Prerace: I slept well the night before the
race but I was a little bumbed about the horrible weather forecast. On
race morning, I was sooooo nervous! The thought of swimming that far open
water scared me, but John said that you couldn’t tell.
Swim: Catie 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!
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