My family and I traveled down to Haines City, Florida on Thursday morning and hung out for a few days before the big race. I went to the park to check-in, get my grab bag, buy some merchandise, go to a pre-race meeting and see the "dreaded" lake where I would swim. I was very impressed with how everything was organized. I slept really good on Friday night and then on Saturday evening I went to bed at 7pm and finally fell asleep around 9:30.
RACE MORNING:
I got up at 3:30am and fixed my normal breakfast (bowl of granola cereal w/ almond milk; yogurt; 2 whole grain organic waffles, and lastly my "green" juice - Odwalla, "Superfood"). I had packed my bike and bag the night before so I wouldn't stress out the morning of and forgetting something important. We left the hotel at 4:10am and arrived at the park at 4:40am (I wasn't sure how long checking in and getting body marked would take). I went to the transition area, showed my wrist band, they wrote my age and race number on me and that was it. I racked my bike and got all of my things out of bag and placed them exactly how I wanted them. I mentally went through my transitions and it was then 5:15am...maybe. I walked around just taking it all in and visited the bathroom about 12 times.
At 6am everyone was to head down to the beach in front of the lake. I was getting pretty anxious, nervous, excited, pretty much all emotions running wild inside. FINALLY, we all stood and sang the national anthem and we all watched the Pros take the water. This was a wave start, which I liked a lot. I was already fearful of the lake swim since my last and first lake swim was pretty much a disaster and it was only a sprint race. This was my 3rd triathlon and I was taking on the Ironman 70.3. At 7:30am my age group with the florescent pink caps (I didn't get a say so in this) was called to the water. I got in, the water was a nice 83 degrees so it was like lukewarm bath water, there was no initial 'cold' shock. They let us swim around for a big 4 minutes so I took advantage of that time getting my face in the water, breathing slowly, getting used to the lake, etc. I was in no hurry with the swim, I just wanted to exit the water alive, so I placed myself in the back of the pack of about 100 swimmers in this particular wave. Right at 7:35am the air horn went off and my race officially started. I stayed to the far outside, waited for the other guys to start swimming and then I jumped head first and started to calmly take my long strokes, breathing normally, just like all my training. I tried to look up to get a sighting of where I was about every 10 strokes. Of course, this was pretty 'new' to me since you really don't need to worry about this in an indoor swimming pool. I found myself swimming and drifting to the left so I would have to intentionally swim back to the right. People were swimming to the buoys and canoes to either rest or fix goggles and I just kept swimming. I was feeling great! The swim is in the shape of the M Dot so you have multiple turns, which I didn't care for, but it's a cool concept. However, looking at my swim route from Garmin, you can't really tell it's an "M". I think I was going more for a M written a calligraphy style....I just had to laugh looking at it.
I really felt like I was swimming fast, staying away from most people. There was one time I caught up with someone and my hand hit his back (I didn't see him until I was write upon him). I could finally see the swim exit in near sight and I was getting pumped. I made it to the swim exit and my watch was at 48 minutes. I really was surprised, I thought it would be around 38-40 minutes, but I was still very pleased with my time and more for the face that I felt like I could have swam more.
I ran up the sand hill to transition to get ready for the bike portion. My T1 time was 5:05.
BIKE:
I had sunscreen put on and put my shoes, helmet, glasses on and was off on my bike. The bike portion really wasn't that bad. There were a few hills but it was mostly flat. I kept my nutrition just like I trained with...sustained energy, HEED, Fizz, water, and GU Gels. I made sure was taking in fluids every 10-15 minutes. I started the ride with water and a GEL, then went to my Fizz Bottle for the 1st hour. After that I went to the HEED bottle. At mile 40 I experienced major pain in my big toe. This was due to me cutting my toenails the night before...never again will I do this. I was just trying to be courteous for the swim portion where I wouldn't claw anyone with my eagle talons. Anyway, this stupid hangnail was slowing me down drastically.
I was then thinking about the run and wondering how I was going to run with this toe problem. Also at mile 40 was when the heat was really starting to get to me. The humidity was terrible and it was getting hot! I finally made it back to transition with a bike split of 3:16:55 (17.06 mph, average HR was 140, max speed was 30.02, average cadence was 76). My T2 time was 4:47.
RUN:
I put my bike on the rack, started putting my shoes on and I saw my family standing by the transition wall cheering me on. It was a huge motivator and got me going again despite the heat. I started the run and the first thing on the run was a huge hill that went straight up....everyone was walking up it! I started to get a huge cramp in my thigh (which I've never experienced) but I knew it was no big deal to stop running, go to the side and stretch. I took a couple of minutes to do this and the cramp went away. This was a 3 loop course and the first loop went o.k. but I just didn't have it in me to run fast. I think a lot of it had to do with the heat and humidity. I was drained! I did more of a trot and walk thing. I kept watching my heart rate and when I went below 130 I started jogging again. I kept up with my overall time and I knew I wasn't going to make my overall goal of under 6 hours. At this point I just wanted to finish well. I decided I wasn't going to kill myself and just pace myself and get through this run. I took advantage of the water stations at every mile and took in ice, a little water, and gatorade. There were also great people throughout the run course (which was mainly neighborhoods) who sat at the end of their driveways with water hoses spraying down the runners. This helped for a couple of minutes but it was still hot. I finally made it to the last loop and could hear the crowds from around the corner. I made my way down the victory lane and to hear my name being announced was better than any feeling to describe. It was the final mark on all the hard training, the many hours, the getting up at 3:30am 6 days a week, the huge personal goal that I finally reached. My run split was 2:37:31 and I had finished my first Ironman 70.3 in 6:52:17.
You can't describe the feeling you have when you cross the finish line. The amount of training hours, dieting, sacrifice and more that goes in to this had paid off. This was an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. I had come so far. A little over a year ago I decided to get in shape and set a personal goal. I've now lost 48 pounds and I was getting in the best shape of my life. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to walk but I felt pretty good considering what I had just finished. I account this to my training and a great coach, Scott Bennefield with GEC training.
I'm already trying to figure out my next 70.3 so I can beat my 6 hour or less goal! There are definitely areas I know I need to improve on before Arizona, but I could never improve on those things if I had not been in the race, done the training and been willing to change myself. It's hard to become a triathlete by sitting on the couch. And just like all the training day in and day out, it's hard to be like Jesus without praying, reading God's Word, and spending time with God everyday. This is simply how you get better...at anything! We've all heard the statement, "practice makes perfect"...I had a vocal coach that said "Practice makes permanent" and it's always stuck with me. The only way to become a better triathlete is to spend time in training and the only way to grow closer to God is to spend time with Him.
I'm coming out of my post-race "taper" training and it's less than 6 months til Ironman Arizona 140.6. I'm looking forward to accomplishing this next goal of becoming an (Full) Ironman....I guess I'm only half ironman now...
