Yesterday was the first Ironman Princeton 70.3. It was out of Mercer County Park in West Windsor, NJ which is a really nice and HUGE park (and also not really anywhere near Princeton). Its only about 45 minutes from my house and the bike course is on the types of roads I'm used to riding so that's why I chose it. So here is my race review....
Like many big races, you had to pick up your race packet and drop your bike off the day before. The swag was okay - a tech tee, a decent backpack-type bag and as much Red Bull as you could take. The merchandise tent was fabulous so of course I dropped way too much $$ there. Ironman sure knows how to get you to spend money!
So anyway, I got to sleep in my own bed and cook my own food the night before so I was happy to be able to do that. Got a decent night's sleep. I already had all my race gear together so I woke up about 4:45 and was out the door by 5am. Got to the race site about 5:45, hit the porta potty's first thing and then headed to the transition area. It was still really dark out so I was happy to have brought my phone in with me because I needed the light to see how much air I was putting in my tires! It got daylight around 6:30 and that's when I put my wetsuit 1/2-way on and headed to the swim start.
SWIM: You had to walk down a gravel path to the start so I brought throw-away flip flops and ended up bringing a throw-away long sleeved t-shirt but the weather was warm enough that most people just had their wetsuits on. I was pretty nervous so I stood in line for the porta potty's at least 3 more times before my wave was called (my wave's start time was 45 minutes after the official start time). The start was in-water and you had to swim out a little ways to get to it. They gave us about 5 minutes to do this. I liked it - I considered it my warm-up. I'd estimate the waves were about 50 people each so they weren't too crowded. There was the usual jostling around at the start but everyone was really very considerate. The swim was 1 loop in Mercer lake. The lake was about 70 degrees and murky so it was a bit tough to see but I like the swim course a lot. I ended up catching a lot of people from the wave before me so there was more jostling around but again, everyone was just trying to swim their own race so it wasn't a big deal. On the way in, I kept thinking every turn bouy was the last one so I swam on the wrong side of a few of them (oops). But finally the last turn bouy was there and I swam to the boat ramp to exit. I lost my balance getting out of the water and fell. Got some sand embedded in my palm right now Swim time 40:15 (I expected to make it in 40 minutes so that was pretty much right on)
T1: Wetsuit strippers are the best idea ever!! Then continued into transition. My guts were still not sure if they were going to cooperate or not so I hit the potty 1 last time (yeah no line!). Spent a little more time than normal in T1 because I tried to dry off a little and put on socks and gloves, but then I was off on the bike! T1 Time: 4:45 (I thought I would take ~5 minutes per transition)
BIKE: I had ridden the course by myself a few weekends before the race so that helped my confidence. There were A LOT of turns through out the entire course and there were some places getting in and out of town where the roads were pretty bad. I saw a lot of people with flat tires throughout the day. My DH came to cheer me on at a random intersection around mile 20 so it was great to see him. I had brought 2 bottles of Gu Bru with Carb Pro in them and ended up taking 1 bottle of Ironman Perform off the 2nd of 3 aid stations. I didn't end up drinking everything, which was my plan, but it was about 75 degrees and overcast so I wasn't really feeling like I needed it. Hoped my plan didn't backfire in the run, but I was also nervous about too much liquid in my stomach on the run. The last 10 miles back into transition seemed endless and I just hoped to get there without a flat. Saw DH one last time on the way into transition Bike time 3:11:23 (~18mph) I'm thrilled!! I would have been happy with 17mph but didn't even know if that was going to be possible.
T2: Nothing exciting. Changed into dry socks. Don't know my T2 time yet but I'll estimate somewhere between 3-5 minutes.
RUN: The run was a 2-loop course through the park and the adjacent community college campus. The run was very well-supported with aid stations every couple of miles. My stomach was either sloshy or crampy or both (I couldn't tell) for the first 3 miles. I tried some Coke at an aid station and to my surprise, warm flat Coke not only tastes like heaven 4+ hours into a race but it also settled my stomach immediately! The course wasn't marked super-clearly and I totally thought I missed a turn and was going to accidentally finish the race instead of doing my second loop. Turns out I was fine and saw DH and my friend right before going into the 2nd loop. I was feeling pretty good about then and picked up the pace a bit. I passed A LOT of people. Started getting tired around mile 10 and those last 3 miles were pretty endless. Once I made the turn to the finish line we still had about a half mile to go and that was REALLY endless. But then FINALLY I saw the finish line, saw DH and my friend again and heard my name being announced as I crossed the finish! Run time 1:55:28
Final time 5:56:37 I'm beside myself excited to have broken 6 hours!! My outside goal was around 6 hours but I thought more realistically that I would finish in 6:15-6:20.
Phew I didn't really think I had that much to say! Here's a pic my DH took of me just after I finished. Happy girl.
buffaloeggs.blogspot.com 2016 Races: Hop Hop Half Marathon 2:05:09 Pac Crest Half Ironman 7:13:40 9/10 Aluminum Man Oly Tri 11/27 Space Coast Half Marathon
Wow!! Super impressive time! Can't believe how great things went for your first. I think you've found your calling. To run a 1:55 half during a tri is outstanding!
Post by texassmith on Sept 22, 2014 12:25:44 GMT -5
Congrats! Way to meet and exceed your goal!
We lived in Mercer County for a few years (Pennington), and while I'm glad to be closer to family now, I do miss it sometimes. We were just about 15 minutes from that park, which really is awesome. I love that they're doing a 70.3 there now!
wow, sub-6:00 your first time out - that is fantastic! great job, woman.
ETA: about how many people did this one, as an "inaugural" IM event? Just curious, because at Timberman (also a 2 loop run) I couldn't have missed a turn if I tried, there were so many people! I want to say Timberman was just shy of 2k participants.
wow, sub-6:00 your first time out - that is fantastic! great job, woman.
ETA: about how many people did this one, as an "inaugural" IM event? Just curious, because at Timberman (also a 2 loop run) I couldn't have missed a turn if I tried, there were so many people! I want to say Timberman was just shy of 2k participants.
Thank you!! It did sell out, so probably at least 2000 people? There were definitely tons of people on the course, but some were on their first loop and some were on their second. Maybe I was just delirious at that point.