What follows could get very long and full of details. My thoughts are rolling through my head and I want to get them down in hopes of piecing together what if anything I may have been able to do differently. You have been warned.
The Friday before I took the day off from work to finish packing and prep the house and cats for a weekend alone. We picked the girl up from school after lunch and headed up to Williamsburg. It's a 4 hour drive and traffic as not bad. Checked into the Great Wolf Lodge and headed to the race site for package pickup. Picked up the package with no issues and even bought two pairs of sock guy socks for $5. Then we headed to Ruby Tuesday's for dinner. I had a chicken Parm and a sangria. Everything seemed to be going great. I felt a slight twinge in my lower back from the drive and probably should have stretched it out a bit before bed. Back at the lodge, the girls went to the arcade and I spent some time getting everything ready for the morning. Mixing drinks, putting stickers on, getting out clothes and so on. Hit the bed at 9PM right on time with a wake up scheduled for 4AM.
Race Morning woke up at 4, ate my normal breakfast of grapenuts with dried cranberries 16 oz of water and added half a banana. Packed up the car and headed out right on time at 5. Once at the race site and in transition I had everything setup and ready with 30 minutes to spare. I put on the wetsuit, chugged 8 oz of hornet juice and ate a gel. Headed down to the swim start and got in a nice easy warmup in the bay. The water temp was announced as 74 degrees. I heard a bunch of people saying 74 was generous and how did they come up with that? As if they had some internal thermometer. The air temp was still in the 50's so of course the water felt warm. But no one was complaining about getting to wear their wetsuit. I saw one girl close to shore squatting in the shallows with a strange smile on her face, obviously taking a pee break. Can you make it a little less obvious? I mean walk out 10 more feet and you don't even have to squat. anyway onto the race...
times below are the official times from the race results, I race in the master's Clydesdale division and there were 18 total in that division.
Swim: 39:11 - 6/18
the swim was actually quite nice. They have a nice wide open area to warmup in and to start so the pack was spread out wide and I had no issues of getting kicked at all. The first turn buoy was a long way out which meant the pack was lined up and once again no issues making the first turn. We swam with the current after the first turn, but the sun had just started coming up and it was bright so finding that second buoy was tough. Once I found it, it was smooth sailing to it but then after the second turn we were heading to shore but now we were swimming directly into the sun. I couldn't find the exit for about half the swim until I stopped in the water and shaded the sun with my hand and located. Luckily the exit was right at a perfect spot to sight and I cruised in. Now getting out of the water was tough. It was so shallow we had to walk about 50 yards through the water to get to shore, took me about a minute and my quads were not happy.
T1: 3:19 3/18
T1 was hike from the swim exit so most people's times were in the 3 minute plus time. I didn't mess around, ran to transition, stripped off the wetsuit and got the bike ready to go. no muss no fuss.
Bike: 2:54:34 7/18
As I was heading out of transition, I hit some strange combination of keys on my bike computer and just like that it stopped working. I played around with it for the first mile trying to get it to work, but was unsuccessful so I just had to let it go. I told myself just go by feel and off I went. The only indication of how fast I was going would be at the 5 mile markers where I could do some math and try to figure out my speed over the last 5 miles. The first 5 miles went by and I was at 15 minutes. oops that means 20 mph, a bit too fast, but my legs were feeling good, so I wasn't too concerned. I consciencely slowed and let some people go. Yelled at few people who were insisting on drafting, and some were very obvious about it. Next up was mile 10 and I was under 30 minutes, so my attempt to slow did not work, but I would find out later it was due to the wind being at my back on the out part and of course that meant it would be in my face on the way back, but I wouldn't find that out for another 30 miles or so. I pulled out my power bar and started eating. It wasn't easy and as I was chewing, @andresduquepc12 from twitter went by me. I tried to yell at him, but my mouth was full and I don't think he heard me. He started 9 minutes ahead of me, but swimming is not his strong suit. ok, some more slowing and drinking and eating and the next thing I know I'm at mile 20 in 1:01 and still feeling good. Now the rolling part starts. I still haven't shifted out of the big ring, but I did stand a couple times so I could give my legs a break. It was rolling from 20 - 40 with some rough spots on the roads, but overall a nice ride. I picked up a water bottle at mile 36 and refilled my aero bottle. So far I've had 20 oz of ultima, 24 oz of gatorade and 16 oz of water. Over the next 17 miles I still have another 24 oz of gatorade to go. so all told I had 98 oz of fluid over the 3 hours. Also during 20-40 I had my fig newtons. I had slowed a bit now and I think at mile 40 I was at 2:03, so still a very good time and ahead of my planned pace, but the last 17 miles would be into the wind and slow me down a bit. There was a problem with traffic in this section and I had to slow to avoid cars several times, but the roads where once again really nice. I was now starting to catch some of the people that went flying by me in the beginning. With 5 miles togo I decided to go with the gel instead of the last powerbar as I wasn't really hungry, but I did want some more calories. So a Gu Roctane went in. the last few miles were torture on my butt. I really just wanted it to end but I still hadn't shifted out of the big ring, so I guess the claim that you wouldn't need to shift out was true. I was hoping to get a 2:50, but since the course was really 57 I didn't feel too bad about the 2:54 and I was very happy to get off the bike. As I was pulling into transition I heard the announcer call out that @andresduquepc12 was headed out for his run, so I guess he finished the bike about 2 minutes ahead of me.
T2: 2:54 12/18
This was my lowest ranking and due to the fact that I had to stop to use the port a john. Considering that 2:54 was not bad. At my last half my T2 was over 5 minutes so this was a big improvement. I just noticed that my T2 was 2:54 and my bike was 2:54, of course the bike was 2 hours and 54 minutes but still...
Run: 2:17:19 8/18
started off the run feeling good, the first part we had to run next to the path that the bikes were going out and coming in on so we were on the grass. after about a half mile we hit the real running trail and my ankles were much happier. Got to mile 1 and I looked down thinking I was going to be around 9:30 and my watch said 8:50, ok, slow down and just go easy. Mile two comes up just as we turn onto an offroad section. the path is nice packed dirt and completely shaded. My watch said 17:50, I was a little concerned because I didn't want to be going that fast, but my legs felt good, so I didn't think too much about it. I was cruising along thinking I should start drinking my gatorade when boom! my right hamstring cramps up out of nowhere. Normally when my legs cramp, I can feel it coming on slowly until it happens, not this time. I had to stop and stretch it out. After about a minute I straightnd up and started to walk. I walked through the rest area and got some water and orange slices, and then started to run again. I'm not sure what caused the cramp, but it did not come back again, so I'm going to chalk that one up as a freak occurance. The thing that was really starting to worry me was that my stomach was not being receptive to food or drink. I hit mile three and was still at 29 minutes, considering the long stop and walk I was quite happy. when I got to mile 4 the plan was to run to the mile marker and then walk until I hit the 10 min pace. So I got to mile 4 at 38:30 so I walked 1:30, forced in a couple sips of gatorade and then started to run again. Mile 5 came on in 48 minutes so I was really running well, but the no food thing was really wearing on me, so after a 2 minute walk and some more forced gatorade it was time to run again. There were plenty of rest stops and I was able to get some orange slices down, but after the rest stop at mile 6, no more solid food would go down. I couldn't even think about a gel. At mile 7 I was still doing well, I think I was at 68 minutes when I got to the marker and rest area, so I tried taking a long 3 minute walk in hopes that my stomach might come around after a long break, but nothing doing, all I could manage was some more gatorade. I had managed over the first half to get down 12 oz of gatorade and I just hoped it would get me through. After that long walk I decided to run the next two miles straight through and started repeating my mantra of "Kick ass - don't cry" that I got from my buddy dr. dre ( AndreaDuke15 on twitter ), this worked great but on the trail part, around the spot I got my cramp, I passed a guy who was just hurling like mad, this did not do my stomach well at all but I got to mile 9 at 87 minutes. That's when it all came apart. I walked a minute and took some gatorade, but now my stomach was not liking that either, so no more gatorade for the last 4 miles either. I started back running and after about 3 minutes my legs just said no more, we are done. I had to walk for about 5 minutes before I was able to jog again. Gone now was the run to the mile marker plan and all I could do was jog as long as I could, then walk till I recovered. I was lightheaded and a bit nausous, but I didn't feel dehydrated or over heated which is normally my problem so I just kept moving forward. When I got to mile 11 I had 26 minutes to get back and still break 6 hours. This gave me some hope and was able to put together a long run stretch of about 6 minutes before it was back to jog/walk again. Finally got to the half mile to go and still had 8 minutes to go so I ran through the water stop and dumped a bunch of water on my head and then walked until I thought I could run to the finish and that's what I did. They was a photographer at the finish line and asked if I wanted to take a picture with my medal. I was like not right now, and he looked at me like I was crazy. I just wanted to get some water and head down to the river to soak.
Total Time: 5:57:15 7/18
At the time I was very disappointed because I thought I could have broken 5:50, but in retrospect I'm very pleased. My initial goal was 6 hours and I beat that by 2:45. I've been putting a lot of thought into what I did wrong to not be able to eat or drink like I should on the run and all I can come up with is I drank too much and went too hard on the bike. With the lower temps and humidity I suspect I was not sweating nearly as much as I usually do, in fact I remember seeing other people with salt all over their shorts and looking at mine and not seeing it. I had about 33 oz per hour and I think 20 is about my norm in training so I should have been a bit more careful. I'm just not used to being in that position, especially after this summer from heel. Also I've been average just about 17 mph for my long rides, so the 19+ was probably more that I was ready for. If I could have taken 6 extra minutes over the last 5 miles I probably could have finished my run in 2:05. My legs were functioning well and besides the one cramp issue, I had no muscle issues, just energy and dizzyness. This definetly gives me some things to work on in training over the next two months leading up to the ironman. I hope to have at least 2 more long bricks to test out some theories and get some nutrition practise in.
Showing posts with label triathlon halfIM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label triathlon halfIM. Show all posts
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Patriots half IM race report - short version
welcome to the short version, the long version containing the many thoughts that have been going through my head will take a bit longer to put out and hopefully won't be as disorganized as I think it will be.
first off let me say I would recommend this race to everyone. It has something for everyone, it was wetsuit legal, a relatively flat bike course with some nice rollers and a totally flat well stocked and fairly well shaded run course.
The times that follow are unofficial and basically what showed up on my watch...
Swim: 39:05 - the swim was actually quite nice. They have a nice wide open area to warmup in and to start so the pack was spread out wide and I had no issues of getting kicked at all.
T1: 3:15 - let's just say it was a long run back to transition, and I had to remove the wetsuit, so 3:15 was actually quite good.
Bike: 2:54:18
The bike was really nice. A mostly flat course billed as you won't have to shift out of your big ring, and I didn't. Felt great on the bike, the last few miles were tough and it measured out as 57+ miles instead of 56, but overall I liked it.
T2: 3:03
This included a quick Port o potty stop so not bad considering my last half IM I had a 5 minute T2.
Run: 2:17:28
The run is where it all fell apart for me and to go into details would take way too long, for the short version I'll just say my nutrition plan needs to be adjusted. Was on pace for a 2:05 half IM at mile 9 and then boom, 2:17. So while I am thrilled I broke 6 hours it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth that I could have done much better.
total time: 5:57:10
Just under my 6 hour goal, but I really felt like 5:50 was possible. I really need to get a handle on my nutrition if I am going to be able to finish the Iron-man in November.
I bet you can't wait for the long version...
first off let me say I would recommend this race to everyone. It has something for everyone, it was wetsuit legal, a relatively flat bike course with some nice rollers and a totally flat well stocked and fairly well shaded run course.
The times that follow are unofficial and basically what showed up on my watch...
Swim: 39:05 - the swim was actually quite nice. They have a nice wide open area to warmup in and to start so the pack was spread out wide and I had no issues of getting kicked at all.
T1: 3:15 - let's just say it was a long run back to transition, and I had to remove the wetsuit, so 3:15 was actually quite good.
Bike: 2:54:18
The bike was really nice. A mostly flat course billed as you won't have to shift out of your big ring, and I didn't. Felt great on the bike, the last few miles were tough and it measured out as 57+ miles instead of 56, but overall I liked it.
T2: 3:03
This included a quick Port o potty stop so not bad considering my last half IM I had a 5 minute T2.
Run: 2:17:28
The run is where it all fell apart for me and to go into details would take way too long, for the short version I'll just say my nutrition plan needs to be adjusted. Was on pace for a 2:05 half IM at mile 9 and then boom, 2:17. So while I am thrilled I broke 6 hours it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth that I could have done much better.
total time: 5:57:10
Just under my 6 hour goal, but I really felt like 5:50 was possible. I really need to get a handle on my nutrition if I am going to be able to finish the Iron-man in November.
I bet you can't wait for the long version...
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Race Plan
Visualization is a big part of my races these days. Generally I write down a race plan and read it every night leading up to a big race and try to visualize myself executing the plan and anticipating any problems that could occur and what to do if they pop up.
The Swim: My start time is 7:09. Get in the water and warmup with some easy swimming. The course will be a rectangle with all left turns so try to line up on the right. I tend to drift left when I swim so starting on the right will keep me on the right side of the buoys and out of the washing machine start. Don't get caught up in the scrum and sprint at the start. Go easy and stay steady. Sight often and keep buoys in sight. After making last turn towards the shore start adding in some kicking to get the blood flowing into the legs again so they are ready to run out of the water.
goal time 38 minutes
T1: There is a long run to transition, so get the goggles and cap off and go. If wetsuit is on, start stripping down to waist while jogging. Wetsuit off, shirt on. Helmet fastened, then glasses and shoes. Take a quick gel and sip of water then go.
Bike: Stay steady just below the burn for this first 25 miles, then the rolling section occurs. strong up the hills and recovery down. The way back is a gradual decrease in elevation so it's hammer time. power bar at 45 minutes, fig newtons at 1:30 and depending on stomach power par triple threat or gel at 2:20.
goal time 2:50
T2: Don't forget your race number. socks and shoes on, grab hat and fuel belt. fuel belt should have two gatorades filled and two empty bottles with just the powder to fill on the course.
Run: gel every 3.5 - 4 miles, start off around 9:30 and pick up the pace when feeling good. It's a two loop course so pay attention on first loop and be ready for the grind on the second. Ice in the hat if they have it at the rest stops and keep hydrated.
goal time 2:15
goals for this race
of course finishing is the number one goal but 6 hours is definitely in reach and if I'm having a good day I think I can get 5:45 but there are many factors in this, including length issues in course measurement, weather and mechanical issues. Don't get caught up in the time during the race, just go at a strong pace that you can hold for 6 hours and go as fast as possible.
The Swim: My start time is 7:09. Get in the water and warmup with some easy swimming. The course will be a rectangle with all left turns so try to line up on the right. I tend to drift left when I swim so starting on the right will keep me on the right side of the buoys and out of the washing machine start. Don't get caught up in the scrum and sprint at the start. Go easy and stay steady. Sight often and keep buoys in sight. After making last turn towards the shore start adding in some kicking to get the blood flowing into the legs again so they are ready to run out of the water.
goal time 38 minutes
T1: There is a long run to transition, so get the goggles and cap off and go. If wetsuit is on, start stripping down to waist while jogging. Wetsuit off, shirt on. Helmet fastened, then glasses and shoes. Take a quick gel and sip of water then go.
Bike: Stay steady just below the burn for this first 25 miles, then the rolling section occurs. strong up the hills and recovery down. The way back is a gradual decrease in elevation so it's hammer time. power bar at 45 minutes, fig newtons at 1:30 and depending on stomach power par triple threat or gel at 2:20.
goal time 2:50
T2: Don't forget your race number. socks and shoes on, grab hat and fuel belt. fuel belt should have two gatorades filled and two empty bottles with just the powder to fill on the course.
Run: gel every 3.5 - 4 miles, start off around 9:30 and pick up the pace when feeling good. It's a two loop course so pay attention on first loop and be ready for the grind on the second. Ice in the hat if they have it at the rest stops and keep hydrated.
goal time 2:15
goals for this race
of course finishing is the number one goal but 6 hours is definitely in reach and if I'm having a good day I think I can get 5:45 but there are many factors in this, including length issues in course measurement, weather and mechanical issues. Don't get caught up in the time during the race, just go at a strong pace that you can hold for 6 hours and go as fast as possible.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
My brain on the duke liver half iron man ( race report)
first let me say that the day didn't start off all that great so I knew it was going to be more of a test of will then time. That being said, I finished, I'm happy :-).
the numbers
swim - 39:16
t1 - 1:53
Bike - 3:17:04
T2 - 3:39
Run - 2:47:28
Total - 6:49:18
At least I beat my goal times for transition ;-)
Hold on, this might get a little weird, it's 5pm right after the race and I wanted to get this done while it was fresh in my mind.
Woke up at 4 AM, watched some weather channel, got up and went to get some breakfast. I had my normal grapenuts, raisins, milk and 16 oz of water. My stomach was a little off, I attributed it to nerves. Finished packing the car, got dressed, wasn't sure what to wear as the water temp was right on the border, 79, so I planned for it to not be wetsuit legal, but brought a change just in case. Grabbed a powerbar and some ultima for the drive and headed out at 5:30.
while on the drive the powerbar was making me nauseous, not a good omen, so I only got half done. I arrived at the race at 6:10 and even though it was posted that 90% of participants would be able to park at the site, I saw all the cars headed out and took the first spot I could find about 1 mile away. It was pitch black so I grabbed everything, pumped up the tires and headed to transition. Found out it was wetsuit legal, and also that I forgot all my food for the bike back at the car. So got back on the bike and rode out to the car, changed in the car, grabbed the food and headed back. Got back at 7, luckily I didn't start until 7:20 and they were running a little late. Tried to eat again, no luck, so I put on the wetsuit, put the final touches on the transition setup and went down for a warmup swim. The water felt good, and I felt really good swimming during warmup.
The Swim:
Started off in the middle, didn't get beat up too much though, managed to get out ahead of some of the guys and found some feet to follow. Water wasn't too rough at the start, but that all changed at the first buoy. There were 5 buoys out, then turn around, so for the next 4 buoys, it was really rough. I started getting nauseous again so I slowed a little until it went away. I was able to pretty much go straight and steady the whole way out but ended up with a bunch of yummy lake water in my mouth. The way back on the other hand was awesome, I could feel the waves and pushed when they got behind me and helped. While going out felt like it took forever, coming back seemed to go by too fast. Got out, looked at my watch and thought not bad for that mess. Yes I wanted 35, but it was just too rough. My coach said everyone was having slow times, so that made me feel better.
T1:
Went by real quick, got my wetsuit off, shoes on, helmet and glasses, downed a gel and headed out. I even ran with my bike out of the transition.
Bike:
Not sure what happened here as I have ridden the route a couple times and managed to do around 3:10. I figured with the adrenaline I could do 3:05. Started off and my lower back was hurting. What the hell is that. I never hurt my lower back swimming. And it didn't hurt before, oh well. The first part of the bike I took it easy, enjoyed the weather, made sure to get some non lake water fluids and some food. Still felt good, stomach hasn't bugged my since the first part of the swim, I was eating on the half hours, and drinking when ever. I had loaded the bike with 88 oz of ultima and I got a water bottle at each stop to pour on my head and grab a quick drink. Surprisingly, I was passing people on the hills, but getting passed back on the flats. My legs felt good out of the saddle and climbing, but in the saddle I couldn't maintain the power to keep them off. At the half way mark on was on track for a 3:10 but I knew the last part up pee ridge was going to be uphill into the wind so I was still trying to save some for the end. It was when I turned onto lower river when the wheels started coming off. It was hurting more and more on the uphills and I was running out of strength. Then, I wasn't able to eat anymore as the nausea came back. So I shifted to the small ring and starting spinning it in. When I got to pea ridge, I was able to eat again so I had two more crackers. It was somewhere on pea ridge road when Evil Bill took over the brain and started the we aren't going to finish this, why even bother starting the run? At mile 55 I screamed out loud, why won't this (expletive deleted) bike course end? This didn't help.
T2:
Rolled into race site and took off the shoes and noticed my toes were a bit numb. This mad it not too easy to run, so I walked to my bike spot, changed my shirt, lubed up with some chamy butter since my arms were showing signs of chaffing. Put on socks, shoes and hat, grabbed my hydration belt and headed out.
Run:
Ok, Evil Bill is in complete control, Stomach is saying no food, lower back is killing me. So I start to run, what else could I do? Anyway I notice right away that it doesn't hurt to run. I think without that little surprise my day would have been over right there. Ran to the first hill, saw my coach again who cheered my on and told me to pace myself. I had already decided that in order to finish I would be walking all the hills. I think there are 148 of them on this course, but I started up the first one anyway so she wouldn't see me walk and get nervous. After the corner, walk time. So if you've never run the duke half course, you're lucky, but you probably don't know what kind of hell awaits. I did it once as part of a relay and I think I told Cindy at the time that it was the hardest half marathon I had ever done and if I ever told her that I was going to do the whole race, that she should talk me out of it ASAP. I guess she forgot that, or it never happened, I prefer the former :-). First two miles 26 mins, I'm flyin, but then next two miles 24 minutes, hmm, I'm getting faster. Stomach is not complaining anymore, had one gel, one salt tab and 16 oz of ultima. Walk breaks are starting to pay off. All of a sudden, Good Bill pops up next to me. He kinda looked like my head with wings coming out of the ears. He is floating there and telling me if I want to finish, I need to let him get back in charge and get rid of Evil Bill. Sounds good to me, then I don't have to talk to him anymore and look like a crazy person, so Good Bill takes over and we banish Evil Bill to the back of my overcrowded mind. Hey, am I running up hill, stop that. Whew that was close. Time to turn around and do all those hills again. What fun. hmm, I'm hungry, but don't want more gel, already had 3, got 1 left. What should I try? Good Bill says Melisa really liked the oranges at white lake, try on of those. Are you sure? I mean my stomach has been buggin me all day and now you're telling me to eat some citrus. Are you nuts? Good Bill replies, Whose in charge here? and has Melisa ever let you down? OK OK, Next rest area, I'll have some water and an orange. Man, that was the best tasting orange I've ever had, maybe I should go back and get some more. Focus man. I guess I can wait for the next water stop. Long down hill here, feel fairly good, coming up to the loop around and Evil Bill comes back. This hurts, are you nuts? let's slow down and walk some more, you'll be lucky to break 7 hours. what's the point? Shut up Evil Bill, Good Bill and I are going to finish this race even if it takes 8 hours, which it's not as I only have 5 more miles to go and I can walk it faster than that. Hmmm, I think I just said that out loud. This guy is looking at me funny, oops he is about to go the wrong way. "Hey Dude, it's that way, you go that way, then it loops back out this way". He looks at me like "Is he talking to me, or himself again?". So I say it again, and this time it appears he believes me and goes the right way and says thanks. Long walk up to the water stop, more oranges, more water, start running. Good Bill says why don't you start thinking of titles for your blog entry, that will take you mind of all this wonderful pain. OK, how bout "Up and Down", "7 hours of hell", "Next time just shoot me instead", All seem good maybe we should just call it "Title", No that's kinda lame. Maybe I should stop talking to myself. No, this is fun let's keep going. I got it, see title above. Now what am I going to do, I got 3 miles left to go. Oh well, let's just enjoy the pain. ooh, water stop, more water, oranges, those were even better the the last water stop. Ok, this is the last hill, stomach says, "No more oranges". Bummer :-(. Hey where the hell is that 12 mile sign. Did I miss it or is it up ahead? I missed it, there is the 6 mile sign for lap 1. good news only 1 mile to go. down hill to the road, run it home. half way there. walk break, let's walk for a few to get ready for the picture. Ok run again, there is the finish line. Sprint, yeah right. Jog more? ok. Step on the name mat, here them call out my name, Evil Bill screams in agony and goes away to hide.
Post race:
That sure was fun. I could use a gatorade, power aide, any kinda aide. No aid, just soda and water left. Crap, it's on the ground, I have to bend over to get it. After a minute I slowly bend over and grab a water. I think that hurt way to much. I need to get back in the lake. Back in the lake, foot cramps every time I step on something. finally the cramping ends, I go in more. This feels goods. What the hell is biting my toes? I think I'll get out now.
I guess you can tell I made it home alive, but it was touch and go there for a while so I am going to wrap this up so I can goto bed.
When I signed up for this race I was looking for a challenge. I got it. I finished, I didn't have "it" today, but I still made it to the end so I am happy. Now if only I had gotten that percocet...
the numbers
swim - 39:16
t1 - 1:53
Bike - 3:17:04
T2 - 3:39
Run - 2:47:28
Total - 6:49:18
At least I beat my goal times for transition ;-)
Hold on, this might get a little weird, it's 5pm right after the race and I wanted to get this done while it was fresh in my mind.
Woke up at 4 AM, watched some weather channel, got up and went to get some breakfast. I had my normal grapenuts, raisins, milk and 16 oz of water. My stomach was a little off, I attributed it to nerves. Finished packing the car, got dressed, wasn't sure what to wear as the water temp was right on the border, 79, so I planned for it to not be wetsuit legal, but brought a change just in case. Grabbed a powerbar and some ultima for the drive and headed out at 5:30.
while on the drive the powerbar was making me nauseous, not a good omen, so I only got half done. I arrived at the race at 6:10 and even though it was posted that 90% of participants would be able to park at the site, I saw all the cars headed out and took the first spot I could find about 1 mile away. It was pitch black so I grabbed everything, pumped up the tires and headed to transition. Found out it was wetsuit legal, and also that I forgot all my food for the bike back at the car. So got back on the bike and rode out to the car, changed in the car, grabbed the food and headed back. Got back at 7, luckily I didn't start until 7:20 and they were running a little late. Tried to eat again, no luck, so I put on the wetsuit, put the final touches on the transition setup and went down for a warmup swim. The water felt good, and I felt really good swimming during warmup.
The Swim:
Started off in the middle, didn't get beat up too much though, managed to get out ahead of some of the guys and found some feet to follow. Water wasn't too rough at the start, but that all changed at the first buoy. There were 5 buoys out, then turn around, so for the next 4 buoys, it was really rough. I started getting nauseous again so I slowed a little until it went away. I was able to pretty much go straight and steady the whole way out but ended up with a bunch of yummy lake water in my mouth. The way back on the other hand was awesome, I could feel the waves and pushed when they got behind me and helped. While going out felt like it took forever, coming back seemed to go by too fast. Got out, looked at my watch and thought not bad for that mess. Yes I wanted 35, but it was just too rough. My coach said everyone was having slow times, so that made me feel better.
T1:
Went by real quick, got my wetsuit off, shoes on, helmet and glasses, downed a gel and headed out. I even ran with my bike out of the transition.
Bike:
Not sure what happened here as I have ridden the route a couple times and managed to do around 3:10. I figured with the adrenaline I could do 3:05. Started off and my lower back was hurting. What the hell is that. I never hurt my lower back swimming. And it didn't hurt before, oh well. The first part of the bike I took it easy, enjoyed the weather, made sure to get some non lake water fluids and some food. Still felt good, stomach hasn't bugged my since the first part of the swim, I was eating on the half hours, and drinking when ever. I had loaded the bike with 88 oz of ultima and I got a water bottle at each stop to pour on my head and grab a quick drink. Surprisingly, I was passing people on the hills, but getting passed back on the flats. My legs felt good out of the saddle and climbing, but in the saddle I couldn't maintain the power to keep them off. At the half way mark on was on track for a 3:10 but I knew the last part up pee ridge was going to be uphill into the wind so I was still trying to save some for the end. It was when I turned onto lower river when the wheels started coming off. It was hurting more and more on the uphills and I was running out of strength. Then, I wasn't able to eat anymore as the nausea came back. So I shifted to the small ring and starting spinning it in. When I got to pea ridge, I was able to eat again so I had two more crackers. It was somewhere on pea ridge road when Evil Bill took over the brain and started the we aren't going to finish this, why even bother starting the run? At mile 55 I screamed out loud, why won't this (expletive deleted) bike course end? This didn't help.
T2:
Rolled into race site and took off the shoes and noticed my toes were a bit numb. This mad it not too easy to run, so I walked to my bike spot, changed my shirt, lubed up with some chamy butter since my arms were showing signs of chaffing. Put on socks, shoes and hat, grabbed my hydration belt and headed out.
Run:
Ok, Evil Bill is in complete control, Stomach is saying no food, lower back is killing me. So I start to run, what else could I do? Anyway I notice right away that it doesn't hurt to run. I think without that little surprise my day would have been over right there. Ran to the first hill, saw my coach again who cheered my on and told me to pace myself. I had already decided that in order to finish I would be walking all the hills. I think there are 148 of them on this course, but I started up the first one anyway so she wouldn't see me walk and get nervous. After the corner, walk time. So if you've never run the duke half course, you're lucky, but you probably don't know what kind of hell awaits. I did it once as part of a relay and I think I told Cindy at the time that it was the hardest half marathon I had ever done and if I ever told her that I was going to do the whole race, that she should talk me out of it ASAP. I guess she forgot that, or it never happened, I prefer the former :-). First two miles 26 mins, I'm flyin, but then next two miles 24 minutes, hmm, I'm getting faster. Stomach is not complaining anymore, had one gel, one salt tab and 16 oz of ultima. Walk breaks are starting to pay off. All of a sudden, Good Bill pops up next to me. He kinda looked like my head with wings coming out of the ears. He is floating there and telling me if I want to finish, I need to let him get back in charge and get rid of Evil Bill. Sounds good to me, then I don't have to talk to him anymore and look like a crazy person, so Good Bill takes over and we banish Evil Bill to the back of my overcrowded mind. Hey, am I running up hill, stop that. Whew that was close. Time to turn around and do all those hills again. What fun. hmm, I'm hungry, but don't want more gel, already had 3, got 1 left. What should I try? Good Bill says Melisa really liked the oranges at white lake, try on of those. Are you sure? I mean my stomach has been buggin me all day and now you're telling me to eat some citrus. Are you nuts? Good Bill replies, Whose in charge here? and has Melisa ever let you down? OK OK, Next rest area, I'll have some water and an orange. Man, that was the best tasting orange I've ever had, maybe I should go back and get some more. Focus man. I guess I can wait for the next water stop. Long down hill here, feel fairly good, coming up to the loop around and Evil Bill comes back. This hurts, are you nuts? let's slow down and walk some more, you'll be lucky to break 7 hours. what's the point? Shut up Evil Bill, Good Bill and I are going to finish this race even if it takes 8 hours, which it's not as I only have 5 more miles to go and I can walk it faster than that. Hmmm, I think I just said that out loud. This guy is looking at me funny, oops he is about to go the wrong way. "Hey Dude, it's that way, you go that way, then it loops back out this way". He looks at me like "Is he talking to me, or himself again?". So I say it again, and this time it appears he believes me and goes the right way and says thanks. Long walk up to the water stop, more oranges, more water, start running. Good Bill says why don't you start thinking of titles for your blog entry, that will take you mind of all this wonderful pain. OK, how bout "Up and Down", "7 hours of hell", "Next time just shoot me instead", All seem good maybe we should just call it "Title", No that's kinda lame. Maybe I should stop talking to myself. No, this is fun let's keep going. I got it, see title above. Now what am I going to do, I got 3 miles left to go. Oh well, let's just enjoy the pain. ooh, water stop, more water, oranges, those were even better the the last water stop. Ok, this is the last hill, stomach says, "No more oranges". Bummer :-(. Hey where the hell is that 12 mile sign. Did I miss it or is it up ahead? I missed it, there is the 6 mile sign for lap 1. good news only 1 mile to go. down hill to the road, run it home. half way there. walk break, let's walk for a few to get ready for the picture. Ok run again, there is the finish line. Sprint, yeah right. Jog more? ok. Step on the name mat, here them call out my name, Evil Bill screams in agony and goes away to hide.
Post race:
That sure was fun. I could use a gatorade, power aide, any kinda aide. No aid, just soda and water left. Crap, it's on the ground, I have to bend over to get it. After a minute I slowly bend over and grab a water. I think that hurt way to much. I need to get back in the lake. Back in the lake, foot cramps every time I step on something. finally the cramping ends, I go in more. This feels goods. What the hell is biting my toes? I think I'll get out now.
I guess you can tell I made it home alive, but it was touch and go there for a while so I am going to wrap this up so I can goto bed.
When I signed up for this race I was looking for a challenge. I got it. I finished, I didn't have "it" today, but I still made it to the end so I am happy. Now if only I had gotten that percocet...
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