Monday, June 30, 2014

Patriot Half Iron Race Report

It took me a while to get this together- its been 2 weeks since the race. At first I was really emotional about the race so I couldn't get it all out there but I think I can ... I think I can...  By the end of this you will probably understand why I had a bit of an emotional day.

The reason I signed up for this race was it was a flat course. I thought it might be my chance to have a PR maybe get my goal of a sub 6 on the season! The other big thing I have been wanting to do so badly is run the whole half marathon. With a flat course I thought it might increase my chances. Being local little travel was involved- so nice to sleep in your own bed before a big race.  I woke up at 3am and my stomach was STARVING! Oh no- not good! Need to make sure I get food in me now... what did I not do yesterday? I had pasta for dinner... urgh okay do what you can focus on food now! I had my usual oatmeal with PB and packed up a bagel for on the way and even grabbed a clif bar. I figured I could try to push in some calories.

Morning packet pickup for a half?! So strange. Got all racked up. I actually know this routine for a half so well at this point so I don't have to try too hard. I made sure to get in my Osomo pre-load and my bagel and clif bar. Chatted with some friends and tried to stay calm. The goals were fairly simple A goal time was 5:39-5:49; B goal was sub 6; C goal FINISH! I knew I would achieve C.

Swim- Goal: 33- Result: 36:29
As I stood at the swim start I felt like I could vomit and crap my pants at the same time. This is different usually I have a nervous stomach but this was a different one. Okay eat your gel and focus on the race. They changed the swim to not a wave start, it was every 10 seconds 3 people go in. I freaked why are we changing this for the people that can't swim?! Now I can't do my thing!!! And I will have no idea where I am in my wave. It didn't fix the problem. People ended up in packs of 5 or 10 that I couldn't get through so I decide to go wide. Which meant my watch had me swimming 1.7 mi. Might explain the time! All my other friends 1.3 and 1.4 mi so I could have been closer to the goal time with a correct course. I was not happy coming out of the water seeing that time! But oh well move on. Wait a sec is that D's bike still hanging.. okay he'll pass me on the bike.

T1- Goal: 3- Result: 2:07
I could not get my feet out of the bottom of my wetsuit. But I was able to get in and out and on my bike. After the swim I knew I had some making up to do.

Bike- Goal: 3 hours- Result: 3:01
Its a 2 loop very flat bike. I was going to go out stay in Zone 3/4 and evaluate after 1 loop where I stand. I was STARVING. I ate more than I usually do on the bike. But I knew with the starving and the fact that I can't eat much on the run I was in for trouble if I didn't get down calories. I had 2 women who we went back and fourth the whole race. Which helped me stay focused. It was nice. And the 3 of us were laughing about it. The water stations on this race were 2 of them right at like mile 20 and 25 not really conducive to refilling the water bottle but I did grab a bottle at each station to top off. When I got of the bike I knew I had a decent ride but not great I mean avg close to 19 but not fast enough to hold off D on a decent day I was a little worried. I ran into transition thinking about it.

T2- Goal: 3 Results 2:48
What a crazy long transition. You had to run all the way around with your bike. Whew. I racked the bike then threw on my run shoes grabbed the rest and GOOOO! Wait is that D's bike?!

Run- Goal: 2:05 Result: 2:11


As I ran out my friend Jen was playing support. I asked "is he okay?" She said " Ya he's fine." I knew she was lying. I have known Jen since we were babies. But D and I had a talk a couple days before the race. If anything happen to him I was going to finish my race and have my day. So I replayed the talk in my head and hit the run course. Changed my watch to HR and tried to stick to zone 3/4. I realized it wasn't about hitting the 9-9:30 minute mile goal. It was RUN the whole half marathon. I had talked to my coach when she was visiting about some run mental games. She said she counted foot strikes- counting to 8. And she was always sure to cheer for the people that passed her. Doing these things kept my mind off the running. At mile 6 I was able to down a gel with a HUGE swig of water. At mile 9 I did the same I needed to make sure I got calories in. I just kept telling myself can't walk now we are almost there and the goal is to run the whole half marathon. I knew it was going to be close on the sub 6 but I just wanted to get that one monkey off my back of running the whole half.

As I came into the finish. I could hear D screaming like always! Part of me gets mad because when he says push it push it. I am like what does he think I have been doing?! IT is so great to have him there and so supportive! A guy screamed as I was running and he was yelling. "Hurry! You're going to give him a heart attack!" I laughed.  D screamed your gonna do it your 5:54! As I crossed the finish I looked at my watch HOLY CRAP- 5:54!

The flood of emotions made it so I cried as I hugged D. Then my brain was like wait... What happen?! So I got the story- he didn't have a good day and got sick and took himself out of the race. I am really proud of him that he learned his lesson from Syracuse's heat stroke to take himself out of the race before it ended in an IV. It really sucks that he didn't have a good race! But- I am so proud that I ran the whole half marathon. That was the biggest win! I was so happy that my training hard work paid off to be able to run the whole half marathon and get my sub 6 goal so early in the season.  Next race I can focus on a faster run time and get that time to come down.

Big Lesson Learned: I NEED to learn to Carb load!!!Not a bad result getting my sub 6 and running the whole half marathon. I even got 11th in my AG. Not a bad day at all!