Ironman Florida Race Report- Part 1
I feel like I would be remiss if I did not include my race report from Florida.
It’s been two weeks as of today. I feel lazy, chubby and can’t believe I did an Ironman two weeks ago! I had a great race for my current ability. I feel like I haven’t had a race that came together like that since one of my very first triathlons in 2009.
Part 1: The Pre-Race and Swim
Awesome photo from www.DaveMPhotography.com
Looking at the results from last year, the last KQer in my ag got it with a 10:35, so I had my work cut out for me. Also, my mom is a life coach who lately has been compiling and teaching about the power of visualization and Believing that something is possible.
Yes, I have heard about visualization for years, but had always dismissed it has a bunch of new agey hocus pocus. But after thinking it through I realized that believing that something WILL happen is the hocus pocus, but believing that something is POSSIBLE can literally help make it happen. All in all, I believe that God gives us the ability to do things and ultimately we are responsibly for only trying our best. We can only control so much, but that knowledge can be freeing instead of a burden because there is no point in worrying about outside circumstances. Okay, enough philosophizing … let’s get to the race!
I had a few conversations prior to the race that were in the back of my mind when I started. There was a lot of smack talk and some pre-race predicting and I knew I had a few people angling for me. After Lou, I knew no one would be predicting that I would be going in the 10:30s and I liked feeling free from expectations. Nevertheless, of course I put pressure on myself, and I had various nagging aches and pains and all the normal pre-race stuff. (So much for not worrying about stuff outside my control! Do as I SAY, not as I do )
Swim- looking at times beforehand, I thought that below 1:10 was a reasonable expectation for me, given my current swim ability . Yes, I swam faster at Lou, but I used the current to my advantage, got a great start, and found some good feet. That was the plan for this one, but it didn’t happen exactly right. I was a bit nervous about the mass start. Then, I got behind some slower swimmers and failed to be aggressive enough to get the start that would enable me to find faster feet. By the time I was able to actually swim, I was surrounded by slower swimmers, so it was an obstacle course I navigated alone. There were lots of little pieces of jellyfish in the water and I felt several small stings on my face, but I tried to ignore them. It was hard to ignore the MASSIVE dinner-plate-sized ones you could see all over, just a few arms lengths below the water, though. After the first loop, I checked my watch and it was right at 32 minutes. Okay, not too bad, I’m still on track.
Then I made the mistake of starting too far to the left and had to swim against the current. The second time around I was able to swim a bit more, though I was not among swimmers who were good drafting candidates. Live and learn! Next time I will start closer to the front and farther to the right for sure.
Overall , I am very fit in the pool.. I need a technique breakthrough to make progress. My max speed needs to increase to move forward. I think I am on the verge of one from a gem I got from Kelley. I need to practice it more and see how it affects my times. This will be a focus in the winter.
Got out of the water and saw the clock in the high 1:07s so by the time I crossed the might I was at 1:08. Ran up to the t1 bag area . It was SOOO crowded. Another reason I need to swim faster is so I can have some space. I saw a video later of a girl who swam in the 50s and her bag etc. was ready and waiting .. wouldn’t that be sweet! Afraid of the crowd in the changing area, I dumped my stuff outside in the little hall for which a volunteer berated me. “I’m sorry, “ I said. “I already dumped it out!” I had packed enough cold weather gear for a blizzard, and already pre- packed my jacket pockets but decided to just go w/ the arm warmers. It is hard to get stuff on when you’re wet! T1 was 8ish minutes.
