Swim: A fellow member of my tri club insisted
that we get at the front, so we marched right to the front of the line. I was worried because it still seemed too
dark outside to see and the waves looked huge.
I haven’t been more than ankle deep in salt water since I was a little
child, so it was quite a shock to the system but I thought water temperature
was great. Usually I do take your advice
and get to the front although I have no business being there. After about 100 yards I feel winded and I get
a little panicked. So I got to the
inside back close to the buoys, I decided to start like my warm-up and take it
nice and slow. It does take me a while
to get warmed up and it wasn’t especially crowded. After about 200-300 yards some of the girls
around me started panicking and swimming to the paddleboards but I felt fine
although the wind and waves kept blowing me around. This is probably my best open water swim, I
sighted good (although I had to stop at times to see the buoys), and I felt
confident that I was going to finish the swim.
Mentally, this has probably been one of the toughest things I have done.
I was 78th out of 110 in my age group coming out of the swim.
T1: I felt great
coming out of the water.
Bike: Well, I lost a
water bottle with IM Perform in it right off the bat. Once we finally got out to the main road the
ride out was awesome, we had a tail wind.
I made sure that I got a bottle of IM Perform at the first aid station
and I got another water at the second aid station. I did take some nutrition with me so I only
had to get a gel once. I’m glad that I
took stuff with me because the aid stations were short and I didn’t have time
to get my water bottle situated and pick up nutrition. So I learned to stock up even if you don’t
need anything right at that moment. I
lost another water bottle around mile 20!
It started to rain around the turn-around but I didn’t feel
panicked. I was dreading the return because
I thought I would have a horrible head wind, but it seemed like more of a side
wind. I actually felt stronger the
further I went and I even passed some people in my age group. I rode the fastest that I have ever
ridden! I averaged 18.26 miles and I
usually average around 16.5 mph in races and 15 mph on long training rides. I REALLY liked the flat course and I moved up
to 70th place.
T2: I was so ready
to run, but I got a little confused about where to exit the transition area,
there were people running in all directions!
Run: My feet hurt
and they were numb for the first seven miles, but I got feeling back when I
walked. I was a little worried, because
running is my thing and I wanted to have a great run, but I decided to trudge
through and keep moving! My plan was to
run to each aid station, walk through the aid station and take in nutrition and/or
hydration, it worked perfectly. I didn’t
like running 3 loops, I wasn’t sure who I was actually passing and there were a
lot of turns. My goal was to run it
under 2 hours, which I thought was a respectable half-marathon time based on my
previous races. I did walk up the hills
but I set a goal, like, “When you reach the next cone, you are going to run.” I had no trouble starting to run again and I
even felt like I had a little gas left in the tank to look good and strong when
I finished! I moved up to 43rd!
Postrace: I felt
nauseous, disoriented, and yucky! I wanted a shower and a bed but I enjoyed
visiting with everyone! I definitely
want to take more pictures at IMTX! The
ride home was horrible because the traffic was crazy. We stopped and got pizza but I really didn’t
have an appetite so I only ate 2 pieces.
We finally got home around 9:00 pm and I went to bed around 10:00
pm. I decided to take Monday off.
Monday: After I woke up and got a cup of coffee in me I was starving. I ate breakfast, lounged around the house for a while then had lunch with my grandmother and cousin; my grandmother had to pick me up! I was sore but I felt good once I got up and started to move. By the time I took a shower that night, I was a little in awe of myself, I can’t believe that I did a IM 70.3 and I broke 6 hours, I’m still on cloud nine! Lately, I have been in a training funk, I just didn’t want to train anymore; this race is exactly what I needed. All my hard work paid off, I can’t imagine what IMTX will be like!
