Yesterday, I raced the 70.3 (half-ironman) in Syracuse, NY. This was exactly two weeks after finishing the Eagleman 70.3 in Cambridge, MD, which you can read all about right here.
This was a completely different course than Eagleman and I was a little - okay, a lot - concerned about it. Whereas Eagleman was flat as a pancake, Syracuse's bike course starts with about twelve miles of climbing and the run has a killer hill in the middle of the two-loop course. Everyone kept talking about the hills.
At Eagleman, my goal was to go under 6 hours, but I missed it by 1 minute. I didn't have a time goal for this race, but I have realized that I tend to hold back on the bike. I ride a half-IM like I ride a full, always going one gear easier than I know I can do all in an effort to save my legs for the run. So, instead of a time goal for Syracuse, I decided to go all out in the bike, really push the climbs and keep it in a big gear that I can spin at 90+ RPM on the flats. Since the run course sounded like it was going to be hellish anyway, I figured hammering the bike couldn't make it worse.
My swim wave started at 7:55. The 1.2 mile swim is in the Jamesville Reservoir and was measured at 68 degrees on race morning, which meant wearing a wetsuit. Randy's wave was starting 20 minutes after me and, as we are pretty close in the swim, we thought it would be fun to see if he can catch up to me before the end of the bike.
The swim was relatively calm, but weedy. For the first 300 yards or so, I kept pulling weeds off of me. All was fine until I rounded the second turn. At that point, I was running into a lot of people from the waves that started before me. At one point, I got elbowed by someone swimming breaststroke, followed quickly by a backhand to my nose by someone swimming backstroke. If you have to swim backstroke, you probably shouldn't be in a triathlon.
Anyway, I swam a 34:26, which was about 3 minutes faster than the non-wetsuit swim at Eagleman. My first transition was slow, which only tells me that I really should spend some time practicing transitions.
I headed out on the bike and wasn't quite sure what to expect. In the two weeks since Eagleman, I was not feeling strong on the bike. Not that I was doing big, hard rides, but even on the easy stuff, I was feeling tired. Luckily, that wasn't the case here. I found myself spinning up the hills and pushing right over the top, passing many people along the way. I felt great! The biggest climbs were over at mile 12 and after that, the rest of the course is rolling. I was able to push a big gear and I found myself passing more people than I usually do. Yes, I got passed by others, but I was holding my own.
I started to realize around mile 30 that I could go under 3 hours for the bike. I had clocked a 2:59:15 at Eagleman, which was the first time I'd gone under 3 hours. At mile 54-ish in Syracuse, there is a no-pass zone. Unfortunately, I ended up behind a guy who was going too slow for me and I missed my 3 hour mark by ten seconds. Ugh! In my heart of hearts, I know I would have been under 3, but I'll take the 3:00:10. Hey, I just had the same bike split on a hilly course as I had on a flat course! Apparently, I like hills. Oh, and Randy caught me at mile 50. He's fast!
As I came into T2, I checked out the clock. I'd been racing for 3 hours, and 40 minutes (give or take with transitions). That's when it dawned on me that maybe I could break the 6 hour mark for the race. That has been something I've wanted to do for so long, but I could never get it together on any given day. Unfortunately, I had to run as fast as I ran (which isn't fast) at Eagleman (did I mention it was flat there? and hilly here?). So, I slugged it out. The run course, quite frankly, sucks. It's a two-loop out-and-back course. About a quarter of a mile is run on a grassy hillside - terrible for anyone with knee or ankle problems, which includes every runner I know. I either jogged or walked it. I was surprised by how good my legs were feeling, so I settled into a pace that was manageable. Then I saw the hill. It's not pretty. I admit it - I walked. When I got to the top, I had to make a right hand turn, but it was much flatter there, so I started to run again. Then I saw the other hill. Crap, that thing was steep! I decided to power walk it. I think I made the right decision because I was walking past people who were "running." The top of the hill is the turnaround, which means it's time to run downhill. That sounds great until you start doing it. My quads were not happy, but I was able to run. I finished my first loop in a little over an hour. I could still make it under 6 if I kept the same pace. My plan for the second loop was to basically repeat what I did in the first loop. Power walk up the hills, walk through the aid stations quickly, and run everything else. The downhills totally sucked, but I managed to run that course over 6 minutes faster than Eagleman for a time of 2:09:51.
Woohoo!!! Not only did I finally break the 6-hour mark, I managed to clock a 5:52:43!!!! How could I possibly have PR'd on that course? Craziness!
As I crossed the finish line, I got my medal and hat and then I heard the announcer call the name of a friend of mine. She was about 30 seconds behind me. Her goal? To go under 6 for the first time too. Yay!
We stayed for the 70.3 Worlds roll-down, but there were no spots to be rolled to us. Everyone in the northeast is trying to qualify, so it's tough. I'm not disappointed though. That race exceeded my expectations and I am so happy to have finally put together all the parts of a half to reach my ultimate goal.
I'm racing another 70.3 in three weeks. How these past two races will affect the third remains to be seen. I think I got a lot of confidence in Syracuse, so I'm looking forward to it.
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