This is going to be a race report about Muncie 70.3, but I first want to give a synopsis of the past 11 months since my last post. On November 8, 2017, I lost my dearly beloved job, and while emotionally devastated and blindsided, I was given a lovely 90 day severance package. While it was nice to not worry financially, it took quite a while to come to grips with the fact that one can have a fine professional record and still be terminated “without cause”. Anyways- while the job search began, I filled my days with plenty of swim bike run in order to keep my sanity and not slip into depression. The holidays were in full swing, and I was blessed to spend lots of time with our sweet granddaughter Ellyana.
During the winter I was training hard for Oceanside 70.3 on April 7, in San Diego. Not having flown since 1994, I had some anxiety about flying (ok, quite a bit), and when Ironman announced that the swim would be switched from the protected harbor to the beach, and we would have 0.5 mile swim in the actual ocean before entering the harbor, I freaked. I am deathly afraid of sharks or riptides and I’ve never swam in the ocean! I mean really! I kept training, but I was dreading this trip.
The week before we were to fly out, my dear Aunt Billie fell, had surgery, then took a turn for the worse during her post op period and within days went home on Hospice. I knew I wanted to see her. Since I had the time off for San Diego, I canceled the trip and we headed to Michigan— for her funeral. However, it was the most special moments of the year and I have zero regrets for skipping Oceanside and going to Michigan to be with my cousins.
Oh? Did I mention time off? Yes, on March 19, the same week my last severance check arrived, I started a new job. The job market in Chattanooga is saturated with Nurse Practitioners, so there isn’t much to choose from. In order to find Hospitalist work- which is all I’ve done as an NP, I’d have to work out of town. Tony and I weren’t keen on that idea. Nor did I want to work for a specialty that requires office hours, hospital rounding, some weekends, plus call. Hello! I am a triathlete and grandma! So— I took a position at a large pain management office. Never in a million years would I have chosen Pain Management. But now, after 6 months, I believe it chose me. The hours are wonderful, the staff and management are incredible, and the patients are, well, like patients everywhere. Some you love and hug, and some you just want to shake a bit. But I do really enjoy it. And I don’t miss 12 hour shifts and every other weekend whatsoever.
Once I started work, and the following week backed out of Oceanside, my training took a dive. For those familiar with Training Peaks, a popular training software, my fitness (CtL) grew to 105 just before I went back to work. Within 2-3 weeks it was back to 64… In the past 4 months I’ve gotten it back as high as 85, only to drop to 77 after 3 days off from Muncie, plus the fact that my power didn’t work on race day. Anyways— I will say it’s a constant challenge to find 12-15 hours a week to swim bike run, plus work 40 hours, plus be a wife and mom and grandma. We are blessed with 3 granddaughters all under 2, and another one (this time a boy!) due in January. So that’s my life in the past months.
Why Muncie? And my first DNF
After missing Oceanside half ironman, I wanted to do a race because I knew I was trained and ready. I decided to do a half iron duathlon at Callaway Gardens in Georgia. It consisted of: run 3.1 miles, bike 56, then run 13.1 miles. I liked the idea of running instead of swimming. Unfortunately they started the duathlon several minutes after the triathlon started. While I can run 3 miles faster than I can swim 1.2 miles, because of the later start, I ended up being on the bike alone. It was ok for a while but about mile 8 we turn on a county road with low traffic, but fast traffic and no shoulder. I don’t like riding with cars buzzing by when I don’t have my rear radar on, so about mile 11, I decided I wasn’t risking my safety, and I dropped out. But looking back- I think being out there alone with no other cyclists in view didn’t help. That’s the first time I’ve ever dropped out of a race during a race. So I need to own that. I also want to say— I was carrying my phone. If I hadn’t had my phone I likely wouldn’t have dropped out. Calling Tony made it all too easy. The rest of the weekend— I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to race again— and my coach and I parted ways because I just didn’t know what I wanted anymore.
A great thing about a life of daily exercise is that after 2 days of no exercise, the withdrawals begin and you start to go crazy craving a long run. So after the sting of the DNF, and parting with my coach— I felt a little lost. I knew what I needed. I needed a race on the horizon. So I signed up for Muncie 70.3 which would be held on July 14, 2018. Now once again- I had a plan. But I wanted to make it failproof. So I decided to leave my husband at home (so he couldn’t allow me to drop out!) and I coaxed a friend into doing the race with me, because she is hard core committed and I knew she wouldn’t let me DNS or DNF.
Muncie 70.3
Turns out that 3 of us girls went together to Muncie. It was so fun! We arrived Thursday evening. Friday was Athlete check-in and bike check-in, after we went for a short shakeout ride. We were also able to get in the lake and do some swimming. I was actually excited, tho nervous as always.
The Swim:
The water was hot! It was 82 degrees on race morning. That meant that wetsuits were allowed, but you had to start at the back of the line, and wouldn’t be eligible for awards. Haha— as if I will ever be eligible for awards! Because open water swimming isn’t my favorite thing in the world, and because I am such a slow swimmer, I opted to wear my lava pants, which is basically half a wetsuit. So I had the added buoyancy from half a wetsuit, without the added heat from a full wetsuit.
I started near the very back- Altho I will say I was shocked at how many wore wetsuits. The swim started and it was a big U shape course. I have to say that it went very well. I didn’t get hit in the head, never had any scares. Just my own anxiety which caused me to stop often and look around. I had decided I would NOT look at my watch until I finished, because I didn’t want the added anxiety. They allow 1:10 for the swim, and I knew it would be close, and I needed to just keep swimming. I was super excited when I finally reached the shore and saw 59 minutes!!! Onward!!
The Bike
Muncie 70.3 has a lovely bike course! It is a closed course, which means no cars on the road. It was a short ride of 5 miles or so out to the highway where we did two 22 mile loops. I thoroughly enjoyed it and had my fastest bike split ever in a race! My garmin had me at 17.2 mph, but the Ironman split said 17.1 mph. Either way— an incredible bike ride for me! I didn’t have to get off the bike at all during the 56 miles. I fueled with Tailwind at 250 cal per hour and felt great the entire way.
The Run
I took off on the run feeling excited with my bike time, knowing I had 4 hours to run 13.1 miles bit I planned/hoped to finish the run in 3 hours. My plan was to run 4 minutes then walk 1 minute, rinse and repeat. I had trained this way all summer and that was my plan, figuring I would stay in the 13 min/mile range. Boy was I wrong!! I seem to have this problem in triathlon. I just CANNOT run off the bike. I don’t know if it’s a lack of music in my ears (earbuds aren’t allowed in Ironman events), or simply going too hard on the bike and leaving myself exhausted when it’s time to run… Whatever the cause— the run quickly became just a walk. It was so hot, and humid, but I train in hot and humid weather, so I can’t blame it on that. I was simply too tired to run or didn’t feel like it.
And this is the part of triathlon I struggle with — the ability to “dig deep” when it’s painful and no longer fun. Oh, I wasn’t in pain. I was just tired and running even a slow pace felt like too much effort. So I walked. And walked, and walked, and walked some more. It was a nice run course- 6.5 miles out and then back, along country roads with cornfields as far as the eye could see. The aid stations were every mile, so there was plenty of water, Gatorade, fruit, etc. I wasn’t dehydrated, just didn’t feel like running. I finished the 13.1 mile “run” in 3:32. When I got to the the last mile— my watch said 7:44. I knew I could finish the last mile in under 16 minutes if I would just run a little!! It would be so nice to finish sub 8 hours!! But in that tired, hot, sweaty, fatigued state, I didn’t give a flying flip about finishing sub 8 hours. So I continued my slow walk.
As I approached the finish line, I saw a handful of local friends who cheered for me and that was a fun surprise! I was able to start running at that point and ran thru the finishers’ chute. What happiness! Another 70.3 is finished! 8:01 was my time, which makes Muncie my fastest 70.3 so far. Yeah!
Midlife Triathlon 