Yes, I was one happy camper. Yesterday (Saturday, September 13th) I raced in the Black Diamond Half Iron Triathlon. Going into the race I had a fairly wide range of emotions. First of all, I had just started working that week after graduating from college, having the whole summer off, and then going off to Italy for a few weeks. So it was a time of fairly rapid transitions (though my T1 in the race was not that rapid, unfortunately). However, I was quite relaxed going into it, probably because I was so busy that week that I had no time to think about it! I was a little nervous too, (duh, who isn't before a race?) as last time I did a half I got 5 flat tires! So I did a little no-flat tire dance before the race.
The day was quite foggy at the start, so the race announcer delayed by going over the course in painstaking detail 16 times. Or at least it seemed that way. We finally started though. I literally swam over two men. That was fun. It's like when you're little and punch the air and say "I'm going to do this and walk around and if you get in my way it's your fault." But this time it's allowed! But the swim went really well. I settled into a rhythm really fast, my heart rate stayed pretty low and I was cruising along, like a nuclear ballistic missile. I even tried drafting behind some guys, but it reminded me too much of swimming in a washing machine...this guy had a very slow but very forceful 1-2 kick... But then after the first loop, I accidentally (I guess that goes without saying) missed a buoy. Some people in a canoe told me to go back , so I think I missed about 45 seconds because of that. Darn! But I exited the water in a fine, fine time of 30:46.
T1...you know the drill. Not too speedy but I was so tickled by my PR swim that I was just enjoying the moment. Probably not too appropriate for a race but whatever.
The bike...I hopped on and me and Spirodon headed out. I took the bike really quite easy (or so I thought.) My HR started out quite high but I brought it down and kept in the 140s-150s throughout the race. I used the "3 bike length" drafting rule as much as I could by hanging out behind some speedy fellows. I also purposefully ignored the time and my average speed. Then, lo and behold when I was about 2 miles from the end, I was on track for a PR in the bike as well! I say that, having practiced half a dozen times on the bike course before, and I was on track to beat all those times! Fantastic! I was elated! I hadn't been looking forward to the run prior to this but now I was ecstatic, knowing now that sub 5 hours was possible! Bike time: 2:39:31 !
I knew the run was going to be hard, for sure. But luckily I had a nice big fatty 1:45 to get sub 5 hours. So I started out a bit quicker than I intended, 7:15 for the first mile and tried to slow down. However my legs just seemed to love that pace so I adopted the run run run then occasionally walk tactic, which seemed to work pretty well. I probably walked for 30 seconds in each mile. I was very pleased with my mental attitude throughout the race. I used to "race angry", yelling at myself and others, in my mind. This time, I just tried to be more positive, thanking volunteers, encouraging myself and other competitors.
All in all a fantastic race for myself. I wasn't super confident about the sub 5 going into it, but as with most races, I have managed to surprise myself! A phrase I kept repeating to myself throughout the race was "You're faster than you think"...I think I saw it in an ad somewhere but it definitely applies to myself and to most people I think.
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