Seelhead RR

August 1, 2009 was my first attempt at a 70.3 Half-Ironman triathlon, what an experience!!! 

Friday was the expo and I had a short list of things I needed – new tri-suit, Salt Cap tablets, and a Bento box.   No problem finding those things and being able to check-out a couple of things from the manufactures.  After registering we drove the course then went to rack the bike.  Now I’ve had 3 flats with my HED Jet 6 wheel and got my 4^th on Friday night.  Had changed out my training wheels with my race wheels and did a quick loop of the parking lot with no problems.  I was getting ready to walk the bike to the transition zone when my tire literally popped.  I’ve got 2 of the tubes still and I’m going to compare them.  If it’s in the same place I’ll take them into the shop and see what’s going on.  I can’t find anything and didn’t have any more problems with it.

So a quick racking became an 1 ½ ordeal that left me a little frustrated.  After the bike was set I head into the transition zone and it’s absolutely HUGE!!!!!!!  There were 2500 athletes so you’d expect it to be big, but they’ve got it set up with 5 or 6 rows of bikes and everybody had to make it the length of the transition zone for the bike/run exits.  My guess is the transition zone was probably 250-300 yards if not longer. 

Morning of we get to park right on-site due to my dad’s handicap parking.  It was so VERY nice!  As I was walking to the transition zone I saw a bright flash in the sky and look up in time to see a huge, bright shooting star!!!!  Somebody near me asked what was that and I said a shooting star.  Good karma for the day!

The swim was a straight point-to-point swim in Lake Michigan and I was in wave 13 so I had plenty of time to get things set and walk down the beach to the swim start.  Meet up with some friends and wished them well.  I was nervous and excited and just wanted to get started on this adventure!  Finally we get the words athletes ready, GO!!!! And into the water we went!  It took about 150-200 yards until I was out of the washing machine and into clean water.  I found my pace and settled into things.  Before I knew it I was at the turn buoy and getting out of the water.  I asked the guy next to me for the time and he said 29:15!  I couldn’t believe it – and for good reason, I think he was in the wave after me!!  Official time is 37:28, but we had a roughly 1 minute beach run (accounting for the 7 minute delay between waves and he was right on).

On the bike I go.  The course itself is a fairly fast course.  The hills weren’t too bad and I never had to stand to get up them.  At mile 34 my Garmin starts beeping at me saying ‘data fields full, erase old laps’.  Well, I had no idea this was possible so there goes that.  Now I’ve got a really expensive speedometer as I had left my heart-rate monitor strap at home.  For those first 34 miles I averaged 20.6 and had a great cadence.  The last 18 miles was straight down the coast and into one of the most brutal headwinds I’ve experienced.  That was the talk of everyone on the run!  Overall bike time: 2:53:14 w/19.4 average – did I say how BAD that wind was yet!!!

Bike bonuses: no flats and I stuck to my nutrition plan so I was feeling good.

Now the run, oh the run.  Started out fine.  I had wanted to keep a 9:30 pace or so, and I did for the first mile and a half.  Then I was fighting to stay under 10:00/miles so I just went with it.  Well by mile 3 I was getting sore.  OK, I’ll walk the aid stations and run between them.  By mile 5 I was developing some painful blisters and was just coming up empty.  Run time: 3:00:13.

Overall time: 6:38:02

Ok, for the boneheaded move of the day!!!!!  Knowing how big the transition zone was and the beginning of the bike was flat and easy I figure I’d clip in my shoes and run the transition zone in my socks.  I was actually laughing to myself watching the other people running a long way in their bike shoes.  I get to the mount line, through my leg over and start going.  Problem was I couldn’t get my foot in the shoe.  Well, all those people that I passed must’ve laughed their butts off when I dismounted my bike, grab my shoes and unclip them!  Yeah – I clipped them in BACKWARDS!!!!  Damn triathlon shoes and their backwards openings, lol