Race report, and final post

Well... it's done. It was an amazing experience and I will never forget the struggles that occurred during the time it took me to finish this race. It was so much harder than I had expected. I'm not sure if it was because I expected it to be comparable to the racing I had done in the past, or if it just wasn't my day. Either way, it was a huge learning experience for me. Enough of the excuses, time for the race report, and yes, pictures.

We got to Williamsburg late Friday afternoon, checked into the hotel and went out for dinner. I followed my normal routine and had a nice big dinner, in hopes of waking up with a full tank of calories and energy. What better way to do this than with chicken, spaghetti and some amazing stuff to go on top (goat cheese, spinach, sun dried tomatoes... mmmm). Little did I know, it would take more than anything I could eat the night before to keep me fueled for the next day. It was a fairly early night. I was asleep by 10:45ish... ok 11. The alarm clock was set for 5:30. The anticipation was building.

5:30 never seems early when you're waking up to do something you love. I was up and out of bed in seconds of hearing the alarm clock go off. I packed everything up. Made sure I had all of my belongings and race stuff, and we were off to the race site. We got there with a decent amount of time to spare. It was strange, because I expected myself to be nervous, or somewhat intimidated by the monstrosity I was about to embark on, and I almost felt numb to it all. It felt just like any other race.

I got out into the water for a quick warmup and got out of the water just in time for the pre-race meeting. Once it was over, we all lined up in the water... waiting for the horn to blow. Once it did, it was time to put all these months of training and racing into action. The strangest thing about where we were swimming was how shallow it was. It took a good 100 meters before it was even deep enough to warrant swimming. I think everybody was a little unprepared for this. Some people just started swimming, some ran, some did a mix of both. I swam for a bit then ran, then swam again. Which seemed to work well. Within a minute or so it was finally deep enough to get into a full fledged swim. The first thing I noticed was how much easier it is to float with a wetsuit on. I thought maybe people were just saying these things so they could justify buying an expensive wetsuit, but it really does make a difference. The first 1200 or so meters of the swim was great. I was in my rhythm just gliding through the water as I had hoped. The hard part came when we turned the buoy for the last stretch of the swim. The current pulled almost everyone wayyy out, and because of the sun, it was almost impossible to see the buoys or where we were swimming to on the shore. This section of the swim felt like an eternity. I kept feeling like the shore wasn't getting any closer. But luckily it was and my time was only a minute slower than I had projected it would be, although I didn't know this at the time.

Of course your always sort of disoriented after getting out of the water at a race of this distance. Even at the Olympic race at Lurray, it took a few seconds to get used to being on land again. The run from the water to the transition area was at least a half a mile... wayyyy longer than any other races. Usually it's right there, but for some reason they decided to have it further away. Not so big of a deal because we all had to run the same distance. I got there as fast as I could, with my wetsuit around my waist at this point, and made it to my bike. I wasn't in as much of a rush as I usually am. I guess I figured I'd be out on the course long enough that a few extra seconds making sure I had everything wouldn't hurt. I grabbed my 4 gels, and 2 Cliff Bars, put on my sunglasses and headed out.

The first portion of the bike was fast. Maybe too fast. My legs were feeling great. The course was smooth and I was so excited that I had 56 miles to take care of business. Unfortunately it was pretty hot out on the course so I really had to focus on drinking fluids. I was a little worried that I would take in too much, but I certainly didn't want to be dehydrated. So the big question a lot of you are probably asking is, how did the nutrition go on the bike? Well, it went well. I still don't think I was eating enough, because I could feel my energy starting to lull right before it was time for my next gel or Cliff Bar. Maybe a gel every 20 minutes instead of every 30. It wasn't so bad though that it messed anything up. I will say that it's really hard to scarf down a whole Cliff Bar at 22 mph after 90 minutes in the saddle. I'm not sure how I did it, but somehow or another I managed to get my 300 calories/hour in. I was starting to struggle towards the end of the bike when I came up on my rival from VT. As soon as I passed him I was immediately motivated to keep pushing. By the time I got to T2 I had gained 10 minutes on him. I didn't know I had that much of a lead on him, but I knew I was ahead of him. I was feeling great at this point! It wasn't my best race so far, but it was going smoothly. I managed to keep it in the big chain ring for most of the way and only dropped to the small one for the last 10 miles. Even in the small chain ring I was keeping a consistent 21-22 mph. After the race, comparing my bike computer with other peoples, the bike course was really 58 miles, instead of the advertised 56. Not a big deal, just interesting. I guess this was a 72.3 race, not a 70.3.

Okay, so this is where the day went awry. As soon as I got off the bike, the first thing I thought was man it's hot, and I'm really thirsty. Like most people I wasn't in too much of a rush. I hurried a little bit, but I was more concerned with making sure I had my gels, my watch and my visor. So after a minute or so, I headed out, grabbed a cup of water from the first aid station and started the run. I didn't feel so bad at this point. Of course I had the normal concrete legs feeling that you always get after making the transition from the bike to the run, but I was still feeling pretty good about my race at this point. Unfortuneatly, the heat never went anywhere, and my legs never loosened up. I just couldn't do it. Everyone that I have ever talked to, has said that they blew up on the run at their first half Ironman. I told myself, it's not going to happen to me. I'll eat enough on the bike and I'll drink lots of water, and I'll just take the run one mile at a time. It sounds good, but you can't beat the heat, no matter who you are, and if you're thirsty, chances are you're probably already dehydrated.

As soon as I realized my legs weren't going to loosen up the race went from doing really well, to just finishing. It really is a strange feeling, especially when you're used to doing these things to win your age group, or be in the top 10%, to put yourself in the "I just want to finish category". It took me over 6 hours to finish, far longer than I had anticipated or hoped. I was on track to finish in 5:15 after the bike, but just couldn't keep pace on the run. I was disappointed at first, thinking that I really should have done better, but after a little bit of thought, I realized that it was only my first one, and finishing was just fine with me. Even though I blew it on the run, the swim and the bike were great. It's just a matter of changing a few things here and there and being a little more comfortable with the transition from such a long bike to such a long run.

All in all... It was an amazing experience. It has motivated me to train harder, and smarter. Will I was struggling on the run I kept asking myself why I wanted to do something like this. But as soon as I finished, I knew exactly why. I also knew that I'll be back sometime next season to take it on again. I have talked to a lot of other triathletes who have said that their first long distance event is always a tough one. They also say, the second is usually a lot better.

There is a new blog. So you can follow some of the changes I'll be making in my training. Especially now that I won't be training specifically for long distance, a lot of exciting things will be happening. I'll post the link as soon as it's set up. There will be more commentary there about this race since it has turned into a huge learning experience which I will dissect piece by piece.

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR READING MY BLOG AND SUPPORTING ME.

I would never be able to do these things with out great friends and family supporting me along the way.