My 2011 racing season officially came to an end yesterday, with the Shoreman half iron distance triathlon. Thanks to Hurricane Irene, this half distance race was actually a 72.05, as the bike course had to be re-routed, resulting in a bonus 1.75 miles.
Shoreman featured a triathlon and an aquabike, with 216 entering the water for the triathlon and 39 for the aquabike. The race started in Port Republic, NJ, which is only 10 minutes from my house.
In fact, this race is smack dab in the middle of my regular training grounds. I’ve swum in the brackish water countless times, and traversed on bike and foot the tree-lined country roads for thousands of miles of training.
I know where the potholes are, where the next turn takes you, where the finish line is. This is both good and bad.
The event featured three swim waves, and as is usual, I was in the final wave. John, who was competing in the aquabike, was in the first wave.
Suffice to say, with a little under 300 athletes, this race was quite the difference from the 3000-athlete behemoth that is Ironman Lake Placid. I’d say there were about 80ish people in my wave. There was a bit of a bottleneck until we turned to the straight-away (see below), but after that, I had plenty of open water to swim in. The swim course was well-marked with bright orange buoys that were easy to sight.
After hearing several horror stories about people losing their Garmin watches during the swim, I elected to leave mine in transition. So, I exited the water unaware of my swim time. I felt that I had a good swim, catching up to the green caps of the guys from the previous wave, and exiting the water without seeing many other white caps, which was the cap color for my wave.
According to the official time, I swam the 1.2 miles in 38 minutes and 23 seconds, which is among the fastest (if not the fastest) I’ve ever swum 1.2 miles. I’ll take it! This put me in 71st overall leaving the water.
I’m usually a complete and total slug in transition. Today, however, I was committed to being as quick and as efficient as possible. (Much thanks to @felog for his pointed questions about my IMLP transition times: What the heck happened to you in transition?) My nutrition was already on my bike. All I had to do was finish getting my wetsuit off, put on some socks and shoes, grab my helmet, bike and go. (I blister like hell; there is no way I can do this without socks unless I want to pay dearly.) The motions went very smoothly, giving me a T1 time of 1:53, which was the 30th fastest T1 time of the day. Pretty good, old gal.
A funny little side note: They had recently mowed the grass at the transition area, and when I came in from the swim, I must have had a clumps of grass clippings on my feet. When I took my socks off after the race, about a pound of grass clippings fell out.
My plan for the bike was to HAMMER HAMMER HAMMER. I would not worry about saving anything for the run. I would ride as hard as I possibly could without going anaerobic.
Be brave. Push hard. No excuses.
From the very beginning, I rode my bike like I was on a mission. In fact, I had to dial back the effort a bit, as I was pushing just shy of the redline during the first 5 miles. I had a hard time keeping my heart rate down, so I pushed a lighter gear until it came under control. About 30 minutes into the ride, I found a steady hard-effort rhythm that felt like what I could maintain for the remainder of the ride. So, that’s where I kept it.
Racing familiar roads turned out to be good because it gave me the opportunity to see these familiar roads from fresh eyes as a fellow racer commented on the beauty of the area. I opened my eyes and tried to remember the area as I first saw it, when I started riding 3 years ago.
There are a mix of pine, cedar and oak trees that line the roadways. The crickets chirp loudly, and the birds, deer, and rabbits are around many bends, scampering quickly with the sound of cruising bikes. (Although, the particular course selected for this race wasn’t necessarily the most scene the area has to offer. We have lots of scenic little tributaries, creeks and marshlands that weren’t a part of the route.)
Yeah, it’s not a bad place to ride at all.
Lucky for me, I brought all of my own nutrition with me on my bike – including sports drink. Out on the course, the only offering was water. Now, I realize I’m spoiled from all of the amenities of the bigger races, but water-only for a half iron distance? I’ve done other smaller races that at least have gatorade. I hope the race director rethinks that decision for next year’s race.
Additionally, the water station at the 17ish mile mark wasn’t even set up when I got there on the first loop (it was set up by the second time around). If you were counting on that water, you were SOL.
As I came in from the bike, friends were there to cheer me in, and it felt good to hear them call my name. I gave them my patented “Woop! Woop!” as I scooted into T2.
I had the best bike I’ve ever had in any triathlon of any distance, averaging 18.4 mph for 57.75 miles, giving me a 3 hour and 8 minute bike.
This time is aided, at least in part, by flat roads and intimate knowledge of the course. I stayed in the drops almost the entire time, and I would not let my heart rate drop below 140 the entire time, which gave me an average of 147 bpm. I kept the flame lit. Despite this hard effort, I felt very strong on the bike, by far the best I’ve ever felt for that distance. I did not feel beat when I got off the bike. I was ENERGIZED.
I hurried through T2. Unfortunately, haste makes a little bit of waste. I was so “in the zone,” I started to run out of transition the wrong way. Thankfully, my friends yelled to turn me around. Uh, excuse me, miss, is this your first time? Duh!
As I ran out of T2, I was careful to keep my pace under control to avoid a flare-up with my right IT band. The plan was to keep my pace no faster than 8:30 min/mile.
By this time, the sun was out in full force and it was HOT. I was praying those aid stations would be prepared. I had my own gels, but I needed water.
For the most part, there was (warm) water at every station, except one of the stations ran out of cups as I was running by on the first loop. This station served an out and back, so I passed it four times throughout the day. It only had cups one of those four times. I remarked to the woman running by me, “That’s going to be a issue the second time around.”
It was. The station still had no cups as I ran out for my second loop. As I was coming in toward the finish (about a half mile to go), I noticed they were finally delivering more cups.
In addition to making sure there is an adequate supply of cups, I would strongly recommend ICE to keep the fluid cold, and sports drink. While I don’t take sports drink on the run, many other runners do. I heard their disappointed comments as they ran by the stations. Apparently, one of the five aid stations had some type of sports drink. For a half distance race, I don’t believe this is adequate. Granted, this race was a bargain in comparison to the cost of other triathlons I’ve done. But, with a $150 race fee. I don’t think Gatorade (or any type of sports drink) and cups is too much to ask for.
I did my best to hydrate at all of the other aid stations, but even so, I really noticed that I was missing those 3 cups I would have gotten had that station had cups when I passed by.
Even with the hydration issues, I was having a good run. And, then at mile 10, that all too familiar tightness in my right leg began to grip my knee. Disappointment does not quite capture how I’m feeling about that today. During the race, I simply kept pushing through it, careful not to run too fast to aggravate it too much. But, I wasn’t stopping. I was too close to the finish at that point.
In the final two miles of the run, I was passed by another female athlete. Her age had rubbed off her calf, so I had no idea if she was in my age group or not. I was also hoping to place in the top ten females, so I knew I had to fight as best I could. Even at a small local race, the competitor in me likes to have some fun.
As she passed me, I tucked in behind her and let her set the pace. I noticed that after passing me her pace stabilized, and I was able to keep with her. We came to an aid station. We both slowed to get water, and I wound up exiting the aid station before her. I really didn’t want that to happen, as I wanted to stay tucked behind her.
I ran the next half mile or so wondering where she was. I didn’t want to look behind me, because I didn’t want her to think I was concerned. (I think I may have taken Macca’s book too much to heart!) I tried to speed up my pace to intimidate her from keeping up with me, but my leg just screamed its resistance when I increased the speed. I had to let it go, and maintain a pace where the pain was bearable.
With about three-quarters of a mile left, she overtook me again. As before, I stayed tucked behind her, but this time, she was definitely quickening her pace. I did my best to stick with her for about a half a mile. I knew there wasn’t much left to go, so I ignored the pain as best I could.
As we made the last turn to head about a quarter mile to the finish line, she dug in and took off. I tried my best to keep up, but she was the better competitor. She beat me at my own come-from-behind game, and I respect that–A LOT. It was a great finish, and she pushed me to have a better run than I would have otherwise–even with the bum leg. After the race, I congratulated her and thanked her for the exhilarating finish. I was happy to hear that she was pushed by me, just as I was by her.
Thanks to my running partner, I ran a 1:51:10 half marathon, which is a 8:30 min/mile average right on the nose. My run was the 22nd fastest of the day.
Overall, I completed the race in 5 hours, 41 minutes and 5 seconds, which was a personal record of just under 15 minutes. This was good enough for 3rd place in my age group, 11th female, and 45th overall. Not a bad way to end the season.
John, my animal of a husband, was second place overall in the aquabike, with a bike split that had him AVERAGING 22.8 mph. Look out, Ironman Cozumel!
Despite some of the organizational issues, I enjoyed this race. This was the first year for this race, and so there is bound to be hiccups along the way. The race director requested feedback so he could make it better, and I have confidence that it will be an improved event next year. So, if you are looking for a friendly, laid-back venue that is close to home and won’t break the bank, this is a good race for you.
My mission now is to get this leg FULLY RECOVERED so that I can hammer hard in 2012.
