Race Report: Kinetic Half Ironman Triathlon

Racer: Elysia Roser
Race: Kinetic Half IM
Date: Saturday, May 11, 2013
Location: Lake Anna, VA
Race Type: Triathlon - Half Ironman
Age Group: Female 30 - 34
Time: 6:19:47
Overall Place: 344
Age Group Place: 8 / 23
Teaser/Summary: My first 70.3...and the most fun I've ever had in a race!!

--------------
Race Report:

6:19:47 8/23AG

Where do I even start? I've been training for this race for what seems
like forever. In my opinion, the training was by far, harder than the
actual race. I just want to say I am writing this report right now because
my amazing husband (athletic supporter) is napping. Apparently, getting
up at 5:15, cheering, napping in the car & eating pizza with the dog is
exhausting! :) Just kidding.....I'm so glad he were here to support me
through this, both the months of training and today.

Sorry this is so long, but it's my first & I'm still amped up from the
race.

Out Loud Goals (the goals I told my coach & others about)
FINISH! (maybe under 7hrs)
Don't puke. (if it doesn't escape the throat/mouth it doesn't count)
CHECK!
Don't cry. CHECK!
Don't bleed. CHECK!

In my mind goals (goals I didn't tell anyone else about, but thought
MAYBE I could get there)
Swim under 50 CHECK!
Bike under 3:30 CHECK & CHECK!!
Finish under 7hrs YES!!!!!

Pre-Race
Woke up at 5:40am and did my normal routine. Teeth & face clean & make
breakfast. I had cream of wheat that I doctor up with vanilla protein
powder, almonds, raisins & almond milk. Yuummm!!! We were out the door by
5:35 for the 2mile drive to Lake Anna State Park. Setting up transition,
getting chips & body marking was a little hectic. Had I planned this out
a little better, I would have gotten my chip, got marked & then set up.
But instead, I set up, walked back to marking, then all the way to chips,
then back to transition. Oh well......lesson learned. Hit the restrooms
(REAL restrooms) not portapots, although the portapots probably smelled
better! :( I put my wetsuit on, the water was 69 degrees. Down right HOT
compared to Hammerman!! HUGE thank you to Leslie for making me put my big
girl panties on week after week & endure that awful cold. I jumped in to
splash around & get acclimated and laughed at the people who were
complaining it was cold!

Swim (52:41 swim & T1 time, 15/23AG)
The swim was FANTASTIC, I had a freaking blast in the water! I still
can't believe it. I started in wave 3, women 34 & under & military. We
all had hot pink swim caps. SWEET! 7:08 start time. I positioned myself
towards the outside left (the course was almost a triangle going clockwise
direction). I got chatting with another girl & it helped ease the nerves
as we were mid-sentance when the horn went off. I waded in behind 2-3
others, no need to get kicked in the face in 1.5ft deep water. It took me
the first 100 to get to bilateral breathing & probably about 250 before I
felt completely in sync. I usually have some crazy story to tell about
the swim (breaking a toe, cussing at myself, etc etc), but I have to
say...not this time. Although, about 50 meters from the first turn buoy,
I got a really weird feeling. I felt like the theme music from Jaws
should have been playing. Prior to this, the water was warm, clear &
calm. Then all of a sudden it got choppy, real choppy. I'm
thinking....WTF! Then I go to site & I see it......GREEN caps taking
over! Green was the wave behind us & the men. They were invading! Duna
duna duna!! LoL The rest of the swim was uneventful. I swam my pace,
didn't get bumped too much & just felt great in the water. I broke the
swim into 3 sections, I just swam to each of the 3 turn buoys. I hit the
last buoy & felt great, so decided to push it a little. I was AMAZED to
see that I was still swimming with people in my wave (my first & last 2
tris, this was not the case). I ended up swimming next to a girl in my
wave almost the whole trip back, she was drafting a girl in front of her,
but I wasn't about to try that! Ran out of the water & saw Ramsy waiting
for me. He said, "under 50!". I literally jumped & said "whooohoo",
spectators laughed, but I was stoked!!

T1
A little bit of a run uphill & the infamous "strippers" were no where to
be seen this year. Bummer. I took my time & got everything together. It
was raining pretty hard but it only lasted about 5mins! My bike socks
were soaked, but my run socks were in a ziplock, so I grabbed those & off
we went.

Bike (3:01:32 bike & T2 time, 7/23AG)
My plan on the bike was to ease into it for the first 18, increase for
the 2nd and then feel it out for the 3rd. I couldn't get my heart rate
below a 4.5 at all. I kept talking to myself. "Can you complete a
sentence? Are you out of breath?". If you take my cycle classes you know
what this means. I felt GREAT, I could talk & was feeling good, so I went
with it. The first 18 were awesome. I heard a lot of complaints that
this course was hard. After riding Columbia, this course was not cake,
but it wasn't what I would call "hard". Hard is the new IG
course...uuugghh! Anyway, I was gu'ing every 18miles, hitting my
perpeteum about every 10 & chewing on my crispies (oates, rice crispies,
agave nectar, peanut butter, walnuts, choc chips & marshmallows) once
every 18. Water as needed. My nutrition felt great. My kidneys started
to hurt a little towards the end of the 2nd section, but it went away.
The bike was uneventful other than that. I was LOVING it though.
Literally giddy almost the whole ride. I just rode on how I felt & it
felt GREAT. I passed a lot of people, men & women. I felt strong. I
tried to not think about the run, just one third of the ride at a time. I
couldn't believe when I kept looking down at the Garmin, I might actually
finish under 3:30. As I hit mile 50, I realized "holy sh*t!! I might
finish under 3!!".

T2
Pretty uneventful here. Walked the bike in, threw on my MMTC visor,
sneakers, race number and off I went. It was warming up, humid and muggy,
but still overcast.


Run (2:25:34 16/23AG)
The run was 3 loops. The first mile of EVERY loop was uphill. BLAAAHH!!
The hills on this course were such crap! They weren't steep, but they
were long and unrelenting. The first mile was up, then another section
was about 3/4mile up. I know that means you should have downhills, but
really....that was just the last steep .75 back down to the beach. The
first loop was rough, I had to hit the bathroom right after transition &
then again around mile 3. My legs felt heavy but I could keep moving
forward, in what I deemed to be something that looked like a run. Loop 2
was better. Felt like I had a good pace, then another damn bathroom
break. Decided to do a gel without caffeine and skip one heed cup. It
helped! No stops on the last loop & I think it was my fastest loop. It
was actually pretty nice to run around so that you could see friends &
family several times. Again, I broke the race into 3 sections, each loop.
Final loop was mentally easy, but physically tough. I knew I was going
to finish, but damn those hills were killer. I hit the last mile hard
with a 25yr old girl. Super nice & she ran fast as crap! I lost her on
the downhill, damn those youngins & their good knees! I hit the last .1 &
actually had a little kick! Finished strong & was actually excited to
finish!! I felt FANTASTIC. Seriously...my knees hurt, but I had a blast.

It seems crazy to me that I honestly had FUN the entire race. I finished
and was actually ready to say, "let's sign up for another!"!! I've never
run a race and had that feeling before so it was great.

Big thank you's to: My husband for being the best athletic supporter a
girl could ever want! Emma for being an awesome training partner 2014
Kinetic is YOURS! Mike & Lulu for being a great cheering squad! Mary,
Leslie & all the other MMTC ladies I've met so far this season!! Big girl
panties were on today! Coach Tim for coming up with a plan that not only
worked as my wedding diet, but helped me surpass even my own secret
goals!! Already looking forward to another race!