Wednesday, October 5, 2011

the Double Header: erm...part #1 of part #2!!

I keep trying to finish the second half of my race report but I figure I might as well post up what I've got so far!

More suspense, right???

So here goes...

ChesapeakeMan RR. Part I: the Introduction

In hindsight, doing this ironman race will probably go down as one of my dumbest ideas ever. Not the venue itself--the race organizers and the course were fantastic--but all the circumstances leading up to it. Even without the ridiculous work hours, lack of sleep, and travel associated with the El Salvador trip, I'd really only been training about 8 weeks before the race. Since I was rehabbing my knee injury and getting used to working semi-full-time, my training was probably only half the intensity AND volume of what used to be standard for me. I knew I was out of shape (which makes everyone around me laugh whenever I refer to myself this way...it's weird being around "normal" people again!) but I was stubborn enough not to want to miss another race on my schedule...especially one that was only a 2-hour drive away.

Coach Beck was smart enough to realize this and ordered me to think of it as a "long training day." So even with my lack of fitness, here were my race splits I thought I was capable of:

swim: 1:15
bike: 5:30 (super duper flat course)
run: 3:45 to 3:59 (definitely under 4hrs!)

Yes, on a flat course and out of shape, I still figured I could go under 11 hours. My primary goal of course was to just finish...when a minivan and ambulance cause you to DNF your first triathlon/Ironman ever, you are more than eager to get the "DNF Monkey" off your back. I knew that as long as I made it to T2, that I would get through the marathon and finish the race. Since I was taken out of IM Korea only a mile from T2, then goal #1 here was to make it to T2 in one piece.

Little did I know how hard it would be to get to T2. ***FORESHADOWING!!!*** and to be continued!!!

No comments:

Post a Comment