Muncie 1/2 Ironman

Well, I finished - and that felt like an accomplishment after the way the race began...
to set the stage a bit for anyone following from afar; while I have been training for tri's for a year and a half, b/c of injury and sickness I had only completed 1 actual tri (a sprint) prior to this race. so, yeah, I was a bit under-prepared for my second tri to be a half Ironman. However, I am not claiming any excuses for a poor time or performance, I had the time to train and practice the disciplines (like transitions), I have nothing to blame but my own poor planning.
Race Report
I decided to save money and drive up the morning of the race, so it was a bit tough getting up at 4am, but hey, I saved $... I felt a bit anxious as I knew I wasn't in the best condition - resulting from the 2 months lost to Mono in the spring and being worn out from a fun but tiring drive back from CO. I had a decent Paleo-friendly breakfast and was fairly calm as we drove up to Muncie. The sky looked a bit angry, but the forecast was for scattered storms, so I held out hope that they would scatter someplace else. The water temp had dropped enough to be wetsuit legal, however, I hadn't even looked into renting one and so told myself that it wouldn't make that much difference and that I was strong enough to swim w/o one. Mistake #1: I was in the transition area, doing squats and push-ups, trying to get myself warmed up before I did a short swim warm up before the race stared. I was in the 4th heat, scheduled to start at 8:15. I assumed I would hear the start of the prior heats and so didn't even pay attention to the time. I looked at my watch @ 8:12 and then began running down to the water... I got there just as they were set to start my wave and then had to fumble w/ putting on the stupid swim cap (what is the key to that anyway?). Gun sounded, I was last into the water w/ no warm up... sweet.

Since I didn't do any warm up, I didn't get to acquaint myself with the insanely choppy water that the wind was creating. 5 minutes into the swim I began to freak out as I was unable to get consistent breaths in b/t the waves washing over me. I tried the breast stroke, but that also failed to get me above the waves and that's when the anxiety really kicked in. I stopped completely and floated on my back and began praying. Seriously. I had to battle the soaring anxiety, the urge to quit the race and the thought that I should give up on the whole Ironman idea. I prayed for peace and for strength and after several minutes, I began to calm down and regained some determination to finish. By this time a couple more waves of people had passed me and I seemed to have gotten the attention of the safety crew as a guy in a kayak was now staying close to me (and perhaps I had asked him to, I don't really recall). After 25 minutes, I made it to the first buoy, still not halfway done. I tried getting into a rhythm, but with the constant commotion of waves and people passing me, I realized that I would just have to keep forward progress however slow that was. About halfway through my toes started to cramp, my guess is not from malnutrition, but from my nerves being pretty fried and then having to work harder to make progress. About 2/3 of the way, I turned back towards the beach, a huge relief and confidence booster. The cramps had worked their way up into my quads, rendering my legs mostly useless and I was basically pulling my body through the water. I looked up after a while to realize that I had swerved so wide that I was going outside of the support boats and again had a guy in kayak asking if I was ok. I finally reached the shore in 59 minutes and was exhausted and dizzy. Whit and my mom had come to watch and they were thankful I was alive as I had told them it would only take me 40 mins and all of my wave and the 5 following waves had already come in. I mumbled something to them and staggered up the hill to T1.

I knew any hope of a good time had vanished, so I focused on preparing myself for the bike. I tried to stretch my arms a bit as they were extremely tight and then put on my helmet and carried my shoes w/ me as I walked out of T1. (Not sure why I carried my shoes instead of putting them on, especially since it was a grassy area and I would've been fine walking in the bike shoes). I exited the transition, then realized that I had to set down the bike to put my shoes on. As I did that, most of the water poured out of the water bottle on my aero bars. Nice. I did my best to put my shoes on while my legs were still cramping, which is not easy and I'm sure looked quite funny. Finally, on my bike, I took off, happy to not be in the water. I tried to ride at a comfortable pace, not wanting to go out too fast and blow up. That pace (~17 mph) was apparently slower than everyone else's as there was a steady stream of people passing me (mostly the masters men and women as they were the only waves that hadn't completely passed me). I didn't mind getting passed, as I was still stoked to not be in the water. I also was busy trying to figure out the "correct" way to relieve oneself while riding (liquids). I had been assured that "everyone does it", so even though I hadn't practiced, I figured I'd give it a shot. After making sure no one was behind me, I started to "go" and... immediately regretted the decision. The stream didn't just use gravity to exit directly to the ground, no, instead it split into 2 paths: one down my seat post and then onto my front gears and sprayed up back onto me and two, down my leg and into my shoe. So then I'm trying to un-clip from my pedal and shake the puddling mess out of my shoe! I'm not sure if there is an instructional video somewhere or people just practice this to get it "right", but I don't think I'm that person. The next time nature called, I stopped and jumped into a port-o-john and enjoyed the more civilized experience.
About an hour into the bike, it started to get really windy and then it started to rain - hard. Assuming the wind would maintain a steady direction, I tried to look forward to it being at my back. Somehow that theory didn't hold up and the wind seemed to pretty much always be coming right at me. At 40 miles (out of 56) I saw whit and mom for a 2nd time, and I must say that they were amazing supporters as it was pouring rain and they were standing there on the side of the road waiting for me, having no clue when I might be coming by. I stopped to thank them, pose for a photo, and then took off again. I was 2 hours into the bike and a few truths were becoming apparent: 1. I should have worn padded bike shorts rather than the un-padded tri shorts (my boys were not happy w/ my choice), 2. the cool plastic pouch I had bought to hold my salt tablets was not waterproof and the rain had melted my remaining supply to a puddle of salt water in my food box, 3. I didn't take enough food - 3 gels was a gross underestimation and for a person that loves to eat all the time, was just plain dumb, 4. I have a much easier time remembering movie quotes than song lyrics (I was trying to sing some praise songs to stay encouraged, but could only put together a few lines of a chorus; but could pull all kinds of movie quotes). I actually finished the bike strong, in a hurry to get off that bike seat and also to eat some real food. bike time: 3:14.
I quickly ate a banana and a Hammer bar, took my time to put my socks and shoes on (which were all soaked as I had left everything sitting out on my bag) and then was off on the run. My legs felt pretty good as a result of not pushing too hard on the bike and only had some tightness left over from the cramps on the swim. I cruised through the first 6 miles, enjoying passing people for the first time in the race. At the halfway point, I had tightened up a bit and had slowed to 8 minute miles. Then I got really tight and slowed to over 9min/mi. I decided to take another gel and to try some of the flat coke from the aid stations. Max from the CFE cert had said that coke can feel like "crack" to a depleted body and boy was he right! In less than a mile, I felt like a new man and took off, running my fastest mile last (7:10) and sprinting in to the finish, temporarily unaware of my hurting body. Run time: 1:46
My time was just over 6 hours, horribly slow, but apart from the swim a success for me as I nearly hit my time goals on the bike and run. As I finished I thought to myself: how am I going to do twice that?! No answer to that really, other than CF & CFE and a determined spirit.