The Three Coconuts

There were horrible storms last night with lots of thunder and lightning. I kept having dreams of my new disc wheel filling up with rainwater, and me not being able to get it out... maybe I had to pee. Anyway thankfully no rain this morning just very cloudy and a little windy. Weird to start a half ironman at 9:00 a.m., it really messes with your usual routine of getting food down close enough to race time to be beneficial but still far enough away to get digested. I had some toast around 5 a.m. and packed an Adams (brand is critical) p-nut butter and honey sandwich for closer to race time. We had to get to transition buy way of shuttle buses after parking in our area at the swim start. Lots of people and traffic made this very time consuming. There were signs saying "shuttle bus" which we (and about 50 others) stood by for awhile until a race official let us know that those were for dropping off from transition... not picking up to take to transition. So we walked a few blocks, carrying all our transition gear and finally got on a bus. Felt so much like cattle being herded that I believe I recall "Mooing" a few times.

Transition survived the storms... and there was Stella, glistening with rain drops and the wheel was not full of water. Got everything set up, pumped up and loaded. Waited in lines to pee (again) there were plenty of porta potties but they kept most of them locked up with a sign that declared them only open after swim-- what's with that?!?! Left transition to stand in large masses of people waiting for buses to go to swim start. And waited. And waited. Transition closed at 7:30 regardless of when your wave actually started, and people were just getting down to set up while we were waiting on buses to get us out. Finally got a bus with standing room only, then proceeded to get queasy on the stop and go ride to swim start. Uh Oh. Happy to get off the bus. Picked up chip from a cranky volunteer, the only mean person I encountered all day, which is a shame because I race really well when I'm pissed off.

Great anthem, the wind rippled the flag in perfect choreography. We watched the pro's start then went back to the car to hang out waiting on our turn. Leah and Chris arrived to cheer with "The Genuis". Listened to music, tried to get sandwich down but couldn't eat but half so I supplemented with a few ritz crackers. My heart rate monitor decided not to play today so I took it off. Got wet suits and headed down to swim start. Photos on the way.... my favorite part, trying to get the guys to play with me.

I've worked hard on my swim and was excited about swimming downstream in a river with a 1/2 knott current. Should be fast and feel easy... and it did. I even tried to start the swim closer to the front of the group, but obviously the fast swimmers were swimming even faster too. It was like the cells Ty has been studying where they perform transcytosis, which is moving a product from one side of the cell to the other and then excreting it. Well if the womens 40-44 age group was a cell, I experienced trancytosis where I was taken in on the front side and spit out like cellular trash on the rear left side. Can't complain, I had less crowd, great current and crossed the mat in 26 minutes. That may never happen again.

Swim to bike transition had a little surprise, apparantly an official decided my bike should face the other direction... so Stella and all my stuff had done a very neat about-face since I last visited. Thanks to the volunteer who neatly put everything in it's place. The bike felt great. Started easy, with a tailwind, and I tried to ride smart on the hills and push when I could. The traffic control was fabulous, no cars... but lots of bikes. Virtually impossible to stay 4 bike lengths away from each other. There was certainly plenty of drafting, by those definitions, but I did not see organized pacelines. Took in more bottles than I usually do, but I felt good and got about 950 calories over the ride which was just under 3 hours. That included a gel 15 minutes before getting off, to start the run nutrition.

A little wobbly about the legs when I stepped off at T-2 but that didn't worry me, I worked a little harder when faced with hills. Deposited Stella at the rack, once more she did her job well. The bike wasn't quite as fast as it felt (19.3 mph avg) but I was thinking that might work out well for the run, I tried to race smart. Here's where things start to go awry. Race plan was simple come off the bike and stay easy running around 8:45 pace until mile six, then build and try to stay close to 8:30's. Gels and water at mile 3, 6 and 9 when I was near a water station so I could drink extra and dispose of my gel trash. I was carrying 3 fuel belt flasks (2 water, 1 redbull designated as emergency drink by bright orange flask color). I was using my new Garmin to help with pace, it's name is Ernest. Ernest is the first piece of male equipment in my arsenal, I was being optimistic when I decided to integrate.... our relationship is not going well. So far Ernest has refused to acknowledge my existance (by heart rate) and he is a compulsive liar. He always says that he is going faster than what is true (obvious testosterone driven behavior), therefore giving me incorrect pace information. So Earnest says we're starting too fast and I obediently slow some. Ironman time had me averageing 15 second easily slower than Ernest did. But it felt easy, and I thought I was below goal pace... thus putting extra time in the bank. First gel in around mile 4, because thats where the water station was. I was feeling good and saw my Mom and Dad had come to the race to cheer. Next one at mile 7... only I'm not feeling so good now and pace is starting to slow. Things are hard and hot now, and I walk through a water station and have a hard time restarting. Reach for the red bull and hope for a miracle. Not today. Shuffling and a prolonged walk break around mile 9. Trying to calculate if I can still break 5 hours and 30 minutes for the race, but too carbohydrate depleted to do the math. More shuffling and confusion followed. Really nice looking sweaty guy started jogging with me about mile 12, and we were dressed alike, and he knew me... it actually took a minute or so to realize that it was my own trusty Flipper who came back to make sure I could find the finish line. Last 1.2 miles just ugly, but I completed in 5 hours and 23 minutes to make my goal. I took in only about 275 calories during the run and never even took my last gel. Run nutrition plan wasn't good, execution was worse. I'll fix that next race. Good news is that it is the first run, during race conditions, where I didn't spend half the time in the porta potty... so I think I'm on the right track, just need a few more calories. One month to the Austin Longhorn 70.3 race, so I get to "tri" again.