Halfmax was my "A" race of the season. I wasn't sure how prepared I actually was going into it, but I was as prepared as I was going to be for anything after moving and traveling for work and just life in general.
I drove to Houston Wednesday night and grabbed a quick dinner with Kim and Monica before heading to Robin's house for the night. It was sooo great to see some of my Houston friends! My parents met us at the airport in the morning and we arrived in Myrtle Beach in the early afternoon. The resort was very nice and our suite was awesome - I'd call it a condo instead of a suite, and it was very similar to the place we stayed for Ironman Florida. Mom, Robin, and I went to the grocery store Thursday night to stock our condo kitchens and the amount of food we bought was quite hilarious. I realized just how hard it must have been for mom to say "no" every time I wanted to throw something in the grocery cart as a kid. Because now I see she wants just as much bad stuff as I do, and she no longer says "no." There was some cake that mysteriously ended up in the cart that I had nothing to do with!
Robin and I did a short ride and run Friday morning and I worked hard on napping the rest of the day. It was so nice to do nothing. I was upset the weather wasn't exactly beach/pool weather, but it probably was for the best in the long run because it meant I was lazier than I'd been in ages and I needed it.
Race morning was fairly uneventful - staying at the race site and racking your bike the day before really make things pretty darn nice. I went down and setup the rest of my transition then went back up to the room to put my wetsuit on. My parents and I then headed down to the swim start and when I got outside, someone saw me and said "swim was canceled." Really? Hmm. Interesting. I asked why and they said the e-coli levels were too high. Hmm. Interesting again. Oh well, here we go. My mom took my wetsuit back up to the room and grabbed my arm warmers for me while my dad waited in the ever growing "start" line with me. He also held said spot in line while I ran to the restroom. It was quite helpful!
They decided to do a time trial start with someone starting every 3 seconds. We lined up at the swim exit in whatever order we chose. With that plan, we'd end up having a T1 time before starting on our bikes. I was pretty indifferent about the whole affair. I didn't get really upset about not swimming even though I like to swim. I just kind of went with it and looking back, I'm glad I had such a laid back attitude about it as opposed to needlessly stressing about the situation. I think for the most part the swimmers were upset and the non-swimmers were literally jumping for joy. I just hung out.
My turn came soon enough and I had a quick enough T1 then was on my way on the bike. It was a beautiful day - cool and crisp in the morning, but a little windier than most of us would have liked. The bike was kind of an h-shape loop that you did twice. Essentially there were 4 u-turns per loop. I like out-and-backs because I can look for my friends and see how everyone is doing. Also, changing directions that often meant we never had to go into the wind for too long of a period at any one time. I don't remember too much about the bike except that the wind was pretty stiff on the second loop. I looked back to some of the bike workouts we'd done at PAC and they were paying off then. We did a 30 minute hill one night and I felt like I was right back in that class. I just put my head down and patiently yet aggressively pressed on. I was happy with my average mph heading into the second loop - happy to see I still had some speed left. Since moving to Austin I've felt slower than molasses. Seriously. There was a ~10 mile or stretch with the wind at our back in the middle of the second loop and I told myself I had to get any remaining bumps in my avg mph there because the rest of the ride wouldn't provide much of an opportunity to do so. I was watching my avg creep up a tenth at a time and felt like I was playing a cross between the Price is Right and Wheel of Fortune. I was thinking to myself "come on 5, give me a 5, bring on lucky number 5" etc, then 6, then 7, for each tenth of a mph.
I came into T2 happy with my bike split. I knew it was equal or better than my previous half ironman bike splits. I pushed it pretty hard though, so wasn't quite what to expect on the run. T2 was again uneventful and it was time to head out for the run. I stuff everything I need down my top in transition then take it out and get everything situated during my first few minutes of the run. The race photographer got some nice pics of me pulling stuff out of my top - it was kind of funny.
I planned to do run/walk intervals again as they have served me well at every half or full ironman I've done. I tried 6/1's this time and quickly went to my more usual 4/1's. The run course was basically 2 lollipops (i.e. mostly out and back with a loop on the far end) so I was happy again to be able to see everyone. I don't like a run course where all you see is people's backs. I like seeing faces! My first mile was under 9:00 pace and I knew that wouldn't/shouldn't last long. I slowed from that pretty quickly, but was hoping to keep it between 9-9:30 pace as long as I could. I saw all sorts of friends, both from Houston and from Austin, and everyone was doing well. I started slowing a bit around half way through, but was still holding on okay so I didn't worry too much about it.
I ended up with a 2:06 run which is a pr for a run in a half ironman, but not by too much. I was very happy with my effort, and again glad to see the little speed I do have didn't completely disappear over the last however long. My last half ironman in April in Galveston sucked, and the half before that in September 2009 was a huge PR (5:50). So I wasn't really sure what to expect this time around. My total time was 5:07, with a pr on both the bike and run splits. I think I can safely assume I would have had a pr for the total distance had we swam, but I'll never know for sure so I'll just leave it at what it is...a pr for 2/3 of a half of an ironman!
Overall the trip was fun and I'm glad I went. I'm glad my parents came along as well, and I think they also enjoyed themselves. Of course now I'm heading to Montgomery, TX in a few weeks to do Ironstar half ironman because I just can't end my season with a 2-event race. I feel like I need 3 to make it complete! I need to watch what I say though - knowing my luck something off the wall will happen at Ironstar and one of the three events will get canceled there too. I am spending the 5 weeks between the two races walking the fine lines between recovery, rest, training, and tapering. I took 10 days off from running after the race and did several short swims and a few easy easy spins in that time frame to keep things loose and to hopefully help with recovery. As of now I feel good and fairly recovered. The fact I did nothing athletic last weekend might have something to do with that though!
Where the swim was going to be...looked more like a brown ditch than anything else...rumors of alligators, snakes, and sharks were swirling...along with the gas in the water at the gas dock that was to be our starting point. Ya...maybe not such a bad thing the swim was canceled.
Golf course at our resort
Halfway through the bike. I took my sleeves off somewhere during the 2nd loop - almost crashed while doing so...oops...
Bikes all packed up right after the race thanks to Tri Team Transport - they rock!
We finally went to the beach after my race. Ahhhh.....
View of the hotel from the marina area
I drove to Houston Wednesday night and grabbed a quick dinner with Kim and Monica before heading to Robin's house for the night. It was sooo great to see some of my Houston friends! My parents met us at the airport in the morning and we arrived in Myrtle Beach in the early afternoon. The resort was very nice and our suite was awesome - I'd call it a condo instead of a suite, and it was very similar to the place we stayed for Ironman Florida. Mom, Robin, and I went to the grocery store Thursday night to stock our condo kitchens and the amount of food we bought was quite hilarious. I realized just how hard it must have been for mom to say "no" every time I wanted to throw something in the grocery cart as a kid. Because now I see she wants just as much bad stuff as I do, and she no longer says "no." There was some cake that mysteriously ended up in the cart that I had nothing to do with!
Robin and I did a short ride and run Friday morning and I worked hard on napping the rest of the day. It was so nice to do nothing. I was upset the weather wasn't exactly beach/pool weather, but it probably was for the best in the long run because it meant I was lazier than I'd been in ages and I needed it.
Race morning was fairly uneventful - staying at the race site and racking your bike the day before really make things pretty darn nice. I went down and setup the rest of my transition then went back up to the room to put my wetsuit on. My parents and I then headed down to the swim start and when I got outside, someone saw me and said "swim was canceled." Really? Hmm. Interesting. I asked why and they said the e-coli levels were too high. Hmm. Interesting again. Oh well, here we go. My mom took my wetsuit back up to the room and grabbed my arm warmers for me while my dad waited in the ever growing "start" line with me. He also held said spot in line while I ran to the restroom. It was quite helpful!
They decided to do a time trial start with someone starting every 3 seconds. We lined up at the swim exit in whatever order we chose. With that plan, we'd end up having a T1 time before starting on our bikes. I was pretty indifferent about the whole affair. I didn't get really upset about not swimming even though I like to swim. I just kind of went with it and looking back, I'm glad I had such a laid back attitude about it as opposed to needlessly stressing about the situation. I think for the most part the swimmers were upset and the non-swimmers were literally jumping for joy. I just hung out.
My turn came soon enough and I had a quick enough T1 then was on my way on the bike. It was a beautiful day - cool and crisp in the morning, but a little windier than most of us would have liked. The bike was kind of an h-shape loop that you did twice. Essentially there were 4 u-turns per loop. I like out-and-backs because I can look for my friends and see how everyone is doing. Also, changing directions that often meant we never had to go into the wind for too long of a period at any one time. I don't remember too much about the bike except that the wind was pretty stiff on the second loop. I looked back to some of the bike workouts we'd done at PAC and they were paying off then. We did a 30 minute hill one night and I felt like I was right back in that class. I just put my head down and patiently yet aggressively pressed on. I was happy with my average mph heading into the second loop - happy to see I still had some speed left. Since moving to Austin I've felt slower than molasses. Seriously. There was a ~10 mile or stretch with the wind at our back in the middle of the second loop and I told myself I had to get any remaining bumps in my avg mph there because the rest of the ride wouldn't provide much of an opportunity to do so. I was watching my avg creep up a tenth at a time and felt like I was playing a cross between the Price is Right and Wheel of Fortune. I was thinking to myself "come on 5, give me a 5, bring on lucky number 5" etc, then 6, then 7, for each tenth of a mph.
I came into T2 happy with my bike split. I knew it was equal or better than my previous half ironman bike splits. I pushed it pretty hard though, so wasn't quite what to expect on the run. T2 was again uneventful and it was time to head out for the run. I stuff everything I need down my top in transition then take it out and get everything situated during my first few minutes of the run. The race photographer got some nice pics of me pulling stuff out of my top - it was kind of funny.
I planned to do run/walk intervals again as they have served me well at every half or full ironman I've done. I tried 6/1's this time and quickly went to my more usual 4/1's. The run course was basically 2 lollipops (i.e. mostly out and back with a loop on the far end) so I was happy again to be able to see everyone. I don't like a run course where all you see is people's backs. I like seeing faces! My first mile was under 9:00 pace and I knew that wouldn't/shouldn't last long. I slowed from that pretty quickly, but was hoping to keep it between 9-9:30 pace as long as I could. I saw all sorts of friends, both from Houston and from Austin, and everyone was doing well. I started slowing a bit around half way through, but was still holding on okay so I didn't worry too much about it.
I ended up with a 2:06 run which is a pr for a run in a half ironman, but not by too much. I was very happy with my effort, and again glad to see the little speed I do have didn't completely disappear over the last however long. My last half ironman in April in Galveston sucked, and the half before that in September 2009 was a huge PR (5:50). So I wasn't really sure what to expect this time around. My total time was 5:07, with a pr on both the bike and run splits. I think I can safely assume I would have had a pr for the total distance had we swam, but I'll never know for sure so I'll just leave it at what it is...a pr for 2/3 of a half of an ironman!
Overall the trip was fun and I'm glad I went. I'm glad my parents came along as well, and I think they also enjoyed themselves. Of course now I'm heading to Montgomery, TX in a few weeks to do Ironstar half ironman because I just can't end my season with a 2-event race. I feel like I need 3 to make it complete! I need to watch what I say though - knowing my luck something off the wall will happen at Ironstar and one of the three events will get canceled there too. I am spending the 5 weeks between the two races walking the fine lines between recovery, rest, training, and tapering. I took 10 days off from running after the race and did several short swims and a few easy easy spins in that time frame to keep things loose and to hopefully help with recovery. As of now I feel good and fairly recovered. The fact I did nothing athletic last weekend might have something to do with that though!
Where the swim was going to be...looked more like a brown ditch than anything else...rumors of alligators, snakes, and sharks were swirling...along with the gas in the water at the gas dock that was to be our starting point. Ya...maybe not such a bad thing the swim was canceled.
Golf course at our resort
Halfway through the bike. I took my sleeves off somewhere during the 2nd loop - almost crashed while doing so...oops...
Bikes all packed up right after the race thanks to Tri Team Transport - they rock!
We finally went to the beach after my race. Ahhhh.....
View of the hotel from the marina area
Comments
It was so good to see you before and after Longhorn last weekend! I am thinking of volunteering for Ironstar if my kid does not have a major swim meet so I may see you out there.