This crazy dream of mine to compete in a half ironman race began four years ago. I started small in triathlon by doing a sprint distance race. I remember thinking how tough it was going to be and being scared to death to attempt to swim, bike, run in succession no matter what the distance. I finished that race and signed up for the same race the next year. After learning a little more and training with a new partner my time got so much better in the same race that it sparked the idea inside of me to attempt a longer distance. My training partner and I then picked a sprint tri and an Olympic distance tri for our following season. Last year I raced both a sprint and an Olympic race and I managed to place in my age group for both races. Because I had done so well I decided that 70.3 was next on my list. I was definitely on track to complete a half and maybe, just maybe one day a full IM.
I began going through my divorce last May. As my personal life was unraveling around me I knew that I needed to do something for myself that would keep me focused on moving forward. Triathlon has been the thing for me that has kept me focused and happy for the previous three years so I decided to set my sights on Chisago Lakes Half Ironman in spite of the turmoil that I was going through. I jokingly asked my girlfriend Sarina if she wanted to do it with me and I was shocked when she said yes! I was also extremely stoked to have someone walk through this with me because lets face it people, running for 2 hours, biking for 3, or swimming for an hour by yourself is never as fun as doing it with someone else.
We signed up for the race and our 20 week training program started on March 11th. We started our training strong. Checking off each workout like you would a grocery list. 40 min swim? Check. 90 minute bike? Check. 60 min run? Check. Training is like having a job. Things line up on your calendar and somehow you figure out how to fit it all in. As the spring came to an end training was inevitably bound to become more difficult as the hours needed to prepare for the race became longer and both Sarina and I would have kids at home all day every day. We got creative and hired babysitters or exchanged children so that we could train. I'd stay at her house with all 5 kids while she rode 90 minutes. She would get home and I would bolt out the door on my bike to do my training. Our kids got VERY comfortable with one another!
As the summer wore on, there were vacations, camping trips, stress inducing events and general exhaustion that made training a bit more difficult than it has been for me in previous years. At some point my mind changed from "racing" the 70.3 to "finishing" the 70.3. I will admit that this revelation to myself was a tough pill to swallow. But, I know my body and myself well enough to know that I was simply not training at the level I needed to be in order to truly race the event. But you know what? I was okay with that. I had spent the last 14 months going through a divorce, working two part time jobs, taking care of and having fun with my children, traveling with my family, moving to a new house(the week before the race) and training for this event. Stressful? YEP!
Four days before the event I recognized that I was in the "it is what it is" frame of mind. I had trained as well as I could have for this(all things considered)and I was going to show up on Sunday and try to enjoy every moment of this race that I had finally made it to. It was a quiet calm that I have never experienced prior to a race and it felt a little surreal.
4:30am Sunday morning came and I popped out of bed. Calmly, I gathered all of my things which I had laid out the night before, ate a banana with almond butter and had a cup of coffee. I felt the energy start building inside of me....today is the day. Sarina picked me up and we loaded my bike. Seeing her made what was about to happen as real as it could be. I was so excited to do this race.
Oh, you see those sweatshirts on us? Did I forget to mention that our race was on July 28th but the temperature that morning was 50 degree's? Gosh how I love Minnesota weather. We were freezing! I suppose it could have been the opposite, like 98 degrees with 100% humidity which would suck as well. In hindsight, I much prefer the weather we had that day.
Our race venue was about 45 minutes away so we had a lot of time to chit chat about the race, our goals, our feelings and our excitement. We talked about all of the training that we have done, all of the stress that we have both been under, and the fact that we were about to become Half Iron Mothers!!!
We arrived to pure chaos! The bike racks were so close together that we looked like a bunch of sardines packed together while trying to set up our own little space. Not only were we all jammed in there, there were gigantic oak trees in between racks so pulling out our bikes and getting to the "bike out" zone was going to be difficult for a lot of people.
We got all set up and we were ready to go. We both had to use the bathrooms and man were the lines LONG! It was crazy! It was ten minutes to 7am...race start. Nerves began to pick up and I looked around at all of the amazing athletes who were trudging toward the beach and I felt like I was amongst friends. There is a certain type of camaraderie between triathletes that is tough to describe but it is ever present. You feel like you are supported, encouraged and cheered on by every single person around you even though you do not know them. Everyone there understands the blood, sweat and tears that you have shed to get to this starting gate and the energy is palpable. It is simply amazing.
The Swim 1.2 miles:
We stood on the sand while the 3 waves of 100 people ahead of us went out about 3 minutes a part. It was a shallow water start as the beach was filled with rocks that were quite sharp. Standing in line to get into the water I started my jumping that I do to get my heart rate up. I hugged Sarina and wished her luck. Our plan was to stay to the outside as much as possible. This was the first triathlon where I was grouped with both men and women of all ages. I was also one of 2 other people in my group of 100 NOT wearing a wetsuit. Yay me. The starting horn was blasted and off we went. I ran into people, people ran into me, I got swum over by a guy so I veered left as much as possible. About 3/4 of the way down the first length of the swim, the wind picked up and we were faced with some rather large swells. It was tough to get into a rhythm because you were constantly swallowing water and being pushed off course by the waves. I had to sight an abnormal amount of times because of the waves and I quit bilateral breathing in an effort to swallow less water. To say the swim portion of this race sucked for me is an understatement. I did plenty of recovery stroking, side stroking and coughing up water just to make it through. Towards the end of the swim I got kicked in the face by a guy. It seemed to come out of no where and it startled me so badly that my whole body tensed up and I got an intense cramp in my right calf. I immediately went under water because of the pain. I remember thinking, oh my God, you are going to drown 200 yards from the finish of this stupid swim...great. How does this crap happen to me? I tread water for a minute while flexing my foot to relieve the cramp and then told myself, "Get the eff out of the water now." So, I swam like a little fishy as fast as I could to do just that. There will be no picture of me coming out of the water because in all honesty, no one looks okay coming out of the water :) My little cheering section was there snapping photo's(that I later made them delete) so I got an extra burst of energy to begin the next leg of this journey.
Things I saw during my swim: A guy ran into a kayak, ouch! A guy panicked in the water and was rushed to by a lifeguard, bummer dude. A guy zig zagging back and forth in front of me, frustrating!
T1:
When I got to my bike, there were still a lot of bikes all around me which meant that my swim time was fairly decent. Because the weather was so cold I had to put on a long sleeved dri fit shirt. Well, as everyone knows trying to put a shirt on while wet can prove to be difficult. I overheard a gal talking to the guy behind me and she used his name(wish I could remember it now)so I turned to him and asked him if he would pull it down for me! He did of course and I thanked him for helping a sister out. Seriously, camaraderie people! I love it. I grabbed my gear, my shot blocks, my bike and I was outta there.
The Bike 56 miles:
Biking is my favorite out of all three sports. Each time I get on my bike to ride a grin spreads across my face. This is your thing Amber. I begin talking to myself almost from the get go. It is so calm and relaxing to be riding in aero position for me that I find I do my best thinking while on the bike. This ride was no different. I had a plan to consume a gel or shot blocks every 30 minutes throughout my ride and to consume 3 bottles of water plus whatever else I grabbed along the way. I knew there would be two bottle exchanges on the course so I was prepared to grab things then. What I was not prepared for was the temperature, the wind, the crappy road conditions or the hills that this course had on it. I thank God that I had such awesome cheerleaders because they literally saved me from quitting the race. Yes, I said "quitting" the race. The thought went through my mind numerous times on the ride and I talked myself down each time. Jon and Sara drove the course and I was able to throw my gloves to them one time, see their smiles another time, get updates on Sarina, and simply know that they were there all of the other times. It was amazing and I could never thank them enough for being there for me. At the first bottle exchange I grabbed a Gatorade. I was feeling fine but thought that a little extra sugar and electrolytes couldn't hurt. It was orange flavored and it tasted yummy! Unfortunately, I only had two water bottle holders and no place to put my Gatorade. So, I laid it between my aero bars and mentally gave myself a pat on the back for being so savvy. Less than a mile later we turned onto the most horrible road I think that I have ever ridden on. It was like 5 miles of pure bumps where the asphalt was not patched properly. What made it worse was the fact that my Gatorade was spraying me in my face with every bump. I was literally cursing out loud at how awful the road was. I talked to three people that I passed about it and they all agreed. By the end of the bumpy road you turn onto a road with a gigantic up hill climb....awesome. I was nearing mile 32 where the second bottle exchange was and I was feeling kind of icky. My stomach was really off. I needed to use the bathroom and I had a headache now from that awful road. I got off my bike, ditched the Gatorade, grabbed a water and filled up one of my own bottles with it and waited in line for the port-a-potty. While standing there, a girl was hunched over her bike. I asked if she was okay and she said that she was feeling awful. I told her to drink water and rest for a bit. She said she had such a bad headache and she felt like puking. I wondered if she was bonking. Anything can happen out on the course and I was thankful that I had made it to mile 32 without anything awful happening. I wished her luck and hopped back onto my bike. The rest of the bike leg was terrible for me. My stomach was still off, I seemed to have lost all energy and by mile 44 I had to pee so badly that I could not ride in my aero bars without crying from pain. With each passing mile I kept scoping for a place to go pee but there were riders all around me and we were in a more populated area. I would have had to turn down a dirt road(where I would inevitable bite it)and run into a ditch so I could hide to pee. Sucksville. I pushed through the rest of the bike and was elated to see Paradise Park come into view.
Things I saw on the bike: A guy bit it into the weeds before we were even 3 miles out. A girl was wearing such thin biking shorts that I could see the entire shadow of her butt crack. A ton of people on the side of the road fixing their tires.
T2:
I had to pee. I had to pee worse than I have ever had to in my entire life. I got off my bike and had Jon and Sara cheering for me but I couldn't even enjoy it because I hurt. I hobbled my bike over to the rack and slowly took my stuff off. Helmet off, shoes off, shirt off. Jon and Sara were standing directly in front of me yelling out encouraging things. Sara was really making me laugh with choice of words. She is the best. They talked to me about the bike. I asked about Sarina(since they drove around and found her too). I told them I was suffering. I got all of my running gear on and told them that I would see them in about 2 hours! I then went to the port-a-potty and waited in line before my run out.
The Run 13.1 miles:
I normally loathe the run. I find myself saying just get through this and you never have to do this again each time I race. This time, I was surprised to be hearing myself say, "You are doing this! You are going to complete this race and become a 70.3 finisher. You are so awesome. You trained for this and you are going to accomplish it! GO AMBER!" I was running out of the park and the winner of the race was running in. That guy had managed to swim, bike and run the entire 70.3 in the amount of time it took me to swim & bike!!! Amazeballs! The run is great. You get to talk with people, run with people, thumbs up people and cheer people on. I saw a lot of familiar faces from the transition area and from the bike. I passed the zig zagger from the swim which made me giggle. I walked through every single water station grabbing what I needed at the moment...a gel, some water, some Gatorade, a 1/4 of a banana, more water. I enjoyed each and every step of the 13.1. On my way back I saw the girl from the bike who I thought may have been bonking, I thumbs upped her and yelled way to go sweetie! When I was at mile 10 I finally saw Sarina. We were wearing the exact same outfit so I kept looking for her on my run back. It was amazing to see her. We ran to each other, hugged and I told her how proud of her I am. Then, as we ran away from each other, there was a guy near me so I shouted, "Yea, we planned that." He laughed and said that he also planned to come out of the water with his best friend but it didn't happen :) Almost immediately after I saw her my watch died. I knew that I had three miles to go. I would be unaware of my pace and I would no longer have music. It was actually a good thing. I got to experience the rest of the race inside of my own head. Just keep pushing forward Amber, you are almost there....I got tears in my eyes thinking that I was almost finished. I was about to actually finish this 70.3 and I was damn proud of myself.
I ran into the park and sped up. I heard Jon and Sara cheering my name. I gave them a high five and I made my way up the hill to the finish line. I ran through to their lovely faces smiling at me at the end and I was ever so grateful. I had finished the 70.3 with a huge grin on my face and two of my favorite people in the whole world standing there at the end. What a success!
Things I saw on the run: A girl running with a camel back that made her look like the hunchback of Notre Dame. A guy peeing down his legs. A dead animal on the side of the road that smelled so horrible that I gagged.
Race Stats:
Swim: 47:12
Bike: 3:14
Run: 1:58
Finish: 6:10
My goal was 6 hours. I missed it by 10 minutes. And I am perfectly okay with that. Things happened to me on this course that were unexpected and I talked down my competitive self and listened to my reasonable self who said take it easy little lady! I had an overall decent race and an even better experience that I will be able to share in years to come. I learned that I need to practice my nutrition better. I learned that I definitely should NOT try anything new on race day(even though I know this I still grabbed things on the course that I had not practiced with)I learned that being prepared for a course by having rode on it or run on it makes a big difference, I learned that you can have fun and enjoy a race without pushing yourself to the max, I learned that having a caravan of supporters makes a gloomy day seem so much brighter, I learned that I am one tough half iron mother who put myself through the toughest physical thing I have ever done for 6 hours and lived to tell my story. I came across a quote from the movie "A League of Their Own" this morning that totally spoke to me. "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard everyone would do it. The hard...is what makes it great." And let me tell you, man was it great!
Thank you to all of my friends and family who support me in doing my favorite thing. Thank you to my training partner and friend Sarina for walking with me on this journey. Thank you to Jon and Sara who came to the race venue and cheered me on for 6 hours, you two are ROCKSTARS and I couldn't have done it without you. Looking forward, I can say that I will do another 70.3. One where I can train and race at the level that I really want to. I am still thinking that a full IM is in my future...I am just no longer sure when. Until then, I will keep on keeping on because it is what I love to do.
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