Those were the words the announcer said after I crossed the finish line of the 2012 Syracuse Ironman 70.3. The exact line was Brandon O'Connor from Sparta NJ is crossing the finish line, you have to start somewhere. What encouragement for my finish. I knew my times weren't the best, but that was the final nail in the coffin. Oh well, I guess Ill do better next time.
The day started off well, go to transition around 6am, so I had around 55 minutes to set everything up. That was more than enough time. So i laid my bike shoes, Clif shots for the bike out, put my helmet on the bike, laid out my running shoes and the Clif shots for the run and placed my tri-belt with my bib on it down all carefully on a towel. I got my wetsuit out and pulled it up to about my waist (water temp was 75.3, so wetsuit legal, yay!) Then I put sunscreen on my exposed areas of my arms and face. The day was starting off well.
I went down to the water to see the first waves start and to get a practice swim in. With all that done, I was set to go. Finally, at 7:50 my wave was called to start the swim. I expected about a 45 minute swim. I did not get punched or kicked, but I felt like there were a lot of people around and felt like I was in the way at times, but I was racing too. Finally, when I got out to the red buoy, I turned right and headed for the first turn, got ran into twice at this point, because of people not realizing to turn. (Apparently they were not at the meeting which told us that the red buoys meant to turn and the yellow and orange were out and back.) Finally get to the turn on the way back in, and I'm just going on my way. Finally, I get to the shore, stand up and see the clock that tells me I was faster than I expected 42 minutes, great. Then, got my goggles up and wetsuit down. The peelers (strippers) have you lay on your back and tear your suit off you in a second. The swim to transition had to be a good tenth or two tenths of a mile, which is kinda a long run when you are disoriented after getting out of the water.
Transition 1 was pretty seamless, bike out, shoes on, and off I go. Starting on the bike was pretty good, flat then a downhill, then started the steady climb up and up. (We had been told that after the first 12 miles the course was pretty downhill.) So the next bit of the course went like this, hill up, flat, hill up, flat, hill up, turn, hill up, hill up, at this point, I was wondering where that 12 mile mark was. Then I saw a mile marker, 5 miles. Was this some kind of a cruel joke? I have only gone 5 miles to this point. Oh my, how am I gonna make it throughout 51 more miles of this. Finally, after a barrage of hills, a downhill, a very steep downhill. I could use gravity and fly to about 40 or so miles per hour, but I am scared to do that, because I feel like all it would take is a little bump or rock to hit and Im flying off the bike. But at the bottom of every downhill there is a turn or another hill waiting to start. Aid stations were at 15, 25 and 40 miles. I feel like there could have been another one, but that's not for me to judge I guess. Being the idiot that I am, (and here is learned point #1) I only have one water bottle cage on my bike. Bad idea. I need at least one more, so that I can just fly through aid stations and grab water, perform or whatever and just replace what's in the cages, but I have only one, so I get to stop at every aid station to replace the bottles. Oh well, the volunteers are excellent. As soon as you stop, they ask you what you need and want to get you whatever you want. Finally, I see the sign for the no pass zone on the bike, so I know that I am in the last mile of the bike. I feel good at this point. I get to transition and see the clock, the bike took me 3:40, 40 minutes longer than I had wanted it to take, but I would have been happy with a 3:30. Oh well, lets get into transition and get my run on.
Transition 2 went well, got my Vibrams on and my Clif Blocks in one pocket and a Clif shot in the other, although that fell out somewhere before I left transition. I start the run and the first part of the run is paved, then it's rocks, WTF! and not like little pebbles, like landscaping stone. Not so good for Vibrams. I run about 1.5 miles and my body tells me to stop, really?!? I have run 13 miles numerous times, but never after a swim and a 56 mile bike. Ok, so I'll listen, walk, run, walk, run, walk, run...you can see how my run went. Although I do have to say that on the run in the aid stations they have ice cold soaked sponges (possibly the best things ever). By this point its pretty hot in the heat and I just need to stay cool to keep going. Ice, Ice water, water, sponges all dumped on me, kept in tri shirt, put in hat, etc. Basically if there was a place to put it, ice was going there, except in tri shorts, that was too cold. Run course was all big hills and the second loop couldn't get done quick enough. Last mile was running, because, Im not finishing a race walking unless thats the only way I can finish. Crossing the finish line was exciting for about 20 seconds (after getting water and medal) and then I felt a little sick to my stomach. I drank some water, went over to the food at the finish, pizza. Not so good, but carbs, sodium and calories. Oh yeah, and chocolate milk, thanks Team Refuel.
So, what did I learn from Syracuse?
1. 2 water bottle cages on my bike
2. More hills in training running and biking
3. More Bricks
4. Spray sunscreen in transition - got a nice sunburn on my shoulders, neck and knees
5. Run more in vibrams or use different shoes for the run portion
All in all, I had a good day, I plan on doing another and will eventually get to that full that I wanna do.
No comments:
Post a Comment