HalfMax 70.3

Last week’s workouts:

Week 12 of 20

Mon:  Rest

Tue:   Swim 1,300 yards (drills); bike 45 min.

Wed:  Run 5 miles

Thu:   Swim 800 yards; bike 30 min.

Fri:     Rest

Sat:    HalfMax Triathlon (70.3 miles)

Sun:   Recovery (passive)

Last week’s workouts were a mini-taper in advance of the Fresh Ideas HalfMax Triathlon in Innsbrook, MO on June 28^th.  This race taught me a lot about what I need to work on as I continue the journey to the finish line in Louisville, but it also showed me how far I've come in this journey.

Race day started with a 3:30am wake up call so that I could load the car, prepare food to eat on the drive, and get to the race site at 5:30am (in advance of the 7:30am scheduled start).  The GPS said the race was 48 miles away.  I now think of all distance in terms of triathlon, so of course I scoffed at a mere 48 miles - I'll be biking more than that today!

You should get bonus points for not forgetting any gear for any race, regardless of distance

I unloaded and set up my transition area by 6:15, so I had plenty of time to relax, talk with my training partners and some friends from the St. Louis Tri Club, use the restroom, check out the swim course, etc.  Coming into the day, I felt okay, but certainly not 100% - I had some stomach discomfort on Friday that carried over.  My plan was to use this as a training day unless the field in the 40+ Clydesdale division didn’t look too tough.  There weren’t too many big guys, so I decided to see how I felt in the swim before deciding how hard I wanted to push.

Body marking and transition

My little slice of heaven 

Racing for a Honey Badger fighting to get well in the hospital 

Racked and ready - even had an inch of clearance between my tire and the grass

Swim course

At the swim start location, the race director gave us the instructions.  Those racing the half had to do two loops on each of the three courses to get the necessary distance.  The announcements also said things like “the bike is hilly – save energy for the run” and “don’t go out hard on the run – you have to do a second loop” and “this is one of the toughest half iron distance races out there – finishing this is an accomplishment”.  Uh, foreshadowing.

After the pre-race instructions, I took my spot in the back of the men’s corral, they blew up some fireworks with a TNT plunger straight from the Road Runner.  Since I’m a fairly slow swimmer, I started in the back and tried to get comfortable - it just never happened.  I was breathing every 2 strokes from the left side and wasn’t able to get into my typical 4 stroke pattern, or at least a 3 stroke bilateral pattern.  The lesson for Louisville is that I need to relax.  If I'm not in the right pattern at the beginning of the swim, I need to ease up until I get there - it will save me time in the long run.

Other than my swim being really slow – even for me – it was fine.  I swam much of the race alongside a guy who swam sidestroke the time.  I just could NOT pass him.  He finished the swim just in front of me and I noticed that he only had one arm.  I saw him a while later on the bike, and he was awesome.  

I was a bit dizzy coming out of the water (from breathing on just one side), but I shook that off as I walked from the swim exit to T1.  I stopped to use the restroom since I was no longer concerned about time - peeing on the bike will have to wait for another day.  I cleaned up my feet, put my socks, shoes, helmet liner, helmet, and sunscreen on, and I was on my way.  I grabbed a bonk breaker to eat as I got the bike leg going.

Before I was even done eating, I encountered the first tough hill of the race – quite the smack in the face to get you going.  I misjudged the hill, got stuck in the wrong gear, and almost had to bail and walk my bike up the rest of the hill.  I managed to shove the rest of the food in my mouth, stand up, and hammer my way to the top.  That was just the beginning of some serious climbing on this two loop course.  As I approached a short out-and-back around mile 3, I saw a guy sitting on the side of the road.  On my way back through I saw that most of the skin from his shoulders had been ground off due to an accident.  Ouch!

We climbed over and over again in the first 7-8 miles of the bike leg and things settled down a bit as we left the resort.  I got my legs back and pushed the pace a bit - everything was feeling good.  Then my ride started to go into the toilet - it was one thing after another.  I bumped the visor off my aero helmet twice, catching it once and having to turn around and go find it a second time.  I shot my last bottle of sports drink out of my rear cage - I went back to look for it, but couldn't find it - so I got to enjoy the last 26 miles with nothing but water and Gu.  At one point I stood up to stretch and yanked my left foot out of the clip and nearly wiped out.  The cover to my left crank kept coming out (had to stop and screw it back in twice), and the entire bottom bracket seemed to loosen up a bit (need to have that looked at this week).  

I mentioned that this was a 2 loop course.  The thought of that was fine until we came back to the resort area.  We picked up some nice downhills where I got up to 42mph, but then we had 2 or 3 absolutely brutal climbs.  Aaaaaand then we got to do the whole thing over again.  By the time I was around mile 45, I was ready to cancel my hotel reservations for Louisville, sell my bike, and never utter the word triathlon again.

 Bike elevation profile

As I entered the final hills on the second loop, I was hot, uncomfortable, and irritated from a sub par ride.  The thought of running a half marathon in 85 degrees with 66% humidity didn’t sound very good.  The only thing that kept me going was the thought of putting another medal on my wall and my general stubbornness.

In T2, I talked with Kelly (training partner) who was already done with the QuarterMax race.  She said the hills on the run were nasty, but the aid stations were well stocked.  I found K-Mac (training partner) at the end of the bike leg, so I walked over to talk to him and we started out on the run course together.  Our generally crappy attitudes were a perfect match.

I ended up sticking with K-Mac for the entire run.  We ran most of the flats and downhills but walked the uphills and whenever else we needed it.  We laughed a lot at the ridiculousness of it all.  It was to the point where we were out of breath just walking some of these hills.  We loaded up on Heed, water, ice, Coke, pretzels, granola bars, and anything else we could get our hands on at the aid stations.  They were indeed well stocked, and the volunteers were awesome.  

We finished the first 6 mile loop and forced ourselves to go back out for another.  Around mile 9, we came across a guy laying in the middle of the road (which was not closed to traffic).  He looked like he was stretching himself out somehow, but he chose a sunny, hot piece of asphalt to lay on instead of a shaded spot for some reason.  We helped him up and talked to him for a moment, and he kept on his way.  We saw him a few miles later and talked to him, and he seemed like he was looking right through us.  I saw a friend who is always happy around mile 10 (she was still heading out), and even she was miserable.  The volunteers said everyone was having a rough day - it appears that they were right. 

Just past mile 12, I saw the smiling face of a Tri Club friend and Ironman Louisville finisher who had words of encouragement for us (thanks Tiffany) and ran with us for a bit.  We loaded up at the last aid station and ran most of the way back to the finish except for a steep incline through the grass leading up to the finishing chute.  The announcer called our names and tried to bait us into racing each other, but K-Mac and I were happy to finish the race, and neither of us wanted to be "that guy" who pulls a jerk move and takes off at the last moment.  

Past mile 12 - heading to the finish 

Bringing it home, laughing about how there were only 10 bikes left in transition 

Finally done after a LONG day 

This was hands down the toughest day of racing I have ever had.  I didn’t feel well from the start, and wanted to call it a day after the bike leg.  I forced myself to "run" the half marathon, even though I walked a lot of it.  It was absolutely miserable out there.  

Finisher medal (right) and 1st place 40+ Clydesdale group (left).  I was, however, the only one in that group.  But as many have told me, I beat all those people who didn't get off the couch.

As soon as I was done, I realized how good this was for me.  Yes, it was tough, hot, and miserable, but I got through it.  I didn't DNF, I completed the course, and I didn't have any cramping/dehydration issues.  I even managed to have a fun during that death march of a half marathon.  Physically I felt great after the race other than general tightness which is to be expected.  

Lessons Learned:

1. Settle in during the swim - find your rhythm.  If you're too amped up, stop for a second and reset yourself
2. Ditch the tri top in favor of a cycling jersey for the bike in Louisville.  I have a bad sunburn on my back from 3 hours in aero position.
3. Get new cleats on my bike shoes before Muncie!
4. Eat as much as possible on the bike - preferably real food.  Bonk Breaker bars will be much better than Gu.
5. Squirting water on your neck and femoral artery on the bike really works to cool you off - just make sure your feet are in the right position so that the water doesn't go straight into your shoe.
6. Push fluids and foods on the run.
7. Regular Coke is really good.

This experience made me realize that I have gotten a lot stronger over the past year, and much more tolerant of these distances.  After Muncie last July, I was done for a week.  I'm ready to get in the pool tomorrow morning for 2 miles to pick up on my training schedule.  Now that I know I can survive heat and hills, Louisville is in trouble!

54 days