Wow!

Last Saturday was my second half Ironman race of the year.  It was my first to race under the umbrella of the actual Ironman organization.  This was a very different experience on many levels and very impressive on each of those.  First thing that stands out is the pure size of the event.  My largest event yet was with about 300 participants across multiple distances and activities.  This race had 1500 people all doing the half ironman distance.  This included professionals and people from across the county.  You can see in the picture below showing just 2 of the 10 racks in transition.  The next portion that was impressive was the organization.  This began at packet pickup through the whole execution of the event.  Everything ran seamless, on time, easily processed, and readily informative.  An example of this was that just on race morning it ended up being wetsuit legal.  In that short amount of time they rerouted volunteers to be made available for wetsuit removal assistance as you came out of the water.  Lastly was the marketing.  I am not sure I have seen anything better marketed other than maybe the NFL.  There signage was everywhere, The brand was prominent and placed perfectly.  They have developed a premier race series that performs equally to its reputation.  I so look forward to seeing Louisville where its is even raised to another level.

The race itself went well for me.  It was a beautiful summer morning in the low 70's and slightly humid for Indiana. I finished with a 5:24.  Placing 374/1500 overall and 66/200 in may age group.  It did not better my previous half as I hd hoped but it was a different race.    The swim was wetsuit legal due to a water temp of 75.6 which I will gladly accept anytime.  The race was a wave start by age group.  Therefore you go about every ten minutes or so with about 200 people at the same time.  This was my first mass start.  That was a different experience.  It definitely has a level of physicality that you must be aware of and at times participatory to be sure you have a decent swim.  I came home with a couple nice  fingernail scratches otherwise unscathed.  My sighting was good and I was  fairly happy with  this portion even though it was about 4 minutes slower than my previous half.  I felt this was a result of the wave swim.
   


I knew going in to the bike that it would be fast.  The roads were mostly smooth wide and less any real hills.  My performance was just that.  I average nearly 22.5 MPH over the 56 miles. This was 1 mph and 9 minutes faster than previous. I felt good and fresh despite the pace. 
Coming out of T2 I felt pretty decent but I knew there was a lot of meat on the bone and that this run course would not be easy.  I also got to see the pros coming to their very impressive finish under 4 hours. Wow! The first 4 miles were pretty decent.  The only real challenge was that my watch was not set properly so I was unable to gauge my pace.  I spent some time fiddling with it as I ran getting it reset.  I had it rolling by about mile 2.  At about mile 6 I began to strain.  I had a slight side cramp develop that was compromising my breathing and my stomach felt overly full.  At the half way point I was at a 9:20/mile average.  This was about on par with my previous.  The stomach and fatigue crept in more in those final 6.5.  I took a few walks and continued to walk the aid stations.  I rerouted my fluid intake that gave some relief for brief stints but I was in a tough place.  I pushed on.  I knew my training buddies were behind me.  I kept going so as to not be passed.  I needed that motivation.  It was getting warm and I was getting tired.  I pushed through the last two tough hills just before the finish and brought it home with a 10:30 average for the second half and 5 minutes behind my previous. It was a little disappointing and my real downfall for trying to get a new PR.

It was a good race.  Again, as I came to the end of the race, I questioned how do I do twice as much. I know I have got to focus on my running and dial in my nutrition more.  The past months or so I know I have not pushed as hard nor gone as far as I could in my runs.  It show'd.  I am now at the biggest, longest, and hardest parts of my training.  This week I have over 17 hours of activity with a big weekend of nearly 3 hour runs and 5 hours of riding.  To add to this is work the current heat that decided to show up.  We are in the low 90's with high humidity.  This what I need. Odds are this is what the race will be like.  I continue to learn and develop to put the pieces in place for a successful ironman tri.