Race Report - American TTT - Race 4

Today was the half ironman. I think this was the hardest 70.3 I've ever done. Harder than St. Croix, Nutmeg (back when the bike course was hard), Mooseman, etc. As I told KK, when I put together training rides I hunt for tons of hills and link them together to create a tangled web of misery. This would even be considered a tough training ride.

[Swim: 46:43]
Wow, I finally had a decent swim experience this weekend! That's not to say I was fast, it is to say I didn't feel like was drowning. It felt like a nice swim and I just tried to enjoy it. No more anxiety attacks, suffocating feeling, etc. I guess the previous 2 days of racing got me back to point where I could start training. It was a 2 loop swim, same as yesterday except they moved the last buoys further out.

[Bike: 4:11:59 / 13.3mph]
This was a total suffer fest for me. Despite being difficult, the whole ride was awesome. You rode through the Shawnee State Park on 1 lane paved fire roads closed to traffic. These roads took switchbacks up the sides of big hills and winded their way along and over streams. There were some real roads involved but not much, and those were largely residential and untravelled. As far as difficulty goes, I think the hardest bike course I've ever done. It was hard for me on the 1st lap and to have to know you need to do it twice weighed heavy on my soul. In the first mile I put my head down to take a swig of water and got nothing but air. I forgot to fill my water bottle. There is no race support out on the bike, you bring what you need. I'd have to just conserve my 1 bottle of Gatorade and make it last the 1st loop. The temps reached well into the 80's so it was very hot but the shaded forest roads offered a lot of shelter from direct sun. Coming through transition to start lap 2 I filled up my bottles and tried to hydrate well on the 2nd loop. On days like today where you are doing nothing but suffering you try to find something positive. For me, it was not having to walk any of the hills. On the 1st lap I thought I might be faced with doing that on the 2nd loop. But I stayed clipped in the whole way and gladly finished it up.

[Run: 3:03:19 / 14:00 pace]
While heading out on the run I saw a sign that said 1st loop run cutoff is 1:45pm. I asked a volunteer what time of day it was and she said 12:20 I think. Oh my goodness, I might not make the cutoff!!! I mean, 1:25 should be a lot of time to cover 6.55 miles but I was basically fully imploded by this point. So I tried to run as much as I could, figuring I needed to keep about a 13 min pace (that's hard to do when you're walking, trust me). I didn't charge my watch the night before so at about 2 miles it went dead, so I had no way to know how I was doing towards the time goal. At every mile marker I'd ask people if they knew the time of day and then I'd judge my pace. A few people I passed didn't know about the cutoff and my news inspired them to step a little more lively. Too much work was already put in at this point to be pulled from the race. I finished up the 1st loop with about 7 minutes to spare I think. There was no finish cutoff so once I was on my 2nd lap I knew I would be a finisher. On my way back to the finish I passed some folk still heading out on their 2nd lap, miles behind me...so I can only guess they lifted the time ban or were very lenient with it. I finished in 8:06:29. It was the hardest race I've ever done. Congrats to KK for a killer weekend of racing, he's the fastest dude I know.

Summary:
- Can you fake TTT Ohio? I wanted this to be a training weekend, and it was. It was probably too much to bite off. You can't fake the American TTT Ohio, well, maybe you can since I just did. But if you do, you will be in for a lot of suffering.

- Is it harder than an ironman? I'll say yes. It is definitely mentally harder, having to come back and race when you're already dead is real bear. And the Ohio course is brutally tough, harder than any ironman course I've ever done or heard about. I still think an ironman is physically harder though, since you have new pains that come from biking for 6 hours straight and running for 4-5 hours straight.

- Will I do it again? Not for a couple years, at least. The memories of pain need to fade away first.

- What will become of me? I got jealous when I heard KK say he played golf in a Wednesday night league...I can't even pick up dry cleaning Wed night because I get home so late from work. The only solution I see to my problem is to remove my commute, because I don't plan on selling my house right now. Just thinking about how much of my life is sucked up by the companies I work for makes me depressed. Changes are eminent.