Just Riding Through: Ironman 70.3 Syracuse, Part II

Who sleeps the night before a big race? I think I managed an hour here and there. We were told at the athlete's meeting to arrive early, and I set my alarm for 3:45 a.m. My brother lives about 10 minutes away from the Syracuse race venue, but we had been warned about traffic jams and difficulty parking, so we planned to be there by 4:30. We needn't have worried. Light traffic and plenty of parking. I quietly made some coffee and a toasted English muffin with peanut butter at my brother's, and managed to choke it down. My nephews made posters that they left out for me on the kitchen bar. That really started my day out on a nice note. Before my hip flared up, I really thought I could finish this race in about six hours, but I didn't tell anyone that. Officially, I just wanted to finish, since it was my first half-iron distance race. I was hoping to finish the swim in under 50 minutes, thought I could do about 3:10 on the bike and around two hours for the half marathon. If I could cut a few minutes off of a couple of those splits to allow for transitions, I thought it was doable. After the hip issue, even with the injection, I knew the run would take me longer. It's a very hilly course. Of course, I also had to get the nutrition right and not have any mechanicals on the bike.

My posters from Sam and Gabe.

Once we arrived at the race venue and parked, we sat in the car for a bit and I dozed. I headed to transition around 5:45. Getting my transition area set up and talking to people (in the port-a-pot line, usually), helps to settle my nerves and get me focused on the race. I had a gel, got my wetsuit on and headed to the beach. I did a quick warm-up swim, then chatted with a couple of friends from home who were also racing. Interestingly, there were some serious looking suits with earpieces and sunglasses hanging around the swim start. Turns out, the Prince of Bahrain was also racing. The pro men started at 7:00 a.m., followed by the pro women, followed by the 18-25 and over 55 women. I was in the third swim wave. Jamesville Reservoir is somewhat similar to Mirror Lake in size and depth. The water is a little murkier and there are some weeds in the shallow water at the start (which don't bother me). The water was 69 degrees, but felt warmer. I was so nervous at the start, I was almost in tears, but when we got our start, I did a few Tarzan strokes to find some clear water, then started swimming. I was fine for the first few minutes, but had a moment of panic out of nowhere and for no good reason. I rolled over on my back and took a few deep breaths, then started swimming again, and was okay. I love the big, bright, numbered buoys that Ironman uses. My goggles fogged up almost immediately, but I was still able to sight the first few buoys. They were getting worse, and I noticed a kayak to my left, so I stopped to clear my goggles. The girl offered me a drink of water, which was nice. I asked her where the turn buoy was, and she pointed to a spot about 20 feet behind me! Yes! I just made the turn before I was overtaken by women and men from the waves after me. Got kicked once and got my arm tangled up with some guy who dragged me underwater. I managed to disentangle myself and swam off to the left to find clear water. I ticked the return buoys off and picked my head up to sight the swim exit at the last buoy, and both of my calves cramped up. I shouted for help, and a kayaker started to make her way to me. I tread water for a few seconds while I flexed my feet, and the cramps eased before she got to me. I waved her off and swam in. My watch showed exactly 50 minutes. I had said before the race that if I wasn't out of the water in 50 minutes, I was having a bad swim. Not a great swim, but just about what I expected. Wetsuit strippers are awesome, just want to say. I wish every triathlon had them. Two women stripped my suit off and handed it to me, and I made the long run to transition.

Mother and daughter tri-duo, Sandy and Erin Rasco.

I made a fairly quick transition, just over five minutes. I was close to the bike-out, which was nice, but a long way from the run in from the beach. I had my Garmin 910XT on my wrist for the whole race (which I managed to not screw up, for once), and I also had my Garmin 500 on my bike, so I would be able to watch my power numbers. The bike leg seemed to go quickly. I followed my plan of attacking the early hills. I kept a close eye on my power and tried not to let it go much over 200 watts (my 20 min time trial power was 185). I was passing a lot of people on those hills, and just tried to make those passes quickly. The officials on the motos were active and visible the whole race, and I didn't see any egregious drafting. I had cut up two Bonk Breakers bars into 40-60 calorie chunks, and I made sure to eat a chunk every 20-30 minutes. I also had three bottles of Heed and drained a bottle every hour. Once I was through the first 25 miles, the last 30 did not disappoint. They were fast and fun. I switched to a gel when I hit the 2:30 mark. About mile 54, there is a no-pass zone where the bike and run courses share one lane of the road. Of course, one guy passed me. There's always one. The zone lasted about a mile, and once out of it, I shifted to an easier gear and spun out the last mile to loosen up my legs. I turned towards transition and checked my Garmin, 2:58! I was stunned and thrilled! Under three hours, I executed my plan perfectly, and I felt good. T2 was much quicker, 2+ minutes. I did a quick stop for sunscreen, and headed out.

Beautiful backdrop. I have no recollection of this body of water.

The run is two loops, the first and last mile on grass within the park. A good climb going out to the road, but the serious climb is about half-way into the loop. It's a very steep and long hill that flattens out at the top, then goes back up again to the turn around. I was feeling good and determined not to walk, so I held back a little on the first loop. I brought my small handheld bottle with me. I walked every aid station and grabbed two cups--one to drink and one to dump. It was starting to get warm. It was a sunny day, but thankfully, most of the run course is in the shade. I also grabbed a gel about every half hour or so. I completed the first loop in 1:07, and now I knew what to expect. I was still feeling good, so I decided to pick up the pace. My hip started to tighten up about mile 8, but it never got any worse. I ran the big hill again, if you could call it running. I passed a lot of walkers, but one of them caught me as soon as the road flattened. He and I played tag like this the rest of the race, and we'd laugh as we'd pass each other. I think he had a better strategy than I did. We got to the last hill before the park and he was now running. He told me to jump on his heels, which I did, but I couldn't hold his pace. It was okay, because I was pushing about as hard as I could, and we still had about a mile to go. I was starting to suffer, but I didn't want to ease off. Now, I wanted it over with. I saw the finish chute, and some guy had his hand out, so I ran over and high-fived him, then crossed the line. Someone handed me my finisher's medal, and I went from ear-to-ear grinning to bent over and crying. The finish line clock said 6:12. When I stopped my watch, I had 6:06 and change. I was ecstatic! Bad hip and all, and I had finished my first 70.3 in just over six hours. I found out later when I saw my splits that I had negatively split the run, clocking 1:03 for the second loop. I grabbed some water (I can never eat right after a race), and found my husband. He had followed me on IronTrac, but wasn't sure what all the numbers meant. I looked at my stats, and that's when I learned that I had finished 4th in my age group. Ironman awards the top five spots in each age group, which meant I was staying for the awards ceremony. Without a doubt, this was one of the best days of my life. The rest of the day consisted of watching friends finish and checking the times of those who finished ahead of me, trading stories and doing the debrief with fellow competitors, collecting my award, buying a couple of cool finishers shirts (bad luck to buy anything before the race), and having pizza and ice cream with my brother and his family before heading home. I couldn't have scripted a better day. I'm now halfway to being able to call myself an Ironman.