Racing for Recovery - Race Report

It's been a long time since I have updated my training blog. A lot of things have happend since my last post:

1. lots of training
2. Completed Florida 70.3 in 5 hours and 14 minutes (35 min swim, 2:35 bike, 2:01 run)
3. Racing for Recovery: http://www.racingforrecovery.com/

I highly recommend this half ironman distance triathlon to anyone looking for a low key, well organized, flat course, close to home - with all proceeds going to a very good cause.

I first arrived in Monroe, MI (Sterling State Park) on Saturday night. My first stop was the beach to check out the swim. When I arrived, I noticed lots of the dead fish along the beach. See below for a example of what I saw:

After surveying the beach and waves (must have been 2 foot waves with white caps!!!!). I noticed the nuclear power plant about 1/2 mile away from the beach - which is probably the reason why the water so warm and there were dead fish along the beach (look at the picture carefully and you can see the stacks in the background):

After checking out the swim, I headed back to my hotel which was just 1/4 mile away from the state park. I went to bed around 10:00 but just laid there until 1:00 - I guess I was nervous about the big waves and the nuclear power plant. My alarm went off at 5:00 - I got up and packed up my stuff and headed to the park.

I picked up my registration packet at 6:00 and the race director announced that it was going to be a great day and that the thunderstorms had just missed us. I then proceeded to set up my transition area and had everything laid out.

Around 7:00 the clouds started to roll in and the thunder, lighting, and big rain drops started. The race director made an announcement for everyone to head for their cars. I packed up all of my stuff and unloaded it into my car. We waited about 15 minutes and the race director announced that we could all return to the transition area. I got all of my stuff out of the car and unloaded back into the transition area. The race director then said that the weather radar indicated clear sky for the rest of the day. 5 minutes later it started pouring and lighting again. The race director then announced for everyone to head back to their cars until further notice. I packed my stuff up again so it wouldn't get wet and headed for my car. After 15 minutes the race director announced that the race was going to be delayed by 30 minutes due to the passing thunderstorms.

At 8:00 the announcement was made that is was safe to return to the transition area. I unpacked and set up my transition area for the third time. After the thunderstorms had passed, the winds started to pick up.

At 8:30 the race started - I was using this event as a hard training day to work on my speed. When I started the swim, I was shocked to see how high the waves were. In fact they were so high, I could not see the buoys - on several occasions I had to stop and tread water so I could orient myself. I noticed that people were all over the place... After about 1000 meters I became comfortable out in the choppy water - well this was a mistake because I apparently got off course and a lifeguard started chasing me down in her ocean kayak. I did not notice this until I hit the front of my head with the front of her kayak. I stopped and yelled d*mn! She said sorry - and proceeded to say that the water was so choppy it was hard for her to control her kayak. After that moment, I was pretty much dazed and confused for the rest of the swim.

T1 - finally the swim was over and I headed for my bike. I quickly put on my helmet and shoes and took off. It was my plan to ride as hard as I could for the 56 mile ride. For the first 15 miles I was cruising around 23 mph, when I noticed that my legs were going numb. That is when I realized that I forgot to take my skin suit off. At that point, I began to panic. What was I going to do - my legs are going numb and I had my skin suit on. Believe it or not, I thought about turning around so I could take my skin suit off. After about 10 minutes, I decided to keep trucking on. After about 30 miles my aero bar came loose and I could no longer get into the aero position and I couldn't shift. At this point, I decided to call it a day, so I sat up and started cruising around 16 mph. Lots of people passed me and asked if I was OK, and I told them that I had a mechanical problem. Someone then told me that there was a mechanic on the course and they could fix my bike. When I finally reached the mechanic on the course, I decided to peel off the skin suit and sit down and think about why I was out there. The mechanic grabbed his torque wrench and said that it was not uncommon for carbon aero bars to come loose (apparently you do not want to crank down on the bolts or you might crack the carbon). I then asked the mechanic if I should continue and he said just wrap your skin suit around your aero bars and finish the race. After wasting 10 minutes with the mechanic, I decided to finish the bike course as hard as I could. The course was super flat and fast. I completed the final 20 miles averaging 22.5 mph.

T2 - When I finished the bike course, I put on my socks, shoes, and visor. I hit the run course. I told myself that I wanted to beat my run time in Florida. I took off slow and built up speed. Luckily I finished the run 11 minutes faster then Florida. What started out to be a bad day turned out to be a good day for me. I was super happy with the run and with all of my bad luck I still managed to finish 3 minutes faster than Florida.

I still have Muncie to beat the 5 hour mark in July...

Summary:

Swim: 35:21

Bike: 2:43:17 (20.6 average)

Run: 1:50:10 (8:25 average)

Total Time: 5:11:24

Even with all of my bad luck I learned a lot of lessons:

1. be prepared for the unexpected

2. don't let a few mishaps ruin your day - it's a long day and what's a few minutes

3. there are more races in the future

4. IML is the goal!!!!