Ironman OHIO 70.3 Race Report

Ironman Ohio makes my 10th Half Iron attempted and my 8th completed one.  I've done:
1)Honu (DNF) 2)Steelhead, 3)Las Vega World Championship, 4) New Orleans, 5)Haines City, 6)Racine, 7)Muncie, 8)Grand Rapids (rain out) 9)Milkman and 10) Ohio.

I like the 70.3 distance.  It's a big challenge but I feel capable of doing it, despite the first DNF and the rain out.  I've walked several of them due to lack of training or illness pre-race, but that race, more than the OLY or Sprint distance makes me feel like I've really challenged myself and accomplished something big.  Yes my IM LOU is an important milestone and I'm very pleased that I did that one. However, as far as training requirements, I think I can get ready for the HIM more easily and be ready for a race than I can for a full IM LOU.  That may change over the years because I can see my body is improving every year but we shall see  For now, the HIM is my favorite distance.

This year I was very happy to be doing the race with a lot of friends in triathlon.  I was hoping to see them on the course (probably as they zoomed by on the bike) and to enjoy the pre and post race times with them.  And I did but I was alone a lot more on this race than expected.  Partially because I was faster and did not get passed by many and partially because of the timing of the waves.  We all had dinner sort of around the restaurant the night before.  That was a little sad that we were not all together as a group.  But the food was good with good company at the table:  Tim Sanker, Marni Willenson and her two kids, Linda Pryce, and Bill Hineline.  Linda was a bit stressed about the swim as were many other athletes headed into this race.

Water temps had been high all week making it appear that the swim would be wetsuit optional but anyone with a wetsuit would be going in the last wave, or the "party wave" as Jamie Jacobsen called it.  Linda was not comfortable without the wetsuit but also concerned about her ability to meet the cutoffs.  As it turned out, she finished just fine and here she sashays down the finisher chute.   I was happy to leave the wetsuit behind.  I gave Linda my lava pants for a faster swim and transition but also to keep the heat from being an issue on her core.  She said it worked well.  Clearly! 

So the night before the race the weather was really terrible.  Tornado touched down in Delaware and driving rain had me concerned for my bike at the transition.  This race also had two transition areas 8 miles apart which is always a logistical nightmare if you are alone.  I found out you could leave your run gear at the T2 area the day before and Masumi Yoneyama and I planned our travel so we could do that and leave my car there overnight.  So I was wondering as that tornado passed through if I'd have ANY mode of transportation the next day.  All was well the next day.  No tangle of bikes or tipped over car.

Masumi and I arrived about 5:50 to T1 and this was plenty of time to air up the tires, check the bike computer, set out my gear and get ready.   I was pretty happy, but forgot to eat my last gu before the swim.  As I headed into the start chute, I realized I was hungry.  Damn!  First mistake.  I was too busy talking with folks and forgot all about my nutrition.  I had eaten a lot that morning and knew I would be fine for the swim but maybe at a deficit as I began the ride.  Shoot.

So the swim was a frustrating effort to pass/lose the woman who kept swimming on my right pushing me into the buoy line,  I tried several times to lose her, managed to a couple of times but damn it she kept showing up!  I knew it was her because she would swim a few strokes, then breast stroke, kick me and sight and go back to crawl.  I almost swam into two buoys trying to keep my distance from her.  Other than that it was an okay swim.  Not real slow but not my best.  I almost missed the second turn buoy and headed for the #4 orange buoy which was in line with #3 but I sort of said....I think I should be looking for a turn buoy and if I've not looked far enough right I might have missed it.  Sure enough, I sighted again and looked further right and found it.  Saved me swimming some extra yards.  Did have a nice finish, felt strong on the last 400 yards and was ready to get to the bike.  I was disappointed when I checked my time on getting out though.  Some folks are saying the swim was more like 2200 yds than 2000 so I may be okay with my time if that's true.  I got out of the water ahead of many in my division so that was a good start.  There were 53 finishers in the F 55+ division.

Total  1.2 mi   00:47:0500:47:050  pace: 2:26/100m  division rank:  19

T1 TIME 5:06

We had a run to get to the bike and then a run to get out that took me a few minutes.  I walked part of the way to catch my breathe.  I can say that I am able to run now.  In the past I would be completely out of breathe and unable to do more than walk so I'm happy to see that improvement.

Bike  Here is the bike course: IM OHIO 70.3 BIKE COURSE PREVIEW

It was advertised as a flat fast course.  Honestly, it was not flat. At times it was fast and my bike time was pretty good with a good pace.  I enjoyed the scenery a lot.  It was windy though so fighting cross winds was fatiguing.  It was hard to keep up the nutrition and hydration.  As I said I forgot the eat my planned gu before the swim so I got out with a slight deficit.  I took the time to drink some water before heading out and grabbed a packet to eat early.  My bike computer and my garmin both decided to malfunction at that point though so I was fooling with them for the first five miles.  I managed to suck down some nutrition and get my garmin working but I had to alter it to show just the bike course so I had no idea of my total overall time etc.  I was upset about that but heck it's go time!  I got sleepy at mile 40.  Good indicator of dehydration.  I upped the water consumption and got some more electrolytes in me. I was having slightly unhappy stomach for much of the ride but didn't use the Pepto tabs I carry on the bike.  It wasn't terrible and I'd rather see if I can fix it with nutrition than with medication.  I was however wishing like crazy I had an aspirin with me.  My right leg was aching from my butt down to my knee for the whole ride after about mile 15.  I was in a lot of pain and just wishing it was over for a good part of the ride.  I was changing my position, trying to stretch...but on a flatter course, you have no time when you cannot pedal.  It requires that you keep moving to keep your speed so I limited my stretches to the short downhills.  It wasn't enough.  I didn't have an aspirin because I used it on a prior ride. (Mistake #2)   Lesson:  do a better job preparing.  Normally I'm very good at anticipating and preparing for stuff, but this race was not my best one for that.  I did grab a gu on the last aid station.  Happily it was citrus flavor and had caffeine.  Saved me totally.  I was out of nutrition I wanted and I cannot normally stomach anything but citrus on the race.  I had an emergency gu but it was chocolate and the thought of eating that turned my stomach.  No way!  I sucked down that gu over the next few miles and felt much better.

Overall I did enjoy the ride except for the chip seal areas.  That was also tiring and not a good roll.  It did slow me down a lot to deal with those rough areas.  I'm not the best hill climber yet.. Still working on it.  I did try shifting down more on the uphill and managed to keep better speed so perhaps I've learned a new lesson in hill climbing.  My average speed was high for me.  Normally I'm at 14.8 or 15 so that was encouraging.  My division rank slipped down as often happens.

Total  56 mi   03:24:14    16.45 mph   division rank: 32
 T2: 3:51

I did a good job in T2.  In and out pretty fast but I had strapped on my phone carrier on my left arm for my HR monitor and got stopped by a ref.  For a minute my heart stopped when Roz said she would take my chip. I thought I was being DQd but she just wanted me to go back into transition but not with my chip.  HUGE RELIEF!  I lost about 3 mins going back but she waited and I picked up my chip and headed out.

I walked about a mile but was happy to feel my legs loosening up and allowing me to run.  I was doing 13:30 min mile pace for awhile but between walking and slowing due to heat and humidity I lost about a 1 min per mile pace eventually.  I had left my water bottle behind  (Mistake #3!) so I had to stop at every aid station on the run.  Sometimes I can skip them when I have my own water.  Again, not my best planned race.  The bottle was in my race gear bag but I forgot to grab it.  Normally it's in the shoes so I have to grab it to put my shoes on.  I did use my Pierce Shoes for faster transition.  And as usual I ran pretty well in them.  I actually am proud of my running improvements. I have much better posture and feel good on the run.  I ran for about 3/4 of the 13 miles so I was quite happy with that.  Not fast but good running.  At about mile 3 I ran into Nic Ruley...he ran up to me rather.  He tried to help me keep pace with him but my body is not able to keep up with a 30 yo runner like Nic.  I wish  I could....but no.  sad face.
Then I was passed by Masumi and Chris Navin in quick succession.  I heard later then all caught up with each other and ran together for awhile.  Sounds like that was fun.  sigh.
Then at about mile 11 Jamie Jacobsen passed me and I hollered hello to her.  There was one volunteer who was screaming her lungs out on a turn.  She was incredible in her energy and really putting a lot of love on the course.  I hollered that she was "awesome" as I went by and she looked at me surprised.  She was!  I met her through FB today and she said she is a coma survivor and volunteered not really knowing about IM or what she would be doing and was just amazed by all the athletes.  She was a real treasure.  What great lady.  At about mile 10 I came across a guy doubled over and asked if he was okay.  He said no, he needed salt.  He has just run out.  I stopped to give him my Base Salt tube and he took about six hits of salt and I left him trying to get started.  He passed me on a slow run but again I met him about 1/2 mile later as he was doubled over again.  This time he walked with me while he took more salt.  He ran off to finish after that.  I hope he was happy with his race.  Glad I could help him with his run.  I figured my run was not going to be too affected by that stop. It was not going to be a PR for me and a few more minutes were not going to kill me that day.   The  pace below does not indicate the running splits.  I was doing much faster on some of them when I looked.  I was pretty happy to have been at 14 min miles for a good part of the race.  Certainly walking all the aid stations and walking up the hills accounted for this overall time.  Plus, my best 13.1 standalone time is 3:15.  For all the damn walking and stopping I did, I nearly matched my best half marathon time.  I guess I'm improving.

Run 13.1 mi 03:22:42 15:28/mi div rank47
Total Race time: 07:42:58

My total race was not a PR (When I wrote this I thought it was true). I ran to the finish in the stadium (which was cool BTW) but none of my friends was there to see me or congratulate me. It was a quiet finish for me. I hunted for people after the race, missed every finish except for Katie Schmidt's which I saw as she ran down the street headed for the finish. It was not quite the day I had pictured in my head and I pouted a bit about being alone and not getting the time I had hoped for (still after that 7 hour HIM) but there will be other races and future improvements and maybe someone will be there to witness it with me that day.

In the mean time, first time finisher Anne Statton had a very proud finish that day. I wish I had seen her cross. Also a few other friends I haven't mentioned finished that day with me. Martin Christian and Sally Stresnak, Carol Steele, John Dizon and Tim Sanker. It's always cool when ALL your friends finish. Some of them finish in around 6 hours or less! Someday I'll be doing faster races...at least that's my goal.

  Epilogue: 

Racine Results from 2014

I looked up my Racine results because I was thinking I had been faster at that race but apparently I had a PR yesterday.  OMG!  (Racine Summary Swim00:45:03 Bike03:35:24 Run03:16:43 Overall07:49:0)  The race results from Racine are posted at right. There were only 21 competitors in 55+ that year. So I was in the bottom   I had mis-remembered that race as being 7:16 hrs but clearly it was not.  Not sure how I got that idea but hey, if I actually had a PR on Sunday, that's pretty cool.  I was asking myself how the heck  I could be doing so much more speed and end up slower than my past races.  DOH!  I guess I'll stop pouting now.