this point in training....You'll get the full race report tomorrow! I'm off to bed!

The Highs and Lows of Training

Over the past couple of weeks, I've experienced some definite highs and lows of training. Comes with the 30 week long training process I suppose....

First the high - on June 13th I did the Capitol View Olympic Distance triathlon (1500 meter swim, 24.85 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run, about 1/4 of the ironman distance). Being the first race of the season, as well as the first triathlon I've done in three or four years, I was a bit nervous. Plus, this race took place just outside of Madison, so the majority of the racers were people using the race as a tune-up for the ironman - lots of Ironman tattoos out there and serious bikes. The weather was pretty perfect - no wind, overcast, and about 70 (although pretty humid).

The swim - The swim ALWAYS makes me nervous, because I'm afraid I'm going to panic - its kind of a circular reference - you panic once, then you get panicky that you're going to panic next time, which inevitably causes you to panic. Anyway, I just tried to clear my head and settle into the swim and NO PANIC! Yay! Mini victory! Overall, the swim was good - the full wetsuit felt good, and no major contact with other swimmers. The one AWFUL part of the swim was that it was extremely weedy - like every stroke your arms were covered in weeds. Not fun.

Swim Time: 27:54, 7/22 in my age group

The bike - I am so average at biking. My decent swims will always be followed by being completely crushed on the bike. I spent the ~25 miles being passed and not really passing anyone. Course was fairly hilly and pretty difficult for an olympic distance. I could have gone harder, but the point of my race was to simulate the ironman, where I will bike conservatively in order to save my legs for the run.

Bike Time: 1:26:19, 17.3mph, 14/22 in my age group

The run - Ok, this was BY FAR the hardest 10k I've ever done. The run was through grass fields and trails, and was so hilly. The kind of hills that were straight up and straight done, followed by another one. Luckily, I was kind of pissed off about being passed on the bike, and made it my mission to pass lots of people on the run. I was successful, as I probably passed 40 people, and only got passed by one person. Even though it was hilly, I ran really well - my hilly runs in Central Park definitely helped get me ready for this!

Run Time: 51:46, 8:20 pace, 6/22 in my age group

Transitions were uneventful and pretty fast (picture to the right is my transition area), which resulted in my total time of 2:51:34, almost 10 minutes faster than my goal of getting under three hours! Further, much to my surprise, I finished 5th in my age group of 22! Wow! I was pretty excited given the competition!

Total Time: 2:51:34, 5/22 in my age group

Ok, so now for the low.

The following weekend, I was ready to go for the Horribly Hilly Hundreds 100k - ~65 miles through ridiculous hills just west of Madison. I know you are thinking - hills in Wisconsin? Seriously, these hills were crazy. Steep and L-O-N-G. It was brutal. Again, there was great weather - crystal clear blue sky and not too much wind. Yes, I knew I should have used a road bike for this kind of ride, but all I had was Stella, my triathlon bike. Needless to say, maybe 5% of people were using triathlon bikes - I was already at a disadvantage.

So although the course was brutal, I was enjoying myself, relatively speaking. Just after the first aid station, about 25 miles into the ride, I was going up a brutal hill at like 3mph, when I hear a crunching on my bike, lose all ability to pedal forward, and just barely unclip and get my foot down before falling (any cyclist will tell you that unexpectedly having to unclip is scary). Turns out I was experiencing something called "chain suck", where the bike chain falls off the ring and gets stuck in the frame. Yeah, not good. So, I fix the chain and hope it doesn't happen again....

No such luck - over the next 10 minutes, my chain fell off FOUR MORE TIMES in the low gears. This is not good, as I needed those gears to go up the many hills of the course. Standing on the side of the road and near tears that I'm 30 miles into my 65 mile ride and my bike seems to be broken, I decide to just ride and hope that there weren't too many hills before the next aid station. I got lucky - over the next 15 miles, I only had two hills where I would have had to be in my low gears (and therefore in danger of dropping my chain, and potentially falling over and hurting myself, my bike, and/or someone else). I walked up those two hills....

Finally to the aid station and I have a mechanic look at my bike. When I tell him what happened, he did not have a good reaction. Uh oh....so he works on it a bit, and sends me on my way. Not fixed. Two miles later, it happens again, so now I turn around, crying, knowing my day is done, and head back to the aid station to call the SAG wagon (the support vehicle that picks up riders with injuries or mechanical issues). I was beyond disappointed. Although I still think I made the right decision since continuing would have been extremely frustrating and potentially dangerous, I felt like a complete cop-out and failure. Plus, I was so upset that I had only rode 40 miles when I was supposed to do 65!

Took my bike to the bike shop a couple days later, and they decided my chain was stretched and so I had a new chain put on. So far, I have ridden a couple rides on hills without those major issues, although my shifting is off a bit. I am worried that since I have now had this fairly major mechancial issue (at least in my experience), that something else is going to go wrong and I really can't trust my bike. That is really the most concerning. Going to be extra careful with maintenance and bring the bike to the bike shop every couple weeks for a quick tune-up to avoid this happening again!

So - I went from a great weekend to an awful weekend of training. Hoping that the Horribly Hilly ride is as bad as it gets and I have smooth sailing from here on out! :)