Ironman 70.3 Syracuse - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The swim. I feel like I am a strong swimmer in the pool and that doesn't equate to the open water or a race. Got some water in my wetsuit before the gun went off. Wowza...it was COLD. The gun went off and I could feel pain from the cold water right between my eyes. It was cold! Navigation was pretty good for the way out. The number of people in each wave were small and I couldn't ever find feet to draft off of. I felt like I was pushing, but at the same time, felt like I wasn't going very fast. I hit the buoy to turn right and about midway looked at my watch with disappointment. Hit the next buoy to make the return trip and I immediately couldn't see the buoy. It didn't help that some of the caps were the same color as the buoy. By this point, I was freezing. My face, arms, hands, and feet. I was fairly discouraged with how my swim was going and was really just looking to get out of the water at this point. My sighting got a little better once I found the buoys and saw the light to sight off of on the shore. Got to the last yellow buoy and kept swimming until I was hitting the bottom. As I was running out of the water, I heard Marna, Heidi and Amy cheering which was a nice pick me up.

Have a full wetsuit vs. sleevless.
I don't swim as well during races as I do in the pool, but I think the water temperature played a big factor here.

Didn't realize there would be wetsuit strippers! It was a long way from the swim exit to my bike. I got out of the water and was freeeezing! Got to my bike and sat to (pee and) put on socks and shoes. My fingers weren't working very well. I had rolled my arm warmers last night so they were easy to roll onto my arms. Gloves, helmet and sunglasses on and I grabbed my bike to get to the bike exit.

Hustle. My T1 time was slow, but I felt like I was moving as fast as I could at the time.

As soon as I got on the bike, I was literally shivering. It was overcast and foggy and I was still cold and wet from the swim. I knew the first 10-15 miles of the course were net uphill and was hoping that would warm me up. Got to the hill at mile 2 and my legs felt awful. I was hoping they just hadn't had a chance to warm up yet. Next climb was at about mile 5 and again, the same feeling in my legs. I didn't wear my HR strap, but felt like my HR was high based on my breathing. Laura passed me within the first 10-15 miles and we exchanged "good lucks". I tried as best I could to spin up the hills, but I kept watching my average pace drop. I originally had the plan to take a GU every 45 minutes, but I waited until the first hour to take my first one so my stomach settled a bit. After the first GU at hour 1, I took a GU at every 45 minutes. Each hour, I took 4 endurolytes and somewhere on the bike (probably around mile 30), I took 2 excedrin migraine. Hydration goal was 1 bottle of GU20 per hour. I started with my aero bottle with water, 1 bottle of GU20 and 1 bottle of triple concentrate GU20. I finished the regular strength bottle of GU20 and sipped the water down in my aerobottle so I could now mix the GU20 concentrate in it. Seemed to work well, but I only drank 2.5 bottles of GU20 and 1+ bottle of water. Given the cooler temps and overcast skies, I didn't feel dehydrated.
Had to really pee and as much as I tried to go on the bike, it just didn't happen. Stopped at mile 25 at the port o pottie to pee. A mere 5 miles later, I had to pee again. I told myself I needed to just wait and not stop already. Again, tried to pee on the bike, but didn't happen. It was now to the point that being aero was painful because I had to pee so badly. Stopped at a yard of logging trucks and peed behind one truck. Aaah...soooo much better!

Even though I dried off, I was still freezing on the bike. It was raining on and off during the ride. Not hard, but enough to keep me chilled. There were a lot of people out on the course cheering which was really nice. I kept hearing about this climb around mile 42 or 45. I hit that point and no climb. Hmm...Made the turn onto the last road and knew it was a mix of rollers. Didn't let my HR go crazy, but pushed it a bit on this section. Rolled into T2 about 7 minutes ahead of my goal time.

Hmm...not really sure here. I felt OK with my deviation from my hydration plan and don't think it affected my race.
I could have saved some time if I could have peed on the bike. Just couldn't do it. Not Sunday. Legs felt tired on the tougher climbs early on. I don't think it's a reflection of what condition I'm in, but more so being really cold coming out of the water. Nothing I could really change there.

Came into T2 and when I looked at my watch, I knew it would be a long shot to break 6 hours. As I was racking my bike, I noticed a line of 3 people for the port o potties. I sat to take my bike shoes off, put on my Newton's and pee. Off with the helmet, arm warmers and gloves and grabbed my water bottle.

T2 would have been faster if I didn't have to pee. I'd rather have the time in T2 than on the run though.

Wow...the run. 2 days post race, I'm still on cloud 9!
I started out and the legs felt OK. I had some soreness in my right shin which was what bothered me for part of the run the week before at the Reston Oly. I just took it mile by mile and told myself my legs would warm up. I hit mile 1 and was shocked. I was asking myself if I was going out too hard. I still had 12 miles left. I told myself to back off a bit and mile 2 was faster than mile 1! I knew miles 2 and 3 had some good downhills so I was just putting that time in the bank.

The miles were ticking away. I thought back to the effortless training runs that lead up to the race. I thought of the easy, fun runs I had done with Brad as we just talked the entire time about the day to day stuff. I thought back to the 12 mile run I ran with Kim on the trail and at some points when I was running by myself and was focused, I just pictured us on the trail talking as the miles ticked by. I thought of the 15 mile run I did with Heidi the morning of Buffett and how I told her I was waiting for the wheels to fall off, but it never happened. I actually didn't mind the long stretch on the 4 lane road. Reading the chalk writing on the ground was actually inspirational and made the time pass as I kept reading the ground. At one point just past the half way mark, it kind of hit me on how good my race was going and I got a little teary eyed. I knew there were our friends on the course and back in VA that were tracking and rooting for us. Sometimes, the pressure to not disappoint myself and others is what is overwhelming to me and gets me so nervous pre-race.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Amy and Heidi around mile 8 or so. SUCH a great sight!! They said Craig was a little in front of me. With the loop bike course and point to point run, I hadn't seen anyone since Laura passed me on the bike early on. I then saw Marna and her family and she was cheering like crazy and said Craig was just ahead. I finally saw him around mile 10 and yelled from behind, "just remember who started this shit". We exchanged some words of encouragement and a hand slap and I kept going. I hit mile 11 and told myself I had 20 minutes of running left. Even the slight uphill was tiring at this point and I knew I could keep the pedal down for the last bit, but not anything more than that. I hit mile 12 and then turned left to enjoy the nice downhill to the finish.

Just past mile 13, I saw Brad and Tim cheering and gave them the biggest smile. I knew I didn't break 6 hours, but knew I crushed my previous half marathon PR and set a new PR for 70.3.


Mentally, I broke the run up into four 5ks. I took GUs at mile 3, 6 and 9.5.

Nothing at all. Absolutely great run for me. I am still in absolute shock.

Grabbed gatorate and ice and found Brad and Tim and freaked out to them on my sub 2-hour half!! Got my morning clothes bag and called Kim to share in my excitement not just for the race, but also for the run. We cheered on Craig, Earl and Nate and then rode the shuttle back to the transition area to get our gear and bikes.


Hmm...not sure. Pee on the bike. Learn how to swim fast during the race.


Nothing beats a race with our friends. Each time I get a chance to race with Brad, Craig, Nate, Earl, Tim and Laura, I feel lucky. We also had awesome spectators with Heidi, Amy, Marna, Ben, Jack and Sloan. This race has me excited to race IMAZ with our crew, but also to see what I can do. I took off about 16 minutes from my 70.3 PR and about 12 minutes from my half marathon PR. Really, really happy with the results of the day. While a sub-6 race was the goal, I'm still pleased with how the day went.

This was the first year for this race and you can tell they need to work out the kinks.

Pros:
Interesting bike course
Port o potties were the absolute nicest ever. They had floor mats, cup holders, air fresheners, decorations, etc. Awesome.
Lots and lots of volunteers on the course. And at every single intersection. At points, the cops were yelling at irritated drivers while they had to wait on the run course.
The bike course pavement was perfect and well marked
Wetsuit strippers

Cons:
The written communication wasn't the best (describing the logistics of the split transition/finish line).
They changed the bike course for what felt like a hundred times.
The food line was a debacle and unorganized which lead to a really long line (I ended up not getting any post race food).
They had a lack of massage tables and by the time I finished had stopped taking names for massages.