Ironman wannabe

Wow - still amazes me how fast time goes by and how much happens without me posting anything here. I'm not going to try and catch up - this is about my experiences this weekend.

John had convinced me that I should do a half-ironman is Sept - this was in about JUNE. I thought that would be lots of time, so I said okay and signed up for the Vikingman Triathlon, 1/2 ironman distance down in Burley, Idaho. I knew that running would be my weak point, so thought I'd try to focus on that.

Training went terribly wrong right away. I was wrestling with my sons on the front lawn when I pulled the muscles in my abdomen. It was so painful I thought I'd done something alot more serious. It was 2 weeks before I could move and 3 before I could run even a little bit. Not good.

I did the Magrath Tri (Olympic) in July - and I had a hard time staying down in the aerobars on the bike (I was only there maybe 20% of the time) and the run was extremely painful. Not a good sign.

In August I did the Olympic distance tri in Park City, Utah. Fun event, and would like to return again, but again, very difficult run.

My highest running week consisted of a total of 25 miles - 13 at once, and a couple of 6 milers. Most weeks was under 6. The only biking I had done was one long day with John in June, the tris, a day on the rollers for an hour, and a couple of other 1 hour rides. Swimming was pretty much hit and miss, too, though I did get out for a couple of open-water swims.

For the first time since I can remember, the night before the race I was actually scared. I knew I was not ready. I resigned myself to "just finishing" knowing there was a good chance I wouldn't. I had grabbed an old back brace to wear, hoping that it would help support my stomache muscles enough that I could finish. I wasn't worried about the swim - it was downriver, and I was comfortable enough in the water. The bike is where I feel really comfortable, so while I hadn't been training hard, I knew it wouldn't present any major problems. It was the run.

4am came early Sept 11. I rolled out of bed, walked around a bit, got some breakfast, and grabbed my stuff. I tried to relax and just enjoy the atmosphere a bit, and that helped. I got my transition set-up and got marked up. Then it was off to the start.

It was a cold morning - 39F to start. That wetsuit sure felt comfortable even before getting in the water! A couple of timing mat issues delayed the start for a bit, but eventually we got going. I got adjusted to the water pretty quickly. It wasn't a difficult swim - and there were lots of places where people were walking. If you stayed within 50 feet of shore the water was pretty shallow. Unfortunately, the current is pretty slow there, too. No such thing as a free lunch! I lost John and Dennis right away. They're both faster swimmers than I am, so I wasn't suprised they were gone so quickly.

As I stood up to climb out of the water, who should appear beside me but John! What a great surprise. Not so much for him, but great for me! He'd zig-zagged more than me out in the deeper water, and the difference had brought us to the swim finish at the exact same time. Climb up on the dock, and start the run to the transition area (about 200 yards away.) HOLY COW! That frost on the grass was cold on the feet! Got the top half of my wetsuit off and came upon the strippers. "Lay down" they shouted to me - and poof! My wetsuit was off. What a great experience that was!

First transition was slow. I put on an extra pair of cycling short over-top of my tri shorts - it was 56 miles! Also put on a jersey, arm warmers, and leg warmers. Not exactly a speedy transition - but faster than John's!

I knew that I was still fighting pulled stomache muscles, so I hadn't taken my TT bike, opting instead for the comfort of my Tarmac SL road bike. The only thing I did to improve aerodynamics was to wear my TT helmet and throw on a disc wheel. 3 miles in John went flying by me. I caught back up and we rode side-by-side for a little over 20 miles. We passed alot of people, and got passed by a few of the speedy ones, and a few that I guessed were doing the Olympic. Never saw Dennis on the ride. Shortly after the 24 mile mark I looked over to John and he was fighting to bring his aero extension back up. This road was ROUGH! Not as bad as the Death Valley Double had been a few years ago, but awfully close. His bars had worked loose and so he had to stop. I kept on going. I found out at the end that he also ended up with two flat tires. At the half-way mark I'd realized that I was on track for a 2:40 bike. That was 20 minutes faster than I'd figured I'd be able to do. It didn't finish that way. I managed to really slow down the second half and finished the bike in just under 3 hours. Transition #2 wasn't much faster than the first one had been. It had warmed up and I stripped off the arm and leg warmers, plus the bike shorts.

Surprisingly, I did not have the dead, painful, cramping legs that I was expecting. Had I maybe eased off enough on the bike? I didn't know, but it was a change from EVERY other triathlon I'd ever done. I wasn't exactly speedy, but I knocked out 3 miles at a sub 10 minute/mile pace. That doesn't sound like much, but it got even slower over the next 3.5 miles!

The first 5 miles of the run was out through some absolutely desolate country - or at least it seemed that way to me! It even had a stretch where we ran beside a runway at the airport. It was also the longest stretch between aid stations. I made a point of drinking at every station. Oh yeah - and the weather decided to warm up for us! Great, cold swim, hot run.

As I came into the Olympic finishing area (a VERY cruel thing to do - have a finish for the Olympics that we had to run by only half-way through...) I saw the clock - it read 4:49 - I realized that if I could knock of the next 10km or so in an hour and 10 minutes I could break 6 hours. That was something I never had even imagined, as I was fully expecting a 7 hour day. Stupid me - I kicked the pace up to a 8 minute mile. That only lasted for about half a mile and then reality kicked back in.

As I was running I was thinking how wise I'd been with my nutrition. I hadn't had any feelings of bonking. I didn't feel dehydrated. I hadn't had any cramps. I was thinking that even though I wasn't in good shape, I was doing pretty good! I saw Dennis at the 8 mile mark - he was on his way back, so only had a mile and a half left - he wasn't going to break 5 hours, but he'd be close. Except that he was having serious stomache issues. He had to slow down alot. I think he finished around 5:18

Finally saw the 10 mile turn-around - now only three more miles to go. You'd think that knowing there was only a 5km run left would be encouraging. That I'd be thinking really positive thoughts. That's not what happened to me. It took my full concentration just to keep my feet moving. All I wanted to do was walk. Thoughts entered my head of "you're not going to break 6 hours anyway, just walk it in.", "Nobody will know - hey, you finished, right?" With 2 miles left to go I passed John on his way out. Apparantly I didn't look as good as I thought I did.

Then my stomache started to rebel. I felt like I was fighting every part of my body. Before I knew it I was half-hunched over, retching as I stumbled along. I'm not really sure how I kept my feet moving, but I knew that if I stopped, I'd never be able to start again.

I started to have visions of rounding the final straight and seeing the clock tick by 5:59... and not be able to sprint to get under 6. Why did 6 hours suddenly mean so much to me?

12 miles done, 1.1 left. I had figured I'd need a 2:20 run time to get under 6 hours. My garmin was telling me that was going to be hard to do. My pace was down to 12 min/mile. The little changes in elevation on the path were getting harder and harder to deal with.

13 miles. Only .1 left. How long can .1 of a mile be?? A VERY long way. I could see the finish, but wasn't sure I could keep my feet moving. Then I saw the clock... 5:57..5:58... I raised my arms at the finish. Not in victory, I was a long way behind the winners. But I had done it. I had finished my first half-ironman, and I had done it in under 6 hours.

EDIT: The official results are now up, and I did NOT break 6 hours. My official time is 6:02:41. Missed it by 3 minutes.