I tried to attach as a photo, but was unsuccessful, so here is the full race report. Its long, very long, so you dont have to read it if you dont have time. Austin 70.3 Ironman – October 27, 2013 The last time I did a half-ironman was 9 years ago. I went into this race feeling more calm and better prepared. I guess nine years of racing builds a base of fitness that makes a bigger challenge seem more doable. Or maybe I was just more interested in how my athlete protégé’ was doing. It was her first half ironman, and her accomplishment just getting to this point was so much more impressive than mine. Whatever the reason, I did not get nervous about this race until I was standing in the chute waiting for my turn to get in the water. 4:00 a.m. rolled around, along with a thunderstorm! The race director had already explained that in case of bad weather the swim would be delayed, or even cancelled. I was not thrilled with the idea of not getting to swim – I have worked too hard to prepare for this race. But the thunder and lightning moved out of town and they only delayed the race 15 minutes. 9 years ago my race was 7 hours and 3 minutes. This race I was sure I could do 7:25:00 but was really hoping I would break 7 hours total time. The terrain of this race was hillier. My run pace was slower, but my swim and bike were both stronger. The unknown factors were the distance I would have to travel through the transition areas and the weather. Heavy rain could also impact my performance. The swim was first – 1.2 miles. That is 43 laps (86 lengths) of a 25 yard pool, but without the benefit of a wall to push off every 25 yards or a black line to follow to keep me going straight. Walter E Long Lake was 72 degrees the morning of race day so it was not only wet suit legal, it was wet suit prefect. However it was extremely cloudy and dark, because the sunrise was obscured by a thick layer of dark clouds. This was only a problem because my clear lens goggles were leaking horribly the day before in a practice swim, so I couldn’t use them. The only pair of goggles I had were very dark, metallized lenses meant for bright morning sun. I was very worried that I would not be able to see the swim buoys and I was not sure what I would do if I couldn’t see them. I couldn’t even see my hand in the water when it was reached out on the stroke. The water was a smokey black color through my goggles. Fortunately the buoys were only 100-200 meters apart, so I was able to see them well enough to swim, and I always had other swim caps ahead to follow. I starting swimming with the horn blast, in the middle of the 45+ women age group – about 60 people. Being a “middle of the pack” athlete, I was always in the middle of the pack. There was a lot of contact in the water between the other swimmers and me. One woman in particular kept forcibly running into me because she apparently could not swim a straight line, or for some other reason, I’m not sure. After the 4th or 5th time of having her hit me with her arm, I switch to a straight arm recovery and drove my arm down right on top of her back. I don’t usually resort to such tactics, but I was tired of getting beat up by her. She backed off. Besides the contact – I was able to ride the wake of the pack for a while, and also to draft off the next wave of swimmers for about 20-30 seconds at a time as the stronger swimmers from that group passed me. It was enough to give me a few short little breaks in my swim. I swam the entire distance freestyle, not really stopping at all. I felt strong and comfortable throughout (except when getting hit or kicked a few times – but no biggie). My goal for the swim was 45 minutes. I finished it (crossed the transition line) in 41:35. I was thrilled with the time and looking forward to my favorite leg, the bike. The bike transition area had a generous crop of goat head stickers in it. I got two in my feet on the way to my bike. It was also quite muddy. I used a towel and mat to clean my feet as well as possible, but they were still gritty when I put on my shoes. Because it is an Ironman branded race, all of the gear I used had to be returned to a plastic bag marked “bike gear” before I left to go on my bike ride. I got all the gear in, then carried my bike about 200 yards to the roadway so it would not get stickers. For reasons unknown to me, we were not allowed to have our shoes already attached to our bikes. Normally I have my shoes clipped to my peddles and I put them on while rolling down the road. Shoes on my feet meant no more stickers, but the mud was a problem in my cleats. The mud got packed into my Speedplay cleats and I could not get clipped into my peddles. I had to stop about 100 yards from the mount line and rinse out my shoe cleats with water from my water bottle so they would attach to my peddle. This concerned me because I knew I would want every drop of water I had for my ride. It was still cloudy, dark-ish and cool. The first couple of miles there were dozens of bike maneuvering the “spectator friendly” part of the course. Very few spectators were out, they were still mostly at the swim and transition area. My wave (women 45+) was the 4th to go off, after the pro men, pro women, and men 55+. I knew there would be waves and waves of younger people coming by as the race progressed. I had my dark sun glasses on, which annoyed me tremendously, as I did have the opportunity to switch to lighter lenses, but chose not to in case the sun did come out later. A rookie mistake. Besides being dark, they kept fogging up, so by mile 5 I took them off and stuffed them down my shirt front. I did not put them back on the whole race The bike course was fun - pure fun from start to finish. Hilly, winding country roads with lots of trees, fields and farms, interesting farm houses, horses, cows, donkeys, dogs, buzzards, one dead owl and a few waving kids along the way. I had previewed the course and knew it would be a challenge for me to keep focused on working hard. I was able to enjoy the scenery but still stay focused, because the conditions of the road demanded it. The roads, while not horrible, were rough in many places, requiring attention. In addition, throughout the entire race there were other participants to watch for. Those younger, faster boys and girls, who started the race 5-60 minutes after me, would come flying up behind me with the “womp-womp-womp” sound of their disk wheels announcing that I needed to move right and let them pass. You could always tell when a new “wave” was passing because there would be a large group of them all passing at the same, none of them yielding to the USAT / Ironman rule to maintain 4 bike lengths between them. There was always another bike to see, pass, exchange a “good job” or “looking strong” with. There were 3 women in particular that I passed and was passed by too many times to count. I had the advantage on the hills, (up and down) and they had the advantage when it was more flat. On one long flat stretch, from mile 42-47, all but one of these women were able to drop me for good. The last one, wearing a bright green and black jersey, was still behind me. She was the only one I cared about as she was in my age group. At about mile 50 she passed me, drafting off the bike of another cyclist! “CHEATER!” I wanted to yell out. But I buckled down and finished my own ride. My goal had been to average at least 16 mph on my bike. At the half way point I knew I would get that speed. I was on track for my own race goals, so I let her go, and resisted the urge to grab on to someone else’s wheel to catch up to her. Mile 53-54 was the hardest for me. I could see the finish area, but they had us winding around a variety of roads, and going up two steep but short hills in that mile. So cruel! 3:13:52 was my bike time. I knew I was giving myself a nice cushion of time in which to complete the run ahead, which made me very very happy. Flying dismounts were allowed so my feet were out of my shoes and I rolled across the dismount line like a pro – swinging my right leg over my bike and hitting the ground running at the line. The pavement was rough…. Ouch…..ouch…..ouch with each step of my socks only feet. Fortunately I was placed relatively closely to the bike entrance area so the discomfort was short-lived. All of the run gear was in the red, “run gear” bag. Pull it out, put it on and go. Green Jersey Lady was across the rack from me! She was sitting on the ground to put on her shoes as I came in. She left transition about 10 seconds before me. I HAD to stop at the porta-potty on the way out, or I knew I would not have a good run. I had to wait about 45 seconds to get into one. It was still a pretty fast transition, I think. For those of you who don’t know - when you get off your bike after 56 miles of pushing as hard as you can, your legs feel like they belong to someone else. Your movements are jerky and uncoordinated. Often times your feet are numb so you can only partially feel them hitting the ground. It takes a few yards to figure out how to run. It’s very comical to experience and to watch. It takes a couple hundred yards to get into a groove or pattern that feels comfortable. Then, miraculously, the legs feel so GOOD to be extending and stretching out. The hip flexors can finally open from the crouched over low-aero position. The quads lengthen and the glutes relax from their stretched position. The butt wakes up and says “hello – thank you for standing!” It really is a relief to start on the run after that time on the saddle. 13.1 moderately hilly miles ahead, and I was feeling good, knowing that I had 3 hours to run it to make my goal. My run pace had been slower, but I was confident I could hold a 12 min mile average pace throughout, which would put me in at my goal. So I settled in, and started on the last leg. 3 laps of about 4.4 miles each, looping back through the spectator area 3 times. There were hundreds of people cheering, many calling out my name as they sent encouragement. Once I remembered that our names were on our run numbers – it wasn’t so freaky that people knew my name. Because it was 3 laps, there were thousands of us on the run course – it was downright crowded. It felt like about 2,000 people passed me. Some of them probably passed me twice! I passed a few myself. Lap one was interesting, covering the ground and familiarizing myself with the terrain. It was uneven, mostly on the road, partially through the park on rocks and dirt. I much prefer this type of terrain because it forces you to focus, and it also forces the muscles in the legs to adjust and be used differently as you proceed. That way there is not a repetitive pounding, pounding on one particular set of muscle fibers, which can be very fatiguing. There were many aid stations. I walked through most of them on the first lap, taking in water. I had already had the electrolyte drink on the bike and three gels. I consumed another gel on the run and by the end of it was alternating water and sports drink in the aid stations. The wonderful thing about having almost a mile of spectator-lined course at the start / finish end of the loop is it gives you the energy and motivation to run that part harder so you look good for the people who came out to cheer. Well – look as good as you can after 60 miles. My favorite two signs were “GO random stranger – GO!” and “You knew it would be long and hard - when has that ever been a bad thing?” Actually – my favorite sign was the one that my sister made for me that said “Way to Go ANDIE – 70.3”!!! I’ve never had a sign made for me at a race before – it was really COOL!!! Once we got out of the spectator heavy area, many of us were very grateful to walk up the short hill to the first aid station. I noticed more people walking on the 2nd lap, and even more walking on the 3rd. We were wearing down and it showed. Somewhere between mile 11 and 12 Green Jersey Lady passed me running with a teammate!! I was not aware that I had passed her, but there she was, again, tormenting and taunting me!! There was NO WAY I was going to let her take my spot after she cheated on the bike course! I stalked her from behind, planning to “sprint” past her for the last 300 or so yards to cross the finish before her. But she kept slowing down and I simply could not run more slowly so I passed her with about a mile to go. Then she passed me again on an uphill. I kept her in my sights, and fortunately the effort she made to pass me must have hurt her, because it wasn’t long before she slowed to a walk and I caught her again. Sensing her fatigue, I passed her, and she did not respond. I kept looking back for the last half mile but I did not see her jersey challenging me. With 200 yards to go, I focused on the finish. Everyone kept saying “FINISH STRONG!” and I kept thinking – “that’s easy for YOU to say!”. But I did finish strong - and I was never more happy than to see that the time clock was still under 7 hours! I DID it! I beat my first 70.3 time by about 20 minutes – 9 years older and a hillier venue! WOOT WOOT! Average run pace was 11:53 – run time 2:35:33. After crossing the finish line I hyperventilated and almost passed out!! They made me go to the medical tent and sit down until I could breathe normally and wasn’t lightheaded or dizzy. After about 5 minutes I was okay. Parting thoughts – I could feel all the energy and positive thoughts that my friends and family sent me. It really made a difference. I had FUN. I really enjoyed the whole experience so much more than the first one. I pushed my body to an extreme, and it came through for me, even though I am going to be sore and walking like a zombie for a couple of days. My dream of doing a full 140.6 Ironman is alive and well. I have no idea how I am going to find the time to train and the fortitude to complete twice the distance, but I guess I’ll figure it out as I go. Over-ridding feeling? GRATITUDE. For all the support I received from my husband, kids, friends, and even strangers along the way. For having the ability and opportunity to challenge my body and my mind. For a country that allows women to participate in sporting events. For a loving and kind God that watches over me.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Nov 2013 14:19:29 +0000
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