Race Report- IMNOLA 70.3 2009

Pre-Race:
First of all, the night before the race, on my final pre-race mini run, my Garmin decided to crash. I think there must be some sort of gremlins involved, because the last time it acted up was the night before my last race. I eventually got it fixed, but I had to do a master reset which meant I had to reload all my HR zones, profile, training screens, etc. It also meant it didn't recognize my cadence sensor but it was late at night at that point and I decided I didn't want to mess with it further. So I just went without cadence.

Back to the morning of the race- ate a banana and peanut butter around 5am. Got to transition, said good morning to Stella, dropped off my stuff, got body marked and headed back to the car. The body marking volunteer was a little uneasy about marking my left calf instead of the right:

"Can you put my age on my left calf? I wear a calf sleeve on the right."

"Umm... we're supposed to do the right..." (goes to mark right anyway)

"Well OK, but it's going to be covered up."

"Ahh, um, OK..." (reluctantly marks left, looking over his shoulder to see if he'll be yelled at)

"Don't worry, I won't tell them it was you."

Drove over to swim start. I started getting really excited at this point. Seeing all the athletes walk around, the starting chute, all the commotion- it was great. Watched the pro men and pro women's waves go off. My wave wasn't until almost an hour later. Went to go stand in the porta potty line before getting my wetsuit on. Little did I know that I would be in line for at least a half an hour! I finally got through with only minutes to spare before my wave start. As I headed to the start corral I heard the announcement, "Women 29 and under is the next wave to start", and I didn't even have my wetsuit on! That was the fastest wetsuit-donning I've ever done. Threw the cap on, grabbed the goggles, "Women 29 and under, one minute to go", elbowed my way through the next group waiting in the corral, scampered down the seawall steps, got into the water, put my goggles on, and about ten seconds later, we're off!

Swim:
We got really lucky with the weather for the swim. The water was so calm, it was almost like a pool. I found swimming room fairly quickly and aimed for the outside of the swim course. It was a point to point swim where we swam in a wide lane created by the seawall on one side and the buoys on the other. I headed wide, for the buoys, since it was a more direct route (the seawall curves a little). Just about everyone else swam close to the seawall, which was not only longer but also choppier because of the water hitting the sides. Oh well, more room for me! The swim was smooth and mainly drama-free. I got into a good rhythm of stroke-stroke-breathe and actually did a pretty good job with sighting and swimming straight, which I'm normally not good at. I had been saying for the last few days that since my only other time swimming the course was in rough water with a hangover, I knew my race would at least be better than that. And it was- I exited the water feeling good and relaxed.


T1:
I availed myself of one of the strippers to get my wetsuit off, which was nice. Had to run pretty far to get to my bike. A lot of people were walking their bikes out of transition, but I always like to run mine. It's a good warmup and it always makes me feel like a badass :)


Bike:
My instructions for the bike were to ride strong but conservative, making sure I still had some legs to run on at the end. It was tough getting passed by so many people, especially when I felt like I could be riding so much faster. I reminded myself of what Jen said- that if I rode at too high of a HR, I'd be walking the run. I definitely didn't want to do that. So I held it pretty steady at high Z2/low Z3. There was a bit of a headwind heading out to Chef Highway, which I thought was nice since we'd have a tailwind heading back. Usually it's the other way around. Unfortunately, the winds switched while we were out there and we ended up riding back into a headwind that just got stronger as we went. I kept telling myself, "This isn't so bad. It's breezy but you've ridden out here in way worse." Eventually though, it got to be about as bad as I've seen it out there. Trying to keep my HR down while fighting a headwind like that was tough. I saw several GNOTri teammates at various points- Coach Rick, Mitch, Marcos, Ken, Rick M., and a few others. Also some coworkers.

I stuck very close to my nutrition plan. I ended up going through my concentrate a lot sooner than I thought I would though. I need to practice with that. I was taking one Endurolyte every 20 minutes, with instructions to double up if my legs started to feel crampy. Early on in the bike ride, I felt like my legs were almost on the verge of cramping. I started doing one Endurolyte every 10 minutes. The almost-crampy feeling never really went away, but it never got worse either. There were two things I kept repeating to myself. I asked, "Can I run a half marathon on these legs?" The answer kept being yes, so I figured I was doing OK. The other was the self-check list that Jen gave me in our final pre-race talk- "Strong, relaxed, focused & fueled". That helped a ton. Heading up the last two bridges on the last part of the ride, even though there was a wicked headwind pushing us back as we climbed, I felt pretty good. A little tired, but ready to run. I couldn't help but smile at the spectators cheering us in to transition. And I saw Beverly! That was awesome. I also saw Erik right before I got off the bike.


T2:
Had to call out to the people in front of me walking their bikes to get out of the way as I was running mine down the aisle. I thought it was pretty funny that I could be saying "On your left!" in transition. Stopped at the porta potty on the way out to the run (no, I did not pee on the bike).


Run:
I always feel like I'm running so s-l-o-w off the bike, when usually I'm actually running pretty well. A few minutes in, I checked my watch and saw I was running about a minute per mile faster than I should be. Even though I felt fine, I dialed it back a little. There was still a long way to go.

The first stretch was an out-and-back on Lakeshore Drive, where there's pretty much no shade. By that time of day, it was at least 85 degrees and full sun. It was hot. Luckily the heat doesn't bother me too much and I had plenty of gel and Endurolytes. I passed Rick M. early on, he was walking. I asked him if he wanted to run with me and he told me he couldn't, his legs had cramped up badly. A minute later I realized I should have given him some of my Endurolytes and I felt bad, but I didn't want to go back. Just before the turnaround I saw Coach Rick coming back, already around the turn. He said to come over there and run with him, so I laughed and said I'd be right there. Waved and smiled at the spectators at the turn. I kept hearing "Yeah, GNOTri!" from people who didn't even know me but saw my race top. That was cool. I came around the turnaround and started grinning. I was feeling GOOD. It didn't even feel like I had biked at all.

After the turnaround, I was coming back down Lakeshore Drive and I saw Rick M. again, still walking. This time I remembered and asked him if he wanted some Endurolytes. He said yeah, he lost his on the bike. Bummer. I grabbed a few out of my baggie and handed them to him as I ran by. I haven't seen him since- I hope they helped. Then I saw Mitch heading towards me and slapped him a high-five as we passed. Then Coach Kevin. Go GNOTri! A mile or so later, I finally came up on Coach Rick. We talked for a minute and then I went on. Right after that was the first time I saw Erik on the run. He had his bike, so I hoped that meant he'd ride down the course and cheer for me again later- I knew the support would help. He asked me how I felt and I said, "Awesome!" And I meant it. The sun was shining, a little breeze was blowing, I was feeling strong, I was racing in my first half-Ironman in my hometown along with my teammates, I had my own cheering section- what could be better?? He shouted out that my swim time was great and asked me if I wanted to know the numbers. I didn't really care about it at that point, I was just enjoying my run, so I said no thanks.

I noticed I was passing a LOT of people walking. The headwind on the bike combined with the heat of the day must have gotten to a lot of people. I kept sipping my gels, drinking my water, popping my Endurolytes, and cruising. I felt like I was on just another Sunday long run. Easy peasy. The bagpiper in City Park was cool. I thought about my mom and how much she likes bagpipes, and made a note to tell her about it. I passed two guys who were saying to each other, "This is a respectable pace, right?" Then I passed and the second guy said, "Well that's a little more respectable" and I laughed. They shouted after me, "Just don't drink all the beer before we get there!" About mile 7.5 I started to feel it a little bit. About a mile later, I definitely started to get tired. The last 3-4 miles were very tough, but I knew I had come way too far to slow down now. I managed to keep my pace up down that loooong stretch of Esplanade Ave. When we finally hit the I-10 overpass I knew we were close. When we crossed Rampart and entered the Quarter, I started to realize that I really was about to make it- I was about to be a half Ironman! I managed to pick it up a little at that point. Less than a mile to go. I passed a guy who said, "Oh great, I'm going to get beat by another girl". I said, "Get over it" and kept going. At the turn, people were saying, "800 meters to go!" Part of me was excited, but part of me was thinking, 800 meters? Damn that's a long way! Started counting the blocks heading down Decatur. Is it that traffic light, or the next one? Passed a spectator who said, "Four blocks away!" Saw Erik on the sidewalk holding a big poster with my name on it. Ha! That was a surprise. Now there were people on both sides, clapping and cheering, and for a second it felt like a Mardi Gras parade. The finish line up ahead looked SO GOOD. Another spectator- "Less than a minute left!" Then I was on the mats, then my arms were in the air, then I was across the line and I was DONE!


Post-Race:
When the volunteer took my chip off, I looked down and saw blood on the back of my ankle. So that's what I was feeling for the first half of the run. Walked around, saw some friends, looked for Erik who had my post-race bag. Finally had to borrow a lady's cell phone to track him down. Found him, got the bag, mixed up my Recoverite. Wish it didn't taste so nasty. I looked at my watch- 5:11. That didn't include my swim time or T1, but unless those were really slow then I'd probably made my (secret) goal of finishing under 6 hours. Sweet! I didn't find out until I talked to my coach a little while later that I'd also made my (secret) goal of doing the run under 2 hours. Double sweet! Picked up the bike from transition, got a much-needed shower, stopped by the post-race party but it was pretty much over, got my customary Domino's pizza, and called it a day.

The goal for this race was to get some baseline data to help focus the last few months of my Ironman training. I'd never done this much at once, so there were several unknowns. How much fluid would I need? What HR can I sustain? How many calories can I take in? What will my stomach tolerate? How much sodium do I need? What kind of pace can I run off the bike? And so on. I knew it was important to do exactly what the plan said so that my coach would get the data she needed. The other point of this race was to finish feeling strong and excited for Ironman, not dying and thinking that I never want to do this again. I don't know if I'm exactly "excited" yet for Ironman, I'm still a little terrified, but I did feel strong and I do want to do this again. Coach said to enjoy it, since you only get one first time, and I really really did. I never could have done it without her preparing me so well these last weeks and months, or without her excellent instructions and nutrition plan. I had the easy part- all I had to do was follow directions. And now I can proudly say that I'm a half-Ironman.

A light recovery week this week, then it's time to get started on my first Build phase for CDA! I'm ready, let's go!

Pictures:

Bike drop-off on Saturday. There's Stella's spot on the rack!



Settled in for the night



Lookit all those Zipps!



Coach Kevin, directing traffic at bike drop-off. "No number, no entry. Sorry!"



Coach Rick (in green), also directing traffic, and George the swim coach (in blue), who helped me plan my route from swim exit to my bike rack



There's Stella on the rack all the way to the right, and swim exit was back between the porta potties and that white tent:



I never saw these kids with the Super Soakers, but this looks like it was probably a win-win for most people involved:



A few miles into the run, feeling great!



Rockin' the awesome GNOTri jersey



Done!! (I think I wore that medal for all of about 2.5 seconds)



Ouch!



Team Shell, The Next Generation