quote:<HR>Originally posted by teacherjen05:
But Ron....how was the heat? 
Seriously, if your RR has useful info..by all means post it again! <HR>
I think it was hot. Not sure though...
Useful info is relative, but since I have it handy (reviewing it this AM and preparing race/hydration strategy before I chat with CC tonight) I will post. You can decide if it's useful or not I hope it helps someone... if nothing else, good reading material to fall asleep to!
Times
Swim: 36:23 1:39/100 (8min improvement from last year)
T1: 9:12 (real long beach run + concrete run to transition, then a bbq and beer j/k)
Bike: 3:00:54 18.67mph (~36 min improvement from last year)
T2: 4:26
Run: 3:44:52 17:10min/mile (wow, can you say slow? And I was NOT last)
Total: 7:34:47 1380/1414 - I saw many DNFs and the race was sold out (1700) - so in my opinion, 1380/1700
83 degrees and sunny, winds ~5-6mph (forecast was 88 but the clouds gave us a break)
Breakfast: Powerbar, Saltines w/ Peanut Butter, and a Diet Coke (or some of it).
Short Version - Finished my first half ironman before the cutoff. It was insanely hot (for me) and I was pretty darn slow on the run, but very happy to be healthy enough to DO the run given the injury I was nursing 2 weeks prior.
Swim - went well. Saw MJ. Yoshiko was right on my tail I hear.
T1 - slow, sand stinks.
Bike - went well. Went solid, it started getting hot.
T2 - kind of slow, dry socks are nice
Run - very hot. very hard. very slow. Hip was fine. Vaseline is good for feet. Very hot. Ice in hat good trick.
LONG VERION (read at your own risk, it's longer than long)
So we had to drive to the inlaws Thursday to drop off the kids (5.5 hours driving) and then go to Benton Harbor MI Friday after I got my bike back from the shop and did my "pre race" ritual warmup stuff (short bike, short swim, then a short run). The hip was feeling pretty decent, although still felt like a knot - but no pain. So there was hope. Friday was my initial GO/NO GO decision day. So, as of Friday - it was a GO for the run portion of the HIM. If in T2 or on the course it started feeling like I was going to srcew it up - I would DNF. I'd come to accept that part earlier in the week and was fine with it - I could still compare Aquabike times from last year.
Friday night I met up with Yoshiko, mjswimbikerun, and some of my training buds from Chicago for dinner. Good time. So So food.
I told CC almost 10 months when I decided on this race that I was not toeing up to the line for the HIM if I didn't feel confident I had a good chance at sub7 finish time. It was an arbitrary line in the sand, which was really indicative to me of the overall fitness level. It would leave me around 2:30-3:00 for the run (a 15-45min PR, BTW), which is horribly slow but for me a massive improvement. I did (2) 1/2 Mary's to prepare for this and spent a LOT of time running. If I couldn't feel that a sub7 was possible, I was going to do the Aquabike and leave HIM for another day. Well, I was ready. Given a cool day and without this hip thing I've been nursing, I felt I could easily break 7. So I really did want to do it because
I WAS READY. I had set myself to accept a possible DNF and just do Aquabike (no transfers this late in the game). The one thing which really concerned me was the tempature. I am not good in heat, I mean REAL not good. For me, perfect running weather is 40-45 degrees. Biking is 60 degrees. My bike doesn't suffer that bad when it's 70-80's but above 90 it does. My run, however, declines RAPIDLY at 75, 80, 85, 90 (over 90 I can't last long). Last year we had great weather, this year... nope - forecast of 88 and sunny. Good lord I'm srcewed! Oh well, can't control it, don't worry about it. Let it play out.
Typical stuff, fast forward and it's a jump off the Pier start again this year. They say the current is going north, so great (they have 2 starts one south to north and the pier which is north to south - they select which "in theory" based on the current). However, just like last year the current was NOT going north, it was south, but it was way lighter.
Slammed a gel and some water right before. I was in the last wave (so was Yoshiko) and I decided to do a front dive. Then at the last moment, I didn't. What a dork. Whatever, I was off to the races. The first 100-200yds I hauled arse to get away from everyone. Worked pretty good except I had some company - WOW I forgot the Clydes, Athena, and Relay ALL have some pretty good swimmers. I bet many of the top swim splits were from our wave. At least 10-15 people were keeping pace with me stroke for stroke. I slowed down after a bit and settled in, let a few from our wave go ahead and the rest started dropping off more or less (2-3 stayed with me most of the race though). Fairly soon I started overtaking the yellows, then pink, and then a few green and reds from the earlier waves. Good news, because this is where I gain some of my time in any race. Probably passed more than half of the prior 2 waves, which means a 4-8minute headstart out of the water on all of them. 36:23 is right about where I expected to be. Hoped for maybe something a little less, low 30s but there was a lot of thrashing in the water and since I kept overtaking waves, that never let up but it doesn't phase me - I'm bigger than them so rarely does my stroke get disrupted, usually it's them that gets messed up . So it's totally fine. If left alone I probably would have dropped another 4-6minutes. Was not destroyed, paced it possibly too easy actually. Next time, I will go harder.
TOUGH beach run. I hate sand running and this had some deep sand. Was very nervous about annoying my hip, so I pretty much walked until we got to concrete. Saw MJ and her REALLY LOUD noisemaker - wow! Thanks MJ! Once on concrete for a while, removed wetsuit and let my HR drop a bit and then headed to transition. Very long trip, easily 1/3 mile I would guess. I knew that and was planning on a long T1 time. 9:12. Had planned on 10min from last year's experience so not bad. I think some of the shortest times were around 5 minutes.
Off on the bike and not even 1/2 mile out I see one guy cradling another guy on the ground and the guy who is down has thrown up all over the place. Not sure the backstory but we were yelling for them to get some help (help was already on the way we saw). I very steadily passed people and wasn't passed by too many throughout the bike. Many people sidelined with repairs. There were some sections of road which were really rough - chipseal I think they call it - it was horrible. I had my soft race tires on and they just stuck to that stuff like glue. One section I was on nice flat asphalt doing 23mph avg for a long while, medium HR - minute I got onto the chipseal, SAME effort SAME HR and I dropped to 17. Egads. The course is fairly mild, lots of mild "hills" and only a couple real ones but nothing I couldn't tackle, I didn't get out of the saddle once (partially to spare my hip, but mostly because I was able to just spin up)
Played some cat and mouse games with a few people throughout the ride. There was another very large guy (250-270? 6 ft 4 in) and we joked about it - "We gonna do this all day? Your turn! Catch me now! See you on the next uphill! stuff like that" was an amusing game and helped keep me on pace. There was a quiet Chicago Endurance chick who kept passing me and well, that's just not allowed (they might take away my man card for that!), so I had to keep reeling her in - and she did the same on me. So with those (2) I was able to hold a decent pace. I wasn't hammering because I really wanted to do the run but it was nice and solid. My hip was getting a little tight in spots, but then would loosen up. So I felt I was holding it just right. I dropped them both for good around mile 45. I started having some concentration issues around mile 45 and it made me just dig deeper. It annoyed me actually as I thought I was doing good on nutrition/hydration.
Because of the predicted heat and because it's simpler, I brought my camelback loaded with 2 parts CarboPro and 1 part AminoVital. 330cals/20oz. And gels in a flask, 2x24oz water and a powerbar "in case". I ended up only drinking 50oz from the camelback and 24oz bottle and some "misc" from bottles on the course. For those I just ended up spraying myself down to keep cool. The bike wasn't that hot, so it was more preventative. But I felt good and I felt hydrated (didn't pee nor need to) but afterwards I figured out I only took 50% of the nutrition I had planned. I could not have taken in another bite/drop though - I was on the edge of an upset stomach the whole time and every time it would calm I'd try to pump some more in. By the end, it was getting hot though, I started spraying down with my leftover water and it was dry a few minutes later. Also, some of the breezes were hot. Not a good sign when you're going 20mph and the wind is hot. I wanted sub 3:00:00 on the bike. I think my Aqubike time last year was 3:36 on the bike and I knew I'd plaster that goal, but my "unofficial" desire was to break 3. Final time 3:00:53 - didn't break it, but I was still feeling very good after the bike, so I'm ok with that. I clearly did not take in enough nutrition and possibly hydration.
T2 was uneventful, if somewhat slow. 4:26, I had "planned" 5:00 so that's fine. I changed my socks, because my bike shoes were wet from me pouring water all over me. MAN that felt good, there is NOTHING like a dry pair of socks - you don't even REALIZE how you feet feel until they get nice new dry socks I did not stretch, but I did STOP and BREATH and THINK about the hip. How does it feel, etc. Felt fine. So at this point, stopping was not an option.
Run started off fine. I really had no time expectations here because of the heat. Actually my expectations were purely to finish it at this point and not suffer heat stroke. It was already hot by the time I started (great, let's start the fat guys in the LAST wave so we can enjoy MORE of the heat!! ROFL).
Mile 1 - going too fast. Had to keep slowing myself down, still ended up with a 12:30 split, which trust me - too fast. That's the split I'd have in a perfect temp, stand alone 10k. I wanted 13:30-14:00 for this beast. I was holding a steady 10min pace for a while and literally forced myself to walk. I've had to work on this in training too, I come out of transition like a bat out of ****. I cannot hold 10min pace for a mile, let alone 13.1
Mile 2 - body took care of slowing me down. Wow I got hot fast and there wasn't much shade. And NO FRIGGIN aid station at mile 1 like they promised! Up a dirt trail for a while (and a hill, ick) and there it was. Took some water and poured it on me and grabbed some ice and stuck it under my hat. Didn't keep most of it in there, but WOW that helped. Mile 2 was actually pretty darn hard. Nothing was hurting, I still hadn't stretched, but I felt "ok" just slow as smoke. Split was around 14:30, so with the stop was onto a better pace - but oh my, I wasn't going to be able to hold this for 11.1 more...
Mile 3 - Started getting into groove, but it was a bumpy one. ALREADY starting walk breaks, that's not a good sign. More ice. More water. Already cleared out 32oz from my Amphipods and looking for a refill. I was already feeling sick to my stomach, just like on the bike - so i just kept forcing gel in whenever my stomach would tolerate it. I tossed my nutrition "schedule" out the window - if I was to stick to it, I was going to puke all over the place. Pace down to 15:00 already. Some old guy fell on the bridge and cracked his head open. Blood everywhere. Cops running over to help. Good lord, that could be me...
Mile 4-5 - these were just a trudge fest. The finish line felt SO SO FAR away. I had to break the race into 5k's. Ok, one down, now let's do another... ok, you're half way through the 5k, etc. I couldn't handle the math the other way, the though of "ok, only 9 more miles to go" was completely depressing and seemed just too far. This was a dark period. It got better when some friends of mine were rooting me on (and 2 people I don't know called me by NAME and cheered me on?? Weird..thank you guys, but um... who were you??) and high-fived me, etc. The Chicago friends were totally excited to see I made it out on the run course. It lifted my spirits seeing them too. Pace was horrid by now I was taking frequent walk breaks. I had to TALK to myself to get running again. I'd expect that at mile 12, but Mile 4? Oh god. I saw my 'cat and mouse' guy from the bike and we exchanged some friendly trash talk about him trying to "Catch me if you can!", etc. Knowing he was back there did push me somewhat.
Mile 5-6 - Well, if I thought 4-5 was a dark time, I didn't know what dark was. Everything started to hurt. I started seriously thinking about using the ibuprofen I brought (but which CC said NO). Hip flexors felt like I was being stabbed with a knife. My hip got tight. My quads were pissy. My feet started to hurt. Everything did this all at once. And it was getting REAL darn hot. I trudged through it. Every aid station I was just pouring cup after cup after cup and getting ice and shoving it down my shirt, in my hat. I think a couple of the volunteers thought I wasn't going to make it. You just saw it in their faces and heard it in their voices. They were GREAT though they really were. I cannot thank them enough and I did thank them there and then. Don't remember the splits. Bad, I tried not to compute out estimated time because it was bumming me out and there was no time for that and I had business to attend to!
Mile 7 took FOREVER to arrive. It was in a shady residential area and was the "turnaround" for the course. I did my usual shower in ice cold water and the nice pregnant lady volunteer was just handing me cup after cup. After about the 8th cup (filling my amphipods, pouring it on me, etc) I stopped to actually drink so, drank about half and then got stupid. I just dropped it. RIGHT on her shoes. I was MORTIFIED. This kind PREGNANT lady was helping me and I just dumped a half full cup of ice water right directly on her feet. I blurted out "OMG I'm SO SORRY" to which the GUYS sitting in lawn chairs were like "Oh, don't worry about it!!!" ROFL. She was smiling and she obviously didn't care, I still felt like a complete ARSE. I thanked them again and I headed out. I did feel much better. This mile split was almost 18:00. Wow, this is going to be a long day. At the half way point I was way off my mark.
Mile 8 - I shared some of my ibuprofen with someone who was asking for it at the aid station (figured I better remove the temptation and hey, good kharma and all that! He was very appreciative of it and ran with me for a while and we chatted for a while). I needed that, it really did pay off because the dark period finally passed. Mind you, still slow, but I was just making up mini-goals (run to the next mile marker, run to the tree, run 2 steps, whatever) and walking way too much - but at this point my shoes were so wet I was flinging water with every step and making squishing noises. And they hurt. uh, oh - never run with somping wet shoes before and my feet basically haven't been dry since like 5+ hours ago.
Mile 9 - 10 were uneventful. Slow but steady running (if you can call it that) and walking. Even my run pace was way degraded. Even though I was drinking like a fish, I still didn't have to pee and I knew I failed in my nutrition as I was running low on energy. The ice was melted so I had to use a bottle of water to spray down during these miles. At Mile 10 I was pretty sure my toenail had cut into my big toe and that I had 4-5 blisters. So I saw vaseline at Mile 9, but decided to DO something about it at Mile 10 and grabbed theirs. I ripped off my shoes, poured out the water (yeah, seriously) and wrung out my socks. No feet damage actually, no visible blisters and toenail was just irritated - so that's good, I caught it soon enough. I slopped vaseline on both and got back on the road. At first it didn't seem like it helped, but soon enough it was clear it did. Had a bannana too. That sat better than the gels - good to know for future races.
Mile 11 - The stop for my feet lost me a lot of time against my cat and mouse guy caught me. I yelled over to him on a hairpin turn "SLOW DOWN, you're gonna make me start running again!!" to which he replied "PLEASE DON'T, YOU'RE KILLIN ME!!" - well he did catch up and we chatted for a while. Then on the top of a bridge a nut job friend of mine does a U turn in his car (he has his wife/kids with) and congratulates me, cheers me on, etc. Finally my running partner drops me (at this point, I don't care, I'm so toast and going so slow - besides since he was in the M35 wave so I already have like 12-16 minutes on him!). Did I mention it was hot? Did I mention no ice? OMG I think my split was over 20minutes that point. One foot in front of the other is all I could do.
Mile 12 - Thank goodness they had ice. It really helped. Allowed me to actually start running again. Shade too. The combination made a huge effect on my ability to force myself to run some, even though there were walk breaks, it was more run than walk, which I hadn't done in the last couple of miles
Mile 13 - I hear them at the finish. The course is barren. The one volunteer is so sweet, so says some real nice things and is clearly looking to make sure I don't fall over.
The Finish - Some friends are waiting and wave to me, the few remaining folks in the crowd make a big noise, and I finally cross the line. Thank goodness that's DONE! Wow. DW and MJ are at the finish too. The announcer read my number wrong so said I was "ernie" something, DW yelled at him to fix it - the announcer dork asks ME what my number is.. uhhh... ummm... can you repeat the question? I can't remember my name right now let alone my friggin number. I look at my number and seriously, I can't put the numbers in order at first. I'm 1491...um... 1949, yeah, 1949. Then he says my name right! The attendants are asking if I feel ok, etc, etc I just tell them I don't want to sit. No friggin way, so they deftly remove my chip and I get a bottle of ice cold water and douse myself. I get my metal and I'm SO glad DW was there because I totally forgot about my recovery drink. I wanted to get that onboard SOON and she had it there and with MJ's help got it mixed up and forced me to take it. Tasted goooooood. OUCH OUCH OUCH starting to tighten up. Keep walking. Wow, ouch all sort of places are tight now. Wow. Want ibuprofen now, DW is thinking (thankfully, I wasn't I was about to just toss 'em in my mouth) and says I need food first. Go up to the food tent (sloooowly) and get some pizza, chicken, and just about one of everything. Check my HR before I sit down (uh oh, how long until I can stand again?) and it was 112 so I figured I'd cooled down enough. So I ate the pizza (only), took the ibuprofen, and hung out for a while. My cat and mouse guy was 2 tables over so I said howdy from afar and then realized I really needed to keep moving or I might stay the night at this table, so I went over and talked to him for a while. In the end I beat him by about 13 minutes overall because of the wave differential. He tells me that trying to chase me he feels he fried his legs for the run. Not to mention the heat. Last year he attempted a half but DNF'd because it was 98 degrees at the race he tried. This year was close but he did it. 7:46 for him (8:00 cutoff for our wave, 8:32 cutoff for first wave)
Met up with other friends, made dinner plans, and headed back to the car - I rode my bike since it was way easier than walking and it really helped clear out my legs. I felt pretty decent overall between the ibuprofen and the spin I didn't feel too bad. A little tired, but nothing unmanagable (parent training has taught me how to deal with that!). Went back, chatted with MJ a bit before she headed home. Showered and off for dinner, post race party. I won a nice polo Steelhead shirt - the announcer was making up prizes at that point and when he said "who here had a run split over 2:00" - about 10 people raised their hands. "who over 2:05", about 8, "who over 2:10", still 8 so I blurted out "NOT EVEN CLOSE!!!!" and I was immediately awarded the shirt and lots of cheers and laughs. So hey, never thought I'd win a shirt for being the slowest guy in the room!!!
The post race party was the first I'd ever gone to and it was kind of fun. The free beers were a plus For those who never go, I'd recommend trying it sometime! DW was a bit bored, but she got a Chocolate Martini out of it
So overall I am happy with the race. It was long, it was hard, and I was slower than I wanted by over 30 minutes. I still smashed my swim/bike splits and as CC pointed out - my 7 hour target was under ideal conditions and these were FAR from ideal for me. Actually, it was about as bad as it could be short of DNF. We've know all along that the heat destroys me and destroy it did. It doesn't bother me though because I managed to do what I set out for, which was finish a HIM. This is my 3rd season and 1 yr 4 months and 2 days since I ran my first mile. I'm pretty satisfied with the progress. I plan on spending the winter continuing to loose weight and improve my run speeds.
