Training for Two: Third half-ironman this year!

Waterman’s half ironman

I must start out this race report and say I have the best husband EVER! I can’t thank him enough for all he did for me this weekend and how he made this weekend possible for me.

It was a crazy trip that started at 4:45pm on Friday. I just started work 2 weeks ago and couldn’t take anytime off so Scott picked me up with Emmers and we left from the hospital. We hit a lot of rush hour traffic unfortunately but all worked out. I got a hotel on Priceline (Marriott for $55, normally $199, got to love priceline!) an hour on the Cincinnati side of the race. We pulled into the hotel around 1:30am. We all went to sleep eventually. Emi kept me up with her cute noises till 2am and then I woke up at 4:50 and couldn’t get back to sleep. So, less than 3 hours of sleep the night before a race (I don’t recommend that). We left the hotel at 6:00am so we could get to the race at 7:00am. After getting lost several times and taking wrong turns (stupid D.C. roads!) we got to the race a 7:25am! Yikes! I knew that check in closed at 7:30 and I hadn’t gotten any of my stuff ready to set up transition, so I was a little frantic and scrambled. Again, I have the most awesome husband ever and he helped keep me calm and pump up my bike tires and get things ready as well as take care of our little one. I was just finishing setting up transition when they said “ok everyone out of transition right now!” I’ve never cut it THAT close. I hoped that I had everything there and went down to the swim start.

The cutie in the most comfortable bed ever (Marriot beds are the best!)

The closest I've ever parked to a race. Literally like 10 steps away!

Here’s my BIG THANK YOU to Cristy Doll for letting me borrow her wet suit! I would have frozen to DEATH without it! I got the wetsuit on and headed down to the dock after a quick kiss from Emi and Scott. I hadn’t had time to do my hair so I did two quick braids while I was walking down the dock 5 minutes before we started. There was a TON of wind so the water was supper choppy. It was a two-loop course with tons of sighting buoys, which was very nice.

8:05 I jumped in the water (in water start) and 8:06 we were off! I seriously wanted to quick about 20 strokes and 10 gulps of water later. The chop was HORRIBLE and I was freezing! I didn’t know HOW I was going to get through this swim. I thought about all the driving we did to get here and how horrible if I quit in the water. I then thought about how I always tell people to never think negatively at all during a race so I tried to think positive but then found myself with negative self talk 2 minutes later. I was finally on my second lap and thought that I would be happy with a 40min swim time after all this. I was freezing and kept thinking about how cold and miserable I was. I stuck interrupted in my misery when I stuck my hand in a Man sized glob of weeds! Eww! Gross! No sooner had I just stopped getting grossed out when 2 stokes later my other hand met a man sized weed! I got disoriented and looked up and a kayaker started waving his paddle to go the other way that I was swimming. I looked around so confused with where I was and realized I was about 90-110 degrees off course! Well, I’ll spare you all the other negative self talk that went through my mind the end of the swim.

The strippers! I didn't think there would be any!

Transition! I’ll never get used to the feeling getting out of the water and trying to run up a ramp through transition. Your legs feel like jello and this race I was freezing too. I was so cold I guess my brain froze and I forgot to take off my cap and goggles and start unzipping and pulling off my wetsuit until up the ramp a little ways two race volunteers asked if I wanted help pulling off my wet suit. SURE! I hadn’t ever had to struggle with it and was dreading having to. I didn’t think this little race would have “strippers” for us! So off it came! Scott tried to get a picture but they were to fast. There’s just a pic of me on the ground after the fact. Transition was a super long run and I’m just slow in transition (16^th/40ish). Scott ran with me, pushing the car seat as I went to transition. I was frozen how was I supposed to put things on fast! Everything was soaking wet and gross. Eventually I got on my bike and was off. Scott had told me he thought there were 7-8 women in front of me. Good! I like catching people!

I started around the same time as a woman in all pink with a pink bike. We went back and forth for most of the race. It was fun to have someone else out there because it was a pretty lonely bike course. Around mile 20 I saw Scott drive by the opposite direction. I waved and realized he didn’t see me and so I shouted his name, he still didn’t hear me. I thought “well, that’s going to stink for him!” We were planning on taping my phone in my saddle bag but obviously I barely had time to get ready for the race much less tape a phone in my saddle bag! I didn’t need to eat near as many calories on this race as my previous races. I think it helps eating a bigger breakfast. I had “weird” nutrition this race. I’ve made my own protein and granola bars that are tasty and gluten free and so I used those as well as some store bought ones. I usually also use some nutrition gummies (normally honey stinger chews). This race I didn’t have time to pick any up so I went with what I train with a lot: starburts and starburst jelly beans! It was nice to see Scott along the course cheering and he kept letting me know how far back off the leader and how many women were in front of me. I was nervous because the leader was around 12 minutes in front of me at mile 45ish. I would really be tested on my run! Bad things that happened: around mile 35 I realized what that weird noise was, my front brakes were rubbing the whole time!, around mile 40 I dropped my chain twice, at 43 I dropped my spare water bottle so I knew I NEEDED one at the next water handoff, mile 45 I dropped both water bottles that I tried to grab so I had to stop and a volunteer ran up and gave me one. Other than all that, and my back killing me (I need to find a good place to do a bike fit), all went well on the bike.

Transition again! I knew I was way behind the leader because I saw her on the run course as I was coming in. I thought she looked like a strong runner too so I was worried. The no sleep the night before was catching up to me. I recommend not racing on less than 3 hours of sleep! Also the added stress of just starting work. I had previously said that I wanted to do 6:30 pace if the race was as flat as the other two that I’ve done. The last race had around 300-350 ft of elevation change and I was able to do 6:37 pace. Scott happily reminded me of this in transition and I gave him a glare I think. I said ha we’ll see. He said no you can do it. It REALLY helped to have him there because I think I was more negative this race than any other race EVER! I get negative and crabby when I don’t get sleep so I think that must have been it.

RUN: So after 2 MASSIVE hills and one mile later I realized that this 3-loop course was anything but flat (1100 ft change). I looked at my watch where I saw the first woman…10-11 minutes behind! Uh! Well, keep trucking! The water/support team was AMAZING! They were the most with it I’ve ever seen at a race, ironman brand included. I had my bag of jellybeans and them with water to fuel me. I saw Scott so many times on that first loop which I really needed. When I saw him the last spot I asked him to try to figure out how far ahead the first place girl was. If I was going to catch her I needed to know what I had to do. Well, I answered that question myself when I saw her out on the course I looked at my watch to time how far behind I was. I was around mile 6 and about 6 minutes behind! I had hope inside me spark! When I saw Scott he said I was 3 minutes behind. I had around 4ish more miles to go! I could do this! Next time I saw her she seemed to give me this “oh shoot, I know you have me” look. 2.1 miles left and she was in the dust. I was CRUISING! Felt amazing and wondered why I hadn’t picked it up like this earlier in the run! It might sound arrogant but I love cruising by the spectators and look at their expression on their face. I went by Scott for the last time finally with a smile on my face! Less than .5 to go and so I just let it rip! I wish so bad that I had a watch that did splits so I would know my split times because I know that last loop was definitely my fastest out of all of them. I finished and danced with a lady at the finish. They thought I was crazy for having as much energy as I did. I jogged back along the course to cheer the next girl in. (beat her by 2 minutes).

All in all it was a good race for the circumstances, but sad I didn’t break 5. I know it would have been MUCH MUCH better with more sleep. I feel as though sleep affects different people differently and it definitely kills me! I wish the bike would have been faster, I wish the swim wasn’t as cold, and I wish I had taken my head out of my bum earlier on the run!

Thanks to all my support crew for your encouragement! It was really fun to race on the same day as my amazing sis did the world championship ironman in Kona. She had me call her the day before so she could wish ME good luck! Too nice! She’s my hero with this craziness! She is down right amazing and such such an inspiration. She asked what my goals are and told me I COULD do them. So helpful to have someone so encouraging!

Thank you to my parents who are always out there cheering when I have a race, even if it’s hundreds of miles away! I love knowing I have support from everywhere! You guys have always encouraged me to do my best in everything. Thanks!

AGAIN, a most special thanks to my husband who drove most of the way and had a crazy week and even crazier next week. He had a fireside Sunday he was in charge of along with going out of town Monday-Friday and then he had to do a training on Saturday. He had to cheer, take pictures, and take care of our 5-month daughter! All of those take a lot out of you on a half-ironman day. He’s way too amazing for his own good!

After waiting TOO long for awards we went to explore DC a little bit. We went to the capitol building and had the CLOSEST spot you could park to the capital! We went up and Scott stood on the steps with the security and their big guns staring down at us. I’ve been to DC before and thought it was crazy how dead it was. There were just a handful of people there. We then drove around trying to find a spot close to all the other monuments. We saw the white house, Washington monument, Lincoln memorial, WW2 memorial, and Jefferson. By that time it was 5:30pm and we had 8 hours of driving in front of us! The drive back was hard. We switched off with Scott driving most of the time. We arrived back in one piece and all alive. It threw Emmers off a little but she was a trooper.

Now we’ve both been back at work for a week and a half. Scott’s trip to Vegas for the Tucon conference (Spotfire- a tool he is the master at at work) went well. It was a crazy week at home but doable thanks to the best DEANNA RUNYAN! Thanks again for all your help with Emmers and the yummy food!