Arrived in Geneva on Saturday at 12:30, just in time to get to the race meeting. B was biking in from Binghmanton, where we had crashed the night before, so I was just checking things out. Every thing was extremely well organized, and I didn't have any problems getting reg'd. The race director pointed out some tough spots on the bike course during the walk through, which was useful. After, I got checked into the hotel and rode my bike through the first section of the course, an easy 16 mile loop that got through the start and the finish. B arrived about then, so, after a quick bite to eat, we drove the car out to check out a nasty hill on the bike course that ended in a sharp T intersection. As the race director said, "If you overshoot that turn, you end up in the lake, so don't do that." I rode down the hill a couple times, to get a feel for how fast I could take it and where I would need to break, assuming I wasn't in a pack of riders at that point.
Then we went and drove the run course, or the back half of it -- there was a hill at mile 7 on a dirt road I wanted to look at, and generally get a feel for what the second half of the course looked like.
Having B along to coach me was pretty damn invaluable for this prep -- it isn't that we did anything that I wouldn't have probably done anyway, but he's done that kind of scouting hundreds of times, and having an extra pair of eyes to check the map or look for the turn arrows made a big difference. We went through my T1 drill, since I had muffed the transition going from swim to bike in the last two races, and all seemed cool.
4 am Sunday, the alarm went off, and I got up and ate. B is a big believer in having 3 hours to digest anything before the race, and it works for me, too. The race area opened at 5 am, and we were among the second dozen or so folks loading in. My bike rack had the following printed on it:
#543
You've come a long way, Purplestate.
Make J proud!
Damn, I wondered why they asked about family on the website reggo -- just so they could twist my heartstrings! Worked a treat, too.
My swim wave went off at 7:12, and I felt very good about the swim, knifing through the water in the wetsuit. I didn't swim very straight lines, but neither did I get way off course. Hours in the pool doing laps paid off here, as I never got really tired. However, I begin to see why when racing people tend to breathe on 2 strokes, rather than 3 -- it was choppy out there, and one side was easier to breathe on than the other. Also, I found it alot easier to sight for the next buoy from my left stroke than my right. I want to work on more bilateral swimming in racing, though, because that's when I felt really very fast, high in the water and getting some momentum going. Not swimming in straight lines, of course, makes that less good. Still!
1.2 mile Swim split = 32 minutes, 8 seconds. That is nearly 8 minutes faster than I had anticipated! B thinks the course was about 150 meters short, so, maybe add 2 minutes to that time. 181 overall, 26th in my age group. Winner of my age group swam in 23:25!
Out of the water and into the chute to the bikes. I had gone back and forth on whether or not to wear socks on the bike. I always wear socks when I train. But, the grass in the transition area was wet, and I didn't want to run 200 meters to the mounting area and then have wet, squelchy socks for the bike. Ultimately, I decided not to wear socks on the bike.
T1 split = 1 minute, 11 seconds. 7th overall, 2nd in my AG. I continue to be a 4th sport specialist.
Out onto the bike course. B loaned me his "racing wheels" for this event. Racing wheels are like regular wheels, but they have a much larger rim area and less spokes. They are more aerodynamic as a result, and boy howdy I could tell the difference. Pre-race plan was for me to average 20 mph over the race course, which rolled slightly up and slightly down pretty constantly. So, I was trying for 22 mph on the downs and 18 on the ups, and that was pretty much where I stayed. I did have some very nice downhill sections in the first half of the race where I was going 26 or so, but what I focused on was maintaining the same easy effort, and not trying to mash a bigger gear to get more speed, especially early on.
That proved to be to the good, because the middle of the course, miles 28 - 38, were kinda tricksy, with short sharp hills and sections that went straight into the wind. Which was not inconsiderable. I felt I handled this part of the race fairly well - possibly I could have been a tad more aggressive here, pushing harder instead of spinning up the hills. Many riders would stand up and use their weight to turn the pedals at this point, while I geared down and spun -- going about the same speed or sometimes a little faster. The thinking being that I was saving energy for the run, instead of spending it going one or two mph faster over short, steep hills.
Around mile 42 the bike path went through what was functionally a gravel road -- a very well maintained one, but it was slow nonetheless. I definitely took the first bit of this section too easily, witnessed by the fact that several folks passed me going hard. I cowboyed up and prayed I wouldn't get a flat tire (since I dont know how to fix a racing wheel, I wasn't carrying a spare), but I lost some valuable time here.
After that section, the race must have spread out a lot -- I barely saw anyone but the person about 1/4 mile ahead of me, and no one passed me as we came through miles 45 - 54. In the last 3 miles I started picking people off again, including a bunch of folks who slowed down to go into transition. I was going about 19 mph when I jumped off the bike at the "dismount" line and ran like hell into T2.
56 mile Bike Split = 2 hours, 49 minutes, 4 seconds. 139th overall, 28th in my AG. Average speed, 19.9 mph. Winner of my AG rode in 2 hours, 30 mins, averaging 22.4 mph.
T2 was a blur. I decided that I would carry liquids with me on the run, in what is called a"fuel belt," as well as my own gel-packs for food on the run. The race was sponsored by Hammer, and I haven't been training with any of their products. So, I had to get into socks, shoes, hat, and two belts. Actually, I grabbed the belts and put them on while I ran, but still. I think, in the future, I am going to train with products from the different major fuel brands, so I don't have to do this -- it wasn't a problem, but it wasn't ideal, I think. IM Wisconsin is sponsored by Powerbar, and that + Gatorade is what I am training with. Stuff to think about for next year.
T2 split = 1:24, 68th overall, 10th in AG.
And out onto the Run. I came out of T2 with three people, and we all kinda worked at finding our stride together. I knew I would probably come out too fast, so I was really taking it easy, trying to let my legs get adjusted to the different effort of running. Mile 1, 7:50 -- too fast. I planned on running 8:15s for the first half of the race, and then at about mile 7 trying to bring it down to 8 flat. I have been training with my 15 mile runs on 8:30s, plus or minus, so I thought what with the race and all that I could bring it in somewhere in that neighborhood. Mile 2, 8:45. Too slow! After that, there was a bitch of a short hill -- almost straight up, on the grass or up steps -- which made mile 3 slow as well, 8:34 -- but after that I settled in. The mile with the big hill, mile 7, was my slowest, at 9:00 flat, and after that I started bringing them in around 8 flat, still running pretty easy on the downhills, which are really hard on my knees. In planning for the run, knowing what happened at the marathon, I had 400 mg of ibuprofin in my fuel belt, and as I came through the downhill on mile 8, I took them.
That seemed to do the trick, as I never felt as wobbly as I did just then. The final two miles were in the park by the lake, and I had been running with another guy from my AG for a while -- he put on some speed at mile 10, but I kept him in sight. I dropped the last two miles down, 7:58 and 7:45 to finish, but just missed catching him. I did run a bunch of people down, though, and had enough kick to sprint hard for the finish line.
13.1 mile run: 1 hour, 46 minutes, 32 seconds, average of 8:08 per mile. 134th overall, 25th in my AG. Winner of my AG ran 1:27, on 6:38 per mile.
After the race, I got in an ice cold kiddie pool to ease my aching joints, got a nice 10 minute massage -- a local massage school was donating time, so 16 tables were set up -- got some food, and got my stuff together and headed out. B was on hand at several points during the race to cheer/egg me on. He did his long run (17 miles) while I was out on the bike. Showered, changed, and in the car by 2:30, we limped back to DC, stopping for food and ice cream. B can eat more icecream than anyone else I know, and I know some world champion eaters.
The worst part of the whole trip was the drive back, for me. Sometime last weekend I threw out my back -- I trained through it all last week, got a massage on tuesday, and tried to take it pretty easy, but sitting down for any length of time still hurt, and that 7 hours in the car was pretty brutal. I had an awesome time at Musselman, they run a fantastic event, and I plan on coming back next year, July 10th weekend. There is a sprint race the day before, and lots of stuff for family, so we'll probably make it the family vay-cay, though we shall see, it could be a tumultuous summer.
I remain somewhat nonplussed by my race results. Perhaps somewhere out there, there is someone who is prepared to be pretty darn happy with 113th place. That someone, however, is not me. I know that I ran a good race, and that this wasn't the focus of the training season for me, more of a prep race. I am very happy with how I executed the plan. I can only conclude that I won't be satisfied until/unless I am coming in the top 20 of this kind of race, and if I am not much mistaken, even that won't satisfy me for long. :) No, that's not fair. First time out, 5:10 1/2 ironman is a hell of an accomplishment, and I feel good about it. I feel like I did everything that I could to prepare for it, and now I have a much better idea how the full ironman is going to go -- though, given the difference between a 1/2 marathon and a full marathon, I am probably still underestimating the difficulty by about 40%. Heh.
Nine weeks to go to Wisconsin. I don't have a race in August, saving $$, so I will do some time trials instead. Train like hell for the next several weeks. An 11 hour Ironman now doesn't seem SO crazy. CW says double your 1/2 IM time and add 4o mins; with hard work I may even manage a sub-11 hour first effort.
And that has to be the focus, the standard for success -- I didn't really have one for this race, I had hoped to go about 5:15, and I bettered that. Now, I somehow need to convince the competitive nature which drives me to be happy with THAT measure of success, rather than a list ranking the results of all the other competitors. Easier said than done, perhaps, but that's going to be the mental focus. Run my race, this year, do what I can, and don't worry about what anyone else can do. Hey -- B finished his 1/2 IM in 4:13 (more than 10 minutes faster than the winner of Musselman), which means that I gave him a good deal less than a minute per mile -- and THAT is a win I can put in the bank.
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