Two-Thirds of a Half

I was at the Boulder Reservoir again this Sunday, this time for a practice of the Half-Ironman distance (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run). This was mostly an exercise in getting my feet wet and seeing what I could do. I really want to do a Half-Ironman next year to celebrate my thirtieth birthday. I'm generally opposed to setting goals to accomplish before turning thirty, as that seems to imply that in February 2009 I will curl up and die and never again accomplish anything important. Rather, I want to celebrate that I'm doing all these things at thirty that I never dreamed of doing when I was twenty. When I was twenty, I couldn't run a mile, I didn't own a bike, and, although I could swim, I'm not sure it ever occurred to me to swim over a mile in open water.

I enjoyed the day a lot, even though it was hard work and another hot hot day. Going in, I tried to think of the swim as my warm-up, the long bike ride as my main work-out, and the run as a short jog after to see how my running legs held up after 56 miles of pedaling. (I never planned on doing the full half-marathon, and only ran one of three loops for 4.3 miles).

The bike ride was only the second time I had ridden longer than thirty miles. Looking towards goals for next year, I think the bike is the area where I have the most room to improve. (Hopefully I'll at least be able to beat the nun next year!) The sensor of my computer was not adjusted correctly during the Boulder Peak, so I wasn't able to see my speed, cadence, or distance during the race. I don't really know myself as a biker - what pace is typical for me, what pace I should aim for - the same way I know myself as a swimmer and a runner. I've never been sure if my slowness on the bike is mostly mental (because I tend to space out and just enjoy being on my bike rather than being in race mode) or due to my physical limits. Today I played around with this a little using the data from my computer. Whenever I was on an uphill or a patch that was slow going, I focused on my cadence (aiming for 85-95 rpm) to make sure I was in the best gear; whenever I was on a downhill or a fast flat, I would switch over to my average mph and try to get my current mph as much over the average as I could, hoping to see the average inch up. My average mph was slightly faster than my average for the Boulder Peak, which is cool. I even got up to 37 mph during one downhill, which I think is the fastest I've ever gone. I used to be much more timid, riding the brakes all the way down a hill, but I think I moving past that and am finally able to use those hills to help me up the next hill and make up for lost time. The hardest part was that after 40 or so miles, I just didn't want to be on my bike any more. More long training rides next year should help this.

I actually felt a lot better after the 4.3 run than I thought I would. The first half was rough (in part from adjusting to being off the bike, and in part because it was uphill), but I felt pretty good on the last two (downhill) miles (especially after hanging out at the water station for five minutes before heading back!) It was a slow run, even slower than last week, but, as I said, it was scorching hot and I had just finished my second longest bike ride of the year. My coach said that heat like that can increase your time by 30-40% and in those situations you should throw your time goal out the window and just focus on staying hydrated. Most of the other women at the practice had the same difficulty, so I didn't feel too bad. But, I definitely feel motivated to work on my running for next year. I want to start doing more speed-work so the easy pace that I default to when the going gets tough will be faster. I joke that I have no pride and as long as I finish the Half-Ironman, I don't care if I have to walk the whole 13.1 miles. But, since they close the course after eight and half hours, it would be likely be cutting it close to walk the whole way and still finish in time (it took me just under six hours to do the swim and bike plus the 4.3 mile run).

My coach encouraged us to write down all the little things that you learn during these practices so you remember on race day. One important thing that I learned - I need to remember to put anti-chafing cream on before the bike and again before the run for this distance. I didn't use it at all today and I'm still pretty sore. Nutrition, hydration, and electrolytes are also very important when racing for 6+ hours, and this was a good chance to practice that. This morning, I ate / drank:

Breakfast - two whole wheat waffles, peanut butter, frozen raspberries
Pre-race - half cup coffee, 1/2 power bar
T1 - 1 cliff shot, water
Bike - 6-8 cliff shot blocks, 1 package jelly belly sport beans, 1 power bar (1/2 at halfway point, 1/2 at mile 49), 3 1/2 bottles water, 1 bottle Gatorade
T2 - 1/2 power bar, 1 cup water, 1 cup Gatorade
Run - 1 cup water, 1 cup Gatorade, a few potato chips
Post-race - two (half) burritos and lots of other snackies, lots of water

Probably could still use some tweaking, but I stayed hydrated and didn't bonk. I thought the combo of instantly absorbable calories (cliff shots and blocks) and calories that take longer to kick in, but sustain a little longer (power bars) worked well. I probably should have drank a little more water and more Gatorade. I'm probably going to start experimenting with the electrolyte tablets in addition to Gatorade.

My Ride with the Devil

I successfully finished the Boulder Peak – my first Olympic distance triathlon! It was a lot of fun, but definitely a challenge. My time was 3:26:32, which I was happy with.

The race started at 6:45am, but my wave wasn't until the very end and didn't start until an hour later. It was kind of a drag having to wait around (everyone had to be out of the transition area by 6:30) because it just meant more time for nerves and anticipation. I got in the water around 7:30 to get wet and warmed up. I swam out about 15 yards in the warm-up area. When I turned around to swim back towards the beach and saw it swarming with people in wetsuits and brightly colored caps – I always think the start of a triathlon looks like an alien invasion – it finally hit me, I'm actually doing this. Right before our wave started, the announcer said that they saved the best for last and we all cheered.

As per usual, the swim was my strongest leg of the race. I got to use my fancy new goggles, which suction-cupped to my face to prevent leaks and were mirrored like sunglasses so I could sight the buoys marking the course in the glare of the sun. I got out of the water in just under 30 minutes and ran to get on my bike and face the most challenging part of the course – the hill on Old Stage Road.

Old Stage Road has a 600 ft elevation change in 2/3 of a mile, so it's pretty intense. I road by a lot of people who had to climb off their bikes a walk up it, so I was proud that I was able to keep pedaling the whole way. My friend Patty and her boyfriend were there to cheer me on and had written in chalk "Go Emma!" on the street. There was also a guy in a devil's costume who ran along side me saying "Ride with the Devil! Ride with the Devil!" I did wonder for a second if I was hallucinating, but I have photographic evidence that I did, in fact, ride with Devil on Old Stage. The rest of the course was a nice ride – a big downhill and then a few rolling hills back to the reservoir. I averaged 15.1 mph, which I was pretty pleased with, although I must confess that a 78 year-old nun from Spokane, WA beat my bike time by about 2 minutes! But, this was still an improvement for me – my first tri barely had any hills, and I only biked that at a pace of 12 mph.

Even though there was nothing particularly hard or challenging about the run course, it was very difficult that day. The temperatures in Boulder reached into the hundreds on Sunday for the first time in years. One of the race organizers owns a bike store in Austin and he joked later at the awards ceremony that he must have brought the Texas weather with him. The run was hot hot hot and at times felt like a death march. I looked at my watch and realized I was going at a slower pace than I had anticipated, but quickly decided that I didn't care. I just wanted to take care of myself and finish, rather than push too hard and end up dehydrated or sick. It's so tempting to Monday-morning quarterback and think that I could have gone a little faster and shaved a few minutes off my time, but I know that in the moment that's all I could do and I was giving my best.

Some members and coaches from my tri team were there to cheer me on at the finish and it was exciting to hear the announcer say, "Emma Garrison from Denver, Colorado!" when I crossed the finish line. All in all, a good day.

Thanks to all of you for your love and support!