A little over a week ago, I completed my second Ironman 70.3
race in Waco, TX. Waco is a little over
an hour and a half south of us (sometimes more with traffic). Since this race was so close to home, it was
hard to pass up the opportunity to do it and I’m glad I did. Despite some challenging conditions, I had a
great time and set a new personal best time.
On Friday, I made the drive down to Waco to check in, get my
bib and everything else and attend one of the Athlete Briefings. I also got to do all my shopping on
Friday. This made it easier and less
stressful for us on Saturday, when Mike, Scooby and I all drove down for the
night. The only thing we had to do on
Saturday was check in my bike. Our hotel
was relatively close to the Athlete Village and transition area, so once we
arrived we all headed over to have one of the technicians give my bike a once
over and then leave it racked in transition.
Race morning came early on Sunday and I was up and ready to
go. Our hotel had an early breakfast for
the triathletes. I kept it simple with
an English muffin with peanut butter and half a banana. Before the Chicago marathon, I had a bagel
with peanut butter and I felt like it sat in my stomach for much of the
race. I didn’t want to repeat that
feeling. It was an easy walk to
transition and I got my stuff all set up with plenty of time to spare.
The swim was a point to point downstream course, so we all
had to walk 1.2 miles along the river to the swim start. It was a rolling swim start with athletes lining
up by their projected finish time. This
is also how we started in Boulder, but it seems people weren’t as honest with their
times here because I passed so many people all along the swim course.
The swim was cold. A
cold front had rolled into the area the few days prior and the water
temperature dropped dramatically. The
official temperature was 65.1 degrees. If
it was 65 degrees then it is legal to wear swim booties on your feet – and I
felt like I could have used them on Sunday!
My feet were frozen by the time I got out of the water. The point to point course was nice as there
was little need to sight. It was pretty
straight downriver. Had there been a
stronger current, I could have really set a record time, but I’m still pleased with
how I swam. Even with the cold, I felt
no sense of panic in the water and had no issues controlling my breathing. I don’t know that others did as well as
me. Once out of the water, I had to make
the long run up to transition. My watch
recorded it as over .4 miles! My feet
were frozen as I ran – I honestly couldn’t feel them. But I made it to my bike (and towel) in good
time and tried to dry off and warm up as much as I could.
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| Regaining my bearings after the chilly swim |
I knew the temperature would warm up in the hours I was on
the bike. I had brought arm warmers to
wear if needed when I was biking but I ultimately decided to skip them. I was very cold the first 7-10 miles on the
bike until my body warmed up enough and the sun started to really come out.
The bike course went past lots of open space and big Texas
ranches. I saw horses running and
grazing in pastures as I rode. It was a
relatively flat course. I wasn’t thrilled
with the conditions of the roads and felt they were a little jarring. And the winds at different points made keeping
a good pace more challenging. It seemed
there was always a cross wind. But I
felt the race organizers did do a good job keeping us out of traffic with plenty
of room to ride. I always felt safe on
the course – and that’s important.
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| Getting through the 56 miles |
At a certain point I am always ready for the bike to be over. 56 miles on the bike is a lot and my body is
always ready to get off. I was happy
with my overall bike time; I thought I might break 3 hours but I finished just
over that. Regardless, I did better than
in Boulder.
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| Finishing up on the bike |
Then it was on to the run.
After racking my bike and switching shoes, I was off. Although it had warmed up, it was hardly a
hot day and the winds helped to keep it cool.
It was a 2 loop run course. The
challenging part was the numerous hills in the one park we ran through. People had been talking about the hills for
some time before the race and I knew to expect them (twice!). Honestly, I didn’t find them to be all that
terrible. I had run the same hills at
the Olympic distance race I did in Waco back in July so knew what to expect – a
little slower up the hill and then pick up speed on the downhill. Lots of people had to walk them but I kept
running the whole time.
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| Feeling good on the run |
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| Always smile for the photographer! |
Mike brought Scooby out to cheer me on during the run. I saw them toward the end of the first loop
and then again a few times near the finish.
Poor Scooby was so confused why I was running past him and just wanted
to get to me! It gave me a boost every
time I saw them and I’m so glad they were there.
The finish line was on the oldest suspension bridge in
Texas. When I saw it, I knew it had been
a good race. I didn’t see my finish time
until a little while later, but I took over 18 minutes off my time from
Boulder. My swim, bike and run portions
were all faster and I finished in the top 10% overall. Yes, the weather was much cooler in Waco, but
I was also even more fit and ready for the distance. I had several more months of heavy training
under my belt and I feel like it showed.
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| The final stretch |
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| Almost there! |
After showering and retrieving my bike and all my gear, we
made the drive home. Waco had a great
small town feel, and I would consider doing the race again at some point in the
future. For now, my offseason has
officially begun and I can be a little more relaxed with my training and give
my body a chance to recover so I can come back even stronger next year. Time to start planning for 2020!
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| Ironman 70.3 Waco Finisher!!! |
