The SHORT story:
Swim - 0:34:36
T1 - 0:02:49
Bike - 3:13:11
T2 - 0:03:57
Run - 2:49:06
Total - 6:43:39
It was one of the most difficult things I've ever done, but a truly an emotional and humbling experience. Special thanks to Kris, Mary Lou, and my sister for coming out and taking pics. I'll try to post some soon of me crying like a baby at the finish!
The LONG story:
It's been a really long time since my last post and I'm sure most of you have probably given up on even checking to see if there is anything new, but it has been a crazy few weeks. Work has taken up a lot of my time and I also had to buckle down with my training. My goal over the past few weeks has been to develop consistency with my training since I had the Longhorn Ironman 70.3 race coming up. While I didn't develop as much consistency as I'd like to, I was still able to finish my first half ironman ever! I said I'd never do this, but here's my race day report.
4:00 AM - My alarm goes off and I wake up instantly after a decent night of sleep. The nervousness settled in immediately and I looked out the window wondering why I started this all in the first place. Then I looked up at the dark sky, thought of my Mom, and reminded myself that the world of hurt that I was about to experience was probably nothing compared to what she had to go through.
5:30 AM - Arrived at race site with Kris, Mary Lou, and my sister. These people were incredible all weekend by helping to keep me calm and motivated. We got on line to get on the buses to the transition area, but of course, not before my pre-race ritual of blessing the port-a-potties.
6:00 AM - Started to set up my dusty transition area in the dark, and felt the adrenaline pumping as I set up next to a few pro triathletes. On the racks next to me were Simon Lessing (retiring and making this his final race), Tim Deboom, Richie Cunningham (the eventual mens winner), Michellie Jones, Lisa Bentley, etc. Most of you probably don't know who they are, but I mention it because this is the beauty of the sport. Its like playing a pickup game with Lebron and Kobe. We're all doing the same race today, but they show the amazing things the human body can accomplish by finishing the race in almost half the time I do it in.
7:00 AM - I finished setting up my transition area and got acquainted with my surroundings. I warmed up and pulled on my wetsuit. The race was previously not wetsuit legal since the water was so warm, but the lake temperature dipped about 10 degrees within one week. This was a bit a of blessing since I've never done a triathlon without a wetsuit. I was excited for the swim because I had been working on this part of my repertoire the most, and had made significant progress since learning how to swim for the first time last year. In January of last year, I could barely make it one length of a pool and I'd look like I little kid splashing water as hard as I "swam" across the pool.
7:30 - I made my way down to the lake and took a quick dip in the water. I was still so incredibly nervous but the sun started coming out. I took some time to appreciate the beauty of the lake (yeah, i just said beauty). For now the lake was calm, but in a few minutes, it was about to become a huge washing machine.
7:45 - The pros go off. I came upon the realization that this race was the culmination of my triathlon season as I lined up with my swim wave. My wave consisted of my age group (men 18-24) and men 50+. One thing I noticed immediately was that this race was no joke as everyone looked like they were in pretty good shape (yea, i was checking them out). I entered the water and focussed on the race course and where I had to turn during the swim. I wanted to push myself to keep pace with the best out there so I set myself up in an aggressive position right in the front of the wave hugging the buoy line.
7:47 - SWIM BEGINS
1.2 Mile Swim
I started the swim aggressively and hit my threshold pace pretty quickly. One advantage I have (and I don't have many in this sport) is that I don't mind muscling my way over other people and dunking others during the swim start. If you have ever done a triathlon swim, you know how crazy it could be in the beginning with everyone wrestling for position. There is always that one guy that swims right over you and knocks off your goggles. I'm relentless in the beginning of triathlon swims, and I apologize in advance, because I'm that guy.
Anyway, I settled into a groove and tried to find other swimmers to draft behind to save some energy, but no one was in the line I wanted to navigate, so I didn't have a chance to draft anyone for most of the race. The sun was also pretty strong at this point so it was difficult to see the first of two turns, but I was holding a good line and felt strong in the water.
One interesting tip I've heard from others when competing in endurance sports is that you're supposed to keep your mind quiet. I definitely do not follow this tip because, as most of you know, I have serious ADD (although, I've never been diagnosed by people besides my friends). In the water my mind runs through my technique, how nice it would be on dry land, my mom and what she was like when she swam in college, how I gotta finish fast enough so that kris and my sister make their flight, etc. It seems to work for me because it helps me stay calm in the water.
Anyway, back to the race. I made the second of two turns and increased my pace since I still felt comfortable. I made a huge push right up to the end by quickening my kick to wake them up for the bike. I exited the water, and checked my watch. Quick note: the night before I told Kris, Mary Lou, and my sister that I'd be out of the water in a little over 40 minutes. My watched said 34:26. I know I'm not the fastest swimmer in the world, but this was a PR (personal record) pace for me. I beat my best previous one mile pace by 6 minutes per mile, which is an eternity in the water. I got another quick shot of adrenaline after looking at my swim time and sprinted up the hill back to transition.
Swim Time: 0:34:26
T1
I got excited at this point because I was going to my bread and butter. My beautiful bike. It has definitely taken a back seat in training to swimming and running this year, and I've only done a few long rides, but I was still pretty confident. In addition, I broke another cardinal rule of triathlon by trying new things for the first time during a race. I tested a new position (since my last few rides were painful) and was racing with new wheels (reynolds sdv66 with powertap and disc cover on the rear) and shorter cranks (170 instead of 172.5).
Anyway, I grabbed my bike and noticed that I was one of the few bikes left in transition as usual since I'm not a great swimmer. Anyway, I gulped down a 5 hour energy shot and took an energy gel. It was good to have caffeine again. Anybody that knows me knows that I love caffeine in all forms (red bull, iced coffee), but I weaned myself off the drug for 2 weeks prior to the race in hopes of lowering my tolerance for race day.
T1 Time: 0:02:49
56 Mile Bike
I started the bike and I felt pretty fast for the first 5 or 6 miles, but I was getting passed by age groupers that started the race after me. This is a different experience from what I'm used to because I'm usually catching up and passing people on the bike. I maintained an average of about 20mph, but took it down a little bit because I was worried that I wouldn't have anything left for the end. At around mile 7, my aero water bottle cage fell off so I had to stop and fix it. I already lost about 2 of these in previous races so I made sure to not leave it behind since it was $50 a cage. It also carried my high calorie carb drink. I lost about 2 or 3 minutes screwing the cage back in with my fingers. Little did I know that I would be dealing with this stupid bottle again around mile 35 and wouldn't even bother drinking from it since I taped the whole thing onto the frame the second time.
The bike course was one hill after the other. None of the hills were particularly steep until the end, but I'm typically not a good climber. I'm usually able to catch up with faster riders on long flats, but there weren't too many of those on the course. Regardless, I pushed the bike for most of the race and kept pace with a few women for most of the ride. I tried to stay consistent with my nutrition and was mindful of taking energy gels every 20-30 min. I also stayed consistent with my hydration since I knew it was going to be hot that day, but we were blessed with lower humidity. It was weird though because they have stations every 14 miles or so where you could grab water bottles or gatorade. The people at these aid stations were dressed up like indians which helped to take your mind off of the pain for a bit. Regardless, grabbing the bottles while moving is a skill that I still have to practice when approaching these aid stations. At one station, I grabbed a gatorade and usedd it to fill the bottle between my aerobars. I didn't do too great a job and it managed to spill the drink all over the place. I only got to drink about a quarter of the entire bottle. For a good 10 miles, I was sticky and thirsty.
At around mile 28 I was reminded that this is around the time I'm usually getting off my bike in an Olympic distance race. I also noticed that my body started to feel the fatigue of trying to keep up with the pack. At this point, I was really laboring to keep up with the pack and lost a little bit of speed. I took a gel to get a quick kick, but it never really worked. It's odd how real energy (calories, caffeine) didn't seem to work at this point and I was getting pretty tired. But it was around mile 36 after my aero bottle fell off for the second time that I caught sight of a butterfly. In my family, butterflies have had a history of coming around when people have recently passed away, so it gave me some inspiration because I knew my mom was with me. I'm not lying when I said it flew around me for the next 5 miles or so, and it was the peak of an emotional roller coaster of a ride that started with confidence, then fatigue and doubt, hope, and finally determination to finish strong. After my mom spent some time flying around me, I buckled down and settled back into aero position despite horrible lower back pain. I was finally passing people all the way up to the finish.
The finish included a few tough hills and the sun was starting to get really hot. At this point I started to get a little hungry, but I was able to maintain a faster average speed and finished strong. With about a mile left, I was relieved to see Kris, Mary Lou, and my sister because it meant I was close to the end of the bike; but it was also empowering to have them their cheering me on.
Bike Time: 3:13:11
T2
At T2, my legs were tired, but I was excited about getting ready for the last leg of this long day. I took another 5 hour energy shot, but decided to take a trip to the port-a-pottie again. After a quick pee, I walked and was reminded how good it would feel to stop and sit down. When those thoughts get into your head, its dangerous because you never want to get your body back into race mode. I walked slowly to the run start sucked it up eventually.
T2 Time: 0:03:57
13.1 Mile Run
A lot of doubt settled in as I started the run because I thought in my head, "I just swam and biked for the past 3 hours and 45 minutes. How the hell am I going to pull this off?" I started the run and felt confident though because I held an 8:30/mile pace for the first 3 miles. At around mile 4, I realized I was getting hungry. This was a big UH OH moment. In endurance sports, when you get hungry, that means you're too late. It basically means that you didn't fuel up enough with calories so your body is starting to respond. Unfortunately, it responds WAY after you needed to take in the necessary calories to continue racing. I started to walk, then run, then walk, then run, then most just walk. It was a hilly course with 4 miles of trail running. It also included the infamous "Quadzilla" hill that basically took everything out of me. They actually have people in costumes cheering you on, but I was in such crappy spirits that I was ready to punch out the guy in the batman suit for cheering in my ear so loudly. I continued to walk until I got to the around mile 6 where I saw Kris, Mary Lou, and my sister. I ran immediately when I saw them because I didn't want them to see me being a complete mess and their cheering definitely inspired me to run for about a half mile, but I still ended up walking. I finally finished the first loop of the race and it basically sucked to think I had to run that same loop again. At mile 7 I stopped at the aid station and had a bit of everything they had. At this aid station, I sat next to a little girl handing out food and we talked about the chocolate brownies I was eating. She gave me salt and vinegar potato chips, pretzel sticks, and before I knew it, I was feeling pretty good sitting down. This was especially dangerous since it made me not want to get up and continue. I could've probably fell asleep at that moment. I eventually had to get back up though so I started walking again and the letters DNF (did not finish) immediately entered my mind. Up until mile 8 I thought long and hard about stopping. I basically beat myself up for not training enough, not fueling up appropriately, not sleeping enough throughout the year, going out all of those late nights, not waking up early enough in the morning to train, skipping the gym to watch stupid mtv reruns. My lower back hurt from bad positioning on the bike and the pain shot through my body with every step I took. My quads were already incredibly sore from Quadzilla. My calves were trembling and about to cramp up at any given moment. I was down and out at this point and didn't think I would finish. I was completely done. I had nothing left. My day has ended. I wanted to cry.
At mile 9, I again saw another butterfly and I had flashbacks of my mom. I had flashbacks of victory of my old wrestling days. I remembered times when I was at the bottom and I succeeded. I remembered that there were amazing people waiting at the finish line and counting on me to finish. I really felt like my mom was with me at that moment. I thought, "She carried me for years. Why can't I just push out a few more miles?" So what I initially thought was impossible started. I started a short little jog. That jog turned into a run. I started putting targets on people's backs and said to myself, "You could take a break after you pass that person." I took a quick look at my watch, 9:00 min/mile pace. I kept running after targets, and kept forgetting to take that break I promised myself. 8:30 min/mile pace. I hit mile 12 and saw another butterfly. 7:15 min/mile pace. And then I saw mile marker 13. The rest was a blur of emotions as I sprinted to the finish taking down person after person on my way to the finish line. I saw the word "Finish" get larger and larger as I pushed to the end.
For a moment, everything was silent and nothing hurt. In basketball, when someone is shooting and basically making everything in without even thinking about it, they call that player automatic, or unconscious. At that moment, I was completely unconscious. It was as if I completely took myself out of this world and was having an incredibly spiritual high. In a second, I came out of that daze and realized what I had done. I broke down in tears because, like every finish, it is another tribute to my mom. This was extremely special. It is an understatement to say that I never in my life pushed my body to such extremes. There was definitely something else that got me there. It was my mom. It was my friends and family waiting at the finish line. It was the people that doubted me. It was the people I've met that want to do something like this, but never thought it was a possible.
I am finally a half ironman.
Run Time: 2:49:06
Total Time: 6:43:39
I really can't thank everyone enough this season for all the support. It has been an amazing run and I really could have never done it without my friends and family. I really do encourage everyone to push themselves to the limit in a similar. You don't need to do it for reasons like I have.
I started reading a book about adventure sports (i.e. climbing K2, tight rope walking across the grand canyon, etc.). The book is a scientific look at how people tap a sixth sense when they are completely stripped of all other senses and they need to focus in order to survive. One of the stories in the book talks about how a climber had a "feeling" that another climber was in trouble and was able to use the "sixth sense" to find that person. Another story talks about spiritual experiences people have when they are pushed to the limit between life and death. I can honestly say that the moment at the finish line was one of these experiences and it is truly amazing to catch a quick glimpse of it. It makes you feel superhuman because you're unconscious to any senses of pain or worry in the world and you are able to do what you need to do to finish or "survive". I'm not doing a great job of explaining it, but I invite you to join me in this experience at the next race.
