I know I've said I was going to explain my absence ... but really all you need to know is that I've been working my dream job and very happy. I've chosen to focus on that. I've raced here and there, but I haven't had anything to say and there's nothing wrong with that. However, I felt compelled to write this race report so here I am.
Pre-Race
If there's a very important lesson learned from traveling and racing, I've learned that the trip itself is important. Treat the trip as the main focus, with "oh right, we have a race to do", and everything goes very well. We learned that in 2017 with Santa Cruz.
For this trip, we elected to hit up Yellowstone National Park, Bozeman, and then Coeur d'Alene.
Driving from Denver, we stopped in Idaho Falls for the night. Learning lessons from previous travel trips, we forced ourselves to get workouts in while on the road. Nothing major, just ensuring fitness. We rode in Idaho Falls, finding waterfalls and just enjoying the scenery. A nice little town for sure.
 |
| Quick bike ride in Idaho Falls. T not taking anything seriously, as usual |
The next day, we left early to head to Yellowstone. I had been there as a little kid but didn't have many memories from it. I'm glad that I didn't, because it was purely spectacular! From the geothermal pools to Old Faithful to the bison, I was truly captivated by the park. And we saw a small sliver of it! We will definitely be back.
 |
| Buffalo stampede along the road. This was so cool! |
From Yellowstone, we proceeded to Bozeman. I've overnighted here with my airlines, but never really got to explore the town. We elected to make it a layover day and spend two nights to rest and recharge. We went for a run at a local park with some trails. We also elected to swim and meet up with a pro triathlete, Haley Chura. Both T and I have met her via social media, so it was nice to catch up and have breakfast in person. Plus, she flies my airline, so I'm super happy to meet a satisfied customer!
 |
| T, Haley, Myself at The Feed in Bozeman, MT |
Race check in and whatnot all went as you'd usually expect, so I won't bore you with details. The details I want to mention are we went for a pre-race swim the day before, and while it was cold, it wasn't nearly as bad as you'd expect. I was pleasantly surprised and figured I was going to be in for a good swim. The other detail is I was pretty nervous/apprehensive. Old demons were coming back into play and I don't know why, but for some reason, my DNF in Silverman years ago still haunts me. Combine that with a lackluster training plan, and I didn't know 100% that I was going to finish. I did know, however, that I was going to give it my all.
Race morning, we woke up early, ate breakfast, headed over to the start via a shuttle service. I got my transition area set up quick and took a couple videos for Instagram. Then we waited in the water for the race to start. We warmed up a bunch in the lake, which I think helped us both mentally. T and I seeded ourselves pretty close. I was in the 43-46 minute group. I got hustled into the chute, and then off I went!
 |
| Coeur d'Alene Lake race morning. Amazing |
The Swim
Why sugar coat things? My swim this year has been mediocre at best and terrible at worst. So I wasn't expecting much. I knew however that if I swam too hard, I'd risk being tired for the rest of the race. T and I hadn't discussed too much strategy, but one of mine was to not wear myself out due to lack of endurance training this year.
I kept myself very steady on the front half of the swim and found myself passing a surprising amount of people. It always astounds me that you see people just sitting there doing nothing or backstroking or whatever.
Rounding the back of the course and heading in, I felt very good and not tired at all. However, that forced me to reign it in a tad. I kept it steady and soon found myself near the shore. I took a second to catch my breath, then headed up towards transition.
Swim Time: 46:20
T1
My lack of training and racing in general has finally caught up to me in the form of lousy transitions. I found myself dillying quite a bit. I was unfocused and slow. No matter what, I need to find a way to improve transitioning.
T1 Time: 6:04
The Bike
The bike of CdA is interesting. The first 17-18 miles are pretty much flat and the rest is a ridiculous amount of climbing and descending. My strategy was to ride hard in the first quarter of the bike and take in as much food as possible.
That strategy worked well for the most part. I bombed through the early part of the bike possessed. I ate a lot of food and drank a lot of liquid. However, that last part led to a sloshy stomach that never really went away. I need to figure out that aspect, because it made hydration difficult on the 2nd half of the bike.
Heading out of town, we headed to the climbing part of the bike. This is where things got interesting. The climbs were tough, but I told myself to just settle in, shut up, and pedal. It worked for the most part. I got discouraged from time to time, but pushed it out of my mind.
T passed me around mile 25 of the bike and believe it or not, my heart swelled with pride. I know how hard she's working this year and I'm elated for her. That day she deserved to do so well. She reminded me to pull down my aero top, so I did. I saw her climb the 2nd hill of doom on the bike and told myself she was going to have the better day.
Shortly after that, I heard a noise that sounded like a snap. I was worried I snapped my chain, but that wasn't it. I then wondered if I snapped something else. I wasn't sure, so I just kept riding. I noticed my bike's back wheel looked odd in the shadows, like a spoke was out of place, but I couldn't tell with my race-brain baking. I decided not to worry about it and kept going. I noticed the heat a bit, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle.
At one point on the bike, I really needed to pee, but I didn't want to get off. I was worried it would be too hard to start up again. So I told myself to just wait until transition.
Turning around at the turnaround, I wondered why I wasn't going faster on stretches I should have been, but again, nothing to worry about. It was simply a matter of shutting up and pedaling. I kept telling myself that I had plenty of time. I did.
Coming back into town, after tons of climbing, I was giddy to be done with the bike and was excited to start the run. I hopped off my bike and noticed it wasn't wheeling smooth like it should have been. At that point, a volunteer told me I had a broken spoke. I looked at it and was like huh. That's fascinating. I wonder what that did to my bike time.
More on that later.
Bike Time: 3:52:45
T2
Again, more dilly dallying. I went so slow. I don't know why. I did hit a porta potty to pee, and in there, I took my aero top off and body glided an area that was chaffing. But still. Too slow.
T2 Time: 7:37
The Run
I actually ran well out of transition and was ready to tackle the course. It was getting warm out, but nothing like I haven't faced before. I knew that I just had to chop the miles down one at a time, which is how I attacked them. I made sure to stop for ice at every station to shove down my shorts and top to stay cool. I also put ice in my hat.
Other than a ridiculously long out and back during the run, I actually enjoyed the course. I was walk-running obviously, but I was conscious of my time and knew that as long as I had a sub-3:07 run, I would crack 8:00 in the race. A major accomplishment, as far as I was concerned.
I saw T a couple times; she was about 2.5 miles ahead of me. She was simply killing it out there! I was so proud.
At around mile 12, she came back to help me get to the finish line. I was in a pretty good spot overall, but the company was nice. She encouraged me and reminded me of how proud she was.
When I saw the finish line it was about 4-5 blocks away. I ran, albeit quite slowly, and crossed the line. I damn near collapsed from the effort but I was so proud!
Run Time: 3:01:14
Total Race Time: 7:54:00
Post-Race
T and I got our finishers picture, then walked to the Ironman village to look for some food and whatnot. I was in pretty rough shape to be honest. T sat me down while she hunted for some food. I couldn't tell if I was hungry or not. I ate some pizza and chips, but that's about it.
After that, we walked back to transition where we packed up our stuff. The shuttle service that brought us down wasn't running, so we got ready to walk back. During the walk back, it was obvious how bad of shape my bike was in without the spoke attached. The wheel kept going wonky and rubbing the back brake. I wondered aloud if I had ridden nearly 30 miles that way, and after talking to a few friends who have had spokes break, it's surprising I was able to finish. Talk about a major accomplishment!
We made it back to our hotel where I promptly collapsed on the floor.
 |
| "Please kill me" |
One thing I want to emphasize to everyone here is how much this race meant to me, even though I didn't do what people would say is a good time. On the surface, it's not that good. But look deep here. For the past 3 years, I have chosen to focus on my career and fitness, while not taking a backseat, has definitely not had a purpose like a half-Ironman. My training this year was supposed to be good, but like has happened so often in my life, my career decided to get in the way again. That's okay, because not only am I flying an awesome new airplane, but I still found a way to finish.
The question going forward is...what to do next? Anything? Something?
No comments:
Post a Comment