It was cold. 50 degrees or so. I was not happy. When we left the house it was raining. I just kept thinking, I hope it stops soon, or maybe it isn't raining at the race. I was very lucky, it hadn't rained at the race site.
It was so cold I decided to wear a full-sleeved wetsuit. I have only done this once before in Cali half (the water was 54 degrees in cali!). Anyway, our wave was the last wave to start. I started the swim and immediately my shoulders were tired! It was horrible, I felt like I was swimming against resistance. The entire swim my shoulders were on fire! The swim was kind of annoying because it only had one line of buoys and on the way back you needed to site the shore because the finish was not in line with the buoys. I thought I had to be in last place. I was not feeling like a great swim and my arms were burning. When I got out of the water I didn't want to look back because I thought I might literally be the last one out of the water! I saw Pedro with my parents just chit chatting on a bench...my mom said "oh you must have been fast we weren't looking for you yet!" HUH??? I figured they were just confused.
I ran to the bike where I put on my tights with fleece on the front a dry shirt and a longsleeve shirt. I also put on gloves. Everyone else was just running out with shorts and tanks!! Too bad, I was so cold I figured I would be way more cold on the bike. So, I took my time and got dressed. Pedro, being allowed in transition, brought my bike to the exit so I could just grab it and go, which was very helpful. Off to the bike.
I have only raced a sprint race at Aurora before and I thought the bike was hard for that...this was a very difficult bike. It is all hills, except for a flat area of about 10 miles, maybe. The whole thing is up and up...with a fast downhill. The up and up is the bad part! There are no hills that require standing and pushing, like in Wisconsin, but instead a slow steady climb over and over.
The flat portion was good and of course that is where we had a bit of a tailwind. Then I turned to where there were smaller hills and for some reason I became starving. I hadn't planned on being too hungry because I only swam and biked. It was a poor decision to not bring a lot of food. I was starving. The aid stations only offered gatorade and water. I was fine for fluids, I wanted a banana or something, but of course when you need them they are not there.
On the final turn back (it was an out and back on hills, followed by a square) the wind was in our face! I knew we were on our way back but with the freezing wind and the lack of food, I was struggling a bit. I was still averaging about 20mph at this point, with about 50min left. The whole last portion was hills. I don't mind hills. I was passing a lot of people and was not passed by a lot of people...maybe only one female? However, I was one of the last waves so that doesn't mean too much. My final time for the bike was 2hr 53min with an average speed of 19.3.
Pedro then left for the run. I will have to let him post about his experience on the run, but to my surprise (and probably his) he ran a 2:05 half marathon! He did an awesome job! He wasn't all that sore, except his hip flexors. Other than that he is feeling fine.
Back to the swim part. We had no idea the time it took for me to swim. When the swim time was posted it says I swam 31:43! I am not sure how this happened!!! My fastest swim before this was a few weeks ago in boulder at 36min. The only difference is that I have started training with paddles...but I can't imagine taking that much time off my swim. I was thinking maybe it was short, or maybe that is why my shoulders were on fire!! I was swimming faster than usual! Who knows...but I will take it because that is way better than I have done! It means that since I started racing (and really swimming at all, for that matter)I have taken 13min off my half-ironman swim time! Ok, on a side note I just read someone elses blog and they think the swim was about 3min short...ok so maybe I am only a bit faster.
We took fourth place for coed team, which was good since I did two events, most teams are made up of three.
Here are a few picts from the race:
Pedro and Dad discussing race(run) strategy!
Me arriving back from the cold bike:
Pedro running strong to the finish!
Right after Pedro finished, it was so cold I have on a tshirt, a sweatshirt and another sweatshirt!
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