5430 Half Ironman

What an awesome race! I was SO nervous going into this race because I knew I had the potential to pull off a PR and possibly place on the podium. Previously when I was racing just for my personal best and not worried so much about placement was bad enough but now that I'm actually competing for the podium placements I am much more nervous, but excited, for every race.

Wake up call was at 4am! I was so tired and it took me a while to get up. I definitely hadn't gotten as much sleep as I would have liked the entire week leading up to Sunday but after some coffee and breakfast I was getting excited and waking up. We left the house and got to the Boulder Reservoir about 5:05 am.

I got my stuff set up in transition, hit up the bathroom line (a few times), applied loads of sunscreen, continued to eat, and eventually found my parents before the start. Although, I had to do a quick tire change because when I went to pump my rear tire it was flat from the night before. I didn't want to take a risk on a possible slow leak so we swapped it out real quick and I'm really glad because otherwise I would have had a horrible swim worrying about it.

I got in a quick warm up before sending Kevin off in wave 5 and then I lined up in wave 7. This was interesting for me because we were going with the men 50-54. Hmmm, not sure how I feel about getting tackled by a bunch of burly men in the water and I knew it would complicate my ability to know my placement in the field. I decided I could use it to my advantage and try to draft some of them. The gun went off and I got a good line on someone's toes. The first 300m I couldn't see the bouys because it was a washing machine out there with the bigger more aggressive field. I was feeling good and feeling like a had a decent lead. I had lost my original draft around the first bouy and I was on my own and feeling great. On the final stretch to shore I picked up a girl that was in my age group and sat in. We swam together until the final bouy and I hit it hard to try and get a lead but we she stuck on until the exit when I jumped up and sprinted as hard as I could. I was 3rd out of the water. Here's a clip:

A fast transition and I was off on my bike. The bike was pretty uneventful, minus getting stung by a bee through my race suit. I felt good, I knew the course, and I was holding a solid 21mph+ pace. My nutrition was going down easy and I was excited to get off and see what I could e run. I was a bit nervous about 40 miles in because my legs were getting tired. I knew I wasn't over doing it but I just didn't know what I would be able to run after a solid bike split. I was watching my time carefully and knew if I could get out of T2 by 3 hours and 10 minutes I would be set up for a sub 5 hour race if everything else went well. I got in and out of T2 in record time and as I turned the first corner I looked at my watch and it said 3:10:xx. YES!!!

I felt comfortable and springy starting out on my run. My legs were thankful to be off the bike and I was keeping a solid pace. My goal was to run between 7:30-8 minute miles but I have a problem of going out too hard so I didn't want to run out too fast and be running 9's by lap 2. I settled in to a comfortable pace I felt I could hold for 13.1 miles. My breathing wasn't over the top and my legs felt G.R.E.A.T. My first mile was 7:24 so I knew I had some room to bring it back a bit. I was pretty sure I was second going into the run but I wasn't 100%. No one passed me on the bike and there were only a few bikes (mens) in transition when I went through. I caught Kevin about 2 miles into the run and he confirmed that I was 2nd but that the lead was pretty far up. I knew I couldn't catch her so at this point my goal was to hold 2nd or 3rd place. The miles ticked off one by one so fast. This was the fastest half marathon mentally I've ever run. It went by so fast and let me tell you how thankful I was for that. There is a short out and back between mile 2 & 3. On my way back I saw my friend Julie, she wasn't too far back and I knew she was a strong runner and would likely catch me. It was a few miles but she eventually caught me around mile 5.5, we shared some words of encouragement, and she continued on. I was currently in 3rd with 1 more lap to go. Could I hold everyone else off? It was still a ways to go so I wasn't sure but I wasn't about to give in. My pace started to slip a little but not much and it was mostly only on the miles with some tough hills to climb. By mile 11 I was a ready to be done and my stomach was feeling sick. Downhill finish and I crossed the line in exactly 4 hours and 55 minutes in 3rd place! 5 minutes behind 2nd and 14 minutes behind 1st.

I was so happy to break 5 hours...I replaced my PR (which was on this course in 2007) by 27 minutes, shaving 2 minutes off my swim, 2 minutes off my bike, and the rest off my run! Overall in the race series I placed 2nd which is also very rewarding and a big accomplishment for me. All in all, it was a success. I left it all out there and would not change a thing about how I raced yesterday, perfect execution in my opinion!

Swim 30:57 (including the run out up hill)

T1 0:54

Bike 2:37:38 (21.3 mph avg)

T2 1:02

Run 1:44:30 (7:59 mm avg)

TOTAL 4:55:00