Prefix:
Most of my races usually start the night before with a big pasta dinner at Macaroni Grill followed by an early sleep only to wake around 5:30am to get in the car and drive anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour to the race. This one in particular was different from the beginning.
Up until Sunday, the only racing I had ever done was running, half-marathons, marathon, and the relay race from Huntington Beach to San Diego, but Folsom was to be my first triathlon, and a Long Course to boot. I knew I could run, not the fastest, but also not the slowest, I knew how to ride a bike, and I also knew how to swim pretty well from swimming lessons as a kid, but string the three together without stopping, that...... would be interesting to say the least.
There are varying distances of triathlons but the most common ones are as follows:
Sprint: .47 Mile Swim, 12.4 Mile Bike, 3.1 Mile Run
Olympic: .93 Mile Swim, 24.8 Mile Bike, 6.2 Mile Run
Half: 1.2 Mile Swim, 56 Mile Bike, 13.1 Mile Run (known as Half Ironman or Ironman 70.3)
Full: 2.4 Mile Swim, 112 Mile Bike, 26.2 Mile Run (known as Ironman)
I was skipping the Sprint and Olympic and jumping straight into the Half Ironman distance.
Where to start? I think the proper place to start for this race review is with a race preview, about my training... and sometimes lack there of.
Chapter 1: A Lap down, a lot more to go
Come February and my last marathon over, I was able to slowly shift into Triathlon training. I had the bike and bike gear, I had my run gear, but now I needed swimming attire. I was swimming laps in the Olympic Pool that Long Beach has, which is located out doors on the beach, so glad I live in SoCal and can train in an out door heated Olympic sized pool. Let's do this!
I quickly learned that swimming, all be it, something easy for me to do in short bursts, was tiring for me to do continuously. I could easily accomplish 50 or 100 meters, but then I would have to stop on the side and have a quick breath. But that would slowly evolve into 200 meter sets, and 400 meter sets, and finally I did a 1000 meters non stop in the pool. Pretty proud at myself, I did it in around 20 minutes, and at that distance, it's just over half the swim portion of the race. The time came to start open water swimming, to get used to continuously swimming, instead of pushing off a wall, which meant it was time to order a wetsuit, another costly purchase.
In the interest of preparing for the Triathlon in June, I signed up for a local Sprint distance triathlon that would involve an ocean swim, and a require a wetsuit, luckily, and conveniently, the triathlon offered a discount on a wetsuit company's website, saving over 50% off the wetsuit, took advantage and used the promotion code. Unfortunately, the day of the event came and it was far to windy to compete and the race was postponed.
But with the wetsuit purchased, I wasn't too upset, because with the promo code AND the entrance fee, I still saved a few hundred dollars on the overall purchase of the wetsuit and now I could start training in the open water. Without a wetsuit, I would have frozen in the pacific ocean, that was is C-O-L-D COLD, however it seems to be tolerable with a wetsuit. I quickly learned that doing a straight 1⁄4 mile swim in open water is different than doing 400 meters in a heated pool. But I would prevail I had time!
Most of my races usually start the night before with a big pasta dinner at Macaroni Grill followed by an early sleep only to wake around 5:30am to get in the car and drive anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour to the race. This one in particular was different from the beginning.
Up until Sunday, the only racing I had ever done was running, half-marathons, marathon, and the relay race from Huntington Beach to San Diego, but Folsom was to be my first triathlon, and a Long Course to boot. I knew I could run, not the fastest, but also not the slowest, I knew how to ride a bike, and I also knew how to swim pretty well from swimming lessons as a kid, but string the three together without stopping, that...... would be interesting to say the least.
There are varying distances of triathlons but the most common ones are as follows:
Sprint: .47 Mile Swim, 12.4 Mile Bike, 3.1 Mile Run
Olympic: .93 Mile Swim, 24.8 Mile Bike, 6.2 Mile Run
Half: 1.2 Mile Swim, 56 Mile Bike, 13.1 Mile Run (known as Half Ironman or Ironman 70.3)
Full: 2.4 Mile Swim, 112 Mile Bike, 26.2 Mile Run (known as Ironman)
I was skipping the Sprint and Olympic and jumping straight into the Half Ironman distance.
Where to start? I think the proper place to start for this race review is with a race preview, about my training... and sometimes lack there of.
Chapter 1: A Lap down, a lot more to go
Come February and my last marathon over, I was able to slowly shift into Triathlon training. I had the bike and bike gear, I had my run gear, but now I needed swimming attire. I was swimming laps in the Olympic Pool that Long Beach has, which is located out doors on the beach, so glad I live in SoCal and can train in an out door heated Olympic sized pool. Let's do this!
I quickly learned that swimming, all be it, something easy for me to do in short bursts, was tiring for me to do continuously. I could easily accomplish 50 or 100 meters, but then I would have to stop on the side and have a quick breath. But that would slowly evolve into 200 meter sets, and 400 meter sets, and finally I did a 1000 meters non stop in the pool. Pretty proud at myself, I did it in around 20 minutes, and at that distance, it's just over half the swim portion of the race. The time came to start open water swimming, to get used to continuously swimming, instead of pushing off a wall, which meant it was time to order a wetsuit, another costly purchase.
In the interest of preparing for the Triathlon in June, I signed up for a local Sprint distance triathlon that would involve an ocean swim, and a require a wetsuit, luckily, and conveniently, the triathlon offered a discount on a wetsuit company's website, saving over 50% off the wetsuit, took advantage and used the promotion code. Unfortunately, the day of the event came and it was far to windy to compete and the race was postponed.
But with the wetsuit purchased, I wasn't too upset, because with the promo code AND the entrance fee, I still saved a few hundred dollars on the overall purchase of the wetsuit and now I could start training in the open water. Without a wetsuit, I would have frozen in the pacific ocean, that was is C-O-L-D COLD, however it seems to be tolerable with a wetsuit. I quickly learned that doing a straight 1⁄4 mile swim in open water is different than doing 400 meters in a heated pool. But I would prevail I had time!
Chapter 2: The Wheels just keep Spinning
I purchased a new road bike 2012 Focus Variado 2.0 in November in anticipation for the new adventure that I was considering, Triathlons. At the time I knew very little about the sport, except that it strings together swimming, biking, and running into one long day. I realized quickly that cycling isn't as simple as buying the bike, and going out to ride, there are plenty of accessories that you can (and will) buy to get the most out of it. From $100 cycling shoes, to $100 pedals, all and all I spent quite a bit of money on the bike, which I figured was a simple, one time purchase, boy was I wrong. However, with many more running races ahead of me, my bike training would have to subside for a while I focused on other obligations.
Along with swimming, biking took shape, I had all my gear and slowly but surely my rides showed themselves to be quite nice and easy. My usual route is out of my house, in Long Beach, down the Pacific Coast Highway to Huntington Beach and back, around a 20-22 mile trip, which could be completed in just over an hour. On the weekends, I would sometimes increase my distance to 30, 35, and 40 miles, and eventually attempted to do a 56 mile ride down Pacific Coast Highway, which lead me from Long Beach to Laguna Beach and back, and my legs were killing me.
About a month before the race, I got the opportunity to ride with the Pasadena Cycling Club to do a 45 mile mountain ride with them. That ride, up to that point, was one of the hardest things I've ever done. The first 9 miles, also the hardest 9 miles, made me want to stop and quit. At mile 3, I thought I was done, at mile 5, I knew I was done, at my 6 I had mentally quit, at mile 9, I decided to keep going. At one point I remember thinking, there's no more up to this mountain, it has to stop somewhere, right!? But the downhills, ohhhhhhhhh boy, those downhills were great, hitting speeds in excess of 40 mph, It was a great feeling to go that fast on my bike. That 45 mile ride felt more like 70 miles with all the climbing we had to do, and the rolling hills in between the peaks of the mountain were no joke. It took almost 5 hours to complete. But I felt ready.
Chapter 3: Left, Right, Repeat
Now I knew that I had the running stamina, I just had to keep it up, running with “A Running Experience Club” helped keep me running, on Wednesday’s when I could get to the run start in time, and the occasion Saturday morning when I could pry myself out of bed at 6:30am to meet up with the group. Nothing to exciting in my run training so let's just say it was all the norm? Okay? Cool, moving on
Chapter 4: The determination, the motivation, the drive... the long drive
As I mentioned earlier, most actually start the night before, however, this one started Thursday. With the race being in Folsom, CA, I had to drive to Northern California a couple days before so I could get situated and pick up my race day items. Leaving Friday morning, and a not so quick pitstop in Los Gatos, California, we arrived to Folsom around 9:30pm, the total trip up there taking about 10+ hours. The first thing I noted when stepping out of the car was the heat, which I had seen would be much higher than the climate in Southern California coastal cities. At 9:30 at night, the temperature was still in the 80s, and the next day only proved to be hotter, and Sunday, the hottest yet.
Waking up mid morning, and a quick conversation with Stephen's aunt and uncle, who graciously put us up for the nights we were to be in Folsom, we drove over to the lake where the swim was to take place, in order to see how cold it truly was going to be... it was the most refreshing thing I've felt in a while. It was cool while the air was hot, not much more pleasure then that.
But the day quickly progressed as any other pre-race day would, we ate at macaroni grill for dinner, I was glad that my parents took the time to drive up from Santa Barbara to watch the race, it was a great feeling to see them at dinner, to joke and laugh as I mentally prepared for the day ahead.
Chapter 5: RACE DAY
What's that old saying? Early to bed, early to rise, makes a grown man healthy, wealthy, and wise? Well, I don't think that applies to someone who has been tossing and turning all night nervous and excited for the next day. WHA WHA WHA WHA WHA the alarm clock sounds, 3:45am, could it be that early all ready? I felt like I had just finally gotten to sleep, but yeah, It's time, sun's not even up, but I'm fully awake, my body not so much, but my mind was. After attempting and failing to eat an entire bagel at that hour, I succumbed to packing up the car to make the 15-20 minute drive to the start line for the race. The race in which I hoped to finish in about 6 hours. *The time Breakdown that I was attempting is as follows: 40 minute swim, 5 minute transition from swim to bike, 3 hour 20 minute bike ride, 5 minute transition from bike to run, 2 hour run, total time 6 hours 10 minutes. We arrived at the parking lot at 5:10am, well before the sun rose, only to find that it seemed like most people were arriving then too, traffic slowly crawled, but we finally made it to the parking lot and grabbed our gear. Into the transition area where I would store all my items for the day I headed, quickly grabbed by a volunteer who marked my bib number (28) on my left arm followed by my age (25) on my left calf. I was lucky enough to get a spot near the side, so my parents could be close and offer words of encouragement as I changed for the next activity, boy was I wrong.. thanks for the “jokes” dad. Some of the classics like “Hey, so you know, girls already came out of the water” were told real fast.
The Start of the race was great, at 6:30am with a water start and the horn sounding, it was on, like a free for all prison break mayhem, all swimmers in my group take off. The swim was a giant 1.2 mile loop in the lake, and that first leg felt like it took FOREVER. It just kept going... and going... and going... I assumed the energizer bunny was sponsoring this part of the race. The firs turn came, and I took the opportunity to see where I was in the pack, hoping not to be dead last, because it felt like that's how long it was taking me, I noticed that I was somewhere around the middle of the field, not bad, but no time to stop, just put your head down and swim, and so I did. The second turn came quickly and then I was on the back half, with half the swim over, I was feeling great, my pace was good, and I wasn't too tired, I simply just pushed forward. The Final turn arose, and then it was a straight shot back to the beach, where I could strip outta my wetsuit and into sometime a lot more revealing, my cycling suit. Running onto the beach, I quickly got out of my swim goggles and swim cap and ran into the transition area, not before glancing at my mom and dad and thinking, “alright sweet, 1 down, 2 to go”
I found that my swim had gone better than expected, I got out of the water in 36minutes 41seconds, over 3 minutes faster than my prediction. I quickly changed into my biking attire, and biking shoes, while hearing some of the great one-liners from my dad. Jumped onto the bike to start the next adventure, 56 miles of road awaited me, and it was already getting hot out. My transition from swim to bike also went better than expected, it was completed in 4minutes 5seconds.
The Bike terrain was hot and sunny, with little shade offered as the early morning turned to mid-morning, the hills which seemed so small the day before while driving the course, now seemed more like mountains, but I dug deep, down shifted and just keep pedaling, knowing that every foot uphill, was one foot downhill. Quickly the miles added up, 10 miles, 20 miles, 30 miles... at mile 38, I was treated to ice cold water at an aid station which was half drank, half poured over my helmet to cool myself, the heat had to have already been well into the 90s. Then the miles seemed to slowly tick by, 40, 42, 43, 43.5, 43.75... I couldn't catch a break, with the last turn into a canal I figured that would be nice a cool, running water always seems to bring the temperature down of the surrounding area. WRONG. It seemed to get hotter, but with 10 miles left I know my legs had it in them. Finally, the last turn came, came down the last portion to see my mom and dad waiting there, phones in hand to take pictures of me riding in, “2 of 2” complete. Quickly glancing at my watch I was still ahead of schedule. The bike portion which I hope I could complete in 3hours 20minutes took me 3hours 16minutes and 16seconds, by now I was about 7 minutes ahead of schedule. But that's when good news went to bad news.
As soon as I dismounted my bike, I was informed that Stephen had fallen on his bike, and rushed in ambulance to the hospital, I thought about quitting the race, packing up my gear and going to see him at the hospital, but new that he would want me to finish, plus there was nothing for me to do there, but get in the way. With that in mind, and a conversation with my parents, my transition from bike to run was slower than anticipated, at 6minutes 15 seconds. Off on the run I go!
Trying to push the thoughts of my training partner and friend out of my head, I knew I had only 13.1 miles ahead of me and finishing this thing, which I had trained months for. Not a mile into the run, I got a pain in the left side of my ribs, and every time I tried to take a deep breath it felt like someone was stabbing me with a small but very sharp knife. I had to walk, hoping that the pain would subside. After a few minutes of walking I decided to try running again, but then again pain. I continued this walk/run combination for a few miles, before I was nauseous and couldn't even stand the pain to try and run. The run course was a 6 1⁄2 mile loop, that was to be run twice, where you literally see the finish line and have to turn around to do another 6 1⁄2 miles. Too be honest, I was shooting for a 2 hour run, but at the halfway point, I was well over 90 minutes, I decided I was just going to finish, no matter how slow. The nice part was that there was a water station every mile on the course, and they all had ice water to help keep the runners cool. I believe that running is my strongest sport of the three, considering I've done mostly running for over a year, and just picked up the other two, but my legs were sore, my side was killing me and it was hot. At the time I crossed the finish line it was 106 degrees! I walked the last loop, which took me about 2 hours, only running when I came into eye site of the finish. Running past my parents, the only words I could muster were “I'm hurtin” but I did it, I completed the 70.3 miles that the triathlon offered, in a heat that was well into the triple digits. It took me 7 hours 33minutes and 56seconds, but I did it, I earned it.
I found out after the race that Stephen suffered a broken clavicle and will be out for who knows how long, I'll let him tell that story on his own.
But I have to give a huge shout out to my parents who took two days off of work, drove several hours, and withstood god awful heat to watch me, It means the world to me that they were there for the race, words simply do not say enough to how much I love them.
After the race and gathering my items, I realized that I did in fact NEED them. While packing up my bag, I pulled two shoes out so I could walk to the car, one race shoe, one causal shoe, both left. Then I couldn't find my helmet, which I had placed conveniently on my head as to not lose it. My brain was fried, no way in hell I was driving.
