This member of Team Awesome was in action this week with another new half IM PB!!!!! Yay!!!! On Thursday morning, Marianne, her daughter, and myself went on a road trip to Benton Harbor, Michigan for the half ironman. Fun times were had by all! On our way down, we made the obligatory stops at Walmart and my favourite, Target for some cross-border shopping! Probably one of my favourite activities next to swimming, biking, and running! :) We arrived late Thursday afternoon at our quaint cottage not too far from a great beach, did some grocery shopping, met up with the couple we were sharing the cottage with, and we all had a yummy chicken pasta dinner! Carbo-loading!
After a good sleep, about 8hrs worth, I did a short bike/run workout and then we all headed down to registration. After some more carbo-loading and shopping at the expo, we returned to the cottage to pick up our bikes to take them down to transition for bike check in. Here is Limey all ready and racked for some 90km action:
We then headed back to the cottage to wind down for the day. I got my nutrition prepped and the rest of my race gear ready. We then had a delicious lasagna and garlic bread dinner. I then played around with my new toy - the Garmin 310XT!!!! I decided I was going to race with it so I was trying to get the settings to my liking but couldn't figure it all out. The instruction manual was a CD and with no computer I couldn't open it. But it was no big deal! I managed the basics without it. We then went to bed fairly early for a very early wake up call of 3:50am. I got probably about 6hrs of sleep though which is a lot for me!
Race morning, I woke up, had a shower to wake me up, and had lots to eat for breakfast! And I mean LOTS! I had 3 high protein chocolate Ensures, oatmeal with yogurt, half a bagel with peanut butter, and a banana! That was probably about 1000 calories! We then headed to transition and shortly after we arrived, it started to rain. And then downpour! It really sucked trying to get transition ready in the dark and the pouring rain. Ah well! I loaded Limey up with my race nutrition and bike computer, I put my wetsuit on halfway to keep me a bit warm, and then we headed to the swim start which was about a mile walk from transition. Apparently some people heard thunder and maybe even lightening but the officials did not cancel the swim which I was very happy with! The last thing I wanted to do was a duathlon. Yuck! Did a short warm up in the water and waited around for my swim start which was about 30min after the start of the race.
Swim: 31:17! My fastest swim yet for 2km! I actually got out of the water in just over 30min but we had to run up the beach in the sand before we got to the timing mats. That run actually really hurt too! We did swim with the current so it made for an easy and nice swim! I felt great, comfortable, and swam on my own. I actually at one point threw up part of my breakfast during the swim...haha! Just a tiny bit but it was still kind of gross!
T1: 2:52 Again, some fumbling in transition. Everything was soaking wet so it wasn't that fun. Drank my Redbull shot, got my bike gear on and I was off for the long run to the bike start.
Bike: 2:54:31. I was hoping for an under 2:50 bike time. I much preferred this course over Welland's flat course. This was a bit more interesting with some rollers and some small hills but I never at one point got bored or tired of pedalling. I started strong and just kept steady and tried to keep a high cadence going although I did not have a cadence computer. I did not want to go out too hard and blow up on the run again but I still kept a strong pace throughout. I didn't do so well in the nutrition department as I was still a bit full from breakfast. I did manage to eat 1 package of Powerbar blasts, 1 package of Clif Shot Bloks, 3/4 bottle of concentrated CarboPro/Eload, about 3 bottles of water, and an unknown number of salt pills...I am guessing about 6. I felt pretty good at the end of the bike so that was good!
T2: 2:54 Another fumble fest in transition but my times were not that bad compared to other racers.
Run: 2:09:33 I was really hoping for a PB on my run time. I wanted to go under 2:05 but it didn't happen today. The plan was to run a 6:30 pace for the first 5km, and then a 6min pace for the next 10km. If I felt good, I was to try to go faster or stick to the same pace. It was hard for me to stay at a 6:30 pace for the first 5km and I tried hard to hold back but I didn't quite do it right. Then I dropped my pace to about 6min for the next 10km. At that point, that was the best I can do, I held around a 6min pace for the rest of the run, faster at times and slower at others. There were a couple of good hills we had to run up but it was a nice run. I felt strong throughout and I laid down the hammer for the last couple of km dropping the pace to about 5:35. Maybe I had too much at the end to do that...ah well! It was a hot and sunny run and I took 4 gels, some salt, gatorade, a Redbull shot, and water throughout. They did not offer coke which I was disappointed about.Total time: 5:41:07! A new PB!!! I was 36th out of 137 in my age group!
At first I was a bit disappointed with my bike and run times. I was hoping to go closer to 5:35 on race day. But I was reminded that I did do a big training week last week which included a 180km bike and a 26km run and a total of about 23h of training. So I guess it wasn't that bad! This is still all part of the build for IMC which is my A race!
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| sunny and hot in transition after the race |
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| heading down to the beach for a cool down in Lake Michigan |
I took a dip in the lake, eventually met up with Marianne who placed 4th in her age group and got to take home some hardware! Props also goes to Lynsey for completing her first half and rocking out an awesome time well under 6hrs! We made it back to the cottage, relaxed a bit and went out to see a move that night in 3D! It was a fun weekend and I am looking forward to another big training week before my taper starts! Yay! The big show is almost here! I am heading up to Parry Sound later this week for my last build week and for some awesome training! Can't wait!!!
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