Post by jamesi on Sept 15, 2010 21:47:56 GMT -5
Woke up at 5:15 after a very good night of sleep. Breakfast was a cold slice of pizza from the night before and some hotel coffee. Made it into transition at 6:30 and took my time setting up. I was nibbling on a Zone Perfect bar that I brought in case there was no continental breakfast. The next hour plus was spent chatting with CTCers, watching some pros, and slurping a GU or 2. Eventually I made my way down onto the beach towards the swim start. I’d be racing at 194lbs, 4 pounds off my goal race weight of 190. I felt pretty good about this though, because I couldn’t imagine eating any less during my training.
I love how the swim course was set up. Being able to see all 1.2 miles clearly marked was a nice luxury. I was able to take a few minutes to wrap my head around exactly how much work I had to do. My wave was the first 1/2 wave to go, and it felt nice to get started. I was definitely nervous, but much calmer than I thought I would be. I knew that I had prepared appropriately and I was excited to see my plan through. I didn’t really experience any difficulty in the swim with the exception of my watch getting kicked squarely in the stop/start button. As I turned right around the second red buoy I checked my time only to find that my watch had stopped at 00:02:53. I did a double take and just kept swimming. I was feeling great and I knew that I’d come in very close to my goal time regardless of if my watch was ticking away or not. I found out several hours later at the bar (more on that later) that my swim time was 44:26...right on schedule. I had been marking my 2000 meter splits for the past few weeks and I was always, and I mean always between 44 and 46 minutes. I reminded myself several times during the swim to soak in the experience because this thing that I’d been training so hard for was almost done. I was both happy and disappointed to get out of the water.
Swim complete right on schedule- 44:26
T1 uneventful. I should have counted bike racks because I got lost for a minute. I left my self the option of a GU or a bite off a Snickers Marathon and I went with the Gu.
T1-3:47
I hit the bike course feeling pretty good. I kept telling myself that the wind that was in my face was the same wind that was in everybody else’s face. It was nice to get of the main road in/out of Cedar Point, because I thought the surfaces there were the worst of the 1/2 course. I had practiced my nutrition and felt pretty good, but I really need to do work/research regarding that. Around mile 35 I felt that everything I ate was just sitting there in my stomach. I did have some discomfort, but nothing that would slow me down. In training I was taking about 250 calories an hour by eating 1/2 of a snickers marathon every 30 minutes and Gatorade as well as 2-4 Endurolytes. What seemed to work really well in training wasn’t going so well in the race. I was able to get my planned calories on board, but not without the discomfort I mentioned before. It was great to see the ironfan crew as well several familiar faces on the bike course. The bike course was also my first exposure to the excellent Rev3 volunteers. They were great! The bike is my favorite part of triathlon but I was definitely ready for it to be over. The headwind over the last 5 miles and the rough surfaces had me looking forward to the run.
Bike 3:04:22 18.22mph Avg heart rate 146.
T-2 In my first real mental lapse of the whole day I ate a GU as soon as I got off the bike. I don’t know why I did this, especially because I already felt uncomfortably full.
T-2 2:31
I was happy to be on the run course and was really soaking in the fact that I was on the final leg of my first 1/2 iron. The first mile was smooth and my whole body thanked me for doing a new activity. My plan was to run based on feel and not heart rate for as long as I felt comfortable. At mile 7 I needed to bring my rate under control and that meant walking a bit, because at my current level of fitness that’s the only thing that brings my rate down. I ended up walking for about 1 minute at every aid station from mile 8 and beyond and this worked well for me. I had to really restrict my caloric intake because of GI distress. I was able to take Cera Sport and 2 GUs throughout the entire run. When I saw the sign for mile 9 I began to have the same bitter-sweet feelings that I had during the swim. I couldn’t believe the race was almost over, but I was pumped to finish. At around 12.5 miles I saw a guy that I recognized from the fire service and he was settled in to a slow death march. As I passed him I tapped his arm and said “let’s go, we’ll finish this together”. He shot me a look that screamed “eff you” but started running anyway. Apparently his legs were well rested because he shot about 30 feet ahead of me and that’s how we finished. I was pretty surprised that he left me but I had no negative feelings about anything when I finished. He actually came up to while I was grabbing a muscle milk and said something that sounded like “thanks for that awesome pick me up”, and said he was sorry for pulling ahead because he wasn’t even going to start running until inside the park. Again, I really didn’t care. It would have meant that I came in 378th instead of 379th. As far as I know the pay is the same! It felt great to cross that finish line and at that point I still had no idea what my time was. I didn’t find out until around 11 that night.
Run 2:19:26
Total: 6:14:42. I crushed my goal of 7 hours.
After hanging out for a while and watching several half and full finishers my wife an I went to Fridays for some food and drinks. There were a lot of athletes living it up and it was a great atmosphere to be in. I met some finishers and we struck up a conversation. Naturally finishing times came up and I said that I didn’t know mine. I was excited because I thought that I possibly came in between 6:25 and 6:35. I was pretty pumped when this stranger showed me his iphone and my time was 6:14...more beer! The winner and runner up of the pro race were mingling with everyone and I think the winner would have spent his whole check if the bar didn’t close!
I’m really happy that I did this race. There were times when I thought it was to soon because I’m so new to this sport. This is my second season, and while I planned on an Oly as my “A” race this year, I just couldn’t stay away from this event. I look forward to taking a little step back next year and focusing on the Oly distance because I feel like I’m missing a gear and I’d like to develop my base a little more. I’m also really grateful for the club. I’ve learned more from lurking on this board than I have from any other resource. It was nice to have the support of so many this weekend, especially because I’m so new to the sport and I don’t know too many people yet. I’ve looked at the times and accomplishments of others and I’m truly inspired. I have a lot of work to do!
James Isom
I love how the swim course was set up. Being able to see all 1.2 miles clearly marked was a nice luxury. I was able to take a few minutes to wrap my head around exactly how much work I had to do. My wave was the first 1/2 wave to go, and it felt nice to get started. I was definitely nervous, but much calmer than I thought I would be. I knew that I had prepared appropriately and I was excited to see my plan through. I didn’t really experience any difficulty in the swim with the exception of my watch getting kicked squarely in the stop/start button. As I turned right around the second red buoy I checked my time only to find that my watch had stopped at 00:02:53. I did a double take and just kept swimming. I was feeling great and I knew that I’d come in very close to my goal time regardless of if my watch was ticking away or not. I found out several hours later at the bar (more on that later) that my swim time was 44:26...right on schedule. I had been marking my 2000 meter splits for the past few weeks and I was always, and I mean always between 44 and 46 minutes. I reminded myself several times during the swim to soak in the experience because this thing that I’d been training so hard for was almost done. I was both happy and disappointed to get out of the water.
Swim complete right on schedule- 44:26
T1 uneventful. I should have counted bike racks because I got lost for a minute. I left my self the option of a GU or a bite off a Snickers Marathon and I went with the Gu.
T1-3:47
I hit the bike course feeling pretty good. I kept telling myself that the wind that was in my face was the same wind that was in everybody else’s face. It was nice to get of the main road in/out of Cedar Point, because I thought the surfaces there were the worst of the 1/2 course. I had practiced my nutrition and felt pretty good, but I really need to do work/research regarding that. Around mile 35 I felt that everything I ate was just sitting there in my stomach. I did have some discomfort, but nothing that would slow me down. In training I was taking about 250 calories an hour by eating 1/2 of a snickers marathon every 30 minutes and Gatorade as well as 2-4 Endurolytes. What seemed to work really well in training wasn’t going so well in the race. I was able to get my planned calories on board, but not without the discomfort I mentioned before. It was great to see the ironfan crew as well several familiar faces on the bike course. The bike course was also my first exposure to the excellent Rev3 volunteers. They were great! The bike is my favorite part of triathlon but I was definitely ready for it to be over. The headwind over the last 5 miles and the rough surfaces had me looking forward to the run.
Bike 3:04:22 18.22mph Avg heart rate 146.
T-2 In my first real mental lapse of the whole day I ate a GU as soon as I got off the bike. I don’t know why I did this, especially because I already felt uncomfortably full.
T-2 2:31
I was happy to be on the run course and was really soaking in the fact that I was on the final leg of my first 1/2 iron. The first mile was smooth and my whole body thanked me for doing a new activity. My plan was to run based on feel and not heart rate for as long as I felt comfortable. At mile 7 I needed to bring my rate under control and that meant walking a bit, because at my current level of fitness that’s the only thing that brings my rate down. I ended up walking for about 1 minute at every aid station from mile 8 and beyond and this worked well for me. I had to really restrict my caloric intake because of GI distress. I was able to take Cera Sport and 2 GUs throughout the entire run. When I saw the sign for mile 9 I began to have the same bitter-sweet feelings that I had during the swim. I couldn’t believe the race was almost over, but I was pumped to finish. At around 12.5 miles I saw a guy that I recognized from the fire service and he was settled in to a slow death march. As I passed him I tapped his arm and said “let’s go, we’ll finish this together”. He shot me a look that screamed “eff you” but started running anyway. Apparently his legs were well rested because he shot about 30 feet ahead of me and that’s how we finished. I was pretty surprised that he left me but I had no negative feelings about anything when I finished. He actually came up to while I was grabbing a muscle milk and said something that sounded like “thanks for that awesome pick me up”, and said he was sorry for pulling ahead because he wasn’t even going to start running until inside the park. Again, I really didn’t care. It would have meant that I came in 378th instead of 379th. As far as I know the pay is the same! It felt great to cross that finish line and at that point I still had no idea what my time was. I didn’t find out until around 11 that night.
Run 2:19:26
Total: 6:14:42. I crushed my goal of 7 hours.
After hanging out for a while and watching several half and full finishers my wife an I went to Fridays for some food and drinks. There were a lot of athletes living it up and it was a great atmosphere to be in. I met some finishers and we struck up a conversation. Naturally finishing times came up and I said that I didn’t know mine. I was excited because I thought that I possibly came in between 6:25 and 6:35. I was pretty pumped when this stranger showed me his iphone and my time was 6:14...more beer! The winner and runner up of the pro race were mingling with everyone and I think the winner would have spent his whole check if the bar didn’t close!
I’m really happy that I did this race. There were times when I thought it was to soon because I’m so new to this sport. This is my second season, and while I planned on an Oly as my “A” race this year, I just couldn’t stay away from this event. I look forward to taking a little step back next year and focusing on the Oly distance because I feel like I’m missing a gear and I’d like to develop my base a little more. I’m also really grateful for the club. I’ve learned more from lurking on this board than I have from any other resource. It was nice to have the support of so many this weekend, especially because I’m so new to the sport and I don’t know too many people yet. I’ve looked at the times and accomplishments of others and I’m truly inspired. I have a lot of work to do!
James Isom
