Pre-Race
I came into this race feeling unprepared compared to last year. I had just run (sort of) the Chicago marathon three weeks earlier and I had trained for that for four months. I knew I had a decent running base, but was not sure that mattered if I blew up before even getting to the run. I had not swum 2000 meters since my Ironman in April, I think. I did not hit the pool until a few weeks before Ironstar – I was exhausted from training for Chicago and just could not get motivated to do it. I also knew I could “cram” the last week or two there. I had also had mono much of the four months leading up to the race, so I was fortunate to even be doing the running that I was. The swimming and biking were just hard to find the time and energy for. Biking is where I really felt unprepared compared to last year. Running Chicago meant not biking two of the four weekends before Ironstar, and 48 miles was the farthest I had ridden in the two months before the race. I did manage to swim four times in the week before Ironstar which might be a new record for me! I still only swam 1600 in my longest workout. I had talked Karen into doing Ironstar as her first half ironman and third triathlon ever and she had been doing a lot of the training with me – thank God I had someone to train with! Her husband and our other running buddy Charmaine participated in a relay so they had trained with us at well (Dan swam and biked, Charmaine ran). Karen and I both had an absolutely awful week leading up to the race due to “stuff” going on in our respective personal lives. We both did all we could do to just get to the start line.
Race Morning
It was cold. My lips were blue. According to the weather almanac, last year was 45 degrees, and the forecast low for this year’s race day was 48. I do not remember being cold last year, not to mention blue. I do remember now though that last year was daylight savings time, so it really started about ½ hour later than this year. Anyways, all the women were in the second wave, out of four. I got in to get wet before because last year I did not and when we did a running beach start, I almost hyperventilated from the cold (wasn’t even that cold…) water. Turns out this year was an in-water start so I did not need to get wet after all and I was extra cold for no reason! I guess I will call my 10 strokes a warm-up!
Swim 1.2 Miles
Our wave was off around 7:45. The sunrise was at 7:33 and the swim headed east .7 miles before turning south. One can imagine how poor the visibility was. I could see nothing. I would make it to one buoy and literally stop, tread water, and look for a good 30 seconds to try to find the next buoy. The water was pretty choppy (surprisingly so), so the combination of the sun, small buoys, and boats blocking sight of the buoys, I could see nothing. There is no telling how far I swam. I was so relieved to finally turn out of the sun and finally make another turn for shore. I came out and was happy to see 37: something on my watch. I did not feel comfortable during the entire swim, but I got over it when I saw that I had taken three minutes off last year’s time.
Time: 37:56
T1
Ouch. They had carpeted the path from the lake to T1, but for some reason, it still hurt my feet big time. I don’t know if there were roots there or what, but ouch! I stopped on a sidewalk to take my wetsuit off before it got too much water out of it and some spectators right there were trying to tell me they had people to help me do that just up the path. I had it off before they got the sentence out and then they said “oh, ok, looks like she doesn’t need that!” I got to my bike and the clear plastic bag to put my wet stuff in it was gone. Lovely. It had blown down the isle and I had to go find it. I grabbed my helmet, glasses, and put my shoes on, and was off
Time: 1:27 (first in my AG – watch out!)
Bike 54.5 Miles
I looked down and saw 40: something on my watch when I was turning onto 105 and was happy to see that. I had done some math beforehand and knew that a good bike time would be 3:16 and an acceptable time would be 3:22. I started doing a little math and knew that if I averaged 16.5 mph I could be running by 4 hours in. That was a little too much math to be doing on the first mile of a 54.5 mile bike, so I chilled for a while after that. I had messed with my computer and apparently messed it up because the speedometer did not work. Lovely. The cadence did work though which is what I use as the main display, but I like to check average speed from time to time. Luckily I just replaced my garmin and threw it on for the bike. I had that screen set to average speed. It hovered between 16.4 and 16.5 the whole time, much to my surprise. I was cautious to not get too excited during the first half while I was maintaining my goal pace because I knew things could go south at any time. The roads in Grimes County were so awful I almost chunked my aerobottle on the side of the road. I was embarrassed to pass anyone because I was “that girl” making so much noise. I put my signature pom-pom on the back of my bike seat, so that made for a little fun whenever I was passed/passing. The bike was uneventful until I got to Dacus Johnson road. Then it became just plain demoralizing. I kept looking to see if I was towing an 80lb child behind me because it got so hard. The weather man needs to learn north from east. The forecast wind was from the north which would be great for the ride back, but it was from the east instead…straight down Dacus Johnson road! Once I turned onto 1097 I knew I was at least close to home and I just focused on keeping my average speed at 16.5. I was toying with the idea of actually being able to go under 6:30 overall when I realized I could be running by 4:00. I was super excited, but guardedly cautious at the same time because I had no idea what to expect on the run. On the way back to town, my garmin said 54 miles and I was not back yet and I started to get mad. How could I bike a 3:16 time at 16.5 mph if the course was longer than 54 miles? The nerve! I did finish two minutes later though – good enough I guess!
Time: 3:18:47, 16.5 mph
T2
I was not very nice. I had not seen the transition area yet (no one had because it was separate from T1) and had no idea where to go/what to do. I did not know if I was just supposed to leave my helmet and shoes there, or put them in some bag, or what. And no one had brought me my T2 bag so I was just standing there for what seemed like forever shouting out, asking people what I was supposed to do. Finally a girl brought me my bag. I dumped it out and went for my bodyglide because I needed it on my arms from rubbing my top. I open the container and it exploded everywhere. Apparently it had been sitting in the sun all morning and melted. Charmaine, her daughter, and her daughter’s friend were there in T2 right there asking me if I needed anything, etc. I was a bit thrown off because spectators are usually not allowed in transition. Anyways, when my bodyglide exploded (and then I proceeded to explode), one of the girls said “oh, I have some deodorant you can use!” It was hilarious, but I did not laugh about it until way later. It wasn’t like she had it there in her pocket. I’m sure it was in the car and she was offering to go get it for me so I could smell nice on the run. Funny.
Time: 1:25
Run 13.1 Miles
I started off and my legs did not feel like lead like they did last year, but they felt like out of control Energizer bunnies I did not want to have on me. Less than ½ mile in, I felt all sorts of things in my shoe. I finally stop in the middle of the course and take my shoe off and lots of stuff from T2 falls out. But that still wasn’t good enough. Off with the sock. Out come more stickers. Leave it to me to get stickers inside my sock. Back on with the shoe and my big toe still felt weird. I realized it was buzzing from the bike, but it went away shortly. At the first aid station I made a quick potty stop and was on my way. Mile 1: 10:38 (including shoe stop, potty stop, and water stop). If you know me, I have no business running this fast on mile 1 of anything longer than a 2 mile run! I told myself I needed to slow down. Mile 2: 10:24. Yes, that seemed to work well. I had my watch set to 4/1 intervals (run 4 minutes/walk 1 minute). I normally train and race long runs using a 9/1 interval, so the 4/1 was a “treat.” I still felt okay after two miles at that pace and started to see 6:30 as a small possibility. I still told myself the finish line was 11 miles away and not to get too ahead of myself. Mile 3: 10:36. Still on pace for a half marathon PR. Not normal!
I saw the first people coming back somewhere between mile 1 and 2. Then I decided I would start counting the girls for something fun and entertaining to do. Mile 4: 10:43, mile 5: 10:53. I was up to girl #11 when the whole darn running crowd coming at me went into some neighborhood! That totally blew my counting plan. I thought the course was out and back the entire way so I could see everyone, but apparently I was wrong. I pouted about it for about 2 miles (Mile 6: 10:34, mile 7: 11:17) because I didn't know what else I was going to do to occupy myself for the next 5 miles. I started doing math instead because I'm a dork, but it kept me entertained! During the first few miles I told myself to try to stay under 11:00 pace for the first half and then I could slow to 12:00 pace if I had to for the second to still get in a 2:30 half marathon time. I was so amazed though that I was able to just keep going. I steadily slowed, but frankly I was relieved to do that because I was afraid I was going to have an all-out blowup. I prefer slowing a bit to blowing up any day. Mile 8: 11:03, mile 9: 11:16. By this point I knew I had 6:30 in the bag, barring major disaster. I also finally saw Karen and Charmaine on the course. I had been so worried about them and was praying nothing happened to Karen or Dan on the bike. I saw them and started crying because I saw so happy, but then I remembered a lesson I’ve learned before: you can’t cry and run at the same time because you cannot breathe. They were happy and seemed to be doing great, so I went on. Mile 10: 11:34, mile 11: 11:53. With two miles to go I thought it might be cool to go ahead and PR in the half marathon distance while I was at it, but I decided I would wait until the last mile to do that. Ha! Mile 12: 11:13. Then I see that mile 13 is almost entirely uphill. I decided I had been heroic enough and that I would leave the half marathon PR for another day. Looking at the split, mile 13 was still an 11:12, so not bad at all. It was awesome to see about 4-5 other racers speed up in the last two miles and just take it home with a vengeance. I was finally home and so proud of myself when I rounded the corner at mile 13 to run the last .1 stretch in.
Time: 2:24, 11:01 min/mile pace
Total Time: 6:23:44
Post Race
After I finished, I hung around the finish area waiting for Charmaine and Karen to finish and just enjoyed sitting back and talking to a few people here and there. It was a beautiful day. When I saw them coming around the corner, I stood up and went crazy. People probably thought someone was dying because I was making so much commotion. They finished and we all hugged and then Karen and I just stood there and cried to each other for a good while. She did awesome and I was so proud of her, especially after the cards life had recently dealt her.
Last Thoughts
My overall feeling on the run was that of total relief. I was relieved that my knee wasn’t bothering me as it had for the previous 5 weeks (four years if you want to get technical). I was relieved to see all my Chicago training hadn’t been for nothing. I do know how to run, and I proved that to myself during this race. The wheels never feel off and I was able to hold it together. All that training had been worth something and I was finally able to see that. My time last year was 7:12 with a 59 mile bike ride. That time adjusts to a 6:53 for the shorter bike course this year. My #1 goal had been to beat that time because I would have been devastated to find I was slower this year than last. My #2 goal was 6:45. I figured I would have to work for that, but it would show decent improvement over last year and I’d be happy with it. My super-secret-impossible goal was 6:30 and/or a 2:30 run. I smashed both of those. I rarely say it or think it, but this time I am truly proud of myself. I kicked last-year-Kathleen’s butt. Don’t worry, I know I am still moving at a snail’s pace compared to most of the rest of the world, but on Sunday, I was the fastest person around in Kathleen’s world.
I came into this race feeling unprepared compared to last year. I had just run (sort of) the Chicago marathon three weeks earlier and I had trained for that for four months. I knew I had a decent running base, but was not sure that mattered if I blew up before even getting to the run. I had not swum 2000 meters since my Ironman in April, I think. I did not hit the pool until a few weeks before Ironstar – I was exhausted from training for Chicago and just could not get motivated to do it. I also knew I could “cram” the last week or two there. I had also had mono much of the four months leading up to the race, so I was fortunate to even be doing the running that I was. The swimming and biking were just hard to find the time and energy for. Biking is where I really felt unprepared compared to last year. Running Chicago meant not biking two of the four weekends before Ironstar, and 48 miles was the farthest I had ridden in the two months before the race. I did manage to swim four times in the week before Ironstar which might be a new record for me! I still only swam 1600 in my longest workout. I had talked Karen into doing Ironstar as her first half ironman and third triathlon ever and she had been doing a lot of the training with me – thank God I had someone to train with! Her husband and our other running buddy Charmaine participated in a relay so they had trained with us at well (Dan swam and biked, Charmaine ran). Karen and I both had an absolutely awful week leading up to the race due to “stuff” going on in our respective personal lives. We both did all we could do to just get to the start line.
Race Morning
It was cold. My lips were blue. According to the weather almanac, last year was 45 degrees, and the forecast low for this year’s race day was 48. I do not remember being cold last year, not to mention blue. I do remember now though that last year was daylight savings time, so it really started about ½ hour later than this year. Anyways, all the women were in the second wave, out of four. I got in to get wet before because last year I did not and when we did a running beach start, I almost hyperventilated from the cold (wasn’t even that cold…) water. Turns out this year was an in-water start so I did not need to get wet after all and I was extra cold for no reason! I guess I will call my 10 strokes a warm-up!
Swim 1.2 Miles
Our wave was off around 7:45. The sunrise was at 7:33 and the swim headed east .7 miles before turning south. One can imagine how poor the visibility was. I could see nothing. I would make it to one buoy and literally stop, tread water, and look for a good 30 seconds to try to find the next buoy. The water was pretty choppy (surprisingly so), so the combination of the sun, small buoys, and boats blocking sight of the buoys, I could see nothing. There is no telling how far I swam. I was so relieved to finally turn out of the sun and finally make another turn for shore. I came out and was happy to see 37: something on my watch. I did not feel comfortable during the entire swim, but I got over it when I saw that I had taken three minutes off last year’s time.
Time: 37:56
T1
Ouch. They had carpeted the path from the lake to T1, but for some reason, it still hurt my feet big time. I don’t know if there were roots there or what, but ouch! I stopped on a sidewalk to take my wetsuit off before it got too much water out of it and some spectators right there were trying to tell me they had people to help me do that just up the path. I had it off before they got the sentence out and then they said “oh, ok, looks like she doesn’t need that!” I got to my bike and the clear plastic bag to put my wet stuff in it was gone. Lovely. It had blown down the isle and I had to go find it. I grabbed my helmet, glasses, and put my shoes on, and was off
Time: 1:27 (first in my AG – watch out!)
Bike 54.5 Miles
I looked down and saw 40: something on my watch when I was turning onto 105 and was happy to see that. I had done some math beforehand and knew that a good bike time would be 3:16 and an acceptable time would be 3:22. I started doing a little math and knew that if I averaged 16.5 mph I could be running by 4 hours in. That was a little too much math to be doing on the first mile of a 54.5 mile bike, so I chilled for a while after that. I had messed with my computer and apparently messed it up because the speedometer did not work. Lovely. The cadence did work though which is what I use as the main display, but I like to check average speed from time to time. Luckily I just replaced my garmin and threw it on for the bike. I had that screen set to average speed. It hovered between 16.4 and 16.5 the whole time, much to my surprise. I was cautious to not get too excited during the first half while I was maintaining my goal pace because I knew things could go south at any time. The roads in Grimes County were so awful I almost chunked my aerobottle on the side of the road. I was embarrassed to pass anyone because I was “that girl” making so much noise. I put my signature pom-pom on the back of my bike seat, so that made for a little fun whenever I was passed/passing. The bike was uneventful until I got to Dacus Johnson road. Then it became just plain demoralizing. I kept looking to see if I was towing an 80lb child behind me because it got so hard. The weather man needs to learn north from east. The forecast wind was from the north which would be great for the ride back, but it was from the east instead…straight down Dacus Johnson road! Once I turned onto 1097 I knew I was at least close to home and I just focused on keeping my average speed at 16.5. I was toying with the idea of actually being able to go under 6:30 overall when I realized I could be running by 4:00. I was super excited, but guardedly cautious at the same time because I had no idea what to expect on the run. On the way back to town, my garmin said 54 miles and I was not back yet and I started to get mad. How could I bike a 3:16 time at 16.5 mph if the course was longer than 54 miles? The nerve! I did finish two minutes later though – good enough I guess!
Time: 3:18:47, 16.5 mph
T2I was not very nice. I had not seen the transition area yet (no one had because it was separate from T1) and had no idea where to go/what to do. I did not know if I was just supposed to leave my helmet and shoes there, or put them in some bag, or what. And no one had brought me my T2 bag so I was just standing there for what seemed like forever shouting out, asking people what I was supposed to do. Finally a girl brought me my bag. I dumped it out and went for my bodyglide because I needed it on my arms from rubbing my top. I open the container and it exploded everywhere. Apparently it had been sitting in the sun all morning and melted. Charmaine, her daughter, and her daughter’s friend were there in T2 right there asking me if I needed anything, etc. I was a bit thrown off because spectators are usually not allowed in transition. Anyways, when my bodyglide exploded (and then I proceeded to explode), one of the girls said “oh, I have some deodorant you can use!” It was hilarious, but I did not laugh about it until way later. It wasn’t like she had it there in her pocket. I’m sure it was in the car and she was offering to go get it for me so I could smell nice on the run. Funny.
Time: 1:25
Run 13.1 Miles
I started off and my legs did not feel like lead like they did last year, but they felt like out of control Energizer bunnies I did not want to have on me. Less than ½ mile in, I felt all sorts of things in my shoe. I finally stop in the middle of the course and take my shoe off and lots of stuff from T2 falls out. But that still wasn’t good enough. Off with the sock. Out come more stickers. Leave it to me to get stickers inside my sock. Back on with the shoe and my big toe still felt weird. I realized it was buzzing from the bike, but it went away shortly. At the first aid station I made a quick potty stop and was on my way. Mile 1: 10:38 (including shoe stop, potty stop, and water stop). If you know me, I have no business running this fast on mile 1 of anything longer than a 2 mile run! I told myself I needed to slow down. Mile 2: 10:24. Yes, that seemed to work well. I had my watch set to 4/1 intervals (run 4 minutes/walk 1 minute). I normally train and race long runs using a 9/1 interval, so the 4/1 was a “treat.” I still felt okay after two miles at that pace and started to see 6:30 as a small possibility. I still told myself the finish line was 11 miles away and not to get too ahead of myself. Mile 3: 10:36. Still on pace for a half marathon PR. Not normal!
I saw the first people coming back somewhere between mile 1 and 2. Then I decided I would start counting the girls for something fun and entertaining to do. Mile 4: 10:43, mile 5: 10:53. I was up to girl #11 when the whole darn running crowd coming at me went into some neighborhood! That totally blew my counting plan. I thought the course was out and back the entire way so I could see everyone, but apparently I was wrong. I pouted about it for about 2 miles (Mile 6: 10:34, mile 7: 11:17) because I didn't know what else I was going to do to occupy myself for the next 5 miles. I started doing math instead because I'm a dork, but it kept me entertained! During the first few miles I told myself to try to stay under 11:00 pace for the first half and then I could slow to 12:00 pace if I had to for the second to still get in a 2:30 half marathon time. I was so amazed though that I was able to just keep going. I steadily slowed, but frankly I was relieved to do that because I was afraid I was going to have an all-out blowup. I prefer slowing a bit to blowing up any day. Mile 8: 11:03, mile 9: 11:16. By this point I knew I had 6:30 in the bag, barring major disaster. I also finally saw Karen and Charmaine on the course. I had been so worried about them and was praying nothing happened to Karen or Dan on the bike. I saw them and started crying because I saw so happy, but then I remembered a lesson I’ve learned before: you can’t cry and run at the same time because you cannot breathe. They were happy and seemed to be doing great, so I went on. Mile 10: 11:34, mile 11: 11:53. With two miles to go I thought it might be cool to go ahead and PR in the half marathon distance while I was at it, but I decided I would wait until the last mile to do that. Ha! Mile 12: 11:13. Then I see that mile 13 is almost entirely uphill. I decided I had been heroic enough and that I would leave the half marathon PR for another day. Looking at the split, mile 13 was still an 11:12, so not bad at all. It was awesome to see about 4-5 other racers speed up in the last two miles and just take it home with a vengeance. I was finally home and so proud of myself when I rounded the corner at mile 13 to run the last .1 stretch in.
Time: 2:24, 11:01 min/mile pace
Total Time: 6:23:44
Post Race
After I finished, I hung around the finish area waiting for Charmaine and Karen to finish and just enjoyed sitting back and talking to a few people here and there. It was a beautiful day. When I saw them coming around the corner, I stood up and went crazy. People probably thought someone was dying because I was making so much commotion. They finished and we all hugged and then Karen and I just stood there and cried to each other for a good while. She did awesome and I was so proud of her, especially after the cards life had recently dealt her.
Last Thoughts
My overall feeling on the run was that of total relief. I was relieved that my knee wasn’t bothering me as it had for the previous 5 weeks (four years if you want to get technical). I was relieved to see all my Chicago training hadn’t been for nothing. I do know how to run, and I proved that to myself during this race. The wheels never feel off and I was able to hold it together. All that training had been worth something and I was finally able to see that. My time last year was 7:12 with a 59 mile bike ride. That time adjusts to a 6:53 for the shorter bike course this year. My #1 goal had been to beat that time because I would have been devastated to find I was slower this year than last. My #2 goal was 6:45. I figured I would have to work for that, but it would show decent improvement over last year and I’d be happy with it. My super-secret-impossible goal was 6:30 and/or a 2:30 run. I smashed both of those. I rarely say it or think it, but this time I am truly proud of myself. I kicked last-year-Kathleen’s butt. Don’t worry, I know I am still moving at a snail’s pace compared to most of the rest of the world, but on Sunday, I was the fastest person around in Kathleen’s world.
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