YAY! I completed my first half ironman :). It was a bit of a mess the race but I managed to complete it within 7 hours, 6.33:58 to be exact.
Afterwards I did feel like I should have pushed myself harder on the running part of the race. I'm glad I finished without any injuries or incidents, well major ones. I can't help feeling I good do better, well there is always next race :).
So what's the mess part of the story. Well to start from the beginning, I had prepared all my bags the night before. In hopes that when I woke up at 05:00 I'd just have to put on the tattoo and get myself mentally ready.
Driving to the transit area was somewhat stressful since the normal route that I knew was blocked of due to the race. Not to worry with the aid of my lovely wife we managed to find an alternate route.
First minor obstacle cleared, once at the transit I checked in my stuff aligned everything and then headed back to my wife. I wanted to know where she would be when I came out of the water. A great supporter does wonders to your spirit :).
After she wished me luck I went to the starting line to get myself mentally ready. I was going through the motions in my head, swimming coming out of the water running to transit area and putting on my cycling shoes. That’s when it hit me my cycling shoes where are they??? I panicked!
I looked at the time and realised that the transit area was going to close in 10 minutes. I ran back to my wife hoping I had forgotten them in the bag but such was not my luck. Quickly I tried to recall where I could have put them and then I remembered that I had them in the car in a separate place. I ran back to the car all barefoot rushing against the flow of triathletes heading for the starting line.
I reached the car and they weren’t there, my heart was pounding like crazy now. Trying to find my calm and think, think where could they be. Then it hit me under the chair, I put them there so they wouldn’t fly around. I checked and there they were, checking the time I had 1 minute left before closing.
I ran with all my strength to the transit area, speaking my broken malay to get through the race officials. Luckily they let me through and I could finally feel at ease again. Now I just have to get ready for a 70.3 mile long race.
On this race we had a running start, it means that we start on land and then "run" into the water. It was more walking into the water than running. It was hard to get a good flow in the water, I was always bumping into someone and I even had to swim over a few people. Though during the swim my luck struck again, my timing chip fell off. I didn't let myself worry too much about it. Thinking I could resolve it during T1.
I came out of the swimming after 44:49, I'm quite happy with that time. It then felt like it took forever for me to get my new chip and change to my bike gear. It actually just took 05:19.
The cycling part went really good, I was glad that I managed to stay in a good aero position throughout the whole leg. The hilly roads were heavier than I expected. I'm not sure what I could have done different. All I can think of is pedal harder ;). Oh the one thing I need to check is my saddle, something felt off with it. I'll have to check that when I get back to Sweden.
Towards the end of my cycling I started to feel cramps but with some food and drinks I managed to work it thorugh. In the end I still managed to get an ok time 02:54:46 averaging 30 km/h.
Coming out of the T2 my legs felt tired and I could feel the cramps coming back luckily it only lasted until the first aid station. After that it was mostly my mental fitness that wasn't ready for the heat and how exhausted my body felt. I regret not pushing myself harder it took way to long for me to complete the running part of the race, coming at 02:45:48 with an average pace of 07:51/km.
My total time 06:33:58 it is an ok time for a first time and considering my physical condition in February.
I know now that I can do much better, I hope to improve my running with at least 20 minutes. I'll see if I do this course again next year. For now I'll just have to focus on my training :)
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