Lake Geneva

This weekend I did my 2nd Half-iron distance triathlon in Lake Geneva, Wi. I had been working towards this race all season, so I was excited to get out there and see how much I had improved from last year.
Friday morning Matt and I headed towards south east Wisconsin. With maps in hand, and only one sorta' wrong turn, we found our way to Fontana and Reid Park, the race start. A block up the street was packet pickup, and we had arrived a few minutes before it opened. The line was already stretched down the block. I got in line, and an hour later received my packet and body marking. This was new, I'd never been marked the day before a race. Usually just race morning. But I figured one less thing to do in the a.m.
We found our hotel and checked in. Not the Ritz, but it would do. We feasted on my homemade spaghetti, and called it a day.
4 a.m. came early, and the alarm woke me from a sound sleep. I chugged my race-morning breakfast shake and headed out the door into the darkness. At 5am this time of year, the sun is not up yet, and setting up transistion in the dark is a new kind of challenge. The wind was blowing and it was chilly - low 50's. You could hear the waves lapping up onto the beach, but because of the darkness, you couldn't see the bouys or how big the waves were.
The race was slotted to start at 6:15am, and all the half-iron distance racers were going off together. Nearly 200 of us. There were 3 other races that day from an olympic to a super-sprint, so there were lots of people around. At 6:15, the race was delayed because we still couldn't see the bouys. At 6:45, after 30 min of shivering in my wetsuit, we were off.
The swim portion was an out and back into the lake, and consequently, into the waves. A mass start of 200 people into choppy water provided a bit of a challenge. My goal was to "swim smart." Keep my heart rate down, and swim with my head - I know myself well enough that if I start getting anxious, my stroke goes down the tubes. So I just tried to fall into a rhythm and keep an eye out for other people's legs and arms. Luckily the waves were fairly consistant, so finding a rhythm wasn't too hard. One stroke at a time, I picked off the bouys and finally I was at the turn around. I checked my watch, 24 min. Slower than I had liked, but I was ready to take it to shore. I figured that the swim in would be easier. Only sort of. It wasn't much easier, but I swam in a minute faster, so the waves did help some. Then it was out of the water, and on to the bike.
Undressing from my wetsuit as I jogged up the beach, I found my bike, and struggled out of the legs of my wetsuit. 2+ minutes later I was on the bike and headed towards the open road.
I knew from driving in and out of the race site, that there was a fairly sizable hill within the first mile. I put it into a low gear, and kept my legs spinning, and the hill actually wasn't too bad (for my Castaway tri friends - half that big hill there). And the good part was it got me on my way to getting warm. The bike is great when it's hot out, you're wet and you create a breeze to keep you cool. Now when it's cold, it's another story... Shortly before the 10 mile mark, I was changing gears too quickly and dropped my chain. I should know better. But I hopped off got it back on, and kept an eye on my greasy fingers the remainder of the ride to make sure I shifted smartly. The bike was tough. It was a windy day on hilly roads through WI farm country. The tall corn provided some protection from the wind, but when it was coming head on, there wasn't much you could do. I'm not sure if my mind was playing tricks on me or if it was mostly into the wind on the second half of the course, but it certainly felt like it. The first half went fast, and I maintained a 17+mph average. The second half, not so well, but I coasted into transistion with a 16.9 average, which for me is quite good. 3:12 after getting out of the water, I was finally off the bike!
Now it's onto the run. I didn't rush T2 (bike to run transistion). 13.1 miles is a long way to go if your shoes and socks aren't right or if you don't have enough nutrition to get you there. I double checked myself, re-tied my hair, threw on my visor, and off I went.
The run was also quite challenging, with the infamous "killer hill," (now you can think Castaway bike hill!) Knowing that this was a double out and back, and I'd have to make it up the hill a second time, I went out conservatively and walked the toughest up hill climbs. I checked my pace every mile, and found that I was holding on to a sub-10min mile pace. Right where I wanted to be. I had really wanted to run a 2 hour half marathon. So I head back towards the finish line, only to have to turn back for a second loop. I say to the crowd, "that was so much fun, I'm going to do it again!" And the crowd laughed. It was actually a fun time. I headed back out for my second loop. Again walking the worst of the up hills. Still watching my sub-10 min pace. And I'm feeling strong. I turn to head home for the last 5k or so, and I'm still feeling great. Well, now I don't have any excuses, I feel good, and I'm heading to the finish, so I keep plugging along and run the up hills now. No need to save myself. I see Matt a curve or so up from the finish line, and say "Look at the time! Look at the time!" I was so excited, and sprinted it in to the finish line. My official time was 6:07:04. I ran exactly a 2 hour half marathon.
Going into this race, I had primarily hoped to beat my previous time of 6:48 from a year ago. On a good day, I hoped for 6:30, and if I was feeling really big for my britches, I thought maybe a 6:15. I had no idea I had 6:07 in my legs! This is going to be very tough to beat next time!
So now it's recovery/taper time. 3 weeks until Twin Cities Marathon. TCM I'm doing simply "because I can." I doubt I'll P.R. with it being so close to the half ironman. But it should still be a very fun day.
I'll keep you posted. Until next time!
Kate