Race Report: Beach 2 Battleship Half-Ironman

THE LONG STRANGE TRIP:
I'm Ron and I don't swim worth a damn. But after watching a couple of triathlons back in '06, I thought I'd try it out. The swim in a sprint tri seemed a smallish price to pay (well, as long as it was a pool swim) to get to push myself on the bike, since there ain't much bike racing to be done around these parts. So in January 2007, I signed up with the YMCA Triathlon Club here in Wilmington, and entered my first tri.

The next 3 months were something of an adventure, even if it seems sooooo small now. Just like in Kung Fu Panda, I think the TriClub swim coaches learned that "there is now a level zero." And that was defined as "Ron! Get your face in the water!" Somehow I made it through that mini-sprint at the end of March. But somehow, the words "never again" managed not to come out of my mouth.

After a couple weeks, I decided to re-up for the rest of the season, because I was addicted to multi-sport, but more importantly the people in the TriClub were such a positive and encouraging bunch. The rest of 2007 and 2008 would involve more sprints with pool swims, and volunteering at the first Beach 2 Battleship tri. It was at the first B2B, as a lot of folks from our club were hanging around watching the mid-pack and back-of-pack finishers, that Swim Coach Todd planted an idea in my mind. He thought I could do a half-ironman, and sold it to me on the basis that the swim is a much smaller chunk of the race, compared to an olympic and most normal sprints. It sounded crazy... but not as crazy as a marathon!

So then hatched a plan... I would do White Lake sprint in May 2009, and if I could get along with open water, look at working my way up to the half there in 2010. Well, we all know how well it worked out with me in open water that time. DNF... hired Coach Kristen... back to the scene of the crime, to complete an Oly where I had failed in the sprint. And then came the decision... I would take my first shot at 70.3... not at White Lake, but at B2B... in the salt water.

PRE-RACE:
The usual hectic build-up to a major race, but at least I was familiar with my choices of where to eat, and sleeping in my own bed. Water temps were a little scary, especially knowing it would be low tide just before race time. Oceanside had dropped to 63F and the sound side was fluctuating between 56 and 61. Thought about neoprene booties and hood, but (1) the expo vendors sold out too quickly and (2) nothing new on race day, right? When I did my shakedown ride on Friday afternoon, my bike computer was dead, so throw in a last-minute detour to replace batteries before bike check-in. Had about a 45 minute sitdown with Coach Kristen to talk about nutrition and tactics. Carb-loaded at Fat Tony's downtown, then spent the evening organizing my gear/transition bags and watching Talladega Nights with Shawn.

Saturday morning started at 5:15 for an 8:30 race start. Left the house just after 6am, and got parked near T1 by 6:30. Made my way through the checklist (body marking, drop off T2 bag, set-up T1) quickly enough that there was time to be nervous. Finally hopped a shuttle to swim start at 7:30, and got there in time to see the full-distance field coming by. Between the swimmers and the docks there were 3 dolphins heading the opposite direction. The wind was already kinda nasty, and what was really telling was hearing that the first of the full-distance people would be out of the water around 52-55 minutes. Compared to 38-39 minute first-out-of-the-water times the last 2 years, we knew it wasn't a good day.

THE SWIM: (43:34, 65th/84 in age group, 529th/676 overall)
When I had finally gotten into my wetsuit, it didn't seem too bad because the sun was getting higher. But then comes the problem of wading into 62 degree water (if that, one soundside observation was showing 56-57F) and then WAITING... for five minutes before our wave went off. It was a much different animal than walking into 70 degree water and just getting on our way, as with my last 2 practice swims. I did a "Tarzan" for the first 20-25 strokes just to lessen the shock of putting my face in the cold water for the first time. And then I realized what would be the biggest challenge...the chop. The tidal current was starting to pull...weakly even if it was in our favor. The wind was directly opposing it, which made for some nasty chop. It seemed like every time I tried to sight I'd get smacked in the face by a wave. The first 200 yards were, indeed, a "WTF?" moment. But then one of the kayakers was pointing to get me out toward the middle of the channel. And THEN I picked up the turn boat. Suddenly I had a lot more trust in my sighting, and would only sight every 3-4 breaths. Just before I got to the turn boat, I started passing people. Once I made the turn I was in very familiar territory, but a lot more traffic as I was back into the thick of the next wave of swimmers. It was annoying and it was cold, but there was no question that I'd make it. Just don't get kicked in the head (tricky when you come up on the odd guy doing breaststroke). When I got to the ladders, it took me a couple of tries to get on because my feet were too numb to know if I was getting a rung! I got up on the dock and ran around the corner to find my swim partner Lori, who was working as a wetsuit stripper. She whipped the wetsuit right off of me masterfully, without yanking off my timing chip or my tri shorts, then helped me up, gave me a hug and some words of encouragement, and sent me on...

T1: (10:53)
A 300-yard run into the actual transition area is long enough, but on freezing-cold feet? I'm sure my shuffle step was a thing of beauty, but at least I couldn't feel how rough the pavement was. As I crossed the main road onto the sidewalk, I saw Shawn in the crowd. She told me later that I had a huge smile, and I stopped to give her what was probably quite a salty kiss. When I got to my rack, I realized just how crazy cold it was. Even though I tried to dry off my feet and arms, socks and arm warmers never go on that easily. But I was sooooo cold, it was 10 times harder with hands shaking and fingers not working. In retrospect I wonder if I wasn't mildly hypothermic coming out of the water. Shoes went on fine, but even the Garmin was tough to handle with cold hands. Tucked my nutrition in the back pocket of my tri top, sunscreened my face, tried to wiggle gloves on. Packed swim gear back into my T1 bag, and I was off... hopefully the slowest transition I will ever have.

THE BIKE: (2:45:13, 18/83 AG, 116/666 OA)
If I was cold it didn't last long. The bike started out with mostly headwind and my big challenge here was not to get too worried about my actual speed. But I couldn't seem to get my HR down out of Z3. I figured that would be ok in the headwind, as long as I wasn't pushing the edge of Z4 the whole time. About 30 minutes in I realized I would not see much Z2, so HR be damned, it was time for a nutbar just as we got on that nice stretch of I-140. It was crosswind, and I'm sure I gave up a little time using the first mile as my feed zone. It was a different feel from last year, since I was actually in the pack, rather than getting a head start courtesy of a relay swimmer. But there were only a couple of slightly dicey moments as I came up on people. First hour of the bike averaged 19.6mph, better than I even expected. Then came the northbound leg out Hwy 421 and onto some rural roads, pretty much into the wind. Here I was just trying to stay smooth and not fight the wind too much. The turnaround at mile 36 came up at 1:51 and I realized my A-goal of a 2:50 bike was well within reach. The last 20 miles had a nice tailwind, and it was tempting to drop the hammer. But I resisted the temptation and just rode smooth and strong the rest of the way. I think I spent as much time in Z2 as in Z3 for that section, but that tailwind was just enough to keep the speeds strong. Tried to keep my cadence above 90 for the last couple miles, and didn't fight the bridges. Rolled into transition with an eye-popping (for me) time and hoping I had saved
enough for the run.

T2: (5:15)
Never really clean in a point-to-point race because you're working out of a bag rather than having it laid out. Off with the gloves and arm warmers, change the shoes, grab the run belt (Spibelt with my nutrition already in the zipper pocket), sunscreen my arms, then throw the bike gear back in the bag before I was off. I saw Coach Kristen in T2 and got a high-five out of her. Told her what my bike split was and she yelled back "I told you!" She told me to go on after I said a few griping words about the swim. :)

THE RUN: (2:00:35, 23/80 AG, 146/647 OA)
This one was mostly about slow and steady, stay hydrated, and don't do anything I'll end up paying for before it's over. Clearly I started out well hydrated, because my time includes the better part of a minute in the portajohn not 100 feet past the run start timing mat. Just as I got out to the access road into the Battleship, I saw Shawn, now properly armed with cowbell! :) I think my first couple of miles over the bridges might have been a bit quick... 9:19 including the potty stop, then 8:39. Just before the 3-mile mark we hit Water Street downtown, and I had to consciously hold back so that the crowd energy wouldn't make me start pushing too hard. Still, the crowd energy, what with so many people I knew and even the TriClub running the aid station at mile 3/10, was amazing. It's a home-race advantage that just can't be beat. Once I got past downtown, I found the sweet spot... generally holding 8:55 while running, and taking most of a minute walk break every other mile through the aid stations (at least the ones I got fluids at). The bridges in the last 2 miles were just about survival, and I just stayed on pace... brought it home solid even if it didn't feel that strong. I saw Coach Kristen smiling bigger than life and came over to the barrier to high-five her... and she told me that Shawn was up ahead (with the requisite obnoxious cowbell). Shawn couldn't have been more than 50 feet from the very spot that I jumped out in the road as she came to the B2B finish line last year... and where I asked her to marry me at the Battleship Half last week.

I crossed the finish line with a time of 5:45:27... 24th of 80 finishers in my age group, 171st of 648 overall finishers. Next year there is a certain appeal to B2B because it will be 2 weeks earlier, with water temps closer to 70F. But after Shamrock Marathon in March, I think I'll want some more time to not have to train hard.

If you're still reading this, I salute you!