HITS Half Ironman in Lake Havasu City
I've been training with my good buddy Blake for this race since we ran the Phoenix Marathon last march. Last year we did our first half ironman and it was tough. I learned that I really needed to to work on my cycling if I wanted to be a good triathlete.
I felt 100% healthy and ready to go for this race. This is the first time since 2010 I have felt this good. I didn't feel nervous the days leading up to the race but I didn't sleep hardly at all the night before the race, so my nerves must have been getting the best of me. I finally gave up to the tossing and turning and got out of bed at 4 am. I had some toast with PB&J, watched some Sports Center and headed over to the race. I got all my stuff ready in the transision area and just relaxed and talked with some friends. Finally it was time to put on the wetsuits and head down to the water. The sun was just barely coming up and the lake looked beautiful. There was no wind, so the water was glassy. Once again my nerves manifested as I was shaking a bit, but was not cold.
Mercifully the race finally started. It was a beach start with all racers (male and female, half and full) starting at the same time, so there were a few hundred people all charging into the water and taking off. I was able to get off to the side of everyone and avoid most of the mealay. I didn't even get kicked in the head once! The water felt great and I really enjoyed the swim. It has become my favorite part of the triathlon. I was a bit sad when the swim finished, knowing I was about to embarke on a long bike ride.
1.2 MILE SWIM- 30:36
Into the transision area I went. I've been working on getting my wetsuit off faster and it paid off as I was one of the fastes through Transition 1.
TRANSITION 1- 2:48
When switching from the swim to the bike I always feel it in my glutes for about the first 5 miles, and today was no different. I settled into a good pace along with a few others that were about my equal. There is no drafting in triathloning, but you can be 3 bike lenghts back of the person infront of you and it seemed to help each of us keep up the pace as we continually leap frogged each other. Fortunately the bike was uneventful and eventually came to an end.
56 MILE BIKE- 2:48:09
Transition 2 went very smoothly. I took a few extra seconds to double knot my shoes and headed out for the run.
TRANSITION 2- 1:06
Finally to the run and I was feeling pretty good... so I thought. I was trying to run slow and easy, but the first 3 miles were in the 7:30s. I knew this was too fast, but it felt so easy, I just kept going. Then I slowly started to fade as the work of the bike started to catch up with me. By the turn around at 6.55 I was spent. My miles were in the high 9s by then and I was just focusing on moving one foot in front of the other. Mile 11 took everything I had to keep running, so when I told myself I could walk when I finished that mile. I was in a campground at that point walking on a road along the lake. Some campers asked if I wanted some ice water, I asked if they had a cold Coke and the dug one out of their ice chest and gave it to me. I popped it open and it was like heaven in a can. I continued walking along the lake road drinking my Coke until I hit mile 11.5 when I finally felt like I could run again. I took it slow at first and eventually passed the one person who had passed me while I walked that half mile. Right as I hit mile 12 a lady running at a good clip passed me and I realized I was starting to feel pretty good again so I went with her. I followed her for abut 3/4 of a mile when I decided I had enough in the tank to run hard to the end. I passed her up and finished the strong running the last mile around 8 minutes.
13.1 MILE RUN- 2:02:19
My FINAL FINISHING TIME was 5:25:01 which was a 55 minute PR over my only other half IM! I was really happy with that, but disappointed that my run time was identical to my first half IM. I obviously need to figure out how to run after putting in a hard biking effort. This year I mostly focused on improving my cycling and that is where I made up most of the 55 minutes. Next year to work on putting it all together and finishing with a good run.
OVERALL PLACE- 16
AGE GROUP PLACE- 3rd, so I got a nice little plaque for my efforts.
| 