Soma Half Ironman: 1.2 Mile Swim, 56 Mile Bike, 13.1 Mile Run
So, it’s here, my first
true test of my intensity training is here. Tomorrow I do the Soma Half Ironman
70.3, on the same race course as IM AZ.
I’m nervous, excited and READY!!!
I drove down Saturday morning and had to stop off at a few places to
look for some race gear. I had planned to make the noon race athlete meeting,
but I got out to late from home. I then got to the race site around 1 ish. I
went and got checked in and got my cool gear (hat and t-shirt), my wristband
and then took my stuff back to the car and got my bike all ready to get checked
in.
It’s like Ironman, where you check your bike in the day before, but there
is security all night to watch them. Thank goodness, because that was one expense
gold mine in that transition area. Each bike is easily 1500$ to start, then
times that by 1500 plus athletes? Unbelievable. LOL- funny moment was when I was in the porta
potty. The fireworks had been going off all day for the ASU Game, but let me
tell you, when you’re in a porta potty and they go off….its like Hiroshima in
there!!! I actually ducked and thought
something was exploding. Whew..that could have been bad. :)
Back to the Escape, I got
my bike all setup with numbers and headed back to transition. Once I was all
setup at 206, I then headed over to the athlete meeting, where they went in
more detail about the race course. LOTS of U-turns. And the estimated temp was
going to be in the high 80s. All I could think of what that I was not going to
PR on this course. Which although made
me nervous, but I was just somehow in my focused calm mode and didn’t think too
much about it. I just new for some reason to trust my training and that I
was going to be okay. The water temp was 70. So it was going to be a wet suit legal course. That at least was a good thing. We would be going off in Waves
every 4 minutes. I got an orange cap so a good color finally ( No stinking pink). I checked on my bike one more time, and then
headed over to the hotel for a bit before meeting up with two of my FC
Teammates for the first time. We met at Olive Garden around 6 pm. Michelle her husband and Mike and I had an
awesome time! We hit it off immediately and hung out til close to 8 pm chatting
it up and getting to know each other. They make me want to move to CA, so I can
be closer to the team and train. It sounds like such a fun crew!!
Once back at the hotel. I
actually was really tired. I got to my room, got my stuff all setup for
tomorrow. I took a hot shower, put in my wake up call for 4 am, and chatted a
few minutes with my friend Stacy and was in bed and almost instantly asleep. It
must have been from the long day, usually I never fall asleep that fast, my
nerves keep me awake for awhile. Again,
I think I just had a focused calm, because I was so not sure how intensity
training would be, and how my bike would be. But somehow, I was just telling
myself, trust your training. Your training will get you there. My biggest fear
was what I would do on the bike. I didn’t know my outdoor avg speed on the
bike. I did most of my rides indoors on the trainer. So I just had faith that
it would be okay, as I had several rides that I was faster outside, I just didn’t
know how much faster. Tomorrow was my true test. Intensity vs. Volume. What was
better for me?
I woke to the wake up call, and really just wanted to go back to sleep. Nerves? Fatigue? I rolled out bed and started getting ready. In
my tri kit for TM FC and had some coffee, breakfast bagel, fruit. Mixed up all
my race nutrition of OSMO and did one more check of all my stuff. Then, it was
time to leave and head down to the race site at 5 AM. I loaded up the car, and
headed out. I parked in US Airways next to the course, and then headed down to
the race site. Once in transition, I got my water all setup on the bike, filled
up my tires one last time, got my nutrition bars of Stash on my bike, setup my
area, then ran to the rest room. Once back it was time to get on my wetsuit, as
transition was closing in 15 minutes. I ran into Michelle and Mike and give them both a big hug. And we wished each other good luck. Then we were out
of Transition and waiting by the water. The pros started off at 6:30 AM, then
we all went in waves every four minutes. So my wave was at 6:58 AM. Michelle
and I were in the same wave so we cheered on Mike and chatted away until it was
time. 15 min out I took a Roctane Gu
and was ready to go.
THE SWIM
Before I knew it we were on the
stairs and heading down to jump in the water. I haven’t been here since Ironman….the
nerves began a bit when I jumped in and went under the water. But then I settled
in and took a few strokes, and then just some deep breaths. Once at the start
area….we then sat for a few minutes, I just remember wanting to go cause I was
starting to get cold. Then the horn went of and away we went. The swim was
good, I was able to stay calm but I kept having several girls keep swimming
into me. Probably the most “combat” I’ve had in the water. One gal was swimming
and her arm came around and scraped my face…luckily my goggles stayed on. Then I
had one that grabbed my leg, and it felt
like she tried to grab on and pull…so I kicked her away. I swam straight for
the most part, but was swimming mostly wide to stay out of the mess. I did
every now and then get on the heels of a swimmer that was the same pace and it
was a lot easier to draft off of them, which is legal in the water. Finally I
made it to the turn around. I still had a good focused calm going, and on the
way back, I had a gal who swam up on me, and with the way she swam, she hooked
my arm as I was stretching out, and literally pushed me under. I wasn't a fan
of hers at that moment. Then before I knew it I was at the turn buoy, and
heading into the dock. I got there, and stood up with the help of a nice volunteer
and ran up the steps feeling pretty good.
I didn’t have that weird session that I normally have when I get out of
the water…that heavy in the legs brick feeling. I did have it a little bit
after my wetsuit was stripped off and jogged to Transition. But not like
Ironman, maybe the water temp? Swim
time: 48:39 min/sec.
Once in Transition, I
got on my shoes, my helmet, glasses, sun block real quick and was off to the
exit. Quick transition for me at 2:33,
nice.
THE BIKE
I began heading out on the route, It was three
laps of 18 ish miles to equal 56 miles. I started slow, and my plan was 1:05
for each lap, my focus was on cadence and heart rate. My mantra was “stay
within yourself” And “It’s a training day, stay in your plan”. The first lap
was just to see the route, get acquainted with the course, as I normally drive
it the day before, I didn’t this time. The race meeting seemed to be pretty through
for me so I just left it at that, and I was somewhat familiar with the roads.
It was a good way to pace myself for Ironman. So I focused on cadence, and heartrate, but it
was hard, because I would see my speed and start getting all excited to go
faster, but then I would get my mantra back….”Stay with yourself, follow the
plan”. I made it around the course and
pull through lap one…at 1:05!!! And now
that I knew the course and I knew where everything was, I settled in to keep
that same pace, and not push too hard.
The challenge was that we had a no drafting rule and it seemed like every
time I passed someone, it was on an uphill. So that is either a good thing for
me and I’m getting better at hills, or I just am spiking up my heart rate. One thing I noticed immediately when I got to
an aide station, is that the water bottles were closed..which wasn’t horrible
except they were really hard to open, and even more so with my braces in that I
felt like I loosened some up on the first yank!! So from here out I had to slow
down and open it by hand. I had my trick down of grabbing my GU first, stick it
in my mouth, then water. I learned
quickly after the first time. On the
second lap I was on the back side coming up the hill and three guys in green
and black, gave the perfect example of what a “three bike length” looked like,
as they were drafting on the ride, which was illegal. The worst part is as they
passed me, it was almost at the top of the hill, in which they then proceeded
to take the shortest route around the corner, which was directly in front of me
and cut me off. After a few choice words that I won’t repeat here, and missing
the curb by inches and slamming on my brakes, I regrouped and headed on my way.
One thing I noticed a lot was you had to be very careful on the ride, because
people were dropping stuff left and right. And the water bottles at the aid
stations were also everywhere, most were thrown to the side of the road in the designated
areas, but you had to be constantly alert. As I was coming past one, trying to
open my water, and go up hill, there was an older athlete that must of just wiped out in front of me. I was ready to
stop, but when asked if he needed help, he said no, I’m okay. So I flagged down
a spectator to run back to the aid station. He wasn’t there on the third lap,
and I never heard an ambulance, so he must have been okay.
It was nice to have a
cheering section…two FC teammates who I only met that morning just before the
swim, were on the bike course hollering
out my name. How nice was that!! Since I didn’t have anyone there, I had
complete strangers cheering me on. It was nice and gave me a boost to have support
there. I believe I heard Michelle two times on the
bike as we passed each other. So lap two
was 1:04…nice, a negative split.
Lap three, one lap to
go. It was a lot less crowded on lap three, so I didn’t have to worry about
drafting boys cutting me off. I was
doing my nutrition pretty good, I was drinking Osmo. I had two bottles on the bike,
and my Stash Bars were my go to along with Gu Roctane. I felt pretty good. My watch would go off
every 15 min to get me to take some nutrition. I did take one salt tablet at
the middle of the second lap. I kept dousing myself with water even if I didn’t
need it. With about 45 min to go on lap
3, I took in my last Stash bar. I
grabbed a piece, shoved it in my mouth and began chewing, only to immediately
spit it out. NASTY!!! I took in a bunch
of water swishing and spitting it out to my right. Looking back, people probably thought I was
throwing up. I was doing it multiple times….but really it was because the bar
was bad. ( Back story…the night before I
left, I was grabbing stuff off my table In my trainer room. One of my Stash
bars was there, but beside it was an air freshener that had fallen over and
dripped on the table which when I picked up the bar, I’d noticed it was on the wrapper.
I didn’t think too much about it…I rinsed it off. Saw that the bar was dry, and
just shoved it in my nutrition bag. Little did I know until…I actually took a
bite, it had soaked through the packaging. So when I had taken a bite of it on
the race…I essentially was eating a mouth full of air freshener!!)) I then resorted to the Gu gels that I got on
course, which was the Clif Shot, I had the Razz flavor, which was probably just
a bad. I can’t do the “fruity” Gels. They are just too nasty. But it still
helped. The rest of my ride was solid, and I rolled in once again at 1:04.
Finished my bike at 3:15:15. Just where I wanted to be. My FC Cheering section
was right there as well. Made me feel happy to be part of a team.
Transition was good,
after I wrestled my bike on the rack, I dropped my helmet for visor, bike shoes
for running, Osmo/Water race belt and a few quick sunblock spray down, I was on
my way in 2:21 min/sec. Not too bad.
THE RUN
I began the run with my
mantra once again…”stay within yourself”. I always run out to fast, so my first
stop is the porta potty to slow it down. I did run about 400 yds until then,
which there was a photographer just before that snapped a photo or two. I ran in, peed. Then as I was quickly getting
my kit back together, Iooked up at the door where there was a mirror and saw a
hunk of the Stash bar that I had spit out on the bike!!
LOL so I’m sure that photo that the guy took just a min before will be
interesting. Nice that the 20 or so people I passed or chatted with didn’t feel the need to
say…got something there. Back out on the
run I went…minus the food on the face. And worked on “shutting it down” per
coaches orders. It took about two miles in before I was able to get in my
marathon pace. And about that same time, I began running with another triathlete
who was also using this race as a trainer. We ended up running the same pace,
so spent the entire run together helping each other “shut it down”. I walked at
all the aide stations and got in water, and swig of Coke. And they had ice…as I
watched my running partner dump it down her bra and then her back. It was like
a lightbulb went off. DUHHHHHH.. SO I grabbed ice and did the same. This is what
I think was a huge thing for me. I am always bad with running after it hits mid
80s. I get overheated and slow down.
Today I didn’t, with much thanks I think to the ice down the shirt. I always
watch people do it, see them at the Kona do it on race day. But have never thought
to do it. How funny is that? Needless to say. I NEVER overheated once, and it
was in the 90s. Normally, I’d be dying.
I think it also was my OSMO that I took in as I’ve been feeling really good on
my runs with that. And then I just kept cool.
I stayed right in my Marathon pace for the run. I still held back. I
felt like I could go more. But I held back. I worked on “staying within myself”. I did
see Mike on the run once and gave him a holler as he was on lap two with me
still on lap one.
So by mile 5, I was
amazed at how good I felt. I kept to repeating my mantra, but then another
thing stated creeping into my head. “This
intensity training is working!!! I feel really good, better than I ever have, I
have a plan to follow, I’m doing it, and I’m pretty darn sure I’m going to meet
my goal of 6:30ish”. Then I started
thinking…I BELIEVE!! Yes… I was not shy
about stating how nervous I was about doing intensity training for my race. And
how I haven’t really put in the full distance yet of my disciplines, and how
just in June I wasn’t even running due to my leg injury. But…..I was able to
prove, that I could do it. And still feel good, and still “shut it down” and
meet my goal. I was so excited when I
started Lap Two. I just kept my mantra
going….along with “I BELIEVE!!!” And actually
had moments where I was getting emotional on the run because I was so excited. So I’d dial it back in and focus on my
pace. I am also happy to report there
was another photo op on the back side, so I’ll have at least one running photo
without food stuck on my face. As I got around to the finish on my last lap,
I was happy to be turning left on the course to the finish. And got my cheering section again with
Michelle and her husband, Mike and the others…and ran around to the finish,
crossing the line..running at 2:28 hr/min.
OVERALL TIME: 6:37: 43.
Which means, I'm on track for my Ironman goal, and I PR'd from my last half Ironman distance by one hour!!!
YES!!! I was in my goal
of 6:30ish. This puts me in my goal for my desired Ironman time. And I did it
at my training pace, with “shutting it down” on the run. I couldn’t have been happier. I got my cool medal…which also doubles as a
magnet and a bottle opener. Got a photo
with the race. Mike ran over to find me while I ate some watermelon, then I
headed over with him to Michelle and her husband and we got a Team FC
photo!! These two people are awesome.
We hit it off right away and I can’t wait to meet the rest of the team in one
month. All of us had some type of PR, which was awesome for all of us!! And on
a hot day. But it makes just makes me more confident for the full and I just feel
so READY to get it going. What an amazing feeling!!!
After we all got our
stuff, we met back at one of the local restaurants and had our celebratory beer
with lunch and re capped on the day. Mike and I are pretty darn sure that
Michelle has Kona potential. She was a
rock star on the bike, so was Mike. Then
it was time to head home. By then my
beer was worn off. But I was tired. So I made it to Anthem and stopped off for
a coffee, bathroom break and a impromptu 30 min nap in the Escape, which I must
admit I’m starting to get good at these naps. Then I headed home without any
issues after that.
I’m thankful that I had
Monday off, while I’m sure I could of managed work, I was still a bit hobbling.
And my 90 min massage was amazing!!! My therapist
went more deep pressure and actually used her feet in addition to her hands. I’d
never had a massage like that, but let me tell you. I didn’t know the
difference, except when she went down my arms and I’d feel her toes on my
hands. Other than that, it was a really good deep pressure massage; she could
get in deeper to the muscle better than her hands. And I would only notice this
when she would switch. That will definitely be incorporated in the future with
my massages. I really had kinda of an “out
of body” feeling when I was done. And by the time I ran all my errands. I felt
even better. But I did take another 2
hour nap when I got home.
The possible good news,
is it sounds like my parents are still trying to come out!!! I am just
expecting them to not come out, so I don't get my hopes up. But they actually
explored options with the train and driving, and are still talking about it.
And even about what to do with the deer hunters. As Nov. 15th is the
official start day. And my parent’s house is the “hub”, some of the hunters
have gotten a bit upset that they may not be there. So if my dad is talking
about that…It’s looking a bit more promising. And that makes me excited. It will also depend on the weather if they
drive. And what his doctor says with his back. Keep fingers crossed.
Toughness
Is in
the
SOUL
and SPIRIT
Not
in
MUSCLES.
Alex Karras
