Miami Man 1/2 Iron - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I planned on not going all out on this, just using it as my warmup, and I did just that. It was a great swim-this is an awesome lake (and I don't like lakes..at all). I just got in my groove and did my thing. Took it easy coming out and back into the water to keep the heart rate in check. Because I got a penalty (see bike), they don't have my rankings for the individual events, but I had the fastest time in the swim for my age group, so I think I did fine. I mentioned to Lisa that my left knee had a funny pain in it, but she said it was probably just psychological, and I agreed and didn't think about it again (until a few hours later!)

Not much, but maybe push a tad bit harder..however, pushing harder would've elevated my heart rate without a significant time gain, so probably nothing.

I took my sweet time with this! I walked from the swim to the TA, then took an easy jog to my bike, which wasn't too far from the bike start. I cleaned off my feet, put on my socks and shoes, put on my bike jersey, loaded it up with stuff for the ride, grabbed my extra bottle from the cooler for the bike and walked, with my bike shoes on, to the mounting area. It was a very slow transition, but I wanted to go into the bike without my heart pounding out of my chest. I was having a good time at this point and was determined to enjoy this race!

In future races I will be more organized. I also need a tri suit that has more than one itty bitty pocket that I can put my snacks and inhaler in so I don't have to mess with a jersey. I'm ok with this transition for this race.

OK, this was the ride of my freaking life. I never average 19+. ever. I had a great ride! I felt on top of the world. Kept waiting for the head wind to slow me down, as I kept thinking "there must be a killer tailwind". I felt sooo good on this ride, my legs felt strong, I wasn't breathing super heavy, my heart rate seemed under control (no monitor) and I was having a great time. I was anticipating a 3h 20m ride, and came in much earlier than that. I was on top of the freaking world at this point. Saw a beautiful sunflower field that we passed by twice! I just loved this ride. Ate a luna bar about 1/2 hour from the finish.

Apparently, not draft! I was soooo suprised to see I got a penalty. I even made comments after the race about how many people I saw drafting. Peletons passed me..people in pairs, tire to tire passed me. I kept thinking about how they were cheating and I was so proud I was doing it all on my own! One guy on the course even commented about how it only matters if you get caught, and I was appaled!

So, I need to email the race dir. to see if they can tell me what I did. All I can think I did was on the way into the park, there was a 2 lane road with lots of cars and no bike lane. I was behind a guy, and I wanted to pass him but I couldn't because of all the traffic. I was close behind him, and followed him around some traffic, and maybe that was it? In any case, I got a 4 min. penalty.

Also, I drank 2 bottles of extra concentrated infinit, so I had my calories and electrolytes. I drank about 1/2 a bottle of water, then switched for a fresh one at a bottle drop, and about 10 miles out dropped it while trying to put it back. I don't think I had enough water.

Even slower :) Got to T2 and was thinking about how much extra time I had now on the run! It was like 3h30m at this point, and if I could do a 9:30 pace, I'd come in around 5h35m! So, I changed my socks, put on my running shoes and my hat, grabbed my bottle of infinit from the cooler, chatted with a lady doing the relay and the race announcer waiting for his wife (joked I was waiting for my pizza and beer when he asked if I was in a hurry) downed a gu and started walking. Realized I forgot my race number. Asked some guys if they thought I should go get it, and they said "yeah, you better, just in case", so I walked back to get it and walked to the start of the run, where I finally started running.

Speed it up a little! Again, wanted to be sure I was all set for the run ahead, and knew I had an extra 1/2 hour in the bank to make the 6 hour mark.

Started off slow, feeling like I was getting nowhere. I was suprised to check my split and see a 9:15 pace! I felt great. I can do a 1:50 stand alone 1/2 mary, so I figured 2 hours, maybe 2:10. So I just kept my breathing even and pushed onward, feeling so great about my race thus far. Next splits were 8:59, 9:43, 9:40, 9:31...saw Janice somewhere around here, got a kiss and some water and THEN a short while later I came unglued. My belly was feeling off. My left knee (IT band) was locking up. My heel hurt ( I had bruised it the prior monday) and I was HOT. I stopped to use a bathroom in the campgrounds. Had to remove bike jersey, unzip and pull down my very wet tri suit. Felt a little better after peeing. Pulled up the tri suit and couldn't get it zipped all the way. Put the jersey back on and got back into action. That mile split was 12:46. I think my IT band was starting to feel funny at this point, but I plodded on. Next split was 10:15, then I must have stopped to stretch the IT band for the 1st of many, many times. I could barely walk. I sat down and did the stretch I knew, then would get back up and walk then finally run. Many racers were kind and asked if I was ok. Many said their legs were cramping. I continued on, but at a few points actually wondered if I even wanted to finish. I saw the clock getting closer and closer to the 6 hour mark and I was getting discouraged. I talked to a few guys and it turns out they were from VA Beach and know our friends who live there. I couldn't keep up with them, though, because I had to keep stopping to stretch. I stopped at every water station and took water. Took salt tabs at one too. I was afraid to take the amino vital, as I hadn't trained with it and didn't want to complicate the gut issues. My smile faded and it was all I could do to finish the final 2 miles. I was wondering what on earth I was thinking signing up to do an Ironman! My final splits were 11:16, 12:15, 11:23, 10:45, 12:54 and 12:29. I came in at 5:55:49, but with the penalty was 5:59:49...11 seconds under 6 hours!!!

I didn't do any bricks off my long bike rides, so that would be first! I had the IT band trouble one other time in a race, but never had it in training, so that was a fluke..maybe in part due to the bruised heel? I could say take it easier on the bike, but I felt so good, I don't know if I could have. I need to work on a more solid nutrition and hydration plan, get a better tri suit, and then do more races. I was disappointed with the run, but I also think I underestimated running 13.1 after that long bike. I read in billcarb's rr about "respecting the distance".

Crawled across the finish and saw Randy and his wife (a swim buddy and Sharon's coach)...Sharon came over and sat with me and I just sat and sipped on water. I felt a little like puking. After a while I got my stuff from transition and got changed, grabbed a few slices of pizza and a coke and sat in a lump eating them. walked around a bit seeing everyone and waited around for the awards so I could see my roomie, Sharon, get 1ST!!!!!! She even beat a young pro elite racer's time!! Drove home a couple of hours later, had a shower, a few beers and a giant burrito from Chipotle.


Inexperience.


I think this is a great race. The swim is awesome, the bike was flat and fast, and the run was well organized but not the best course in my opinion. I like the company that puts on these races-they're a good bunch of folks who just enjoy the heck out of it. If I hadn't signed up for IMFL next year, I'd do this in a heart beat.