Musselman Race Report

Well, the Musselman 1/2 Ironman has come and gone, and somehow I managed to survive. So I guess it's time to write about it!

My expectations for this race were pretty minimal. I didn't start any kind of training until April, so my only real goal was to be able to finish comfortably; speed/time goals were not really an issue, since I had no chance at all of improving over my 1/2 IM PR. Training with Jackie and Mia was a lifesaver - the long rides were so much more enjoyable, and even when we weren't together training, it was a boost just to know they were out there doing the same thing I was. I know I wouldn't have made it to the start line without them. Thanks guys!!

We arrived in Geneva on Friday after some vacation time on the east coast with my family. Friday night the group got together for dinner, and it was great to see everyone in one place (especially since it would turn out to be so hard to do that for the rest of the weekend) and talk in person with folks that I've only had virtual conversations with for the past year.

Saturday morning we decided to skip the pancake breakfast in favor of the free breakfast at the hotel, and then headed down to the lake for a swim. I hadn't swum in almost two weeks, so I really needed it! Well, it was supposed to be a swim anyway. By the time we stood around in knee-deep water discussing whether there was anything actually deep enough to swim in, and inspected the very large dead fish floating in the water, the race organizers had come over and told us that we had to swim in the 'official' swim area, which was not where we were. I swam in about 10 strokes, and planned to head over to the swim area, but someone who had just come from there said it was just as shallow and not worth bothering. So 10 strokes of swimming was all I got - I'm ready to race now! While we were there, we inspected the transition area, and then piled 6 people into a 5 passenger car for the short drive back to the hotel.

The rest of Saturday was spent at race registration, pre-race talk, lunch, a stop at the bike shop, prepping my bike for the race so I could rack it by 5pm, doing a short bike (19:04, Mia) and run, and then finally racking my bike. Whew! Got a frantic call from Jackie while I was still at the hotel - she had gotten yet another flat while pumping up her tire. When I didn't see her or her bike in transition, I called to find out that she had thrown her back out, and was in the fine care of Wendy and Tink at the time. I felt so bad! We stopped by Jackie's hotel to pick up and rack her bike, and then we headed to the pasta dinner. I felt bad leaving Jackie behind, but I wasn't sure what I would be able to do for her, so I figured we'd stop by after the pasta dinner.

Turns out the pasta dinner was even shorter than I expected, since we were a bit late, and the room was so stinkin' hot that nobody could stand to be there very long! I really wanted to hear Jef Mallett speak, since I am a huge Frazz fan, but we had to move up to the front of the room to hear him. Shortly after, Mia came by to tell us that everyone was leaving because of the heat. We stayed a minute longer, figured that he seemed to be mostly done anyway, and headed outside where most of the group was still congregating.

From the dinner, Mia, Scott and I went to Wegman's to put together a get-well basket for Jackie - a mix of healing things and other little pick-me-ups in case the healing things didn't work! And of course, chocolate, because that heals all ills!

Then it was back to the hotel for the final race prep: number prepping, bag packing, bottle mixing, etc. I had decided that day to violate one of the fundamental rules of triathlon: never do something on race day that you hadn't practiced in training. Unfortunately, I had concluded in my training that my chosen race nutrition (Joe Friel's Going Long formulation of InfinIT) really didn't work for me - I was okay for the first bottle, and then my stomach really got bloated. (I think it's the protein in the drink, since I had a similar reaction when I tried Spiz, which also has protein.) So I decided to switch to Cytomax (Tangy Orange flavor, because that was all they had at the bike shop), which I had used in training but not racing several years ago. I mixed up a bottle (with some added sodium from that most high-tech source, the little packets of salt from breakfast!) to start with on the bike, plus a concentrated flask that I would carry in my pocket that would make two more bottles worth. Another bottle for the special needs bag (plus a bottle of InfinIT, in case the Cytomax turned out not to work for me), a Clif bar, some gels, and some Clif Shot Blocks in the Bento Box, and I was good to go! Finally got to bed after 11pm, but I managed to sleep okay and woke up fine when the alarm went off at some ridiculously early hour that people really shouldn't be up at!

Breakfast was two bottles of Boost, a mini bagel with peanut butter, and some water and Gatorade. I was well fueled! Scott got up early, and decided to head to the race with me instead of waiting until later to go with the other race-husbands. I got a call from Jackie, and I was so happy to hear that her back was feeling better and she would be racing. Yay! We got to the transition area, and I did my usual slow-prerace setup (I'm not sure what I do, but it sure takes me a long time!). By the time I got everything ready, hit the portapotties, got body marked, and headed towards the swim start, it was almot race time. Too close to race time, actually, since they were pulling people in from their warmup swims and I hadn't even gotten my wetsuit on yet. Oh, well - I guess Saturdays 10 strokes would have to do!

Mia and I climbed down the steps and into the water. We decided to swim out to where the swim was starting - a minimalist warmup swim is better than nothing, right? Stood around for a bit, saw some FAST folks, and looked around for Jackie, who we hadn't seen when we got in the water. We finally found each other, and I was glad - we had trained together, and it wouldn't have been the same if we didn't start together!

And finally the swim started. I felt pretty comfortable right from the start, although there were a few people that I kept colliding with. I felt like everyone around me was swimming to the left, but I figured it probably really meant I was swimming to the right, since I have a tendency to drift right a bit, and also at tendency to swim parallel to shore even when the race course doesn't quite parallel shore. The first turn buoy came before I knew it - I had to look twice to make sure I wasn't turning too early! No problem with that on the next leg of the swim course - that seemed to take forever! Of course, my 'drifring right' issue didn't help at all. Let's just say that I didn't have to worry about crowding on this leg of the swim, and got to see some of the kayaks a bit closer than I should have! Finally I rounded the last turn and started swimming in to the finish. The waves that made the swim so choppy on the first two legs of the swim were now pushing us in, and I was liking it! Swam until my hands were dragging on the bottom, which was still a lot further from the shore than I would have liked. I glanced at my watch when I stood up, and I was a bit disappointed by what I saw - 38 minutes and some change. My last 1.2mi OW swim in training took me 38 minutes, and that was without a wetsuit, so I was hoping to be faster than that. (And I wasn't even out of the water yet!) Oh, well. I got over it pretty quickly, because I felt good and wasn't tired at all. I had been such a slacker in my swim training that I really couldn't ask for much more! I took off my wetsuit as soon as I hit shore, waved to Scott, and then ran into transition.

Official swim time: 40:58 (9/18)

My transition time was decent, which was a surprise since I felt like I was moving pretty slowly. I saw Scott, who told me that the lead swimmer was out of the water in 30 minutes, so I felt a bit better about my swim time. Grabbed the bike and headed out to hit the road!

T1: 2:34

I was really glad that I had the opportunity to ride the bike course during the Musselman training camp. I knew what was coming up at all times, and that helped me to divide the course into smaller sections in my head, which was a big help mentally. (The rest of the mental help I need probably requires professional assistance!) My overall bike plan was to watch the watts on my power meter, and make sure I didn't go too hard too early. My run endurance wasn't the greatest, so I figured my best chance at race sucess was to have a moderate bike ride and save as much as possible on the run. My nutrition plan was to really focus on getting in calories early in the ride. This was something I didn't do too well in training, and haven't done well historically in the past in races, so I really needed to focus on this.

I settled into a comfortable rhythm pretty early, although my HR was a bit higher than it should have been for the first 20 minutes or so. Downed the Clif bar first, so I could make sure I got in the solid food while my HR was still low enough to process it effectively. I tossed at least one empty water bottle at each aid station, and I peed twice in the first half of the bike, so I figured my hydration was okay.

I knew Mia wouldn't be far behind me on the swim, and I also knew that I just couldn't hang with her on the bike when the road pointed uphill. So I wasn't too surprised to see Mia pass me at Mile 22 and the start of the longest/steepest uphill section. Of course, the road was flat or downhill for a while after these hills, and gravity works in my favor on the downhills, so I passed Mia again a short time later. Proudly told her I had peed twice (who but triathletes would find peeing your pants something to be proud of?) and pedaled on. I knew I would be seeing her again in the hills at the end of the course, and sure enough, she passed me again at Mile 52, just before we get to where Scott is cheering and videotaping. He saw Mia and started filming her, so I called out "Sure, film her, not me!" when I went by a few seconds later.

It was only 4 miles now to the finish, and I knew there is a fair amount of downhill in the last mile or two, so I figured I could probably catch back up to Mia by the finish. I was surprised to pass Walt Pheeney around Mile 54, and then I saw Tink riding the course backwards. I don't think she expected to see us so close together! I passed a few people on the downhill stretch, and finally managed to pull in behind Mia just as we turned into the park. It was so cool to cross the mat into T2 together! (Don't the Brightroom photographers know how cool that is?) We attempted a high five, but apparently our manual dexterity or depth perception or something was off after 56 miles on the bike, and it was pretty much a whiff.

Bike Time: 3:14:06 (10/17)

T2 was uneventful. I was VERY happy for a change of socks for the run! I decided against bringing my bottle of Gatorade and figured I'd just deal with the HEED on the course. I smacked Mia on the rear on the way out of transition (I was going to wait, but I figured she's have no problem catching up!), and then it was time for the run!

T2: 2:40

Ah, the run. I knew the heat would not be a good thing for me, since I really struggled on all of my hot weather training runs. But hey, everyone has to deal with it, so I figure all I can do is manage it as best as I can. My HR hit 170 in the first mile of easy running, so I knew there would be a lot more walking than originally planned! I saw ER at the first aid station, said hi, and gladly took one of the Endurolytes she was offering up. My new race strategy was to keep my HR from hitting 170 (Zone 4 for me), so I switched from running to walking when my HR hit the upper 160's (which didn't take very long, unfortunately!). Mia caught up with me on the uphill section around Mile 2.5, and we walked together until the end of the uphill section. We started to run again, and it didn't take Mia long to realize just how slow I really run, so she took off. I knew she would do well, because she has been so awesome in her training all along.

Somewhere after Mile 3, I realized I had to pee, and I recalled from the pre-race talk that the next available bathroom is at Mile 7. Sorry, can't wait that long! I went off to the side of the course and let loose. Another runner came by while I was in the middle- I wondered what she thought! I resumed running/walking, although the running was slowly becoming less and the walking more. I discovered the beauty of ice cold sponges, pouring water over my head, ice in my hat and shirt, race spectators' sprinklers, and basically anything that even looked like it might cool me off. I walked all of the uphill at Mile 7. Just before the turn to the downhill section at Mile 8, I saw what I first thought was a race volunteer directing me to turn, but then I realized it was Wendy with Preston and Andrew. Wendy gave me a quizzical look before she figured out it was really me, and then I gave her a big sweaty hug. It wasreally good to see friendly faces! She tells me I look strong, and I know she's probably lying, but I'll take it!

The long downhill stretch felt good, and I ran the whole thing, the longest stretch of actual running in a while! I saw Tink at the top of the next uphill section, where, unfortunately, I was no longer running. Only 4 miles left now, and mostly downhill or flat, but I'm running out of steam. I figured I could beat 7 hours, though, if I ran enough of the remaining 4 miles. I ran the downhill stretches and some of the flats, and walked all the uphills. Coming through downtown, one of the race volunteers asked me if I'm ok - not a good sign for what I look like! (I think I sighed or made a face or something that prompted him to ask.) But I had really lost steam by now, and I no longer cared if I finished under 7 hours, so the rest of the race was almost all walking. Saw Kathleen and Cindy outside the Ramada, and ER at the last aid station. ER tells me I look like I'm out for a stroll. Well, I've been walking most of the last two miles, so technically I guess I am!

I have lost all motivation to run by this point, so I figured I'd save all my running for the finishing chute, where the cameras are! Finally the chute was in sight, and when I get to it, I started running. I saw Mia and her family just before the finish line (this time the high five worked!), heard some cheering and saw some of the tri-ers on the other side, and then finally I crossed the finish line! (Remembering to turn my hands out so my arms look better.) I saw Jackie, which I knew meant she didn't finish, so I am sad for her. Gave Scott a sweaty hug, and then do the requisite race debriefing with the rest of the Tri-ers while we wait for the others to finish.

Run: 3:05:47 (16/16)

Final time: 7:06:05 (13/16)

Post-race Comments: I realized during my long walking stretch at the end of the run that I really had achieved all of my goals for the race, regardless of my finishing time. I got my ass back in shape from it's pitiful state earlier in the year. I trained with friends, got to see some of my WW buddies, had a great time on the bike course, and would finish the race. It really didn't matter if I ran or walked, if I finished in 6:55 or 7:05. All of the important goals had already been achieved.