Muncie Endurathon - Aquabike - Aquabike


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Muncie, Indiana
United States
Muncie Endurathon
Precipitation
Total Time = 4h 17m 3s
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = AF30-39
Age Group Rank = 2/?
Pre-race routine:

Got up at o'dark thirty after having two families walk into the room. Awesome. I love how HIE kept giving room 204 away. MY friend's husband asked if I was in the swinger's room because I had so many people try to get in. Sad.

Anyhow - grabed my new favorite pre-race breakfast of ProBar Superfood Smash and 3 hard boiled egg whites. Drove to the race cite in a caravan of some FASTERs - Mia and hubby Michael and Melissa and her boyfriend/sherpa Doug.

Got to the site, grabbed the gear and headed into the transition area.
Event warmup:

Putting on my wetsuit. :o)

Myself and the FASTERs in wave 10 (Athena, Clydes, Aquabike and Relays) walked down just in time to see wave 8 take off.
Swim
  • 48m 58s
  • 2112 yards
  • 02m 19s / 100 yards
Comments:

Holy chop batman! The swimmers I was with commented how this was a horrible swim. I am not calling it unbareable, but with the fast approaching storm - it got hairy out there. Within the first 200m I wanted to turn around, but I kept on going. I found comfort in the waves and literally just went with the flow of the waves. I got into this rhythm and just stuck with it. Sighting was spot on, drafting NA due to water conditions.

Crazy enough, this was my best swim. I really enjoyed it and was sort of sad when it was over.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing honestly.
Transition 1
  • 02m 9s
Comments:

Our racks were the farthest away from the bike out, however it floew right by!


What would you do differently?:

NA. I felt really prepared.
Bike
  • 3h 25m 57s
  • 56 miles
  • 16.31 mile/hr
Comments:

The start is rolling hills. Nothing major - never had to get out of the big ring. After ~2.5 miles we turned onto the Greenway - a nice rails-to-trails system. We stayed on the greenway for maybe 6 miles - shielded from wind and pretty flat - I averaged 23 miles per hour on the greenway!

Then we turned onto route 35 for the looooong flat and fast stretch of the race.

First thing I noticed - headwind. MPH dropped to 17. No sweat. The real issue I had was the result of a choppy swim is a lot of back twisting. Add that to a 56 mile bike ride and you have a lot of lower back pain. A few miles down the road MPH was at 14 and my back was killing me. I kept getting out of the saddle and doing some yoga back stretches to help ease the pain. Whatever it would take I was going to do.

By mile 15 I was in near tears from pain and just praying for a break in wind so I could lay it down and get back to speed to get to the finish to get the pain gone. God was listening because at the turn off to head towards the turn around point I got the break in wind... in the form of a downpour.

At the turn around point - arouind mile 28 or so - I got off of my bike and made a quick trip to the porta-potty. Once back on my bike I executed the turn around and headed back super excited for that headwind to be a clear tail wind. Avg was back up to 18 MPH into the wind... for about 6 miles.

Lightening. Hail. Of, and the wind changed so I was once again in a headwind for the looong retun up 35.

I never swore so much in my life. At some points I was barely going 13 MPH.

I truly think there is a point when you just say F it. For me - when I reach this point I don't give up - I lay down the hammer. I got down into my drops and just bore down as hard as I could taking coasting breaks to massage out the back as best I could and to stand up on the peddals to do more back stretches.

After some more little rollers I saw the dismount signs and started to slow. Once I got to the line panic set in. I clip out right foot first only this time I twisted my foot and nothing happened. I was locked in getting yelled at by officials and was 6" away from a penalty for crossing the mat on my bike. My friend Noah yelled to me to unclip left so I did right before my front tire was going to hit the mat. I was lucky and pulled my bike back and in the effort to prevent a penalty I ripped my right clip clear off from my shoe. I ran acrossed the mats and the volunteers starting laughing. "Good save!" they yelled, "we were running to catch you, thought you were going down!"
What would you do differently?:

Nothing - it was what it was and that is all I could have hoped for. I did it. The training worked. I felt fresh at the end minus the rediclous back pain from the swim.
Post race
Warm down:

Walked over to Melissa'a sherpa-boyfriend Doug and we took all my gear back to his car. Came back with my friend's hubby Michael who also did the Aqubike and had lunch. Got my plaque for finishing, and talked to Alaina and Ryan for a few minutes. My gosh they are the most amazing couple ever! So sweet, so friendly, so talented. I am really happy that I met them in person finally! It only took 2 years, eh?

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Wind, hail, rain, crazy Muncie weather never disappoints. All in all, I felt good about my performance given the conditions.

Event comments:

LOVE Muncie. I am doing the Half Ironman in 2009 for sure. This race is awesome!!!! Weather be dammed, it was fun.




Last updated: 2008-11-02 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:48:58 | 2112 yards | 02m 19s / 100yards
Age Group: 2/?
Overall: 33/
Performance: Good
This includes the 1/4 mile walk/run to transition. My actual swim time in/out of water was 46 minutes.
Suit: Yes!
Course: This was a rectangular-ish course.
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 77F / 25C Current: High
200M Perf. Below average Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Bad
Waves: Good Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 02:09
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed:
Biking
03:25:57 | 56 miles | 16.31 mile/hr
Age Group: 2/?
Overall: 0/
Performance: Good
Ummm... funny story about the bike. Minus the 5 minutes I took at the course turn around (potty break) and the fact that I spent about 1 minute at the end avoiding a penalty prior to crossing the finish mat - my time in the saddle pace was 17+ mph. Not too shabby considering the weather. More on that to follow.
Wind: Headwind with gusts
Course: Rolling hills at start and finish - long flat greenway and closed highways to ride on. Minus the weather this was a flat and fast course for sure! LOVED it! I fyou train on Hines and ILRA - you are ready.
Road: Smooth Wet Cadence: ?
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5