OrangeMan 1/2 iron distance
Well, it seems like these (race reports) all start out the same. What I thought I'd be writing about an epic day, didn't quit materialize that way. My goal was to 'Just Don't Walk'. Morning started great. Got into the car and was heading into transition 15 minutes later. Gotta love local races.
I was in the third wave with ocean swim/beach start. I don't
consider myself a fast swimmer, but my time was 37:34. Happy with it,
as I was hoping 35-40 min considering it was the ocean. T1 3:55, but I
did start my phone app also. (it worked great. My wife was able to track
me. She had a hard time with the map, but it gave mile by mile times,
current and avg. times). I decide to use my Rudy Project Wingspan to be
quicker on the bike. The first 5 miles are pretty flat, then it's a
steady climb for the next 25 miles. I didn't feel like I was pushing too
hard, but I guess I was. It was getting hot too. I think the temp got
over 90 up there. I got to the turn around in 2:10 and now the fun
begins. A fast and fun descent. (Later my wife told my that she yelled
at her phone cuz I was going too fast. Looking at my data, I hit 49
mph). My wife was able to track me and left our house when I started
down the hill and saw me right before T2. That was nice to see her. Back
into T2 in 1:10, total time was 3:20.
Now the run. I started slow, the
first mile was paved, followed by 7/10 of a mile sand run. That sucked
hard. About half way, I decided to walk and save myself for the run. Got
off the sand, and started running, slowly. Got about a mile or so, and
had no energy. It was hot, probably mid 80's even though we were about a
few hundred feet from the ocean. I started playing 'let's make deal'
with run to the next pole, walk to the next pole. After a while my left
hammy got a twinge. It went away and then I started to get hot spots on
my feet. I decided to walk the rest and not risk getting blisters as I
have IM Arizona in 7 weeks. My run was over long before I got the hot
spots though. Finished my 3 loops, and walking the last mile to the
finish line. My wife was there and a friend. We all walked a little,
then it was she and I. It wasn't a bad way to finish my race. As we
walked, I had a lot of questions that need to be answered.
What did I
learn...I need to pace better on the bike. Maybe, I should try for a
leisure ride and don't have anything but a watch to tell me when it's
time to drink. Maybe I should do AquaBike-with my times I would have
been about 5th place. This is probably the most important...When I was
riding, I actually looked a little at the views, and became completely grateful that I get to do this. Race/participate in endurance events.
Nobody cares (except me) about my times, pace, or placings. My wife, my
kids, my friends, nobody cares. All they really want to know is 'did I
finish or did I get hurt'. Not much more. They all think I'm crazy for
training/racing 70.3/140.6 miles. Am I? I don't know. But, I do know that
I'm addicted.
One last thing, train safely. It seems that a lot of accidents happening to cyclists lately. And wear your RoadID
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