Halfway to Ironwoman

A few weeks ago, I finished my first half-ironman triathlon. It went amazingly well, and I actually had fun through most of it. I think that's par for the course for longer races. You're working so much harder throughout shorter races, so the whole thing is pretty painful. I was going at a somewhat leisurely pace during the race, so it was only the running miles 4-9 that really hurt. Well, some of the giant hills on the bike hurt, but you forget those as soon as your cruising down the other side at upwards of 35 mph. Anyway, the race was a 1.5mi swim, 58.5mi bike, and a 12.4mi run. I was racing for nearly one and a half hours longer than I ever had before, at 5:51 minutes total time. I'll give a recap of the race, and try to make it correspond with the pictures below...
The morning was cool, 55 degrees tops. I couldn't have asked for better weather on race day, as I do NOT perform well in heat and humidity. Tom and I made sure our nutrition flasks were filled and set out to find the best transition spot we could (not that an extra 30 seconds in transition affects a 6-hour race... It's a mental thing.) Then we went on to body marking; magic marker works best when part of your race is in water. Chafing plays a big factor in a long race, so after lubing up under my arms and in my shorts (sorry, 3.5 hours is a LONG time on a bike seat) I headed to the water. The picture is of the women getting ready to start and the men just starting. Notice 1) the man running OUT of the water at the start (forgot his goggles) and 2) how I'm the only woman without a wet suit. Tom raced as well, and he and I have yet to invest in wet suits, which can increase your speed up to 10%. But considering the swim was about one-seventh of the race, I decided to invest in other speed-increasing items, like a new bike (see post "me an my bike"). Anyway, the swim wasn't terribly competitive and I was the first woman out of the water. (Check out how good Tom looks coming out of the water; just like David Hasslehoff!) I was excited to hop on the new bike and see how well it tackled the hilly course. My goal was just to stay ahead of the women for as long as possible, so I pushed it a bit. The first loop was awesome. My legs didn't feel taxed at all. I had a near-traumatic experience when I dropped my water bottle and proceded to ride over it. The picture of my dad running along side of me is after the first loop; I'm asking for a new water bottle to replace the one I dropped. Off I go on the second loop, and still no women have passed me! At this point I have no clue where they are. About 2/3 through the second loop, I am bombing downhill, admiring the gorgeous scenery, LOVING my new bike, when 50 yards ahead a tractor pulls out in front of me with a slow moving vehicle symbol on the back end. I yell F&$K!!! A truck pulled out behind the tractor, and makes a motion to pass. I pull in right behind the truck, and cruise over the double-yellow lines on the street to pass the tractor as well, knowing that if oncoming traffic was coming, I'd be dead. My gamble paid off (it wasn't a huge gamble, I saw maybe 6 cars total on the course.) I was around the tractor and got a pretty good draft from the truck. The next pictures are of Tom and me at 55 miles. I'm still smiling... Nobody has passed me yet! I slow down a bit to eat a few bites of a sandwich and then I head into transition#2. My feet have completely fallen asleep, and I have to begin the run pretty slow to stamp the feeling back in them. The run heads back out on the bike course, and I don't see the first woman until I'm 8 minutes out! Knowing that running is my weak link, I have a feeling I'm going to get caught by this girl. At 5K I'm feeling pretty good (and so was Tom; scroll to calendar shot #2... visor, unzipped top, gatorade in hand...) Ariane, bless her ran with me for some of the worst part of my run; miles 4-9. In the picture, she's telling me, "let's go win this race!" But in the next picture, you see that I have been caught with 5K to go. Do you see the massive legs on that girl! She ended up putting 5 minutes on me in 5K! Anyway, the last 5K felt OK. They were slow, but I knew the end was near. Tom and the fam were waiting at the finish for me. I came in second! It was crazy! How did that happen?! Must've been the bike... Tom had an awesome race as well, finishing 16th overall (the men's race was a bit more competitive.)
Lessons learned:
1. Warm water = mucho seaweed
2. cycling CAN be fun! Just add hills!
3. A happy butt is a happy cyclist
4. don't trust anyone to pre-mix gatorade for you
5. A "good" running pace for me is painfully slow for most other triathletes
6. Bacon, cheese, guacamole burgers and bloody mary's are great recovery foods.