I certainly had an interesting weekend in the Wisconsin Dells. I raced in my most physically demanding event
of the year - the Rev3 Half-Ironman. Yes, later the discussion will turn
to snot rockets and powder cocaine.
This attempt went much better than my only other Half-Ironman I did back in 2010. The first one was on a 95-degree day with 95% humidity and on a course with no shade. The swim went fine, as well as the first 40+ miles of the bike. Then, a water bottle bounced out without me noticing and I was out of water for the last 10+ miles. Downing a ton of liquids once I got to the first aid station on the run didn’t help enough. I slowly ran the first mile then just gave up, walking the remaining 12.1 miles.
This attempt went much better than my only other Half-Ironman I did back in 2010. The first one was on a 95-degree day with 95% humidity and on a course with no shade. The swim went fine, as well as the first 40+ miles of the bike. Then, a water bottle bounced out without me noticing and I was out of water for the last 10+ miles. Downing a ton of liquids once I got to the first aid station on the run didn’t help enough. I slowly ran the first mile then just gave up, walking the remaining 12.1 miles.
Things were much different
and better this year. Yes, I still
walked for parts of the run leg. However, I don't blame that on my heat
intolerance or under-training. I blame that on my pulled hamstring from a
slip-and-slide on RAGBRAI.
I always just try to survive the swim portion. I’m hardly ever comfortable enough in the water to be at ease. Most of my swim workouts are only 1200 yards in total. Only three times have I ever had a workout go over a mile, let alone the 1.2 miles that we do on race day. This means that I am relegated to switching to breaststroke at some point in the swim. I can swim breaststroke all day. It allows me to get all the air I need after each stroke, I can easily see where I am going as opposed to freestyle, and I find it rather relaxing. The problem lies in me trying to swim fast while doing breaststroke. I am about 20 seconds / 100 yards slower. This means that by the end of the swim I am already about 10 to 15 minutes behind the others in my age group.
Now, as I've mentioned before, I don't try to place well in triathlons, I just try to do the best with my abilities. It would just be a nice benefit to have some speed along with my determination.
About a third of the way through the swim portion, I could feel and see a light rain coming down. By the time I was done, it had progressed into a steady rain. My stuff back at the transition area was soaked. The day before was sunny and mid 80's. Race day it only got up to the mid 70's. It was only in the low 60's by the time I completed the swim. I was glad I had brought along my arm warmers. They really helped when the rain turned into a downpour after a couple miles on the bike.
I definitely need to get some new brake pads. The current ones I have are worn out. I came up to one intersection where we needed to turn left. There was a slight down grade giving me significant momentum coming into the turn. I had just passed somebody, so I was in the left hand section of the lane. I saw there was a car on the new road, meaning I would have to cut the corner even sharper. This would be the sharpest corner I would have to make all day. In addition, the heavy rain was going to cause some problems. Because of all of this, I started braking a bit earlier than normal.
Normal pressure on the brakes yielded no benefit. I was losing way too much ground while I was hoping for a decrease in speed. I then squeezed as hard as I could. In normal dry conditions, this would have brought me to a screeching halt. I lost some speed, but not enough. I skidded through the intersection - yes, still upright. I was finally able to think about turning the wheel. I just barely got the turn in on the far apron. The volunteer at the intersection was yelling at me about the turn. I was fully aware of it! I saw the racers ahead of me turn, I just didn't have the ability to do so.
For the rest of the ride I was more careful with my brakes and slowed more before a turn.
The most amusing thing on the ride occurred about an hour later. All the rain and cooler temps had led to a big case of the sniffles. I saw a few other racers do farmer's blows. I had forgotten about that move - lean over on the bike so your nose is over your left arm. Take your right index finger and close the right nostril. Then blow as hard as you can out your left. If you do it correctly, you'll both stay upright and not blow snot on yourself. The not blowing snot on yourself thing tripped me up the last time I had tried it several years ago. It wasn't pretty! During the race I was quite successful. Twice from each nostril!
The rest of the bike portion was fun, but challenging because of all of the hills. A couple slowed me to a snail's pace because of the steep grade. During the last few miles, I had to make a decision about the upcoming run. I was leery because of my injury. I had pulled my right hamstring during RAGBRAI two weeks prior. I had only attempted to run once during those two weeks and I didn't get more than 100 feet before I quit because of the pain. I could bike just fine and had done that several times. I just barely feel it on the bike and that day I only felt it during the last 5 miles.
I continued on when I hit transition. The 5 Advil I downed all at once, combined with the adrenaline from the race, led to my determination to finish the race no matter what happened. I don't quit, I just go slow when I have to.
In case you were wondering: Advil takes about a mile and a half to kick in. That distance was at a kind of limping run. The left leg went like it usually does, but the right foot didn't come back as far or up as far as it normally does. I look silly when I run anyway, this just made it worse. I wasn't too much slower than my usual slow pace.
From mile 1.5 through 7, things went well. I could feel my hamstring hurting, but it didn't affect my stride or my pace. The Advil was working well. Around mile 7, things began to fall apart. The Advil stopped being effective. That shouldn't be a problem, I thought, I'll just reach into my tri-jersey and grab the three extra Advil I had placed there. The good news was that the rain had stopped at about the same time as I had started the run. The bad news was that my jersey was still soaked and it wouldn't get any drier with me sweating into it.
Advil is not like M&Ms. Advil can’t claim to "Melt in your mouth, not in your hands". Advil will turn into powdered cocaine in your pocket. The miniscule nuggets left that didn't dissolve will burn and irritate your mouth if you attempt to consume them anyway. I felt like an addict when I was sticking my finger on my gums trying to rub the last of the powder away. [Difference being that actual junkies do this to administer the drug, not remove it – Thanks Wikipedia!]
What little effect those nuggets had didn't last long. Whether it was due to the injury, or the lack of recent runs, or whatever, by mile 8 I was walking up any steep hills. By mile 9.5 or so, I was walking up any positive slope. Downhills and flats were fine.
At least I was running some. That, along with my increased cycling fitness, allowed me to drop my time by an hour and a half over my previous Half-Ironman.
The key to the next one will be to swim more so I don't have to use breaststroke, run more, and not be injured. Although increased cycling fitness can and will be obtained, that is my strength and I do a lot of that and enjoy it the most, so I wouldn't benefit nearly as much by focusing on it. I need to bring my swimming and running abilities up to match my cycling.
I always just try to survive the swim portion. I’m hardly ever comfortable enough in the water to be at ease. Most of my swim workouts are only 1200 yards in total. Only three times have I ever had a workout go over a mile, let alone the 1.2 miles that we do on race day. This means that I am relegated to switching to breaststroke at some point in the swim. I can swim breaststroke all day. It allows me to get all the air I need after each stroke, I can easily see where I am going as opposed to freestyle, and I find it rather relaxing. The problem lies in me trying to swim fast while doing breaststroke. I am about 20 seconds / 100 yards slower. This means that by the end of the swim I am already about 10 to 15 minutes behind the others in my age group.
Now, as I've mentioned before, I don't try to place well in triathlons, I just try to do the best with my abilities. It would just be a nice benefit to have some speed along with my determination.
About a third of the way through the swim portion, I could feel and see a light rain coming down. By the time I was done, it had progressed into a steady rain. My stuff back at the transition area was soaked. The day before was sunny and mid 80's. Race day it only got up to the mid 70's. It was only in the low 60's by the time I completed the swim. I was glad I had brought along my arm warmers. They really helped when the rain turned into a downpour after a couple miles on the bike.
I definitely need to get some new brake pads. The current ones I have are worn out. I came up to one intersection where we needed to turn left. There was a slight down grade giving me significant momentum coming into the turn. I had just passed somebody, so I was in the left hand section of the lane. I saw there was a car on the new road, meaning I would have to cut the corner even sharper. This would be the sharpest corner I would have to make all day. In addition, the heavy rain was going to cause some problems. Because of all of this, I started braking a bit earlier than normal.
Normal pressure on the brakes yielded no benefit. I was losing way too much ground while I was hoping for a decrease in speed. I then squeezed as hard as I could. In normal dry conditions, this would have brought me to a screeching halt. I lost some speed, but not enough. I skidded through the intersection - yes, still upright. I was finally able to think about turning the wheel. I just barely got the turn in on the far apron. The volunteer at the intersection was yelling at me about the turn. I was fully aware of it! I saw the racers ahead of me turn, I just didn't have the ability to do so.
For the rest of the ride I was more careful with my brakes and slowed more before a turn.
The most amusing thing on the ride occurred about an hour later. All the rain and cooler temps had led to a big case of the sniffles. I saw a few other racers do farmer's blows. I had forgotten about that move - lean over on the bike so your nose is over your left arm. Take your right index finger and close the right nostril. Then blow as hard as you can out your left. If you do it correctly, you'll both stay upright and not blow snot on yourself. The not blowing snot on yourself thing tripped me up the last time I had tried it several years ago. It wasn't pretty! During the race I was quite successful. Twice from each nostril!
The rest of the bike portion was fun, but challenging because of all of the hills. A couple slowed me to a snail's pace because of the steep grade. During the last few miles, I had to make a decision about the upcoming run. I was leery because of my injury. I had pulled my right hamstring during RAGBRAI two weeks prior. I had only attempted to run once during those two weeks and I didn't get more than 100 feet before I quit because of the pain. I could bike just fine and had done that several times. I just barely feel it on the bike and that day I only felt it during the last 5 miles.
I continued on when I hit transition. The 5 Advil I downed all at once, combined with the adrenaline from the race, led to my determination to finish the race no matter what happened. I don't quit, I just go slow when I have to.
In case you were wondering: Advil takes about a mile and a half to kick in. That distance was at a kind of limping run. The left leg went like it usually does, but the right foot didn't come back as far or up as far as it normally does. I look silly when I run anyway, this just made it worse. I wasn't too much slower than my usual slow pace.
From mile 1.5 through 7, things went well. I could feel my hamstring hurting, but it didn't affect my stride or my pace. The Advil was working well. Around mile 7, things began to fall apart. The Advil stopped being effective. That shouldn't be a problem, I thought, I'll just reach into my tri-jersey and grab the three extra Advil I had placed there. The good news was that the rain had stopped at about the same time as I had started the run. The bad news was that my jersey was still soaked and it wouldn't get any drier with me sweating into it.
Advil is not like M&Ms. Advil can’t claim to "Melt in your mouth, not in your hands". Advil will turn into powdered cocaine in your pocket. The miniscule nuggets left that didn't dissolve will burn and irritate your mouth if you attempt to consume them anyway. I felt like an addict when I was sticking my finger on my gums trying to rub the last of the powder away. [Difference being that actual junkies do this to administer the drug, not remove it – Thanks Wikipedia!]
What little effect those nuggets had didn't last long. Whether it was due to the injury, or the lack of recent runs, or whatever, by mile 8 I was walking up any steep hills. By mile 9.5 or so, I was walking up any positive slope. Downhills and flats were fine.
At least I was running some. That, along with my increased cycling fitness, allowed me to drop my time by an hour and a half over my previous Half-Ironman.
The key to the next one will be to swim more so I don't have to use breaststroke, run more, and not be injured. Although increased cycling fitness can and will be obtained, that is my strength and I do a lot of that and enjoy it the most, so I wouldn't benefit nearly as much by focusing on it. I need to bring my swimming and running abilities up to match my cycling.
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