Richmond Rox Half Ironman

Yesterday, I did my second Half Ironman.  It’s comprised of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and 13.1 mile run.  It was supposed to be a lead up race for a full Ironman next year, but more on that later.

I’ve previously done one of these in the past, but somehow felt less prepared this year (cause I’m older?).  The first time I swam in the James River near Jamestown, once again it was the James, but closer to Richmond this time.

To start the swim we were supposed to swim to the middle of the river and float there for the race to start.  I elected to hold onto the dock and start from there.  I was rocking a new wetsuit and when the race started I zoomed out into the river.  The swim upriver was longer by ~100ft than the downriver portion.  With the wetsuit on, I felt like a much better swimmer.  During the race there were a few times where it felt like I wasn’t moving at all, but I kept going.

It wasn’t long before I was alone in the back on my wave.  The next wave, 5 minutes later passed me by, as did the last wave, another 5 minutes back.  I kept on swimming, desperate to get to the buoy and start my cross river swim and then after another buoy, the downriver swim.

If I was asked what I thought about while swimming the answer would be simple: my stroke, and the zipper tag that kept getting wrapped around my shoulder.  I probably tried 20 ways to swim faster.  I swam for about an hour and with my walk/jog back to transition, completed the first leg in 1:05:07.

Over the last few weeks I’ve tried different outfits to prevent chaffing, and last week I found an answer.  I wore running shorts, no top, under my wetsuit.  When I got out of my wetsuit (no small task) I put on my biking bib over my shorts and a cycling jersey as well.  I also added socks and put my shoes on in transition.  All told it was a slow, but acceptable transition.  

Time was 7:38

During the swim, I started to get hungry, so within the first mile of the ride I ate a Little Debbie Oatmeal Crème pie and it hit the spot!  I needed something that was moist and had calories.  Within a few miles on the bike I had to go to the bathroom.  I knew about a water exchange in the 30’s so I was going to hold it until then.  Luckily, just as it got bad, I saw mile 45 water stop on the other side of the road and used that.  It was perfectly timed because after that, I picked up my pace and started to feel great.

The course is pretty lonely when you start in the back and at first all I saw were the ladies from the last swim wave, and they were passing me.  After I felt better and picked up the pace, I was able to pass a few folks, but it was slim pickings.

The ride was uneventful with a couple big hills here or there and through 38 miles, I had a really nice pace, 18.5+.  Then I turned onto route 5 and the hills started.  I wasn’t able to stay in the aerobars on the hills and honestly, my back was hurting so much, I didn’t want to.  And then the headwinds started.  A strong storm came through the night before and it left strong winds with some heavy gusts.  A nice way to punish someone is to have them go uphill into the wind.

Somehow, I made it back to transition.  I went through 48 oz of my Enduro Accelerade mix, 20 oz of water, half of a picked up bottle of nasty lime Gatorade, 3 oatmeal crème pies, and one honey stinger.  I finished the bike with sore legs, but no cramping.  My time of 3:30:26 was slower than I wanted, but not by much as I wanted to save juice for the run.

Coming into transition, I once again took my time to switch into my running gear.  Unlike after my swim, I was more stable on my feet.  My second transition was 3:01.

When I left transition, all I wanted to do was forget the back pain from the ride.  I started walking, but saw a couple Marathon Training Team coaches and had to ‘represent’, so I started running.  Slow at first, I steadily picked up the pace.  By the time I saw my Sister, Kris, and her friend, Scott, I was running strong.  My jaw was sore, not sure why, and when she offered my gum, I said no.  When I came back around 5 miles later, she offered my beef jerky and I almost started laughing.

The run course was kind of cruel.  It was a lollipop course, but instead of looping on the round part, you had to run almost to the beginning, on the stem, before you turned around and went back out.  It did allow me to see a lot of competitors, so that was nice.  On the first lap I passed a bunch of people, but I didn’t know if they were on the first or second lap.  The fact is that when I got back from the ride, people were already finished and heading home.

Towards the end of the first lap/beginning of the second, I started to get hunger pains –not a good sign.  With no food because I forgot it on my bike and no food on the course, I was up the creek.  As good as my first lap was my second was that bad.  After the first lap, I was probably on pace for a sub 2 hour half-marathon, that was quickly gone on the second lap as I had to start walking.

I was able to muster up enough strength to run the last 100 yards or so and happily finished the run in 2:33:13.

I finished without any cramping, but was really close to cramps in my left leg.  I may have had some stomach cramps when I drank too much water/Gatorade, but thankfully, that passed quickly.  I had Gatorade at every water stop and at one stop I had 2 salt pills.  I didn’t experience any chaffing, which is a first for a long race.

		Swim		T1		Bike		T2		Run		Total
First race		1.34.20		6.57		3.11.29		1.25		2.34.03		7.28.12
This race		1.05.07		7.38		3.30.26		3.01		2.33.13		7.19.24
Diff		-29.13		+.41		+18.57		+1.36		-.50		-8.48

The end result is, because of my much improved swim time, I beat my first Half Ironman by over 8.5 minutes!  It’s always nice to PR.

Back to my Ironman plans.  I realized during this race I need to do a few things before I sign up and compete in an Ironman.  1. Lose 30+ lbs, 2. Work on my shoulder strength/stamina for the swim, 3. Strengthen my core for the bike.  When I do these things I will start and finish my first Ironman.