Well I just can’t seem to get away from duathlons this year!!! This is the third triathlon I have competed in recently that has been turned into a duathlon! But I will say this; if I was the race director for this event I would have done the same thing. I want to say thank you to race director Tom Ziebart and all of the workers/volunteers for putting on a great and safe race!!!
I have been training specifically for this event for about two months, putting in some longer rides/run etc., with my longest bike being about 62 miles and my longest run about 14 miles. I have competed in a lot of races this year so I was kind of looking forward to finishing this one so I could take a break (but I think we are doing another 1/2 Iron distance race in September). I had practice my nutrition on all of my longer rides and felt confident about everything going into this race. I have felt like my biking has gotten a little stronger over the last month.
I would have to say that leading up to the race I was being my usual nervous self, as Eric, Tony and Jeff can attest to. I think at one point on Thursday I thought Eric was going to explode because I was acting so crazy (taper does that to me)! I still have not found a way to calm my nerves about bigger races even though I have done plenty of them. I kept well hydrated during the week before the race and especially on Thursday and Friday, picking foods and drinks that were going to keep my feeling good. I mostly drank Gatorade, some water, and no diet mountain dew! That was hard! I slept okay the night before the race, and woke up feel pretty good. I was not tired, and decided that I was going to drink coffee after a lengthy discussion about caffeine with my good friend Gary Ditsch. I have been drinking Panera coffee daily for the last month and felt that I should stick to what I have been doing. So I have a cup of coffee from our hotel breakfast bar, struggle to eat one Dutch Apple Raisin bagel from Panera, but managed to get it down by 5:00am. My wave was to go off at 7:30am so I thought that would be plenty of time to get everything through my system. Once we got to the race sit at about 5:00am, I felt a little better and starting to relax. I got everything set up at my bike, got there early enough to find a good place for my bag, and double checked everything including my tires and gear. We all started walking down towards the swim start at about 6:30am because we were told to give ourselves about 30 minutes to get to the start. When we got near the lake, I noticed the water was very choppy, and the wind was bad, and I knew it was going to be a tough swim. I starting thinking that they may cancel the swim because of the waves, but really did not put too much thought into it. And then it happened. As I was returning from my potty break, I heard, ‘We are calling the swim; please head back to the transition area to get your running shoes.” I said crap! Not again! But I knew it was the right decision and was in the best interest of all athletes. So we waited in line for the toilet, had some jelly belly beans with caffeine and then headed back to get our running shoes on. Having Jeff, Tony, and Eric around really helped calm my nerves.
So we got our shoes on, and headed to the start line for a 2.1 mile run that was to replace the swim. I was not worried too much since I had already finished two races with canceled swims in the past 2 months. So I said my usual, “your gonna win” to all of my buddies, kissed Eric and met Taylor Haydock around the start line. We chatted a little before our wave started, and before we knew it we were off! My game plan was to go at a comfortable pace for the first run. There were some hills, so I tried to keep my breathing under control. . On our way back to the transition area I ran by Eric which comforted me as I was about to start my journey on the bike. I ran a 15:07 for 2.1 miles so I was happy with that. When I got to transition, everything went smooth, and I was on the bike pretty quick. I starting riding slipped my feet into my biking shoes and I was off. We started out the first nine miles with a mix of a head/cross wind, but I knew the course pretty well after driving it and knew we would have a break from the wind at some point.
There were a lot of packs when I was on the course. This was probably due to the first run not breaking up everyone enough. I passed a lot of people quickly and then settled into a good pace. It seemed though that no matter how slow or fast I was, there were always five people right around me. There were a lot of people riding three and four across which made it difficult to pass. But I managed to get around smoothly, and focused staying on top of my nutrition: one bottle of Gatorade Endurance an hour, 3 cliff blocks on the hours, and one E-gel on the half hour. Water was used as a chaser or when I wanted something other than Gatorade. A few times my belly felt weird, but I just burped and felt better! The bike course was flat and fast! There really were no major climbs on this course. There were some small inclines on the last 20 miles, and some bumpy roads, but other than that, this course was perfect! We had a tail wind on the way back (last 18 miles or so) which was great. My legs felt good and I kept pushing past people. As I returned to the transition area after the bike, I looked at my average and I was happy, 21.5 mph for the bike! I dismounted and headed to my transition area to put my running shoes on. Transition went smooth, grabbed my E-gels, hat and I was off. My legs felt great off the bike. There was a pretty good hill at mile 1, but I made it through no problems. We had about two miles out to the start of the loop we were supposed to do twice. So first two miles were good, and then I settled into a good pace. Some miles were 7:30 pace, some were 7:50, 8:00 and a couple of 8:15. I tried to focus on one mile at a time, getting through the first loop without any problems. Tony White passed me at about mile 5, and he was flying! This was inspiration to go faster! I finished the first loop and started my second loop feeling great. I was drinking Gatorade Endurance at the aid stations, took a gel at mile 4 and mile 8, and had water at some of the stations. I also dumped water on my head which felt good! I started to get a little hungry at mile 10, and started to cramp a little too, so I stopped and walked one aid station to make sure I got a good amount of Gatorade in my system. There was only one other hill in the run, and we had to do that hill twice since it was on the loop. So I ended up running almost the entire run, except for the three times I stopped to walk for about 30 seconds. As I hit the end of the second loop and headed back to the finish line, I was still feeling great. My feet were cramping but I ran through it by pressing down hard to spread my toes apart when I hit the pavement. I ran mile 11-12.5 with a really nice girl, and we paced off each other which was nice. The last mile was great until I hit the sand, and I prayed I would not cramp again. I managed to make it through the sand and picked it up through the finish line! My run was okay, with a 1:45: 50 (8:05 pace), and a total time of 4:37:59. The key thing was that I felt good all day. I was happy, feeling good and was glad to be finished. I found Eric right away which was nice. He passed me with about 10 mile to go on the bike, thought I would maybe catch him on the run but never did! He had a great race!
Congrats to everyone who finished the race. Tony White had a very impressive race at 3:41, with a 2nd amateur overall finish, 1st in his age group (and this was his first 70.3 race)! Jeff Buhr also did awesome, with a 4:10 (18thplace in his age group). Eric Atnip ended with a 4:14, and had a great run! I want to thank Eric for his love and support even when I am acting all crazy before the event. I want to say congrats to Sam Dick, Rosie Hillmeyer and Justin and Taylor Haydock for finishing their first 70.3 race. I also want to say congrats to Rodney Wesley, who had a great race and an impressive bike split! It is great to do events like this with your friends surrounding you and having a good time!
Thanks for reading my race report. This was a great race, a good result, and I look forward to the next race I do!
Thanks,
Beth Atnip
