Pumpkinman Triathlon - Half Course - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I was VERY pleased with my swim. It's the fastest I've ever swam this distance at. I'm getting fast enough that I'm not by myself at the end. My sighting was spot on this time and since the Garmin said 1960m, no over-swim if any. Straight as an arrow with slight deviations two times to get closer to the buoys. Tried to hug the buoys and one I actually hit with my hand as I passed. There was minimal contact and A LOT of drafting, we were drafting off each other and pretty much swimming in packs. I went from pack to pack to pack.

From the first second I told myself you CANNOT afford NOT to kick from the first second and kept reminding myself kick kick kick kick. Catch, follow-through. I'm a bi-lateral breather so that was no issue. The months of lake swimming helped tremendously with sighting and swimming straight(er). Followed the crowd when I was going against the sun and it was hard to see the buoys. Used clear Goggles. No issues at all sighting. Best swim ever. Tried to focus on reaching up and extending, good follow-through, it all came together.

Since finding out I need children's Goggles because of a narrow face and high nose bridge, leaking is not a problem anymore.

Nothing!

I had swam a couple of days before and there was new chip seal and so I had brought my sandals. GREAT idea. I ran past a bunch of people, then took a ton of time putting stuff on. Wings (covers shoulders from the sun), leg coolers (covers legs from the sun) took most of the time, but I guess a few extra minutes to conserve my skin is a good trade-off. And this was the first time, it can only improve with time. I HAD tested both in training, it was the first tri I had to deal with putting them on.

More tris, more practice!

4,721 ft elevation gain. Yep. In training, I was past the cutoff time by 45 minutes adding my swim and bike time. I did the bike course over and over again. In the tri I beat the swim+bike cutoff by 48:10 INCLUDING the first transition. That's over an hour and a half improvement, by just biking the course over and over and over again. I knew that course like the back of my hand.

I drank less than 24 oz the whole ride through plus my Perpetuem bottle. I just don't drink while riding, I don't know why. In olympics I barely touch the bottle. My bottle with concentrated Perpetuem and markings worked GREAT. I took a plastic bottle, about 20 oz, and clear, so you can see how much is left. Then I marked it Start, :20, :40, 1:20, 1:40, 2:20, 2:40, 3:20. That lasts me four hours. At the end there's no need for 3:40 because I just drink what's left. At the top of each hour I eat a solid, 100 calories, and I've settled on half a Thomas Whole Grain English Muffin with quarter spoonful peanut butter. Along with half a scoop of Perpetuem at :20 and :40, that's 250 or so calories per hour (242.5). Hence the markings. Works awesome. And Perpetuem really works for me. I had worked a lot in training on nutrition and had it dialed down. The bottle even has clear tape all over to keep the pen markings from coming off.

This was the first time I think I really pushed myself. Twice, towards the end (where they left a few good hills for us) I actually felt like unclipping, putting the bike down at the side of the road, sitting next to it, and crying, out of pure exhaustion. I thought that was awesome. Focused on smooth pedal strokes, high cadence, even uphill. I noticed towards the end I had been tensing up the whole ride because of the effort I was putting in and I could barely close my hand it was so numb from gripping the handlebar. I really gave it my all. From transition and back to the transition turnoff it was a 48 mile loop and then off eight miles to transition two. I averaged 15.00 MPH on that section in the race!! My best in training had been 12.23 MPH for that section. Then it all kind of fell apart as most of the climbing was at the end, but still better than the best 11.72 MPH overall I did in training. I kept reminding myself, you still have a half marathon to do, you still had a half marathon to do. Sometimes I was in the easiest gear and I have no idea how I stayed upright and was able to do another pedal stroke.

NOTHING! Very pleased with my performance. Who cares if I was bottom 10%, a few months ago I couldn't even finish the course on time. And this is a very challenging course because of the elevation gain.

Coach and training buddy waiting for the two of us racing, first words out of my mouth were I WANT OFF THIS BIKE half-joking, half-not. I was so stiff from gripping the bike because of the effort I put into it I was moving slowly.

I think I pushed too hard on the bike but I'm not sorry I did, it was a learning experience on really pushing it. I made up what I didn't drink on the bike here, as I had 3 X 24 oz bottles of Gatorade Pro (160 calories each) plus what I drank from cups (I got the bottles from the little cart refilling the stations, ha), plus three gels. I didn't have the gel until mile 3 or so and then just because I pushed it down. On the bike I had started to feel like my whole body was going to go into convulsions from the effort and I started feeling stomach cramps.

Look how my mile splits at the beginning and middle get better. That's because I was so happy to get off that bike and then because I was so happy I was midway through.

I have suffered from dizziness issues for 26 months and ONE WEEK from race time I finally got the answer of WHAT (although there may never be a WHY). Imagine you're standing up and start spinning. That feeling you get of dizziness and of almost fainting or falling, that's what I call dizziness (and it wasn't until I got the WHAT that I finally realized that's what it was like, because it's motion related). So for weeks I hadn't been able to run because I was going through a "bad dizzy spell." I was run/walking 4 min/1 min doing 13-15 minute miles. My longest straight run had been 9 miles, once. The 10 and 12 had to be run/walk. After my balance center visit, I came upon the idea of focusing on a non-moving object as I ran. This took away the dizziness COMPLETELY and IMMEDIATELY and I felt awesome. I don't have to do it all the time, just when I feel it coming on. And it gets rid of it for the moment. So now I can run again. Excited to go into training and really run now. So based on the circumstances, I ran great. Yes I can run better, and even better off that bike, but I just couldn't do proper training for it. Got me through, though.

More on the dizziness: There's three systems that allow people to move, muscles, vision, and vestibular system. My muscles are great, vision great unless I start going fast, at which point it just slightly goes and then freefalls into abnormal. My vestibular system is shot to begin with. Best they can figure 31 years of not moving, 3 years of moving, and 10 months of going as fast as I can have thrown my motion system into a tailspin, like I'm continually spinning. Focusing on an object centers me again and fools the vision into thinking I'm going slower. Win-win. There's exercises to strengthen the systems to maybe one day not get dizzy without the stare-down.

My coach is brilliant. The aid station were 1 mile apart (and .3 out and back), so six stations, two out and back loops. Run to each station, walk through to drink. So you really only run one mile at a time. That got me through the run. Towards the end the left leg started cramping big time. I just hadn't been able to train properly with the run, next one should go a lot smoother. When I got home I couldn't bend the left leg. Ten hours later, almost back to normal with minimum pain and able to bend it again.

NOTHING! Did what I could with the circumstances. Now I retreat and train train train for my next half in April :)

Pictures, chatting with mom and friends. Had some of the post-race chicken, pasta, and a bread roll. Would have preferred chocolate milk but they didn't have any and I didn't bring my own because of the split transition.


My bike (heavy, aluminun, $800 entry-level), not enough run training because of dizziness, me.


The company is notorious for running out in stations and emails in the past haven't helped, they just don't care, it seems, and slower people get the short end of the stick. Volunteers had left a biking trail at the end of the bike leg and the one sign was ambiguous and I mostly got through correctly by luck and checking the ground for gel packets and bottle debris that assured me I was in the correct path. No excuse to run out of Gatorade and cups (some people "recycled" cups, I can reach that point, but didn't in this tri) in a Half. When they already know it has happened in the past. And I had emailed them that people had missed turns in that trail in the past and they assured me better markings and more people. NO people and one bad marking. Yep, like they don't care.

Post-race:
I don't do ice baths. I just don't. I do a warm bath with Epsom salts and that seems to work for me. Minimum soreness and I think with proper run training I would have had NO soreness at all.