Erin's Lake Stevens Race Report

Better late than never, here's Erin's race report from her first half Ironman at Lake Stevens 8/15/2010:

Pre-Race: I’m running late!! I arrived at the venue at 6:05am, about half an hour after I wanted to be there and 15 minutes before transitioned closed. Thankfully I was able to organize myself in enough time to get myself set up and ready to race. I was only able to squeeze in a 5 minute jog as a warm up, but I think my nerves/excitement at this being my first half iron man had me warm enough so in the end it didn’t matter.

Swim: I had a good start to my swim, I had started out wide to avoid any carnage, although noticed that a girl on the other side of the pack had taken off and was pulling away easily. I’m used to being at the front of the pack generally, so I tried to pick up my pace a bit to get on her feet, but at the same time was concerned about burning myself out early. I had already worked out that pacing was going to be the most important factor in this race, particularly because I had no experience at the distance. I had no desire to burn myself out early and struggle through the rest of the race. I settled into a comfortable pace and continued on the swim. My wave start was unfortunately towards the later half of the day and therefore I spent the rest of my swim dodging traffic in the water. Nevertheless, I exited the water feeling good in a time of 27.19.

Bike: My chain came of twice in the first couple of minutes of the ride and I was worried that this was a preview to how the rest of my ride was going to be. Thankfully, these were the only incidents for the rest of the race. I was fortunate enough to have been able to borrow a set of race wheels with a Powertap from a team-mate (thanks Gerry!) and I immediately focused on my power output to make sure that I wasn’t doing anything crazy. While I have not undergone any threshold testing for some time, I had a fairly good idea of where my threshold was and therefore the wattage that I could sustain over the distance. I now realize that I had underestimated myself, and without even trying my average power was way above my goal, yet I was feeling fantastic. Nevertheless, I was concerned that I was going to blow up later in the race as a result and therefore worked hard to bring it back down. This proved to be difficult, particularly due to the hilly nature of the course as every time I hit an incline my power would increase, usually always above my predicted threshold. Despite this, I felt I was able to hold an even pace throughout the course and felt great. One of my biggest concerns prior to the race was comfort on the bike and nutrition, what with this being more than double the distance of any race I had done prior. I now know that I needn’t worry about this again thanks to my TYR race gear and GU products! I think my one disappointment with the bike was that it had to end (which meant I had to run!). I finished the bike in a time of 2:50.46 (average 19.7mph/194W).

Run: The run is always my weakest leg and I was concerned that I would struggle, particularly with the heat and the fact that I knew my run fitness was not where it should be. To my relief, I felt great when I got off my bike, perhaps even a bit too good. My pace was much too quick off the bike, however I felt that if I slowed down too much, I would disrupt my rhythm and stride and would then struggle. I settled into a comfortable pace and my confidence grew as I reeled in a female who had passed me just prior to coming into transition. We ran together for about 1.5 miles, working together as best as we could until she started to fall away. I started to feel the distance in my legs towards the end of the first lap, although coming back through town so often as we did was a real boost, particularly since the VO2 Crew is the best cheer squad around. Things really started to heat up on the second lap of the run and my pace dropped considerably. While I’m sure that the temperature was a contributing factor to this, I know that my run fitness was lacking and that this was the major reason for my decline in speed. I eventually crossed the line with a run time of 1:49.44 (average pace 8.23/mile) and a total time of 5:11.12, good enough for second in my age group and 29th overall female (13th age group female).

Overall I was very pleased with my first half iron man attempt and I’m sure that with a longer and more focused training base behind me that I will be able to dramatically improve my performance. One thing that this has highlighted to me is that my run needs to be the focus of my off-season. More than anything, this will give me the confidence that I feel I need to be able to race properly at any distance. Bring it on!