The Ironman 70.3 New Orleans race was amazing. This was my second half ironman and I am hooked! The venue was great venue and the course is really nice too. I would recommend this to anyone who ever wants to do an early race.
Ok, the race. So, I woke up at 4:45 am to get to the swim start and transition area before 6:45 am (this is when the transition area is closed). I laid out my gear..(I checked and triple checked my gear the night before and I still forgot one item - sunscreen). Over the loud speaker, we get the water temperature: 64 degrees...BRRRRR... I am so glad I brought my wetsuit..We walk over to the corral area and I waited for over 2 hours. The coolest thing was to see the Iron Nun, Sister Madonna Buder take off on the swim! She is 82 years old, she started triathlons when she was 52. She was three people in front of me. She jumped into the water just like a pro.. I should say, she dove into the water like a pro.. Then it was my turn...I jumped in the water and my face was immediately cold.. I looked at the buoy and started swimming and I was knocked off course.. there was a current pushing us to the left, so I zigzagged back in line. I usually sing 99 bottles of beer on the wall but I wasn't getting into a rhythm, so I sang "row, row, row your boat." Great little song. I swam to the next buoy and made the turn.. I looked around me and I wasn't the only green cap around... there were many in front of me and many behind me.. Sweet..I wasn't last..made it to the next buoy and I started to swim.. About 800 yards before the swim exit, I heard a "scream for help".. OMGoodness... I didn't know what to do.. I panicked, "do I stop and help her or what".. I saw that someone else had stopped to help her, so I just trended water until a boat came to her. You read so much about people getting scared and freaking out but I had never seen it before. So, I continued swimming and crawled out and up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, there were wetsuit strippers! Yes, someone to help you take of the wetsuit :) I looked at my watched and was a little bummed..52 min (ten minutes slower than the last time I did this...oh well, I didn't want to mope.. I had the rest of the race to complete.
T1 - got my bike and took off.. I heard " Go Thunder!" What a great sound.. I took off and headed right into a head wind! I am so glad I practiced in the rain and wind.. I was able to maintain a speed of 13-15 mph.. I passed a lot of people on the way out.. One of the newest things, I started doing this year, was follow the nutrition from the "Feed Zone". I made me a rice cake. This was great! At about mile 20, I ate some stinger waffles and then had some of the rice.. Talk about getting a good boost of nutrition. I was not starving when I came off of the bike. I, also trained with Perform, so the drinking the Perform was not bad at all. During the bottle exchanges, I stopped and exchanged my bottles. I will need to learn how to do bottle exchanges, to help with time. I just did not want to risk a crash. Continuing on the course, I passed more people. I made the turn around and I was going 18-20 mph. I saw the beauty of the marshes and can totally understand why people wanted to live here. The area was beautiful! The breeze on the way back was soo nice.. I rolled into T2 and ran to my gear and racked my bike and I took off..
Oh boy, I could feel the sun now.. I ran out of T2 and saw sunscreen, what a relief.. I slather some sunscreen on and took off.. The one thing I forgot was my sunscreen. I need to remember this for my next race. As I started running, I kept singing to myself, "put one foot in front of the other".. That helped because my goal was to run all the way and only walk the water stations. Running along the lakefront was soo beautiful. I saw all of the nice homes that have been rebuilt and the levee locks. I just maintained my pace and tried to make sure, I kept my feet moving.. At about mile 10, everyone I kept seeing, were telling me, you are almost there. After awhile, I stopped believing them because it seem like FOREVER....Finally, at the last turn, I heard my son yell "Go Mom Go!!!" I looked up and there he was smiling at me and my husband was talking to me to speed up.. and he yelled " I am going to run faster than you".. I told, yes you are! I then said that I think I will make 7 hours and 30 mins, that is when he yell" Get your butt moving!" So, I tried to pick up my legs a little bit more to get faster..ouch.. that hurt. I turn the corner and I had the biggest smile on my face! I looked at my watch and I had beaten my stretch goal! What a feeling! It is a feeling of accomplishment that you can do anything! I am still slow, compared to the other Thunder teammates that were there, but I know one day I will get faster!
All of us has this within ourselves to do this! I am still a turtle, I am just becoming a speedy turtle, who is getting stronger. I plan to complete another half ironman this summer. Goal will still be 7 hours 30 mins.. My husband and I are going to do Ironman 70.3 Muncie in Indiana in July.. (a little hotter). After that, I will be watching my husband complete his first Ironman in Aug in Louisville. Who knows, I may end up signing up for an Ironman next year... We will see..
Reflection... I now know that to succeed, you must train and train consistently. In addition, believe in your training. I really focused this year and it has paid off. Going into the rest, my biggest worry was not finishing under 8 hours. I had worked so hard but I wasn't sure if I could do it. I just kept saying " believe in your training" Lesley knows what she is doing. My friends and family believed in me and knew I could finish under 8 hours.. I just had doubts... Once, I started the race, I started to believe..After this race.. I became a believer!
I know there will still be days, that I will start making up excuses to not get out there and train, but I will have to ignore those thoughts and move forward..
Time to keep on training and getting ready for my next race in May.. Memphis in May Olympic distance..
Happy Training!
Eling
