Lake Geneva Triathlon - Half Iron Distance - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Relaxed at this point, He says on your mark and get set, and then nothing, but everyone starts going. MUTRI and I looked at each other and said..."did he say go?" That was sorta funny. Then, off we went. He took off like a rocket, and I was doing my thing. Smooth gaggle, meaning tons of people to draft and be around, but nothing real bad in terms of hits, given or received. With all the feet I rarely looked up. Given my lack of training, the turnaround seemed to take forever to get to. Bouys were on the right, and I breathe left, so that was a challenge. Turnaround bouy also dead into the sun. So, it sorta came upon me unexpectedly. At the turnaround, I was ready to be done, basically, but was feeling OK, if that makes sense. I would kinda whine to myself in my head, but I'd then just say to myself, "why, what hurts? Shoulders have energy, back feels fine, kicking relaxed, arms/triceps OK, breathing good, what's the problem?" That got me through. Still, shore looked a million miles away, and wasn't getting closer. Crowd very spread by this point too. We were supposed to keep bouys on our right, but I tell ya, on the way back in, every time I looked up there were people EVERYWHERE on both sides of the bouys all heading into shore. It was hard to tell if I was taking a good line or not. By the time I got to shore I was certainly feelilng it, given my lack of training, but happy to see my watch in the sub-40 range.

Outside of train to be a better swimmer, not much. This swim probably was an exact snapshot of my ability at this point. So-so on speed and too much energy expenditure for that kind of swim speed.

I'm real happy with this transition. In my mindset of the race I did want to prove something to myself on the bike. I have been riding strong. Given that, it was almost as important to me to meet my goal of sub-3:45-ish after swim-bike than anything. Since I was outta the water sub-40, I knew I was setting myself up well to meet my bike goal. That kept me moving and though it wasn't an epic transition by any stretch, I did what I had to do and got outta there. Saw 42-ish on the clock when I was pedaling out, which again set me up well for my goal.

Not much. I was disorganized on set-up, moreso than any other race probably. Otherwise, I'm good with this transition.

Here we go. Schmize, are you listening? Somehow during the swim and pre-race thinking, I had made the decision that I wanted to test my bike skillz, or lack thereof. Even at the HIM distance, if you can pound out a good bike split.

That being said, I did receive an unsolicited email from schmize on BT, outlining a plan that he was given for his HIM. It basically said to "maybe avg 145 bpm for the first 15 miles and then up that to around 155 bpm for the second half." and "Let the hammer heads or clueless riders push hard". Very saalid, good advice, right? I immediately burned those numbers into my cranium and determined I need to follow that.

So I'm outta the water, at 42:00, right where I wanna be. I start riding and the usual wacky feeling after the hub-ub of swim/transition is upon me. Trying to get myself situated. The bike course has some minor to medium rollers, but one big steep hill right outta the box. Within the first 2-minutes of the ride. I'm not feeling great, and we hit this hill. OK, I pass a couple people early in the hill, and then my heart just goes outta my chest. I am struggling to get the pedals around, searching for anything with more teeth in the rear, less in front. While struggling I get passed back by 3 or 4 people. FOCK. Finally make it to the top and I am just beside myself. I am barely functional. Try to regroup over the next small area and get passed again, and this guy was by me on the swim so he mentions the wackiness I described after the turnaround. I grunt something in reply and he passes me. I am a hurting dog. I look down at my bike computer and it's on time, not distance, and I've been riding for 4-minutes. OMG, this is not gonna be pretty. I regroup and try to gather myself. Deep breaths, etc., and I start to settle in a bit. Begin hammering because I can't let these peeps pass me like that, so I blow their freakin' doors clean off, literally like they're standing still. Now they're behind me and after that kinda smackdown I can't let them catch up, so I keep pounding and look for the next group. Same thing.

I take a few peeks a my speed and it's 24.5 or so each time I look. heh, that's pretty fast for me, but I feel OK, better check the HR and make sure I'm following the schmize plan. I'm expecting my HR to be in the "smart" range per schmize's advice. I look, 172. awww foooock, wayyy too high. Am I by chance being a "cluelees rider" and all these other people are following the schmize plan? Am I gonna be humbled by these smart people later on in the course? This haunts me, but I continue on? Why? I don't know exactly. I was having fun, I suppose.

About an hour in I can see my average is solidly above 20. I know I'm killing the course. I have blown by more people than I can count. I have not been passed by anyone. Still a looong way to go. Of course, my quads are feeling it. My HR is hovering in the 160-165 range. Schmize is in my head, telling me I'm an idiot. IDIOT!!! Certainly, I am within my training range, but (a) my longest training ride of late is 41 miles, and (b) I didn't run a hilly azz course afterward. I fully expect and know around the 2 hour mark I am gonna be feeling this effort, and feeling it hard.

The next hour goes by in 10-minute segments. I am VERY focused on the clock, my cadence, drinking, geling, etc. This was NO joyride by any stretch. I cannot say it was fun, except again, blowing people away. I can see the bikes getting nicer, the wheels getting more expensive, and the body shapes getting leaner as I continue to move up the field. I know by the schmize plan I am so far off it's ridiculous. At one point I began chanting to myself "I am focking up this raaaace, I am focking up this raaaaceeeeee" over and over again. This sounds negative but in a way at the time I found it sorta funny.

That being said, knowing the killer hills ahead on the run, I had many thoughts of only doing one lap of the run (10K) or skipping it entirely. Seriosuly. Never had that kind of thought before, and it was disturbing. I thought of this report, the dreaded DNF letters, and overall the number of times I'd have to explain away my "quit". Given the fatigue in my legs already, even those thoughts didn't stamp it out entirely.

The ride in general is a big oval, and all points going east found us in the teeth of an irritating wind. Not epic, but enough to be a headache. At one point around the 2 hour mark we were on this uber focked up pot-hole infested road with a minor but perceptible uphill grade into the wind. I was downshifting like crazy, going like 16, and figured this was it, the smart bikers were likely back on my azz and gonna pounce all over me. Schmize was right, and I'm an idiot. Time to pay the piper. Well, in the end, that did not happen, nobody passed me, I was able to get past that section and get my legs moving again nicely. Brought 'er home feeling proud of the ride.

side note: I love my new vision bars. The position is more aggressive, and has proven to be faster in training. Comfort-wise, I was worried about for a ride of this distance. No problems. GREAT purchase.

Well, I don't know. The whole bike was a big PR for me, and it was fun despite my description. That was the thing, I was working too hard and being a strategic idiot, but I didn't care.

Another thing that's troubling me, is the issue of urination. As in, I have not had to yet. My stomach is feeling eh, and I'm worried I'm not processing anything. I'm wishing at this point I had a BT hotline for that type of question. "Say, I'm just getting off the bike in a HIM, and I haven't and don't need to pee yet? Can we get a thread going on this and get back to me in the next minute or so?" ;)

Not much. I came in hot, sweaty, and fatigued. Some of the final little climbs in town I stood up to power through, and could feel some cramping. So, I knew I was in trouble for the run. Just did what I could to settle down, cool off, eat some crap. Did my inhaler for EIA (which I'd forgotten to do pre-bike like an idiot.) Took, some long pulls on the water bottle.

Again, not much. I was hot, a bit flustered, and worried about the run. Fortunately, by now I'd talked myself outta the quit mentality, and my time was way ahead of my goal. It wasn't even 3:30:xx yet, if I'm not mistaken, so I'm feeling great about that. Transition time here, and subsequent run time, weren't even a concern for me, if that makes sense.

The run starts in town, and I'm feeling bad right off the bat. It's no surprise to me, given the hard effort on the bike, and complete lack of T-runs in my training. I get through town and away from people and the first climb is on me. I walk it to try to relax. While I'm WALKING, the "teardrop" muscle above the knee on the inside starts cramping up above both knees. FOOOCK. I keep walking to the top of the hill. It's barely subsided. I start running and there's no way. ZERO. So, I walk, depressed, and start thinking about things I've read on BT. People survive this shat and live on to productive races. Maybe I can do it too? I've been taking an electrolyte tab an hour or so leading up to this. Well, I say since I'm in this situation, let's see if I can manufacture a cure for these cramps. I start by popping 3 electrolyte tablets and downing water outta the fuel belt. Next, an aid station comes up and I down 2 gatorades, and I can feel my body soak it up.

side note...I felt sick on gatorade on my first tri ever about 7 years ago. I've avoided it since. As my body is soaking it up I realize, perhaps holding onto such hard-and-fast rules is really stuupid given the needs of a HIM versus a sprint. Perhaps if I"d have had some G-Ade on the bike, I'd be good right now.

OK, so I'm learning some stuff out there. The gatorade soaks in, and I can feel my legs loosening (OK, maybe mental vs. gatorade that fast, but who cares?). I start running and the cramps begin. I walk until they quiet. I tell myself to quit being a prideful bastage. Start SLOW, barely above a walk, and see what happens. I do that, and whattaya know, I'm able to continue. Another station, tons more gatorade, and I'm starting to feel better and better. I can tell the teardrop muscles are on the verge, but sustaining. Got past the hills with some walking, mostly running, and ran the whole top flat and most of the way back into the end of loop one. Kept monitoring, pouring in gatorade. Last electrolyte was gone at the turnaround, so I've got nada left on that.

Lap 2 I felt I had the cramps in check, and knew how to deal. I was shuffling along, and the course was just taking FOREVER to get through.

About 1/4 of the way, who shows up but MUTRI, like a gift from the Gods. He tells me he's hurting like he's never hurt before, but he looks like he's got a lot of bounce in the 'ol legs to me. We start talking and laughing about various parts of the course and our experiences. I had only met him once so we start talking backgrounds and all kinds of shat, and whattya know we're pounding through the course at a decent clip, and the cramps are staying at bay. I felt like I was slowing him down, but he stuck with me which was uber-cool of him to do.

At about 2-miles to finish he's jonesing to break 5:30, and my cramps are starting to rear their ugly heads again, so I kicked his azz away from me and he took off like a rocket. Seriosuly, props to MUTRI, he's a great endurance athlete. I shuffled my way in to come fairly close to the 5:30 myself, but moreso felt proud to have MANAGED the problem on the run instead of diving into the abyss of misery, mentally.

Brick training, learn to plan nutrition better. Be a stronger runner.

Almost biffed at the finish. I'm trying to look saaalid for the photo, and my left calf did a little mini lock about 10-steps from the finish. I almost face-planted. Brought 'er in on 2-feet though.

MUTRI and his brother JCOW were there at the finish, all young and full of vigor. I met their mom as well...what an AWESOME family. Mom there supporting her older kids, who are out doing cool shat like triathlon instead of sitting around in bars. Really neat to see, and props to those guys. Mom's a PT and was working on MUTRI on the spot. It was all I could do to fight the urge to shove him outta the way and have her stretch me out the way she was getting him loosened up, like a pro. ;)


Training. Cramps.


What can I say. Thanks to DONKEY NATION, MUTRI, SCHMIZE, JSZAT, OIPOLLOI, MCFUZZ and BAMBAM, for all the advice that resonated at one time or another out there. BT, thank you.