Let's flash back to May of this year, when I received an email that Ironman 70.3 New York was "almost sold out"! Having recently changed my plans out of doing 70.3 Wisconsin due to a variety of logistical issues, I was immediately intrigued - intrigued enough that after checking the date and reading the words "completely closed highway bike course" - I signed up. Perhaps one of these days I will learn something about signing up for races SO early...but this was not that day. After Sea to Summit, my motivation to train pretty much hit rock bottom. I cobbled together a couple of long-ish rides (one 50 miler...one very hilly 45 miler...do we count a couple of 35s?), one long run + Reach the Beach, and continued with my casual 1x/week open water swims. In summary, I was doing absolutely NOTHING that any sane coach or person would look at and say, yes, that woman is training for a successful half iron triathlon. Hell, I barely felt like I was *training* at all! It got to the point that when my hotel abruptly cancelled at the beginning of September, I had half a mind to completely bail on the race. The more I looked into the logistics, the more complicated and time consuming it seemed, and did I really want to spend all this time and effort to do a race that I was in no way prepared for? Well, in the end, the amount of money my idiot self had paid for said race won out, I found a new hotel, and I decided if nothing else the race would be penance for my failings and a reminder to actually consider whether I REALLY wanted to do a race before I hit the registration button.
Well...that's not exactly what happened?!
With a Saturday race we drove down to Long Island on Thursday afternoon, making a clutch last minute realization that we could take the ferry as opposed to battling NYC traffic. I ended up just eating a turkey sandwich and a hot pretzel on the boat for dinner, and we stopped at a brewery on the way to the hotel to grab a beer before we checked in (and to make Andrew feel like he was getting *something* out of the trip lol). I had ended up booking a Hampton Inn about half an hour from the race site that seemed to hit my intersection of affordability and location, plus apparently all Hampton Inns are now dog friendly which was CLUTCH! We took advantage of the free breakfast which was honestly excellent before heading down towards check in.
I learned from reading the athlete guide that Jones Beach was not dog friendly (making the fact that I forced Andrew and Topper to come along on this little adventure even stupider lol) so I ended up dropping Andrew off at the end of a bike path to spend a couple of hours walking to the beach while I dealt with check in, bike racking, and doing a shakeout swim. On the way I was able to get a nice bike course preview of the Wantaugh Parkway, which was hilariously flat for this New England gal. I arrived at check in and the village, with all of the fanfare that the Ironman brand brings. I HATE myself for saying this, but the hoopla that surrounds these bigger events does add something to the race experience for me - nothing against smaller local races, which I also love! But there is something to be said for this *experience* with a store and signs and branding that just somehow makes it feel like a little bit bigger of a deal. Now, in this particular situation, that was a little bit concerning to my soul, as I felt in no way prepared to take on a big deal kind of race. Add to that the fact that nothing makes me feel like more of an imposter than an Ironman check in area, where everyone is walking around in expensive clothing and expensive bikes and looking like the definition of an endurance athlete while I feel like some rando who wandered into the wrong tent, and it was a bit anxiety provoking. But I went through all the motions - got my wristband and swag, perused the store (bought some socks that had nothing to do with the race because of my crippling sock addiction), made sure my bike tires were inflated and then checked my bike in, etc. In the midst of it all I tried to make sure I was continuing to eat food and stay hydrated, almost like I needed to race the next day or something, and then finally it was noon which meant I was allowed to head over to the beach for the practice swim.
I like swimming the day before a tri because I just find it impossible to be stressed out while I'm swimming, so it really calms me down, and all the better if I can do it at the actual race venue. That was even more valuable here, as I'm not used to swimming in saltwater or any sort of a current. The practice swim setup was nice - they had a mini "course" that we were able to do with lifeguards keeping track. The water was chillier than I expected but felt nice once I was in; what was initially less nice was the JELLYFISH I kept smacking! They were just moon jellies, so they don't sting, but it took a little while to get used to the sensation and to not squeal underwater every time I felt one lol. It was a perfect little 15 minute shakeout swim and I felt much better leaving the water than when I entered. I also timed it perfectly, as by the time I was heading back to the parking lot Andrew had arrived and we were ready to go find lunch.
We ended up going to a great little brewery, Root + Branch, on the way back to the hotel where we had some excellent beer, but even more importantly, excellent pizza! We ate a pizza for lunch, and then I had the smart idea that we should get pizza to go so we would have dinner sorted, and then we would also have trunk pizza for after the race...so essentially I just ate this pizza for 2 days straight and IT WAS GREAT, don't judge me lol. The perk of staying in a purely utilitarian location for the race was that we really had no desire to attempt to sight see or be touristy after that, so we just went back to the hotel and vegged the rest of the night...not sure why I don't do this more often before races, because it was great?! After more pizza and a beer I watched Divergent (random, but also perfect) and headed to bed around 9:30. I think by this point I had fallen into a very "que sera sera" attitude so I wasn't really nervous, more just repeatedly wondering WTF I was actually doing the following day.
Thunderstruck, 4:15 am. I actually was awake before the alarm and could feel myself going into 'get it done' mode, where there's no room for nervousness because there's always the next thing to do. I got a cup of juice and ate a banana, braided my hair (took 4 tries because I kept ending up with a weird lump which I could not abide with, despite the fact that my hair would be covered by various hats ALL DAY lol), ate a few graham crackers and drank some iced coffee. It's funny how my race morning breakfast has evolved over the years; I always think that whatever I'm currently doing is "the best" but seriously, I think graham crackers are the best because you don't have to eat them all in one big chunk and can sort of just gradually infuse carbs into your body over the course of the morning. I gathered all of my bottles and stuff for the day; Andrew had enough time to come back to the hotel before checkout which also make the whole morning a bit easier.
The drive to the venue was pretty easy; it was amusing being passed by multiple speeding SUVs with bike racks on the back who were clearly also headed to the race. Andrew maintained a safe speed the entire time, lol. Once we got on the causeway closer to the beach it started to rain; I commented that it could stop doing that (spoiler alert: the weather gods were not interested in listening to me). We got into parking lot 4 with no issues and I grabbed my first batch of stuff to head into transition, leaving my wetsuit in the car because I was planning on coming back to drop my bag back off. Again, once in transition I was 100% in focus mode. I got my stuff situated, putting my bike and run shoes inside of the bag from the store that I had obtained yesterday to try to keep them dry, cramming as many fingerling potatoes as could fit into my bento box in (I was trying out some new bike fuel for this race lol) and then waiting in a completely nonmoving line for a portapotty before eventually abandoning ship and heading to the ones closer to the beach. The wind was WHIPPING and I'll admit looking out at the churning bay made my heart rise into my throat a little bit. I love to swim, but the idea that I'd be fighting Posideon in that bay in a matter of an hour was a little bit nervewracking.
All current transition problems solved, I headed back to the parking lot to get my wetsuit which is where the whole morning went completely off the rails. I went to where I was pretty sure the car was...and it was not there. I wandered around a little bit, still no sign. I called Andrew, becoming increasingly panicked as our conversation went on and we didn't seem to be coming any closer to finding each other. I asked him to honk the horn - I could hear it, somewhere in the distance, but was getting no closer to actually pinpointing the location. I kept circling the parking lot, beginning to spiral as I hyperventilated into the phone. "I CAN'T DO THIS SWIM WITHOUT A WETSUIT!!" Andrew, for his part, was trying desperately to figure out anything he could do but this was decisively a me problem. As the clock ticked closer to the time transition closed, a lightbulb finally went off in my brain as I looked back at transition: the parking lot we parked in WAS NOT NEXT TO TRANSITION. I had been wandering around the WRONG parking lot!! OMG. Talk about dumb race morning brain...in the darkness and in my hurry, I had taken the wrong path down to the parking lot and had essentially walked into a circle back to transition. What an idiot. I power walked to the correct parking lot, trying to slow down my breathing and heart rate (I guess I really got a good warmup?), found Andrew exactly where he said he was, grabbed my god forsaken wetsuit, and power walked back to transition, practically mowing down a few spectators on the way.
Back in transition, which was practically empty by this point, I continued to try to calm down my breathing and had to laugh a bit at what a ridiculous morning it had been. A couple of guys next to me at the rack struck up a conversation, with one offering me some goggle defogger which I happily accepted (and it worked like a charm, thank you guy!) It was his first triathlon, and I wished him good luck and to have a great day before finally heading down to the water and the starting area, finding my way to the vicinity of the 37-40 minute pace sign.
One thing that I miss with triathlons compared to running races is having friends to hang with before the start...I sometimes feel like a little kid with no friends on the first day of school! LOL. It's not a big thing but I tend to be chatty when I'm nervous and not having anywhere to send that energy can kind of get frustrating. I ended up talking a bit with a couple of guys near me, but so often talking with strangers in these situations turns into a big dick waving contest, with everyone asking how many Ironmans YOU'VE done, oh well I'VE done this many, oh one time at THIS race, blah blah blah. The culprits of this behavior are almost always men but guess what, you're almost always outnumbered 4:1 as a woman in this sport so that's who you end up dealing with. One guy near me mentioned that it was his first 70.3, and as I'd shared my experience in some prior conversation he asked if I had any advice. "Oh, I literally still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing," I replied. "I guess I'll just tell you what I always tell myself: don't be an idiot, and have fun!" I think that guy thought I was an idiot. OH WELL.
It took quite awhile to get into the water (25 minutes from the official start according to Strava) but finally we were moving closer to the chute. There was a spectator dancing wildly to whatever music they were playing who I loved, definitely hype train A-Z approved, and I vibed with her a little bit before heading into the starting corrals. And then it was time to go, ready or not!
Swim - 38:03, 13th AG, 107th F, 572nd OA
The swim started with a pretty extensive run along the beach, followed by a pretty substantial stretch of very shallow water. Despite the fact that people around me were still trying to run I pretty much dove in as soon as the water got deep enough to swim; there is nothing I find more awkward than trying to walk or run through shallow water, and I suspected that just swimming would be faster - a fact that was confirmed when I passed all of the people who were still walking, lol.
The out leg of the swim was INTENSE. I had known it would be from looking at the bay, but the reality of it was really something else. I've never swam in such rough water and while I never got stressed out about it, I definitely did find myself having to work a lot harder to move forward, and it was annoying! The pattern of the chop was so unpredictable so I never really knew where in the wave cycle I was going to try to breathe; sighting was almost impossible because it was also raining and the wind was blowing water everywhere, so I just tried to follow all the neon swim caps. I definitely got a couple of good gulps of salt water due to an ill-timed breath, and since the waves were mainly coming from ahead of me I don't even think being able to breathe on the opposite side would have helped. I wouldn't say I ever found a rhythm in the first 1000 yards - it was just stroke, find a way to breathe, and keep on going in whatever pattern keeps you moving forward. I think I'm normally a pretty efficient breather and don't really pop out of the water unless I'm sighting, but in this case it was just impossible to stay flat in the water. Despite the fact that I felt like a flailing windmill, I found myself continuously passing people (as usual lol) and was sort of taking in the scene around my every time I breathed or sighted. People were backstroking, treading water, just sort of dogpaddling...it was not the typical scene for people who had seeded themselves at this type of pace. I found myself thinking about all the people going into the water after me who weren't strong swimmers and thanked myself yet again for my confidence in the water.
The worst part of the entire swim was the left turn buoy; there was a pileup of people and the waves seemed to be at their peak. This was the only point in the day where I straight up stopped swimming freestyle and just sort of paddled around the buoy; there was too much going on and I'd already been kicked in the head on the out, I wasn't in the mood for any more contact. The short cross stretch was also unpleasant, but then I FINALLY made the turn for home with the waves now at my back. I was finally able to find my rhythm and get into a groove with my stroke, although I definitely could tell I was carrying more fatigue than usual due to fighting the waves on the way out. I said hi to my little jellyfish friends throughout this stretch and tried to just lock in for the final 750 yards or so. Similar to the start of the swim, the end of the swim got really shallow well before the actual exit to the water, and I had to laugh as I noticed that not a SINGLE person was trying to run out of the water - we were like a bunch of shipwreck survivors straggling to shore. "Well, THAT was an adventure!" I commented to no one in particular, which got a couple of laughs from people nearby. The nice part about the slow meander out of the water was it gave me plenty of time to get my heart rate down and to take off my cap and goggles and get the top of my wetsuit down, so by the time I actually got onto the beach I was in a good position to start jogging up to transition, something I don't always feel like I have the energy to do! My official time was in the 38 minute range, inclusive of all of the water running/walking; when I GPS my swim I only count the actual swimming time because I'm curious about my actual swimming pace, and my time for that portion was 36:26 (1:49/100) and my splits tell the real story - 9:23/10:01/8:37/8:23 lolll. But hey, another good swim pulled OUT OF MY BUTT, I will take it! Don't tell all those people I passed that I did one leisurely OWS every week and no additional swim training, lol.
T1 was SLOW. I swear there were reasons for it but T1 is definitely something I need to clean up in general. But everything was wet because it was still raining, which just threw me off. I also attempted to eat a potato, which just was not the move right after swimming. I ended up having to spit half of it on the ground because I couldn't swallow it because my mouth was too dry from the salt water, disgusting but what can you do. I couldn't decide what to do about my sunglasses, I couldn't figure out what to do with my food, honestly I've never done a tri transition in the rain before and I simply did not know how to handle it. 4 minutes and 33 seconds later (ugh so long) I was finally trotting out with my bike, laughing at the guy advertising sunscreen, and mounting up for the bike!
Bike - 2:54:31 (19.3 mph) 18th AG, 109th F, 869th OA
The beginning of the bike was a little bit of shitshow as I continued my process of trying to figure out what the hell to do with my sunglasses and get into my spot in the group as we exited transition. It pretty quickly became clear that even though it was absolutely not sunglasses weather, I was going to need some eye protection due to the wind whipping all sorts of shit off the ground and into my eyeballs. I spent some time maneuvering my (thankfully lightly tinted) sunglasses out of my pocket and put them on; I now could barely see and needed to keep looking over the tops of the glasses but at least sand wasn't flying in my eyes anymore!
The first 5 or so miles of the bike were actually horrid, as we were going over these exposed bridges and the wind was coming directly crosswise, which is simply NOT fun when you're trying to maneuver a lightweight bicycle. Getting in aero just didn't seem like a good idea and my first 5 mile split was super slow due to all of the effort spent simply trying to stay upright while also maneuvering through what was initially a pretty crowded course. Thankfully, once we got out of the bridges and onto the main highway the wind situation improved significantly and I was able to get down in aero, lock in, and roll. One of the most challenging parts of these bigger races for me is all of the PEOPLE, especially when said people are not behaving in the most appropriate way. It was frustrating having people (again, almost universally men) essentially blocking the road as opposed to riding on the right, but thankfully the large width of the course made room for all even when people were behaving like asshats. One thing I will just NEVER understand is the number of men who feel the need to close pass you without saying a goddamn word. It's unsafe, and frankly rude. I passed probably hundreds of people throughout the bike leg and I tried to say at least something to all of them...it's really not that hard.
The first out section went by pretty quickly; I was doing a good amount of passing and was happy with the splits I was seeing on the slightly (*very slightly*) uphill out leg. The only real "hills" on the course per se were a few bridges, all of which were short and by no means steep, and I think I might have laughed out loud at one point seeing someone get out of their saddle to climb a hill that in my mind barely qualified as such. But maybe I should do flat races a little more often, because it was pretty damn fun to be able to just get in a gear and roll for miles at a time. There were a couple of particularly awesome spectators out on this leg braving the rain (special shoutout to the man standing alone in a bee costume with a blasting speaker, you are my people) and I tried to hype up the spectators and the volunteers as I went by. I had started off my fueling with a bottle of hi-carb Skratch, and then started supplementing with my potatoes after about 10 miles. MY POTATOES! I pretty much knew that this was going to be a winner as soon as I ate the first one. It tasted delicious, it was easy to eat, it didn't add to the sweetness of my drink, and I got to sing a stupid little song to the tune of "Hot to Go" every time I ate one, which I found delightful.
There was an awkward section before the turnaround where we had to exit the highway, go over a bridge, and then reenter on the opposite side; this was another section where people were just behaving like HEATHENS and trying to pass on this super narrow stretch of road with expansion joints that could easily cause a crash. It was just so dumb - you pretty much had to slow down because of the turns, what were you really gaining by trying to make a pass? Ugh. But shortly after that was the turnaround, and then we were 1/4 of the way done.
The back leg of the first lap wasn't particularly notable. I just tried to stay in aero, cruising, eating my potatoes, drinking, and hoping that I was putting in the right level of effort. I was amazed at how smooth I was feeling, but also very aware that my bike volume was not in my corner and the second lap could be a very different story. I had also found a fairly good position in the pack and so spent some nice moments not having to worry about passing or being passed. We got back to the bridges section, which was still horrible on the second pass, but at least I was prepared this time...it was still crazy being literally blown sideways and somehow staying upright, and I took some reallllly wide passes on this stretch because the last thing I wanted was to collide with someone else. We rode back into Jones Beach for another little out and back stretch around transition; the out was delightful but as soon as we turned around there was a DIRECT headwind. Thank God this section was only about half a mile, because it was ridiculous, and of course also included a short but probably the steepest incline we encountered all day. My bike actually took me down into my small ring for a second on the first lap and I was sort of laughing because it seemed so dumb, but that's what wind will do to ya!
The start of the second lap was definitely an improvement, since I at least knew what I was in for with the cross winds and had gotten through that initial shakiness of the beginning of the ride, so I felt like I had to slow down a lot less to manage the gusts. Now that I knew the lay of the land, I was really able to just settle down in aero and roll on the second loop. I kept wondering at what point the bike would start to feel long - like, I was *so* aware that I had not really done enough riding to effectively race 56 miles, and I was sure there would come a time when all of a sudden being on my bike would no longer feel fun, or fatigue would hit, or something, But as it stood, I just kept bopping along, eating my potatoes, drinking my Skratch (and successfully switching out bottles from BOTH sides of my cage, I guess I can sort of finally handle my tri bike lol) and continuing to be taken aback each time I looked at my Garmin and saw how fast I was riding.
Soon enough we reached the awkward bridge section again; this was mainly better than the first loop except for the man riding directly in front of me who insisted that THE TURNAROUND was *the* place to slowly unwrap a bar and eat it...and this was a man who did not seem capable of eating while continuing to effectively maneuver his bike. I was super irritated - like, I love fueling, but you couldn't have waited 30 more seconds until you were around the extremely tight 180 degree turn? Men, man. Thankfully, I was able to free myself from him as soon as the road opened up again, and there were now only 15 miles to go!
At some point in this area I had run out of potatoes, so I decided to eat a few chews because I knew I needed a bit more fuel to get through for another 45 minutes or so. The chews hit MUCH better when I hadn't been eating them all day, and I kept thinking about how I couldn't wait to text my RTB teammates and tell them how well the potato fueling strategy worked. I honestly felt consistently energized throughout the entire ride - there was one point near the beginning where I had felt a bit hungry, but I just ate 2 potatoes instead of 1 and that problem was solved. My stomach was rock solid - which again, usually doesn't come up as an issue until I hit about 70-80 miles of riding- but I also knew I was drinking a lot more than usual (aka I was actually hydrating appropriately). In fact, I actually had to pee (omg I was actually hydrating appropriately), and subsequently learned that I still can't really pee on my bike...even in the rain! C'mon! If there was one time to execute it perfectly this would have been it!
The straightaway back was marred only by another absolute dick of a man who I swear to god was trying to block me. I wanted to pass him but he was riding at the very left edge of the lane, and trying to pass him would have meant having to cross over the tire sucking expansion joints, which I was simply not willing to risk just because douchebag mcgee didn't know which side of the lane you're supposed to ride on. I finally SHOUTED at him "ON YOUR *RIGHT*" and shot past him since he refused to move over, thoroughly irritated but with just a little bit of extra fire fueling me towards the end of the bike course.
Soon enough I was hitting mile 50 and tackling the last pass over the windy bridges, honestly totally in shock that I was still riding so fast, feeling so good, and having so much fun. I feel like in this race report I focused on how annoying the men around me were (which honestly probably is just related to the fact that this was a BIG race on a multiloop course, which I'm not really used to), but quite frankly I had an absolutely delightful time on the bike. The on and off rain just served to make things more interesting, I fueled like a champ, I sang my little songs and vibed with the spectators and all in all just really enjoyed myself. I had started to realize as I got closer to transition that I was actually in the ballpark to finish the bike under 3 hours which quite frankly was a SHOCK - I had technically done that in my first 70.3, but I knew that bike course was like 3 miles short so it didn't really count. When I finally stopped my watch and saw that my average speed was 19.3 mph, I almost died - like I know it was a flat course, but WHEN DID I GET GOOD AT BIKING?!! Sure, in comparison to other women going 21-22 mph it was nothing crazy, but as someone who never rode over 19 mph in any context, ever, until randomly this September, and with the extremely minimal training I had done, I would have never imagined that I'd be able to achieve that type of speed over a half iron distance bike. But now was going to come the real test - I had biked my face off...was it too much, or would I be able to hang on for the run?
I ran into T2 and decided to just skip the porta potty and kind of pee as I ran (GROSS I KNOW but not any grosser than doing it on the bike, right?) T2 felt smoother than T1 as it always does - got my bike back on the rack, shoes changed, race belt on and Gus on board. I spent a moment contemplating whether I wanted to ditch my sunglasses and put on a hat instead, but the rain seemed to be abating and I felt like maybe the sun was poking out, so I decided to stick with the sunnies...which would turn out to be a *choice* lol. The wind was whipping and transition felt strangely deserted as I ran towards the run out arch and into whatever this half marathon was going to be.
Run - 1:43:50 (7:55/mile) 6th AG, 31st F, 329th OA
Where transition had been quiet, the second I entered the run course it felt CROWDED - it was kind of shocking how many people were already out on the course! I immediately started playing a little game with myself called "how many women can I pass", and actually started keeping a count as I began the run which kept me really mentally engaged! All in all, I had a blast passing people constantly throughout the run - I may not be quite as fast as I once was, but there is something truly delightful about being a runner in a world where most people are not.
The run course was a double out and back along the beach and boardwalk, and it pretty quickly became clear that the out leg had a significant tailwind...which meant the back legs were going to be DIRECTLY into a vicious headwind - "the teeth of the wind", as Tom would say. I tried not to worry about the future and focused on just finding a pace and grooving along. It was a bit of a surprise when I started seeing my splits clicking off in the 7:45ish range and feeling relaxed at that pace - I haven't been seeing a whole lot of sub 8 miles show up on my watch period these days, let alone have them appear with any sort of ease.
The rain started to pick up again almost immediately once I got further out onto the boardwalk, and I had to laugh because the tailwind was blowing my hair into my face, my sunglasses were completely covered in water, and I couldn't believe how silly it was that I had chosen not to wear a hat in conditions where a hat would have been VERY much the move. Oh well! The approach to the turnaround seemed lengthy, which I made a mental note of for the second loop. However, once I finally arrived at the turnaround area I was greeted with a tent where a man in a sequined blazer with no shirt underneath was dancing around and an amazing techno song was BLASTING - literally my favorite type of music to hear during a race, and I was HYPED. I was so pumped to be feeling so good and to be enjoying myself so much at this late stage of the race. There's just something about triathlon, man...no matter the conditions, or how I might be feeling, this sport is just so much damn fun.
The turn into the wind was a bit *less* fun - it's been awhile since I ran so directly into a headwind off the sea, and it was not any more pleasant than I remembered. There was also an awkward little section where we had to run on basically a tarp covering some sand, which really threw my legs for a loop. But even with the elements, I felt like I was able to stay focused and keep chugging along. I took my first GU at the 4 mile mark and set about trying to find a man to draft behind - what can I say, I have no shame when it comes to drafting on the run. The issue was that I was finding it very difficult to find a man who was actually running fast enough to be useful! Every time I'd see someone who seemed to be moving at a similar pace, I'd tuck in behind only to realize that I'd need to slow down, which I wasn't really in the mood to do. Finally, about a mile from the next turnaround I did find a tall man who was running about 8:00 pace, which was about what I had fallen into on the sections into the wind. I always think of a line from Once A Runner - "he was drafting without humor or malice" - I see nothing wrong with taking a little help where I can get it, especially with the wind as intense as it was!
Soon enough we were reaching the turnaround to the second loop, and a section that involved several meandering tunnels and a run along the beach where we had been swimming hours earlier. I still couldn't believe how good I was feeling over halfway through the run - my running has been suspect at best this summer, with long runs particularly lacking - but here I was not only surviving, but THRIVING. As soon as I hit the turnaround and escaped the headwind my pace dropped right back down into the 7:45s. I was definitely starting to feel tired, but it was completely manageable - I could tell my fueling and hydration were solid (I took 3 Gus during the run with no GI issues), but more importantly than that, I found that mentally I actually wanted it. In pretty much all of my recent running races, I've had no desire to push myself when things got hard. I've been totally OK with backing off the pace, or taking a walk break, or whatever. But here on this boardwalk, for the first time in a long time, I found myself willing to lean into the discomfort and to push even though it was starting to feel more difficult to do so. And that alone - the fact that I actually wanted to try - buoyed me into wanting to try even more.
The boardwalk was BUSY on the second loop, as a large percentage of the field had at least started the run by this point. Since I was now lapping people it stopped making sense to try to count passes; I had lost track around 30 women on loop 1 anyway. All I could do was to keep trying to maintain my pace, get to one mile marker after the next, and see if I could finish strong. I always laugh at the sort of mental gymnastics that goes on in longer races, and this was no exception. I was VERY dedicated to my countdown of miles/time during the last 5 miles of the run. Every few minutes I would look at my watch and think, OK, less than 5 miles, that's like 35 minutes, you only have to keep running for 35 more minutes, that is so doable! And so I would continue on.
Getting to the DJ booth turnaround seemed to take a lot longer this time, but once I got there I knew I only had 3 more miles to go, which is the point in any race where I usually realize that no matter what happens I can get through it. It definitely felt significantly harder to fight the wind on the second pass; whether the wind had increased or I was just more tired (or maybe both) I didn't know, but it felt like running straight at a brick wall. The rain had definitely increased in intensity over the course of the run and I had to laugh at my decision to wear sunglasses - by this point, I could barely see a thing in front of me. I didn't let myself be concerned about my pace and just tried to keep the effort on. I ended up finding another woman to tuck behind, and after awhile I pulled ahead a little bit figuring that we could take turns. She definitely didn't get the memo, and put in a surge to pass me back before settling right back into the pace that we had both been previously running. Well, fine then, we won't share the work! I tucked right back in and sat, appreciating any bit less effort I needed to put in against the teeth of the wind.
As the miles ticked by I found myself starting to get "the faster you run the faster you're done" type energy and passed my 'friend' for good, now setting my sights on a woman in a Zoot trisuit who I was pleased to be able to track down before the turnoff towards the finish line. With my limited visibility I was actually a little nervous about making a wrong turn and accidentally heading out for a third lap, so I was happy to see a very obvious "FINISH" arrow pointing straight ahead down towards the beach. I found myself actually laughing with a guy as we started our finishing kicks heading into the chute (he got me lol). And holy shit, was I DELIGHTED when I crossed the finish line! I truly couldn't believe how well I'd executed across all three disciplines, in poor conditions and with decidedly mediocre training. My previous half PR of 5:18 was on a course where the bike was 3 miles short, so I am now more than satisfied to call this race my true 70.3 PR! Totally unexpected, totally unbelievable.
Finish - 5:23:48 9/71, 56/614 F, 494/2425 OA
Placing top 10 in my age group was also exciting in such a big race; I even considered sticking around for the Worlds rolldown as I knew that there were 3 spots for the taking, but I also was freezing and we had a long drive back to Boston ahead of us. At the end of the day, I was super happy with my performance but I also didn't really feel like I deserved a Worlds slot - I really want to be in that top 5 group to feel like I earned it.
I feel like I say this after every tri, but this race once again solidified how much I love this sport and how much fun I have racing it. I once again enjoyed the entire day and honestly loved navigating the challenges of the wind and rain. I'm PUMPED to have found a fueling strategy that might actually get me through a full without stomach issues, and I'm already thinking of how I can start trimming off the minutes at this distance in the future. It's still hard to picture where I could possibly cut off another 10-15 minutes to really break into the upper echelon of age groupers; I know the bike is probably the biggest place to start, and I think I have room to get back to an even better place on the run too. But if there's been one moral of the story this season, it's that racing without expectations is a whole lot of fun...and sometimes the best surprises happen when you least expect them. What a great race to close out triathlon season 2024 - can't wait to see what's next!
No comments:
Post a Comment