Sunday, June 28, 2009

Pacific Crest Half Ironman

This race was the toughest race experience I have ever had but it also was the most beautiful and I do enjoy a challenge.

Got into Bend, Oregon on Thursday evening, checked into hotel and had an early bed time

FRIDAY: Up early and at the Athlete Village to register. Met up with the coach and some team mates to bike on the run course. The course is not too hilly but winds incessantly on the bike/run paths at Sun River Resort. You can't see more than 40 feet in front of you which makes it mentally challenging for a half marathon.

Drove up to the reservoir to rack the bike. The basic gist of the race is that you swim in this beautiful reservoir, which happens to be at 4700 feet, bike 58 miles around Mt Bachelor to an elevation of 6300 feet and then descend to 4200 feet into Sun River for T-2 where your meander through Sun RIver for the Half Marathon.

The water looked beautiful but cold!

Had an early pasta dinner at the athlete village and listened to the race meeting and then off to bed.

RACE DAY
5a.m. Up..took a thermolyte and ate eggs and pancakes, drank a big glass of water
5:50: left with team mates Anna and Judith with all the geat for t-2. Laid out the run transition stuff.
6:30 Got on the bus for the reservoir. 45 min later we arrived, put nutrition on the bike and laid out T-1

The race was delayed by 30 min since a bus transporting athletes was stuck in construction traffic. This impacted us in a few ways, my nutrition was slightly off and we would be racing later which means more heat but not a big deal

We warmed up in the swim which was a GREAT idea since the temp of the water was 60 degrees After the warmup I felt great

SWIM 45:03

Started slow which I never do, stayed consistent and strong, got kicked a few times but no biggie, felt great the WHOLE time which never happens. I attribute this to coach Jill helping with my stroke and showing me how much energy I conserve when I swim the right way. I wasn't fast but I was 4 min faster than last years Half and I got out feeling like I could go right back in and swim again.

T-1 Took forever! 2:31...I had to take everything off and put it in a bag for transport back to Sun River. Had to remember to tie the bag..ugh!

BIKE 3:12:20 This is slightly different fro most halfs in that it is 58 miles instead of 56. My bike was AWESOME!! I really loved this course! The hills were challenging but not terrible. The scenery was beautiful. The sun started to get hot and yet I was climbing high enough to have big snow drifts right next to me. At the top of the last climb before the long descent I got smacked in the head with altitude sickness which manifested itself in a huge throbbing headache and nausea. I have had this once before in Colorado and it sucks! My nutrition and salt had been spot on. I drank 16 oz of water the first hour, 2 thermolytes and 250 calories, same for the second and third hour. I knew it was not nutrition. I threw up going downhill thank god but felt awful pulling into t-2

T-2 3:05 I unloaded my bike, shoes and hat on and ran all of 50 feet to the aid station in T-2. I grabbed a bunch of ice and sat in the shade at the side of the road for 20 min with ice under my hat on my head I had packed some advil and took 3. My headache was just relentless. By now it was about 88 degrees and I don't think the heat helped :)

RUN: 2:41:15 After 20 min I got up and walked/jogged the half marathon. Each mile aid station I drank 2 cups of water and added more ice to my head. My hands and feet started to swell so I backed off the salt and kept to water only.

FINISH: 6:44:14 12/29 in Age Group. I am not thrilled with this time but here is what I am thrilled with:

1. This course is VERY challenging and I didn't DNF
2. I only spent 10 min. in the medical tent getting oxygen and the headache FINALLY went away.
3. My nutrition seemed spot on
4. I still beat my time from Lake Stevens last year by 12 min. and that is with sitting on my arse for 20 min which shows you how slow I was last year~
5. I am slightly sore but really feel ok this morning..glad to have a few days of rest.