South Carolina Half Ironman Race Report

10/1/2011
Ninety-Six, Sc
South Carolina Half Ironman

Total 6:17:15
Splits: Swim 38:40, Bike 3:12:10, Run 2:23:11

Venue and Race Setup: For the most part I was very happy with this race. The volunteers were phenomenal and the course and direction from volunteers was terrific. The weather was perfect, so I’m really glad they pushed it back from August. The post race food was very good too. And it was a beautiful finish line. Up on a hill overlooking the lake. Almost nothing to complain about. The only problem I had was there was a lot of very rough stretches of pavement that was really really uncomfortable. But again, nothing the race people can do about that. I would definitely consider doing this race again. It was a really good time.


Pregame: The day started off amazing for a race. We got there nice and early and it was still pretty cool. However, by the time I got all my gear set up and ready to go, the sun started rising over the lake, which made for an absolutely gorgeous sun rise, the temp started rising just enough to make it comfortable. It was probably in the mid 50’s by the time the start gun was starting, and it was looking like a perfect day for a race. The water was a balmy 76, which made getting in easy, but the thought of getting out terrifying. Who wants to get out of 76 degree water into 55 degree air? But oh well. As we all started walking towards the swim start, one fellow racer was kind enough to make the comment, “I hope that current isn’t as strong as it looks. Thanks dude…I hadn’t noticed, but after he mentioned that I took a look…there was clearly a strong left to right breeze, which had the main channel of the lake looking more like a river than a lake. And of course, the swim course took a left turn, and took the bulk of the swim straight into the current. I’ll worry about that later.

Swim: The swim wave was the largest wave I’ve ever been a part of. They had all male category’s start out together, which is not something I’ve ever seen before. But it wasn’t a very big race, so I guess it made sense to start everyone together. There were probably 60 or so people in the wave. Bigger than I’m used to, but still not quite the 2500 person wave I’ll be seeing in a few weeks. Didn’t matter, I didn’t have too many collisions with anyone else, and those I did have weren’t bad. I did get whacked in the back of the head by someone…not sure where that guy learned to swim, that his arm flew that wide, but I digress.
What did make the swim so difficult was the fact that the sun was rising almost directly in front of us on the first leg. As my goggles fogged up, it became incredibly difficult to see anything in front of me. I could barely see any of the buoy’s, so I had to rely on the rest of the swimmers for sighting. I just made sure I was going the same direction as they were, and that worked for the most part. Every now and then if I took extra time I could make out a buoy, but not usually till I was a lot closer to it. I just wanted to get to the turn, cause then the sun would be behind us and I’d be able to see better. Well, I got to it, made the turn, and no, the theory was incorrect. The sun was behind us, but the current was rough. This time you couldn’t see because every time you looked up you got smacked in the face with a wave. That was fun. I think I took on as much water as I did air. If that next leg was 1/3 of a mile, then I probably swam 2/3 of a mile. I wish I could have had my swim tracked cause it probably would’ve looked like a huge S shape. At one point I was on the far left of the main bulk of the swimmers, so I tried moving closer to get back into the draft…the next thing I knew I was on the far right of them. I don’t know how that happened. I just remember thinking, “what the….? “ Well, that leg still managed to go better than I had expected and I got to the final turn buoy and the final leg, still feeling great by the way. The final leg went very smooth. I felt like I actually went straight for once, there was no current and no sun. Sighting was easy, I tried to take it nice and easy, I still had another 6 hours of race ahead of me, and I just wanted to get out of the water feeling relaxed. Well, mission accomplished. I got to the end and felt like I could easily have done the swim again. I was faster than I planned and felt more relaxed than I expected to. All in all, very happy with the swim.

T1: Wasn’t too bad of a run from the swim to the transition area. I took my time, jogged a little bit, but nothing too much. Really took my time when I got to my bike. I had already had my chest strap on so I just had to put on my watch, gloves, and socks aside from the normal gear. Didn’t really rush, but didn’t slack either. My total time was 1:52. Not great, but considering how little I rushed it seemed faster than expected.

Bike: Once I got out on the bike, my HR started at a staggering 176. I couldn’t believe it was that high cause I wasn’t breathing heavy at all, and unfortunately the first mile or so was mostly uphill so there was no bringing it down for a while. Finally once I got on to the main road I was able to settle in and bring my HR back down to a reasonable level. The course was mostly rolling with a few long flat stretches. The first 20 miles wasn’t too bad and I maintained a pretty strong pace considering my effort level. I can’t remember for sure what my HR was for the first half, but I do remember running a bit high the whole time. Miles 20-40 were a bear. Mile 20 was at a sharp right hand turn, and the moment we made the turn, there was a nasty head wind that smacked me right in the face, and it really never let up for a long time. For the next 20 miles I had to deal with a stiff wind that went from mild to tough the whole way, but never really stopped. There was one flat stretch that I couldn’t go more than 13 mph. Then every now and then a big gust would come up and almost stop you. After mile 40 it let up a little bit, but still never totally stopped. From about 40-52 the wind would come and go. I tried to take breaks as best I could but there were really hardly any long stretches were you could coast and recover. The best I could do was get it back down to the 130’s but whenever that happened there would be another hill to climb so it would just go right back up. The final 4 miles were really about the only time you could truly rest and recover because it was mostly downhill and the wind finally starting blowing from the back. I don’t remember what my HR was when I finished but I felt pretty good, though my legs were starting to get kind of sore.

T2: This was a pretty easy transition. Already had my shoes off, so it was just a matter of removing the helmet and gloves, putting on my running shoes, hat, belts, and I was off. The run started out really hard. The run consisted of 2 out and backs of 3 miles. So it was 3 miles out, 3 miles back, repeat. The way out was significantly harder than the return trip. My strategy was to run for 5 minutes and walk for 1. It worked exceedingly well. I felt great through the entire run. On the out trip my HR stayed around 170 or so, and would drop to the 160’s on the walk. However, the return trip it tended to stay in the 160’s, and dropped into the low 150’s, even the 140’s on the walks. There were a lot more opportunities to recover even while running on the return trip because of the more downhill nature. I felt great after the first leg, and felt that if I still felt good at mile 10 I would start pushing the pace a bit more. I think for the first 10 miles or so I was averaging around an 11:30 mile. I got to mile 10 and new I still had a lot of gas left, so I picked up the pace. Probably to about a 10 min mile. I knew if I could make it back to the park road, it was about 1.5 miles from there, I could pick up the pace further cause it was almost all downhill from there. I made it back there got my final gel and water, and picked it up again. I picked up to a 9 min pace, and once I hit the 12 mile sign I knew I could finish without another break. I probably slowed slightly but not much. I just kept moving cause the finish was in my sights. I knew at this point it was just a quick run around the parking lot, around the finishing hill, and then the short, but steep climb to the finshing line. I knocked out that finish and still felt pretty good coming through the gate.

Sumary: This was a great prep for Ironman Arizona. I tried to employ a lot of the strategies and pacing goals that I had for the full Ironman. A couple differences: The rolling nature of the course compared to Arizona. There were a lot of opportunities to coast were there will be very few in Arizona, however, there also will not be any HR rocketing climbs. I should be able to maintain a more stready HR in the Ironman than I was able to do at the Half. I have got to be more disciplined in keeping my HR in check in the full, regardless of what that does to my overall time. My goal is to finish, not get a certain time. I need to keep it around 140 for the full, not 161 like I did yesterday. That is too high. I still felt fine going into the run, however, add 56 miles to that and it might be a different story. I need to take in more calories on the bike. More gels, drinks, whatever, I got too hungry on the run, and another 6 hours out there would’ve been incredibly difficult. I think for race day I will consume a gel every 30 min instead of every 45. Rather take in too much than not enough. Need to do some more adjustments on the saddle. Everything felt good except my back. I haven’t felt that back pain in some time, however all other pains have been alleviated with the new seat. I have no complaints about my run. I stuck to my plan for the whole race. Early on it was kind of tough because I felt really good, I was doing my walks when I still felt strong enough to run, but I stuck with it. My run will be even better if I stick to the plan on the bike. The run I will stick with the 5:1 strategy on race day. Again, if I’m feeling great towards the end I’ll pick up the pace, but I’m going to keep the ratio.

Goals for my next bike rides….we’re going for easy HR NOT speed. I have got to keep my HR in check on my future rides. That will help me keep disciplined on race day if I start working on it now. Forget about reaching certain distances, keep your HR in check.
The next long run I am going to switch to the 5:1 but maybe increase the pace a bit. The 5:1 didn’t seem to be all that much slower, but I walked a bit faster. I’m going to see how that goes for my next long run. But all in all I’m happy with my running, very happy with the swim, and I need to get more disciplined on the bike. Great day for a race and I’m very happy with my performance. Next stop IRONMAN ARIZONA!!!!