Race Report
Haines City Half Iron Man 70.3 April 12, 2015
Preparing for an early season half takes a lot of planning
when you live in Chicago. I’ve spent a
good part of the fall and early spring riding my bike on computrainer rides, mostly on Thursday
mornings doing strength training. I’ve
done a few longer rides on the weekends
but I think I should have done more. I
also didn’t have the time to do many long runs, the longest run was about 7
miles outside on a warm day in Chicago about 2 weeks before the race. I was doing a lot of track running for speed
and had improved my time from 13 min pace down to 10:30 min pace over the last
six months but I was probably needing more longer runs combined with bike
rides. My swim was certainly improving
in the pool and I had had some opportunities for open water swims when I was in
Florida and Puerto Rico, but not long enough to really call them good
training.
So prepared as I was, I had hoped to be able to PR for
Haines City, expecting a rather flat course and in early April, cooler
temperatures. However, that was not the
case. Haines City is certainly not a
flat bike ride. Long rolling hills and
some intense climbs combined with some long downward rides.
But let me begin with the beginning, the day before the
race. I did get my bike out the week of
the race and do a 12 mile ride on Zip with new lubrication and inner tubes,
made necessary by forgetting to deflate my tires before shipping the bike in my
new Eshipper on the plane. I bought my
inner tubes at the Bike ship in Winter Haven and they did a nice job. I also replenished my CO2 for the race. They have a well-equipped shop and pretty
nice people there.
I also managed a short run around the complex, Orange Manor
to get my legs going and to get used to the heat. Right away it was hot and humid that
week. Close to 90 degrees all week and
80% humidity. That meant the water was
warm. The Lake Eva Park where the race is held is shown below:
The day before the race I set out early to drive the
course. I found much of it but did not
get to the hilliest part, Poinciana which had me fooled and expecting a fairly
easy ride. Don’t get me wrong I’m not
lazy, but I wanted a course for training for the distance rather than for
strength. I got the latter, not the
former.
So I arrived at the HI expo for registration, got my
silicone swim cap (they actually had them for racers allergic to latex..that
was a first!) and listened to the course talk.
They described the swim format as a big M. The athlete guide also laid out the swim course
as a big M. I swam the first leg of the
M and was turned back before the first turn buoy by the lifeguards who said
they didn’t have enough coverage that day to allow us to swim the whole leg. That meant I did not get to scope out the
format of the course and that would prove to be an issue on race day.
I then spent a good part of the day with Matt, CEO of Base
Performance, as an ambassador and helped him sell Base Salt all day. We made a good team and recorded some good
testimonies of racers who stated he had saved their race at various locations
last year. It was a productive day for
Base Performance.
I got into a conversation with another ambassador, Mike, who
was a certified bike trainer as well and he gave me some advice on training to
improve my biking as well as discussed the possibility that I might need a new
chain. I took my bike over to Epic Bikes
and they put a new chain on in about two hours that day. I think that was one of the best decisions I
made for this race. Thanks to Mike for
his advice! I hope he did well. I then checked my bike into transition
checked out the layout and left for home, about 25 mins away in Winter Haven
with my parents at their summer home.
On race day I arrived, sans Sherpa help, set up my
transition and was ready to rock. The
water temperature did not cool down overnight despite the torrential downpour
the night before. My bike was pretty
soaked but my seat doesn’t absorb much and the bike was unscathed. I wiped it down and set up everything. My transition is pretty simple. I don’t wear socks. I have bike shoes and put spray sunscreen
into one shoe and glucose into the other.
( I buy glucose in purest form from the diabetic supplies in the
pharmacy. I’ll discuss why later.). I
put my helmet on the handlebars with the strap hooked on the hoods with my
sunglasses inside. My running shoes are
next with race belt and bib, water bottle belt with nutrition on top with my
hat on top of that. I also leave an
extra bottle of water to wash off my feet and a towel. That’s it.
Swim start at the race
I put a gu packet in my tri kit for the swim, carry my cap
and goggles. I save the space blankets
when I get them and use them to keep warm on race mornings. I then toss them as
I go through the arch to the swim start.
I was glad I had it that morning.
It was a bit chilly. I hate
sacrificing clothes so the space blanket is a nice thing to have.
So race morning, they announced that the swim was not
wetsuit legal. That is fine with
me. I don’t like wetsuits and the one I
had is untried. I bought it last year
and still have not been able to use it outdoors to test it. I wasn’t looking forward to using something
new on race day. It’s still in the
wrapper and in the hold of the plane with my bike box as I fly home. I’ll get a chance to try it out later this
season I’m sure when we start swimming in Lake Michigan in July.
So with the playing field pretty level for the swim I was
more confident of a good swim than normal.
However the unfamiliarity with the way the course was actually laid out
was to undermine my hopes for a quicker swim.
I got to the first turn buoy expecting only three. Instead there were more like six! That was confusing when I turned around the
first turn buoy only to find that I was swimming the wrong direction and
instead of a 135 degree angle was were doing a 90 degree angle, then another 90
degree and swimming a long leg back down, another 90 degree left and then
another left and a long leg back up the lake and two more turns right and back
down the lake to the finish. I spent
some time at the first set of turns trying to figure out what was going on
without losing too much time. I must
have done okay because I ended up with a 46 min swim, better than I would have
guessed with all the sighting I ended up doing plus the stops I had to make to
figure out what the heck was going on. I
had hopes for a 35 min swim so I think I lost a lot time with all that plus
momentum losses. I must’ve swum pretty
fast when I was swimming though because I still ended up with 2 min/100 yd swim
average for the course.
I managed a jog up to transition ( I had to remind myself to
hit my lap button the garmin, which was new to me as well and forgot to do that as I exited for the bike
leg.) I wasn’t the last person into transition
for the bike and I wasn’t the first either but I expected that. I felt pretty good about how I had done on
that part. I got my sunscreen on, helmet
and sunglasses but had to struggle to get my shoes on. I had remembered to run through the kiddie
pool to wash off my feet so they were pretty sand free when I reached
transition. I washed them again and
dried them figuring I’d be happier with myself if I didn’t end up with blisters
on the run. I also sucked down some liquid glucose, grape flavor, as I got
ready. They had transition set up so
that you had to run around the whole area to make it fair, so I got myself
going with the bike and headed to the exit.
I had my gears set right so I hopped on the bike and was happy to see my
bike computer registering speed correctly.
I had had to play with it quite a bit the day before to get it reading
speed. I replaced the batteries but one
of the leads had gotten bent on the wheel sensor and it wasn’t connecting and
transmitting. That took about an hour to
figure out and adjust. So feeling like I
was doing well, I headed out. I had
forgotten to open my gu packet after the swim and suck some of it down so I
opened my lemonade Huma Packet early on.
I had to dig around in my bento box for my Base Salt container. Lesson learned, put it standing up close to
the end so I can find it. I also finally
remembered to hit the lap button on the Garmin to indicate I’d started the bike
leg, about 2 miles in.
I felt great on the first 20 miles. I had my salt I was booking along at 16+ mph,
in some cases hitting 22 mph, but so was everyone else. I don’t expect to lead the pack on the bike
and at about 20 miles the younger men and women started to pass me. I ran into some trouble keeping my speed up
from 20-35 with some hills that slowed me to 12 mph, but I was not worried,
knowing I was adding 24-28 mph to the average as I went down those same
hills. This bike ride is a single loop
so you don’t see any part of it more than once.
That’s both nice and not nice as you don’t know what’s coming at any
point. At mile 35 aid station, I took
some Gatorade, feeling the effects of the humidity. I open my water bottles on the way to the aid
station and put the lid under the leg of my shorts to hold it. Unfortunately I had also stowed my salt there
and forgot about that. I grabbed the
Gatorade and poured it into the water bottle in front; my protocol is to keep
any mixture in the front bottle and pure water in the back bottle. I grabbed the lid from my shorts and when I did
the salt container slipped out. I had to
make a decision whether to stop and pick it up or go on and decided to go on
and use Gatorade for the remainder of the race.
That was a fateful decision I think.
I could have used that salt and it would get me later in the race.
The rest of the ride was very hilly. The inclines were not terrible like Las Vegas
or Honu, but in some ways long slow inclines are more wearing. When you have short steep hill, you can put
out a short burst of effort to get up that hill, maybe at 6 or 8 mph but it’s
over in short order. When you have a
long slow climb you end up slowing more and more, shifting gears and working
hard to determine where you want to end up at the top in gearing and
effort. There were at least two hills
where I was at 9 mph by the end and a couple more where I ended up at 12
mph. I was disappointed about that as I
had wanted to get up to 17+ mph average and could see my average sliding with
each successive hill. I tried to keep a
positive attitude but as I labored on those hills, my right foot began to ache.
I have high arches. And apparently I have a very dominant
right leg. After the race I looked at
both quads and I could see that my left leg is not as strong or as muscular as
my right. Thus when I’m really working,
I tend to use my right leg a lot more.
This pulls on the tendon of my right foot and that tendon, working so
hard, begins to hurt. I tried to focus
on pulling up and using both legs but fatigue makes your form fall apart, and
without salt and the foot pain, my form began to weaken. I slowed a bit. I tried stretching my foot by standing and
flexing my foot but I had pushed that leg hard all day by mile 45. I like to see mile 40 because I know I can do
16 miles easily so once I was there I felt I had made it. I got through the end of the race ignoring
the foot pain but when I dismounted, I nearly fell due to the pain in my right
foot. That was not a good sign.
I made it to transition but had to walk. I felt the pain in my right foot acutely but
switched in to running mode anyway. I
walked out of transition with considerable pain with every step. My heel and the outside of my right foot hurt
with every motion. I was in trouble and
I knew it. I took some salt and hunted
in my running nutrition for some biofreeze but I had not put any in there. I also had no aspirin. Now I know I’m not supposed to take NSAIDS on
a race but I’ve done it in a marathon to get from mile 17 to the end with no
ill effects so I would have taken some if I had it. But no luck that day. I think I was mildly low on electrolytes and
in pain for the run start so I began with a deficit that would worsen as the
run progressed. I tried to take in more
nutrition and salt in small doses but it would be almost the end of the long
slog before I felt I had recovered what I had lost.
I walked slowed to mile 1 and aid station 1 and
stopped. It had taken me 20 minutes to
get there. I asked for medic help but
they said if I took any medication I would DSQ.
I knew I did not want that on my record but I needed some help. They said they could give me a bag of ice and
some gauze wrap. I sat and iced my foot
for 5-10 minutes and took the gauze but never used it. My foot felt better and I managed to move
forward but each attempt to run ended up aggravating the foot and later my legs
would seize up. I was forced to walk
nearly the whole 13.1 miles and I was thoroughly disgusted with myself. I had screwed up and wasn’t as prepared as I
had hoped. I was not dead last on that
course that day and many many racers were walking. It was very hot. I was on the run from 11:30 to 3:30 PM, the
hottest part of the day. No cloud cover
and no breeze on much of the course and of course high humidity from the
previous night’s rains made for a very miserable trudge. I talked to several other racers and met a few
folks on the course so it was fun to hear other’s stories and meet new people,
but I would have preferred to hit my running stride and gotten to the finish
about an hour earlier than I did, which is what I had planned.
Rather than a PR day, it was one of my slower races and a
disappointing performance but then again it was the first race of the season
and a good test of my fitness level and my preparation. I finished in 7:56, just under 8 hours but an
hour before the last racer arrived so I was happy to not be last. I came in 20th in my age group
which also made me happy. I think there
were 30+ in my age group. I haven’t gone
back to check but I will.
I managed to run across the finish line and as I did my
parents yelled out to me and waved.
That, I think, was the better part of the day. I had felt bad making them wait so long for
me. They are 78 and 80 and thinking
about them waiting in the heat for me to cross the finish line, I felt pretty
guilty. What the heck was I doing? But they were smiling as I crossed and proud
that I had made it and sympathetic about the heat. They seemed completely okay with spending a
few hours waiting for me and pleased to see my medal and to know I’d yet
another race under my belt. My family
calls me nuts but they also seem pleased to see my outcomes.
I keep asking myself what the heck I’m doing, you know? I mean at 58, here I am acting like I’m 20
years younger and spending time and money on a sport that will never result in
any sort of financial gain that I can see.
Perhaps my Level 1 coaching certification will pay off and I can inspire
other women my age to consider tackling these challenges.
