Race Report: Steelhead Half Ironman, 8/1/2009
SATURDAY, AUGUST 01, 2009
RESULTS
NO FN LN AGE SEX DIV. CITY ST. OVERALL DIVPL SEXPL SWIM T1 BIKE T2 RUN TIME
54 Lee Crumbaugh 62 M M6064 Glen Ellyn IL 1091 8/13 852/1182 41:01 6:41 2:55:55 4:09 2:28:40 6:16:25
RACE REPORT
PRE-RACE
The weather was very nice, in the high 60s low 70s. I racked my bike and sorted out my transition gear in the dark. I was at the far end of a long area right off the beach; only the pros were further down.
As I sorted out my gear and laid down my towel a women next to me joked that I was imposing on her - she was hoping no one would show. But there were still two empty rack spots right around us so we were fine. I enjoyed my rack mate's sense of humor!
I struggled for 10 minutes or more trying to thread the velcro strap through the slot that holds my bike bottle in place. Damn! It was hard to do this in the dark! Finally, I sorted it out. Then I lubed up and put on sunscreen. I zipped my De Soto Tri Power tri suit back up...and the zipper separated. Had I been wearing gold chains I would have looked great, but I was not from New Jersey, this was a tri and I wanted to be streamlined, not exposed. I struggled with the zipper as I had with the velcro strap, but to no avail. It was dark and hard to see. I enlisted the guy racked next to me. He couldn't figure out how to reconnect the zipper, either. I walked over to a woman overseeing the pros. She couldn't figure it out. I had no back-up tri clothing. Damn!
Then the guy next to me told me that Emmanuel from Aquaman already was manning his booth at the finish area. So I hustled to complete my pre-race prep, skipping pumping up my tires: They had to be OK, right, having pumped them the afternoon before? Then I hustled the length of the transition area to see Emmanuel. He was indeed there with an associate and had one tri suit left on his rack...small male...and it fit! "I'll pay you after the race," I said, hopefully. He said OK. Whew! But I was in wave three, right after the male and female pros, so I hustled the 1.2 miles down the beach to the start area, runnning into the water off and on to pass the trekking hordes of later wave tri people.
I arrived next to the start area, trying to keep my heart rate down and not burn too much adrenaline. I sat in the low surf and pulled on my wetsuit as the Star Spangled Banner was sung and the male pros started. I lined up as the female pros went off. Then I stood on the beach edge in the front row but off to the left, excited to finally be doing a tri this year but really not having much time to think about what I was going to do: one minute, 30 seconds and we were off!
SWIM
I had had no warm up but that didn't matter. I was warmed up from my hustle down the beach and had been swimming in Lake Michigan for a month before the race and no day was better than this one. The water temperature was around 70 - not cold but not too hot for a wet suit. We swam with the swells pushing us north. This was great! I bumped a few other swimmers, but the contact was gentle. The buoys were mainly placed just close enough that after passing one another soon came into sight. The low sun just to the right of straight ahead was a problem, however. Mid swim the buoys were spaced further out and I wondered if the swim direction was wrong. I had been hewing closely to the buoy line when I could see it - even swimming a bit inside it between buoys due to the wave direction. I was concerned I might miss the next buoy to the inside, but between sighting on the swimmers ahead and the shore to the side I managed to stay on a good line until the next buoy finally appeared. The swells grew a little as we went, which I enjoyed because my swim speed increased. My swim was strong all the way, with only a few minor calf twinges. Just a few swimmers from the following wave forged by me, at least that I realized. Finally the yellow turn buoy appeared and we turned right into the beach. I stood up in water at mid thigh so I would not fall over and ran in, peeling down my wetsuit. 39 minutes and change at the beach - great time for me! - but I still had more to run for the timing mats. I ran up to the transition entrance - 41.01, 5 of 13 in my age group - and ran the long length of the area to my bike on the fresh asphalt.
I had my usual problems getting my very tight wetsuit off. Why can't a suit be slick on the inside? Probably time for new, less tight wetsuit. Oh well, I can't let slow transitions affect my day, so I pulled on socks and bike shoes, clipped on my number belt, grabbed my pastic bag of gel, and put on my helmet and sunglasses. I took off running the short distance to bike mount line outside of transition, being complimented for tossing my gel pack into the trash container and being careful to get beyond the mount line and a little to the side so I would not affect or crash into anyone else. Good thing, because next to me a person who had clipped bike shoes to pedals was swaying back and forth and having a devil of time getting feet into shoes. I passed that person. T1 = 6:41...my usual slow time.
BIKE
On the bike I went easy the first five miles or so, not wanting to expend everything at the start. The wind was behind us as we went north on the main road along the lake, so it was a fast and enjoyable stretch. I was both passing and being passed, which was fine at this point. Those passing were from the wave behind, not my wave.
Then a guy presented one of my least favorite obstacles. He would pass me and then slow down. So I would hang back per the rules and then pass him, not changing my target pace, at this point 19-20 mph. He would pass me again and then slow down. So I would drop back the 7 meters and then pass him. I was getting pissed. This was a waste of my energy and stupid on his part. So eventually - maybe at the 10 mile point - I cranked it up to what I knew would be a later bike pace for me - 22 -23 - and put him well behind me. As it was still too early for me to continue this pace, I let up again, albeit with a new group of riders around me. Lo and behold, you know what happened! Mr. Variable Pace had trailed my breakaway for a few miles and when I backed off he went past me...and slowed down. Shit! Now I was really pissed. I didn't care where I was in the race, it was time to burn the candle. So I lit it up. 23 - 25 mph in cross winds. I was hitting it - and loving it, really, even though it hurt. I never saw the guy again and passed many folks from my wave and wave behind me who were better swimmers. I was having my usual great time pushing it, ignoring any thoughts about what I was doing to my legs for the long haul.
Eventually I backed it down to 20-21 mph, a more sensible overall pace, and was only being passed by the "women of wave five" who had disc wheels, the best bikes and were clearly at the top of their large young age group. Maybe 5 of these women filtered through and I let them go. I wanted something left for the run.
However, what was going to be left was less than I hoped, because when we finally turned back south toward transition the end stretch of what seemed like 15 miles was directly into the teeth of the strong wind - maybe 25 mph - that had arose and the stretch had hills to deal with, as well. I worked harder on this segment than any other and wound up playing cat and mouse with riders from wave four and wave five and passing riders from my wave. I had a lot of fun passing on the hills and trying to maintain on the flats. I swapped with several riders most of the way back and except for one eventually put them behind me - but it was real work! Often I saw 16-17 mph on my speedometer...when I was working flat out!
I swept into the end stretch, gobbling up several riders from my wave. Riding along the beach and then around the changing house with spectators packed at the fence yelling at us was a real hoot! My bike time was 2:55:55, 4 of 13 in the age group, a little slower than usual for this race for me, but clearly the result of the wind. Often in the past on the end stretch I had averaged 21-22 mph, but hardly today.
I dismounted to the cry, "Lee!" Graham Wilson in cowboy hat was at the fence, cheering me on. I paused at the transition area entrance because I had decided that with the long transition run and a sore left achilles I did not want to make the run in my bike shoes. So I pulled off my shoes and ran through the transition entrance and down the very long aisle in socks, finding the new asphalt great for non-shoed running. I noted the many gaps on the racks as I ran. It's good to be in wave three and faster than average for the wave!
My T2 transition was faster, naturally, but still not world beating: 4:09, a good deal of that being the long run at my slow pace. I dropped my helmet, swapped out nutrition and pulled on my running shoes. I grabbed a Gu and trotted out transition entrance.
RUN
An older guy immediately ran past me; I picked it up and asked, "How old are you?" He said, "34." I replied, "Well, I'm 32." We both laughed. He said he was 78. I was blown away. Here was a fellow wave four guy 16 years older and he was pulling ahead of me on the run. As he went away from me we rounded a corner and pro Tim Surface, leading the race, came through going the other direction. Damn, he was strong and fast! I learned later he finished in 4:12, 6:40 ahead of his next rival.
We soon came up to the second steepest run hill on the course and my fellow competitor was walking. I pulled up next to him and introduced myself and asked his name. He said, "Bob Scott." I knew it! He was from Naperville and was a well known Ironman. I had worked long and hard at the Muncie half a number of years ago to put Bob away on the bike. We talked briefly about this, he continued walking and I ran up the hill.
The run for the next several miles onto the Whirlpool campus was slow and not difficult. I had no speed - 10 minute mile pace - but my achilles was not complaining at my slow pace. I was passed...and passed...and passed, but I was still running, which was my objective. On the campus the course grew more interesting. We entered by road but then switched to trail, swooping downhill and along a pond and winding through trees and a swampy area. But then it was back uphill and onto the roads. I was fuelling with Gatorade one stop, water the next and a gel every 45 minutes and was feeling OK.. My times started to improve as my achillies stretched out even more.
But being realistic I knew this was not to last. My longest run since the Boston Marathon in April had been 10 miles on Memorial Day and my longest run since then had been 8.5 miles. I suspected that in my condition trying to race 13.1 at the end of a half Ironman was not going to come to a good end, but I wanted to do this both because I loved therace and the distance and because I had to demonstrate that I was either fit to compete at Ironman Canada at the end of the month or that I was not fit to compete. I really thought it was going to be the latter, but the race would be the proof. Up until mile nine, the jury was out because I was running every step and my mile times were slowly improving, moving into the 9 minute mile zone. But then in mile nine a quad cramped suddenly on a hill and thereafter I had to walk the hills. My race changed with the seeming flip of a switch, at the point I could have predicted due to my undertraining. I could still run the flats and downhills but I was not going to make my race goal of sub 6 hours. I needed a 2:10 half marathon or less, normally a piece of cake for me, but this day that time was out of reach. I continued to run, walked the small and big hills, and enjoyed myself and the day immensely, but had to settle for a performance not up to what I had achieved in my previous five Steelheads. I am a firm believer that you give it your all and be happy with the result. This was a day that tested my belief. I remained content with the result knowing I did what I could.
Soon enough I crested the largest hill on the second loop, started running again, and never quit. The run back along to the main road was long. This year unlike last I turned off of loop two and did not wrongly start a non-existent loop three and screw up my timed results by too many times running across the timing mat. I worked back toward the beach, eventually hearing the finish line din the distance, which motivated me to stay the course, Soon I was running toward the beach, then along the beach and into the finish chute. The announcer, Tom Ziebart I think, repeated my name and town twice. This was cool. I hardly sprinted to the line but finished without others vieing with me. 2:28:40, 8 of 13 in the age group. Despite my so slow time, I was really happy! I enjoyed the fluids and fruit at the finish area. I connected with Graham Wilson and his wife. I wandered around soaking up the banter of fellow finishers. Racing does not get better than this!
POST-RACE
After my time in the finish area and eating lunch compliments of the race, I walked back through transition and packed my gear. While packing up I bantered further with the women racked next to me. She directed me to look at the very cool large decal on her Zipp wheel that said in graphics that complimented the Zipp logo: "Mary." I asked where Mary got it. She pointed vaguely down the racks and said, "She got it for me." I did not know who "she" was, but was duly impressed.
I trudged back toward my car, trying to figure out the best way to meet my debt to Aquaman. As I passed Emmanuel's booth, I told his associate that I would be back with my payment. I walked farther, with heavy tri bag perched on my handle bars, and eventually crossed the road - cutting off Graham in his extended cab pick-up truck! What were the odds? I mugged for him, inviting him to run me down, which of course he would not do do. I briefly thought, gee, it would be cool if he gave me a ride back to my card. After I cleared the road Graham proceeded...and stopped. "Lee, toss your bike in back and get in. We'll take you to your car." Now there's a terrific fellow Tri-Dead!
I climbed in the back seat of the extended cab truck and sat back with Graham's spouse and...Mary! Yep, Mary got her cool wheel decal through Graham's spouse. I want one, Graham!
Graham very nicely eventually got both me and Mary to our cars and helped us with our equipment. What a guy! So much better than the death march from the race to my car such a long distance away last year!
I loaded my gear in my car and drove back and parked near transition. After a short walk I settled up at the Aquaman booth. It felt good to do this, a fitting end to an interesting race.
