I first thought about doing this race two years ago. Last year the race was canceled due to a hurricane. I was eager to do this race since I’ve swam on the course 4 times, ridden part of the bike route 4 times, even ran some of the route and the complete route once. I was ready to get this race started!
The night before the race I was told the swim course had been reversed from downriver to upriver. I’m not a great swimmer and this increased my nervousness from near zero to ten in 2.5 seconds. It also killed my sleep for the night.
The next day I got an email from the only other person I knew was doing the race, PJ, that the swim course was back down river. It turned out that the swim course was nothing like the course online. It was like a shark fin. It started on the beach and angled across and upriver about 3/4 of the way across the river. It then went downriver for about a tenth of a mile before heading back at an angle to shore. PJ, an ace swimmer, did the swim in 28 minutes… I didn’t.
The Swim, 1.2 miles
As I stood in the water looking out at the buoy, my first thought was, “Holy crap, I can barely see the turning buoy!” My group was the last group starting, not sure how I got in that group, but I was glad I wouldn’t be in front of any other waves. I started as far upriver as I could so I could get a head start on the angled course. Before the race, my friend Sarah (Ironman finisher) told me not to think of the finish, to only think of the next goal. My goals in the swim were to make it from buoy to buoy and to keep swimming. By the time I reached the first buoy, I realized I was downriver from it. I had to swim upriver to get around the buoy. The current was much stronger than I thought it would be. I think the farther out I got, the stronger it was.
I changed my plan from the vague ‘aim upriver’ to aiming for one of the many safety boats. The boat I aimed for would put me upriver of the next buoy. Of course, that’s only if the boat didn’t move, which it did. By the time I got to the second buoy, I was downriver of it too.
I’m really not sure how many buoys there were out on the water, but I know there were yellow and orange buoys. I was really pushing to see a yellow buoy because the yellow buoy meant it was time to turn downriver and swim with the current. After some long amount of time I finally reached the yellow buoy. I did a quick doggie paddle to see where I was going and saw there was another orange buoy to swim too. I yelled, “Are you kidding me?” Apparently, the yellow buoy only meant I was going to swim across the river and no longer upriver. It didn’t mean I was going to turn downriver.
I ducked back in the water and started swimming again. I would site every 3 strokes and just kept swimming. When I finally got to the orange buoy, I asked the kayak guy if I would be allowed to finally turn down river and he said yes. I was so excited to be swimming downriver. I figured I could almost glide in the water and I would move a lot. It wasn’t as fast as I hoped, but I was making progress.
A funny thing was that at this point in the swim, I wasn’t last. It was really crazy to not be last. I thought about that while I swam because really, what else are you going to think about? Apparently, I thought too much because the guy behind me passed me right before the turn to shore.
At some point the kayaker yelled at me to turn to shore. He said swim towards the sun. I was like, ok, I think I can see that. I couldn’t see a buoy anywhere, so I had to go with what he said. I put my head down and swam. Some time later he hollered that I wasn’t aiming for the right spot. I told him I couldn’t see anything. All I could see was the big yellow thing in the sky. I tried to swim upriver of the sun, hoping to see the finish, or a buoy or something and eventually I did. I kept swimming to a point upriver of the finish, knowing the current would push me where I needed to go. Yet at two points I had to tell the surfer safety guy, and the boat safety guy, that I knew where I was going. They kept telling me I was swimming to the wrong beach. It’s not fun to argue while you are swimming, yet I had to do it twice. I just wanted to yell at these people to leave me alone.
As I said before, I had swam this area before. I know that before you get to the beach, a lot before, you can walk. All I was doing was trying to find that place where I could stand up and walk the rest of the way in. I kept swimming and swimming and looking for a familiar sign that I knew meant I could walk. When I finally got close enough to where I thought I could stand, a boat guy came up to me and said, “You know you can stand up right?” NO, I DIDN”T KNOW I COULD STAND UP!!! I stood up and the water was mid thigh. Apparently, I could have stood for a while.
I looked down at my watch after I stood up and realized I had been swimming for 1:33! I couldn’t believe it, swimming for over an hour and a half? I actually impressed myself. I didn’t know I could swim for that long. I thought my time was around an hour. Then I realized that they had a cutoff on the swim of 1:20. I was tired and dejected. To swim for that long and not be allowed to finish would really suck. I walked up to transition and asked if I was DQed and was told that I wasn’t, that I could keep racing. I was excited with the news and picked up my pace to my bike. I later heard that they extended the time because the current was so strong.
I quickly moved to my bike and put on my helmet. I decided to wear socks for the race and trying to put them on along with my shoes, was a chore. I was still swaying from the swim and my arms were tired too, so it took me longer than normal to get them on.
The Ride, 56 miles
Shortly after I got on the bike, I ate a GU and a cookie. I was hungry and needed energy. I was thirsty too, but hadn’t had any cramping issues during the swim like I had at Xterra. (I drank more the day before this race than I think I ever had.) The first several miles were slow going as I was eating, and getting my legs moving.
At mile 9 going out, I saw the first place biker coming back. At this point he was 38 miles in front of me. Initially, I doubted I would see any other bikers on the course. I knew there was one person just ahead of me out of transition, but at 7 miles I hadn’t seen anyone. Seeing the first place guy actually lifted my spirits. It’s nice to know others are out there and it’s not just you.
At mile 10, I finally passed my first rider. At mile 12, I finally started to feel good. It was at that point that the swim effects had finally worn off.
After only managing 15 mph for the first few miles, I was able to settle down and start some 18 and 19 mph sections. After each of the 3 water stops I had a surge of energy. I guess it was simply from having seen an actual human on the course. This isn’t the place to ride if you want to be cheered on, there was no one out there. After the second water stop the road was smooth. It was one of those roads where it was oily on one side. I stayed on that section and my speed climbed up to 22 mph. I passed 3 people on the stretch and I’m sure they were wondering how I was managing to go that fast. I passed 14 people total on the ride.
With a couple miles left to go, I finally ran out of water. I had one cookie left to eat so I ate that and washed it down with the last of my electrolyte drink. I figured it wouldn’t be that big a deal since there were 16 water stops along the 13.1 mile run course! More on that in a minute….
USAT, the group that sanctions these events, is really big on handing out penalties for a variety of things. One of their big concerns is rider trash, GU’s, water bottles, food wrappers, etc. I made sure I didn’t drop anything on the ride and I only saw a few things from other riders. I did start to wonder if the race was sponsored by Bud Light from the number of cans and bottles I saw in the ditches along the course.
Coming into the transition I took my right foot out of my shoe and put my foot on my shoe to keep pedaling. When I tried to do the same with my left foot, my shoe fell off my bike. I had to stop and go back and get it – I didn’t want a penalty for leaving equipment behind. As I turned around, I saw 3 riders coming. I really didn’t want to be passed on the bike, so I grabbed my shoe and started pedaling again. I had the shoe in my left hand, a shoeless foot on the pedal and tried to do a fast dismount at the line. It didn’t look great, but I wasn’t passed and I didn’t fall, so it go the job done.
My ride time was 3:11. Not too bad considering how slow I started.
Heading into transition I felt ok. I grabbed my gear and headed out on the run quickly. So fast in fact that I was the fastest transition in my category!
The Run, 13.1 miles
At the start of the run I felt good. I felt like my hydration plan had worked well and that there wasn’t too much wrong with me. During the ride I started to chafe where my calf touched my tri suit, but that wasn’t going to bother my ride at all.
The run course was pretty lame. It started with a short out and back, followed by a lollipop-ish run. You did two loops on the lollipop, and an out-and-back on the stick of the lollipop. It was fun once, and killer the second loop.
Amazingly, my first mile was an 8:26. My friend Sarah had started her Ironman run strong and my thought for her then was for her to slow down, I figured I ought to do the same. I felt great though, so it was hard to back off. A half mile into the second mile, I decided to try and slide my sock under the ankle chip strap. In only a little while running, I knew I was going to have bad chaffing from that strap. I stopped for about a minute and adjusted it as best I could. When I started running, I realized I messed up. My race was based on never stopping and this break, while short, screwed that up. I managed to run for another 1.5 miles without stopping, but the damage was done. I no longer felt as good as I had when I started, and my mind knew I was allowing breaks. Once you break the seal…
At mile 4, I decided to run Galloway. I would walk the first minute of every mile and then run the rest. I did this until mile 8 and it worked ok. At mile 8, I decided to make it 2 minutes. The whole time I’m running, I’m seeing water stops. I guess they were at most 1 mile apart and as little as .75 miles apart. I decided early on that drinking at every stop would be bad. I only drank when I felt I needed something and I didn’t eat anything of theirs, instead relied on my Shot Blocs. At mile 10 something happened and I felt nauseous. I don’t know if it was from drinking Heed (a sports drink I never drink and really don’t like) or lack of food or what. I had to spit out my last Shot Bloc and walk for two miles. I thought for sure I was going to vomit. It wasn’t a good feeling. By the time I felt good enough to run, my body was hurting so bad I couldn’t do much.
After feeling surprisingly good coming out of the water, and in good spirits after the ride, the end of the run was really rough. Up until mile 7, I was on pace for a sub 2 hour half marathon. Until mile 11, I was on pace for a sub 7 hour Half Ironman. Miles 11 and 12 really hurt and I changed my goal to finishing and not anything based on time.
My last mile was run/walk. I did as best I could with what I had left and dragged into the finish. My run time was 2:34:03. It was my slowest ever half marathon, but I really didn’t care. I was just glad to be done.
My total time was 7:28:12. I spent almost a full work day doing this race. That’s just crazy.
It was a tough race and I’ve already been asked when I plan on doing another one. I think I’ll wait until I am a better swimmer. I don’t need to be super fast, but maybe twice as fast would be nice.
Before the race I talked to my friend Ben about borrowing his energy for my race. I’d like to thank him, Becky, Gonyo, Bobby, Laura, Megan, Sarah, and Jessica for allowing me to steal a little mental juice. Every time I focused on your strength, I was able to put forth more effort. I also want to thank Carrie and Alex. I didn’t try to steal your strength, but you helped bring me home.