When I tell people I'm going to do a half iron man race, I of course get the look of...are you
stupid crazy! 4 years ago, I would have agreed with them. I used to be the big football player in HS that lifted weights, pushed people around on the field, and never thought about running, biking. or swimming. In fact, here's a picture of my the summer before my senior year in HS. I assure you this is me!
Now I'm about 60lbs lighter and I'm running around 30 miles, cycling 100 miles, and swimming 3-4 miles in an average week. Why the big change...I will get to that another day.
I used the same
training plan that I did last year however I had also been training for the Shamrock Marathon at Virginia Beach. I PRed there with a time of 3:24..and I think that played a big roll in my performance at White Lake.
To the race..this was the 2nd year in a row I've competed in this race. Last year I finished in a time of 5:37. Now most thought that was pretty good for the first 70.3 distance, but I knew I could do better. I learned that nutrition during the race was key. The swim was delayed due to a heavy fog.
Thank goodness it was delayed because the first weekend swim portion was canceled. The water was 70 degrees which made it wetsuit legal. FYI anything over 78 degrees and wetsuits are not allowed.
During the swim, I got in a comfortable rhythm with my stroke and made a great swim leg. Climbing out of the water I looked down at my watch and realized that I cut off 13 minutes from my swim leg of last year. I knew it was going to be a good day!
Heading into T1 (transition area) I finally got the wetsuit pulled off and grabbed my new chariot to head off to the longest portion of any triathlon...the bike leg.
During the bike, I made sure that I stayed hydrated, consumed my nutrition, and tried to conserve energy for the run. I succeeded thanks to my new aero waterbottle and top tube box. My new bike (thank you Queen) made conserving energy while still maintaining speed easy. Shaved 14 minutes off last year's time.
On to the run, where after riding 56 miles, my quad and calf muscle in my right leg immediately starts to cramp. I start to lose focus and worry that my record day might not happen. I realize that I can either stop and stretch and lose a few minutes. or try to struggle through 13 miles with cramps in my leg. I chose to stop and stretch and it payed off. With the cramps gone, I began to get my run on. I challenge you to try and run after riding a bike for several miles...your legs will feel like jello.
The run went great, I stopped at every rest stop, downing water, oranges, and other supplements. I passed several people and made great time. At mile 11, I looked down at my watch and realized I had 20 minutes left to finish up 2 miles and achieve my goal of under 5 hours. My confidence was building and my pace was growing. When I came around the last turn I knew I had it. There was some guy standing there encouraging all of the runners and he got me fired up. I punched the gas on the home stretch and crossed the finish line in a time of 4:57:55. I was fired up, because after all of those countless hours of training, I placed in my age group in one of the biggest tri races on the east coast and I knocked off 40 minutes from my previous time.
My driving force the whole time was thinking about my wife and kids. My kids think of me as their hero...and I didn't want to let them down. They love their daddy and their daddy loves them. Thank you to my queen for the great photos and allowing me to be an endurance athlete.
