Quarter/Half Max Race Report
June 19th & 20th, 2004
Near the end of the summer of 2003, Dean Bettis came to my desk after signing up for Ironman Lake Placid. He had heard about a ¼ Ironman and ½ Ironman on the same weekend put on by the same venue on the same course. The Quarter was on Saturday and the Half on Sunday. He was thinking it would be good training getting ready for an Ironman and I saw it as a test to see how well I can hold back on the first day and see how quickly and intelligently I can recover between the two races so that I could attempt to hold close to the same pace for the 2nd day. In some ways, a small (it-c-bit-c) taste of what Lance and the guys of “The Tour” go through. December rolled around so I signed up for the two races and set it as one of my major key challenges for 2004.
As
always, you sign up for these races months in advance and next thing you know
you’re packing the car to go do the thing(s). Crazy how time just flies.
Anyway, our area had a pretty good representation. Dean, Mike Donahue, and I
were taking on the two races dubbed as “The Mad Maxx” (only 19 of us out
of the 1,000+ people there).
Forecast for the whole weekend was sweet. Not much wind, temps in the mid to upper 70s and not real humid. We had some nice tornado’s (didn’t actually see any) in the St. Louis area when driving down, but that twirled by and the days got nice. Innsbrook, MO is a nice quiet area with more lakes than rocks and the venue was set right at the resort. Dean was able to get a condo there so he gave us the grand tour and we’re pretty pumped to try getting a place there next year. The hotel we had was only about 15-mins away, cheap, and very accommodating. I don’t normally get into all of this, but we seem to hit the things well this time. I couldn’t complain about anything. Not much of a complainer anyway except when it comes to complainers!
The Quarter Max (0.6 mile swim/30 mile bike / 6.5 mile run):
We get to the race site and the water temp is around 80+ so no wetsuits, which is actually all cool by me. The less I have to wrestle with that rubber straight-jacket the better. I also figured this meant no wetsuit for the Half Iron race, but somehow the temp dropped the next day and we were able to use it. Save that for later.
The Swim (1056 yards or 0.6 miles):
The race begins and it’s the normal jockeying for position with some very hard hip thrusts to the guys next to me. Such bastages they were and the half was worse. As usual and thankful with the swim, not a lot to report, but I thought I hit it pretty well. I went out in the first wave (30-34 age group wave) and came out 3rd. Anytime I’m coming out that high in the ranks, it can only mean one thing….a lot of bad swimmers in my age!!! J Everyone who knows me probably feels I’m OK, but no fish, but I’ll take the ego trip when I can get it in the lake!!! Pffff!!!
The Bike (30 miles, little more than a quarter Iron):
T1 seemed like it took for forever, but I was also preparing a little more (like socks) since I didn’t want to do the Half the next day with big ’ol puss-pockets on my feet so I took a little more time.
The bike consists of two 15-mile loops. The first 7-miles on each loop are nothing but hills. Some are very steep, but the steep ones don’t last long. There were a couple other longer climbs, but if you were reserved you could get up and down and not redline the system. The remainder of the course was pretty fast and we had some wind to help us along. I kept a good push going and things went pretty well. I was fairly pleased with my bike time, but think there’s something still not right with the bike. I think the old bod is in need of a new fit. Such as life.
The Run (6.5 miles [of hell])
The run for the Quarter consists of a one loop, 6.5-mile course of nothing but hills. And I mean hills! Did I mention hills? Wow! Freaking hills! Yep…there’s hills there. Climbs!!! Hey, is that a wall? Nope, another hill!!!!! OK, enough. One of the hills is identical to the one in Lake Geneva where you’re forced to take long-walk-strides up for about a tenth. Otherwise, it’s much hillier than Lake Geneva. Much of the run is also gravel so I liked that a lot since it’s a little kinder to my body.
I felt pretty good with the first few miles of the run and was holding around 6:50s or better, but then the quads started to quiver a bit then both legs started to lock up. Now I was forced into some Dan Jansen speed skating routine and it slowed me down pretty well. I pounded more Gatorade and that seemed to loosen things up for the last mile. There were a ton of aid stations on the course so it was easy to get the liquid in when you needed it. Finally I see the finish line and see everyone there. Whew, phase one is done, but I’m really concerned about how I let myself dehydrate and cramp up. I know I did my normal routine getting ready and the weather wasn’t too bad, but I think it came down to nutrition during the race. I could have taken another bottle or so of liquid in during the ride and probably a little more gel. All stuff I can apply the next day.
I managed
to take some hardware home for this race. Really can’t remember the place (I
think 6th), but our age-group went 8-places deep because of the
size. Pretty incredible that a race could afford to do that, but this race
didn’t hold back on anything. From the food to the awards to the people…everything;
these guys put on a top-notch race and I think it may be the best organized
race I’ve been too.
With my hams and quads in the full upright locked position, I took a walk over to the med tent to see if they could juice me up with a bag since I was pretty cramped and had another race to do. The EMTs were more than willing to stick me, but the doctor came by and felt I didn’t need it. He just had me drink a bunch of Gatorade until I had to pee, which wasn’t a terrible amount. Nothing like Idaho, but I was trying to safeguard myself for the next day and still a little sensitive to the whole kidney thing. Sloan came by that night and flushed out my legs (she’s a massage therapist) and I think that helped a lot. I also ate big and got a mass amount of good fluids in me (and a couple beers) for the remainder of the day. I think I’m ready for stage 2!
The Half Max
Race morning #2 comes around and we wake up to a nearly identical day as yesterday. My quads were a touch on the sore side, but nothing I couldn’t warm up. Otherwise, I think I felt pretty good. I tried to get my last bit of pasta in me, but by now I’m so “pasta’d out” that it’s kicking in the gag-reflex. I opt for the PBJ and a nice bland tasting carbo drink instead. Man, I’m going to eat big tonight!!!!
We arrive at the site and they’re telling us that wetsuits are now legal for today’s race. I couldn’t believe the lake could actually drop enough overnight to make a difference, but apparently it did. So, I run back to the car and nab the black rubber suit of expense.
The Half Max brings in quite a bit of talent to the race. Andrea Fisher is a top pro and she’s racked up about two bikes down from me. That chick is a stud and actually set the overall course swim record today in 23-mins. Unreal! That’s her specialty, but she’s no slouch in the other events as I saw her pass my butt around mile 14 on the bike. She started 10 or 15-mins behind me.
The Swim (1.2 mile swim):
OK, swim gun goes off for our wave and it’s a terrible mess. It’s the worst beating I’ve taken in a long time. I’m pretty sure I put myself in the wrong position at the start. Guys were crawling all over me and I just wanted start swinging. After 10-mins or so I calmed down and got myself positioned well. From there on I thought I really swam well. Hitting the beach I take a look at the watch and it’s showing 30:something and thought, “Man, I thought it was better than that” I was visioning 28:00, but I guess the early can of ass-whooping slowed me down. Today was a day I wish I knew bib numbers during the swim. I would have made an effort to fart in the general direction on the bike to those guys who whaled on me! To all those guys, I’ve got two words for you…“Bah Bahhhhh!!!!”
The Bike (56 mile bike):
Well, nothing like knowing the course pretty well for a race you’ve never done. The course is nearly identical to yesterday’s 15-mile loops. It’s now an 18-mile loop with a short 1.5 mile down-and-back about half-way through each loop. We now do this loop three times though. I think the bike today is where I played it safe. I really took in the nutrition timely and eased back and actually willingly let people pass without any thought of deviating from my master plan to take over Uranus! I biked like I was doing 112 today. I also think I knew what a lot of those guys who passed didn’t. There is 13.1 miles of sheer pain in store for us after this nice bike ride. I planned on being as prepared as possible. A couple times I showed some sort of male dominance in my world, but got done and said, “That was stupid…stupid!!!” I even had some boughts of corniness that I told Shanny about and she just rolled her eyes. I was thinking about that Starbucks commercial where the band “Survivor” is following those guys around and singing their names to the tune of “Eye of the Tiger” Bob…bob bob bob….bob bob bob….bob bob booooobbbbbbb” Now it was me using Shanny’s tone like she’s shouting at me like many of you know, “Drew….drew drew drew….” Ok you got my point. I was loosing it, but having a heck-of-a-good time thinking about it!!!
With about a quarter mile left this dude comes flying by me then I chase him up a hill. The little flom slows to a halt. Now I’m right on his butt for a split second and Fire Marshall Bill comes by over the hill on his cycle from the other direction. I see him yell my number over the walky. I thought “crap!” I haven’t seen penalties yet for the results, but it wouldn’t surprise me if I picked up my first ever wrist-slap. O’well!
The Run (13.1 miles-o-pain):
OK, now is where it gets real fun. Two 6.55-mile loops of up+down+up+down. I felt pretty good for the first mile then walked a couple steps in the aid station to slam some Gator. Once I got going again I felt real good so I kept pushing along. I could push all the hills except for the monster, which is around mile 5.5 on each loop. This sucker (as mentioned earlier) is a beast! On the first lap I walked up with a guy and he was a bit down on himself for being halted to a walk. I said to him that this was everyone’s story yesterday on this hill. He was a little surprised I’d being lacking so much gray brain matter to do both races, but also a little more inspired to get up the hill the restart his own push. We exchanged our “good lucks” and I kept the pace.
When I hit the turn around I see Shanny and the Gang cheering me on, which was really cool to see as it always is. I was able to see my cheering section every loop of the run and bike so it was real nice seeing familiar faces. I took a quick glance at the watch and thought, “hmmmm…I might just break 5-hrs, but I better push harder because biker-boy left me with a penalty.” So I pushed a little hard then walked an extra step or two in the aid station with my glass-o-Gator. That worked pretty well and I think my 2nd loop was faster than the first. In all essence, the 2nd loop is almost a blur other than seeing everyone I knew doing the race. Seeing them means no bike crashes to me and it’s now just a matter of their will to get home. Did I mention I love this sport???
The crowds are thickening again for the remainder of the loop and the people were very cool. Lots of cheering, lots of personal comments to me, “Good push, great pace, I think you sharted your shorts!, I KNOW you sharted your shorts” OK, I really didn’t shart my shorts, but I’m sure someone out there did!!! Wouldn’t be a tri-party otherwise!!!! J
I got across the line in 04:56. I really didn’t come here to set PRs, but PRs tend to come for me when I don’t put any great expectations on myself. I tend to loose sight as to why I race when suddenly there’s pressure to do a hobby well. I just assume do it well and half fun in the process…then drink beers!!!
What a great race weekend!!!! If anyone reading this wants more info about this race then let me know. I’ll recommend it to anyone. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend doing both races, but one or the other. As long as they keep this event at the caliber we experienced you won’t be sorry. Promise!
Train Smart,
Drew
Next Race: Muncie Endurathon (Half Iron), July 17th, 2004