Lake Stevens Ironman 70.3 Race Report - Moe

Yesterday I completed my first ever half ironman triathlon! 3:30am came very quickly as I was having trouble sleeping due to bad allergies and the neighbors still lighting fireworks all through the night. Got up, took a quick shower to wake up, slathered on my first coat of sunscreen and had a homemade smoothie (yogurt, frozen berries, soy milk, bee pollen), and a bagel. Made sure my bag was all packed up and we were on the road at 4:30am.

Got to the race site and Jeff was nice enough to drop Teresa and I off as he went in search of parking. We had already checked our bikes in on Saturday, which was when I realized my spot on the transition racks was smack dab in the middle of everything with no way to easily count off the racks, and the numbering system they used didn’t make much sense. I had stopped and picked up a blue helium balloon to mark my spot so I wouldn’t have any trouble finding it amongst the 1500 other athletes. Everyone on my rack thought it was great and all thanked me since it would also help them find their spot in the sea of transition racks.

Got everything set up in my teeny little space, grabbed my wetsuit, cap, goggles and wandered over to the swim start area. I managed to get in a little bit of a warm-up swim…just enough to feel the water and know it was a nice temperature. The pros were off first, followed by a few waves of age group men and the next thing I knew we were at the end of the dock and were next up with a 6:50am start! The swim start was a deep water start so we all jumped in off the dock and treaded water for 3 minutes before we were off! Thankfully the 55-60 women in my wave were fairly spread out so the start wasn’t too bad. A little bit of contact (or as I like to call it “combat swimming”), but not too bad. Then about 10 or so minutes into it I suddenly felt a hard flying elbow straight to my face! WACK! Someone had nailed me hard and besides the pain and shock of it all, my goggles managed to fly off my face! I quickly flipped over on my back, cleared my goggles of water and was able to put them back on and went on swimmin’ away! The swim was a long skinny triangular out and back. I rounded the 2 turns, had passed some men and women from the waves before me and was on my way back to the shore. Still feeling pretty decent, but had to keep reminding myself to focus on my form. I tend to get all flustered when swimming in races and my form goes out the window! With about 1/4 mile to go I felt my timing chip/strap flopping around loosely on my ankle. Oh no! I thought for sure the timing chip had fallen off of the strap when it somehow came loose! I stopped, grabbed for my ankle and couldn’t get it reattached nor could I tell easily if the chip was still on there or not. I decided to just shove it in my top of my wetsuit and keep swimming…figuring I’ll deal with it in the transition.
Swim time: 40:55 (1.2 miles)

Finally hit the shore and off to T1 I go. I scan the racks looking for my blue balloon to show me my spot, and IT’S GONE! I don’t know if someone intentionally cut it loose or what, but it was gone! And I hadn’t made a mental note of exactly where my rack was since I had planned on the balloon being there! It didn’t take too long though before I found my spot. Cap & goggles were already off, wetsuit off, grabbed my arm-warmers that were rolled up into a little donut, gloves, bike shorts for extra padding, helmet, sunglasses, socks, bike shoes on, a quick gulp of water and I was off! I made the call to wear arm warmers, padded gloves, and extra padded bike shorts over my tri-shorts simply because it is a long bike ride and comfort was important for the 3+ hours I would be riding. Yes, the transition took a little longer with all of these things, but I figured it was going to be a long day anyway and wasn’t too concerned with a few extra minutes for comfort. Luckily my timing chip was still on the strap so I put it back on my ankle and took off.
T1: 3:32

Off I go on the bike! I started out a bit easy and sipped a little water for the first 15 min or so to make sure my stomach had settled a bit before trying to get any calories in. I knew this bike course pretty well as I had ridden it about 6-7 times or so in training. Unfortunately, due to safety concerns they made a last minute change to the course which removed a nice flat (slightly downhill) section and replaced it with 10 more miles of rolling hills! As if this course wasn’t already hilly enough! Sheez! This was a very hilly course with lots of rollers and a few steep sections.  I was feeling spectacular on the bike and was taking in most of my calories from my 2 bottles of my customized Infinit drink mix. The first loop was great and I really surprised myself finishing it in only 1:32! YIKES! If I could maintain that pace I was on track to have a bike time around 3:05ish! Holy cow I thought, as in practice it was a severe struggle to do it in 3:15-3:20. Wahoo!

With about 10 miles to go, I started to feel a little funny in the head and was starting to get dizzy. It almost felt just like motion sickness!?!?! I wasn’t sure what was up, but I ate a gel and took 3 endurolytes with some water, hoping that would do the trick. I calculated that I had taken in about 800 calories and 3 bottles of water already so didn’t think it was a lack of fuel or dehydration. This dizzy feeling didn’t go away so the last 10 miles of the bike were much slower and I was just hoping to not tip over and crash because I was dizzy and about to pass out. Still managed to finish with a great time of 3:09, and later found out that the new course was a little longer than the standard 56 miles and was closer to 58!

Bike Time: 3:09 (~57.5? miles)

Off the bike and into the transition area. Still feeling dizzy and a bit confused even, I somehow got disoriented and for the life of me couldn’t find my spot on the racks! Oh no! I ran up and down a couple of them with my bike and started to swear under my breath….crap! I was losing precious time and still couldn’t find my spot! I looked for my lime green towel on the ground and FINALLY (after at least 1 min), there it was! Whew!

Racked my bike, changed shoes, switched my helmet for my run hat, grabbed my race belt w/number, and my fuel belt which had 2 8oz bottles of Infinit (mixed a little strong, so about 200 cal), 3 gels, a couple of tums, endurolytes, and a tiny spray bottle of sunscreen. I wanted to be prepared for just about anything so had more than I needed, but better safe than sorry!
T2: 3:01

I realized I really had to pee, but didn’t see the porta-potty in the transition area so figured I’d hit the first one I saw on the run. My legs weren’t feeling too bad at this point, but I was terribly nauseous! The dizziness was subsiding, but now it was full-blown nausea! I kept burping and “stuff” would come up. ugh! Hit mile 1 and was 2nd in line for the porta-potty…more time lost, but I didn’t care. I had to go! Out of the loo and back running….my nausea continued for at least the first half of the run. I tried to sip my drink mix but that just made it worse. I decided to walk the aid stations so I could drink plain water and was glad I did that. After about mile 7 or so the nausea started to feel a little better, but I was getting TIRED! I felt some nasty blisters on my feet and my hip flexors were very tight and sore. I continued my pattern of running from aid station to aid station and walking for 30-60 sec or so to drink at each one. My boyfriend, Jeff, had brought his bike to watch the race and kept appearing at all different spots on the run course. It was kind of fun to see where he’d show up next…kind of like “Where’s Waldo”! He was good support and put up with me complaining about my dizziness and nausea. At one point on the run I jokingly asked if he’d give me a ride on his bike for a few miles! ha ha! He said later that there was another women who was trying her best to trade her race number for his bike so he could finish the race for her! ha ha! Guess I wasn’t the only one hurting at this point! The camaraderie on the run was incredible! Everyone around me on the course seemed to be hurting to various degrees so we were all suffering and supporting each other. We triathletes are all a bit sick in the head since this is our twisted version of FUN!

I looked at my watch after the first half of the run and realized (including the bathroom stop) that I had done it in an hour….if I could just maintain this pace or even a bit slower, I would be able to finish the race under 6 hours! I never thought I’d be able to do it that fast, but since I had a faster than expected bike time I realized it might just be possible! Ugh…the last 2.5 miles were T-O-U-G-H though! Up the hill and back down, only to turn around and do it all over again….ok…I knew it was going to be really close, but the last 1/2 - 3/4 mile or so I pushed it with all I had (which wasn’t much at this point!). The crowd support as I rounded the corner into town was fantastic as I high-fived little kids and pushed through to the finish. I did it! I came in just under 6 hours! Wahoo! The official time had me at 5:59.03, but I had started my watch 30 sec. early and ended it a few seconds after finishing and my watch said 5:58.10. Hmm?!? Oh well. Doesn’t matter to me as long as it was under 6 hours! I was a bit disappointed with my run, but considering the circumstances it was ok! I managed to not throw up and still finish under 6 hours!
Run Time: 2:02 (13.1 miles)
Total Time: 5:59:03 (24/54 in my Age Group and 112/300 women)
Jeff met me at the finish with some cold chocolate milk - my recovery drink of choice! I was super happy to have successfully finished my first half ironman race, and with a great time (for me at least)! Super excited!

Now it’s a few weeks of casual exercise and some much needed R&R before starting up again…this time for IRONMAN COEUR D’ALENE! That’s right! Bring on the full Ironman in ‘09! I’ve got about 11 months to train and am already scared outta my mind but excited at the same time!

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