Lake Stevens Ironman 70.3 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

This swim was so cool. There is a line under the water that the local rowing club uses to attach their buoys. The water is clear enough to see it while swimming negating the need to sight. It was the straightest open water swim ever! The only problem with this bit of good news is that nearly everyone else liked using it too. Needless to say I felt a good deal of hits and probably gave a few since we were all sharing the same real estate. I felt the faster swimmers as the later waves swam through and was impressed on how fast they looked, which quickly made me feel really slow. I started to pick it up near the final dog leg back to the boat ramp and was excited to find out what my split was going to be. Oh, how I was disappointed when I saw my watch. I know I'm not a fast swimmer but under such conditions I expected better but didn't have time to care at that moment.

After running up to the bike I quickly stripped the wetsuit with no problems. That was a nice change which encouraged me to keep from screwing up somewhere else in T1.

I took a quick look at my watch to see how T1 was going and noticed that I had actually stopped it instead of pressing the lap button. A simple mistake but should know better and just restarted it on the way out.

I left transition feeling good about the race so far and knew that this leg was critical not to make a mistake. I was shooting for an average HR and power of 147 BPM and 270 Watts respectively. The course was rolling and beautiful with tree canopies along most of the loop. The climbs weren't too bad but enough to throw off your rhythm. I stayed focused on my power the best I could but I did catch myself jumping out of the saddle on a few climbs when I peaked at my slowing average pace (bad Dean). The down hill sections were just good fun. I hit my fastest speed ever at 54 mph. Now that's fast for a guy with the aerodynamics of a shopping cart. I was happy to see on my first loop that my average speed was 21.2 mph. I knew that I was going to lose some of that on the way back to town since after the second loop we had a few miles back to T2 and it was pretty much uphill. The goal of the second loop was consistency and to not adjust my pacing. Sure enough I held pace until I got back to the turn. I did end up losing some speed on the way back to town. I also noticed I didn't eat much on the bike but didn't worry about it since it was getting hot and was preparing for the run. I did see Kim on the second loop and that is always cool. She was smiling and I wished her good luck. My average HR turned out to be 142 BPM and an average power of 275 watts.

I don't think I could have done much differently expect skipping the Gatorade. I drank one bottle over the two loops and it usually causes problems and it did. I don't know why I keep grabbing it during races since I don't train with it and I know better. I think it's the rainbow color but I see the volunteer holding it and tell myself not to take it. Maybe one day I'll learn but I'm not holding my breath.

I went through my mental checklist for T2 before the dismount line to get prepared. When you bike into T2 you have to do a 180 degree turn back to the racks. After dismounting I noticed my legs didn't feel stable and almost did a face plant on that turn. More self doubt was creeping in on the way back to the the rack thinking that I may have pushed too hard.

Be a little more organized since I forgot my water bottle for the run.

I had a few goals for the run and the most important one for me was to keep a solid pace with no walking. The other objectives was to have an Avg HR of 162 BPM and try to achieve a 7:30 pace. My first thought after leaving T2 was what the hell was I thinking about those stupid goals and maybe I should find a new hobby. After the first mile I stopped complaining and tried to maintain focus at the task at hand. I was going on the assumption that this run was flat and in reality it was but turning the corner and seeing the hill ahead it looked huge. A few miles into the run I was trying seek shade no matter what side of the street I needed to be on. The volunteers were great, the aid stations were stocked with ice, and I took advantage of it as much as possible. I saw Elliot on the loop back and wished him well not knowing I was going to see him again. I monitored my pace and heart rate but really just ran by perceived effort. I don't usually do that but I didn't have much margin before I felt like I would blow up. My average HR turned out to be 154 which wasn't the limiting factor. I finished this race at a nice pace and was thrilled until I turned the corner and saw the clock knowing I would finish at 5:02.

Remember my water bottle. I have yet to master the technique of drinking from those little paper cups.

I missed my PR by 30 seconds and race goal by 2 minutes but enjoyed the heck out of this experience. I think this was my best race execution to date and it just gives me an excuse to sign up for another race. Racing with Kim and Elliot made this race that much more fun since the race is really a small part of a fun vacation.