My First 70.3 Half-Ironman Triathlon: More than You Want to Know

5 years ago I did my first two triathlons, sprint distance, pool swims with 9 & 15 mile bikes and 2 & 3 mile runs, I rode a hybrid bike that I had to borrow and during the swim I had to take a breath at each end of the pool--I only beat 9 people in my first triathlon I ever completed.  I remember how proud I was for completing a race, which 3 weeks prior to my first race I had no idea what a triathlon was, thanks to strangers I met at the gym, I entered the race.  Not long after those races, I bought a 'real bike', and since then I completed a number of pool swim triathlons.  In September 2012 I completed my first open water swim race, Frantic Frog Sprint distance triathlon, and this was a huge milestone, because I've never been great at swimming and I've always been terrified of open water swimming.  I put many hours in the pool and eventually that developed my confidence to survive the swim without losing my mind and so I could actually swim the whole distance without a break.

My first 1/2 marathon in 2007
(my 1st triathlon had no photo because
I went to the race by myself, not really knowing anyone)

As a child I never passed advanced beginner swim lessons, I never knew much about biking besides riding around the farm, and as I child I hated running, but ended up joining the cross country team my senior year of high school because I didn't play basketball and someone convinced me to join the team--peer pressure at it's finest.  On May 5, 2013 I completed my first 70.3, half-iron distance race.  Prior to the race I had only completed one open water swim race in my life, so deep down I wasn't sure how this race was going to happen.  I was curious at how I was going to exercise for 6+ hours straight and how I'd figure out the nutrition.

I am living proof that if you are an ordinary person who is determined, willing to work hard and be committed  you can accomplish something that you never thought you could do.  I never had the resources to hire a coach or spend a lot of money on a training plan, but I surrounded myself with experienced triathletes, read some books, articles and free training plans and it worked and I am beyond grateful for folks I met through the Chattanooga Triathlon Club who offered advice, endured training WITH me, and supported me on this journey--words cannot express my gratitude.

TOTAL TIME: 6:49:44 (every minute in the rain)
SWIM: 49:49
        T1: 9:24 (including 1/4 mile barefoot run where I couldn't feel my feet)
   BIKE: 3:39:21 (including bathroom stop :-)
         T2: 4:49
     RUN: 2:06:22 (including 2 major creek crossings :-)


PRE-RACE
I arrived the race venue, World's Fair Park, with 3 great friends; Kelli S., Drew S. and Jennifer L.---people I spent time training with and people who were incredibly supportive as we all strived to race the Rev3 half-iron distance triathlon in Knoxville, TN.  A half-iron distance race is 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run.  We registered and checked in our bikes, we had intentions of swimming, but the weather changed our plans, which I was fine with.

Going into the weekend I had hope that it wouldn't be rainy, the forecast wasn't looking good the week before the race, there was 80-90% chance of rain that seemed to change by day and I put my hope in the 10-20% chance that it wouldn't rain.  By Saturday (day before race day) there was a 100% chance of rain.  I was preparing for 50-59 degree temperatures and rainy weather the whole time.  I've ridden my bike when it's been slightly rainy and I've ran a whole 1/2 marathon in the rain with my sister-in-law Jada, so I was mentally prepared--I've done this before, but I was not overly excited about the weather.

The night before the race we enjoyed a wonderful meal at Noodles and Co, I had Japanese Pan Noodles with 1/2 chicken breast and a side caesar salad, and my husband was able to join us.  I did not sleep well because the alarm in our hotel was set for 11pm, so as I was falling asleep, I was awoken by this unruly alarm clock that I did not set, and I then woke up around 4am, without an alarm, apparently I was ready to race and I do like to eat about 3 hours before a race, so my timing was impeccable.

I loaded my transition bag with more items than normal, I wasn't sure what clothing I would need when and how many layers I would need.  We enjoyed a nice walk to transition, it wasn't raining at this point, (I knew it was only a matter of time) and we arrived transition around 5:30am, I pumped air into my tires, around 95 psi, ready to roll on the wet pavement.  My transition area contained many different items, I stored a number of them in the box by my bike, just in case I needed something, I mean I was a newbie at this race distance, I really didn't know what was going on.  After transition area was set we had to walk about 1/2 mile to the swim start, I was ready to go!

Before the weather was a factor, my ultimate goal for my first 1/2 iron distance race was to stay mentally focused, have fun and finish in under 7 hours--COMPLETELY DO ABLE!  The weather changed my race day goal to finish safely, deep down, I still wanted to finish in under 7 hours, but I knew I would slow down on the bike, SAFETY WAS KEY FOR ME!

My mantra for the weekend was to 'do what I could, with what I had, where I was' and I kept reminding myself this in preparation for this race, that I once thought was impossible.

SWIM
The water temp on race day was a balmy 60 degrees, but due to the rain, the Tennessee River was flowing at a nice pace and I was sure glad that I could wear my wetsuit and I wore two swim caps to keep me warm.  This was my first long-distance swim race so I intentionally started at the back of the pack to eliminate chaos, which ultimately made my swim time longer, but that's okay--I'm not a swimmer and I did not want to freak out because of people swimming over me, which worked!  I swam the whole way and did not stop or have to change strokes, though after finishing the swim up-river, I flipped on my back for a minute in relief and celebration!  I also ended up passing a few folks, which was sure encouraging.  My swim goal before the weather was 40-50 minutes and my actually finish time was 49:49, it took me around 27 minutes to get to the turn bouy, about 1/3 of a mile up-river, the swim upstream was difficult, but do-able, even for a non-swimmer!

I was almost emotionally upon my swim exit because I just couldn't believe I actually swam 1.2 miles in a race, in a river without stopping--I've overcome a huge fear and I was in awe of myself.  I got through the thoughts without emotion taking over because I had to keep going and I couldn't feel my feet upon exiting the water so I needed to keep smiling and keep on moving.  I saw my wonderful husband as I exited the water and all I could do was smile.  I then made the 1/4 of a mile run barefoot to the transition area, hoping to get the blood flowing in my feet.  I was slow in transition, trying to figure out what I should wear on the bike, I knew this decision could make or break me.  I have a lot of improvement to make in the swim part of the triathlon, but looking back 5 years ago, I can't believe I did this!  As I was leaving transition with my bike, a group of folks from the Chattanooga Triathlon Club were cheering me on--once again, almost emotional, just thinking about the incredible community and support that I have found in this group that I have only been part of for a year--no time for emotions, time to roll out and get on my bike!

BIKE
56 miles on my bike, the last time I rode over 50 miles was in early March with temps in the 30s and it was snowing/raining, so I knew I could do this.  I wore arm warmers, my rain coat and added some bike shorts, I was ready to roll, I strapped on my helmet, put on some clear sunglasses and left transition after a long 9 minutes of regrouping and hoping I had everything.  About 30 seconds after leaving transition I realized I forgot my bike gloves, after a moment of worry and uncertainty, I knew I couldn't go back and I didn't have time to get angry, so I rolled on.

About 2 miles into the bike, I wasn't even out of the city limits and the light rain, turned to a heavy rain and I looked at my garmin and was wondering how I was going to keep riding another 54 miles.  I picked up my attitude and rolled on, without my bike gloves.

This course was fairly hilly and with the extremely wet conditions, it was rather dangerous, I kept things slow and so did many other racers.  My hope was to ride the course in around 3 hours 15 minutes and I ended up riding in 3 hours and 39 minutes, given the hills and road conditions and the fact that the rain never let up, I was fine with it, and I was absolutely amazed that MY HANDS DID NOT GET COLD, an absolute miracle.  I later found out that a number of races had to drop out on the bike course (I heard of about 20+) because of hypothermia, I did not realize how terrible it was out there.  I wasn't too shocked by all the hills since I train in Chattanooga, but the longer climb at mile 47 wasn't very enjoyable, and then there were a couple nice steep burner hills at the end that were pretty terrible, I was glad to be done at the end.

PICTURE: Bike elevation chart

I consumed a lot more calories on the bike than I expected (this was probably a real good thing).  I didn't really have a 'nutrition plan', but had a good idea of what may work for me, I just took food items that I knew my stomach could handle.  My plan was just to eat as much as I could and eventually, I decided to eat when I was bored, which caused me to consume more.  A good friend of mine reminded me before the race to drink water even when I was cold, and I did not forget this...which made me have to stop for the bathroom on the bike.  20 minutes into the ride I had my first vanilla gu and then I had another one around 1 hour, after that I just kept consuming calories, it helped me pass the time and survive the misery.  In total I consumed: 22 oz (2 servings, 90 calories each) of cytomax, 3 gels (90 calories each), 2 raw rev 100 calorie bars, and 1 pack of honey stinger gummies (160 calories): a total of 810 calories... this seems like a lot, but I felt fine and had around 24 oz. of water.  I may have over-ate and over-drank on the bike, but I was warm and I felt great going into the run.


RUN
Transition 2 was faster than 1, but still a slow transition, I just wanted dry socks for a minute, so after the bike, I did change socks and once I started my run, they were immediately wet because it was still raining.   I started out running around puddles and keeping my feet dry, but soon realized it would be impossible. The puddles eventually covered the entire greenway path and there was no going around them.  I started the run feeling great and my mile time showed that, but I think I may have started thinking about the conditions and my pace started to slow.  Around Mile 3 I reached the first flooded area, it was an out and back run, so I know it would be more flooded when I came back---THIS WAS GOING TO BE INTERESTING!

The course was incredibly hilly, constant hills, but I knew that going into the race, but I forgot how hilly it was going to get.  I had a gel at miles 4, 8 and 10, which is typically for when I run stand-alone half-marathons--it worked for this race too.  I only drank water out on the course and I did feel fine the whole race--I usually have sport beans, but since I consumed so many calories on the bike and it was colder, I wasn't too worried about extra-electrolytes.  My mile time was really impacted on the hills and I would have ran it a little differently if I would have thought about it more, but I felt good the entire run, but started to feel it the last 2 miles.  Mentally I was fine, but I could have been more focused.

I found a running partner around mile 9, climbing out of the Sequoyah hills neighborhood, he was walking and I told him he should be running with me, so he did and eventually he kept me running when I wanted to walk some of those last big hills, thanks to Brooks for keeping me motivated! We actually had to run through a lot of standing water and the creek was flooded in a few different areas, the water was just below my knee, so that was fairly interesting--I couldn't believe it, I never imagined I would have to run through a creek on a half-iron distance race--ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN!  My average heart rate on the run was steady at 150, which I am blessed to have no problems with my heart rate.

Around mile 11, the rain did not let up, I started to calculate if I could make it in under 7 hours total time and I realized I had 33 minutes to do 2 miles, I could meet my goal, I pressed on to finish my first 1/2 ironman with a time of 6 hours and 49 minutes and I was grateful to have my wonderful husband and a supportive group of friends from the Chattanooga Triathlon Club there to celebrate this goal as I completed!  The final 200 meters was very muddy grass areas, which was an expected end to a long and wet race, but that did not diminish my smile!  I was feeling a little emotionally again at the end of the race, just in total amazement that I was actually able to do this--I wasn't really sure how things would come together, but I was sure blessed to feel great the whole race!  This was something I always wanted to do, but never knew that I could actually make it happen--and it wouldn't have happened without the support from my husband and the insight I gained from many Chattanooga Triathlon Club folks, too many people for me to name.


I am living proof that an average human being can complete a half-iron distance race if you commit and stick with it!  I went from not even knowing what a triathlon was 5 years ago and barely able to swim a lap in a pool, to finishing my first 1/2 ironman, with no coach (they are expensive), just people along the way who gave me insight and pointers.  Finishing a long distance race is possible if you commit to it, stick with it, have fun and stay determined!  Surround yourself with people who have experience with your dream race distance--ask them questions and take their wisdom, and most importantly, find confidence from within yourself--that confidence will carry you to the finish line.  Don't worry about not being good enough, don't believe the doubts that other people might tell you--trust in your confidence and your desire to work hard toward your goal.

I am still not the greatest swimmer, and I am improving on my biking, but no matter what, I never lost confidence in what ability I had race day and that is how I made it to the finish line.  I never lost confidence that God gave me the gifts and ability to press on and do the best I could, where I was, with what I had for my first 70.3 race.  I'm ready to sign-up for another one--who's with me?