2013.09.15 Finish Strong Half-Iron Relay, Running Leg

Sometime over the last few months, one of the guys at work came across a half-ironman which was located about 1/2 hour away from our house.  Although none of us had any desire to run the actual Half-Iron, each of us was convinced we were okay to attempt it as a relay team.  We had set an arbitrary goal of 6 hours +/-  with the thought that the swim would take less than 40 minutes, bike would take 3:20 minutes, and my run would take 2:10. 

On paper it looked doable, but like so many things in life, you execute only as well as you prepare...and when looking back at my training logs, it was apparent that I was not trained to perform well this race.  Since running the pig in may, I have 23 runs logged on my Suunto.  I did do a couple of runs after the pig on my garmin, but I switched to the Suunto pretty much right after the pig due to the greater battery life.  Doing the math, that really is just over 1 run a week - and the longest run was less than 7 miles.  That being said however, at this point in my running "career", I am pretty confident I can go relatively long distances just by being stubborn and convinced in my mind I can do it.  That is part of the appeal for an ultra, it scares me enough to get really serious again....13 and 26 miles are a long way, but 50 miles is even longer.

One thing that was odd about this race was that while i had to be there before 7am, I didn't actually start running until 1130 or 12pm.  Driving down to the race, I thought about stopping to grab something, but I didn't - in retrospect I wish i had.  Most of the morning, I was hungry - I was able to grab a quarter of a bagel, but that didn't do much - next year if we participate in this race as a relay, I will definitely eat something on my way in.  

The other thing that struck me, was the amount of equipment required for a triathalon versus a marathon.  The amount of money in the equipment was amazing - there were some beautiful tri-bikes there - I can see the appeal, and definitely am interested in one day trying a half-iron, but my more pressing interests really take me to ultras. 

The first member of our relay team went off around 730, and finished the swim in 30 minutes.  The second member of our relay team went off around 8 for the 56 mile bike ride, and that is where the waiting game began - pretty much from 11 on, we were sitting there going "he should be here soon..." and each time we saw a new bike guy come across, we would get excited, only to have it not be our relay partner.  When he did come around, it was almost 1130, and the sun had gotten up there.  According to the Suunto, the average temperature was 82.3 with a max temperature of 87.8.  It had definitely warmed up from the much cooler 50's that we had experienced at the beginning of the race. 

When it was my turn to go, I went out way too fast.  I could feel myself running too fast, yet it was hard to back off at least initially - the excitement to finally be moving was too much and i was just glad to be running.

Mile 1 - 8:57

I passed a guy right off the bat and he said "Don't break my spirit man!" - I turned around and told him, "I'm a relay, you're good."  He replied with a "Carry on then!"  It was kind of funny.

Mile 2 - 9:51

That was more along the lines of what I wanted. 

Mile 3 - 9:28

Mile 4 - 9:56

Mile 5 - 9:58

Mile 6 - 9:56

This was about the most consistent set of miles i put together - excluding the flyer in mile 3, this was good, solid and consistent - exactly what you want in a distance race. 

This was an out and back X2 course, so it was 3 and some change out and back, and then out and back again.  i'm not a huge fan of these types of courses, I tend to enjoy the change in scenery, but I understand why it was setup this way.  Between Miles 6 and 7, you come back to the turnaround area, and I saw my fellow relay partners.  I was right on where i needed to be to land a 2:10. 

Mile 7 - 10:16

After this mile, the wheels started to fall off the cart.  I also noticed the incline that i hadn't taken notice of on the first round thru - it made me unhappy and this is when i started to employ the old Run/Walk approach

Mile 8 - 13:21

Mile 9 - 12:44

Mile 10 - 10:09

This is a nice mile to see given what the rest of my back 6 looked like. 

Mile 11 - 14:11

Mile 12 - 13:00

Mile 13.1 - 12:12

Total - 2:23:57

The good news - So this is about as long as a run i did for my spring marathon - seeing as i've got two marathons teed up in a month, I do have time to get one more decent run in - just need to grab the time for myself and do it.  Running these things on poor training is no fun - it hurts and does a good job of breaking your spirit. 

Bad news - I'm tons slower than I used to be - looking at my race times years ago, I am WICKED SLOW.  I'm also 20-30 pounds heavier - so i understand why i'm slower, but i really need to make it a priority to get skinnier again.  My hope is this time next year I'm down to 215-220 consistently.  I'm writing this goal here because writing things down makes it easier to hold yourself accountable to them, as well as maybe somebody i know will read it and can also hold me accountable.

Also, this is the first time I've actually had a toenail turn black from a run.  Previously, this has never happened to me. I guess this is almost like a right of passage for a runner - just wish it wasn't as close to my back to back fulls in a week next month. 

I enjoyed this race overall, and i would totally do it again - it was great being on a team, reminded me of Reach the Beach in 2008 with the "Reach the Beee-otches" - the best relay team ever assembled, and forced me to get a 13 miler in for my fall marathons.