Wow! The season is officially over, that never really started. I mentioned in previous posts that I was hoping to land myself in one more race here locally and luckily got the opportunity. Black Diamond has been around since I began triathlons 10 (gulp) years ago. I had little expectation going into the race and set the goal of trying to break my time from 5 years ago. 5 years ago I had never done a full or half ironman. It would be nice to think that I would be fully capable of doing this, but you all know how the story has been all year. I also had a little bet with a fellow teammate and so the goal was to come out on top there too :)
We woke up early on Sunday with the blinds shattering with wind and rain storms that forced us to close our windows for the first time in weeks. A few text messages from other athletes deciding not to race, but it didn't stop me. I knew this course was not very technical and I REALLY wanted to race again. Mark reminded me that if we made the drive I would be racing "no matter what the conditions". GAME ON!
It ended up being absolutely perfect conditions. A tad chilly but nothing over the top, the wind was up and making pine needles fly from the tree with the perception of snow falling on the ground. I would later inhale one of those as I was gasping for air on the run.
I got in the water early, as I have yet to EVER forget how chilly the water is at Nolte State Park. My double cap did the trick and the water was perfect! Mark told me to start further left, so I moved a few more people over to the left, where honestly he meant as far left as physically possible. Immediately the girls to the left had a full body length on me. I will remind myself of that when I do this race another five years from now! I worked extra hard to get to the first buoy first, not to be first but to make sure to round it fast enough in hopes that no one would grab onto my feet. Phew....it worked. I needed a minimum of a six minute lead on my teammate to have a chance at winning the bet.
The bike felt good for the first time in ages. I had a power number set in my mind and the goal was to hang onto it for as long as I could. Not the best pacing strategy (but it would have worked had I been rested going into this event, but since the decision last minute there were no changes to the plan and I stuck with running the 30+ miles that were scheduled). I hung on until the last 5 miles....then faded. Power and HR were dropping. But I just went with it. I was racing after all! And teammate X was nearing!
I felt fantastic on the run, despite teammate X passing me on the way out of transition and asking if I was okay. Yes, I was okay, I just don't run as fast as you (yet!). I held on slightly below 7:40 pace. This is great for me right now, yes, I used to run that in a half iroman, but I will take it for now. That is until the last 2 miles. I figured I was fine and didn't need any gu. I mean really, its only two miles. Ugh! Mile 5 was a 9' mile and mile 6 a 9:30....oops!
(1st overall- yeah!)
The goal of surpassing the 2006 time was achieved by about 30 seconds, the bet..... (ie: Addy-rematch!) by 1:30. I will say that had I taken that gel the outcome would be different (ha!) but I will go with it and be more prepared for next time.
My body is just not yet conditioned to use its stored glycogen as fuel, still being totally dependent on gu and more gu (or should I say powergels). I had 2 powergels and all three scoop of PB perform on the bike (410 calories) and still needed more on the run (way more than I ever take per hour on an ironman). As my conditioning improves I know I will be able to limit this number and push harder in the later stages of the racing game.
I was so happy to do this event because I know it is the start to even better things to come. If I keep setting small goals then the big goals will be here before I know it! I learned a lot about where my body is at now and feel like my season has finally begun. Let the training begin!
Once again I can't thank all the amazing support to the right of this blog and my friends, husband and family, for making this journey so much more worthwhile. Everything is more fun with friends and I couldn't have done this without you!
