HALF IRONMAN JUST THREE WEEKS AFTER A FULL IRONMAN

I wasn’t worried about my fitness going into Ironman Hawai’i 70.3 (Honu) after winning my age group at Ironman Santa Rosa three weeks earlier. I was more concerned about how my body would respond to the difficult Honu race in the heat so soon after a fast Ironman effort.

HOW TO REST AND RELAX

My plan was to mainly rest and only train as much as I felt inspired to do for the first week after Ironman Santa Rosa. We stayed in the Wine Country visiting friends until Tuesday the week after the race on Saturday. I swam on Thursday and went for about a two-hour easy ride on Saturday, one week after Ironman. My husband came down with a cold the day after Ironman Santa Rosa (tough day as a spectator), and it hit me the following Sunday. This forced me into four additional rest days; Maybe a blessing in disguise. The remaining week and a half before the race, most workouts were easy efforts with three high intensity training sessions sprinkled in (one in each discipline.)

This year was my tenth year in a row racing Honu and the first time as a Hawai’i resident, staying at my new home in Kona and not right at the race venue, 35 miles north. This year was also the 15^th anniversary of the Honu race and is the 40^th anniversary of Ironman. To celebrate these anniversaries Ironman was offering 24 general slots to the Ironman World Championships (one per each age group) and additional 24 slots for Hawai’i residents. The Hawai’i resident slot would go to the top Hawai’i resident in each age group. Fortunately, I had earned a World Championship slot by winning my age group at Ironman Santa Rosa so the pressure to qualify was off. I still wanted to do well, but the race plan was to keep it simple, do what I know how; steady, strong and smile.

RACE DAY

I had to get up an hour earlier than normal to make the 50-minute drive from Kona. I had my usual 700 calorie breakfast, but I ate half of it while driving. Honu is a point-to-point race and there isn’t much parking at the swim start so I parked in the event lot near the Fairmont Orchid Hotel where the finish line would be. They had efficient shuttle service from there to the swim start at Hapuna Beach. I had enough time to casually get my bike stuff ready, head down to the beach and do a bit of socializing before the race started and then still more time until my age group wave start.

THE SWIM

If not the most beautiful, it has to be one of the most beautiful half Ironman swims. The water is warm, clear and usually calm for an ocean swim. The age group, gender separated, rolling start makes for a very civilized swim experience. I managed to swim a decently straight line from buoy to buoy and swam the 1.2 miles in 37 minutes. Pretty much the same as Oceanside in April but without the advantage of a wet-suit.

I jogged through the sand, ran up the hill, ran into transition and on up to my bike. I saw Ellen Hart, long time top ranked female in my age group, (who was my predicted winner of my age group) already at her bike and she left transition a few minutes before me. I was soon out on the bike and heading to the first turnaround.

THE BIKE

I’m riding along finding my groove and I see GO BADASS BRENDA written in large letters in chalk on the road. That’s me, I thought excitedly; that’s the nickname given to me by some of my Dixie Devil teammates. The next message was something like: BADASS BRENDA we love TEAM FUN. Those messages warmed my heart and put a big smile on my face. Such a nice gesture from my friends Carla and Martha.

The biggest factor on this bike course is the wind. It didn’t start out super windy, but when we started the climb up toward Hawi there was a very significant headwind. Lots of miles going at a slow speed in light of the effort being put out. The tailwind on the way back is loads of fun, but never makes up for the time lost in the headwind. With more headwinds and less cross winds than normal, it was a less tense experience albeit slower. I finished the 56-mile bike in three hours and nine minutes. I ate about 200 calories per hour and drank two 24-ounce bottles of water and Nuun electrolytes per hour (one each.) I felt like I was going into the run well hydrated.

THE RUN

RESPONDING TO CHEERS FROM MARTHA

Off the bike and out onto the run in less than four minutes. My legs were feeling pretty good, but I cautioned myself not to get too excited and carried away. This is a brutal run; Its hot, humid, almost no shade and about half of it is on squishy golf course grass that doesn’t give anything to push off from.

My plan was to keep running as much as I could, slowing down enough at the aid stations to get ice in my hat and in my water bottle. I managed to get through the first four miles fairly easily before the heat started to add up and my pace started to slow by about 30 seconds per mile. I figured though that I was still running better than I have before on this course. There is an out-and-back section we lovingly refer to as “the pit” where I saw a few of my friends (who started later) and competitors who were behind me.

I got through the first lap feeling relatively good. When I got back to the pit, I saw that my friend Carla was gaining on me and I shouted words of encouragement. Then with less than two miles to the finish, I was passed by the woman who I had predicted would be my competition for second place. I decided to see how long I could hang with her. She was obviously running faster than I was, given that she had come from behind. I got right behind her right shoulder and drafted off of her for the next mile. I thought “now this is racing!” We came to a small hill and she pulled away. After the hill I could see she had slowed for an aid station and I thought I could catch her with only a half mile to the finish, so I started to pick up the pace again. Then BAM next thing I know I’m flat on my face. Was it a leg cramp; did I trip over my own feet? I have no idea what happened but it hurt when I hit the concrete and lava rocks. A few people stopped and helped me up. There was a medical staff van right there and they started to come to help, but I waved them off saying I only have a half mile to go. My shorts were ripped, leg, arm, hand and face bleeding slightly but I could go to the medical tent once I finished.

After I fell and got through the aid station, asking all the volunteers if my face was bleeding, my friend Carla finally caught up with me. I sort of lamely said, I just fell down. She started to slow to run with me but I encouraged her to go ahead. I always give her a hard time about not being focused on the finish line and I didn’t want her to regret minutes lost that could have jeopardized her placement. 

WITH CARLA AFTER THAT REFRESHING SHOWER 
(photo credit Martha Ehrenfeld)

About five minutes later, I crossed the finish line and after a cold and fresh beach shower made my way to the medical tent and had my booboos attended to.

I managed to hang onto third place, being 1 minute and 25 seconds behind second place!

SHOWING OFF MY BANDAGES

REFLECTIONS

Doing this race three weeks after an Ironman win and setting an Ironman personal record was not bad. I don’t think I could have done much better if I hadn’t done an Ironman three weeks prior. I had my best swim and best run of the ten years doing this race. The bike times are always wind dependent so they are difficult to compare year-to-year. Given this experience, I wouldn't hesitate to do a half Ironman three weeks after a full Ironman, even as an older athlete.

I love this race venue, the chill vibe, the post-race entertainment, food and camaraderie. I’m glad I didn’t miss out on the fun this year and I’ll be back.

The women in this 60-64 age group are awesome!

SOCIALIZING WHEN WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE POSING FOR PICS
(photo credit Carla McKay)

OK, NOW THEY GOT US TO COOPERATEEllen Hart, Cary Craig, me, Michele Sorensen and Glee Jewell
(photo credit Carla McKay)

FASTEST IRONMAN AND A KONA QUALIFICATION AS I'M TURNING 60

RACE BUILD-UP

In the summer of 2017 I signed up for Ironman Santa Rosa for May of 2018. I signed up because living in  San Francisco I had already trained on the course and could train some more on the course. This would be Ironman number eight. Little did I know then that I would be moving to Hawaii and only have a few more opportunities to train on the course. Its been a hectic first half of 2018 with buying a house, doing a pre-planned trip to Europe, getting sick twice, getting partially moved and living like a camper in both places.

I went into Oceanside 70.3 (a half ironman race) in April not having a lot of confidence in my fitness. I had a disappointing lactate threshold test in late February which showed my fitness was not where it had been in 2017, although my run speed had been improving. I attribute the run improvement to losing some weight and becoming leaner. Much to my surprise and delight, I ended up having a good race in Oceanside and came in second in my age group.

I did a follow-up lactate test two weeks before Ironman Santa Rosa. Since February, I had been doing a lot of aerobic training (zone 2) and my fitness and lactate threshold had improved in that time. It was almost back to 2017 levels. I went into Ironman Santa Rosa feeling like I could have a good race. I had also signed up for Ironman Switzerland, so Santa Rosa was supposed to be the warm up race. About a month before the Santa Rosa race, I deferred the Switzerland race till next year because it was going to be too much to travel to Switzerland in 2018 with the move to Hawaii in the same year. My goal this year had been to qualify at Ironman Switzerland for the Ironman World Championships, which will be held in October in Kailua-Kona. I previously qualified at Ironman Lake Tahoe and raced in Kona in 2014.

RACE MORNING

PLENTY OF TIME BEFORE THE SWIM START WITH
LEISHIA AND LESLIE

I got up at 3:30 am and ate a 650-calorie breakfast and boarded the shuttle to Lake Sonoma at around 4:30 am. That gave me plenty of time to put my bottles and food on my bike, pump my tires, put on my wetsuit, and have a bathroom stop before I lined up for the swim start. My Ironman swims have been between 1:11 and 1:20 so I lined up near the front of the 1:10 to 1:20 predicted time sign/corral. 

EXCITED TO GET  MY RACE GOING.

                                     SWIM

COME ON BUDDY, GET MOVING!! SOME OF US ARE RACING!

I swam the first lap not easy, but not hard and finished it in 37 minutes, the same swim time I had for the half ironman in Oceanside. We had to get out of the water between laps and cross a timing map. I was trying to run through that little section but the people in front of me were strolling. 

FINALLY BACK IN THE WATER.

The second lap, I concentrated on faster arm turn over and stronger kicking until the last section where I concentrated on stretching it out and pulling with my lats. It was a pretty un-eventful swim and my time was 1:16. 

TRANSITION 1

DETERMINED

There is a long steep boat ramp to go up to the transition area from the swim exit. They did have about a three feet wide carpet which ran all the way up, with wetsuit strippers positioned about 2/3rds of the way up. I ran, passing a few walkers, had my wetsuit stripped off and continued to run to the transition tent. 

I caught my breath putting on my helmet and socks. Since I my bike was at the far end of transition from the transition tent, I carried my shoes while I ran to my bike and put them on at my bike. 

RUNNING TO MY BIKE

Then it was just a short run to the bike mount line. My transition time was 7:54 which was a huge improvement from last year’s Santa Rosa 70.3 (half ironman) time of 11:25. The carpet was a huge improvement over running barefoot on the old asphalt.

BIKE

As I was mounting my bike, my husband told me I was in third place after the swim. It was nice to have the tracker working and that he had cell reception at the lake. 

I was quite familiar with the bike course having ridden on every part of it many times over the years. They had done a really good job of marking the rough road sections (potholes etc.) with bright orange tape. It was a bit crowded for the first half of the first loop and that created some frustration as many people were riding to the left instead of the right, working hard to pass and then coasting once they got in front of me. I yelled at a few people who were not following the non-drafting rules and some guys who got in front of me and then started to coast. I did not want to get a penalty on the bike. It got much less congested for the second loop and at times I had to remind myself I was racing and not just out on a ride in the wine country. I did notice passing one woman in my age group so I knew I had moved up from third to second place.

At 80 miles the wind was picking up significantly with head winds and strong side gusts. I was ready for the bike portion to be over then with 32 miles to go. I could tell my feet were swelling in my shoes as the ball of my foot started to burn. I had toe-warmers on and couldn’t get to the top buckles to loosen my shoes. I got off the bike with a time of 5:59:40. My prediction had been 6 hours so that was darn close.

TRANSITION 2

I got out of my shoes and started pedaling with my feet on top of them with about one block to go on the bike, and left my shoes clipped into my pedals when I dismounted. I ran to the changing tent in my socks. My socks picked up a few rocks so I took the time to change my socks. When I dumped my transition bag out on the floor the volunteer remarked “Wow, a minimalist. I love it.” I find that its better not to have choices in my transition bags. Socks, shoes, a small towel or washcloth to wipe anything off that needs wiping, a race number belt with my food in the pouch, a visor and I’m good to go. My transition time was 4:27.

RUN

LOOKING FOR DENNIS

This was a three-loop run, mostly flat with some of it being on a wide dirt and gravel trail. This is the first time in an Ironman when I have effectively carried out my run strategy. The first loop was on feel, not easy but not hard and not worrying about pace. The second loop try to hold my goal pace. The third loop just run and how fast I’d run would depend on how bad I wanted to be on my goal pace. And as it turned out; how badly I wanted to maintain first place.

In the first mile, my husband and another friend both told me I was in the lead. I’ve been in the lead off the bike in many races and always managed to allow myself to be passed. On the second loop the same friend told me I was still in the lead by four minutes. Near the end of that loop I was told by another friend I was ahead by nine minutes. I had been able to maintain my goal pace and now it was my race to win or lose. 

FOUND HIM

I stopped at special needs to get more gels out of my special needs bag and a premixed bottle of Nuun electrolytes and water. I drank about a third of it and tossed it at the next aid station. The run started to get very challenging for me at 20 miles. I had been running through the aid stations and getting water at each one. On the third loop I stopped at one aid station to get a rock out of my shoe. I walked through one where I took coke instead of water and I think I just walked through one more while eating a gel and drinking water. I was worried about someone passing me, so I didn’t let myself walk for long.

How bad did I want it? I wanted it badly. I kept running past people who were walking. The brain sees people walking and it tells you it would feel much better to walk. I’m sure this gray-haired lady passing them with the age of 60 on her calf inspired many of them to start running again. I’d start to slow down and I’d make myself pick up my cadence, or add some bounce, or think about pushing off harder with my back foot. Anything to make me pick up the pace and keep my mind from telling me to slow down. As I had negative thoughts about my running, I pushed them aside. I replaced them with things like: how lucky I am to be able to do this, how much work I put in just for this day, if I go faster it will be over faster, you don’t get to Kona by walking, how great it will be to finish in the daylight, and don’t let all that training go to waste. The last six miles is always a battle between the mind and the body.

THE FINISH

HAPPY TO CROSS THE FINISH LINE IN THE DAYLIGHT!

I crossed the finish line knowing I had run my goal pace or very close to it. I had seen one 63-year-old pass me on the run, but with a three-loop course we could have been on different loops. I was happy to have had the run I was capable of and to finish.  

Then my husband said I won my age group and I didn’t believe him. Was he sure? With the rolling start, maybe someone would come in later who had started after me and had a faster time. But Mike Reilly had even announced that I was the winner of my age group. Finish time 12:18:56.

I WON! I executed my plan! I get to race in the Ironman World Championships in my new home town in October! A two-time Kona qualifier! Wow, wow, wow. It was a hard day, but a smooth day with no major glitches. I’m still riding the Kona Qualification high. The reality of the difficulty of an Ironman in Kona hasn’t really sunk in yet.

CONGRATULATING SECOND PLACE ON HER GREAT RUN

FEMALE 60-64 PODIUM LINE UP