Anna's first 70.3 Raleigh 2014

My goals for my first IM 70.3 were: finish (preferably not last in AG), have fun, gain experience and I’m happy to say I achieved all of them!

During the training season I followed the plan as much as possible, but due to the cold winter/spring in MI, wasn’t able to do much outside. I maybe got only 4 bike rides, and 2 open water swims in.

My husband was participating too. We went to bed at 11:00 pm and got up at 3:00 am. I slept maybe 1 hour if that! I managed force feed myself apple sauce, 1 mini bagel, 1 banana and 1 honey stinger. It was not easy. I can’t eat that early in the morning. I had another honey stinger at before the swim start.

Swim: 00:54:26

I am only now getting comfortable swimming. 2.5 years ago I didn’t know how to swim (well maybe a little breast stroke) and would panic every time somebody would cross my pass in the deep end. I was hoping to finish in 50-60 min, even though it took me 56 min in the Olympic try couple weeks ago. I think I could do it in 45 min in training…

The water temperature was perfect and in the beginning it was not too crowded due to the wave start. I had a little hard time finding my “spot” but kept going. Unfortunately, I started on the right and stayed close to the buoys. At about 500 m the next wave started catching up (30+ men) and it started to get uncomfortable: people were pushing, grabbing my feet, and getting really close, but I didn’t panic and just kept going with couple short stops to assess the situation. At the first turn I was right by the buoy and it got messy. I wished I wasn’t there but couldn’t get away! One big guy grabbed me by the shoulder and pushed down. It got better after a minute, but then got worse again when more people were catching up. On the second stretch I was frazzled: there were people everywhere. There was a big guy swimming on his back “frog” kicking right in front of me, somebody swimming on my left and a kayak on my right. I didn’t know how to get out of this, but kept going. After the second turn it got better: less people, I found my rhythm and finished relatively smoothly. 

T1: 00:05:34 – I just took my time. When I hurry, my heart rate goes up, I get frazzled and it takes longer.

Bike: 3:38:00

Based on my power tests, I was guessing that it should take me 3:30-3:45 and I was right on target. I’m new to biking too and have to work on riding and handling skills.

Plan was to drink about 1-1.5 bottles per hour. No food – based on the recommendations (200-250 cal).

My chain came off about 15 min into the ride, but I was able to fix it relatively fast.

I started drinking Roctane from my speed fill and took a salt pill. I had a Powerade in the back for refill. Problem was, I have never practiced grabbing it, because my husband installed the bottle holder it just before the race. I did manage to grab the bottle and stuck it into the refill opening and started squeezing and squeezing,… It took several minutes to refill! No idea why. During that time I couldn’t shift and was slowing down. When that was finely done, I had hard time putting it back and the bottle went flying. (Sorry!!!!! I littered!!! and I didn’t stop!!  I did feel very guilty and made sure I said “thank you” to almost every person along the course!). Since I didn’t practice grabbing bottles on the fly and the refill didn’t work well, I decided to stop next time I needed liquids. I stopped at the first aid station and grabbed the perform but didn’t refill (I still had some left). Stopped at the third station, refilled and had some water. I have a hard time drinking the sweet stuff all the time. I had a little less than 3 bottles of fluids in total and 3 salt sticks. Less than planned, but I felt good.

We did have strong head winds, but I just ignored it and tried to stick to my power. It’s not that easy for me yet on the hills, need to practice shifting sooner. Based on the EN calculator my average power target was 119. At the end my normalized power was 120. It helped having the bigger cassette and the hills didn’t bother me at all. It felt good passing young, strong looking guys on the hills!  I'm sure the coaches will not be too happy with my VI though. I will practice!!!

I was determined to have fun and I made a point of smiling the entire time, thanking all the volunteers and police force and tried encouraging some people. Overall: happy with the bike portion.

T2: 00:04:50 Took my time: walked the bike, stopped at the bathroom, got some sun screen…

When I got off the bike, I lost my balance and almost fell. Hmm.. never happened before but I have never been on the bike for 3:40.

Run: 2:12:29

My Z2 is 9:33 which felt challenging sometimes during training. I trained and ran my first half marathon last October in 2:00:18 on a less hilly course in much cooler weather. So 2:12 I think was a great time.

I brought a bottle of water for the run and kept sipping it. My Garmin decided it had enough (or most likely I pushed a wrong button) and all I could see was my heart rate (no time, no pace) so I decided to go by that and just enjoy the run. I tried staying in my high zone 2. Whenever it got higher (on the hills) I walked a little. I stopped at almost all aid stations and grabbed cold sponges, poured water over my head, drank some water and perform and refilled my water bottle whenever it got empty. I also took another salt stick and had three pieces of cliff shot blocks – that was the only thing I ate during the entire race, but it seems to have been just right.  

The only little problem I had on the run was that my left foot was getting numb. I think the shoe was a little too tight for the warm weather and I couldn’t loosen it. But it got better after about 30 min.

My pace was: 3.5 mi: 10:13 / 6.6 mi: 10:01 / 9.8 mi: 10:37 / 13.1 mi: 9:34 / Total: 10:06

Not quite the 9:33 according to plan, but considering the heat, I would say just right. I finished the run strong (thank you for the downhill on the final stretch!) with a big smile on my face. I got a hug from my husband, who was done long before me and broke into tears. J

Overall good race execution considering my current fitness and skill level. I’m very happy with the results. Thank you EN!