This is the half ironman tri that I attempted last year but bonked on the swim. I new that I needed to do the race again this year but could only train for an olympic length. Training for a half ironman was taxing on my husband and my kids and I couldn't put them through that two summers in a row.
In order to make this attempt more successful I decided a few things needed to happen.
1. Get my own wet suit so I could get comfortable swimming in it.
2. Swim in open water.
3. Have someone come with me the night before and be with me in the morning as I was preparing.
4. Do some mind work.
Leading up to the race I swam at least two times a week in open water. I'm grateful for a good friend who let me use her lake access as much as I wanted so I could accomplish this. I tried going at different times so I would have different conditions ie early morning so it would be cold. By the end I was comfortable in the open water and swimming in my new wetsuit.
I've been doing a mindset mentorship and one of the things we have been working on is my fear of blowing the open swim again. I replaced the "you can't" messages with positive messages. I did visualizations of getting out of the water at the end of the swim and crossing over the mat to the run. I visualized a big clock at the end of the swim showing my hoped for time, 45 minutes. I listened to motivational messages. My mind was psyced.
Emily, James and the girls came with me to be my moral support and my distraction. We arrived early on Friday and spent the afternoon on the beach. I had a swim in the lake and experienced none of the panic I felt last year. We had a fun day together and the girls were just the distraction I needed. The weather was hot and dry.
Emily and I woke up early Saturday morning to RAIN. Why have I been plagued with rainy races for the last year? I had breakfast and we walked over to the transition area to get my stuff set up. When I looked at the lake my heart dropped a little. The water was rough with white caps. I tried not to panic and Emily was so good. She kept telling me, "Mom, you can do this. That is nothing." As we were waiting some guy started talking about how bad the water was and how everyone was going to be in for a big suprise when they got in the water because it was going to be so hard. I looked at Emily and said, "If he doesnt' stop talking I need to move away." I either blocked him out or he stopped. The swim start was delayed by 30 minutes in hopes of better weather, the wind didn't die down though and for safety the course was shortened to 900m.
SWIM
Finally it was time for the swim to start. I eased myself into the water and then took a big dive under the water and felt at home. I swam around waiting for the start. Oh, at package pick up they were handing out two swim caps, a white cap if you felt uncomfortable in the water and wanted the safety patrol people to watch you and a red one if you weren't concerned in the water. I had a dilemma deciding which one to wear. I new I should wear the white one but didn't want to be the only one. I finally decided I didn't care and wore the white one. There were actually quite a few people who wore the white ones.
Finally the swim count down started, the gun and we were off. What a different swim than last year! No panic in the water at all. The water was choppy today and there were way more people. I was in the middle of the pack and I had people kicking me, touching my feet and one guy was doing the back stroke and kept zig zagging back and forth in front of me. Considering that the conditions were worse I was super proud that I was able to complete the swim with out any problems. During my practice swims I practiced sighting but it was more difficult during the swim. Over all I think I maintained a pretty direct course. The water at Sylvan lake gets shallow pretty far out. The last 75m was a run in the water. Exhausting on the legs. My favorite part of the swim was getting out and having the strippers take off my wet suit. I felt like a legit triathlete.
My T1 time was so long. The two people that set up beside me had pushed all my stuff way back behind my bike and I had a hard time finding everything. My glasses tthat I had tucked away were lying on the ground, bent.. They had also jammed my bike between theirs and I had a hard time getting my bike unracked. A volunteer finally came and helped me get it down and I was off on the bike.
BIKE
I made a snap decision to not wear a shirt over my tri suit. I regretted that as soon as I started my bike ride. I was freezing! luckily it didn't last long as the day quickly warmed up and I was the perfect temperature. The course was one loop of an out and back. It was rolling hills which meant a heavy pedal up and a soaring ride down. I love these kinds of hills. The struggle of the up is rewarded with the thrill of the ride down. I'm an adrenalin junky and love the speed down.
One of the things I love about triathlons is how supportive everyone is. Several of the leading half ironman athletes passed me on their second lap but they all called out, your looking good, almost there, keep it up.
it's funny the mind games I play with myself. As I said the course was made up of rolling hills. At the turn around it was pretty flat then a big downhill and then a big up hill. When I was going up I told myself,"When you are done this one, you only have two more hills to go, you can do it." When I got to the second hill, I started to panic a bit wondering if I had remembered wrong and there were more than two hills left . I quickly told myself, "Oh no you meant two more hills after this one. you can do it!." I got to the next hill and realized it really was the last one. i also told myself in the swim, bike and run I was never doing another triathlon, I I for sure was never running again. I thought this whole idea was pretty stupid.
As I was rounding one of the last corners I realized I was going to be able to finish the race. I started crying and had a hard time making the corner. It was a let down last year to not finish and it led to a lot of self doubt. I worked hard to overcome that self doubt and was feeling pretty happy. I knew if I made it this far I could finish the run even if I had to walk the whole course.
RUN
I had a quick T2 as the two space hogs weren't back from their ride yet. So quick I forgot to take off my biking gloves at the transition so had to deal with stuffing them somewhere. I was hoping to see Emily and throw them to her.
The run was two laps of the course. Mentally it seemed "easy" 2.5km out, 2.5km back and repeat. I wouldn't really describe it as easy but the course did provide an easy way to break the course down into manageable bites. On my first lap I heard someone yelling, Sandra, look up and smile. I was so confused, I knew it wasn't Emiliy's voice and who would know my name and care where I was looking and if I was smiling. It was my friend Carol from work. Her husband was doing the race and she was taking pictures of him at the turn around. She snapped a couple of me.
The run course was realy pretty. It went along the board walk by the lake, on a residential street where two little kids in their pajamas where encouraging every athlete and down a little side road. There were two water stations each way so I was able to stay hydrated and cooled a bit from dumping water on myself. The day had become HOT!
Before i knew it I was on my final lap and heading into the finish line. Emily, James and the girls were still at the hotel as I finished faster than I thought I would. There was a great lunch that I enjoyed and then we all went to the beach.
Results
Time
Over all 3:10:28
Swim: 25:35
T1: 3:46-wow, pick up the pace a bit!!!
Bike:1:45:18
T2: 1:20
Run: 54:27
Standing
Gender
overall:29/42
swim: 24/42
bike: 34/42
run: 24/42
Age group
overall: 4/5
swim: 4/5
bike: 4/5
run: 2/5
In order to make this attempt more successful I decided a few things needed to happen.
1. Get my own wet suit so I could get comfortable swimming in it.
2. Swim in open water.
3. Have someone come with me the night before and be with me in the morning as I was preparing.
4. Do some mind work.
Leading up to the race I swam at least two times a week in open water. I'm grateful for a good friend who let me use her lake access as much as I wanted so I could accomplish this. I tried going at different times so I would have different conditions ie early morning so it would be cold. By the end I was comfortable in the open water and swimming in my new wetsuit.
I've been doing a mindset mentorship and one of the things we have been working on is my fear of blowing the open swim again. I replaced the "you can't" messages with positive messages. I did visualizations of getting out of the water at the end of the swim and crossing over the mat to the run. I visualized a big clock at the end of the swim showing my hoped for time, 45 minutes. I listened to motivational messages. My mind was psyced.
Emily, James and the girls came with me to be my moral support and my distraction. We arrived early on Friday and spent the afternoon on the beach. I had a swim in the lake and experienced none of the panic I felt last year. We had a fun day together and the girls were just the distraction I needed. The weather was hot and dry.
Emily and I woke up early Saturday morning to RAIN. Why have I been plagued with rainy races for the last year? I had breakfast and we walked over to the transition area to get my stuff set up. When I looked at the lake my heart dropped a little. The water was rough with white caps. I tried not to panic and Emily was so good. She kept telling me, "Mom, you can do this. That is nothing." As we were waiting some guy started talking about how bad the water was and how everyone was going to be in for a big suprise when they got in the water because it was going to be so hard. I looked at Emily and said, "If he doesnt' stop talking I need to move away." I either blocked him out or he stopped. The swim start was delayed by 30 minutes in hopes of better weather, the wind didn't die down though and for safety the course was shortened to 900m.
SWIM
Finally it was time for the swim to start. I eased myself into the water and then took a big dive under the water and felt at home. I swam around waiting for the start. Oh, at package pick up they were handing out two swim caps, a white cap if you felt uncomfortable in the water and wanted the safety patrol people to watch you and a red one if you weren't concerned in the water. I had a dilemma deciding which one to wear. I new I should wear the white one but didn't want to be the only one. I finally decided I didn't care and wore the white one. There were actually quite a few people who wore the white ones.
Finally the swim count down started, the gun and we were off. What a different swim than last year! No panic in the water at all. The water was choppy today and there were way more people. I was in the middle of the pack and I had people kicking me, touching my feet and one guy was doing the back stroke and kept zig zagging back and forth in front of me. Considering that the conditions were worse I was super proud that I was able to complete the swim with out any problems. During my practice swims I practiced sighting but it was more difficult during the swim. Over all I think I maintained a pretty direct course. The water at Sylvan lake gets shallow pretty far out. The last 75m was a run in the water. Exhausting on the legs. My favorite part of the swim was getting out and having the strippers take off my wet suit. I felt like a legit triathlete.
My T1 time was so long. The two people that set up beside me had pushed all my stuff way back behind my bike and I had a hard time finding everything. My glasses tthat I had tucked away were lying on the ground, bent.. They had also jammed my bike between theirs and I had a hard time getting my bike unracked. A volunteer finally came and helped me get it down and I was off on the bike.
BIKE
I made a snap decision to not wear a shirt over my tri suit. I regretted that as soon as I started my bike ride. I was freezing! luckily it didn't last long as the day quickly warmed up and I was the perfect temperature. The course was one loop of an out and back. It was rolling hills which meant a heavy pedal up and a soaring ride down. I love these kinds of hills. The struggle of the up is rewarded with the thrill of the ride down. I'm an adrenalin junky and love the speed down.
One of the things I love about triathlons is how supportive everyone is. Several of the leading half ironman athletes passed me on their second lap but they all called out, your looking good, almost there, keep it up.
it's funny the mind games I play with myself. As I said the course was made up of rolling hills. At the turn around it was pretty flat then a big downhill and then a big up hill. When I was going up I told myself,"When you are done this one, you only have two more hills to go, you can do it." When I got to the second hill, I started to panic a bit wondering if I had remembered wrong and there were more than two hills left . I quickly told myself, "Oh no you meant two more hills after this one. you can do it!." I got to the next hill and realized it really was the last one. i also told myself in the swim, bike and run I was never doing another triathlon, I I for sure was never running again. I thought this whole idea was pretty stupid.
As I was rounding one of the last corners I realized I was going to be able to finish the race. I started crying and had a hard time making the corner. It was a let down last year to not finish and it led to a lot of self doubt. I worked hard to overcome that self doubt and was feeling pretty happy. I knew if I made it this far I could finish the run even if I had to walk the whole course.
RUN
I had a quick T2 as the two space hogs weren't back from their ride yet. So quick I forgot to take off my biking gloves at the transition so had to deal with stuffing them somewhere. I was hoping to see Emily and throw them to her.
The run was two laps of the course. Mentally it seemed "easy" 2.5km out, 2.5km back and repeat. I wouldn't really describe it as easy but the course did provide an easy way to break the course down into manageable bites. On my first lap I heard someone yelling, Sandra, look up and smile. I was so confused, I knew it wasn't Emiliy's voice and who would know my name and care where I was looking and if I was smiling. It was my friend Carol from work. Her husband was doing the race and she was taking pictures of him at the turn around. She snapped a couple of me.
The run course was realy pretty. It went along the board walk by the lake, on a residential street where two little kids in their pajamas where encouraging every athlete and down a little side road. There were two water stations each way so I was able to stay hydrated and cooled a bit from dumping water on myself. The day had become HOT!
Before i knew it I was on my final lap and heading into the finish line. Emily, James and the girls were still at the hotel as I finished faster than I thought I would. There was a great lunch that I enjoyed and then we all went to the beach.
Results
Time
Over all 3:10:28
Swim: 25:35
T1: 3:46-wow, pick up the pace a bit!!!
Bike:1:45:18
T2: 1:20
Run: 54:27
Standing
Gender
overall:29/42
swim: 24/42
bike: 34/42
run: 24/42
Age group
overall: 4/5
swim: 4/5
bike: 4/5
run: 2/5