After a wonderful weekend participating with my fellow Team Topper Tri mates in the BDB 100 in Little Rock (my first 100 mile bike ride), I returned home on Sunday with a week to taper for the 2008 Longhorn Ironman 70.3. Having set this as a goal over a year ago, I was both excited and nervous of what was ahead of me. I had done every part of this event as a solo, but thinking about doing a 1.2 mile swim, followed by a 56 mile bike ride, followed by a half marathon and to do all of them at race pace was a daunting proposition. I had a lot of question running through my mind. Was my preparation enough? Should I have chosen a different training program? Should I have done a mile century the weekend prior? Should I have swam, run, and biked more? At this point, there was no use in asking "what if." I had to trust the training was enough and that I was ready.
I used Monday through Wednesday to rest my legs, but I continued doing my planks and hip flexor exercises. I knew from marathon training that this would help keep my legs going during the latter parts of the run. I knew the race course would be hilly (as is EVERY race in Austin), so leg strength would be critical to success. Lucky for me that every running route around my house has several hills. I also knew that my hours on the bike trainer had increased my bike legs and considering how great I felt at the BDB, I felt confident I could go fairly strong for 56 miles and still have some left over for the run.
By the time Mark and his family arrived on Friday night, the butterflies in my stomach were beginning to grow. After a quick welcome, we hit the sack to prepare for the next day's expo and packet pick-up, pre-racking our bikes in transition, and taking a tour of the bike course.
As we entered the expo on Saturday, it was immediately obvious we had reached another level of racing competition. Standing in line for the packet pick-up, we saw nothing around us but Ironman logos and tattoos. And given the many foreign tongues we heard being spoken, we knew we were among some of the best long course triathlete age groupers in the world. This did nothing to settle my stomach.
We finished packet pick up just in time to make it to the pro racers briefing. There we were just feet away from Tim DeBoom and Michellie Jones with 3 Ironman Kona World Championships between them. There was Richie Cunningham, Lisa Bentley, and Pip Taylor. Kieran Doe and Bree Wee were staring back at us and hundreds of other aspiring age groupers in awe of our triathlon heroes and heroins. It was both exciting and surreal.
A ride around the bike course followed and while it was an up and down course, we weren't as intimidated as we might have been had it not been for the previous week's climb at the BDB. After a stop at Chick Fil A for lunch and one final stop at the Bicycle Sports store for some last minute Hammer gels and bars, it was back to the house to relax on the couch with some college football and lots of water.
I went to bed that night and my mind wouldn't stop racing. Did I put my tire pump by the door? Will I forget my water bottles? Do I have enough gels for the bike? Should I take a bar before the first 25 miles or after? Did I change the air filters to the house this month?
Finally, my mind went quiet and the next thing I knew, it was 4 am and the alarm was going off. I knocked on Mark's door and we walked downstairs for a breakfast of gluten-free waffles, bananas, and electrolyte drink. A cup of coffee and a bathroom stop later, we were dressed and ready to head to transition.
We arrived at the Travis Co. Expo and parked the car well before dawn. A quick bus ride and we found ourselves in transition airing up our bike tires, putting our running and biking gear and nutrition in its proper places, and getting our wet suits ready for the swim. YES! The water is 78 degrees on the money...the exact temperature at which USAT allows the use of wet suits. This means a few extra minutes off our swim time. Good news!
7:45 am arrived with a flash and there we were with our families taking photos before our swim wave was called into the water. The 35-39 age group was the largest in the race, so we had two swim waves by name (A-L, M-Z). With over 300 male triathletes in the same wave, it was bound to be a physical swim today.
The countdown began...10, 9, 8, 7, ...I hit my watch, my heart rate was already over a 100...6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...The Longhron Ironman 70.3 begins...
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