Kinetic Half Ironman Race Report

Pre-race prep..
Thursday night dinner I ate pancakes with almond butter. Friday for breaky I ate more pancakes with almond butter and for lunch a giant bowl of pasta and a few pieces of bread. Arrived at the hotel around 6pm Friday and went for a 15 minute run, a couple swim strokes in the tiny pool, and a short dip in the hot tub. Ate a smaller portion of pasta and a piece of bread for din.

Race day...
Lake Anna State Park
Weather 75-80 degrees, cloudy, wind 15-20+ mph.
Race morning I ate maybe 300 cals worth of oatmeal.
The race started at 7am. I woke up around 4:45, got ready and arrived at the race site at 6. Little did I know I was going to have to wait in line for packet pick up for over 30 minutes. I'm not going to lie I was panicking a little... I hadn't unloaded my bike, prepped my transition, stretched, pre-race swim, pre-race run, prepared my bike nutrition, or hit the bathroom up.
I only managed to prep my transition, bike, and nutrition before it was time to start the swim. Not a good start to the day.

As soon as I threw on my wetsuit it was into the water for a 1.2 mile swim. In spite of the windy conditions creating a current and a little chop in the lake, the swim went as good as it could go I think. The distance was not 1900 meters however, more like 1500-1600 meters, I am not complaining though. I finished in under 25 minutes. I was on my goal time for once.
This was my first time swimming with my new TYR Hydrovision goggles. I could barely sight out of the goggles I swim in the pool with, and considering I don't naturally swim in a straight line I needed an equipment update. The new goggles were great, except they took in water in one eye. Oh well.

Then it was onto the bike coarse where I could do some damage (or at least make up for the lost time during the swim). The coarse was rolling hills with some short climbs. By around mile 25 I had caught and passed a lead pack of riders. By this point I was in 2nd and just pushing hard to put as much time as I could between me and the faster runners. Unfortunately by mile 40 I started cramping up bad. I had went through 3 powergels, 1 powerbar, 2 ½ water bottles with Zym tabs at that point. That was not enough. My speed took a big hit from mile 40 and onward. A few guys I passed earlier then caught and passed me by mile 50. It was no time to panic though, I drank 2 more bottles of water between miles 40-50 and the cramps subsided by maybe mile 53. The cramping definitely set me back 3-4 minutes. I still finished the bike in 2:22 and had the fastest bike split of the day.

This was the first time I've raced 56 miles, naturally I was going to make nutritional mistakes. Lessons learned.. Use 2 Zym tabs per water bottle, Bring 4-5 gels, Bring Endurolytes, Drink at least 2 extra bottles of water on coarse.

Other than a little cramping fatigue in my legs I felt good off the bike. I quickly took down 2 Endurolytes, a Powergel and a cup of water. My plan was to take the first 2 miles at an easy 6:50-7:00 per mile pace then settle into race pace. For the record, I didn't know how hilly this run coarse would actually be. After the first 4 miles I realized I would not be running this in the time I trained for. The rolling hills took me out. I felt like I was running backwards. I think I was averaging 7:30 min/miles the last half of the run. Damn, that's my recovery run pace. Oh well, maybe I pushed too hard on the bike. I definitely didn't train enough on hills. I ran the half marathon in 1:37.

I was so happy to finally cross the finish line of my first ½ Ironman. Total time was 4:26. Finished 1st in my age group category and 7th overall. Missed 6th place by only 15 seconds. Goes to show me that even in these long races every second counts.
As this was a qualifying race...
I qualified for Team USA to race at Long Coarse World Champs in Immenstadt, Germany on July 31.
And qualified to race at Halfmax National Champs Myrtle Beach, SC on October 2.

Lake Anna was beautiful and I will probably be back next year. Both the run and bike coarse are pretty challenging for a flat-lander. Challenging is good. The support was excellent. Greg Hawkins and staff do a terrific job putting together these big race events. Like clockwork.
With a couple days to reflect on the race, I am happy with the way I raced it. I'm not happy with my run time. So that's a change for me, usually I am not happy with my swim time. There is always something to work on.

I'm no Andy Potts, but woooh, 3 races in 3 weeks is all over for me too.
This ½ Ironman was probably the most painful race I've ever done.
I'm going to take 2-3 days completely off from swimming, cycling, and running.

This week I will start training for Eagleman 70.3, which is 5 weeks away now.
I'm really looking forward to getting back into training again. I've gone about a month without a long run or a long bike. I'm really excited to get back to it!