"Ouch. Oh. My. God." - Lance Armstrong on finishing the 2006 NY Marathon.
This weekend, Lauren and I went to Macon, Ga for the Rock & Roll Half Ironman. This would be my first race at this distance and my 2nd official race of the year.
The morning started at 4:30 am. Oatmeal and a powerbar for breakfast, then a quick hop back in bed where I literally drank a cup of hotel coffee with my eyes closed.
The short drive to the race sight was in the dark and done so through a light rain. This is the 4th year of the race and the organizers have done an amazing job of putting this race together and making it flow. There were ample volunteers ready to help and point us in the right direction. Kudos to the organizers.
Given that this was my first Half, I expected to be nervous and anxious, but that just didn’t happen for some reason. It didn’t ever become this surreal moment that I thought it would. I was calm and relaxed.
The Swim started in several waves with my wave “34 years and younger” being of course the largest. Great. As you can imagine there was kicking, grabbing, all the good stuff. I stroked along a bit until I got a clear lane. I found it difficult to get into a rhythm, and I started breathing only on my left side. Bad idea. You see, when you do so your right side becomes your strong side, therefore pushing you off to the left. I kept finding myself swimming way off course and having to fight to get back into the group. If I was thinking rationally, I would have realized what I was doing, but I was so afraid of getting off track that it never occurred to me that I was being counter productive. It wasn’t until about ½ way into the swim that I realized this and made the switch. It took a while to get my breath, but after I did it was like I was back in the pool and I started swimming fairly straight and passing people. It was too late to undo the damage. I was at 41:40 coming out of the water. 5 minutes slower than projected, but no worries. I was just glad to be out of the water. Swim rank 194/311 - poor
T1 – From the water, the transition area was about a ¼ mile run up a hill. It was impossibly far. It wasn’t the best situation, but you deal with it. After the run up the hill, I was actually in and out of the transition area fairly quickly although the time doesn’t show it. 3:41. Thanks to the run.
Bike – here’s what I was waiting on. While I don’t claim to be the best swimmer, I’ve actually become quite the cyclist. I was ruthless in the way I started picking people off. Nice $7000 bike, now get out of my way. Oh, those look like the new 808 rims! See ya!
I wish I’d counted everyone that I passed on the bike. I did count the # that pasted me. Two. I felt good about that. Two people over 56 miles is pretty good. The course itself was hillier than expected. I’d studied the profile, but it didn’t do it justice. I was glad that I had been training in Birmingham rather than a flat area. I averaged just less than 21 mph for the course. I think it was 20.86 or something. Total time for 56.67 miles – 2:43. That’s right, I don’t know where the .67 miles came from, but it’s accurate. Bike rank 59/311
T2 – Nothing crazy here, just a quick and out. If the transition area wasn’t so big, it would have been quicker. 1:17.
Run – I could feel the effects of my ride in my calves, but nothing too bad. The first ¼ miles felt ok. I needed to get used to running again. Then it hit. A sharp stick in my side. I tried to run it off, but I couldn’t expand my chest to breathe. Oh it hurt. It hurt bad. Many times while running, I’ve had a similar stitch, but I’ve always been able to just let it pass. Not this time. This had my full attention. I tried to run, but had to stop because I had to clench my abs so hard to keep my chest from moving. I kept moving as I actually contemplated calling it a day. There was no way I could withstand this pain for 12 more miles. I decided I would just start walking briskly until it went away. There was nothing to do but keep moving. I began wondering if I had ingested too much water, but my stomach felt fine. My legs felt strong. I had good energy, but just couldn’t breathe. I was furious as I saw my time adding up and only ending in a disappointing time. Finally at mile 4, yes mile 4, my side felt good enough that I could jog a little, but the stitch was still there.
At this time, I really believe I had been defeated mentally and that translated to my body and energy level. It was odd as I still felt the motivation to finish, but couldn’t muster the will nor the energy to finish strong. The heat started becoming oppressive. Runners started falling out left and right. For the rest of the run, the sound of the heavy breathing and the shuffling feet would be drowned out by ambulances and fire trucks flying by.
Embarrassingly enough, it was all that I could do to keep my miles close to a 10-11 min per mile pace. My PR for a ½ Marathon by itself is a 7:19 pace, so as you can imagine I was beating myself up pretty bad for sucking it up so bad. I knew I was better than this, but I couldn’t answer the call. I finished the race with a 1/2 marathon time of 2:18 (rank 160/311) and total time of 5:49:35 (rank 115/311). Not where I wanted to be. Not where I had trained to be.
The majority of this post was written on the ride home from Macon. Since then, I’ve had some more time to think about the race and my feelings about it. Sunday, I was thinking that I never wanted to do another ½ again. I was miserable during the swim and the run. Was I even cut out for it? Now, just 24 hours later, I know that I’m going to do another ½. I’m going to try to find another one this year. I can’t let this race define my season or leave a black mark on my attitude about distance races.
What do I need to do differently? For starters, I don’t think I took in enough calories to get me through the run. By the time, I realized that I needed something in the gut, it was too late. I couldn’t stomach anything other than fluids on the run. Knowing the amount of calories that I need will just take some time and experience. Secondly, I need to practice more open water swims. Staying focused and on course was a struggle on Sunday. Lastly, I think that I would do some more workouts lasting longer than 4 hours. To date, my longest workout has taken @ 3 hours and 45 minutes. I’d like to add longer bricks. This would give me a chance to work on nutrition and fluid in take.
So where’s my head now? Right now, I’m focusing on a sprint distance race this Saturday. Luckily, I’m not too sore from yesterday. It’s amazing how a 13.1 mile stroll will ease the effects of a 56 mile ride. I’m ready to prove myself again this Saturday.
Thanks for reading.
This weekend, Lauren and I went to Macon, Ga for the Rock & Roll Half Ironman. This would be my first race at this distance and my 2nd official race of the year.
The morning started at 4:30 am. Oatmeal and a powerbar for breakfast, then a quick hop back in bed where I literally drank a cup of hotel coffee with my eyes closed.
The short drive to the race sight was in the dark and done so through a light rain. This is the 4th year of the race and the organizers have done an amazing job of putting this race together and making it flow. There were ample volunteers ready to help and point us in the right direction. Kudos to the organizers.
Given that this was my first Half, I expected to be nervous and anxious, but that just didn’t happen for some reason. It didn’t ever become this surreal moment that I thought it would. I was calm and relaxed.
The Swim started in several waves with my wave “34 years and younger” being of course the largest. Great. As you can imagine there was kicking, grabbing, all the good stuff. I stroked along a bit until I got a clear lane. I found it difficult to get into a rhythm, and I started breathing only on my left side. Bad idea. You see, when you do so your right side becomes your strong side, therefore pushing you off to the left. I kept finding myself swimming way off course and having to fight to get back into the group. If I was thinking rationally, I would have realized what I was doing, but I was so afraid of getting off track that it never occurred to me that I was being counter productive. It wasn’t until about ½ way into the swim that I realized this and made the switch. It took a while to get my breath, but after I did it was like I was back in the pool and I started swimming fairly straight and passing people. It was too late to undo the damage. I was at 41:40 coming out of the water. 5 minutes slower than projected, but no worries. I was just glad to be out of the water. Swim rank 194/311 - poor
T1 – From the water, the transition area was about a ¼ mile run up a hill. It was impossibly far. It wasn’t the best situation, but you deal with it. After the run up the hill, I was actually in and out of the transition area fairly quickly although the time doesn’t show it. 3:41. Thanks to the run.
Bike – here’s what I was waiting on. While I don’t claim to be the best swimmer, I’ve actually become quite the cyclist. I was ruthless in the way I started picking people off. Nice $7000 bike, now get out of my way. Oh, those look like the new 808 rims! See ya!
I wish I’d counted everyone that I passed on the bike. I did count the # that pasted me. Two. I felt good about that. Two people over 56 miles is pretty good. The course itself was hillier than expected. I’d studied the profile, but it didn’t do it justice. I was glad that I had been training in Birmingham rather than a flat area. I averaged just less than 21 mph for the course. I think it was 20.86 or something. Total time for 56.67 miles – 2:43. That’s right, I don’t know where the .67 miles came from, but it’s accurate. Bike rank 59/311
T2 – Nothing crazy here, just a quick and out. If the transition area wasn’t so big, it would have been quicker. 1:17.
Run – I could feel the effects of my ride in my calves, but nothing too bad. The first ¼ miles felt ok. I needed to get used to running again. Then it hit. A sharp stick in my side. I tried to run it off, but I couldn’t expand my chest to breathe. Oh it hurt. It hurt bad. Many times while running, I’ve had a similar stitch, but I’ve always been able to just let it pass. Not this time. This had my full attention. I tried to run, but had to stop because I had to clench my abs so hard to keep my chest from moving. I kept moving as I actually contemplated calling it a day. There was no way I could withstand this pain for 12 more miles. I decided I would just start walking briskly until it went away. There was nothing to do but keep moving. I began wondering if I had ingested too much water, but my stomach felt fine. My legs felt strong. I had good energy, but just couldn’t breathe. I was furious as I saw my time adding up and only ending in a disappointing time. Finally at mile 4, yes mile 4, my side felt good enough that I could jog a little, but the stitch was still there.
At this time, I really believe I had been defeated mentally and that translated to my body and energy level. It was odd as I still felt the motivation to finish, but couldn’t muster the will nor the energy to finish strong. The heat started becoming oppressive. Runners started falling out left and right. For the rest of the run, the sound of the heavy breathing and the shuffling feet would be drowned out by ambulances and fire trucks flying by.
Embarrassingly enough, it was all that I could do to keep my miles close to a 10-11 min per mile pace. My PR for a ½ Marathon by itself is a 7:19 pace, so as you can imagine I was beating myself up pretty bad for sucking it up so bad. I knew I was better than this, but I couldn’t answer the call. I finished the race with a 1/2 marathon time of 2:18 (rank 160/311) and total time of 5:49:35 (rank 115/311). Not where I wanted to be. Not where I had trained to be.
The majority of this post was written on the ride home from Macon. Since then, I’ve had some more time to think about the race and my feelings about it. Sunday, I was thinking that I never wanted to do another ½ again. I was miserable during the swim and the run. Was I even cut out for it? Now, just 24 hours later, I know that I’m going to do another ½. I’m going to try to find another one this year. I can’t let this race define my season or leave a black mark on my attitude about distance races.
What do I need to do differently? For starters, I don’t think I took in enough calories to get me through the run. By the time, I realized that I needed something in the gut, it was too late. I couldn’t stomach anything other than fluids on the run. Knowing the amount of calories that I need will just take some time and experience. Secondly, I need to practice more open water swims. Staying focused and on course was a struggle on Sunday. Lastly, I think that I would do some more workouts lasting longer than 4 hours. To date, my longest workout has taken @ 3 hours and 45 minutes. I’d like to add longer bricks. This would give me a chance to work on nutrition and fluid in take.
So where’s my head now? Right now, I’m focusing on a sprint distance race this Saturday. Luckily, I’m not too sore from yesterday. It’s amazing how a 13.1 mile stroll will ease the effects of a 56 mile ride. I’m ready to prove myself again this Saturday.
Thanks for reading.
8 comments:
Hey Matt. Way to stick it out on a tough day. I suspect you'll come back sometime with all of your lessons learned, and rock a 1/2 one of these days.
Thanks for the report.
1 - It was your first half IM...don't be too hard on yourself.
2- I'm sure your already analyzing everything so that you smash your next one.
3- You just did a half iron! It feels pretty good doesn't it?
let adversity make you stronger... hop back on the horse and find another 1/2 to kick ass...
i'm headed to steelhead (www.steelheadtriathlon.com) in august if you want to ride up with me and redeem yourself...
dv
Coach here, I guess Im writing not only to you but to all those who read your incredible accounts.
Many times our role as an athlete is defined by a time or our 'placing' relative to getting the job done with "faster is better" as the assumption.
Not to trying to get all warm and fuzzy on you but....Donald said it in his second sentence and thats exactly where you'll find your success in this one...Quite frankly, you were starting to make this process look too easy, Good to see you're half human...FOR YOU, YOUR TIME SUCKED! HOWEVER, GREAT JOB ON THE STICKING IT OUT ON A VERY TOUGH DAY.
Awesome job on finishing your first half...Way to stick it out and preserver when things were hard. You will sort out the difficulty and go back to making it look easy. So much of racing is discovering how one's body reacts to stress and what it needs. You'll learn and adjust and take those new lessons on with you.
Wow, Matt.
First of all, this is a fantastic write up, thanks for all the detail.
Second of all, good job on getting through your first half. As Donald said, you really stuck it out.
Sounds like you learned a ton about nutrition and have a good outlook regarding your upcoming training.
I agree with trijack, sign up for another!
Great race and report. Congratulations on your first half.
I did a short Tri on Saturday..and the whole time I was thinking.."Why?...Why do I keep signing up for this crap. I'm not doing this agin." It wasn't 20 minutes later after I crossed the finish line that I told Michelle I would do one in a couple of weeks with her! What's up with that? Congrats on the Half IronMan. I don't know..or can even fathom how you guys do it!
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