Preface: In the old days, I spent alot of time editing my blog posts to correct grammer and spelling and make the story flow nicely.  I don’t have time for that these days with my demanding job.  So, please forgive the poor writing.  What you see below is ‘in the raw’.

Here is my race report from the 2011 Washington Half Ironman race in Little Washington, NC.   This race is put on by FS Series…who always does a fantastic job of organizing a great race experience.   I enjoyed this race very much.  Except for the wind and the suffering, but that is what racing is all about!

Official Results:

Swim 1.2 Miles:  38:08.1, 1:49 min/100m (I think the swim was measured short, cuz I don’t think I can really swim that fast)
T1:   3:46
Bike 56 miles: 3:07:04.7, 18mph
T2:  3:25
Run: 13.1 miles: 2:24:58.0, 11:04  m/m pace

Overall Time:  6:17:21.0

5th Overall Female out of 18
2nd Age Group (out of 4.  First place got an overall award, so I got 1st age group award.)

Check In:

I was able to get off work a little early on Friday and made it just in time to packet pickup Friday evening.   Washingon Park is a quaint little riverside park and community and makes a fantastic site for a race. I really love this spot!

Back at my hotel, I unloaded my race packet to inspect the goodies!   Look at the Schwagg you get doing this race!!    The grey hoodie is my favorite!  I also got arm warmers, socks, and a key chain.   I gave my brown hoodie from last year’s race to my daughter, Laura. She was thrilled!       I got everything read that night in my hotel room to save time in the morning (put stickers on bike and helment, bib on race belt, etc, etc)

Race Morning:.

Here I am in my hotel room at 6am getting ready for the race.  I bought a brand new pink Zoot tri top on sale for this race.   Just because I wanted to be pretty in pink. Also, pink is a shade of red, and red is the color that fast athletes wear.   So, it’s perfect!    I did have to mix up my Perpetuem in the morning.   That is my favorite nutrition for long bike races, as it’s not too sweet. I bought cafe latte flavor this time, and it tasted just like a latte.  Yum.

I got to the race site in plenty of time  to set up my gear. I chatted with some BT peeps:  Scottie , Alan, Doug, Mark, Dick and his son William.   Also, saw a local riding buddy named Gerson and his friend John.    It was nice seeing familiar faces at the race.   One of my friends asked me why I had a disk wheel on my bike.  I looked around and only saw one other bike with a disk on it.   Ooops, I guess the forecast called for a very windy day, and disk wheels are not good in the wind.   Nothing to do but put that out of my box.

I spent so much time chatting with people, that I had to rush to put my wetsuit on.  And I forgot the BodyGlide on my neck.   My wetsuit always causes terrible chaffing there!

The Swim

The Bike

So, the bike is a mostly flat course .  It’s supposed to be fast, right?     I was feeling really good the first half of the ride.  There was a bit of a tailwind helping me along and I was averaging 20-21 mph without working too hard.   Then I turned south and felt a cross wind.  It got very hard to maintain over 20 mph on that stretch for about 10 miles.   And I could feel the wind picking up, too.  Crap.   There was one gust of wind that I felt blow me sideways a bit.  I don’t think the disc wheel hurt me too much, unless it took more energy to fight the crosswinds.  I dunno.

Then the course made a turn back East.  Holy crap.  My speed ground to a mere 14mph and I was working hard.    Then I looked up and saw a sign that said “Washington 22 miles”.   Holy crap for crap.  22 Miles of this headwind.  Not going to be fun. And that’s going to kill my average speed.   Nothing to do but hunker down into a small shape and maintain a consistent effort.    I thought about my friends doing the Beach2Battleship full iron race just a few miles south of me, and wondered if they had the same winds to fight (they did).   I was very glad to be only doing a half ironman race, not a full iron race!

So, I ground out the rest of the race course the best I could hunkered down into that headwind.    I saw my avg speed drop from 20+ to 18mph.   When it got to 18mph, stubbornness made me work harder and not let it go below that.

I did make one potty stop on the ride.    I ducked into a little farm shed to pee. The dirt was loose and got into my new speedplay cleats.   That made it really hard to clip back in – I had to stop  and bang my foot against the ground, and do alot of shaking about to get the dirt out. I love the speedplays, except that they are higher maintenance than the shimano’s I had before.

The Run

Well, I was hoping for a pace of 10 m/m on the run.    My running is not where it should be and neither is my weight.   So, that was the best  I felt I could do.   I started out the first 6 miles on target with that pace, doing sub 10 and wasting a little time at aid stations to equal about 10 m/m.    The next 6 miles slowed a little, but I was still on target for a decent run.   The 2nd lap the wheels fell off and my back started to ache, and my feet hurt, and I was not able to hold a 10m/m pace.  Still, I didn’t let myself give  up and complete degrade to a slog.   I just kept running with fast feed and solid core (fast feed, solid core was my mantra).     That seemed to work pretty good.   I took a few really short walk breaks only to take Gu or drink water.    When I was done with that, I said “Breaks over”.

During the run, I tried to be really cheerful and send positive vibes to everyone I saw.    I figured I wasn’t going to have a stellar race, so I would at least have fun.    I’d pass other racers and give them a big smile and thumbs up.    I’d pass Doug and tell him to keep up the good work.  He had been struggling with back pain from that tough bike ride for the whole run.  He was doing great with a nice run/walk routine, and I told him to keep it up.     I saw Gerson a few times too, and I tell him how he was really smoking the course (which he was!).  I smiled and waved at Roxanne, another BTr, who I met after the race.     So, all in all it was a good run.    And I was super glad when it was done!

Post Race

After the race, I hung out for a bit chatting with friends.    I ended up getting an age group award of a coffee mug.    Yay coffee!

On the way driving home, I noticed my neck felt uncomfortable.  I rubbed it, and OUCHIE, that hurt alot.  Turns out, I got the worst chaffing ever during that swim!   Lesson Learned: don’t forget the body glide.    And, at least I have a huge tub of Aquaphor from my friend, Ginger, to help heal it up!

August 7th, 2011 was an epic day of racing in Wilmington.   I did a mini sprint triathlon with two of my daughters: Laura and Becky.

Prologue

I think it all started back in January, when Laura and I did the Little River Trail run.  We ran 4 miles together in the freezing cold that day.

Laura loved racing together, so this summer  she said wanted to do a Triathlon.   I chose She Tri’s because it was a nice short distance race, all female, flat course, and close to the beach.  We planned our family beach vacation around that week.   And, I put together a beginner training plan for Laura and she started riding her bike in addition to running.    I bought a decent bike for her to ride using my REI dividend.  It’s a Marin Fairfax.  It’s a good  fitness level road bike.    And Laura loved it.

Becky was already running just for fitness and fun, and she asked if she could do it too.  So, they both started following the training plan.  And they shared the spiffy new Marin Fairfax bike, naming her “Marina”.    It was not any problem sharing Marina for training.  But come race day, we were faced with the dilema: who gets to ride Marina?    The other bike option was the Trek 500 mountain bike.   Not a bad bike, in fact, I raced my very first tri season on that bike!  But Marina was definitely slicker, faster and more comfortable than the Trek.    They decided that they would swap bikes half way through the race, each riding Marina for 5.5 miles of the 11 mile bike course.   We were planing to stick together throughout the race anyway, so that was a good plan.

About ten days before the race, Becky got a bad flu, was physically wiped out, and could not do any workouts.  She was really worried about that.  I told her that she would be fine, and you are supposed to rest your body anyway before a race.   She was just getting a little extra rest!

Travelling to the Race

We packed up three bikes onto the back of my car, and headed to the beachhouse we rented in Surf City, NC.   That’s alot of bikes!

Surf City is about 30 miles north of Wilmington.   We had a nice quiet evening unpacking our suitcases and walking on the beach.  We went to bed early in preparation for our epic race day!

Setting up for Race

We woke up early, ate some bagels and peanut butter for breakfast.  Then we set out for the She TRIs race site in Wilmington.   We arrived about 45 minutes before the official race start time.   We pumped our tires up.  We loaned the bike pump to the woman parked next to us.  It was her first race that day, too!

We had plenty of time to pick up our race packets, get our time chips, and go to body marking.   Body marking is one of my favorite parts of race-day, and Becky and Laura thought that was very fun.   I did not think to take a photo of that moment.  sniff sniff.

Then we went to set up our transition areas.  I showed them how to apply their number stickers to their bike and helmet, and pin the bib on their shirts.  We went over the plan of what to do in T1 and T2.    We were all wearing sport bras underneath a speedo swim suit.   The plan was to put on bike shorts during T1.  Put on Sneakers, helmet and then ride.   In T1, all we had to do was rack the bike, take off the helmet, and put on the running shirt with bib pinned to it.   This was a good plan.  We were all set to go.  Here is Becky (left) and Laura (right) ready to go!   Becky was using the Trek bike, and Laura had “Marina”.

We had about an hour before our swim start time, so we walked around and observed other athletes as they came out of the water, went through T1 and headed out for the bike.  I saw two of my age group friends head out on the bike: Gloria and Rebecca.   It was fun watching them race, as they are both fast chicks!

Swim 200 meters

Due a mix-up in the swim start times, we were at the end of the swim line.  This put us behind alot of super slower swimmers.  Laura started at 8:53am;  I was 30 seconds later; and Becky brought up the rear.   There was one girl behind Becky and that was the very end of the line.   We passed quite a few swimmers, but tried not to stress over it.  We mostly wanted to have a fun day.   Our swim times were about 5 minutes.

Bike 11 miles

The bike was a two lap flat course around a scenic little lake.      The race photographer was right at the start of the course.  We were all smiles, as you can see!

As we settled into the ride, I went to the back and let Laura and Becky set the pace.    We passed a few other riders.  A few riders passed us.   Laura has good bike legs and so she kept inching ahead of Becky and me.  I could tell they were both working pretty hard.   I was so proud of them!

I hoped Laura remembered the plan to switch out bikes after the first lap.   She did not.  After we got started on the second lap, I had to ride full speed ahead to catch Laura.  We stopped and waited for Becky to catch up.  We all took some drinks from our water bottles and carried on with Lap number two.  It was beautiful weather and we all had a great time, I think.     We finished with a 13 mph average pace.  That was a really great result for a first Tri!

The Run: 2 miles

Laura had gotten a little bit ahead of us again in the second lap of the bike, so got to transition first.   She waited for Becky and me in T2.  We all started out on the run together.    Laura settled into a steady jog ahead of us.  She had a big smile on her face.

Becky looked wiped out and said she couldn’t run.  She said that her legs felt like Jello.   She had missed most of her brick workouts due to being sick; and I think she was still not back to full strength.   I told her what Ginger told me to do in the Ironman:  If you can’t run, at least hold your head high and power walk.  So Becky and I power walked.    When able, we did little spurts of running.

We saw Laura inch away little by little.    Becky has nice long legs, so her power walk pace was pretty decent.    And her run spurts were pretty fast.    As  we ran across a little wooden bridge, there was a guy shouting out motivational things.  That spurred Becky on to keep running a little longer.   As soon as we were out of sight of that guy, she stopped to walk.   I asked her if that guy helped her to keep running.   She said “Yes!”.  I asked if she wanted me to yell things to keep her running.  She said “No!”.   I felt the best thing to get her to the finish line was for us to keep up with the power walk/run plan.

We passed a few folks, who were also walking.   It was hot, so we took water at the aid stations.      As we neared the 1 mile turnaround, we passed Laura jogging on her way back.  We did high fives.   Laura looked strong and still all smiles.

In the second mile, we passed a few folks, who were also walking.   It was hot, so we took water at the aid stations.    We again ran over the bridge with the motivational guy.   He was awesome!     I told Becky to keep running, only six more minutes of suffering, can you do that?  She said no.   We walked some more.    When we could hear the finish line music and cheering, she picked it up and ran the rest of the way across the line, looking strong!

The race photographer heard our names being called and figured we were related, so she took this shot of us together.  I did buy all these pictures, by the way!  Good memories!

Our pace for the 2 mile run was 13 min/miles.    I was pretty amazed at that.    I was proud of my girls, and happy that Laura had a strong day, and that Becky kept up and finished the run despite  jello legs.  And it turns out that Becky got third place in her age group, beating the 4th place by 2 minutes.  If she had not worked hard power walking, I don’t think she would gotten third.

Post Race:

After the race, we went to Star bucks for coffee and cake pops.   Yummy!

Then we went to the beach.  Yay beach!

Today I did the Roan Moan 2011 Metric Century ride put on by the Bakersville Firestation.   The ride is  62 miles of hills, including a Cat1 climb up to the top of Roan Mountain.  It was the hardest thing I have done since my Ironman.    The easiest part of the ride was much hillier and harder than any of my training routes.     And then they stuck in two monster climbs to make it one hillacious day for me.

Ride Stats

Here is my Garmin Data.    The ‘flat’ parts on the elevation graph were by no means flat! Just sayin….
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/103067890

• Avg speed before the big Cat1 climb:  16.6
• Avg speed up the 7.3 mile Cat1 climb: 5.9
• Avg speed down the mountain and to the finish: 25.9
• Overall Avg Speed for entire ride: 14.6
• Max Speed: 49.9 (this is a record, dang, would have liked it to top 50mph!)
• Race weight 152.2  - hope to do better getting that down for next year

Race Prep

Here I am driving toward the race start.   My ears popped.    A foreshadowing of diffucult climbs ahead.

I got a little lost on the way, so arrived at the site with just 25 minutes to prep.  I headed over to the registration tent to get my bib number.    I got that, and then went outside for a potty break.  They were laoding the porta-potties onto trailers.  I asked “Is it too late to pee?”.   The guy said “Yes, but there’s  a bathroom inside”.  Phew, I took care of that business, then went back to get my bike and nutrition all set up.

I met two BT buddies: Jon and Ken.  That was nice seeing a couple of friendly faces.   I didn’t chat too long because I was pressed for time.   I got everything together and rode back over to the start line, positioning myself in the middle of the pack.  The announcer was calling out instructions.

Then I rememembered that I didn’t have my heart rate strap on.  I really really wanted to have that for the big climbs to gauge my effort level.  So, I got out of the lineup, rode back to my car, and grabbed the strap.  As I rode back to the start, I heard the gun go off.   Dang.  I rode up and got in the back of the pack, so it put me behind some slow riders.    +

The Race, leading up to big Cat1 climb

It took several miles to pass folks, and I had to do some hammering to catch up to some groups.   I finally settled in with a good solid group of male riders.

There were alot of hills.   We were averaging 16-17 mph.    I would sometimes get dropped on the hills, but could catch back up on the descents and flats.    I tried hard to stay with them.    One one small descent, I could have flown fast and free, but a stupid car got in my way, and was going slow!  Dammit, I can’t pass a car on the road.

I lost contact with that group on the first big climb.  It was a Cat3 climb of about 3 miles, with some fairly steep grades.    It was hard!   On the descent down from that climb, I was in front alone.    I like descending fast, but am not used to a long descent with twists and turns.  I approached the first turn a little too fast, and realized it in time, braking.  But I came too close to wiping out, so that made me more cautious, so I slowed down.   Then a faster male rider passed me, and I followed his lead.  He was a great descender, so I tracked after him, matching his speed on each turn.  It was perfect.    I could go fast, and trusted him to know how fast to take each turn.     Soon after that descent, there was a SAG stop.    I talked to the good descender.   Turns out, he lives near the race, and rides those hills all the time, so he knows each turn.   My pace group was at the SAG stop, so I was able to get back in with them, and so did the good descender.

The next part of the ride was a narrow road along the Tweetsie railroad, which followed alongside a river.  It was beautiful.   There were parts of the road where we’d ride through narrow passages carved out of the rock.     Most of the ride, I was working pretty hard trying to keep up with the group, so that took away my enjoyment of the scenery.  But the pace slowed during this trek along the river, so I did enjoy that part of the ride very much.   I was glad to be with a group here, because there were lots of turn offs that would have been hard to follow if I was alone.

Next we started a long gradual incline up to the base of Roan Mountain.   This was 15 miles of steady uphill grade.    So unfair to throw that at us before a killer Cat1 climb.  I lost touch with my group somewhere along here.   But it was okay, because I knew the monster climb was coming, and I knew I was going to lose them there anyway, as I planned to do the climb at my own steady pace.

The big Cat1 Climb

There was another SAG stop at the base of the climb.   I stopped and tweeted this picture, saying  ”41 miles of hard climbing. worst is yet to come. phew…im toasty”.  I filled up just one water bottle at this stop, not wanting to carry any excess weight up the mountain.

My brother Mark gave me this advice for the 7 mile trek up the mountain:

Advice that has worked for me is to mentally divide to climb into thirds. So 7.5/3 = 2.5 miles. The first third, take it easy. The second third, push harder, but not all out. The final third, push hard, if you have the legs.  Following this advice, it is not uncommon to catch and pass many of the people who dropped you at the begining of the climb. Since it is mostly down-hill after the last climb, it’s ok to be a bit fried at the top.

I set my watch to show lap distance and hit my lap button.   I started the climb at a steady pace.   The grade was not awful, so the first  mile I felt pretty good.   There really didn’t seem to be any steep sections, but the relentless climbing took it toll on my legs with each mile.  I discovered that I had never before tried drinking water while climbing.  All the climbs in my homelands are 5 minutes long, so I can drink before or after, and I usually drink during downhill grades where I can stop spinning my legs.  So, it was a bit of a challenge.

Mile 2 ticked by.    I was feeling it but hanging steady.   I passed a few riders.   I think one guy passed me.    I figured that meant all the stronger riders were already ahead of me.   I dunno.

There were several folks stopped along the mountainside.  I’d ask them if they were okay.   I got answers like calf is cramped, or their back was hurting, or they were tired.    I decided that no matter what I would not stop until I got to the top of the mountain.

The had funny pacman mile markers on that big climb stating how many more miles to the top.  I snapped a picture of the one at 4 miles to go.    (I did not stop to take this picture, either!)

When I saw 3 miles to go, I was very tired and my legs were toasty, but knew I was going to make it.   But I did not feel like I could go harder at this point.  I felt it best to maintain my current steady effort.   I got a migraine around here.   I think it was from doing an Andy Schleck grimace.   I decided to focus on relaxing my facial muscles. That worked.

I started getting low on water.    It was a big mistake to skimp on that, particularly with a hot day.   I had to ration it the rest of the climb.

2 miles to go and I was hurting.   My legs were toast.   I said “Shut up, legs”.    Somewhere around here there was a section that was slightly less of an incline, which provided a brief respite from the relentless climbing.

1 mile to go and I was really hurting.   I drank my last bit of water here.   I longed to see that SAG tent at the top of the mountain.  I needed water.  And I needed the climbing to stop.   I said “your legs are on fire, this climbs going higher”.  Jason says that in spin class sometimes.   I used something else from spin class during this climb, too.    Sometimes he does these standing recoveries, where you stand up and spin real slow.    I did this just to give my body a rest.  I’d shift up two gears, stand up , and just very slow spin.   This was great to stretch out my back and legs.

As I rounded a corner and saw the SAG tent, I was ecstatic.    Rest was so close.  I wouldn’t allow myself to believe it, tho, for fear that it was a mirage.  I just kept up my steady climbing.    As I passed some folks standing along the mountain below the tent, I said “please tell me that is not a mirage”.  They laughed and said “No, you are at the top”.   Oh thank goodness.

All downhill from here

I unclipped and was so stiff, that I had trouble getting my leg over my bike.   I got  a cramp in my right hamstring doing that.   I rubbed it out and it seemed okay.   A volunteer came right over, took my bike to park it, and gave me some water.  That was just lovely.  I saw my pace group at the top.  I was pleased that I had caught up to them.

I filled my water bottles, ate some fruit, and took a picture. I tweeted “omg glad thats over.”    I saw my pace group leave.  Dang, I lost them again.   I took another picture and tweeted …”all downhill from here w00t”

I started down the climb following four guys.     The first two were descending too cautiously.    I wanted to go faster.    You can’t really pass on the twisty turns of a descent tho, so I had to wait for a straightaway section to pass.  I got past them finally.  The next two guys were not going as fast as I would have liked, but they were going fast enough.  So I did not pass.  I did not want to do the lead out, as I would not have known how fast to take each turn, and to be honest, I was cooked so was not feeling super confident.  Not a good state for fast descending.

Some turns were marked with arrows saying “Slow Turn” along with a skull and crossbones picture.    That was amusing and scarey, and we took those turns pretty slowly.  I would have liked to get a picture of that.

Even after the descent down Roan Mountain, the rest of the ride was mostly a downhill grade. There was a nasty little climb near the end that probably wasn’t really that bad, but again, I was cooked so if felt really hard.  I was very very very glad to get back to the Bakersville Firestation.

Post Race

There, I chatted with BT buddy, Jon while I ate the absolute best post race meal ever:  BBQ, baked beans, coleslaw and raspberry crisp ala mode.   All home made, probably by the fireman’s families.   I also saw Stacey Richardson, who always takes first female finisher at the century ride.  She is amazing.     Ken eventually showed up too.   Apparently he had gotten off course near the Tweetsie railroad section.  That sucks.

I was so sore and tired that the 35 minute drive back to my hotel was difficult.   When I got there, I took a quick shower,then headed for the pool for  some R&R.  The pool was cold.  It felt great.  Then I went into the hot tub and stretched my sore muscles.  That was great too.  I jumped back in the pool for more cold, then more hot.    I don’t know if that’s a good idea for recovery, but it sure felt good.  I wonder what the TdF guys do to recover for another day of relentless climbing.

Things I learned

• practice drinking while climbing
• don’t skimp on water. dumb!
• mountain centuries are like visiting an amusement park.  The climbs are like waiting in line for a long time.  The descents are like a short thrill ride that you waited for!
• The food at bike events is way better than at triathlons. way, way, way better.
• Find a  good descender to follow on the downhills.  Not sure how to do that, but it makes a huge difference.
• My brother looked at my Garmin data and noticed that my HR was higher before the climb than during. He said I should have not worked so hard up to the base, and worked harder during the climb. Interesting.  I do tend to take climbs at the same effort level as the rest of my ride.   hmmmm…

This is Part 3 of my Kure Beach Race Report.   Read Part 1 and Part 2.

Official Results

Swim 1: 7:49 (5th AG)
Run 1:  13:57 (4th AG includes Transitions)
Bike: 31:41 5 (1st AG; 6th OF)
Run 2: 14:02 (5th AG includes Transitions)
Swim 2: 8:55 (2nd AG includes running up beach back to start area)
Overall:  1:16:21 (2nd AG)

Swim #1

As I described in Part 2 of my race report, I just barely go to the start line in time.  The horn blew off and we all stepped into the waves.  I hadn’t really positioned myself well, so just followed the crowd and mozied on into the waves.   I wasn’t yet in a racing frame of mind.

I did a few dolphin dives, then dove under a couple of waves, and started swimming.   The water was pretty calm, and I didn’t think about sharks much.    The way out to the first buoy was pretty crowded, and I felt a little like a sardine.  But I love that…I feel like  a little kid playing with a bunch of friends in the waves.

I rounded the first buoy and started swimming parallel to shore.  There was a strong current, so I was swimming fast and easy.   It was alot of fun, I really love this swim course!  I tried to remember to kick my legs for added speed, but it didn’t feel like it was doing much, as I was already swimming fast due to the current.  So, I just kept swimming at a solid easy pace along with that current to the final buoy.   As I  turned toward shore,   I could feel the waves move  past my body.   I tried to swim in synch with their movement, so as to use their speed to my advantage.   This is something I learned  in an OWS training swim…the day that  I discovered that I was athletic.

I exited the water and ran up the beach toward T1, still not yet feeling in a sprint racing mode.   I stuffed my cap and goggles into my sport bra for later use in the final swim.  I found my running shoes in my spot on the beach, grabbed them and ran up the boardwalk.  They had kiddie pools filled with water to rinse the sand off your feet, so I stepped in one, then out, then put my shoes on and was off for the first run.

Run #1

In my rush to get ready for the race, I had not grabbed a watch.   So, I was racing ‘naked’, meaning no computer data.  I had no idea how I was doing. I started running hard, and I was breathing hard, but I was not quite going  ”balls to the wall” hard.    A friend named Rebecca passed me early on in the run.  I tried to keep her in sight and use her as a pacer.

Near the end of the run, a girl with ’48′ on her leg passed me.  She had  a black top with a pink triangle shape on the back.   I’ll call her Pinky. I tried to keep Pinky in sight on the run, with plans to blow her away on the bike course.     I lost sight of both Rebecca and Pinky going around the last corner near T2.

The Bike

I had a pretty fast transition, swapping shoes, donning helmet, grabbing bike and go!  At the mount line, I did a flying mount, and botched it because my suit was slippery from sweat.    I finally got going, stood up and hammered to get up to full speed.  Around the little corner and it was go-go-go.  I passed Rebecca fairly soon.  I thought I saw Pinky in the distance and made her my target.   I was going almost balls to the wall on the bike.  But not quite, because I knew I had to save something for that final swim.  I inched closer to Pinky, but could not quite catch her.

At the turn around for lap 2 of the bike, I took the U-turn too fast and botched it.  I ran over a cone, had to put  a foot down, gather myself back up and get going again.  I’m sure I looked like a complete idiot.  And I lost sight of Pinky!   Hammer hammer hammer.  How bad do you want it.  Go go go.    That’s what went through my head on that bike course.

I did not know my speed because I had no watch.  I never did see Pinky again on the bike course.    But, I felt like I was going strong and fast, so felt good about that.   As I approached the final stretch of the bike, I saw the race photographer.  I remembered to do Jazz hands like my friend, Jennifer.   Her race photos are always so cute!

Run #2

My legs felt okay despite going hard on the bike.   I racked my bike and grabbed my visor and started running hard.  I figured Pinky was long gone, so my goal here was to not let anyone in my age group pass me.    Fairly soon, I passed a girl in a yellow tri suit with 38 on her leg.  I said ‘come on, stay with me’.

It was a little bit hot; I was breathing hard;  and I was tired.   A couple of spectators were holding hoses out spraying runners. I ran right up to them with wide open arms and said “Thanks – you are my favorite volunteers of the day”.   It felt great.

No-one in my AG had yet passed me. I soooo wanted to slow down.   But I had to keep on going.  I thought of an episode of “Sponge Bob Square pants” where he and Patrick Star went around playing “opposite day”.   So, every time I wanted to slow down, I thought “opposite day” and tried to speed up instead.   It was fun, and must have worked okay because my 2nd run split was about the same as my first run split, despite killing it out on the bike course.

This picture is near the end of the run and, look – the girl in yellow did stay with me.  I was very tired by the end of that run…and looking forward to the cool ocean water.

Swim #2

As I approached the beach, I stopped by the boardwalk and ditched my number belt, visor, and shoes there.  Then I ran down to the hard sand, skipping T4 altogether.   I had my cap and goggles stuffed in my bra, so got them out and put them on as I ran.    There were volunteers directing swimmers to swim all the way down to the flags, then enter the water.      I didn’t run too fast here, as I wanted to catch my breath before swimming.

As I entered the water, I took note of yellow capped swimmers.  Those would include all females aged 35 and up.  I swam as hard as I could so as not to let any yellow caps pass me.  There was one yellow cap that I swam side-by-side with the entire swim.  It was super fun, and I enjoyed the challenge of not letting her slip past me.   I normally don’t care too much about anyone passing me in the swim, as I can always catch them later on during the bike.  So this was a really fun challenge for me.  And maybe I ought to swim sprints like this every time. Hmmm.

As I exited the water, I noticed the girl swimming next to me had the yellow tri suit on.   She sped past me toward the finish line, but I didn’t much care, because I remembered she was 38, not in my age group.

After crossing the finish line, I glanced back at the time clock.  It said 1:40.    My wave started 26 minutes after the clock started, so I figured I was about at 1:16.   I was pretty happy with that time…a bit faster than last year.   I didn’t think it was fast enough for a podium finish tho, as last year’s top three females in my age group were all under 1:14.

The End

I packed up my race gear and headed for the food tent.   Grabbed some drinks and snacks. Talked to some tri peeps.    I looked at the posted race results and read 7/23 (7th place out of 23 in age group) next to my name.   But I had read it wrong, that was someone else’s ranking.   They were doing some stupid bike toss contest, and I didn’t think I placed, so I did not wait around for the awards ceremony.   All I really wanted to do was go lay on the beach and relax.  And to be honest, I was disappointed with a 7th place finish.  Here I am back at the car fixing to leave the race:

It wasn’t until the next day that I learned from my friend, Scottie, that I had actually taken 2nd place in my age group, when he texted me congratulations.    I never did figure out who Pinky was.  Maybe I misread the age on her leg.    She definitely was not the 1st in our age group.  That chick was way ahead of me the whole race.    Or, maybe I passed her in transition and never did see her on the bike.   I might have been chasing a ghost the whole way. lol.  Doesn’t matter, because whoever she was, she helped me go hard and get a great bike split.  So, thanks, Pinky.

This is Part 2 of my Kure Beach race report.  Read Part 1 first, and then read Part 3.  Part 3 is the actual race report, so go there if you just want the facts!

Well, I figured if I didn’t write the rest of this story on my day off work, it wouldn’t happen for a long time.  My weeks go by really fast between working long hours, doing the Tuesday evening IOS ride, my Wednesday evening spin class, etc, etc.   I don’t usually get home until 8pm, and then I am doing laundry, housework, and spending time with my teenage/adult aged children if they happen to be around.

First, let me describe the Kure Beach race. It is a double sprint consisting of 375m ocean swim, 1.5 mile run, 12 mile bike, 1.5 mile run, and ending with a final 375 meter swim.    There is a beach transition area and a bike transition area.   Makes for a super fun race, but a little hectic for setup.

I opted not to do packet pickup on Saturday night because I was too busy having fun in Carolina Beach.  So, I get my bib number in a tweet  from my friend Scottie in hopes of helping make setup easier.   Unfortunately, that didn’t help.  You really need to get your race packet the evening before for Kure Beach.

I parked near the bike transistion and racked my bike.  Then I had to walk four blocks to get my packet.  (In retrospect, I should have ridden my bike).  Then I walked down to the beach transition area and set that up.   I left my cap and googles there.    Then I spent some time scoping out the swim area to be sure I understood how the final run to swim transition worked.  Last year I made a big mistake there and it cost me 3 minutes.  I didn’t want to do that again.

So then I walked the four blocks back to my bike to put my numbers on my bike and set up that transition.  My feet hurt from all the walking, as I was not wearing any socks with my sneakers.   And it was getting late and I had to rush.     It was so late that I had to run those four blocks back to the swim start.    I tripped on the boardwalk and skinned both my knees.   I looked down, and they were raw and red, but no blood.   I bet it was one part per million of blood tho.   Dangit,  get those sharks out of my mind.

Then I remembered I had left my swim cap and goggles by the swim transition. That was 500 yards up the beach. I had to run to get them.  As  I ran back to the start, I saw the yellow caps (my wave) line up near the water.     FML – I was really late!    The next wave, green caps, were blocking the entrance to the swim.   As I ran through the green capped athletes, I had to yell “Oughta my way, coming through”.  I felt like  a bitch, but I had to cross the timing chute, so I had no choice.    I finally got down to the beach with the other yellow cap girls.   They said one minute to go.  I had just enough time to put on my cap and goggles.    At least my frantic rush kept thoughts of sharks out of my mind.   Mostly, anyway.

Part 3 of this race report is done!

This is Part 1 of a 3 part report.  Click for Part 2 and Part 3.  Part 3 is the actual race report, so go there if you just want the facts!

Wow, it has been so long since I posted. I probably don’t have any readers left. Work is still kicking my ass. It’s a demanding job, but I still like it alot. I work long hours, which really eats up my spare time. Thus, the lack of blogging.

The long hours at work also cuts into my training. I was not really feeling up to par for this race.

And since my good friend, Ginger, moved away, she was not able to be my race buddy.   That makes me really sad.  And I was using it as another excuse  to just bail on racing.

I had planned a long weekend at the beach and invited my 21 year old daughter along. I worked a 12 hour day on Friday and was really stressed out. Friday night, while packing up my beach-wear, I considered just skipping the race and laying on the beach all weekend. In the end, I packed up my race gear too, but was still not mentally committed to racing.

I posted this on FB:

i have a race this weekend at kure beach. really tempted to just bag the race and lay on beach all weekend.

My friend Scottie replied:

“negative…you WILL get out there and you WILL go fast!!!

That helped alot.  Thanks, Scottie!

But still,  I was struggling mentally…

I also got my period on Friday.    I have this irrational fear of sharks anyway, so this made me really feel like shark bait.  I spent time on Friday reading the shark attack files.    Turns out, New Hanover County – where Kure Beach resides – has the highest rate of shark attacks in North Carolina.  Great.  Seeing a “No Shark Fishing” sign on the Carolina Beach pier did not make me feel any safer.

I spent all of Saturday laying on the beach.  It was wonderful. I got burnt. I didn’t care.  I ventured into the water a little bit, but I was sceered of sharks.  I mean, how well do tampons work anyway, when sharks can detect blood in 1 part per million?!

Later that day, we rode some of the rides at the Carolina beach amusement park.   We both loved  ”Ring of Fire” … a ride that spins you vertically around in a circle.  It even leaves you hanging upside down for a few seconds.  It was a blast.

Next, we rode the Graviton.   The ride operator let us choose the music for the ride.  My daughter let me  choose, so I asked the guy if he had any Led Zeppelin.  He said yes, and asked which song.  I asked for Kashmir, and he had that one.  So we spun round and round  sucked against the wall of the Graviton listening to Kashmir.  It was perfect.

Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face
stars fill my dreams
I am a traveler of both time and space

Saturday night, I practiced Transitions in the parking lot of the condo.  Some old drunk guy came and talked on and on about how he was in a bike crash a few years ago and messed up his knee.  I think he was making it up to impress me.   I was trying to be kind, but he was really annoying!   I finally got rid of him by saying I was running out of daylight to do my workout.

Practicing transitions in the dark parking lot got me excited about racing, so decided I would do it.    This race report is continued in Part 2 and then read Part 3.

I did the Washington NC Half Iron race on October 30th, 2010.  It was an awesome race venue. Here is a news article about it.  http://tinyurl.com/34c89je

I loved the race course and it was perfectly organized by Finish Strong!    Finish Strong’s motto is “Racing done Right”, and I can vouch for that!

Official Results:

Swim 1.2 miles: 35:49.5, pace of 1:42
T1:  3:00
Bike 56 miles: 2:56:49.6 pace of 19 mph
T2:  4:06
Run 13.1 miles: 2:23:56.3, pace of 11:00 min/mile
Overall:  6:03:40.8

Age group rank: 1 out of 2
Overall Female rank : 11 out of 21

Swim:

Brrr cold.  My feet did not feel cold in the shallow water while waiting to start.  But once we got into deeper water, OMG, it was take your breath away cold.   I swam hard just to try an warm up.   I focused hard on swimming a good line, too, becuase I wanted to get out of that cold water.   I even had a full wetsuit on, and still felt cold.    I didn’t hear if they announced the official water temperature on race day, but conditions at Bath, NC show a low water temp of 60 and a high of 65.   That makes this the coldest swim I have ever done!

This was a PR swim time for me. I swam too hard, methinks, cuz the rest of my day was just ‘off’.     I think my body was tense, and I was making those tense muscles work hard, and they did not like it so rebelled later on.

T1:

Came out of the water and tripped running up to the transition area.     Lots of people asked me if I was okay.   I said yes, laughed, and got up and continued on my way.

It was cold, and I was wet.  I pulled my wetsuit half way off, and started to put my jacket on.  It was really hard getting it on over wet skin.  I had to pee really badly, so I just started peeing in my wetsuit while I struggled with my jacket.    It was nice and warm, lol.    It was kind of gross when I pulled my wetsuit legs off.  I will spare you the details there.

Bike:

Great flat bike course. Not windy. Mostly smooth roads. Should have been fast!

I felt really ‘off’.  The course was flat and felt sooo hard. I kept pushing hard and only getting 18 or 19mph. I can usually put down a 20 mph speed on flat with no wind without killing myself. I kept looking for flagpoles hoping to see that maybe it was a very windy day, but every flag I saw was limp. So weird. I pushed way too hard and didn’t even get a great time.  Halfmax was a harder course on a windy day, yet I was faster that day with less effort.

Garmin Data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/54913030

You can see there are alot of turns on this course.  They were all very well marked!  Great volunteers pointing the way waving bright orange flags at every turn. Thank you, FS Series!  Racing done right!

T2:

The last hour of the bike I had to pee really badly.   When I got to T2, I really couldn’t hold it any longer.     So, I just sat in the grass right there in transition and peed my pants.  It took a long time, but was great relief!   I also took the time to put on my injinji toe socks. I had practiced that alot leading up to this race, and got it down to 45 seconds.  I did not want toe blisters slowing me down on the run, and I figured the 45 seconds would be gained back in the run.   It did not matter much today, but I think on a good day, it would be worth it.

Run:

Great run course, mostly flat, went thru downtown Washington, NC, a quaint little town by the riverfront. Perfect weather.

This run was basically a slog fest for me. Every muscle in my body ached as if someone had beat the crap out of me, and I could not make dead muscles go fast.

I tripped at mile 4 and banged up my knee.   It was just a flesh wound, so did not impact my race, it just left a nice bloody battle wound.  Garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/54913033

Easy to follow run course!   Simple out and back twice, no need to think while in the pain cave.   Great volunteer support provided by some ECU sorority girls who were so sweet.   At the turn around for after the first lap, I asked some girls if I could trade in my legs for a fresh pair.  They said I could do that at the finish.    When I passed them the second time,  they remembered me, and said “Fresh legs just ahead”.  That was just awesome!

Friendly folks along the downtown area, too.  I asked one couple if they would run a mile for me, they laughed.  On the last lap heading back in, I asked an older gentlemen if he would give me a piggy back ride the rest of the way. He laughed and said “You look like you’re doing just fine”.

Post Race:

Hung around with a BT friend, “spot”.  He had a great race – Congrats!    I got an award for first age group.   It was a ceramic travel coffee mug.   Very cool and useful award.   I also got a really cool hoodie in my race packet instead of the usual T-shirt.  I love that they give out different and useful things instead of the same old crap!

Had a very hard time again driving home. I had to stop and rest and refuel with my traditional burger and fries (and a Frosty, too!).  I think I will do this race next year, but make a fun weekend out of it.

Other Thoughts:

Why I didn’t do as well as I had hoped:

• sporadic training the last month.  i took 10 days off after Halfmax.  Then I did a hard week. Then I kind of just winged it.
• poor sleep and nutrition week before race.  I am usually very careful about what I eat leading up to a race.
• I did not do any yoga the week before race. I usually try to do it every day to get myself all loose for race day.  I just didn’t have time or motivation this time around.

More thoughts

• maybe i just suck and am making up excuses
• maybe i should just be happy that I can do this stuff at my age and be happy because a six hour half ironman is  a solid finish time.  I have it in my head that since I did a full iron at 12 hours, I should be able to easily beat six hours at the half.  But, those were my ironman days…

Photos:

I did not take alot of photos this race.  I got there just in time, so I was rushed setting things up.   And afterwards, I was too sore and tired.

I was pretty upset when I wrote my Halfmax Myrtle Beach Race Report.   I trained hard for that race and I spent a lot of money on race fees and travel costs.  I expected great things out of that day.   And I was sorely disappointed.

On a whim, I just packed up and drove to Wrightsville beach this weekend.    As I gathered up beach supplies for my family, I grabbed the Halfmax beach towel that they handed out at the finish line and unwrapped it.

“Wow”, I thought, “this is a really nice and plush beach towel.”

That got me thinking about the positive things about that race.

• The bike course was fantastic.  I really did enjoy it.  I did not mind the windy conditions.  I was expecting them.  Every flat race I’ve ever done has been windy – there is no such thing as a “flat and fast” bike course in my book!   Prior to the race, I was concerned that two loops and three race distances  would make for a crowded bike course.   But, it was not crowded.   I was also concerned about the point where the long course athletes merge onto the road with the sprinters.    That was no problem at all.
• The race Schwagg was great.  And, I do love that beach towel.
• The level of competition was extremely high.    That really pushed me on the bike course to stay focused and keep moving at a solid pace.  Every time I eased up, some folks who were the same speed as me,  passed, forcing me to ease up more to drop back.     To avoid that, I had to really work it.  I learned alot on that course.
• The swim course looked fantastic.  I wish I could have swam it.  I don’t blame the race organizers for their decision. They handled that well.
• My time, had I run the full course properly, would have been 5 hours, including T1, Bike, T2 and Run.  Adding on the swim of 35-40 minutes, I would have had a great race.  :-)

I still feel badly about the run, but I just need to let that go.   And, I finally did get my race results removed so that I would not take someone else’s spot at Worlds.   I received a very nice email from S.Y. at Halfmax Events in reply to my not so nice note asking to be removed:

Carol, thanks so much for letting us know about your run.  We take full responsibility for the last minute change to the run course.  Apparently some construction on the original run course was not complete as promised and we had to make a significant change.  In order for the mileage to be correct this course was the result we could provide in the time allotted.

With that said, we pride ourselves on producing top quality events and this event overall (including the run course) did not live up to our own expectations.  I promise you that we worked super hard for a year to get ready for this event, however, we underestimated some of the logistics.  We do plan to come back next year and redeem ourselves.  I would like to send you a coupon for [X]% off your entry fee next year if you would give us another chance.  I don’t have your full address in my database.  If you would send me that I’ll get a coupon off to you right away.

Thanks Carol, we appreciate your comments …

Hmmmm…Do you think I should give them another chance?

Well, the Ultramax Halfmax National Championship race was a big disappointment on many levels.  Note: Be sure to read my article “More thoughts about Halfmax” when you are done here.

They had to cancel the swim after heavy rains the week prior increased e-coli levels in the waterway.   That sucked.   Everybody was disappointed about that.   I don’t blame the race directors for that, but it still sucked!

The wind on the bike was relentless.    That made for a challenging ride.   I didn’t mind so much because that is my strength, but alot of folks were expecting “flat and fast” as advertised.   I knew better that flat usually means windy, haha!   I also heard folks complain about all the multiple u-turns on the bike course.      I actually enjoyed the bike course very much.  But the wind sucked the energy out of me for sure, and I had toasty legs when I was done.

The biggest disappointment of the day was that I screwed up on the run.  They had made  a last minute change in the run course, adding  a stupid little double dog leg section that you had to do twice per lap.  That section was very confusing – and I don’t think very well when I am in the pain cave – so I got mixed up and skipped part of the run course.    My Garmin data shows I just ran 11 miles, so I had to disqualify myself.    That is what really sucked.

But I still had fun and learned lots.

I had lots of fun with Ginger.  It was also fun meeting friends Kathy and Teresa from a local tri club, and hanging with some BT buddies.

I learned that I need to figure out how to think while I am in the pain cave.   And that I can pull off a half way decent run pace on toasty legs.  It was no surprise that  I cannot pull off a  great run on toasty legs.

Here are the details of my day…

T1:

The race organizers put on a time trial start in lieu of a swim.   All athletes we instructed to get in line in random order down by the waterway.  Then they did a time trial start, releasing one person off every 3 seconds to run to our bikes as if we were running off of the swim.   From a smoothness and controlling bottlenecks of bikers point of view, that worked great.  From a competition point of view it sucked not racing side by side with my age group peers.    I don’t  race as hard if I don’t know where I stand, and don’t  have to hold off fast runner girls.  Also, the wind changed throught the day, so athletes starting first in line had different conditions than those who started last.  I don’t know who had the advantage there, but surely it was not equal conditions.  I started an hour after some folks, and it definitely got hotter for the run.   So, it really was not a fair race.

Bike

The wind on the bike course was brutal.   12.7 miles per hour sustained winds.  Half of it a tailwind.    I was flying at 24+mph for half the distance.  That was fun, and allowed some rest, but I did not ever slack off.    The other half was a head wind. And I struggled at 16 mph.  Since I was going slower for that half,  it took a lot longer, so I actually was fighting the wind more than half the time.   And when there was a headwind, there was also alot of false flat ups.  That made for a very challenging bike!  I pushed hard on the bike and came off with about an average speed of 20mph.      That was too hard, and I had toasty legs coming off the bike.    I knew I was going too hard, but I was having fun and wanted to see how good of a run I could pull off with toasty legs.

Run

I headed out on the run and did the first two miles at a pace of 9.  Not too bad. Then there was a slight uphill grade, and my pace slowed to 10 something.   That sucked, as I wanted to run a pace of 9 and get a 2 hour run split.   I stopped looking at my watch at that point, and just ran hard and stayed focused.  I was doing well.  At about mile 4, I was running with a tall girl named Jo Beth with a ’37′ on her leg.  We were about evenly paced.  We both stopped for water at an aid station, then I thought I had lost her.  I glanced over my shoulder and she was there, and said “Oh good, there’s my running buddy”.  She smiled and said I was helping her stay on pace.    We were helping each other.   We’d pick someone ahead and say “Let’s pick off purple bra girl”.   Then we caught “braid chick”.   It was fun having a running buddy, and I would not allow myself to slack off if only not to disappoint Jo Beth.      At mile 5, we passed a sign saying mile 12 – that sign was for those on their 2nd lap.  She said “Oh Good, just one more mile”.   Dang, she was on her 2nd lap while I was still on my first.   We ran hard one more mile together, then wished each other luck.    I missed her alot and had trouble picking off runners after that.

The 2nd lap of the run was harder.  It started to get hot.   My feet hurt. I was suffering in the pain cave.  At about mile 8 I got a big bubbly blister on my left toe.   I stopped at an aid station for water and e-caps.  I didn’t really need those things, but wanted an excuse to stop running.   I took my time there.   Then Tony Horton’s P90X words came to mind: “I know it hurts, but so what?”.   So, I sucked it up and started going again.  I limp-ran for one mile in pain.   I found myself wishing I had a safety pin so I could take my shoe off and stab the  blister.   I know, ewww, gross.    Then the blister must have popped on it’s own, because it felt better after that and I was able to get into a good running groove.

I was in the pain cave, running as hard as I could.   At the double dog leg part of the race course, volunteers were asking lap1 or lap2.  By that they meant if you were on the first or second lap of the dog leg on that leg of the course.  We were supposed to do that dog leg a total of 4 times.   But on lap 2 of the run, I was not thinking clearly in my pain cave, and thought “okay, I’m on lap 2, so I go this way”.  Which was wrong, because I was only on lap 1 of lap 2.  See, I’m confused now just trying to explain it.  It was a really dumb run course, and I was dumb and made a mistake.

When I stopped my Garmin, it said 1:46 for the run split.  I didn’t believe that time, but figured I must have screwed up hitting my Garmin.  It wasn’t until I went home and looked at the Garmin data, that I realized I missed part of the run.  So I have emailed the race organizers to disqualify myself.  That was the suckiest of all.  Garmin shows my run pace at 9:47 min/mile which would have given me a run split of 2:08.   Not the pace I was hoping for, but not too shabby considering toasty legs and sore feet.

Garmin Data

Bike leg: http://connect.garm...om/activity/51595894

Run leg: http://connect.garm...om/activity/51595901

Impressions

The race directors did a good job managing the swim issue.    That’s the only good thing I have to say about the race organization.  Overall,  I felt the race was not very well organized and not worth the money I spent in race fees and travel and taking time off work.   I will not do another Ultramax Tri  race.     Some of that is sour grapes, I know.  But  the race just wasn’t that well organized.  There was not much crowd enthusiasm.   The aid stations on the run were lacking food.   They were supposed to have orange slices, but did not.    The race schwagg was nothing to write home about.   And the post race food was lacking.    This race was hyped up as a “National Championship event”.   I expected this race to be spectacular, and it was a disappointment.

Pictures

I did the White Lake Olympic race in White Lake, NC on September 11, 2010.   White Lake is a fantastic race venue making it a popular destination.  The lake itself is crystal clear with a sandy bottom that is usually calm.   The bike and run course are flat.  You would think all these factors would make for a fast easy race course.  Nope.   White Lake is cursed.   Heat and/or wind rear their ugly head for every White Lake race.   Anyone signed up for the American Triple T race (four races in three days) at White Lake next month is in for one hell of a weekend.

Last spring, I did a half iron race there, and it was hot and windy.   At least the water was calm that day.

Today, the wind kicked up a bad chop in the lake, and the swim was brutal.   My swim time was a PR in slowness and it sucked the energy out of me.    But that’s what I love about the sport of triathlon- dealing with those inevitable challenges that arise on race day.   And what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.

My goal for this race was to make the podium.   I thought I had a decent chance, based on looking at the participant list.  “Speed racer girl” was the only super fast name that I recognized.  I didn’t think I could beat her, but put her in my sights as a target.  My training plan called for me to   run 3 miles off the finish.    I was supposed to do the run course at half iron pace/effort.  I doubted I’d be able to hold back there, but planned to do the post race run no matter what.

Official Results:

Swim 1500m: 36:08, 8th AG. Very choppy and possibly measured long. Everybody complained about the swim after the race!
T1: 1:43
Bike 45k: 1:20:27, 20.4 mph, 3rd AG.
T2: 1:44
Run 10k: 55:13, 6th AG.
Overall: 2:55:13, 2nd AG

Race Details:

I got up at 3:30 am for the 2 hour drive to the race site.   Always so hard to get up that early. Stopped at Sheetz to fill up and get some coffee.  I love Sheetz!     Got to the race site in plenty of time to register, set up my gear and hang out with friends.   I did some warm up strides on the sandy volleyball court, did some yoga stretches, and swam a few strokes.

In a nutshell, the swim was brutal.   The waves were coming at me in all directions.  Not huge waves, but enough to interfere with breathing and smooth stroke.    I did successfully draft off one girl between two sets of buoys.  That actually felt wonderfully restful.  Then we turned, and I lost her.

I came out of the water in about 8th place.  I passed a ton of people on the bike.  I don’t think anyone passed me.    I went very very hard on the bike.  I yelled at a couple people blocking.  At one point, I was blocked by some cars waiting to pass some slow bikers.  That sucked.

I came off the bike in third place.  I ran hard.  I tried to keep good form.  I passed one girl on the run, at about mile 4.   I felt bad, because I see her at alot of races, and I like her alot.  But also, it always feels good to be the one passing during the run.

After making that pass, I ran as hard as I could to the finish line, for fear that she – or someone else – would pass me.  There were 2+ miles remaining, and you never know!    I crossed the finish line and was complete spent!

My training plan called for me to do the 10k run at my half iron pace, and run 3-4 miles off the finish.  However, I put it all out on the race course, so did not have anything left.  I got a drink of water, and head out anyway.  I wouldn’t call it running.  It was more of a hobble, at a pitiful slow pace of 13.  I cut that short to 2.6 miles,  because I was tired, my back starting hurting, and I was worried that I might miss the awards.   When I returned from my hobble, I went right to the lake to cool off.    Then to the food table!    I felt like an animal, acting on pure instinct.

Had a really really hard time driving home, I was sooooo tired.

What I learned: I did learn that I need more swim training before halfmax.   I’ve only been swimming 35-40 minutes twice a week in the pool.   That is just not enough for this distance of race, as I felt really wiped out after the swim, and I that impacts what you can do the rest of the race.

And now for the best part, pictures!!!  Thanks very much to my twitter friend, Darlene, for taking some pictures while cheering at the race.

Here is a picture showing how lovely White Lake is:

I am somewhere in the yellow cap wave of swimmers below.  The water does not look choppy.  But it was a tough swim that everybody complained about.

Here I am running out of T2:

Here I am with the sweatshirt prize given to me as 2nd Age Group award.   Facebook friend, Suzy took this picture.   I didn’t think to hold up the sweatshirt.  I was so tired after the race.

So tired, in fact, that I had to stop driving on the way home and take a nap in my car.  I could not sleep, so instead I tried food.  I wans’t hungry, but this food did help perk me up enough for me to get home.

Here is a picture of that sweatshirt:  I was using it as a pillow in my car.