Practice Half Iron Distance Event

The morning of April 28th was to be an epic day for me.  I was invited by a good cycling friend who is also in Ironman triathlon training to join him and another friend for a practice Half iron distance triathlon.  With a little hesitation I decided to go ahead and join them.  Prior to that day I had not ran further than 9.2 miles and that day we were not only to run a full half marathon, but do it with over 1000 feet of climbing, again my most climbing was about 300 feet. In the end I am so glad I joined them and here is why...

Rise at 5:30am, make breakfast which consisted of toasted banana and peanut butter sandwich, coffee, and big bottle of water.  Load the car up and off I go.  The morning was a warm 62 degrees already and the sun was shining beautifully upon us.  Arrival at Los Gatos Swim and Tennis club promptly at 6:45 to allow time to change and jump into the pool for which we were to do 40 laps.  I knew I would not get the entire 40 laps in in the time they boys would but I just jumped in and started knocking them off one by one.  It was about lap 20 when I started feeling a bit tired and winded, so I rolled on my back and kept moving, practice for the real events right?  The boys finished 40 laps in 35 minutes and I hit 32 laps when they both jumped out of the pool.  Feeling like I could and wanted to keep going I checked in with them but they wanted to start the bike so I needed to get out at that point to be able to ride with them. 

So off we go, change out of the wet cloths which takes us about 10 minutes to transition but then off we go by bike now and a total time of 45 minutes since starting.  Headed past the reservoirs and into Morgan Hill was our route before our return leg to the swim and tennis club.  There were head winds out there this particular morning that slowed me down too much but I kept as aero as possible and just kept the legs going even if that meant I had to use my small chain ring.  Many times we were pretty close together but I kept trying not to ride in anyones draft just as I wont be able to during my events this year, so different than my former life in bike racing where you are encouraged to get as close as possible to really get the best draft. During the ride we end up going 61 miles instead of the 55 we needed to do, I felt that was my make up for not swimming the full distance. 

Back to the swim club and off the bikes. I toss my bike on the roof rack as quickly as I can, toss the shoes on, wet my head, put on my visor and sunglasses, take a few sips more of water and eat half a package of GU chomps, Peach tea flavor YUM!  Make sure my pockets have nutrition in them and turn to the guys who are still changing.  In all it took us about 10 minutes in this transition. Before we head off for the run.

To date my longest run was 9.2 miles which I did in about an hour and 20 minutes but it had little climbing.  Today's route was to do the Over and back loop up Lexington.  I told the guys I may have to drop back early, so the plan was to head out for about 56 minutes then turn around.  Well 4 miles in and we get to the bottom of the reservoir.  I'm a bit nervous but load up with water as this is also our last water stop for the next 6 miles.  Up we go, and wow some of those "ups" were killer.  But my good buddy Adam kindly reminded me about this YouTube video on HTFU.  Some of you may remember it if not look it up and please share it.  In any case HTFU quite simply means, "Harden The Fuck Up".  Adam was reminding me if I wanted to attain my goal of finishing the Ironman triathlon this year I needed to suck it up today and just do the run.  So every time we hit one of those nasty climbs I would just say in my head and sometimes out loud HTFU, HTFU, HTFU!!!!!  It sure did help me because before I knew it we were at the top of the ridge 1300 feet up and 6.1 miles into the run.  I did it I made it to the top of the climb and the half way point of the run, much further than I thought I would be able to do, and much harder than I have had to push myself to date.  We took maybe a minute to stop look at the view take in 2 GU chomps each and then off we go back down.

The run back was still difficult because we needed to descend all that which we climbed plus a few other small climbs on the way back down.  Knowing I could keep pace with these guys I would allow myself to slow a little on the climbs but promised myself they could not get more than 20 feet ahead at which point I MUST pick back up my pace.  Well mile 10 rolls around and my feet are getting sore (blisters on top of blisters) but we are back at the watering station.  I think I drank at least 24 ounces and also held back tears of accomplishment.  To date I had never ran that far.  I felt such a sense of accomplishment in not only running that far but doing it after already having swum and rode my bike.

The last 4 miles of the run were gruelling but I have to say I hit the wall at mile 12.  My legs were saying no more, my blisters were screaming at me saying no more, and my will to push on was telling all these parts of my body to HTFU!!!!!!!!  I even told Adam if we get back to the club and we haven't hit the full 13.1 miles I am going to keep going till I get it.  I didn't go this far NOT to do an entire half marathon!  So just as we are approaching the club I realize we are going to hit 13.1 miles and I might be able to get it in in under 2 hours.  I pick up my pace just enough and at 1 hour 59 minutes and 32 seconds I complete my first half marathon!  Not to mention I at that same time completed my first Half Ironman Distance triathlon.  With the times we did today everything included my final time on the day was 6 hours and 22 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I'm excited and nervous all at the same time for my next attempt at this distance but this time it will be under race conditions and in open water with a wetsuit so transitions will be different.  My goal for the day was not just met but exceeded, I managed to push past the mental blocks I had of running that far and being able to push after each transition.  Looking forward to my next adventure...Auburn Half Iron Distance May 20th dubbed "The World's Toughest Half", and I AM ready to HTFU and meet that challenge head on!