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| Philip and I pre-race |
Getting there: Philip and I both worked on Friday so we weren't able to leave until that evening, making for a late night. We traveled through Iowa and ended the first portion of our drive in Davenport, Iowa. Basically, just got there, unloaded our bikes, slept, got up and ate breakfast, and were back on the road. Friday's time on the interstate moved very quickly, but Saturday's was a different story. It took FOREVER to get around Chicago, geesh! Stand still traffic on the interstate? No thank you! We finally made it to our destination, Benton Harbor, around noon. We decided to get checked in, get rid of our bikes (you can leave them in transition overnight), and then check out the town and find a good place for dinner. Check in went well. We got our race packet, timing chip, body marked, and tucked our bikes in for the rest of the day/night. After this, we walked back to the car and made our way downtown to a little farmer's market. We didn't end up staying too long as we'd already been on our feet for substantially longer than we had hoped. We checked into our hotel, keeping it classy at a Super 8. Philip and I then got all of our gear organized--wetsuit, goggles, swim cap, helmet, race belt, sunglasses, shoes, compression socks, race outfit, hydration, nutrition...seriously. The list goes on and on for the amount of gear you need for one of these suckers. I even made myself a T1 and T2 checklist so I wouldn't forget anything. This was too long of a race to mess anything up. And the amount of food you need to consume during an event such as this? Wowza. My plan was this: A bagel with peanut butter and jelly for breakfast, a honey stinger and lots of pedialyte before the swim, a PB&J sandwich after the swim followed by the rest of the pedialyte, lots of gatorade during the bike portion, and a couple of Gu's plus more hydration during the run. I talked to a couple of my triathlon friends about this and combined some of their ideas together with what I thought would work for me. So, all that being said, here is what really went down:
Philip and I went to bed at 7:30 the night before as our alarms were set for 4am...but as we were in a different time zone, this was OUR 3am. I shockingly fell asleep and woke up feeling great at 4. I ate my cold PB&J bagel (so gross when you're not hungry) and drank some coffee and then pedialyte (that stuff is yucky, too). We drove to the shuttle pick up point, parked, and hopped on the bus that quickly filled with many others who were just as crazy as us. Upon arriving to the race site, Philip and I assembled our transition areas and then got ready for the mile walk to the start (the 1.2 mile swim ended where all of our gear was). Since we didn't want to walk that far wearing our wetsuits, we carried them with us to the start. Once we got there, we both finagled them on. I took my timing chip off my ankle in order to get the suit on, placing it onto a kayak that was sitting on the beach...obviously with every intention of putting it back on (you can see where this is headed). Feeling ready, I kissed my handsome hubby goodbye and joined my fellow age groupers. As I stood there chatting, each heat, starting 4 minutes apart, began the race. About 5 minutes to my own start, it hit me like a ton of bricks that my timing chip was not on. OHMYGOSH!!!! This was bad. Seriously, I put it on one of the kayaks that was going to be out in the water rescuing swimmers!! I sprinted off at top speed, not knowing if the kayak would be there or not. THANKFULLY it was there...and so was my chip. I quickly put it back on and ran back to my group with two minutes to spare. In those last couple minutes, I talked to a lady about her experiences with the distance. She was very sweet and I enjoyed our brief chat. It was not time to get down to business. Now, as I have been dealing with panic attacks in the water for the last couple of years, I have diligently been working on mental toughness and strategies so that I can get through this part. I'm SO glad that I didn't know how scary it can be to swim in Lake Michigan. We began the race by swimming a couple minutes straight into the lake before turning and headed the mile back to transition. The water was cold (67 degrees), but I didn't notice that as much as I did the one foot waves barreling at me. I had planned to start out doing my breast stroke, which is exactly what I did. I did this for a bit longer than I had anticipated...I didn't go into freestyle until after I had made my first turn. So far, so good. No panic attack. I learned very quickly that it was best to just keep on swimming, keep on swimming. Normally, I'll pop my head out to make sure I was going the right direction, but when I did this, I just saw these big waves coming towards me which was a little freaky. Best to just keep my head down so I was a little more oblivious. Towards the end of the swim, my feet were so cold that I could no longer feel them and my fingers weren't far off from joining their ranks. Rats. Physically, I felt like I could swim for longer, BUT was happy when I saw the turn back into the transition area.
Exiting the water, I ran into transition, found my spot, and tried to peel my wetsuit off. This took awhile. Maybe I should have practiced. (I hate my wetsuit. I was secretly hoping that the swim wouldn't be wetsuit legal.) As I was doing this, I was taking giant chomps of my sandwich and guzzling the rest of my pedialyte. I strapped on my helmet, put on my sunglasses, and then put my compression socks on. Um, this was not my finest idea. Those things are hard to put on when your legs are dry, LET ALONE wet. I was in transition for a really, really long time. I also put on my race belt with my number so I wouldn't forget this again. Check, check, check. Everything was done and I was ready for my ride. Or so I hoped. Forgetting the fact regarding my history of panic attacks, I am not that bad of a swimmer. I am typically a good runner. But biking remains my struggle. I don't get this. I try really hard and feel like I'm going fast, but I guess I'm not. Tons of tons of people passed me right away. (They better watch out! I will get them on the run!!!) Sadly, a couple miles in, I spotted the lady I was speaking with before the swim on the side of the road. She was surrounded by people and an I heard an ambulance on the way for her. She obviously crashed her bike, but I wasn't sure of the particulars. (Oh man. What if I crashed my bike? How would they alert Philip? No time for negative self talk.) Anyway, off I went. They marked the course every 5 miles, and the first five went by very quickly. Actually, the entire ride went quickly. I will admit that I was about ready to get off my bike around mile 40, but was never that tired or in any major pain. By the time I entered T2, I was almost in tears because I was so happy to get off that thing and onto my run.
This transition was a little quicker. I took off my biking jersey (I know, not necessary, but I wanted to wear my WRN jersey for the run.), I ate a Gu, drank some gatorade, used the restroom, and literally darted off. Not even a mile in, a guy said to me, "Please tell me you're doing the relay...you are looking a little too fresh..." Nope! I didn't have a running watch going, so wasn't really sure of my pace. BUT I passed literally tons of people. I ran as fast as I could the entire time, so yes, I was happy when I only had a few miles left...but I was actually having fun and enjoying myself! Crazy! I thought there would be a point where I would literally hate myself for signing up for such a long event. But no! I loved it. I never hit a wall, so my nutrition/hydration plan must have worked!
I finished the event in 5:48--43:15 on the 1.2 swim, 3:07:10 on the 56 mile bike, and 1:43:47 on the 13.1 mile run. I was very shocked when I found out that I spent over nine minutes in T1...I knew I wasn't speed demoning through it, but really?! That is terrible. (My sister and dad, who were tracking me, said that wondered what was going on since I was there for so long...) T2 was around 5 minutes. Transitions remain an area of improvement for me. Other than that, I was happy with my first time competing at the distance. Philip finished the race in 6:07. I was so happy to be able to see him finish and snap a few pics. We worked so hard to achieve this goal and I was so proud of him!
After a long couple days of traveling, we picked up our boys from my parent's house, and returned to the real world of work this morning.
Big thanks to my parents, sister, husband, and Carly...without you guys, there is no way I could have done this. I am so thankful to have such fabulous and supportive family and friends. What a blessing.
Complete results can be found here: http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/coverage/athlete-tracker.aspx?race=steelhead70.3&y=2014#axzz3AAz9ZZsJ
Amazing!
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