Race Reporting or Something Like It

I am terrible at these things so I will attempt to summarize in a succinct and entertaining manner.  I recently did a half ironman; my first of the season.  I have been training since January for this "C" race and was getting a bit antsy to get it done and out of the way.  Not in a bad way, just in a sheesh-I've-been-training-for-a-long-time-when-is-this-going-to-end kind of way.  Okay, so onto the race.

July 4th, long course national championships (read "lots of fasties or at least lots of people who think they're fast"), Spanish Banks, Vancouver, B.C.  For my first ocean swim EVER I decide to play it smart and move to the outside right of the crowd of people waiting to run stampede style into the water.  I am calm, not really nervous at all.  I swam in this water just yesterday with no sign of any problems, but I'm not a fast swimmer, so to the outside of the crowd I remain.  Then something happens in my little pea brain, a glitch perhaps, and I start moving towards the front and middle of the pack - WTF am I thinking?!  Too late, gun goes off and we're sprinting into the water.  It's about 200 or so metres to the first bouy and it's complete anarchy.  Punching, kicking, grabbing, swearing and that was on top of the minor swells, and perpendicular current that were working against us.  My IMC swim was less hectic than this and there were 10x more people there.  Anyway, first lap done, onto second, with much more space to move, but larger swells.  Each time I sighted towards shore on my way back in it seemed as though less and less people were on the beach - FACK!  How slow was I swimming!!??  Didn't look at clock when I came out just focused on getting into transition and moving on with my day.  Jeff and The Brown Bear were waiting for me and cheering me on, pretty sure Boston looked a little embarrassed to be associated with such a slow swimmer; he is a water hound after all ;)

1900m swim: 35:56, 3min faster than last half IM time

T1 was slow, gotta get the knack of that down better, but had a pretty tight little setup - mostly cause the bitches on either side of me had hogged 3 sq ft of space for their 5 changes of clothes, makeup, towels, filtered water - arg!  WTF people, this is about getting in and out with only what you need; you're not heading out on a week long cruise.  Anyway, I digress...

T1 - 3: something, which did include a run up the beach, but shouldn't have included 3 attempts to wrangle my bike under the bar

I was ready for this bike ride.  I had done this course in training numerous times and I knew it inside out.  There was a little wind, but not too bad and the temp was good, no rain, but not too warm.  I was going to nail this F*&^%&G ride if it killed me!  Of course the usual Hammerhead douchebags went tearing past me up the first climb, which we would be doing 4 times on this 4 loop course.  It's come to the point now where I will mumble things to these idiots as they roar past.  Not the ACTUAL FASTIES, you can tell who they are generally.  No, I'm talking about the momos who simply can't stand to have chicks in front of them.  Sorry dudes, but it is generally not chicks that have this ego problem, not always, but generally.  I feel like taking these guys and saying gently, in a motherly way, "boys, if you just stuck to your own pacing plan and focused on your own race you would do much better and have a solid finish" - who am I kidding, they'd never listen.  Anyway, again I digress.  It was a good first few laps, kept the pace constant, HR under control, nutrition plan on the go and was focusing on pushing my HR and pace just a bit - this was the time to test myself as I discussed with my coach, so what the hell, time to GIV'ER!!  Towards the end of lap 2 I dropped a bottle with about 1hr's worth of nutrition....hmmm, oh well, keep movin, will deal with that if need be.  I went through my last hour of Ju-Ju juice and now had 2 hours of calories/salt, etc.. in me, but I was on my way in for a 2:50 ride time...oh well, let's just see how this "nutrition deficit" pans out, stomach feels full, not sloshy, feeling hydrated, it's not too hot...let the experiment begin.

Ride - 91km 2:51, 8 min faster than last HIM, 1km longer and 4 times up a massive hill.  Oh and I thoroughly enjoyed chicking lots of dudes, sorry dudes, but you make it so easy to enjoy.

T2 - 1: something, much faster, very smooth, that's it.

I kept it super easy for the first few km until I got my legs back.  Was running maybe 5:15/km, people were whipping by me, including the two women's leaders - way to chick those dudes!  Somewhere around 3km my legs were into it so I picked up the pace and watched my HR.  I did not even look at my pace, just perceived effort and heart rate.   Kept in mid zone 3 til 15km, then upped to upper zone 3, lower zone 4 for final couple of km.  It was a bit windy on the long stretch, but the run felt pretty good overall.  I kept taking in my fluids, etc.. every 15 min.  It was a two loop course and we ran through the crowd near the finish chute twice.  Jeff unleashed The Brown Bear to attack me on my last loop, which was kind of distracting, but you gotta love that giant, lumbering, panting beast  - the dog too ;)  At this point I still hadn't looked at the final clock and was heading back in from my last out and back on the run.  I had, until this point, refrained from doing my usual calculations.  I had been trying not to focus on the numbers so much as I think this is what distracts me from pushing harder and having a good race.  I knew my bike time and my run time, but I wasn't bothering to put them together.  When I came to the finish I honestly expected to see 5:20 something, but it actually said 5:13!  Holy Frijoles!  Let's just say I'm happy with that one and excited to see what else this season will bring if I keep putting in a solid effort in training and stay on track with my everyday nutrition and health.

Big thanks and xoxoxo to Jeff and Boston for being the bestest sherpas ever! :)