2010 Ironman 70.3 Hawaii - Race Report (my first 70.3!)
The morning of the race was a little hectic, we woke up pretty early around 4:15am, and got our stuff together, I had my usual peanut butter and banana sandwich, put on waterproof sunscreen everywhere, and we were down in the lobby ready to by 4:50am! Except for the fact that right before we got on the shuttle, I realized that I forgot my Garmin upstairs so I had run upstairs to grab it. It would have been a lonely run w/out it. Soo in the future make sure to bring the triathlon packing list with you on the trip and not only when packing at home. You never want anything to throw you off or distract you mentally, even something as small as having to run back to the room to grab my Garmin sop just be thorough when packing and getting ready the day before and make it the easiest possible for the morning of the race. So we took the shuttle over and started getting ready. First thing, pumped the tires, the race had spare tire pumps for us to use. I tried to freak myself by not using the tire pump properly and watched both of my tires go flat before I realized what I was doing wrong and pumped them both up. Then I was nervous that I pumped them too much and since it was hot, that a flat tire or two was imminent. Bottom line, know your equipment! You don’t want to occupy your brain being worried and thinking about your tires and getting flats because you didn’t pump up your tires properly. Just avoid unnecessary mental distractions…
Before I knew it, the gun went off and we started swimming. Brandon had told me the day before to find a good pace and a good rhythm and just keep going steady. That’s what I tried to do, I found a good steady pace, and just kept going, from time to time I had to remind myself to pick it up a little and put in a better effort. It’s always good to find a good balance between pushing too hard and not hard enough. You have to remember that it’s a race and not to lose you effort and pace, but at the same time not to go too crazy by pushing it too hard on the swim. Pace and rhythm = two most important things on the swim. And it’s always good to look every four or five breaths to make sure you going in a straight line along the buoys. In the beginning of the mass start, it was pretty crazy, people everywhere right and left, and you just try to keep your ground and not get pushed around too much.
**Sidenote: Brandon also taught me about drafting in the water, it is totally legal and saves 30-40% of energy expended while going the same pace you usually do. Water is like 200 to 300 hundred more dense than air so when someone is swimming ahead of you, that creates a wave of air bubbles which will cut your path in the water for you and you can save a lot of energy while going the same pace. The hardest part is finding someone who is good but not too fast, when you do that, you can just stay behind their feet and follow them as long you can.
The first 1/5 to 1/4 of the race, I just followed the crowd and swam straight to the buoys, I didn’t really need to look up or keep track of the buoys because I it was pretty easy to see where I had to go while keeping up with the crowd. After people spread out and started to separate themselves, I found myself zigzagging a little and not being able to keep a straight line along the buoys, the buoys were hard to keep track of because they were far apart and hard to see. After I realized I was zigzagging, I tried to do a better job of picking up my head more and making sure I was keeping in a straight line. Towards the end of the swim, I got a cramp in my right calf so I just stopped, stretched it out and massaged it some and kept going… Coming out of the water, I felt like I had a good pace throughout the swim and I was very surprised to hear the announcer say: “14 minutes till the swim cutoff,” which was at 75 minutes. In my head, I was saying who knew I cut it so close, I never would have thought it and it didn’t seem like I swam for 61 minutes.
I tried to be as fast as possible in the first transition, but I also didn’t want to forget or not bring something too. For next time, remember to do as little as possible in the transition area, and be as fast as possible. Set up as much as you can in the morning so that way you have less to do in T1. One thing I forgot to do was to get sprayed down w suntan lotion as I came out of T1. Usually, they have race people/helpers right out of T1 and T1 ready to put suntan lotion on you. Make sure to do that after T1 before the long bike ride to minimize the funny triathlon tan lines.
As the bike started, I instantly started passing people and started the +/- counting game in my head to help me pass the time and keep me going hard the whole time. We did 5 miles back top the Fairmont Hotel and then started north to Hawi. As I started counting and passing people, and knowing that in shorter races I usually pass about 20-25 people on the bike, I came up with the goal of passing 50 people throughout the whole race. After making the left turn and right turn, and then getting on the main freeway which leads to Hawi, I came up to a wide open area and just looked around and realized how awesome this was, and how awesome it was what I was doing – a Half-Ironman, and how much of a great experience this was! Doing this half-Ironman in these amazing conditions in Hawaii on the Ironman Championship course made me realize how lucky I am and made me really happy and really put the thought in my head that anything is possible. What an amazing experience! At that point I again remembered what Brandon told me the night before – “forward progress” – the whole time you are racing, you just think about anything you are doing even if you slow down should push forward your forward progress, and that’s all I was thinking the whole way from then on was “forward progress.” I took that phrase and used it for the race as well as for life in general. As long as you stay positive; do things that make you happy; and do things with the purpose of forward progress and things that allow some sort of forward progress in your life, that is what counts the most in life. Just keep improving and getting better and everything you do should have some sort of forward progress impact on your life. Another positive of doing triathlons for me – life lessons learned along the way. The way to Hawi was pretty smooth the whole way until the last 5 or 6 miles that were pretty much all uphill, not too crazy of an incline, but uphill the whole time. All I wanted to do at that point was to get to the turnaround. My back started hurting not too far after I started climbing, but I pushed through, stood up a couple of times to climb and also tried my best to stretch out my back a little. Heading up the hill I noticed that the pros coming back from the turnaround were taking water bottles and dumping water all over them, I saw that and was like “oh, that looks like fun” so I started doing that at every Aid station from then on, and that really helped to refresh and hydrate and just to help me feel better. As I approached the turnaround point in Hawi, my back was screaming and I couldn’t wait to get there. But I was also very happy at that point since I had passed 52 people so far surpassing my goal of 50 in just the first half of the bike course. And the enthusiasm of the volunteer people at the turnaround and the fact that I finally got there gave me a huge lift. After the turnaround and dumping some water all over myself, I started flying down the hill, and pretty much didn’t stop pushing the rest of the way back. The wind was definitely a lot more of a factor on the way back, especially when I was flying down the hills, it was a little scary but fun scary. At some points, like when cars would pass on either side, I would get pushed around by the wind. I definitely had to be aware of the wind, pay attention to the wind and the road, and not lose concentration because it seemed like I could get blown off any second if I lost control of the bike even for a moment. The whole way back was a lot more fun and easier than the first half of the bike course leading up to Hawi, I just kept going strong, kept passing people and my pace was a lot faster the whole way back. With a little less than 10 miles left, I was up to +75 meaning I had passed 75 people on the bike, and that kept me going strong. As I approached the end of the bike course, I realized that I still had a shot of passing close to a 100 people, so I stayed strong on the bike and kept pushing. The counting game helped me not get complacent and not slow down, it kept me going strong at a good intensity the whole second part of the course. As I approached the last 5 miles of the bike course, I suddenly saw a Disney jersey a little ahead of me and realized that it was a guy. Very surprised since I didn’t think I would pass any guys on our team, I pushed a little harder and soon enough realized it was Wedgie. Seeing Wedgie and realizing that I was not the last guy on our team gave me some extra motivation to finish the bike strong. I passed him and I kept pushing the last 4 or 5 miles, and I wound up passing a 102 people total on the bike course more than doubling my original goal of 50, I guess I will take motivation anywhere I can find it, and applying the count game kept me more interested and very motivated the whole time on the bike.
So happy to be done with two thirds of the race, I was really excited getting into T2, with some help from the volunteers I quickly found my spot and started to change over for the run course. I took my sweet time I guess because my T2 time wound up being close to 10 minutes. I guess I was taking my time and resting at the same time. And after going to the bathroom, I was off on the run course. I started off running, but was quickly out of breath with my heart rate through the roof, and people passing me right and left. I thought to myself “uh ohhh” this run might be harder that I though after all. But then, I remembered the same thing happening to me when I started the run during my last race and also Brandon saying that you cannot start off the run slow enough, and I decided to walk for a minute a catch my breath as well as slow down my heart rate. So I walked at a good pace for a little while, less than a half-mile total and when I was able to breathe normal and my heart rate was under control, I started running at a good slow pace and just kept going. After running for a while and passing the mile 1 marker, I was surprised that I was now able to keep running and that my heart rate and breathing were under control, so I kept going for a while and then I saw the mile 2 marker, and thought to myself “That’s it? This is only the marker for mile 2?” It seemed like I had gone farther, but I just kept smiling and going forward. I pretty much ran the rest of the run course occasionally slowing down to walk when I was really tired and need a breather or where there were steep hills, and the only other times I stopped was at the Aid stations to get some gels, water, Gatorade, fruit, etc. I was keeping in mind B’s forward progress advice and Katie’s advice on only slowing down/walking for short periods of time, and also knowing how long you would walk for and committing to that short period of time, being 10 seconds or a minute, and then getting back to my pace. And another thing I found very useful was having ice with me the whole time. I grabbed a cup of ice at the second Aid Station and then just kept refilling it at every station, I wound up carrying the cup the whole run, it really helped having ice with me whenever I wanted some. Also, I had brought some gum me on the run after realizing a couple of days before that it really helped to chew gum when I ran, it really keeps you going and it helps while you run. So I chewed gum in the beginning for a couple of miles, and then saved some for later on in the race so I can something in my mouth when I got sick of all the gels, etc. I saved it to have as a prize to myself after finishing mile 8 or mile 9, and it really helped at that point too. So some of the main thing to remember for the run:
-bring/chew gum;
-have ice with you at all times if possible;
-wear sunglasses even if it’s cloudy/overcast, the sun can come out at any time and it would suck to be on a 2-3 hour run with no sunglasses, and even when it’s just overcast, you don’t want to be squinting the whole time, first you start squinting your eyes and being physically uncomfortable and then next thing you know that can cause you to start squinting or feeling uncomfortable with other muscles in your body
-use the wet sponges whenever you can on your face and head, and stuff them anywhere you want and anywhere you think it’ll make you feel better, like Gabe’s idea to stuff them down your pants because of the pituitary gland (I think) that will help keep your legs fresher.
So the rest of the run was pretty even-paced and smooth, the worst part was running on the grass because it was uneven, up and down, and all the humidity coming off the grass. My legs would cramp up or muscle spasm once in a while, my calves and the inside parts of my quads would spasm, so I would just walk it off, and put some ice/sponges on the affected areas when possible. Towards the end of the run, I was putting as much ice on my head, face, and neck as possible and I even dipped my head into the huge buckets filled with ice and water, and that felt great. The longer I ran, the easier it got, once passed the half-way point, or like mile 7, it was all downhill, in my mind at least. So soon enough the end was near, I was going to make it before the time cutoff and it was all good… That is until with about half a mile to go when I bent down to take some sponges out of my shorts, and all of a sudden both of my legs spasmed and I was frozen for a minute bent over and not being able to move. I slowly walked it off for a while, and then started running for the finish line, luckily my legs held up and I was able to run through the finish chute…. It was a great day and an amazing experience, one of the most amazing experiences of my life! Anything is possible, forward progress! :-)
#fueledbypasssion
#poweredbypurpak
#livewelleveryday
:-)