I realized after posting my last report, that I said much about the venue, the course, and the spectators, and much much about my actual race. So I'll start over.
1. So the swim, as mentioned, until getting past the first 3-4 buoys, it was pretty rough. Very wide starting area, but everyone funneled in towards the buoy line fairly quickly.
Should have taken like these three and waited for the smoke to clear.
2. This is a pretty good question I have to ask myself, why I don't I wait, like these three. I'm not trying to qualify for anything. I will finish in the bottom 20% of the swim. Am I really losing anything by standing on the beach for 30 seconds or a minute? Easy to say, I would imagine harder to do with the adrenaline of race morning.
3. Swim was great, swim a long way out. Turn, swim a bit. Turn again, swim a long way back. Not much to see or focus on. At IMWI I could here the music at times, here there was nothing. In reality it was a bit of a bore.
4). Time was 1:30:21. Was thrilled to see it. Not having a watch in the water I had no idea where I would be. 1:39 faster than IMWI in 2009.
5) First lap of the bike I pushed a bit harder than I should have, but not terribly so. 3:03:08, or 18.3 mph.
6) The entire second lap I made a really conscious effort not to push at all. Especially on the hills. I kept reminding myself of the climb up to Lac Superior at the end, and that little run we were supposed to do.
7) Second lap time was 3:17:46, or 17 mph. I did make a stop at special needs and very shortly thereafter, the bathroom, not sure if these were included on the first or second laps.
But shut coming down Lac Superior at the end of the first lap. Arm warmers came off at special needs.
8) Total bike time was 6:20:54, or 17.6mph. This was on the fast end of where I thought I would be, and a little more than 11 minutes faster than IMWI.
9) I have not downloaded my power files yet, will be an interesting review. Was fairly close to my power goal, but didn't do a good job keeping power in check on the hills. NP was high, AP was low. Hills. May do a separate power post.
10) Ended up being really hungry at the end of the bike. I had my IMWI experience in mind. And was way over cautious in not taking in excess calories.
11) Had a very hard time walking once I let go of the bike. This has been pretty common this year, but it goes away pretty quickly. Walked the entire way to the changing tent from the dismount line, was feeling pretty good at that point.
12) T2 I had a gel and some water.
13) Start of the run greeted me with super intense sharp stomach pains. I think the gel hitting the empty stomach in T2 was the culprit.
14) As a result, I could only run very short distances, I don't think I ever ran more than 1/4 mile straight during the entire marathon.
Not sure if first or second loop.
15) So I ran/walked, with a plan to eat my way out of the stomach issues. It for the most part worked and the stomach came around.
16) At the start of the second lap, during one of my run segments, a spectator said something to the effect of "way to battle through it and get your race back". It was more specific than that, and gave me a distinct impression that she remembered my struggles on the first lap. Feel good moment.
17) My one time goal for the day was to run a 5 hour marathon. It didn't happen, but I don't really care. Ended up at 5:19:06, and my second lap was only 7 minutes off my first lap pace. 27ish minutes faster than IMWI.
18) Not sure if I ever had a real low point in the race. Was very happy to not let my stomach issues get me down.
19) Final time was 13:28:35, besting IMWI by 36:13.
20) Was very happy to be done, and to remember to slow down and take in the finish.
21) The race photog took some good photos, and a lot of them, I may actually by the package, until then, I leave you with this:
Tebowing at the finish line. I'm not a fan, I just thought it would be funny. Incidentally, it was very difficult to get into that position the morning after the race, and even harder to get back up.
No comments:
Post a Comment