My First Half-Ironman

October 04, 2015

My First Half-Ironman

This Summer, I completed my first half iroman! It was a dreamy race, and I can honestly say that I enjoyed every minute. It was like my personal Disneyland, not even kidding. ;) I went into this event with my MAIN goal being to race with joy. My time goals were a little more specific, though.

Goals:
Realistic: 5:15 overall time, 35-38 minute swim, maintain 19+ mph average on the bike, run 1:45 half marathon
Less-realistic: sub 5 hours, 21 mph average on the bike, run 1:40 half

The Swim:
Kind of ridiculous because the water was literally 2 feet deep in certain areas....but I always love the swim:) I don't try to be competitive at this point in the race because the swim is my weakest point, so I just wanted to have fun and not come out of the water in last place. Because the water was so shallow, I would push off the bottom of the lake with my feet sometimes. I wasn't sure if this was cheating so I tried to not do it too often...haha. Turns out the winners did it the entire time! Good thing to remember for next time. ;) I exited the swim at around 31 minutes and was freaking stoked out of my mind!

Obviously I wasn't too concerned about my T1 time......

Comin' in from the swim! Now for the best part: BIKE:)

The Bike:
Ohhh, how I love the bike! I had biked this course many times, so I knew what I was in for. Flat, and FAST. A kind friend, Tanner, hooked me up with his race wheels and helped fit my bike better the night before. I think it helped because FREAK! I went faster than I had even planned. I was praising God the entire time--even tearing up at certain points--thanking Him for a strong body and a love for triathlons. It was a glorious ride, just racing past the old men and watching my average MPH steadily increase over the entire course. I felt SO INCREDIBLE. I was flying, and it seemed effortless. At the halfway point I started pushing the pace more, and was able to pass a lot more people on the way back.

All the while, I was also terrified of getting a flat because I would have to totally quit if I got one; the rims on the wheels I was using were just too deep to change a flat without special tools. Thanks be to God, I was able to make it back to T2 without a single flat! To top it off, I averaged 22.1 MPH over the 56 mile course. FREAKING SWEET. I was stoked.

Dale and I....the best of buds.

The Run:
I felt pretty good, and strong for the first few miles. I didn't push the pace by any means, but the second half was slower. I didn't train as well as I could have for the run, but some intestinal distress kept me from doing my best, too. All is well though, because I definitely raced with joy during the run. I have found when I cheer others on as I pass them, I always run better. So I did that the entire way, and it proved to be a really fun day:) One lady yelled at me as passed, "Go catch and pass all those boys!" My final half-marathon time was 1 hour, 42 minutes. Plenty of room for improvement, but I was satisfied.

Some more photos from the day: