Ironman CT - 70.3
I'm now telling everyone I know NOT to go to Ironman Connecticut 70.3. That bike course sucks, with a capital SUCKS. I wasn't really there to race and I would have been pissed, or hurt, if I was. I'd estimate that about 50 miles of the bike course was unsafe. Most of the roads deserved maintenance 30 years ago, but I'm getting ahead of myself...
I had a good time driving to the race with my neighbor John, which is a good thing because I'd estimate that we drove 8-9 hours on Saturday between getting to CT, driving the bike course and the usual running around. The day before the race was sunny and warm. The amusement park where transition is located wasn't very big so it was a little annoying getting in/out, but overall I liked the setup. After getting our bibs and racking our bikes we drove the bike course. I kept joking that it was a course designed by M.C. Escher. The course had lots of hills but it seems like they kept going up from start to finish even though the start was at the finish. The pavement was bad...really, really, bad. It had cracks, potholes, ripples, just about any problem you can imagine. The problems were not limited to the shoulder. They often existed of 2/3rds, or even all, of the car lane. After driving the course and getting something to eat, we met up with my buddy Chris. The 3 of us shared a hotel room and everyone thought I was crazy when I wanted to set the alarm for 3:10am.
The alarm went off race morning. The 3 of us were in the lobby by 4am, but then we had to drive 20+ minutes to a shuttle lot and then catch a bus to the start. I think we probably got to the start around 4:45am or so and the leaflet they gave us at packet pickup said that transition would close at 5:30am for a 6:30am swim start. I got setup by 5:30am, but transition actually closed at 6am. We all went down to the beach and admired the thick fog covering the lake. They delayed the start until 7:00am and then pushed it back to 7:10am. In the meantime the swim was shortened to 750 meters so that they could keep us contained where the boats could see us. About 15 minutes after the beginning of the swim, John and I were sent off together in the same group of 5. I thought this was very cool. Unfortunately, we lined up so that we were both breathing away from each other so we lost each other pretty quick. I didn't do a great job sighting, but the swim went well enough. I probably added 50-100 yds to the swim. I was just stroking along without a care in the world and very little intensity. I forgot how much fun a wetsuit is! I got into transition and had no desire to rush. After a leisurely cutover, I hopped on the bike and started peddling away.
'Race mode' suddenly switched on and I did the first 2 miles with a 26.6mph average. There was unintentional drafting everywhere so I just blew past everyone. There was an official patrolling as well so I had more motivation. I got to mile 5 and couldn't believe how fast it was going, but at the same time I was already tired of the crappy pavement. I stopped pushing and rode the rest of the course like it was a commute to work. I usually have 0-3 people pass me in a 70.3. At this race I had hundreds. A lot of the passing was unsafe, but the fact that I was often riding in the middle, or even left of the lane wasn't safe either but that was what the pavement dictated. There were 3 accidents on the course. Around mile 10, an ambulance went by with 2 police cars escorting it. Later in the race, someone face planted at high speed on a downhill. When help got to him he was still laying face down and not moving. The 3rd accident happened right next to my friend Ryan. Ryan and the "victim" came down a fast hill with crappy pavement to a hard left turn. Ryan made the turn. The "victim" did not. He got separated from his bike. The bike flew into the guardrail at high speed and the fellow slid through it. I was constantly repassing people on the uphills and braking on the downhills. I was braking so much and so often that my hands kept cramping. I had to pee really badly, but even though I wasn't racing I couldn't bring myself to stop at a portapotty. At the same time, I'm not ashamed to pee while on the bike but couldn't bring myself to be disgusting when I wasn't really racing.
When I got into T2, I racked my bike quick and bolted to the portapotties. I yelled some encouraging words to John. He came into transition just a couple of minutes back. There were 4 portapotties in transition and 5(!) people standing in line. Really? There were easily a half million dollars in race fees and we can only get 4 portapotties in transition and 10 outside of transition? Lame. I ducked through a hole in the fence (great security!) and used a portapotty meant for spectators. When I came back I didn't see John so I switched over to running gear and took off to catch him. I thought it would be fun to run together. The first mile was 6:52 and it felt great! There was only one problem, my sock was bunched up under my toes. Around mile 1.5 I stopped to take off my shoe and fix it. It was a Gu, lol. Fortunately, it had not broken. I started passing a ton of people. It was fun. I didn't pay attention to pace just ran a fun fast. The heat/sun was in full effect on the run, but at least half of it was shade so that was nice. Around mile 7 or 8 I had an irregular heartbeat for a few seconds and then it became normal and then irregular again and then normal. I backed off the throttle a little bit, but it was feeling fun so I just kept going for it. My only goal was not to walk on the run. Around mile 12.5 I walked for about a hundred yards. It was a steep hill. Everyone else was walking and when I was still running I was barely closing the gap, so why bother. When I got back to the park through a side entrance the course drops onto grass for the last couple hundred yards and something flipped in me. I was all out sprinting. It was a blast. After I finished I was a little light headed. A volunteer asked if I wanted to go to medical so I did.
When I got to medical they asked what was wrong. It took 4 attempts to tell them. I kept getting emotional. I don't really know why. Eventually, I opened with "you are going to make a big deal about this but don't." I then told them about my AFib and the irregular heart beat that happened for a bit. They agreed I had normal rhythm now, but I still got to hang out for some post race recovery pampering.
All things considered, I was pretty happy that I pulled of a 1:47 half marathon on a hilly course with only 3 easy runs since Boston, even if I was sand bagging the rest of the race. I'm going to continue taking a running break for another month but it is nice to know there is some hope.
The alarm went off race morning. The 3 of us were in the lobby by 4am, but then we had to drive 20+ minutes to a shuttle lot and then catch a bus to the start. I think we probably got to the start around 4:45am or so and the leaflet they gave us at packet pickup said that transition would close at 5:30am for a 6:30am swim start. I got setup by 5:30am, but transition actually closed at 6am. We all went down to the beach and admired the thick fog covering the lake. They delayed the start until 7:00am and then pushed it back to 7:10am. In the meantime the swim was shortened to 750 meters so that they could keep us contained where the boats could see us. About 15 minutes after the beginning of the swim, John and I were sent off together in the same group of 5. I thought this was very cool. Unfortunately, we lined up so that we were both breathing away from each other so we lost each other pretty quick. I didn't do a great job sighting, but the swim went well enough. I probably added 50-100 yds to the swim. I was just stroking along without a care in the world and very little intensity. I forgot how much fun a wetsuit is! I got into transition and had no desire to rush. After a leisurely cutover, I hopped on the bike and started peddling away.
'Race mode' suddenly switched on and I did the first 2 miles with a 26.6mph average. There was unintentional drafting everywhere so I just blew past everyone. There was an official patrolling as well so I had more motivation. I got to mile 5 and couldn't believe how fast it was going, but at the same time I was already tired of the crappy pavement. I stopped pushing and rode the rest of the course like it was a commute to work. I usually have 0-3 people pass me in a 70.3. At this race I had hundreds. A lot of the passing was unsafe, but the fact that I was often riding in the middle, or even left of the lane wasn't safe either but that was what the pavement dictated. There were 3 accidents on the course. Around mile 10, an ambulance went by with 2 police cars escorting it. Later in the race, someone face planted at high speed on a downhill. When help got to him he was still laying face down and not moving. The 3rd accident happened right next to my friend Ryan. Ryan and the "victim" came down a fast hill with crappy pavement to a hard left turn. Ryan made the turn. The "victim" did not. He got separated from his bike. The bike flew into the guardrail at high speed and the fellow slid through it. I was constantly repassing people on the uphills and braking on the downhills. I was braking so much and so often that my hands kept cramping. I had to pee really badly, but even though I wasn't racing I couldn't bring myself to stop at a portapotty. At the same time, I'm not ashamed to pee while on the bike but couldn't bring myself to be disgusting when I wasn't really racing.
When I got to medical they asked what was wrong. It took 4 attempts to tell them. I kept getting emotional. I don't really know why. Eventually, I opened with "you are going to make a big deal about this but don't." I then told them about my AFib and the irregular heart beat that happened for a bit. They agreed I had normal rhythm now, but I still got to hang out for some post race recovery pampering.
All things considered, I was pretty happy that I pulled of a 1:47 half marathon on a hilly course with only 3 easy runs since Boston, even if I was sand bagging the rest of the race. I'm going to continue taking a running break for another month but it is nice to know there is some hope.
We looked for Ryan a couple times, but did't see him until a rest stop in Massachusetts on the way home. He did well and it was fun to see him. I did get to have some fun at his expense though. He was excited to share that it was his best 70.3 run yet, which is great...but then I had to point out that mine was about 20 seconds faster :-) Never mind that he beat me by something like 45 minutes overall, lol.
