Race Result

Racer:	Keith Bohnenberger
Race:	Odyssey Half Iron Triathlon
Date:	Saturday, September 8, 2007
Location:	Lake Anna State Park, VA
Race Type:	Triathlon - Half Ironman
Age Group:	Male 40 - 44
Time:	6:41:54
Overall Place:	64 / 99
Age Group Place:	7 / 8
Comment:	My first 1/2 ironman

Race Report:

Swim: 48:14.20
T1: 03:31.25
Bike: 3:15:20.65
T2: 04:09.25
Run: 2:30:38.85

The good:
The race was very well run, the volunteers were awesome and the course was nice.
I thought I did well with nutrition.
I learned a lot.
I finished.

The not so bad:
My swim was slow but I survived my first race swim with no wetsuit.
The bike leg went about as planned.

The bad:
The lake was 86 degrees.
95 South is just never good.
The second half of the run.
The air conditioner in my car doesn't work.

The ugly:
My room at the Lake Anna Lodge smelled like the combination of a sweaty trucker, cat urine and smoke.
I'm really bad at trying to go number one while riding a bike.

The long story:

I've been trying to work my way up to the 1/2 ironman distance for the last 2 or three years. I didn't want to sign up for a 1/2 ironman until I felt that I was trained well enough to run the whole 1/2 marathon. Unfortunately I've been battling through various foot injuries over the last couple year and just can't seem to get my run training solid enough to meet that requirement. I ran out of patience and lowered my requirement. I just want to finish. I had Achilles problems this year and had to take 8 weeks off from running. I started running again about 14 weeks before the race date. I only ran twice a week and I increased from 1 mile up to about 10 miles for my long run. My short run maxed out at about 6 miles. I knew I didn't have the run miles in me to run the whole 1/2 marathon so I knew I was going to be walking a decent amount. I just wasn't sure how much.

I took off from work on Friday, took the kids to school, ran some errands, I could see the threads on my bike tires so I changed those and packed up the car. I picked Kooper up at the bus stop, ate lunch with him and then headed down to Lake Anna. The trip wasn't too bad but 95 south is never good. I arrived at the lake around 3:45 and picked up my packet. The race director and the volunteers informed me that the lake temperature was 86 degrees and wetsuits would not be allowed. Hmmm, my first race swim without a wetsuit.
I took the list of hotels to the Lake Anna office and asked them which place was closest. They circled the Lake Anna Lodge. I drove down the road and I got a room. I asked for a non-smoking room and the guy behind the desk said that he had a room that was mostly non-smoking. Mostly non-smoking, how funny is that. I decided to check in anyway because I didn't want to stay in Fredricksburg 30 minutes away. My room didn't smell nice but what the heck. I can handle it for one night. I had some time so I decided to drive the bike course. It was a little hilly but no hard hills. I was a little concerned about the traffic on the roads. After checking out the bike course I stopped at the convenience store because I forgot my tooth brush and tooth paste. They were selling pig ear dog treats at the check out counter. You don't see that too often in Northern Virginia. I bought a tooth brush, some tooth paste and some room deodorizer. I ate a "Hubbas" next to the convenience store. It was pretty good. After dinner, I went back to the lake and watched the sunset. I left the lake and went back to my stinky room.

I got up around 4:45 and ate some fig newtons, drank some power aid and got everything packed back up. I made it back to the lake around 6:00, got my timing chip and set up my transition area. I chatted with Stacy a bit. She was relaxed and confident. She assured me that I would finish. I wasn't as sure. There were only two swim waves, I was in the first. The race director warned us that there was a shallow part not far off the beach. Sure enough we all hit it and had to walk for a bit. It was annoying but short lived. After that, I settled into my swim stroke and tried to relax and not stress about swimming without my wetsuit. My throat gets really dry when I swim. After a while I started gagging but calmed myself down and tried to relax. I had an ok swim until the last 1/4 of the swim. We came back towards the beach right into the rising sun. I couldn't see a thing. At one point I was all alone and actually stopped to look back to make sure there were still some swimmers around me. After a bit some faster swimmers from the second wave passed me and I tried my best to follow them in. I need to get some tinted goggles. 48 minutes. Man I need to learn how to swim faster.

T1 was pretty uneventful. I took my time, put some suntan lotion on and got out of there.

The bike course starts with an immediate short climb out of the lake area. Several bikers were in a high gear and were grinding their gears trying to get up the hill. Fortunately I was in a low gear and didn't have any problems making the climb up away from the lake. My bike plan was pretty simple: Work hard but don't kill myself; eat a hammer gel every 20 minutes and drink lots of water. The ride went pretty much according to plan. Stacy passed me shortly into the bike ride and we chatted for a bit. The bike course is two out and back loops so I saw Stacy a couple of times. She looked strong. The ride out to the turn around point was pretty nice but the way back was a bit harder. I really had to pee and wasn't too good at it. I had to pee two more times on the bike and didn't get any better. I think I'll just stop next time. On my second loop I came up to a stop sign where we had to make a 90 degree right turn. The volunteer said, "tractor trailer" and I slowed down. The tractor trailing came storming down the road. You really need to pay attention at the stop signs on this course. The last 10 miles were a bit more of a struggle but I just slowed down and tried not to push it to hard.

T2. I knew the interesting part was about to begin. I took my time, put some sun tan lotion on and made my way out onto the run course.

My plan for the run was to walk all the hills and the aid stations and run until I couldn't run anymore. I felt ok at the beginning of the run. I could feel that my hamstrings were tight but I was able to run pretty comfortably. I walked the hills and all the aid stations. They had Heed and water at each of the aid stations. I dumped water on my head at every aid station to try to cool down but it was getting hot. The volunteers were a lot of fun. It was starting to get hot and the shade was starting to disappear but at one of the aid stations the volunteers had a hose and hosed us down. It felt great. I felt ok through the first loop but my hamstrings started getting really tight. I started walking more but my hamstrings didn't loosen up. I got to the point where I would stretch and run for about 100 yards before I had to stretch again. This lasted for a few miles. A little after mile 10 I just couldn't run anymore. I tried a couple more times before finally pulled the plug and walked the rest of the way. I think I stayed well hydrated. I had to pee two more times on the run. Going into the race I knew I was going to have to walk. I just didn't realize that once your body starts breaking down, walking is no picnic. It was hot and once I started walking the entire time it took a long time to get to each aid station. I finally made it back towards the lake and the finish line. Stacy was there cheering me on which was nice. She certainly looked like she could have done the course again. She's ready for Kona!

I felt pretty rough after the race. I got some food and tried to find some shade to cool down. They had pulled chicken bar-b-q which was really good. I took some stuff to my car, got a change of clothes and took a long cold shower. It felt great. I was finally starting to cool down a bit. I chatted with Brad Kirley, a long time Rat who I came to find out moved from Reston down to Lake Anna. Once I got the energy to pack up the rest of my stuff I decided to head home. The air condition in my car is broken. I didn't look forward to the ride home. I stopped at the convenience store for a bag of ice, filled up my ice bags and iced my hamstrings on the way home. The ride was hot but it went by pretty fast.

I would definitely recommend this race. It's a nice low key race and it was really well run. The race director was really nice and all the volunteers were awesome. The course was nice (just be careful at the stop signs).

I'm still a little disappointed that I couldn't get my run training to the point where I could run the entire 1/2 marathon but it gives me motivation to tackle another 1/2 ironman next year. I'm pretty sure I have a sub 6:00 1/2 in me, maybe even a sub 5:30. We'll see.