Dress Rehearsal

So, I had my dress rehearsal for Louisville this weekend. I did the Ironman Muncie 70.3. So it was really a dress rehearsal at half the length. There were a lot of positives and negatives to this race so we'll start with the results then get into particulars of what I learned. First of all, I finished in 7:05:21. I did the swim in 35:49, the bike in 3:14.22 with a 17.3 MPH average, and the run in 3:06:28 at a 14:14 pace. Out of 1530 finishers, I was 1369. I was 202nd in the swim overall though so that is good. So to get into the good, the bad, and the just plain ugly.

The Good:
1) I felt great in the water and had a good rhythm.

2) Despite some intense headwinds, I had a strong bike leg. There were times when it was a struggle but overall, I am happy with the ride.

3) My nutrition/hydration plan seemed to work pretty well (with the exception of the last part of the run but more on that later). I have a standard race day breakfast of a bagel with Canadian bacon and cheese with a small glass of chocolate milk when I wake up. Then I have a Clif Bar when I get to the race followed by a decent amount of water. When I get on the bike, I have a good combination of Gatorade and water and I snack on some Gu Chomps. On the run, I switch over to mainly water and I do just the straight Gu. I tried out the Coke thing too. At about mile 8 on the run, I had some Coke. Pretty good pick me up when you need it.

4) I felt pretty good coming off the bike and starting the run.

5) I made a friend on the run that kept me sane from about mile 3 or 4 until the finish.

6) I avoided all stinging insects this time around :-)

The Bad:

1) It was f-ing HOT!!!!!

2) There were HILLS. I'm not a very strong runner to begin with but throw in hills and I'm toast. That was not fun.

3) The headwinds on the bike were pretty horrific and lasted for more than half of the ride.

4) There was not a cloud in the sky so the sun just beat down on us and baked me to a crisp.

The Ugly:

1) I got sun poisoning on my legs during the bike. They hurt. A lot.

2) About mile 8 on the run, I started to feel like I was going to vomit. Perhaps I drank too much water.

3) I have some sweet ass tan (read: BURN) lines on my back.

4) I have some seriously sub-par snot rockets.

5) I have horrible ass chafing.

But one excellent thing was that I made a friend on the run. About mile 3 or 4 I met Symantha. We ended up running the entire thing together and it made it so much more bearable. We were able to talk and not think about the fact that it was so hot and there were no clouds and your feet hurt like hell and you wanted to puke. So a big shout out to her for getting me through the run!!!! She's doing the Steelhead 70.3 in a few weeks so I'm wishing her the best of luck.

After yesterday's race, I am now back in Chicago curled up in my bed relaxing. I think I will stay here for a while :-)