Rx: Ironman

Winter Begone! Race Report

Well sheesh. I guess I should finally get this thing out. Steve's got about a zillion pics of this race on his blog, so if you're looking for more, head on over there too. Sunday was my first multisport event of the year in the form of a duathlon. The race was advertised as a 5K run, 30K bike, and 10K run. We had signed up weeks in advance only to find out the week of the race that we were looking at starting temps in the low 30s and highs in the high 40s if we were lucky. I'm not much of a cool weather biker, so I was a little apprehensive. The weather actually turned out fine, though, and I was even a little overdressed on the bike.

Before the Race:

Matt, Me, Steve, and Borsch

Steve and I were excited to be introducing my brother Matt and our friend Borsch to their first multisport event. Matt arrived at our house on time, which is an accomplishment itsself. Borsch met us at the course. We got there nice and early, and since the event was so small, we parked right next to transition and plenty of time to relax, talk with other athletes, and prepare.

The First Run:

There were only 51 people doing the long course, and only 13 of those 51 were women. Since this is such an early season event and it was so cold, I was fully prepared to be racing amongst a bunch of "crazies," my term for the die hards who are probably pretty fast. I knew that I would have to make this my race. I'm just not fast enough to compete with a bunch of men. My goal was to keep an 8:30 pace for the first 5K, not all out racing, but going at a decent pace for me. It's actually closer to my normal 10K pace. I felt pretty strong when I started but was quickly passed almost everyone. I could see a pack of people behind me, though, so I knew I wasn't dead last! I finished in 26:06 feeling great, for an average of 8:24/mile. Overall, I finished 42/51 on this leg.

T1:

For the transition area being so small, my T1 time was pretty terrible. Since it was so cold, I had to put on my gloves, an extra jacket, my helmet, and bike shorts over my tights. I had decided during the run that it was warm enough to take my shoe covers off, so of course that took more time too. In and out in 1:27.

The Bike:

I'm not gonna lie. My bike was terrible. I've gotten around 5 outdoor rides in so far this year, but they've all been on flat surface. On the drive down, Matt had said that he'd seen an elevation chart and that the bike was flat. On the contrary, it consisted of relentless hills. Oh, and the first 12 miles were basically against the wind too. I was in my granny gear way too many times and was feeling really sorry for myself by the time we hit 12 miles. I was wearing my Ironman WI finishers jacket because I knew it would be warm, and I just felt so ashamed every time someone passed me, like somehow I hadn't really earned it. The bike is consistently my weakest leg, like dead near last kind of weakest leg. It's really gotta change this year. On the way back, I had a tail wind, and increased my average from 13.1 MPH to almost exactly 14 MPH. Embarrassing. I realized that the bike wasn't an official 30K when we hit mile 18 and I knew we had at least a mile back to transition. I couldn't have been happier to get to the run. Total time: 1:23:43 - 14 MPH average. I placed 49/51 on the bike leg.

T2:

I dismounted right next to a lady who had just passed me who was wearing clipless sandles. "Am I doing this right?" she asked the race officials. Insult to injury. The bike was over, now it was time to test my endurance. I peeled off my Ironman jacket, my helmet, my bike shorts, my tights, and my gloves. I changed my shoes, grabbed my race number and was out in 1:07.

Putting on my race number heading out of T2

The Second Run:

It took about half a mile to get my running legs. I used to hate that feeling. Now I kind of like it. I was a little tired, but I pushed on. I passed 2 girls on the run early on and kept looking back to see if anyone would catch me. No one did. The speed work I've been doing really paid off. I'm really learning to run through that feeling of needing to stop. I felt strong and in retrospect could have probably pushed harder. Steve, Matt, and Borsch all cheered me in at the finish. I finished the 10K in 58:16, with an average pace of 9:23/mile. My time was good enough for 34/51 racers for that leg. Total Du time: 2:50:35

At the finish line.

Afterward:

Since there were so few racers, we knew some of us had a chance of medaling. Turns out we had a triple whammy. Matt finished first in his age group for the sprint, Steve finished 2nd in his age group for the long course, and I took 3rd. A good time was had by all!