Ironman 70.3 Muncie – 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run – July 12, 2014
Pre-race
I had traveled to Muncie, IN with Joanna Whisenant (who was also doing the race) on that Friday, the 11th. I had done this race in 2013 so I wanted to try it again with the sole purpose on trying to improve my time. We left out early Friday morning (around 5 am) because it was going to be about an eight hour drive up there. We drove straight to packet pickup, which was held at the transition area. Picked up our packets and then did the optional bike check in. I wanted to go stick my feet in the water just to see what the temperature was like so I did that. They said it was around 75 degrees which made it borderline wetsuit legal. The water felt great and it was nice and warm. We then drove to the hotel, which was about 30 min away because all the closer hotels were booked up. Ate dinner and called it an early night. Race Morning We got up at 4 am to start getting ready for the race. Got our stuff together and I ate my normal breakfast of oatmeal and a banana. I wasn’t really hungry when I got up but forced myself to eat because I knew it was going to be a long day. We gathered our stuff, packed up the car and headed over to transition. We got to transition around 6:15 so we had 30 minutes to get our stuff set up before transition closed. The water temperature was 74.5 degrees so it was definitely wetsuit legal. The only thing I brought with me was my speedsuit, I left my wetsuit at home. Oh well, the water temperature wasn’t that cold, in fact, it was rather warm. Since the race was wetsuit legal, I was able to wear my compression sleeves in the swim rather than trying to put them on later. At 6:45, the race officials kicked us out of transition and we headed down to get a warm up swim in. The water felt great and I was kind of glad I didn’t have my wetsuit. I would’ve gotten too hot.
Swim – 1.2 miles – 59:18
The pros went off at 7 am, our wave didn’t start until 7:45 so we had some time to kill. We got lined up around 7:30 and then we were able to get in the water and wade out to about waist deep. They fired the gun and we were off at 7:45. I stayed close to the buoys because I couldn’t swim a straight line if my life depended on it. Still the current was pushing me off course so I kept having to correct myself. The farther out I got, the choppier the water got. Every time I breathed, I kept getting a mouth full of water. The swim course however is pretty straight forward. Just a rectangle keeping the buoys to your right. I did get pummeled by the faster swimmers that were in the wave behind us. There were times that I got punched in the eye and kicked in the head. I was hoping to go below 50 minutes for the swim but I kept getting off course so that added time to my swim. T1 – 4:34 I came out of the water and ran up the carpeted hill to transition. I had to ask one of the volunteers to help undo my zipper of my swim skin. Ran to my bike, stripped off my swim skin, put on my shoes, helmet, sunglasses and race belt. Grabbed my bike and I was off.
Bike – 56 miles – 3:33:14
The bike course if fairly flat but extremely rough. Coming into and out of transition, I felt like I needed a mountain bike it was so rough. They changed the bike course from last year and this year it was 2 loops. A straightforward out and back twice. It was extremely windy that day and even though I managed to average around 16 mph, there were times when I could barely get to 13 the wind was so strong. I kept up my salt tablet intake every 45 minutes and ate a Honey Stinger waffle when I got hungry. I downed about 2 of those. My 2 bottles of water made it to around mile 45 when I had to get another water from the aid station. I felt pretty good about the bike portion, it just seemed to go on forever. I finally made it back to transition and survived the rough roads. T2 – 3:39 Came back into transition, racked my bike and pulled off my shoes. Got my socks and run shoes on, grabbed my visor and I was off.
Run – 13.1 miles – 3:11:29
I was really hoping to get under 3 hrs for the run even though this course is extremely hilly. I felt pretty good the first half of the run. I was only walking the aid stations, which were about every mile. After that I fell apart. I could barely run a quarter of a mile at a time after that point. The hills were relentless. After I topped the last hill, I could see the finish. I had enough left in me to sprint through the grass to the finish. Got my medal and hat and I was done.