Half Ironman Race Report

Pre- race So the week before my race my husband was out of town Monday – Thursday. All my workouts occur in the morning so I had to cancel all of them. I had planned a 1 hour run on Monday while Joey was at Boy Scouts from 7-8 but I turned it into a 3 mile run because it was getting dark and there were no sidewalks. I had planned to go to spin class (and take it easy) on Wednesday evening but on Tuesday Gus got sick and then Wednesday Bridget got sick and had one of the worst bloody noses I have ever seen, then 3 hours later, she topped it with the new worst bloody nose I had ever seen. I have had bloody noses, I am not the mom who overreacts, I am more of the “suck it up” Mom. But it was bad enough (the second one bled for 45 minutes) that I took her to the doctor. Then my husband got home on Thursday and headed out to a meeting. Then Thursday I started sneezing and blowing my nose and by Thursday night I had a tickle (such a nice word for not a very nice feeling) in my throat. I took some Airbourne (not a big fan of taking “meds” but I really wanted to fight this) but Friday morning I was congested coughing and blowing my nose, and checking in my bike for the race!

We dropped my bike off and left, no time to waste. The boys were at the Puyallup Fair with Papa all day, so it was just Joe and Bridget and I.

We came home and printed out some triathlon check lists and calculated how much food I would be eating on the bike at 30 minute intervals and went over proper Garmin (GPS) multisport set up, several times and ate my favorite prerace meal of Spicy Cauliflower Pasta (it sounds wrong but it is oh so right!). We headed to bed around 10:30 and I didn’t need to wake up till 5:30 since the race didn’t start till 9:00. But I didn’t get the greatest night’s sleep. I kept waking up thinking about the race (no big surprise).

We left the house at 6:40 with the kids home alone and my aunt expected to arrive by 8:00. Usually I worry about them until I know childcare has arrived but I wasn’t thinking about them at all this morning before the race. We got to the park, I set up my transition area so that I could not fail. I had my bananas and gels and bars all labeled for when they were to be eaten.

Swim Got my wetsuit on and body glide and I was ready to head to the water. The air temperature felt pretty cold and I was wearing my Crocs and my feet were freezing. I was dreading the water as someone mentioned that this was a glacier fed lake (great!) but when I put my feet in the water it was warmer than the air. When I put my face in the water, it felt cold, but not the worst ever. The boys (green caps) went at 9:00 and the girls (pink caps) and relays (blue caps) went at 9:05. I didn’t really position myself on the swim as well as I normally do. I was in the front row but in the middle, not the far left where they really got a head start, oh well it is just a warm up for the big day.

I have become accustomed to physical contact in the swim and I am not afraid to swim over someone, although I have learned not to swim over legs with my stomach as a good kick at the wrong moment can really slow you down. This was my first ever mass start (although technically it was 2 waves) and this was probably the most people I have ever started with. I just reminded myself it was a warm up and not to get winded. I did OK but I kept running into people. I couldn’t get any clear space, we were all really packed in. For the first time ever in a race I had someone pull my goggles down. That was different, and somewhat disturbing for someone who wears contacts and was really going to need them for the rest of the day. But I managed to put them on again and keep going. It turns out 1.2 miles of swimming is kind of far. It took me longer than expected. I swam a 2.4 mile swim only race in August in 1:15 so I figured I could do the half iron swim in 37 minutes or less. I had a rough race in August and both calves were on the verge of cramping about ½ mile into it and I got a really bad wetsuit hickey on my neck so I figured 37 minutes would be no problem to beat with better conditions, but my swim time was fine and it including “running” up a hill to get to the timing mat so I am not going to sweat it. I placed 124/226 (I think I can do better, I might as well push it on the swim and start in the right place)

Bike - I got to T1 and had a heck of a time balancing on one leg to get my socks on. I managed to get all my stuff together even though I felt like it was taking a really long time. My T1 time was 5 minutes exactly (weird) so faster than Joe’s transitions (I will take victories where I can). I was off on my bike. My Garmin was set up to beep every 30 minutes to tell me to consume 100 calories (1/2 bar, 1 gel, or banana). I HATE bananas but during the Goofy Marathon I discovered they feel so good on my stomach when I race. I had my banana in my Bento Box but when my first timer when off it was gone, banana down! I hope someone found my T1/bike labeled banana, as I missed it. The bike course is weird, even when we practiced it 2 weeks ago I found myself getting tired and slow on portions that weren’t uphill or difficult, but I found the same thing during the race. There were a couple of downhill portions that I got to go 30+ MPH and it was awesome! As I started my second loop I was heading uphill and I shifted and dropped my chain. I panicked a little but I managed to clip out and not fall over and I was actually able to get my chain back on pretty quickly. I was also in a low enough gear that I was able to get going on the hill and only one person passed me while I was down. I got passed by an Athena at about mile 30 on the bike and I could not catch her. The last 10 miles of the bike all I could think about was how much I wanted to start running! Joe and Patty S. and Kathy M. were all cheering for me on the bike. By this time, I was a little concerned about the kids and I just wanted to make sure that my aunt had arrived (not that there was ever doubt), I just needed to know. So as they were all cheering for me I was yelling at Joe to call and check on the kids. Kathy M. questioned my focus. Before the race, I was focused on the race, during the race, with so much ground left to cover, I really needed to be thinking about something other than the race. So the next time I rode by Joe told me the kids were fine. As I was taking the final turn into the park on the bike a 4 year old decided it would be a good time to cross in front of me. I braked as I was turning and yelled and he stopped but that got my heart to pounding.

Run - Joe met me at transition and ran out with me. He told me there were 2 women who just left transition and I could totally take them. He told me to run them down. I passed them heading out but then took a walk break to eat my banana and they passed me, then I passed them while they did some stretching, then they passed me and that was the end of it. We cheered for each other on the out and backs but I couldn’t get them. Realistically it was my husband who told me to run my own race and not worry about being last so his mid-race advice was contrary to the plan (he’s so competitive). On each out and back I would count the number of people behind me. On the run a had a few people pass me but I held them off for quite a while, I think 3 people passed me between mile 9-11. But my goal was 7:45 and it was looking like I could come in under 7:30 without killing myself. At mile 11 I was still ahead of 2 men (keep in mind that the men started 5 minutes ahead of me). As I ran into the park I still had 1.5 miles to go. Joe ran with me for about a quarter mile and he told me there was a guy behind me and not to let him catch me. Again with the competition!! The last 1.5 miles is in the park and when you enter you can hear the announcer and see the finish line but you have to run all the way around the lake through the woods and as you do so the announcer gets fainter and fainter (discouraging). Then you hit mile 12 and still have 1.1 miles to go. The guy behind me ended up catching me but pointed out that I was still going to beat him because I started 5 minutes behind him. I just wanted to be done and I was racing the clock. The finish is a little deceptive because you go and go and go in the woods then you are about 50 yards to the finish but up until then you are just running through the woods not really sure when it will end. About 200 yards to the finish there was someone on the trail and right as I passed she started getting excited because she could see Valerie, oh crap!! I am not going to get taken this close to the end. So I picked it up a little and I felt both calves flutter like they were both about to cramp. So I decided making it over the finish line upright was more important that not getting caught by “Valerie”. Then I came out of the woods to cheering fans, the loudest of which was my husband. He starts yelling, “Go Lindy! Push it! You can do it!!” but at this point my calves have already notified me that they are doing the best they can. I did run it in and I picked up the pace and didn’t let Valerie catch me but I am sure it didn’t look like a victorious sprint over the finish line. I loved the announcer “Lindy Effer from Renton Washington!”

In conclusion - I had a sinus headache for most of the run and I kept blowing my nose on my shirt (careful if you hugged me after the race) and even though I was sick, I don’t know that I would have been much faster had I felt better. I would have felt better if I wasn’t sick but I really feel like I did the best I could. I also suspect that if it wasn’t my headache causing me pain, something else would have surfaced because you don’t do a Half Ironman without pain. I know I really need to work on the bike. I was 124/226 on the swim, 246/226 (figure that one out) and 231/226 on the run . I think those must include the relays and perhaps several people quit? I don’t know, I did see one person on a stretcher on the bike course. Anyway, all that to say, I challenged myself to do something that most people won’t ever do. I beat 2 men and 4 women and I got second place in the Athena under 40 category and I just love having medals! I don’t feel any more sore than after a marathon and now I can focus on kicking this stupid cold!