Black Diamond Half Ironman Race

Swim 1.2 miles,  Bike 56 miles, Run13.1 miles.  Half the distance of the full Ironman triathlon. 

Over my many years of doing triathlons I had always entertained the idea of going longer than Olympic and Sprint distances races but for whatever reason never pulled the trigger for the longer distances until this weekend.  Yesterday I competed in my first half ironman distance triathlon in Black Diamond, Washington.

I had registered for the race about 3 weeks ago just after completing Scoggins Valley Olympic triathlon.  Considering all the training I have been doing for Ironman Arizona, I knew I had the fitness level to complete the race at a pretty good pace for me.  What I didn't anticipate however was my lower back issues resurfacing the day before the race.  I believe the back pain occurred at some point during the 4 hour drive up to Washington as I was fine when I left Oregon.  I got to the park the afternoon before the race to set up for the bike transition area and felt a slight twinge/pain in my back.  I chalked it up to sitting in the car for the last 4 hours.  As I completed my packet pick up and bike transition, the pain grew stronger.  I knew instantly that this was not just a sore back but rather my ongoing back issue reoccurring at the most inapprorpriate time.  I had no other option than to deal with as best I could. 

I was staying with my friend Kelly who lives in Black Diamond.  While at his house I kept taking Advil and tried to stretch that lower portion of my back.  I applied a heat pack to it and hoped it would subside the next morning in time for the race.  No such luck.  I believe this condition may be hereditary as many members of my family have the same issue.  Again the only thing I could do is deal with it.  Race morning was upon me, I had no choice.

We woke early on Saturday did some stretching, applied more heat, popped my Advil, ate oatmeal and bannas and headed off to the lake once I found my missing car keys.

We got to Nolte State Park around 7:30am and the race was to start at 9am after our 8:45 race briefing.  I finished setting up my transition zone with my bike gear and running gear.  Around 8:15 I put on my wetsuit and headed down to the lake for a little warm up swim in the 64 degree water.  I was very comfortable in the lake warming up until a team swimmer warming up ran head on into me  in the lake.  Crash!  I asked him if he was ok and mentioned something about it being his fault and his nose has been broken before.  In fact it wasn't anyone's fault, we were warming up in cold dark water, these things happen.

The swim start would be a mass start with all the males swimming first at 9:00.  We all lined up for the count down.  After counting down the final 10 seconds the gun sounded and we were off.  What happened next was total mayhem for the next 3 or 4 minutes as I had bodies all over me in the churning water.  I kept running into and over people and then wham!  One of the many swimmers in the pack hit me square in the face and knocked my goggles off.  That hurt but it got me pissed as well.  A quick readjustment of my goggles and I kicked it out of the pack and settled into my place on the lake.  I quickly calmed down and settled in for 2 laps around the lake for 1.2 miles of swimming.  I came out of the water at  32:47 which is a good swim for me.  That placed me 49/253 in the overall standings for the swim.  Nice thing about the swim is I didn't feel the back pain.  Off to the 56 mile bike portion of the race.

I was pretty happy with my swim and there were a lot of bikes in the transition zone when I headed out.  I knew that the bike would present a real challenge for my back as I would be in the aero position for a couple of hours and the course had a few rolling hills that I would face.  I decided again to put the pain out of my mind and focus on keeping my cadence.  I wanted to have decent ride.  This bike course is fantastic.  The country setting is perfect for this race and you can really open it up out there.  As this was my first long course race, I kept reminding myself to temper the pace as I still had a half marathon to run after this.  I held back to about 80% of my full effort.  The course consisted of 2 loops and an out and back portion.  I really enjoyed myself on the bike.  I should have watched my nutrition more though as I only ate 1 chocalate GU and one kids Cliff bar along with 1 1/2 bottles of Cytomax and water.  In retrospect, that wasn't enough.  I need to force myself to take in more nutrition on future races.  I finished the bike portion of the race in 2:46:07 with and average pace of 20.23 mph placing me 69/249.  I did this by focusing on the cadence and ignoring the lower back pain which by this point has been exacerbated and elevated from bike ride.

I racked the bike after in getting back into the transition area.  I did several deep squats to try to eleviate the pain before setting off on the run.  Nothing worked.  I pulled the brim of my hat down and put one foot in front of the other for a shuffled run.  After 3 miles I couldn't take the pain any longer and began to run/walk as best I could.  There is a portion of the run that takes place on a gravel deep pitted road and that section was hell on my back.  I decided to try to run from aid station to aid station.  That's what kept me going for the most part.  Several points along the way I saw a fellow triathlete that is doing Ironman Arizona as well and Greg gave me the motivation to try to regain the focus.  I am sure he doesn't know it, but he pulled me a long at several points as I tried to catch up to him to talk.  I wouldn't be able to talk with him until the race was over.  I saw Greg at the 6.5 mile turn around a top the hill and around mile 10.  We were re-routed to the gravel pitted road for miles 10-11 and I walked a good portion of that section.  I had to remind myself not to get discouraged by the throngs of runners passing me as I continued to drop in the rankings.  One thing about triathlon is the unexpected can grab you at any time during the race to ruin your day.  You just deal with it and perservere.  I finished the 13.1 mile run in 2:32:17 which is a far cry from my best half marathon time of 1:52.  Oh well.

I finished my first half ironman triathlon in 5:58:07 which placed me 131/226 finishers and beat my expected of time of 6 hours.  In spite of my back issues, I had a great race out there today.  The course was great and the fellow athletes are not only inspiring but very supportive of one another.

After the race I signed up for a massage to try to work out the back pain.  I was presented with the option of trying accupuncture which I gladly accepted.  It's amazing what 5 needles placed in the hand did for my lower back pain.  It almost instanteously eliminated the pain.  I guess my CHI is off balance!  Seriously though the accupuncture truely worked.  I am going to look into incorprating it into my training and life.

On the drive home I had time to reflect again on how truely blessed I am in life.  I couldn't wait to get home to my wife and sons whom I love dearly and share with them my second love, the love of triathlon yet again.