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 Swim
Comments: I was pretty nervous about the swim. Being in the second wave with the 40+ plus women and the 50+ men, I knew that we would overtaken by the waves behind us with younger men and women. The good news is that this did not happen as soon as I thought it would. The beginning of the swim went very well. I found my place in the water and just went strong and steady. Once I got out there I had no trouble finding the bouys and actually feel like I cut a pretty good line from one to the next. Only issue on the swim out was this women doing the backstroke right along side of me for a several yards. I wanted her to get the heck away from me. Eventually, I left her. I was able to do some drafting which was cool. Rounded the last bouy of the out portion feeling strong and confident. Drafted off someone for most of the horizontal portion and rounded the bouy to start heading in still feeling pretty good. There were a couple of green caps at his point swimming past. And then!— a whole school of green caps overtook me! Yikes!! There was a bit of chop heading in and then just a complete mash as these green caps just overtook me. I stood my ground and tried not to get out of my zone. I could see the finish and just focused on maintaining the best possible line towards it. Found some feet to draft off of and got it done. It got crazy again right at the end with a bunch of us all trying to finish and get out of the water. It was really good to get out of the water!! What would you do differently?: Nothing really. I feel like I executed well on the swim and that my training in the pool paid off. I had predicted the night before a 40 minute swim time and that pretty much exactly what I did so very pleased with the effort.  Transition 1
Comments: They had wetsuit strippers and I knew I would have trouble getting my suit off. Hah! the strippers did too. This took way too long but we eventually got the dang thing off. Met trimom217 running into transition. Dave was there cheering me on and reminded me to take the cap and goggles off before trying to jam my helmet on :). Thanks love!—what would I do without you. I felt a bit nauseas getting my bike gear on. Hoped this would pass quickly. Shoes on and out the chute. What would you do differently?: I should really practice doing transitions as I always have trouble with T1. Cap and goggles are easy to forget and time is wasted trying to jam my helmet on while they are still on my head :). This was my first time racing in my wetsuit so that was all new to me. I guess I did okay with it though as my actual time seemed much shorter than I thought it would be.  Bike
Comments: Once again, my bike split is so much better than my overall rank and so much better than my swim or run rank. This course was tough and I can't believe I averaged 18.0 miles per hour. There were many times when I was doing 7-9 miles per hour! Devils hill was a biatch! It was short but wicked steep and just took a massive effort to get up. But really the challenge was in the rest of the course. There was really just one hill after another. It took a few miles to get my legs back after the swim and to start to feel good. For the first few miles I was mostly thinking about Devils Hill and how I would do on it. I recognized it immediately thanks to the pick posted in the Captn' blog. The first time up, I had to work pretty hard to get up it and was close to hyper ventilating near the top—still working the swim out my body. The descent was wicked good fun and this is where I made up for the slow grinding up the hills. What would you do differently?: Nothing really. I dont feel like I pushed too hard on the bike. Really, there was no choice but to work hard because it was a tough ride. I tried to maximize my speed in the places where I could and just worked hills as best I could knowing I had a half mary to run next. I found my self getting out of the saddle on several occasions to get up some of the shorter steeper hills but also found that if I rode the big gear up some of the gentler, longer climbs I could get more speed and less effort. Efficiency!! The downhills were awesome and my bike just flew! My favorite part of the ride was coming through the park after the first loop and riding through all the spectators there. Such great support and I was flying through there. Felt like a rock star!! Transition 2
Comments: Not a bad transition. Getting off the bike I felt a bit unsteady and out of sorts. Knew I had to pee, but wanted to get out on the run course as I felt my race was going really well at this point and wanted to keep the momentum going. I had a side stitch right from the get go that developed in the last miles on the bike. This would stay with me through the entire run. What would you do differently?: Nothing. Was a pretty good transtion  Run
Comments: Okay the run was really tough. I knew right from the start it was going to be a struggle. I had a cramp in my right side that never went away. I needed to pee so my first mission upon leaving tranistion was to run to the aid station where I knew there were portolets. They were at like mile 1 or 1.5. Once that was taken care of I felt a bit better, but the pain in my side was there to stay. I walked here and there in the first few miles and then tried to get organized with a better walk run plan. I decided I would walk the aid station to help keep myself motivated to run more. It was really, really tough, but my watch was indicating that I was making good time so I tried really hard to hang in and keep moving forward as quickly as possible. Nasty hills at the top of the course. I had to walk these. Then the turn around up the dirt road. Mentally, this course was tough too because you had to do two loops and when you finished the first you actually turned into a path that said "FINISH" Once you got in there you there was a sign directing you to the second loop.Ugh! You mean I have to go around again. The start of the loop had you running on the sandy beach of the lake for a hundred yards or so. This was difficult both times!! I saw Seth, Max and May and they were all gaining on me. Seth was threatening to catch me which he eventually did at mile 10. He wanted me to run with him, but I knew I had to do it my way at this point or I would blow up. One thing that really helped was that at the start and finish of both loops you had great crowd support and again Tom (TC117) and his gang were there for me calling out my name and cheering me on. You guys were so awesome. Also, my husband and son and burniects family and Christopher and lots of other folks all there cheering us on. Just awesome!! I ran the last mile or so really, really strong. Once again came upon Tom's group and they made a human tunnel for me to run through—high fives all around and then made the turn knowing that I was indeed headed to the FINISH of my first HIM in much better shape than I had predicted. I was just so happy to be finishing that I sprinted to the finish and I am hoping that someone got a pic because I know I had gigantic smile on my face. My husband and son were there cheering for me and lots of other folks. Really awesome!! What would you do differently?: Clearly, I needed to do more bricks in my training, particularly after my longer rides. And, I needed to do more running in general. I had been predicting a 2:30 run so I am actually not too disappointed with this. Post race
Warm down: Warm down for me was really just an exercise in trying not to have a complete meltdown. I got really emotional for a few moments and had to try not to burst into tears. I could already feel my body starting to tighten up and knew I was going to be feeling it today. What limited your ability to perform faster: Didn't perform well on the run. Could have been stronger and this would have moved me closer to a sub 6 hour finish. Event comments: I have to say that all the volunteer support out on the course and in the park was just awesome. Lots of great folks making the race safe and well organized. This was a tough one to choose for a first HIM and this early in the season. I can't say I won't be back to try it again ;) Last updated: 2006-11-06 12:00 AM
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United States
Endorfun Sports
70F / 21C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 429/526
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 19/27
We stayed in a cottage located on Newfound Lake just a couple of miles from the race site. Thanks to burniect for hooking us up with this. Lots of fun staying there with his family as well as, Polly and C and CptnJack and his wife. We had a great pasta dinner the night before—Bait and his friend stopped in to join us. What a great time!
Up at 4:40 after sleeping in a bed that was like a hotdog roll :). I forced myself to eat a bagel with peanut butter and a banana. Always good to get these in before I get too nervous to eat. C and Dave went out on a coffee run! We were desparate for it! The cottage had a coffee maker, but it was a bit unsavory. We sat quietly at the kitchen table—me, Polls and Aaron and quietly contemplated the day before us. The nerves quickly followed. We all got dressed, gathered up our gear and headed over to the race site around 5:30.
Arrived at the park to find that the lots were full already. DOH! They opened up another area for us and we parked and unloaded. Up til now mosquitoes hadn't really been a problem, but when we got out of the car they were waiting for us. Holy crap batman!! These things were huge and hungry. We unloaded our gear swatting and cursing. A bit of a walk to the transition area. Nerves and excitement building.
Got into the transition area to set up. Acted like a total fred trying to rack my bike as a lady on the other side of the rack tried to explain to me how i should hook my bike on the rack. I was so nervous I couldn't think straight at this point. She helped me get it in there the way it should be. It was wet, but not soggy. It had rained through the night, but so far this morning was holding off. Covered my gear with plastic. Max was there and he came over to say hi. We were in the same wave so was good to see him and know that we were in it together.
Off to find the portolets and take care of that final business. Waited in line for several minutes til Baitboy tipped me off to the "Duck house". Sweet! An actual bathroom facility! And nobody in it. The gal behind me in the line followed me, but decided to opt for the woods a few hundred yards short of getting there. She should have stuck with me as this was like the freakin' Marriot as bathrooms go at a race site!
Okay, time to squeeze into the wetsuit and get ready to rock and roll. Had nice conversation with ladies racked around me as we put our suits on. Many of them were Iron(wo)men and they were all from CT. They were all doing IMLP this summer. Dang! What am I doing here? :o.
Okay, its go time. Walked down to the water with Max and TriMom217. Realized I still had my sandals on. DOH!!
Got into the water just to get wet and do a few strokes. I was in the second wave and we would be going just 3 minutes after the elites took off. I pretty much expected to be swum over by the racers in the following waves. My other concern standing there on the shore was being able to see the bouys. It was so overcast and there was limited visibility due to the hanging gloom over the lake. I'm nearsighted and couldn't really see the bouys out there. Saw lots of BTers while waiting for the start. TC117 was there taking pics--the first of many times I would see him and his gang out on the course cheering me on. Unbelievable support from these guys!!