Today, July 15th, marked the annual 70.3/half ironman in Guerneville, Ca. When I signed up for this back in November I was pretty scared about the idea of having to do all 3 sports at this distance, and although the swim is only 400meters further than an olympic, the idea of swimming that far didn't sit right with me. As the year went on I was plagued by an awful injury that I'm still trying to get past, "achilles tendonitis." I do still have piriformis syndrome, but I can deal with that one and it only flares up occasionally, although I don't always have problems with my achilles when it hurts it hurts something awful. I told myself I was going to do this race even if it kills me and I'll give my body as much time off as it wants after.
Well I trained, but I do have to admit I skipped some swims...and some long bike rides...and I only ran 10 miles tops before doing this not to mention I haven't been able to do speed work since Wildflower (If you can't tell I didn't have a whole lot of confidence in my run time). So I went into this race thinking I'd just have fun and finish (I knew I could I just didn't know what the outcome would be). My goal was to try for under 6 and I wanted a decent bike time (at least 17mph avg. for 56 miles). I am amazed with how I did today...
The story goes...
4:45 Wake-up call: got my act together, ate, headed out
6ish a.m.: Drop off bike and stuff at Transition, bathroom, socialize, sunscreen, triglide
7:02 a.m.: The guys start their wave, my friend Nicki and I wished her husband and my boyfriend good luck and watched them head out
7:32 a.m.: Nicki and I stand around and wait for the guys to get out of the water, cheering them on as they came out with some great times (YES! this is how much time we had before our waves started)
8:05 a.m.: Finally my turn, in the water waiting for the go ahead, so glad I had Nicki to keep me company for the hour wait before one of the longest events of my life (a century ride takes me a little longer)
8:06 a.m: We're off....
The swim: for Vineman the swimmers swim upstream for the first half and then back downstream. I of course started my swim with goggles filled with water. I was going to stop and fix them so I just dealt with it which wasn't too bad. The water was warm and pretty ideal conditions, except that so many people had been in the water by the time I started that it was a bit choppy and toward the end a bit crowded. The water in the Russian River is so shallow in some parts that people can literally stand up and walk parts of the swim. I'd never swam the full 1900 straight through in open water before, only olympic distance, and even then it had been a while. I think I kinda took my time and then I also think I kinda suck at swimming, but once I saw the finish I punched it as best I could with an ending time of 39:17. I was a little sad that no one was going to be at the swim finish to cheer me on, but my friend Aron called my name which made me feel so much better as I rushed into transition.
T1: So normally I'm pretty fast at transitions, but I had to shove my wetsuit and all other items into a bag to be transported to the finish, and then, once I had my act together I went the wrong way and had to turn around and dodge people to get out of transition (in my defense they started breaking down bike racks and changed where people left from transition as other waves left)
The bike: this course is gorgeous, but it didn't start off well. I was a bit stiff as I got used to the bike, but the bad part was that I ran over someone's race sticker and it was stuck to my wheel all 56 miles. This was like having a card in my spokes making a loud annoying sound. I ended up slowing down to try and get it off, but no luck so I continued on. I knew I wanted to have a fairly even bike ride, but I knew to try and take it easy the first half. I pushed myself at 18.3 mph avg. all 56 miles, but tried not to push to hard I still had the 13.1 miles in the heat to deal with. I saw so many cool tri bikes, aero helmets, and wheels but my road bike with tri bars worked just fine, I can't say I wasn't envious though. The wineries were glorious and made me want to stop and taste instead of do this thing, but I love riding so I really enjoyed my time on the bike. I wanted to avg. at least 17 or faster and I did! As I knew I was nearing the end I tried to get my last burst of energy into the bike and take in a bit more nutrition.
T2: decided to go with running shoes and didn't change the laces beforehand, so it took me a bit longer to put on socks and tie my shoes (can't do 13.1 in racing flats, my feet would come up with some other injury if I did). Then I was off, as the USAT lady yelled at me to move my bib to the front while I tried to juggle 2 ice waters.
The run: I didn't wear my garmin I figured I could just feel that I was taking it slow. I guess I was wrong because I was avg. 7:24 by the first check point. My achilles and piriformis felt awful. I walked the uphills since they cause more pain and problems for me. I took ice at every aid station and stuffed it in my bra in hopes of keeping my body cool. I took 30 second walk breaks, and by some miracle I ran a 1:44 half marathon. I was so bummed out about the run before I started, I didn't think it would be anything impressive and then bam 8:01 avg., my marathon avg. is 8:10. I totally impressed myself. This run was brutal and pretty hilly in my opinion, I guess pedialyte, coconut water, and coke are a good combination.
The finish: I crossed the line, with no idea as to my time since I started more than an hour after the pros, but I knew one thing, I was under 6 hours, WOOHOO!
The results are: 5:34:09
(On a side note: I also managed not to get sunburned, chafe, and I have all my toenails)
Hope all my friends that raced enjoyed themselves, I tried to cheer for as many of you as I saw while I was out there.
Well I trained, but I do have to admit I skipped some swims...and some long bike rides...and I only ran 10 miles tops before doing this not to mention I haven't been able to do speed work since Wildflower (If you can't tell I didn't have a whole lot of confidence in my run time). So I went into this race thinking I'd just have fun and finish (I knew I could I just didn't know what the outcome would be). My goal was to try for under 6 and I wanted a decent bike time (at least 17mph avg. for 56 miles). I am amazed with how I did today...
The story goes...
4:45 Wake-up call: got my act together, ate, headed out
6ish a.m.: Drop off bike and stuff at Transition, bathroom, socialize, sunscreen, triglide
7:02 a.m.: The guys start their wave, my friend Nicki and I wished her husband and my boyfriend good luck and watched them head out
7:32 a.m.: Nicki and I stand around and wait for the guys to get out of the water, cheering them on as they came out with some great times (YES! this is how much time we had before our waves started)
8:05 a.m.: Finally my turn, in the water waiting for the go ahead, so glad I had Nicki to keep me company for the hour wait before one of the longest events of my life (a century ride takes me a little longer)
8:06 a.m: We're off....
The swim: for Vineman the swimmers swim upstream for the first half and then back downstream. I of course started my swim with goggles filled with water. I was going to stop and fix them so I just dealt with it which wasn't too bad. The water was warm and pretty ideal conditions, except that so many people had been in the water by the time I started that it was a bit choppy and toward the end a bit crowded. The water in the Russian River is so shallow in some parts that people can literally stand up and walk parts of the swim. I'd never swam the full 1900 straight through in open water before, only olympic distance, and even then it had been a while. I think I kinda took my time and then I also think I kinda suck at swimming, but once I saw the finish I punched it as best I could with an ending time of 39:17. I was a little sad that no one was going to be at the swim finish to cheer me on, but my friend Aron called my name which made me feel so much better as I rushed into transition.
T1: So normally I'm pretty fast at transitions, but I had to shove my wetsuit and all other items into a bag to be transported to the finish, and then, once I had my act together I went the wrong way and had to turn around and dodge people to get out of transition (in my defense they started breaking down bike racks and changed where people left from transition as other waves left)
The bike: this course is gorgeous, but it didn't start off well. I was a bit stiff as I got used to the bike, but the bad part was that I ran over someone's race sticker and it was stuck to my wheel all 56 miles. This was like having a card in my spokes making a loud annoying sound. I ended up slowing down to try and get it off, but no luck so I continued on. I knew I wanted to have a fairly even bike ride, but I knew to try and take it easy the first half. I pushed myself at 18.3 mph avg. all 56 miles, but tried not to push to hard I still had the 13.1 miles in the heat to deal with. I saw so many cool tri bikes, aero helmets, and wheels but my road bike with tri bars worked just fine, I can't say I wasn't envious though. The wineries were glorious and made me want to stop and taste instead of do this thing, but I love riding so I really enjoyed my time on the bike. I wanted to avg. at least 17 or faster and I did! As I knew I was nearing the end I tried to get my last burst of energy into the bike and take in a bit more nutrition.
T2: decided to go with running shoes and didn't change the laces beforehand, so it took me a bit longer to put on socks and tie my shoes (can't do 13.1 in racing flats, my feet would come up with some other injury if I did). Then I was off, as the USAT lady yelled at me to move my bib to the front while I tried to juggle 2 ice waters.
The run: I didn't wear my garmin I figured I could just feel that I was taking it slow. I guess I was wrong because I was avg. 7:24 by the first check point. My achilles and piriformis felt awful. I walked the uphills since they cause more pain and problems for me. I took ice at every aid station and stuffed it in my bra in hopes of keeping my body cool. I took 30 second walk breaks, and by some miracle I ran a 1:44 half marathon. I was so bummed out about the run before I started, I didn't think it would be anything impressive and then bam 8:01 avg., my marathon avg. is 8:10. I totally impressed myself. This run was brutal and pretty hilly in my opinion, I guess pedialyte, coconut water, and coke are a good combination.
The finish: I crossed the line, with no idea as to my time since I started more than an hour after the pros, but I knew one thing, I was under 6 hours, WOOHOO!
The results are: 5:34:09
(On a side note: I also managed not to get sunburned, chafe, and I have all my toenails)
Hope all my friends that raced enjoyed themselves, I tried to cheer for as many of you as I saw while I was out there.
Congratulations! This is a huge accomplishment and I was so inspired reading your recaps!
ReplyDeleteThanks Naomi, It was hard and I can't say my training was what it should have been, but it felt good to cross the finish line.
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