Pre Race:
Drove down to Wilmington Convention Center on Friday morning and got checked in to the race around 11:15. We attended the first "mandatory" athlete meeting at 12, checked in T2 bags, then grabbed Jason's Deli for lunch. I had forgotten how much I like that place - my sandwich was delicious! After lunch, the group went separate ways to quickly cover all the food related errands we had and then checked our bikes at T1 in Wrightsville Beach. All the pre-event gear check was quick and painless! It helps that we know the area and that Jonathan did this event (the full) last year. We got to the house and relaxed a bit while we waited for the rest of our party to join us. Pasta with Jen's homemade tomato sauce, garlic bread, and water made for a good dinner.
Sleep:
Or lack thereof? We went to bed probably around 9:30 for a 5am wake up call. Unfortunately my wake up call came at 2am courtesy of nerves. I dozed off and on for the next 3 hours. Ugh!
Race Morning:
Got up, had a Cinnamon Crunch bagel and water before heading to transition to drop off the T1 bag, check the bike tires, etc. Race morning breakfast is never easy for me to get down, but I got it done. I came back and taped up my ankles and a slightly bothersome right knee and ate a banana while we watched the full distance athletes swim by the house. Swim suit and wetsuit were on about 8am and we made our way to the half start, which was only about 25ish yards from our front door!
Swim:
I tend to get a little overwhelmed right before I start, but once I'm in the water, I feel a little better. I got in the water about 10 minutes before my wave went off and the water was a warm 72 degrees. I'm not sure why, but I lined up at the back of the pack here, which was not the right place for me. I would've liked to have been a bit more forward and to the outside, but placement wasn't as easy as it may sound here because of the current. There was a strong current, but I personally didn't really feel it that much. I never swallowed any salt water, but some did get in my mouth (ew). My right shoulder was nagging a bit, as it does in a wetsuit, but I still should have had a better swim than I did. Maybe fresh water swims are more for me, though I did drop about 9 minutes off my time from White Lake Half.
T1:
Long run, so I stashed my flip flops just off the dock of the swim finish so I wouldn't step on anything barefoot. The heated rinse off showers were great! I fully changed clothes, which is not easy on a semi-wet body, but I wanted to be comfortable for the bike. I somehow gained time on this from my last race, whiff.
Bike:
I started drinking Infinit as soon as I could, which was good. I ate a stinger waffle at mile 10 and mile 30 and only drank one of my two bottle of Infinit plus a bit of water. I really should've tried harder to finish both bottles and get one more stinger waffle down, but I think my saddle discomfort got me off my nutrition and hammering rhythm. The headwinds were fierce, but finally disappeared for the last 10-15 miles, so I actually felt like I was getting somewhere with the effort I was inputting. That's a win AND I dropped 10 minutes from my previous bike time. Not nearly as much as I was hoping for, but I can at least see and feel an improvement when I'm not up against the wind.
T2:
Had a great welcome crew as I rode in to the chute :) I dismounted and tried to jog up through transition, but the balls of my feet weren't liking that too much with the cleats right under them. T2 was inside the convention center, and it was awesome! I grabbed my bike to run bag and went into the changing tent. Sat down in a chair to change clothes, shoes, etc., then decided to pee and fill my water bottle. Long T2 time, gotta work on that.
Run:
I am always so damn happy to be off that bike that I feel great when I get to the run. I ran probably most of the first 5 or 6 miles, then started to feel a little dehydrated with possible GI questions, so I walked off an on for a couple miles so that I could eat some pretzel rods (aka lick the salt off of them and then eat them) and a few M&M cookies. Those both made me feel a lot better than the chews I brought with me, which were giving me a weird bubbly/indigestion feeling, so I went with it. Mile 6-9 were probably the hardest, maybe because I fell behind on nutrition a bit? Not sure. I think I may start the run out with a low concentrate bottle of Infinit next time and then transition to water and food. By the run, I am wanting regular food instead of race food (gels, chews, stinger waffles, etc.), so I'm happy with getting snacks at aid stations. I did have one very fit gentleman from San Diego doing the full who saw me stop for a walk break at the top of a slight hill encourage me to run down the hill, which was nice of him. I kept going after that and got to make the right hand turn to run it on home! Felt pretty decent for the next couple of miles though I did do some walking. Once that mile 12 marker came around, I ran it on in. Saw our HUGE cheering crowd, well, they saw me (in my "Rainbow Brite" gear) and they called me in to the announcer, who called me and my array of colors across the finish line. I felt great and dropped 27 minutes off of my run time from the last Half Iron!
Post Race:
A box of medals was lost, so they'll have to mail my medal to me. Womp womp. Jonathan and I found each other as soon as I was out of the finish area and then went to join our friends who had taken over a Mexican restaurant about 200 yards before the finish line. It was the perfect spot to enjoy the rest of the race day! After a bit, I went back to grab some athlete food (pizza, doritos, and an oreo) and then rinsed my face off with water (so needed!). A friend of ours also got me a chocolate & peanut butter cupcake that was amazingggg. I'll be adding that to my post-race repertoire of food for the future :).
Overall, I'm pleased with this race and am already planning on doing it again next year so that I can drop at least 40 more minutes off my time (I decided that on the Monday after the race to ease my post-race blues, haha). I have a good feeling of accomplishment over the distance, now I just want to have that same feeling of accomplishment for my time. I've come a long way in just two and a half years of triathlon and am really starting to feel improvements.
Next race on tap? Ironman Texas in May!! Yep, the full 140.6... and nope, no off-season for this girl! :)
