Back in July, a small group of us traveled out to Indiana to do our only 1/2 IM for this year. Kathy Parker-Jones and I left after I got off work on a Friday and drove straight to Muncie to get out packets. One there we met up with Kristen Huener Henny, Federico Menendez and Rick Carlisle. I also ran into Julie Robbins, who I didn't even know was doing the race! We got our packets, went to the athlete meeting, where we found out the water temps were already in the 80's -so no wetsuits for the swim! From there we went out to the race site and then dropped off our bikes. We split from Kristen and Fede and hit up Olive Garden for our carbo loading before the race. From there we went back to the church, that is right, the church, where we spent the night. Actually a really good deal. $10 and you get a cot, water, indoor bathrooms, and breakfast food in the morning. We actually stayed behind the church in the activity center and you get your spots first come, first serve. We didn't get there quite early enough to snag a classroom, but we did manage to find a storage room! Nice and dark, but nothing fancy - saw some Christmas and Easter decorations on the shelves! We also ran into some more friends there - Petr, Christy, David, and Thomas. They had a snagged a spot on the stage in a big room upstairs. It was very quite and dark and I thought I would sleep well, but not so. I went to the bathroom 2-3 times that night and just seemed to toss and turn, I think I finally fell asleep about 2 hours before the alarm went off.
Race morning came really early, we got up, ate, and stumbled out of the church and got over to the race. Found Julie Zedaker, Kristen, Fede, Rick, Chirsty, and Tommy C. before the race and wished them good luck! Then went to the bathroom about 4 more times and Kathy and I headed to the water to wait for the race. This one went off in waves and they start the slower people first. This was good for me, meant I didn't have to enter the water last like I did for my last 70.3 distance. The water was really warm, almost felt like bath water. Within the first 500 feet I got nailed in the face and the impact of the girl's fist knocked my goggles out of alignment (once I got home I actually discovered that my left eye was bruised). I had to stop and refocus and after that I was alot less aggressive trying to swim around people. I also got kind of off course around the first turn and it seemed to take me awhile to get back in line with the buoys. When I finally exited the swim, I looked at my watch and saw a 44 min time. I was really disappointed b/c I had been hoping for a 35 min swim. WTH? There was quite a little jog to get to T1 and my official swim time ended up being 45:44. Very disappointed and I think it threw me off my game for the rest of the race.
T1: I was actually pretty quick in (for me) but I did stop to apply sunscreen, which added some time. Total T1 time: 4:03, my fastest by far.
The bike course was pretty flat, which was nice. It was already a little windy at the start, and we had a nice tailwind. It is an out and back course and we had a pretty steady headwind for the middle 25 miles of the course. This gets tiring to me after awhile. I think of all the things you can get on the bike, wind is my least favorite, it just never lets up! The nice thing was that we got somewhat of a tailwind on the way home. One good thing about this type of course is that it does allow you to see some friends. I was able to see Kathy, both Julie's, Kristen, Rick, Christy, and Tommy at various points along the course. I love to see my friends race, so this did help to pass the time! My bike ended up being 3:14:09, not my fastest (3:10) but I was still pretty pleased with it! Overall I felt like I controlled the pace well and I thought I was doing well with nutrition, one bathroom stop along the course, so this told my I was on track.
T2: Uneventful, I was in and out in 3:30
Run: My legs felt really good when I first started running, maybe a little too good. I decided to go ahead with the 4:1 run/walk that I had been practicing for IMKY. I also decided to do this b/c it was always into the mid 80's and was really humid by this point in the race. My first few miles I managed to do in the 10-10:30 pace range. I felt like I was passing alot of people at first and generally was having a good time. Muncie is alittle deceiving, it is advertised as a fast and flat course. That may be true of the bike, but not the run. It is constant rollers for 13 miles. I am not sure if it was that, or the fact that it was 89 degrees by the time I finished, but somewhere around the turnaround point (6.5ish miles) I hit a wall. Big time. My legs felt like lead, nausea set in, and I felt like I was moving like a snail. I was having a hard time eating or drinking anything b/c my stomach felt very full and bloated. Around 8 miles I started to get chills and goose bumps, then I noticed I was in the sun. So, I tried to force more fluids and I decided to walk more of the hills. I saw pretty much everyone else on the course and they all looked strong. Kristen and both Julie's were flying. Kathy and Rick looked great! Petr flew by me with a huge smile and pat on the arm. Meanwhile, I was feeling miserable. I managed to muster up a big smile for Carrie McCoy and her cowbell when I saw her along the course, but after that I slowed down even more. One foot in front of the other, ran when I could, tried to say on the 4:1, but deviated a bit. Met a really nice gentleman from Indianapolis who seemed to be feeling the same as me. It helped, especially the last 1.5 miles. Finally, one last big hill, which I walked and then the turn to go back to the finish line! My half marathon time ended up being 2:40:52 and my overall time 6:48:17.
I was never so happy to finish a race. Rick and Kathy were both there to greet me. We waited around and Fede finished a little behind me, huge smile on his face! I still felt like crap and I know I was alittle out there. Kathy chatted away and I think I managed some one word answers. She loaded up on food and nothing looked good to me. I managed to choke down some water, a few bites of some pretzels and still felt like my stomach was going to revolt. Then I found the ice cream truck! Awesomeness, I found an orange flavored pushup thing and that seemed to hit the spot. Once I ate this and sat a little, I finally started feeling a little better. We found the JustTri group and hung with them. Christy was still out there and I was determined to see her finish. Kathy and I split for a bit as she wanted to change clothes and get her bike loaded up. I did go get my recovery drink and got into flip flops, my feet finally felt wonderful! As I headed back to transition I ran into Lauren Updyke and we chatted about the race - she did awesome, BTW! But, she also mentioned being disappointed in the swim and being a few minutes slower than normal. We speculated a bit and came up with the theory that the course was long! Phew, maybe I wasn't as slow as I thought...
Back to the race and just in time to see Christy cross the line! Yes! Everyone made it! From there I went back and quickly gathered my stuff and went out to where I thought we left the car, but it wasn't there. At first I thought I had the wrong spot but then noticed Rick's car was still there. So, Kathy moved the car somewhere and I had no way of finding out where she or the car were, as my cell phone was in her car! D'oh! So back to transition, her gear is gone. Decide to go back to the finish line, bags and bike in tow. Finally found her, she had moved the van closer and I completely missed it! At that point we loaded up the car and headed home! Very uneventful trip home, I thought I would sleep and didn't. I think we talked the whole time about IMKY. Once home (a little over 3 hours from Muncie) I finally went to the bathroom and realized I hadn't gone since the bike of the race...
So overall I was disappointed with my time and performance of this race. But it was so much fun to be out there with all of my friends and I did learn some things about myself. A few things of note, I did not taper at all for this. It was hot and that was the first time I had done a race of that distance in the heat. I realized after the race I didn't manage this well. Maybe on the bike, but definately not on the run. Looking at my symptoms and the fact that I didn't go to the bathroom for at least 7 hours, leads me to believe I was either really dehydrated or undergoing heat exhaustion on the run course or both. After talking things over with Kathy and Kristen, I realized I didn't use the ice as well - they both were putting it in their bras, under hats, and munching on it. I think this would have helped me alot and it is something I will rememember for IMKY. So, it did rally five me some things to consider for my nutrition planning and managing in the heat. The one other thing I noticed is that it really didn't take me that long to recover. I was right back on track for IM training pretty quickly after the race, which I though was great.
All in all, I thought this was a really well run race and would suggest it to anyone wanting to try a 70.3 distance!
The last paragraph was what I was looking for: what you would do differently next time. Although it's a little scary how dehydrated you must have been. I'm sure you have a plan for how to prevent that at IMKY. Thanks for the RR!
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