The Lonestar half-Ironman last year was my first attempt at that distance, and the first (and only race) I was unable to finish. That left a bad taste in my mouth for a long time, and I was looking forward to a little revenge. Completing a sprint as revenge for a half Ironman isn’t the same thing, but I did want to remove some of the mental voodoo the course had in my head.
One thing I didn’t put in my pre-race report was my plan. I didn’t write it because it seemed audacious, and I was afraid to commit it to writing. Here it was: Go out fast on the swim (redline it was the phrase I used), make everyone have to work hard on the bike to keep up, and then really go on the bike. If they wanted to beat me they were going to have to really pay for it. That was the plan at least, red-line all the way!
Pre race
I got to the site plenty early even though we had assigned racking. It was chilly, so I walked around looking at people and bikes to keep warm. At one point I came back and was looking at my bike, only to realize I’d forgotten to attach my bike computer! I would have been fine without it, but it sure is nice to have. It was my first race in a one piece race suit, and this one is very tight. I’d tried it on a couple of times, but when I put it on and was walking around I felt pretty self conscious. I actually took the top off my shoulders and put on a T shirt until it was time to leave the area. With all these distractions I forgot my pre-race gel. In fact, I didn’t think about it until I was on my bike.
The Swim
I was so relieved to finally get in the water, even if it was pretty cold. I positioned myself at the front of the pack and treaded water for 4 minutes, during which time I got pretty cold. The gun sounded and we were off! Right away I felt the cold water inside my goggle. I swam a bit more to make sure it was leaking and not just the initial shock. When it kept filling up I paused long enough to give it a firm push with the palm of my hand to try and get a seal. That didn’t work, and I did the rest of the swim with one good eye. Funny, I think this happened last year too!
I went out like I planned, really pushing the pace. About halfway two things happened, my arms started getting tired from the pace, and I started catching people from the wave in front of me. I kept the pace up for a while, but eventually had to back off a bit for fear of not finishing. Even still, I passed a LOT of people in the water.
The Bike
That was to be the theme for the day, passing lots of people. I ran past people on the way to transition, suited up, and then passed people on the way out of transition. Using my new mount I was off in a hurry. With my heart still racing I kept pushing. There was a section with a no passing zone (boo!), and another with several speed bumps, but once we hit the seawall I was off. I could feel a lot of cross winds, and while my power was pretty high my pace was lower than I wanted. I assumed there was some headwind involved, ignored the speed and focused on keeping the power up. I was passed twice on the bike, once by a mystery guy and once by a young lady. I wanted to try and keep up, but they were too strong for me. Everyone else was another story! I passed people, a lot of people. And I didn’t just pass them, I flew by them. It reminded me of last year, only in reverse. I thought I was having a pretty good bike.
At about mile 10 I passed a guy in my age bracket. No mercy I thought, really push now and break his spirit. I suspect there was some tail wind on the back leg because I was really flying. I saw a speed in the mid 20’s a lot.
The Run
When I got into transition the first thing I noticed was that there were no bikes in my area. Since all of old people seemed to be right together I figured I had gotten off the bike in first place. All I had to do now was hold on. After fighting a shoe that just didn’t want to go on I finally started the course. My legs were heavy, maybe a bit more than usual, but I’d pushed harder on the bike than before. I glanced at my watch and it said I was doing 13:30 pace! There was no way I was running that slowly, I’ve never run that slowly, at least not since I started training for triathlons. Maybe the GPS had lost its signal or it’s some crazy average pace for the entire race. After running a couple more minutes I checked again and this time it said 13:45! I never looked again because whatever it was displaying was useless. That was probably the best thing that happened to me, it forced me to run based on how I felt instead of by numbers on my watch.
I was passed by another young lady who was really flying, and then a young guy (trust me, I check the ages as they pass!). I tried to hang with the young guy, and then he faded and dropped back. My pace felt slow, I was thinking about 8 minutes/mile, but it was all I had. I continued to pass a lot of people, all younger. Towards the end a couple of non-racers passed me, and I worked to stay with them. They were very nice and encouraging, even reminding me to breath. He must have been deaf, because I was certain they could hear me breathing over the entire course!
The Results
Once it was over I got a quick stretch at the massage tent, then headed over to check the results. I was shocked and a little disappointed when I saw that I’d finished second. I just knew I’d won the race. It turns out that the mystery rider who passed me early on won. I beat him everywhere but on the bike, where he smoked me to take 6th overall on the bike. Don’t bet me wrong, I am very happy with my results. The run, the one that felt so slow was at 7:02 pace. That was after tearing up the bike with what I feel was my best effort to date. 2nd place was good enough to qualify me for Nationals again, so maybe the last race wasn’t just a fluke.
What’s next
After a couple of days to rest and recover, it is time to get back after it. New Orleans 5150 is just around the corner, and with my newly charged confidence in tow there is no telling what could happen there. I do think that with 5 or so more races on the schedule for this year, I could have a couple more podium finishes in store.
Hold on to your hats, this is going to be one CRAZY ride!
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