Soma Half-Ironman 10/2004

October 31, 2004
Tempe, AZ
1.2 mile swim/ 56 mile bike/ 13.1 mile run

Wow, I can hardly believe I am writing the race report from my 1/2 Ironman. First I should start with how I decided to even attempt the distance.

Back in July my DH suggested that I was really doing well in my prep for the Olympic distance race I was doing with the WW Tri-ers group in Chicago at the end of August and perhaps rather than do a 1/2 IM in the spring as I had planned I should extend my season and do one in October. So I looked into a training plan and a race and I happened onto the Soma 1/2 IM in Tempe AZ on Oct 31. I found a 13-week plan in the Gale Bernhardt book so I kept training for the Oly and started making plans for the 1/2. The Oly went really well and I finished in just under 4 hours. As soon as I returned from Chicago I started on Week 4 of the training and aside from skipping 4 swims in the last 3 wks of training due to an arm injury I followed the program exactly. It was difficult but very doable for my schedule as most of the hours came on the weekend.

My mom cashed in some miles to fly in from Hawaii, my sister and BIL planned to drive in from LA and of course DH (who has a fear of flying) planned to get on a plane and head to Tempe. I put in hours of training, my longest bike was 3.5 hours and my longest run was 10 miles at a 14 min mile pace. I felt good and I was excited!

Week of Race
After much prep and a lot of training race week finally arrived only to be put on hold by a scary encounter with food poisoning which left me weak and sick on Monday evening. ACK! I was due to leave on Wednesday and I felt like aliens were visiting Earth and using my stomach as their landing station. I kept the faith that I was meant to do this race and started feeling a lot better by Tuesday evening. I left Wednesday full of excitement and nervous anticipation.

It poured in Tempe on Wed/Thur so I mostly stayed in my hotel other than a 30 min run on the hotel treadmill. I drove the bike course and watched the weather forecast like a hawk. On Thursday night there was a prerace event with the crew from Multisports.com that included Paula Newby Fraser, Heather Fuhr (who just finished 3rd at IMH 2 wks ago), Roch Frey and Paul Huddle who are in charge of the bike course for IM AZ and a few others. There were about 100+ athletes there and they showed some videos and gave a lot of funny commentary about doing a 1/2 or full Ironman. It was still gray and cold out and many of us joked about getting hypothermia before the race. I had a nice chat with Paula and Heather and got the raised eyebrow from a few men when they asked me if I was a spectator and I laughed and told them I was doing the 1/2.

Friday, I picked up my bike and biked part of the run course (not the correct part but oh well). I relaxed, picked my DH up from the airport and wouldn't you know his flt was delayed 2 hours due to mechanical issues and he had awful turbulence and my family was delayed leaving LA. So I relaxed some more while I waited. They all finally arrived and it was great seeing them and having them here for moral support. Got up Saturday and went to registration, the expo and the course talk and bike racking. The expo paled in comparison to the Chicago expo but we did get lots of race schwag including a bag, hat, t-shirt, towel and then we purchased another hat and t-shirt that had a cool design. I got body marked (#610) and registered and discovered I'd be in Wave 3 which went off at 7:10am so I'd have 8 hours and 20 minutes to finish since the course closed at 3:30pm. I racked my bike and determined the walk from the water was nearly as long as the one we had in Chicago. We had assigned spots on the rack which was good in the sense that you knew were you supposed to go but bad because my #s dictated me going mid rack on one closer to the swim and far from the bike exit. Ugh! More time spent running with the bike. At the pre-race meeting they announced the swim would be 2 loops instead of 1 and the run was 60% on gravel trails (little did I know how crucial of a detail this would be). They also announced that the water temp was 65, uh oh! Normally that'd be cause for a major freak out but I knew that the temp in Lake Michigan was 64 and even though I had no wetsuit I still did fine on that swim so I wasn't stressed about the temp. We went back to the hotel after I walked the transition zone and timed myself from the water to my bike and then from my rack to the exit. 4 min seemed like a long time :( My mom, sis and BIL got a lot of laughs out of the thought of what triathletes did on the course in terms of "using the facilities" which prompted them to come up with a slogan for me which they used all day "Whizzing to the finish line" hehe, it cracks me up just thinking about it now. It was fun to talk about the sport with people who were complete newbies (my mom didn't know what the chip was for). I drank some GU20 throughout the day and in a superstitious nod to my pre-race routine in Chicago where Andrea and I had ravioli my family and I went to Olive Garden and I had ravioli and some breadsticks, yum :) After seeing them off DH headed out to look for video games (one of his hobbies) and I enjoyed the alone time to take a bath, double check my gear, stretch and go over my pre-race plan in my mind. It was an extremely relaxing evening and I was in bed by 9pm.

Race Day
Okay when the alarm went off at 4am all I could think of was $%*# I am doing a 1/2 IM today but I knew I had done everything I could to prepare and so I started getting ready. I ate my usual pre-race breakfast of a bagel w/pb&j, banana and water, lubed up with some vaseline for the LONG day ahead, went to the bathroom several times, and at 4:45 left the hotel to head to the race site. I got my transition area set up, packed my nutrition into my bento box (thank you to my friend Karie for loaning it to me) and into my bottles. 7 GUs, 6 fig newtons, a bottle of water and a bottle of GU20. It was about 50 outside so I bundled up and waited in my car listening to music and getting relaxed. I went to the portolets a few more times and before I knew it it was 6:45am and my family had arrived and it was time to line up for the swim. I chatted with several other women, listened to the National Anthem and waited for the Pros and Men to start the swim....

Swim
At 7:05 we got into the water and it was as I expected FREAKING cold :( The water was clear and had no vegetation, which was a change from most lakes I swim in. I started my timer (a 15 min chime that reminds me to eat and drink) and waited for the horn. This was my first mass swim start with about 300 in my wave (all the women and men age 25-29) so I seeded myself at the back to avoid getting clobbered. And we're off! It was a 2-loop course and I finished the first loop in about 27 min, which was a little slower than I expected but the water was also much colder, and there were a lot of people to navigate around. As I finished my 1st lap I got clocked in the head by a pack of speedy men who had lapped me and were finishing the swim. I regrouped and tried to steer clear of the rest of the men as they rounded the final buoy. Unlike Chicago where I couldn't relax enough to pee as I swam I was able to go which was good cause I didn't want to have to stop on the bike. I finished the swim feeling pretty good other than my injured arm being really sore but I was certainly one of the last 15-20 people in the water. :(

My Swim Time: 57.41
Official Swim Time (which included the run to T1): 59.41

T1
Saw my family as I jogged to the transition area and got my helmet, gloves, sunglasses and cycling shoes on. The transition area was in a grassy field (filled with lots of dead grass) which meant my feet were covered in it and I hadn't thought about that and promptly used 1/2 of my water from my bike washing them off :( I don't wear socks for the bike so I really didn't want that grass rubbing my feet for 56 miles. Grabbed the bike and I was off.

My Time: 5.39 (from water to bike mount)
Official Time: 3.42

Bike
Oy vey! What can be said about this except it's my favorite part, I did a TON of work on the bike, I love the bike, I had a great plan and a totally achievable goal and unfortunately I don't control the weather. My goal was to do a 3:30 ride, which was a 16-17 MPH average. The course was almost completely flat. We basically rode through the town with a few gradual inclines and then out through the Indian Reservation. All the roads were closed which was good and it was a 2-loop course. I planned to take the first 14 miles easy, pick up the pace for the next 3 14 mile segments. As soon as I got on the bike I knew my plan was going to hell. The first 14 miles were directly into a 20mph headwind and it was all I could do to maintain 13mph. I didn't want to expend to much energy too quickly as I knew my day was far from over so I drank water, ate a GU and 2 fig newtons and drank my GU20. At the end of the 1st 14-mile section we turned around and got a fast tailwind. I was STOKED! !
I was going about 19mph and I knew I was making up some time. The 2nd 14-mile section was slightly downhill and very fast. There was 1 horrible road which had so many cracks and uneven sections that I imagine if they don't pave it before IM it will be littered with bottles and other ejected items (Darcy and Lori definitely be prepared for this). We did an out and back section over a cobblestone bridge where I promptly launched my CO2 pump and 2 GUs from my bento box, $%&@, 1 loop down and 1 to go and no way to fix a flat and down 2 GUs, just keep pedaling :0 My legs felt totally fine and I saw my family as I headed out to the 2nd loop. I'd taken on water at the 14-mile mark and I got a bottle of Cytomax at the 28-mile mark. I was mentally prepped for the wind again so I thought it odd when I was doing 14-15mph on the start of loop 2, sweet I thought I will definitely get in by my goal of 3:30 since I'll get the tailwind on the final stretch but those tailwinds were nowhere to be found and as I hit the final 14 mile stretch I was once again going into the wind. I hate wind; I was literally singing songs to myself about how the wind was sucking my will to live. I also passed the time singing songs from every Disney movie I could think of. This is an extremely desolate course, nothing fun to look at and no shade but plenty of wind and not predictable wind but sucky wind that can change directions within an hour. My "bits" were sore, I drank 2 bottles of fluid replacement (which was not enough) and 3 bottles of water (although I lost my water bottle with about 3 miles left on the bike) :( I ate all of my fig newtons and 5 Gus. Thank goodness for the fig newtons though because my stomach did not want GU and after I launched the 2 GUs on the bridge I promptly moved the remaining GUs to the pocket of my trisuit so I wouldn't lose anymore as I knew I needed the calories even though my stomach was hating the GU. I couldn't wait to get off the bike, once again I hate wind, I like having interesting things to look at but I had no mechanical issues and other than a sore booty my legs felt fine.

Bike computer:
56.84
3:46.50
15mph

Official Time:
56 miles
3:45.36
14.9mph

T2
I saw my family again and they told me I was looking good, hehe. I grabbed my GUs (I planned to take 1 every 2 miles), visor, race belt and set about to vaselining my feet and putting on my shoes and socks. I headed out to start the 1/2 marathon. I knew I had 3 hours and 28 minutes to make the cut-off. So off I went....

My Time: 4.03
Official Time: 3.47

Run
As anyone who's ever done a half or full Ironman knows this is where things go right or they go wrong. It's tough for me to say how they went for me because in many ways it was the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly out there. I left the transition and it was hot out. Not NW type heat but Arizona heat which is a whole different animal. It's a dry heat people always say but even though it was only 74 out in Oregon terms it felt like 85 at least. There was no shade, the entire run was near the water so the full sun was reflecting off the water and for some unknown reason fully 2/3 of the course was a rocky, gravel path. Not small pea sized gravel but like granite with Oreo cookie size rocks here and there which absolutely killed my feet, knees and ankles. There were really cool inspirational signs on each of the mile markers and there were aid stations every mile which were stocked with Cytomax, water, CarbBoom and thankfully Ice. Puddy and CJ I thought of you when I took the ice with the heat at Troika. Oh that ice was like manna from heaven. I did the first mile too fast even though I was trying to go slow (13.22) so I quickly slowed down and ended up settling into a 15 min mile pace. I ran steadily through the first loop. Lots of people were on the course since it was 2 loops and I got tons of encouragement. There weren't really any spectators to speak of and because of it being on this half paved half gravel path it wasn't a closed course so I'm dodging cyclists out for an afternoon ride (WTF), moms with baby carriages, dudes fishing etc. I took my GU every other aid station and drank Cytomax at the ones where I wasn't eating GU. My heart rate was staying down (thanks in part to the copious amounts of ice I was pouring into my sports bra at each aid station) and other than the oppressive heat (I literally felt like I was baking) I kept on running. I did the first 6 miles in 1:30 exactly, which was good. I saw my family at the 6-mile mark and kept on running. It's about this point that I had to pee, I didn't really want to stop as I knew that if I sat down I'd be hard pressed to get back up and start running again so I just kept running, mile to mile, drinking as much as I could, talking to myself and cursing the gravel path. I run on the street or on a treadmill, I've never run on gravel of any kind, it was killing my legs. Note to self: ASK WHAT KIND OF SURFACE IT IS BEFORE YOU SIGN UP!!! Okay so at this point I'm about to mile 8 and the volunteers offer me and the other people left some sandwiches. I kept thinking to myself "if I eat a sandwich I will yarp all over your shoe" but the volunteer would not take no for an answer, she kept insisting since we'd been racing for 5 hours we needed to eat. I wanted to be like thanks for the thought but actually we've been racing for 7 hours and Subway sandwiches are the last thing we need. Give me ice, pretzels, an ice cream cone but not a turkey and cheese sub. Blech, just the thought makes me want to yarp. Mile 8 is right near an out and back and I can see that there are only about 10 people left on the course. I caught up to this guy in a bright yellow shirt and we started talking as we jogged along. I'd seen him on the bike course but he was about 30 min behind me so I thought it odd I was catching him at mile 8. Turns out he got yanked from the bike course because he didn't make the cutoff but he started the run anyway. I was thoroughly impressed since they had taken his chip and he was just out finishing for himself. Well Van (that was his name) has been in chemo all summer for cancer and he just went into remission. So already I'm impressed that this 65 yr old dude who isn't going to be an official finisher is beating down cancer and walking along doing a 1/2 IM. We chatted about his family and about weight loss as his daughter has been struggling as well. After about a mile we parted ways, as I knew I could make the cutoff if I kept the pace I was going. It was a really refreshing break in a long day and it totally put why I was racing in perspective. I bargained myself to mile 10, I was so hot, my legs were killing me and since I knew that Van was "off the clock" so to speak I was the final person on the course. The volunteers at the 10.5-mile mark (the aid stations were in between each mile marker) were really encouraging and I refilled the sports bra with ice, took my last GU after basically begging my stomach to take it and not yarp. I was starting to get a little loopy at this point and I vaguely remember striking a bargain with my stomach and feet that if they just kept going it'd be the last GU for months and I will take a break for at least 60 days to rest my legs etc., it worked and I kept trucking along. I knew mile 11 was just before this bridge and there was another aid station just on the other side. I walked the hill up to the bridge where there was a homeless guy with a sign that said "Why lie I need a beer" I laughed and said "you and me both". I laughed to myself about this as I cruised along the bridge. A lot of racers drove past on their way home and honked or cheered. That encouraged me. After mile 11 walking hurt more than jogging so I just kept up my jog/shuffle. I told myself you've got less than 2 miles to go you run 2 miles all the time and it's no big deal, you can do it. I knew the final aid station was just around a corner and I willed myself to get there. I was taking ice cubes out of my bra and sucking on them for the water and the cool and I wanted another cup of Cytomax and some more ice. I turned the corner and there was no one there (all the volunteers were wearing red shirts so they were easy to spot) but there was no one. It was all I could to not sit down at the side of the road and cry. I needed that aid station. I looked at my watch; the course was still open what was going on. I sort of remember thinking to myself that I thought there was something on the website about how the final aid station would be staffed by Special Olympians because that was the official charity of the race. I looked around; nope don't see any Special Olympians, I finally happened upon a table with 3 cups of water and 3 cups of Cytomax, no ice, all warm. I didn't care I poured water on myself and drank some Cytomax and kept moving. I could see the mile 12 marker up ahead and I had about 19 min to the cutoff. Almost like a mirage DH appeared just at the mile 12 marker to bring me in, he walked alongside me as I jogged and encouraged me to the finish, he offered me his water bottle and I was like "NO FREAKIN WAY, after all this I am not getting Dq'd bc I took your water bottle" Hehe, he was joking of course but I still had some sense of not wanting to get Dq'd at this point. He told me the finish line was just ahead. I knew from my watch that I would make it in the official time. That I would become the final finisher, I wished I had Sally Edwards with me but I was so thankful for DH. I knew that there were bleachers for the spectators right at the finish and there was a big clock etc like you see at most races. Paula Newby Fraser was announcing people as they finished and I expected to hear on the loudspeaker something about here comes the final finisher. For months I'd been imagining the Queen of Triathlon announcing me as I finished. I'm not sure what I expected as I rounded the corner to the finish line but what I got wasn't anything like what I had in mind. My family was there and that was it. Literally. The timing clock was gone, the timing mats were gone, and Paula was gone. There was no crowd, no medical staff, no one to give me a bottle of water. Just my family and a guy with a computer who was recording the final 10 or so racers manually into the timing system. I smiled as best as I could given the long day and sprinted in with what little energy I had left.

Run Time: 3:23.38
15.33 min/mile

Final Time: 8:16.22
Calories Burned: 9999 (Apparently my HRM can’t record more than 4 digits so at some point in the race it stopped recording calories but geesh even 9999 is a ton) J

As I crossed the finish line I sort of freaked over there not being a beep which is how I even figured out they'd shut everything down. I asked the computer guy, I'm official right I made it within the time and he was like yep, you did. He took my chip, gave me my finishers medal and then left. DH got me some water and I promptly poured 2 bottles on myself and drank a 3rd. I cried a little although I'm not sure if it was because I had accomplished such a huge feat (2yrs ago I weighed 358lbs and now I'm finishing a 1/2 IM), I felt like cr$p or because of the MAJOR letdown at the finish line. I walked around a little bit and then we went into transition where DH gathered my stuff, got my bike and we saw Van finish. I got to meet his family who was waiting for him and we took a few pictures and I cried a little more at the incredible perseverance of this guy. The transition area had been completely dismantled save for 3 or 4 bikes so we grabbed the stuff and I wandered to the car which took us past the banquet/awards ceremony where there were a ton of people (like 200+) not even a block from the finish line which in hindsight begs the question why couldn't anyone cheer for the final finishers. Maybe it's the Ironman mentality or the Danskin mentality but IMO the final finishers should get some cheers and at the very least if the course is still open the finish line should be intact. I mean I trained every bit as hard and earned my medal as much as the winners of the race and yet the experience was nothing like I imagined it would be.

Post Race
Since there were no medical people to be found after the race we decided the smart thing would be to head to the hotel. I barely got into the car and DH wisely ordered salty French fries from room service before we arrived. He mixed up a bottle of GU20 while I talked to Carol P and then my family helped me out of the car and up to the room. I could tell my feet were totally hosed and I started feeling light headed and cold. Sipped GU20 and ate French fries like they were the last food I'd ever have. DH took my temp, which was 93, yikes! Hugged my family and got myself into the bathroom where I finally got to pee. Looking back I was definitely dehydrated and certainly could have used some sort of medical consult.

I had an awesome time at the race. I love triathlon, I love the people and so many people were extremely encouraging. I know I could have made it in the 8 hours were it not for the wind and probably the gravel but I still made it in the official time. I'm a little sunburned, a lot sore but really proud for gutting it out and finishing. I'm fully aware that this was a first year race and there were a lot of things that were awesome: the volunteers were great and plentiful (other than at the end), the swim was awesome, bike aid stations were great (I'd never done a bottle handoff on the bike but the volunteers were smooth), the course was accurately measured and well marked.

I travel to races by myself a lot so it strikes me that had my family not come to cheer me on I would have crossed the finish line and had no one except the guy with the computer. Had I collapsed from the dehydration that I was clearly experiencing would anyone have known? I think if the course is open the finish line should be staffed maybe that's cheesy but after 2 years losing 140lbs, thinking about doing a 1/2 or full Ironman it wasn't what I imagined. Perhaps that makes the accomplishment that much more cherished, as I know that I did it and that's really all that matters. I will definitely do another 1/2 IM in 2005, this was a really good test of my mental and physical stamina and now I know what I'm looking for in a race, what questions to ask, what kind of course suits me and that I can do better. I'm also really glad I didn't sign up for an IM in 2005. I want to work on my run in the off season (a marathon may be in my future) and focus on breaking 8 hrs at my next 1/2 this coming summer.

A special thanks goes out to my family for traveling from far off places to cheer me on as I reached for this seemingly unachievable goal. Anything can be done if you want it bad enough.

IM CDA 2006 - Bring it on! :)

Train Hard, Race Fast, Be Safe!
Bonnie