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Carol D. Race Report - Shoreman Half

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I felt I should do a race report on the Shoreman Half because I did everything 

the EN execution plan called for - and it worked!!!  I probably read the plan

in the WIKI 25 times in the week before this race.  I had all my numbers dialed

in and new exactly what I should be doing and when.  I only hoped that I could

stick to the plan and not have any unseen problems along the way!




Turby and I went down to Port Republic (with ENer Ken Cestari and Pam) the afternoon

before the race.  It's really not all that far from us, but we wanted to just be

close by and not have to get up any earlier than necessary on race day. 

The Shoreman Half is a small, very laid-back, FUN event!  The packet pickup is

at Fred and Ethel's bar/restaurant in Smithville:-)  They provided a pasta dinner

and I had one glass of wine...  I didn't sleep very well, but that is normal for me

so that's that.  The hotel staff were very kind and made sure that the continental breakfast

was ready for us at 4:00 a.m.!  We had waffles, bagels, and coffee and went

back to take care of business and load up the car.




We got to the race site around 5:30 and immediately racked our bikes so that we

would have a good spot.  Then we got back in the car and turned on the heat full

blast because it was about 45 degrees at that point.  I got antsy so I went back

down with all my gear and laid it out.  Turby stayed in the car and put on his wetsuit

there because he is not good with the cold!  A couple trips to the porta-potty and

we're ready to roll.  Saw LOTS of friends there, either racing or volunteering, which

was really sweet.  The water temp was 75 degrees so there was a big mist over the

river/creek and with the sun just coming up, you could NOT see a thing.  Oh well.

At least it was warm in the water:-)




My goal was to break 6 hours for this half.  I have not done that yet and was determined

to do that at Shoreman (even though the bike leg is more like 58 miles!).  After my

double Ironman experience last year, I was ready to focus on the half and train hard and see

if I could improve.  




There were 3 waves for the swim.  The women went last so that was good for me.  After

a little bit of a late start, I got going at 7:12.  You really couldn't see the buoys so you just

had to follow the arms going in front of you.  There wasn't too much jostling in the first

loop, which was good!  After a quick jog on the beach and back for the 2nd loop, I saw

20 mins on my watch and was very happy, since swimming is not my "thing".  The 2nd loop

was a little clearer, but I seemed to be stuck behind a guy from the previous wave, and two

women who were boxing me in.  Argggghhh...  It was so frustrating because I had lost

my rhythm and couldn't seem to get around this little group.  Oh well... just kept going

and finished in 40:13.  Great!




Pretty quick T1 (2:53) and out of the wetsuit.  Uh Oh.  Didn't plan very well.  It was SO cold

and I only had my singlet and tri-shorts!  Oops..  Arm warmers would have been really

helpful right about now!  Well, just get going and hope to warm up!  Now that I have a

Garmin watch, I could watch my IF for the entire ride, as well as my watts on my power tap.

The first 20 minutes, I rode at .75 IF and didn't really take in any fuel.  I was freezing and

could barely shift, because my fingers were numb, as were my toes.  I was shivering and

all I could thing about was poor Turby!  He is much worse with the cold than me so I knew

he was probably not happy.  Then I really started to focus.  I drank Perform every 10 minutes

and upped my watts to .80 IF.  It's a great bike course so you can get into a good groove,

unless you are shivering:-)  After the 1st loop, I was finally dry and the temp was going up

and the sun was hitting us more.  Phew.  I watched my avg IF going up little by little.  Perfect.

I picked it up a little more in the 2nd loop because I wanted to end up with an avg IF of about

.81.  Right after my last sip of Perform in my Speedfil (40 oz.), I hit the ONE bumpy section

and lost my last bottle of Perform!  OH NO!!  I think I saw it splatter so there was no going

back for that bottle.  Okay - don't panic!  I knew there was an aid station a ways up and

I did have a few Clif blocks for some extra calories, so I made the plan to stop there and fill

up my Speedfil with water and use the blocks to get some fuel.  Worked fine!  Probably only

cost me a minute and that was worth it!   Felt pretty good the rest of the way back, although

I did feel some rumblings in my stomach so I didn't even use all the blocks!  Got off the

bike in 2:57:46 with an IF of .819 and a VI of 1.01!  WooHoo.  PR on the bike leg:-)




Another quick T2 (1:39), grabbed my hat with everything in it I needed (belt, Power Gels),

threw on my shoes and took off.  Now it was certainly warming up but it was nice and

dry so I was happy!  Stopped for a quick pee on the way out so now that was out of the way:-)

The run was great!  I went out really easy the first 3 miles, like I was "told" and felt fine.

Took 3 gels during the entire run and drank water and sipped gatorade occasionally at the

aid stations.  After the first loop, I looked at my watch and saw 1:02!  Wow, I had been thinking

that if I ran a 10-min/mile pace, I'd break that 6 hours and  I was ahead of that:-) Kept on going pretty much the

same effort for the 2nd loop.  My heart rate was increasing little by little, but it was also

getting hotter (low 80s by now!).  I poured water over me to keep cool and just kept remembering

that if I ran hard, I could walk 30 steps at the aid stations as my reward!  Saw a few ENers

out there and was told that Turby was flying in the run:-)  WooHoo!  Got to the last

turn-around and was so happy that I knew I had the 6 hours in the bag!  A few miles left,

just keep doing what you're doing.  I got to the finish line and Turby was screaming "look at

the clock"!  WHAT???  It said 5:51.  My brain wasn't quite all there so I thought I had to add

6 minutes and I was happy that I indeed broke 6 hours.  But, duh... subtract 6 minutes silly!

Run was 2:03 (9:24 pace) and the overall final time 5:45:20!    I was in total shock!   And

oh - so happy:-)




I finally asked Turby how he did!  He says all calmly...  5:06!!!  WHAT???  22 minute PR for

both of us!  Age group wins to top it off.    Of course he executed exactly the same EN way

and it showed with his 1:39 half marathon run!  



All I can say is THANKS to EN for all the support and great training in 2013!  Work Works every time! 

IMMT in 2014:-)  But don't tell my family!





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