BEST. DAY. EVER! Okayyyyyy maybe thats an over-estimate but it was an incredible day! For those of you that want the cliff notes version:
How was the race- awesome
Favorite portion- swim
Will I do another one?- YOU BETCHA!
Now for the long version. As Katelyn mentioned in her post we weren't exactly too thrilled about this race, in fact it was more dread than anything. When we arrived to the race check-in on friday we looked like newbies! Here we are in our yoga clothes and everyone and their spectators were in tri suits... didn't know that was the dress code for check in day (mental note, wear tri suit to check in) The triathletes were so in shape, amazing calves, long, lean and ready to go. We were turning in circles just trying to orient ourselves to the race course. We attended the athlete debriefing meeting put on by the race director. In the meeting he asked raise your hand if this is your first 70.3, we raised our hands, then he said raise your hand if this is your first triathlon ever..... both of our hands shot up. Yeah, we were the only ones with our hands raised, and some other athletes even looked at us with pity. Go big or go home right?! After we checked in, bought some cool clothes, and got my biked tuned up we headed to our hotel and got some dinner. It was bed time! I'll breeze through saturday- basically eating and sleeping with a return to the course to check Ryan in. Early bed time because sunday was going to be a early wake up call, 3:30 AM to be exact. Now lets get to the fun stuff!
RACE DAY
3:30 came way too quickly. When I got up I was still not to thrilled about this whole 70.3 miles in one day deal, but too late now. Breakfast consisted of some warmed up frozen waffles with PB Qi'a cereal and bananas with a coffee on the side. Shoved that down and started to get ready. Tri suit on, got packed up and we were out the door. The minute I got into the car the nerves hit me, it was go time! I forgot how nervous I get before big competitions, the feeling felt good (at least it wasn't dread anymore). We finally arrived to the course and by this time I was excited and ready to get the race underway. We had about a mile walk to the course which gave us plenty of time to warm up our legs. Checked in our run gear at T2, and then headed down with our bikes to T1 and the swim start. T1 was way more complicated than T2, but we found our spot and unpacked our stuff for the bike, slathered on body glide and forced down a bonk breaker bar (the coconut cashew flavor was really tasty) and it was time. Some light warm up stretches, a very satisfying poop (yes I am very open about my bowel habits, but ask any athlete, bowel habits are an every day locker room discussion) and I was ready to go! We lined up in our wave, and were escorted down the water entry ramp and swam 25 yds. to the swim start
SWIM:
I haven't swam in a competition since my collegiate career and I was unsure if my competitive drive in the water would kick in or not. Don't worry about .00466 seconds into the swim my old habits were back and I was in full competition mode. My one goal was to be the first out of the water for our age group, and so the second the gun went off I was sprinting, kicking and cruising through the water (I didn't plan on kicking the entire race to save my legs but the excitement of the swim caught me off guard and that plan fell through). I love to race and I love to push myself, this was just the beginning of it. In open water swimming there are two types of swimmers, the sharks or the minnows.... needless to say I am a shark. I will run completely over you, push you out of my way, or pull on your feet to get ahead of you or around you. It might not sound nice or friendly but this competition is not for the faint of heart (mind you I am usually incredibly friendly and nice to a fault, but don't mess with me when my game face is on). The swim felt wonderful, stroke after stroke, I quickly remembered why I loved swimming so much, it is this deep feeing within me that is so at peace when swimming and that feeling surfaced on sunday. One thing I would have to say is that I am awful at spotting, I think having crystal clear water and lane lines in the pool really took that ability from me. I was all over the place on the course. One second I was on the outside in calm water and I would re-route at a 45 degree angle and be at the bouy, I probably swam more than 1.2 miles because of all the criss crossing I did, but now I know what I need to work on for next time :). On the last 400 m or so there was one lone range from our wave that was keeping up with me, I kept seeing her yellow cap bobbing in the water and I would crank the engine a little bit more because I was not going to let her beat me!
Total1.2 mi 00:28:46.
1:29/100m
Division rank 1
Gender rank 15
Overall rank 66
T1:
Nothing too exciting here, through on my helmet and sunglasses, dried off, choked down a gu salted carmel, and was off. I was pretty slow and Next time I can improve on my transition times
swim to bike: 2:54
BIKE:
And we're off! The first part of the bike felt amazing, the swim really warmed up my legs and I felt great leaving the park. K and I had read other blogs about how hilly this course was, but truly it wasn't as awful as everyone made it sound. There were amazing flat stretches where you could put the pedal to the metal and just grind out some good miles. The course was fast, and the roads were in excellent conditions. The first 30 miles flew by, there were a few arduous uphills, but it was still before the point where your legs start to fatigue and they were manageable. I was worried that I would get bored without having music to listen to, but I found myself completely enraptured with the race that it wasn't a big deal. I would cheer on others, and admire the sweet tri bikes that would pass by me or that I would pass (hip hip hooray!). Some of the bikes were super neat (my first big purchase after graduation is going to be a tri bike). I ate some honey stingers at mile 20 and drank my water and nuun through out. I grabbed the Ironman perform at one of the aid stations and chugged that down so I could throw the water bottle at the trash line. That stuff was delicious, not sure if I was thirsty or what but it tasted incredible. Around mile 33 was when the novelty of the biking wore off and my legs started to get a little fatigued. Mile 34-37 was a long steady climb and it was strenuous, the miles seemed to take forever at this point. But with every up hill there is a down hill. 37-40 felt incredible it was a nice long coast and a quick recovery for the legs. I ate my shot blocks at mile 40, I needed some more energy to get me through the last portion. OK HERE IT WAS THE DREADED HILL AT MILE 50.... woof! This hill was the mother of all hills, it was long and challenging, I had to ride in my granny gear but thats ok I made it and we were almost done. A nice easy ride into the park and it was run time. Overall I needed more nutrition and simply more training, but all in all it wasn't too bad!
BIKE 2:57:57 18.9 MPH
T2:
hop off the bike, switch out socks and cleats for running shoes and visor, try to manage my hair into a dreadful ponytail and go time again.
T2- 3:32
RUN:
Hang in there with me I'm almost done I promise! The run went well. My splits were all over the place but at this point in the race as long as I kept running I was happy. My first three miles felt incredible, for some reason my legs did not feel like jello and I was holding 8:20's per mile. Unfortunately that noodle feeling set in and the running became much more challenging after that. However it wasn't awful, yes it was hard don't get me wrong, but it was a good pain, a "you can do this Courtney type of pain". So onward I went. I stopped at every water station and threw a cup of water over my head and put ice chips in my bra because I overheat very quickly and this was one way to keep my core body temp down. The only problem with this method was that my shoes were soaked from the all the water by mile 4 so it was a squishy run (any advise would be greatly appreciated). One of the coolest things on the run was a former U of M teammate (a head coach of a Lawrence Ks swim team) was there running the air station at mile 5 and 10. When I came through all the kids cheered extra loud and that was everything I needed right at that moment to keep going (Thanks Katie). The rest of the run went like this, I got passed by a guy wearing khaki cargo shorts and a hawaiian t-shirt, I sloshed alot more water on me, and I had the song "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast stuck in my head for 12 of the 13.1 miles. Not sure where that came from but I went with it, french accent and all. Running through the finisher chute was such an incredible feeling. Everyone was cheering and the announcer said " From Bolivar MO here comes COURTNEY VEERMAN!!! you are now a half ironman!" All the training, the exhaustion, dread, uncertainty was worth it just to hear that!
RUN 2:03.03 9:23/mile
OVERALL :
5:36.12
Division rank: 12
Gender rank: 78
Overall rank: 433
It was an incredible adventure. Thank you so much for the love and support. Without you none of this would have been possible! Until next time
CLEAR EYES FULL HEARTS CANT LOSE
COURT
How was the race- awesome
Favorite portion- swim
Will I do another one?- YOU BETCHA!
Now for the long version. As Katelyn mentioned in her post we weren't exactly too thrilled about this race, in fact it was more dread than anything. When we arrived to the race check-in on friday we looked like newbies! Here we are in our yoga clothes and everyone and their spectators were in tri suits... didn't know that was the dress code for check in day (mental note, wear tri suit to check in) The triathletes were so in shape, amazing calves, long, lean and ready to go. We were turning in circles just trying to orient ourselves to the race course. We attended the athlete debriefing meeting put on by the race director. In the meeting he asked raise your hand if this is your first 70.3, we raised our hands, then he said raise your hand if this is your first triathlon ever..... both of our hands shot up. Yeah, we were the only ones with our hands raised, and some other athletes even looked at us with pity. Go big or go home right?! After we checked in, bought some cool clothes, and got my biked tuned up we headed to our hotel and got some dinner. It was bed time! I'll breeze through saturday- basically eating and sleeping with a return to the course to check Ryan in. Early bed time because sunday was going to be a early wake up call, 3:30 AM to be exact. Now lets get to the fun stuff!
RACE DAY
3:30 came way too quickly. When I got up I was still not to thrilled about this whole 70.3 miles in one day deal, but too late now. Breakfast consisted of some warmed up frozen waffles with PB Qi'a cereal and bananas with a coffee on the side. Shoved that down and started to get ready. Tri suit on, got packed up and we were out the door. The minute I got into the car the nerves hit me, it was go time! I forgot how nervous I get before big competitions, the feeling felt good (at least it wasn't dread anymore). We finally arrived to the course and by this time I was excited and ready to get the race underway. We had about a mile walk to the course which gave us plenty of time to warm up our legs. Checked in our run gear at T2, and then headed down with our bikes to T1 and the swim start. T1 was way more complicated than T2, but we found our spot and unpacked our stuff for the bike, slathered on body glide and forced down a bonk breaker bar (the coconut cashew flavor was really tasty) and it was time. Some light warm up stretches, a very satisfying poop (yes I am very open about my bowel habits, but ask any athlete, bowel habits are an every day locker room discussion) and I was ready to go! We lined up in our wave, and were escorted down the water entry ramp and swam 25 yds. to the swim start
SWIM:
I haven't swam in a competition since my collegiate career and I was unsure if my competitive drive in the water would kick in or not. Don't worry about .00466 seconds into the swim my old habits were back and I was in full competition mode. My one goal was to be the first out of the water for our age group, and so the second the gun went off I was sprinting, kicking and cruising through the water (I didn't plan on kicking the entire race to save my legs but the excitement of the swim caught me off guard and that plan fell through). I love to race and I love to push myself, this was just the beginning of it. In open water swimming there are two types of swimmers, the sharks or the minnows.... needless to say I am a shark. I will run completely over you, push you out of my way, or pull on your feet to get ahead of you or around you. It might not sound nice or friendly but this competition is not for the faint of heart (mind you I am usually incredibly friendly and nice to a fault, but don't mess with me when my game face is on). The swim felt wonderful, stroke after stroke, I quickly remembered why I loved swimming so much, it is this deep feeing within me that is so at peace when swimming and that feeling surfaced on sunday. One thing I would have to say is that I am awful at spotting, I think having crystal clear water and lane lines in the pool really took that ability from me. I was all over the place on the course. One second I was on the outside in calm water and I would re-route at a 45 degree angle and be at the bouy, I probably swam more than 1.2 miles because of all the criss crossing I did, but now I know what I need to work on for next time :). On the last 400 m or so there was one lone range from our wave that was keeping up with me, I kept seeing her yellow cap bobbing in the water and I would crank the engine a little bit more because I was not going to let her beat me!
Total1.2 mi 00:28:46.
1:29/100m
Division rank 1
Gender rank 15
Overall rank 66
T1:
Nothing too exciting here, through on my helmet and sunglasses, dried off, choked down a gu salted carmel, and was off. I was pretty slow and Next time I can improve on my transition times
swim to bike: 2:54
BIKE:
And we're off! The first part of the bike felt amazing, the swim really warmed up my legs and I felt great leaving the park. K and I had read other blogs about how hilly this course was, but truly it wasn't as awful as everyone made it sound. There were amazing flat stretches where you could put the pedal to the metal and just grind out some good miles. The course was fast, and the roads were in excellent conditions. The first 30 miles flew by, there were a few arduous uphills, but it was still before the point where your legs start to fatigue and they were manageable. I was worried that I would get bored without having music to listen to, but I found myself completely enraptured with the race that it wasn't a big deal. I would cheer on others, and admire the sweet tri bikes that would pass by me or that I would pass (hip hip hooray!). Some of the bikes were super neat (my first big purchase after graduation is going to be a tri bike). I ate some honey stingers at mile 20 and drank my water and nuun through out. I grabbed the Ironman perform at one of the aid stations and chugged that down so I could throw the water bottle at the trash line. That stuff was delicious, not sure if I was thirsty or what but it tasted incredible. Around mile 33 was when the novelty of the biking wore off and my legs started to get a little fatigued. Mile 34-37 was a long steady climb and it was strenuous, the miles seemed to take forever at this point. But with every up hill there is a down hill. 37-40 felt incredible it was a nice long coast and a quick recovery for the legs. I ate my shot blocks at mile 40, I needed some more energy to get me through the last portion. OK HERE IT WAS THE DREADED HILL AT MILE 50.... woof! This hill was the mother of all hills, it was long and challenging, I had to ride in my granny gear but thats ok I made it and we were almost done. A nice easy ride into the park and it was run time. Overall I needed more nutrition and simply more training, but all in all it wasn't too bad!
BIKE 2:57:57 18.9 MPH
T2:
hop off the bike, switch out socks and cleats for running shoes and visor, try to manage my hair into a dreadful ponytail and go time again.
T2- 3:32
RUN:
Hang in there with me I'm almost done I promise! The run went well. My splits were all over the place but at this point in the race as long as I kept running I was happy. My first three miles felt incredible, for some reason my legs did not feel like jello and I was holding 8:20's per mile. Unfortunately that noodle feeling set in and the running became much more challenging after that. However it wasn't awful, yes it was hard don't get me wrong, but it was a good pain, a "you can do this Courtney type of pain". So onward I went. I stopped at every water station and threw a cup of water over my head and put ice chips in my bra because I overheat very quickly and this was one way to keep my core body temp down. The only problem with this method was that my shoes were soaked from the all the water by mile 4 so it was a squishy run (any advise would be greatly appreciated). One of the coolest things on the run was a former U of M teammate (a head coach of a Lawrence Ks swim team) was there running the air station at mile 5 and 10. When I came through all the kids cheered extra loud and that was everything I needed right at that moment to keep going (Thanks Katie). The rest of the run went like this, I got passed by a guy wearing khaki cargo shorts and a hawaiian t-shirt, I sloshed alot more water on me, and I had the song "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast stuck in my head for 12 of the 13.1 miles. Not sure where that came from but I went with it, french accent and all. Running through the finisher chute was such an incredible feeling. Everyone was cheering and the announcer said " From Bolivar MO here comes COURTNEY VEERMAN!!! you are now a half ironman!" All the training, the exhaustion, dread, uncertainty was worth it just to hear that!
RUN 2:03.03 9:23/mile
OVERALL :
5:36.12
Division rank: 12
Gender rank: 78
Overall rank: 433
It was an incredible adventure. Thank you so much for the love and support. Without you none of this would have been possible! Until next time
CLEAR EYES FULL HEARTS CANT LOSE
COURT