Journey 70.3: Anything is Possible!

10 months of planning. 10-12 hours / week of training for the last 16 weeks.  Here I am in Atlantic City on September 21 getting ready for my first 70.3 half Ironman in 2 days.  After spending a week being a germophobic, weather hawking, tapering triathlete, I finally give up checking the weather and resign myself to whatever it will be since the forecast is changing constantly but looking like some rain.  I am here, I am ready and I am excited.

Mike and I arrive Friday and check into our AirBnB in Ventnor ahead of the 5 others joining us (more on that in forthcoming post).  We decide to pick up our packets and check out the race venue.  My excitement becomes greater seeing the Ironman brand in full force.  While my exercise is tapering, my hunger is not so we go to the Biergarten meet and greet for some food and mingling, meeting some nice triathletes who traveled from Indianapolis for the event.

Saturday is a beautiful sunny day.  We have to drop our bikes off the day before so we ride the 1.6 miles to the venue, and go to the athlete briefing.  Stephen Del Monte is a well regarded and beloved race director who gives a thorough and lively 1 hour athlete briefing.  What fun it is to go to the Women for Tri Meet and Greet and meet fellow women athletes who are active on the Facebook page.  Mike and I then do a brief run warm up on the boardwalk and return for pasta dinner prep and final race preparations.  My wonderful parents travelled to cheer us on so we adorn them in spectator gear.

The alarm sounds at 4am on Sunday and I’m looking forward to the day.  While this is the biggest and most important race so far of my racing career, my past experiences keep me calm and I go into normal race prep mode – eat my bagel, dress, and put on sun lotion even if I am uncertain of its necessity. As I’m about to head out the door, my quick transition shoe lace comes apart.  Uh oh – I run and grab an extra shoe lace and some twist ties so I can figure out what to do the in car.  It turns out we have plenty of time in the car for the 1.6 mile drive as there is a serious traffic jam just getting to the race venue.  It’s frustrating but we stay calm and get parked by about 5:45am. Time then flies as I do all of the last minute prep in transition, get my wetsuit on and the race begins at 6:50. Here’s how the race goes:

SWIM:  I’m remarkably calm as I line up in the 46 – 55 minute wave and wait my turn. As I get closer to entry, amazing volunteers cheer us on and encourage us and the line speeds.  Boom, I’m off!  Since I have confidence I will meet the 1h10 cut off with a smooth sailing pace, I decide not to push my pace and just keep calm.  At times, I get caught up in swim traffic and people are bumping into me. It feels like a washing machine, especially near the buoys.  Keep calm and just keep swimming I tell myself.  Before I know it, the exit is in site.  As I exit, I look at my watch and I’m right where I thought I would be around 53 minutes (54:10).  I use the wet suit strippers, a luxury I’ve never had, although I’m not sure how much faster it is as they struggle over my watch.

Seaweed beards are in!

T1:  I have a great spot along the other Philly Tri Club members near an exit and where I can see my parents cheering me on.  Rich Montgomery, the TriClub president, sees me and kindly tells me I have a green seaweed beard!  I learned after the MV tri a couple weeks ago to have a small towel to dry my feet to put socks on (which I don’t do for shorter races), which doubles as the beard removal method.  I also decide to wear my arm warmers given the cooler temps.  I end up having a 10 minute transition due to all of this and also because it takes me about 5 minutes to run and cycle out of transition to the bike course.

BIKE:  It’s not raining yet so I decide to get aggressive and pedal strong to make headway.  It’s a flat course and when I check my watch from time to time, I can see I’m consistently pedaling above 16-17 mph.  I complete loop one and begin the next loop on the Atlantic City Expressway – a new experience going through EZ-Pass lanes toll free!  Every time I go over the time chip checkpoint I think about the people virtually tracking me and cheering me on. 

Pedal to the medal pre-rain!

 The drizzle comes and soon turns into rain, and then heavier rain.  This is the most miserable fun I’ve ever had, I think to myself.  I pull into T1 with a very respectable bike of 3h22:54, 16.48 mph.

"The most miserable fun I've had!"

T2:  I bike the .5 miles that are part of the transition back in. I’m soaked so I change socks for the run.  I also have to pee so I head for the porta potties on my way out of transition – unfortunately I have to wait a few minutes.  All of this adds up to my longest transition ever at 12 minutes.

RUN:  Like every race, once I’m off on the run, I feel confident I will finish.  But this is my first half marathon run so I don’t know how I will fair.  My longest training run was 90 minutes, which equated to 8.5 miles.  The rain continues but the run along the boardwalk provides for interesting scenery and distractions.  And the volunteers at the aid stations are amazing.  Many are high fiving us, cheering us on by name.  I know I didn’t drink enough on the bike so I pause briefly for water at all of the beginning aid stations.  

A woman in my age group (I’ll call her ACK for her Adorandeck tri club suit) passes me but is just within my pace so I tag on behind her.  At the fishing pier, I see my parents who have wisely taken cover from the rain under a gazebo.  Out and back on the pier and for a period of time I’m on ACK heels drafting her – I’m sure she is annoyed, and I can tell she is tiring but I am staying strong so at some point I pass her.  I’m keeping a good pace until I hit a period where we have to navigate some sand and uneven surfaces.  About mid race, I also start to feel hungry so I decide to do a walk through one aid station long enough to eat a piece of banana.  ACK probably caught up to me during this and passes me so I once again stay on her heels.  I blow past the next aid station while she briefly pauses, she passes me again, I stay on her heels and pass her again at the next aid station.  

On the heals of ACK!

“Wahoo – we’re at ten miles people” I announce to my fellow racers as if they didn’t see the marker. With only a couple of miles to go, I pick up the pace and maintain it leaving ACK behind.  I know the finish line is approaching but I can’t quite tell how far it is, but then I see it.  I’m wet, I’m happy, and I know I can claim my first 70.3 as I raise my arms in jubilation.

ACK comes over the finish line soon after me.  In the end I look her up and she beat me by 1 second!  But we know this is really only a competition against ourselves and about getting better and better.  She pushed me to my best, and I’m sure I wouldn’t have finished my run in 2h14:18 if hadn’t been for her.  Since the gun time clock reads 7h21 when I cross the finish line, I’m not sure if I met my best possible goal of finishing under 7 hours, but looking at my watch, I see I finished at 6h53:55!

I DID IT!!!!!!

When I started my 70.3 journey, I was afraid of meeting the cut off times of a 1h10 swim, a bike that finished within 5.5 hours of my start, and a 8.5 total time limit. Despite the weather, I didn’t end up having any troubles.  My TriDot training program guided me perfectly, without injury and without overdoing it.  I proved Ironman’s motto that even at age 50, Anything is Possible!  Now I actually believe I physically could do a full Ironman 140.6….

Anything is Possible!!!