January is an odd time of year to do a triathlon for someone who lives in the dank cold of the Northeast United States. But, after Ironman Mont Tremblant in August, my coach Vince and I decided that I would pass on the fall racing season in favor of building my bike fitness.
Somewhere around mid-October, I knew I wouldn’t make it until the spring season without some sort of race. So, I consulted my friend Google.
Oh, wise Google, what type of mischief might a marauding triathlete get into in January?
Google replied:
This inaugural event, organized by the same race director who puts on Beach2Battleship, featured a full and half iron distance triathlon, on January 12, 2013, in warm – wonderfully warm – Key West, Florida. I opted for the half distance, as my primary full IM focus is on Lake Placid, coming up in July.
Because I had spent September through December working on my bike fitness, this race was about the bike. In particular, one very important question about the bike: Could I do a sub-3 hour bike? This is an important milestone for achieving my Kona dream.
My other goal was to go 5:15, which seemed a far way from my previous half iron PR of 5:34. With the training complete, I prepared my mind for a tough day, and that’s exactly what I got.
I also received a valuable lesson in learning to roll with it.
The day before the race, as I was putting on my wetsuit for my shake out swim, I pulled a little too aggressively and yep, you guessed it: I ripped it. Race morning was less than a day away. No wetsuit repair kit to be had. Then, I went to put on my swim cap and ripped it.
I was going #hulksmash with my gear.
John’s advice: “Roll with it. It’s not a big deal.”
I woke up race morning with confidence. Nerves, yes. But, mostly confidence.
I went outside of our hotel room and the winds were blowing 15-25 mph. This had been a constant wind since we arrived into town on Thursday, so I wasn’t surprised.
I wondered how I would fare with my race wheels. Before we left, I had installed a disc cover on my back wheel, not thinking that I might be cycling in a typhoon. I hoped that I wouldn’t get blown back to Jersey with that thing on the back. I hadn’t really ridden with the cover much more than 40 minutes, so this was a bit of a gamble.
Don’t do anything new on race day, right?
John’s suggestion: “You just have to roll with it. Be cautious, but go for it.”
Vince looked at a picture of my set up the day before the race: “You’ll be fine.”
Okay, the boys in my life say I should roll with it.
What’s a little wind while I’m riding with the equivalent of a kite on my back wheel?
Once in transition, I set to the task of preparing my area for the day. I had to pump my tires since I had let some air out of the them the day before. (RACE TIP: When you have to rack your bike the day before, and it will sit in the hot sun, you want to let some air out to avoid flatting.)
Because I had the disc cover on the back, I needed an adapter for the bike pump. Now, this adapter has been a PITA since we started using it. It requires both John and I to make it work. But, I figured I would be a big girl and take care of it myself.
As I was fiddling with the adapter, I bent the stem on my tube. More #hulksmash.
Uh-oh. That’s not good…
Guess what I did? Yup, I rolled with it… Well, after a mini-meltdown, that is.
Tube replaced, transition set, total meltdown avoided. It was time to get to the swim start.
The swim was a point-to-point ocean swim, starting at Smathers Beach, and ending at the Higgs Beach transition area. From the beach, we swim straight out to a yellow buoy, and turn right to swim parallel with the shore. We would then get to the first of two piers, a little less than one mile away, and have to swim out again, going around the pier. The finish would be at the second pier.
After what seemed like an awfully long time, it was finally my wave’s turn to line up: Women 40 and older. That’s right, old biddies bringing up the rear 🙂
It was so windy, you couldn’t hear the starting siren, so they waved a flag. We ran into the water. Smathers Beach is quite shallow, so we had to walk/run for a bit further than you might normally. It was even a little too shallow for duck diving right away.
Once I felt like I had enough water, I was off and swimming.
Smack… Slap… Slop…
It was rough and we were getting smacked in the face by the waves, but my main concern as we were heading out was getting off course due to the wind and the current. I sighted every 9-12 strokes, when I usually sight every 18-21. Because there were so few people in my wave, drafting options were limited, and I swam most of the way myself, passing some people from the previous waves every so often.
I made my way to the second pier to finish the swim, and put my feet on the steps at 35:14. We had to run about 200 yards to the timing mat, so my overall swim time wound up being 36:30. A typical swim time for me, but I was happy knowing that I hit dry land about a minute faster than I normally do.
Into transition, I prayed that the tube fix held. It did. A quick 1:44 in T1, and it was time for Rooby-Roo’s maiden race voyage.
The bike course for the half was a simple out and back route, on A1A, which is the main thoroughfare into Key West. A good portion of the course has a bumpy less-than-smooth road surface and there is a lot of traffic along the entire route. Since this is the main artery, there was no way to close the course.
Let me just say this about the bike course: I think it sucked, due to the road surface, heavy traffic volume, thin slivers of shoulder, and too few aid stations that were off the course, forcing me to stop to get water.
When I pulled into the first aid station, at mile 15, unbeknownst to me, I accidentally bumped the lap button on my Garmin. Since I was using the auto-multisport function, this automatically switched my watch into transition mode. When I headed back onto the course, I looked at my watched and realized the mistake.
Okay, okay. Just roll with it.
I realized I would have to get the watch back into bike mode, otherwise I would not be able to see either my heart rate or my watts.
As I fiddled with the watch, I thought: Vince will not be happy if I don’t have the data for this ride.
Watch fixed, I got my mind back into the game and tried to let my annoyance about the course and the aid stations fade. Rhythm reestablished, I could see the turnaround just ahead. I looked at my watch. It would be very, very close to come in under sub-3. I knew I had the advantage of being with the wind once we turned around, and hoped to make up some time.
During the race meeting, we were told that the turnaround would be tricky, but there would be police support–which there was. As I pulled into the turnaround, the officer stopped me, and the other bikers behind me. We waited for almost 2 minutes as they allowed the traffic to pass before they let us cross the road.
As I stood there, I fought the increasing panic in my mind: OMG! It’s going to be so close to get that sub-3. I can’t believe I have to stand here! Please Mr. Police Officer, please MUST RIDE SUB-3…
My brain was starting to ride off the rails, so I had to grab it before it fell off.
Roll with it, girl. Roll with it. I repeated my newly found mantra.
I was also anxious to keep moving because I had run out of water. I needed to get to the next station and refill. It was hot, I was sweating like a pig, and I needed fluids. I foolishly decided to ride with only one water bottle and one concentrated bottle for fuel. Given the temperatures, I really needed the back-up water bottle. (Side note: had the aid stations been 10 miles apart, instead of 15-17, I would have been okay with one water bottle.)
After the longest 2 minutes of my life, we were heading back into town, and what had been a headwind became a tailwind. I was immediately grateful. The wind and the road surface had me feeling like my brain was vibrating. While it was still a bouncy ride, I had the advantage of the wind at my back.
I felt Rooby just take off under me, as my speed increased, allowing me to maintain a steady 23-24 mph all the way home. Oh, yeah, I can roll with this.
I visualized my bike split: 2:XX. Once I realized I would get in under 3 hours, the game then became: how far under 3 can we go?
With about 5-6 miles left on the bike, I saw John running along the course. He turned around, and I smiled. BIG.
“Yeah, girl!” He yelled. “You are top 10, easy.”
Top 10? Really? This was even more amazing when you consider that I was in the second wave, and the 39 and under women started ahead of us.
Rolling into T2, I clocked 2:48. I felt a wave of happiness, kissed my Rooby baby, and became a runner.
Almost immediately, I realized this would be a hot run. There is just no way to effectively heat acclimate for 85 sunny and humid degrees when you live in 32 cold and dark degrees.
As I came into the first aid station, I called out: “Water! Ice!” The volunteers gave me the bad news: No ice.
Huh?! No cups of glistening, lovely-licious ice? N.O. I.C.E.?!
Okay, roll with it.
I grabbed two of the water bags, and bit off the corner of one. I poured one over my head, then took a swig.
Okay, it’s not ice, but it will have to do.
The run course featured two out and back loops along the water front, and then a final finishing loop in the downtown area.
I liked the out and back portion of the course, as you were running along the waterfront. It was windy, but running into the wind – while hard – felt good because it was cooling.
When we ran with the wind at our backs, you could have told me I was running on the surface of the sun, and I would have believed you.
After finishing my two laps along the waterfront, it was time to head into town for the final 5k. I very much disliked this portion of the run through downtown. The people walking on and around Duval didn’t know that there was a race going on. Since they had us running on the sidewalk – rather than the street – this caused some issues, as we had to run around people just out and about on their vacation.
The downtown section of the course was marked, but not particularly well, and there were a gazillion turns. Yes, a gazillion. No, I’m not exaggerating.
With 2 miles to go, I was well above my redline, running as hard as I could to meet my overall goal time: 5:15. As I did the math – always a tricky thing to do at the end of a triathlon – I realized it would be close. Very close.
Given the heat of the day, my run was about 10-15 seconds slower per mile than I had hoped for. While my bike was 7 minutes faster than I had predicted, the slower run was eating away at that safety cushion.
Spittle was flying out of the sides of my mouth, creating a bit of a froth. My breath was coming out in labored barks. And, then finally, I saw the finish line. I didn’t dare look at my watch. I just dug in deep and ran as hard as I could – which wasn’t very fast, but it was hard.
I crossed the finish line, looked down at my watch: 5:14:28.
I rolled right into achieving my two priority goals for this race: sub-3 bike, 5:15 finish. While my run was less than stellar, it was still good enough to be the 3rd fastest half-marathon among the top finishers.
My time was good enough to be the 1st in my AG, 6th female overall, and 20th athlete overall. (I think it’s worth mentioning that the female winner is a professional triathlete.)
I think of all of those, I’m most proud of being 20th overall. I chicked a lot of guys–especially on the run. Yeah, baby! MAKE THE BOYS CRY!
As an inaugural event, there were bound to be issues that were less than perfect, and there was. But, overall, the race director did well in a location that is tricky for such a long event–particularly the bike course. He kept us safe, and that’s the most important thing.
The bumps along the way led me to realize one thing: WTC has completely spoiled me. #firstworldtriathleteproblems
Would I recommend this race? It depends. If you are doing your first half or full iron distance – no. This isn’t a good first timers’ event.
But, if you are looking for a mid-winter race in a warm vacation spot, and you’ve got some experience and aren’t looking for the full race experience, this is the event for you. And, when you done, it’s time to enjoy Key West – which was not a disappointment at all.
