Desert Half Iron 2007 Race Report

In summary, this race was not my race and I did the best I could with the tools I had. Ruth, on the other hand kicked some serious ASS and I am SO PROUD OF HER! She will report on that shortly.

The best part about the race was the swim and it went downhill (and uphill) from there... I supposed that is to be expected for a race with the word "Desert" in the title and billed as Canada's toughest triathlon. As well as the 2007 Long Distance Triathlon National Championships (that explains why 99% of the participants were uber buff).

SWIM 41:14 (137a, 150m) but my actual swim time was 36:56
Went in two waves with two minutes between them. I thought I had enough time to put on my wetsuit and get in the water to pee but all of a sudden everyone was getting kicked out and I did not have time. Had a good swim and learned how to pee while swimming and considered that a bit of a victory. Did not like having to get out of the water and run on the beach after the first loop but it went quickly. On my way to T1, I dropped my swim cap twice and retrieved it once and left it the second time.

BIKE 04:08:06 (143a, 167m) 13.5 mph
I knew going in that this was NOT my kind of bike course. I am not a good climber (getting better but not good yet), was using my new crank set and was testing my Zipp wheels for this race to see if I would use them for IM Canada. It started out climbing and for the first 8ish miles, I felt good even though it was all a slow grinding climb. The side winds started up and caught on the deep rims of my wheels blowing me more than I was comfortable. During the first descent down Richter Pass, I was SO SCARED. I am not a good descender and now I was descending on wheels I did not trust or feel comfortable riding. Despite making myself breathe and doing a lot of self-talk, I finished the descent terrified and very very tense. The winds continued and I just did not feel safe enough to ride in my aerobars. At every rest stop, I added more water to my water bottle and nuun and met my goal of eating a powerbar before the turn around point.

Right after the turn around, I heard (for the millionth time) "on your left" and was passed by a bright orange jersey -- it was Jeff and he was kicking my ass! I was so happy for him and told him to go for it. Had a nice tailwind for a bit and relished it and then started to climb again. I was fine climbing even though I was slow. It was the descending that was the worst. My bike just wiggled under me the entire time and I did not want to go as fast as my body weight was taking me so I would apply the brakes -- unfortunately they were not aligned correctly and it was like braking with a corrugated surface and that made me even more tense. I knew that I was going to be near the end of the pack and made peace with the fact that this was not going to be my best race. I resolved myself to finishing the race but not killing myself to do so and to support Ruth and Jeff as much as possible on the course. Near the end of the bike, I had a fantasy of kneeling on the dismount line and kissing the ground and even though I restrained myself from doing so, I did express my delight to the volunteers to be off my bike.

RUN 02:27:50 (152a, 163m)
Usually the run is where I can regain things a bit but not today in the heat. I saw Ruth coming back from a turn-around when I was heading out and told her how proud I was of her. I drank water and Gatorade and grabbed ice and sponges at every station. I kept seeing my HR soar and tried to keep it down but was unsuccessful. Because we had plans to ride the Ironman course in 2 days and because I was already so far behind, I did not push myself on the run and took a lot of walking breaks. I got to see Ruth and Jeff a lot on the course and was able to high-five and encourage them. And finally it was over :)

07:17:47 Overall Finish (145a, 167m)