I was standing in line for the port-a-potty when all of a sudden a wave of gratitude just hit me, like bam! I like it when gratitude comes naturally, sometimes it seems all forced and fake. I was sooo grateful to be on the start line! And injury-free! It doesn’t happen all that often, if I’m being real.
After the pee (thank goodness I went then… when I emerged the line was 3x longer than when I got in it), I took my bike for a 5-minute spin to make sure everything was working well after the car ride and then went to rack my bike, organize my transition setup, and put on my wetsuit. That all went smoothly, and I followed the crowd to the swim start.
A half triathlon (or, sometimes even if not an Ironman event called a half-Ironman) is a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride, and 13.1-mile run. I put my watch on “triathlon” mode. I’d never used this watch for a triathlon before, but sometimes it’s fun to do some little new things on race day 🤪 Turns out I merged all the transitions into my swim and bike segments, but oh well, now I know for next time!
The swim in Long Pond was choppy! I was a bit shocked after all my chill Walden Pond swimming the past couple weeks that this pond had so many waves, but I told myself it was an advantage that I have choppy open water swimming experience (thanks, Aquatic Park). On the way out I breathed mostly to the right, away from the waves and toward the sun, thinking about sun salutations in yoga and enjoying the warm air. It was a bit hard to sight because even though the buoys were huge, the waves were bigger! So I would look up and only see water a few times before finally glimpsing a buoy. I swam pretty alone, and I’m not sure if that’s because I was slightly off course or towards the front of the crowd… probably the former.
Once I made it around the two yellow buoys marking the turnaround, the swim back to shore was actually relaxing! I focused on driving my hips towards my hands/hands towards hips and riding the waves in. It’s always a bit of a shock to go from horizontal to vertical, so I took my time exiting the water. A short jog later some awesome volunteers pulled my wetsuit off for me (always accept that offer!), and I was in transition.
Stuffing six gels into the back of a very tight tri suit was a bit of a feat, but I guess anything for some aero gains. I thought I was delusional in hoping for a bike ride averaging 20mph, as I did at the Santa Cruz 70.3 in 2022 off of way more specific bike training, but it turns out stadiums are really magic for bike strength (or maybe it was just the tri suit). Anyway, the bike ride was overall fun. The first half was awesome with some jockeying around. (Except, at mile 4, I went over some rubble and thought I’d flatted for a few minutes… had no choice but to keep going though and turned out it was fine.) By the second half I felt a bit like I was in no-man’s-land and also I passed someone who was being carried in a stretcher into an ambulance 😕 I thought about how this was an inherently risky activity (as is kind-of any activity) and how it’s too bad they couldn’t fully close the roads, then listened to some birds, just making some space and time before thinking too hard about the risk, and refocused in on the race. My mantra became, constant pressure in the pedals, constant tension in the chain.
I was aiming to eat about 80 grams of carbs an hour on the bike, but I think I didn’t take my drink mix into account, so I overdid it a little and started feeling a little off. I took a fueling break and got water at an aid station, and by the time I’d entered transition again was feeling fine.
Helmet off, hat on, more gels into suit, shirt on, bike shoes off, running shoes on, water bottle in hand, pee, and out of transition. I wore a shirt on the run mostly because I didn’t have a belt to attach my bib to and needed to have the bib on, but actually I really enjoyed running with the shirt on compared to just in the tri suit. It made me feel like I was just going for a run. I also used it to wipe my hands and stuff. Carrying a bottle with me was a choice I’d left myself for a split-second decision. At Ironman Lake Placid last year I’d opted not to take the water bottle — there were plenty of aid stations, it was raining and cool out, and I’d have to carry it for 26 miles. For this race though I decided to take the bottle. It was quite warm out, 80+ degrees, humid, and sunny, though there was a good breeze that helped cooling immensely. I also wasn’t sure how the gels were going to go given how I’d felt on the bike and my bottle had some fuel in it.
Usually I look forward to the run portion of the triathlon. This race was different though given I hadn’t been running very much (and none very fast) in the lead-up since the Maine Coast Marathon DNS at the beginning of May. I just wasn’t sure what my body would think of 13 miles of 90+ seconds per mile speeds faster than it’d done in 2 months! Well, it turns out stadiums and ice are the answer. The legs came to me about 3 miles in and felt perfectly strong, I suppose from all the stadium running/hiking I’d been doing. There were aid stations every ~1.5 miles on the run portion of this triathlon, and I took 2 cups of ice at every one. It would all melt by the next one, but I was shocked at how few others were using ice! It looked like a very uncomfortable race without it, as I could tell from all the racers I passed in these last 13 miles.
Despite cooling and hydrating extremely effectively, I ran scared of overheating. Every time I felt just the slightest bit off, I got worried I was overheating. I wasn’t though, probably not even close. One way I like to check on myself (in general) is by interacting with the volunteers. At every aid station I would ask them how they were doing. I’ve written about doing this before, and it really works! First, it’s just a nice thing to do, I mean, they were also out there baking in the sun, and second, it’s a great mental check! I can hold a conversation, alright I’m good to go. I also had never been to this area before, so I did look around a lot to distract myself or reset occassionally, looking at houses and signs, and spying some trails leading into the woods nearby.
The last two miles of the run were my favorite. When I saw the 11-mile marker, I glanced down at my watch for the first time the entire run and saw that my heart rate appeared controlled. So I dropped the fear of heat and just went for it. There were a few guys up the road ahead and I made it my mission to pass them on the last uphill. I got one, but there were still two more ahead. And then I realized we were passing the parking lot so the finish line must be close! I broke into a full-on sprint, hitting somewhere in the mid-5-minute pace, which is very fast for me, and caught them! Only then to realize the finish line was still a little ways away and the route, which had been entirely pavement up to this point, became an uneven grassy flag-lined really long finishing chute. Shoot! At least I’m a trail runner! I held on and steamrolled my way through the finish without twisting an ankle.
Overall I was pretty happy with this race. I had fun, took it lightly but competitively, and pleasantly surprised myself in some ways both mentally and physically. Thank you, Outsider Endurance, Freetown, Kevin (of course, also the photographer), and volunteers!