Lake Stevens Half Iron 2006

Picture it: 90+ degrees. Full sun. A long, straight stretch of road. Running towards the shimmering blacktop that never seems to get any closer. Now do it again. Welcome to the run at the Lake Stevens Half Ironman.


Sunday was a great day for me. Everything worked. It is rare for me to have a major race that I can look back on and feel like I've successfully executed on a plan. Usually that is because I get distracted and forget to drink or take my electrolytes or some such silly thing. It was so hot on Sunday that I was constantly worried about dehydration so I drank regularly and since my Perpetuem was in all my water bottles it meant that I got in most of the calories I wanted.

Before I even got the race I had a crisis that I was sure was going to screw everything up. When I checked my registration confirmation it said that I had signed up for the international distance, not the half Iron. Oh...my...god!!! Nooooo.... panic panic panic panic. This screwed up my methodical preperations to the point where I couldn't fall asleep. I was so worried the half would be full and I wouldn't be able to switch. Stupid stupid Jen!

Sunday started at 4:00 am when the alarm went off. We had to be on the road by 5:00 to make the 1 hour trek to Lake Stevens. We packed up the car, put Katy in the back seat and left by 5:10. Pretty good for us. This whole time I'm trying to mentally prepare myself in case I can't switch the registration. Duncan kept telling me to calm down but that never works. In fact, it pisses me off even more because can'tyouunderstandhowstressfulthisisforme!!

We arrive just after 6:00 and found a great parking spot close to the transition area. Unpacked the car and headed to registration. I ran into Doug T., Simone & Bobby, Sheri and others along the way. Its nice to have so many friends at these races. I got in line, fingers crossed and lo and behold, the let me switch! What a relief!

I do the usual transition area setup and pull on my wetsuit. The water is blissfully calm. We start in waves with mine being pretty good sized, pobably about 75 women. I am able to get a good rhythm from the start and settle in for the 1.2 mile swim. I find myself in a nice little pack of about 6 women who are all working at about the same speed. This is great, cooperative drafting! The next wave start 2 minutes later and within a couple minutes are happy little pack is broken up by super aggressive swimmers coming through. It is at this point that the swim gets nasty. I'm being bumped, pulled, swum over and generally knocked about. Really rude people. I find my rhythm again and finish up in 45 minutes. Right on target.

Swim goal? Check

A relatively fast transition then off to the bike. On the way out of transition I see a jackass riding his bike through until the line where he dismounts, crosses the line, the mounts his bike again. As far as I know this should be a DQ but no one stopped him. Very annoying to see cheating like that. The ride starts out on a really nice flat road where I am able to maintain 18 - 20 mph without much effort. I'm feeling really good and taking advantage of it. It is a beautiful day for a ride, still isn't as hot as it is forcasted to get and the road goes through some really pretty areas. I'm at mile 10 or so and my chain drops. I try switching gears but no go. I have to get of my bike and try to get it unstuck. It has managed to wrap itself aound the pedal and wedged between the derailer and cog. Grr...probably 5 minutes lost there.

When the first hill comes up it hurts a bit but nothing serious. Then, the next hill, and the next, and the next, and the next. At about mile 18/46 there is a monster. The kind of hill that you look up at, mouth agape, and wonder how you are going to get up the damn thing. At the top is a nice reward of some flat riding then the next ugly one. This is quite short but very steep. I get to the top of that and seriously wonder how I am going to do the second loop. First loop finished, on to the second. The hills are still there and I tackle them one by one. Somewhere around mile 40 I come up on a crash that had just happened. There was a girl in a heap in the ditch and another one running up the road to her. This was a pretty steep section and curvey. I asked if she needed help and clearly the girl who was on the way to help was totally freaked out. I stopped and did what I could. The girl in the ditch was conscious and semi-coherent. She was banged up pretty good though. All her fingers and toes worked which was good but I'm pretty sure she'll come away with at least one broken bone. I stayed with them until the EMTs showed and and said they didn't need our help anymore. That was about 10 minutes. I get back on my bike, shaken by the whole thing and spend the rest of my downhills squeezing the hell out of my breaks. No high speed crashes for me!

My bike took me 4:05. If you take the 15 minutes back from the crash and chain wedge then I came in right about goal at 3:50. I was shooting for a 3:45 - 4:00 so I'll call this a success.

Bike goal? Check

Now for the really hot part. The brutal hills of the bike had really taken it out of my legs. I had managed my hydration and nutrition very well and felt mentally alert and capable as long as my legs got moving. I got through a pretty quick transition and took to the road. This was around noon so the sun was at it's peak and very very hot. Right from the start I knew this was going to be a serious test. The bike was tough but I knew I could finish it off. The run had me worried because of the heat and total lack of shade. The first couple miles are on this flat straight section of road that is down right depressing. The heat is like a furnace and I'm getting worried about my ability to stay cool. The aid stations every mile mean I can dump a couple cups of water on my head, drink a couple cups then move on to the next mile. Since this is a double loop I will be seeing all of this again and that is what really takes the air out of my tires. After the nasty section we pass back by transition to an out and back in a nicer area but still hardly any shade. At least we are by the lake at this point. I'm managing to stay fairly cool with my strategy of water on my head, water in my mouch routine. About half way through I'm getting a little sloshy in my belly so I slow down the drinking for the next two stations, still drinking but not as much. That seems to take care of it and I'm back on track. During the run I'm taking Endurolytes two at a time and I think I took a total of 6.

The run takes me longer than I wanted it to. There are two ugly hills on the route, which means I saw them both twice, and I walked them so I lost some time there. And, I took it very easy.

Run goal? Not quite, but it was extreme conditions so I can live with it.

Recovery is going suprisingly well. Monday I was stiff but had no problems walking around.