Half IronMan Results
This triathlon was a little different than all the other’s I did this summer. First of all, my sister wasn’t there waiting at the finish. Secondly, the distance was nearly twice as long. The swim was 1.2 miles long, the bike was 56 miles long, and the run was 13.1 miles long. We drove over to Sleepy Hallow State park, which is just north of Lansing (which is where the tri gets its name… The Lansing Legislator) and camped there. Our campsite was about ½ a mile from the transition area… which was nice. I pretty much did nothing the whole day on Saturday, except get ready for the triathlon and help my sister pack for college. I went to bed around 9:30... Which seemed really early especially since I usually get up around 6 and go to bed around midnight everyday. Now onto to race day:
I set my alarm on my watch to go off at 5:45 pm instead of am… but luckily my dad woke up around 6:10 and said something and I checked my watch and saw what happened. I was freaking out. I inhaled a breakfast which consisted of a ham sandwich, cereal, a banana, and a granola bar. I jumped into the car and got to the transition area with about 45 minutes to go before race time. I got my body markings and got everything the way I wanted it in the transition area. By this time, there was about 10 minutes ‘til race time, which gave me no time to warm up, b/c of the meeting that takes place before hand. I started pretty much cold at the beginning, which prolly isn’t that big of a deal, b/c it’s such a long race.
I was able to use my wetsuit, so shaving wasn’t totally necessary… but it was kinda cool! During the swim portion, I had to fight to get to the front of the pack and some guy elbowed me in the eye and knocked of my goggles… which I stopped for like 5 seconds to fix. I didn’t want to swim with a full eye-piece for one more mile! I exited the water in 3rd place and my time was 29 minutes… a minute faster that I wanted to!
The bike was full of surprises and frustrations. To start off… I couldn’t get clipped into my pedals. Then, around the 5K marker on the course, there was a turn and I was unclear which way to go, because there were two different arrows. I asked the cop at the intersection as I was approaching which way to go and he just gave me a blank stare… I’m pretty sure he was thinking of donuts and coffee. I passed the intersection and yelled back, “Which way do I go?” He then snapped out of dream-filled-donut and told me to go left. I was so upset… I have to go 56 miles and you got me off course b/c you were daydreaming. Then later, I got off course again b/c I thought the lady told me to follow the cones on the road, so that’s what I did… until the road turned into a dirt road… GRRRRR! I lost like five positions b/c of that… I was infuriated. Then, a surprise came… I took out a salt tablet to take and the moisture from my shirt dissolved the outer coating and just as I was about to place it in my mouth it exploded and I got a mouth full of salt, potassium, calcium and a bunch of other minerals. YUCKY! And yet… another frustration awaited me. I came to the next aid station and I wanted a bottle full of Gatorade. I yelled ahead, but all the guy had in his hand was water… so I had to dismount and wait for him to get me a Gatorade. I then got on my bike and lost two more positions. Finally… the last frustration awaited me and it was quite scary. Some stupid people left their dog untied. I was about five yard behind someone and off to the left. I dog ran out from the right hand side of the road and turned around to chase the guy in front of me. The dog must have been blind, because it didn’t see me until it was too late. He stopped to get out of the way and before he knew it, approximently 190 pounds came and hit him in the leg and rolled over his head at about 20 mph and all the force was spread out over the width of my racing tires (about ¾ of an inch). I was lucky that I didn’t fall off and get hurt… but at the same time I ALMOST MADE ROADKILL OUT OF A DOG THAT WAS ABOUT TWO FEET TALL! I got off the bike in 25th place.
I felt incredible on the run for the first 7.5 miles. I think I was pacing about 6:40 miles… which is great… considering the long bike ride that actually was four miles long for me b/c of getting off course. Then, the sun came out and it got hot and I started to get tired. I crossed the finish line in 5 hours 14 minutes and a handful of seconds. I ended up being 10th place out of about 80 to 90 people. But, I could have been 9th if it weren’t for the four frustrations on the bike.
Afterwards… I got a massage from some people. It felt so good… but it didn’t last for very long… I quickly tightened up once I sat down to eat some well deserved food!
In closing... i never want to drink that much gatorade every again in one day. It totaled around a gallon of Gatorate and about a quart of H20.
I set my alarm on my watch to go off at 5:45 pm instead of am… but luckily my dad woke up around 6:10 and said something and I checked my watch and saw what happened. I was freaking out. I inhaled a breakfast which consisted of a ham sandwich, cereal, a banana, and a granola bar. I jumped into the car and got to the transition area with about 45 minutes to go before race time. I got my body markings and got everything the way I wanted it in the transition area. By this time, there was about 10 minutes ‘til race time, which gave me no time to warm up, b/c of the meeting that takes place before hand. I started pretty much cold at the beginning, which prolly isn’t that big of a deal, b/c it’s such a long race.
I was able to use my wetsuit, so shaving wasn’t totally necessary… but it was kinda cool! During the swim portion, I had to fight to get to the front of the pack and some guy elbowed me in the eye and knocked of my goggles… which I stopped for like 5 seconds to fix. I didn’t want to swim with a full eye-piece for one more mile! I exited the water in 3rd place and my time was 29 minutes… a minute faster that I wanted to!
The bike was full of surprises and frustrations. To start off… I couldn’t get clipped into my pedals. Then, around the 5K marker on the course, there was a turn and I was unclear which way to go, because there were two different arrows. I asked the cop at the intersection as I was approaching which way to go and he just gave me a blank stare… I’m pretty sure he was thinking of donuts and coffee. I passed the intersection and yelled back, “Which way do I go?” He then snapped out of dream-filled-donut and told me to go left. I was so upset… I have to go 56 miles and you got me off course b/c you were daydreaming. Then later, I got off course again b/c I thought the lady told me to follow the cones on the road, so that’s what I did… until the road turned into a dirt road… GRRRRR! I lost like five positions b/c of that… I was infuriated. Then, a surprise came… I took out a salt tablet to take and the moisture from my shirt dissolved the outer coating and just as I was about to place it in my mouth it exploded and I got a mouth full of salt, potassium, calcium and a bunch of other minerals. YUCKY! And yet… another frustration awaited me. I came to the next aid station and I wanted a bottle full of Gatorade. I yelled ahead, but all the guy had in his hand was water… so I had to dismount and wait for him to get me a Gatorade. I then got on my bike and lost two more positions. Finally… the last frustration awaited me and it was quite scary. Some stupid people left their dog untied. I was about five yard behind someone and off to the left. I dog ran out from the right hand side of the road and turned around to chase the guy in front of me. The dog must have been blind, because it didn’t see me until it was too late. He stopped to get out of the way and before he knew it, approximently 190 pounds came and hit him in the leg and rolled over his head at about 20 mph and all the force was spread out over the width of my racing tires (about ¾ of an inch). I was lucky that I didn’t fall off and get hurt… but at the same time I ALMOST MADE ROADKILL OUT OF A DOG THAT WAS ABOUT TWO FEET TALL! I got off the bike in 25th place.
I felt incredible on the run for the first 7.5 miles. I think I was pacing about 6:40 miles… which is great… considering the long bike ride that actually was four miles long for me b/c of getting off course. Then, the sun came out and it got hot and I started to get tired. I crossed the finish line in 5 hours 14 minutes and a handful of seconds. I ended up being 10th place out of about 80 to 90 people. But, I could have been 9th if it weren’t for the four frustrations on the bike.
Afterwards… I got a massage from some people. It felt so good… but it didn’t last for very long… I quickly tightened up once I sat down to eat some well deserved food!
In closing... i never want to drink that much gatorade every again in one day. It totaled around a gallon of Gatorate and about a quart of H20.