After being up late the night before obsessively going through my gear checklist and packing my transition bags, I had a restless night’s sleep, but awoke full of nervous energy and pre-race jitters. The jitters were similar to those I experience with a marathon, but by 2x. I spent the morning going through my gear yet again and driving both Holly and Ashley crazy with pacing and jabbering.
Todd picked me up, followed by Ryan, and then we met Brent downtown where we needed to drop of our T2 bags. Next we headed up to Lucky Peak, where Todd’s wife dropped us off. We made the climb up the dirt road next to dam to arrive at the race start/T1 area. The whole place was buzzing with athletes and spectators. The vibe was incredible. The weather was overcast, but nice and with little wind at this point.
The Swim
After getting our bikes ready to go at T1, we took our morning bags and wetsuits down to the staging area for the swim. We could see the entire swim course marked out with huge buoys and the distance seemed incredible. We sat around soaking it all in and trying to relax as we waiting for the Pros to start at 2pm.
As the start time neared, the wind began to pick up and heavy dark clouds were rolling in. By the time the first wave of swimmers was in the water, it had gone from relatively calm to rolling with whitecaps. It was a good thing we’d trained in choppy water or this would have been a scary swim for the uninitiated.
Although my wave wasn’t scheduled to start until 2:45, the time passed remarkably fast. A volunteer held up a sign for each age group wave, each wearing different colored swim caps, to gather around them. You then marched steadily toward the water as each preceding wave started. Once my wave got into the water, we had only a couple of minutes to acclimate before our starting canon fired.
I had positioned myself toward the back of my group and close to the buoy line on my right. I knew there would be legs and elbows flying everywhere and I didn’t want to get pummeled by the faster swimmers. As we got going, I was surprised to find that I was able to pick a line and stay on it without too much jostling with other swimmers. I felt relaxed right away, in spite of the large swells. I got to where I could sense dropping into a trough and I simply made sure I stayed down in the water until the swell crested over me, rather than coming up for a poorly-timed breath. As a result, I wasn’t getting swamped and was able to maintain my rhythm. I was also taking advantage of the swimmers around me to maintain my course without having to sight too often. This, along with being a right-side breather, the side the marks were on, also helped me stay on course and in rhythm.
As I rounded the first turn, I had caught up to slower swimmers from the purple wave that had immediately preceded mine. This made me feel pretty good. Later, I began to see green swim caps from the wave behind mine, which didn’t feel quite so good! As I continued along though, I saw white and later red swim caps as well from two other groups ahead of mine, so I knew I was at least holding my own and expected to get a respectable time.
I was feeling great on the final stretch and could sense the water getting more crowded as the field of swimmers around me had to start funneling down between the two docks lining the water exit. Suddenly I could see the concrete of the boat ramp and knew I was there and it was time to stand up. I came up out of the water and could hear the crowd and the announcer, and I sensed the excitement of having stage one finished!
I ran up the ramp while unzipping my wetsuit, got if off my shoulders, and looked for the wetsuit “strippers”. I reached a pair of them and they asked me to sit down. With one of them on each side, they grabbed the suit at my waist, and with one pull they stripped it off me. I stood up, they handed me my suit and I continued up the ramp into T1.
Swim time: 47:39.
The Ride
I took my time in T1, stopping at the porta-potty (which will surprise no one), and drying off a bit as I got my cycling shoes, etc on. Since I was in one of the later start waves, the corral was starting to thin out. Once ready to go, I hobbled toward the exit with my cycling shoes clattering on the pavement. I was glad when I could finally mount up. I made my way across the dam, being careful not to start off pedaling hard. I wanted to let my legs make the adjustment to the bike. I reached the north end of the dam and started bombing down the hill on Hwy 21. I was hitting 36mph here, which is at the upper end of my comfort zone on a road bike.
As I reached the bottom of the hill and started into a pedaling cadence, my thoughts immediately turned to fueling. Even though I wasn’t hungry or thirsty, I knew this was critical for later, on the run.
By the time I started up the first hill toward Gowen Rd, it started to rain. It began with just sprinkling, but soon turned into heavy rain and wind, which dogged us for nearly the entire ride.
I rode the long course with its two significant hills feeling pretty good aside from being utterly drenched. On a training ride this would have really sucked, but with the excitement of the event it really didn’t bother me that much. Gratefully, I had no mechanical issues, or blow outs on the ride, but saw many who suffered with these problems. In the cold rain and wind, it had to have been difficult and frustrating for them.
At around mile 35, there was significant lightening to the south, and I was concerned that if it got too close, they would call off the race. Fortunately that didn’t happen.
As the course took me back to Gowen and then onto Federal Way, I started getting excited knowing I was approaching the end of the ride. As I flew down the hill past the Boise Depot, there were pockets of spectators along Capitol Blvd and within moments I could hear the crowd and the announcer at T2! As I pulled up to the dismount, I saw Trever near the entrance to T2. It was great to see a familiar face in the crowd!
I felt a little disoriented at first inside T2. I was trotting along looking for my parking spot when I realized I wasn’t sure what number I was even looking for! It took me a moment to recall that my number was in at least half a dozen places on my body and bike! I finally found my spot and started going about my switch to the run.
Again, I took my time getting ready. I was sooo glad that I had packed extra socks in my T2 bag since every inch of me was wet. A 13 mile run in wet socks would have been brutal. After another potty stop, I was finally ready to go.
Ride time: 3:23:32
The Run
As I exited T2, I had to be careful not to slip on the wet pavers on the sidewalk. I turned the corner onto 8th St and the crowd along both sides of the street was huge and noisy. As I ran along, the first thing I noticed was that my legs responded immediately. In our training bricks, they had always felt like logs at first. Not sure if it was just adrenaline, but they didn’t feel that way at all. I did purposely hold my pace back though, knowing I needed to ease into it.
As I ran down 8th, I tried to scan the crowd for Holly, Ashley and friends, but everything was a blur. I was hoping I hadn’t missed them, but as I neared the Anne Frank memorial, I saw them in front of me. It was a real boost to see them and hear them cheering me on!
The run was comprised of two 6.5 loops, plus the extra .1 mile at the finish. I made the first lap feeling pretty good, and was averaging just under 9 minute miles. Not good under normal circumstances, but I was more than happy with it at that point.
I finished the first loop and got to see everyone twice more as I made the U-turn to head out for loop two. On this second loop, my legs felt pretty good still, but with my general fatigue, my heart rate was getting uncomfortably high. I’d experienced this on the last big training brick we’d done a couple of weeks ago, so I knew I was running out of steam.
From about mile 8, my pace started slowing dramatically. I was taking occasional short walks to get my heart rate down, and I had to use the porta-john a couple more times. Apparently I’d stayed well hydrated! I was also starting to have some stomach cramps, which were obviously a big concern if an “urgent situation” were to strike between aid stations. The only thing that kept me moving was that I knew each step took me closer to the finish.
As I made the final turn back onto 8th St, the excitement of the finish carried me along. The crowd was a blur and I had tunnel vision on the finish line. I crossed the line and came to a stop. I was done!
Run time: 2:04:53. Overall time: 6:29:00.
At the finish, the efficient volunteers wrapped me in a space blanket, put a medal around my neck, and stuck a finisher’s hat in my hand before I knew what hit me. Another handed me a small water bottle, which I gulped down in one shot. They then lead me along to a photographer who snapped my picture (no idea if I smiled or just looked stunned). I then walked out of the finish area and found Holly and Ashley, and the rest of our gang of BFRs and supporters.
After some quick exchanges of congratulations, my thoughts were immediately pressed back to my stomach issue. It made me anxious to get my transition bags and bike and make a hasty retreat for home. In spite of that though, I was feeling really happy about the whole thing. I didn’t know at that point what my overall time had been, and I really didn’t care. The experience had been amazing. After such a long build up in training, it was all done.
Going into the day, a few of us had been talking about doing the full Ironman in Coeur d’Alene next year. However, after this race, I had deep doubts as to whether I was really even physically capable of it, and was adamant that it was not in my plans any longer. However, after a good night’s sleep and recovery, by the next day, I had changed my mind. So, maybe I’ll be blogging again next winter/spring as I prepare for a full Ironman in 2010!!
Post-Mortem
To wrap up, I certainly learned a lot in the process of training for the 70.3. There were also many ups and downs psychologically. There was so much more to preparing for a triathlon than for the running events I’ve done, but there are real benefits in the cross training. I’ve had a lot of fun with the variety, and I’ve stayed injury free. Something that running 5-6 days a week never seemed to allow.
To wrap up, I certainly learned a lot in the process of training for the 70.3. There were also many ups and downs psychologically. There was so much more to preparing for a triathlon than for the running events I’ve done, but there are real benefits in the cross training. I’ve had a lot of fun with the variety, and I’ve stayed injury free. Something that running 5-6 days a week never seemed to allow.
There are some lessons that I will apply to the other triathlons I attempt in the future:
* More cycling miles. I see now that the key to this event is the long bike leg. You can gain or lose a lot of time here.
* More brick training. Getting the muscles used to the switch between events is critical.
* More lifting/core work. In the interest of time, I sacrificed these elements in my training. I need to keep them part of my overall plan.
* More brick training. Getting the muscles used to the switch between events is critical.
* More lifting/core work. In the interest of time, I sacrificed these elements in my training. I need to keep them part of my overall plan.
* Improve transition times. I didn’t care about them in this event since I really just wanted the experience of finishing. However, my leisurely transitions at T1 and T2 where both over 6 minutes. By cutting those down to something more reasonable, I can save several minutes in my overall time.
* Better nutrition. I was an eating machine. I would have made Jabba The Hut blush. I need to make sure I’m always eating smart, not eating with impunity.
* Better nutrition. I was an eating machine. I would have made Jabba The Hut blush. I need to make sure I’m always eating smart, not eating with impunity.
One last closing comment on this whole experience. I want to thank my wife and daughter for being so understanding of my time spent training. These endurance events are really kind of a selfish pursuit. I feel fortunate that they’ve both allowed me to do these things so that I can check them off the Bucket List and be able to someday bore everyone to tears as an old man reliving these experiences. I love you Baker Girlz!
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