FeCHICK

Peterborough 70.3 Ironman race details...I'll save the long drawn out play by play for those truly interested and I'll try to give the highlights here (be warned though, it was a realllly long race and possibly my biggest and most excitting sporting accomplishment!)

PRERACE:
Last minute bike tune-ups, body marking, slathering of body glide, quick pep talk and what i like to call event # 1 - getting the wetsuit on.

THE 2K SWIM:

My dad and I gathered near the back of the beach with the other silver capped wet suited folk (silver caps = 45 min +). At the sound of the starting gun it was a mad frenzy toward the water. The swim was FUN. 550 person mass swim start - I was squished between people, had people try crawling over top of me, pull on my legs, grab my wetsuit rip cord, kick me in the face, arms, ribs...near the end of the first loop one kick knocked my goggles out of place, but luckily it was the type of course where you must exit and run along the beach before diving back in, so I was able to fix my goggles half way through! Exit the water in a time of 47:33 (not very impressive but faster than expected) and run past the cheering crowd toward T1 while pulling my wetsuit off...

THE 90K BIKE:

Helmet, shades, gloves, shoes (I forgot my race # ...ooops)...Having a rental Nineteen Bike I was worried something would go drastically wrong, but I was prepared with a spare tube and pump and newly acquired knowledge of how to actually change a flat! It took my Dad 20K before he caught up with me on the bike...I was having a pretty good first half, but was pretty slow on the way back to T2.....very hilly and windy. On the bike I took in a bottle of propel, e-load, water, 2 gu-gels, and a clif bar...seems like a alot, but apparently wasn't quite enough salt for lil pdawg... My time for the bike was 3:31:48 (avg 25.5) soooo, pretttty slow, but with the course and the conditions I was OK with this time...and couldn't wait to get out on the run...

THE 21.1K RUN:

Feeling pumped from literally pumping my legs for hours I set off on the run on fire! My legs felt great and I was passing lots of runners until ~ the 3K mark (I passed by my dad on his way back from his first loop) "Hang in there missy!". I've never hurt so bad or so suddenly. I got a massive cramp that took my breath away and made me want to crawl into the fetal position and call it quits. I tried walking for a bit, but even that hurt. A few runners passed me and told me to keep going...eventually I regained the ability to waddle on....somewhere around 8Kish I regained my strength with lots of Gatorade. After my little walk spurt though I was extremely motivated and refused to walk another step (except to grab some Gatorade and water - to splash over myself)...I ended up passing a total of 210 runners along the 21.1K (2:11:20)course. Many people walked up the massive hills, some were on the side of the road vomiting, others in the bushes, some with obvious dehydration related leg cramping...Sprinting it out to the finish line was worth allll the pain. I finished 5th in my age group too :)

Lessons learned from all of this....

6. Don't keep your foot straps of your peddles tight while training in the city
5. Don't abruptly turn onto a curb while riding-doing so results in scraped knees and shoulders
4. PC 'Vector' is the equivalent of eating cardboard
3. Just when I think I can't chaff anywhere else....(chamois were not meant for long runs....)
2. Investing in sunscreen would be beneficial
1. Having the M dot tattoo doesn't necessarily mean you're fast


i think that's it. i'm tired.