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Race Result

Racer: Andrea Wicks Milano
Race: Odyssey Half Iron Triathlon
Date: Saturday, September 6, 2003
Location: Lake Anna State Park, VA
Race Type: Triathlon - Half Ironman
Age Group: Female 35 - 39
Time: 6:21:00
Overall Place: 159 / 219
Age Group Place: 2
Comment: I'm very excited and very sore. Hopefully the excitement will last longer than the sore muscles!



Race Report:



I had originally not intended to race at all this year. I had other things going on, and intended to use this year solely for base building and skills improvement, particularly in the swim and run. However, reading everyone's race reports, and listening to everyone in my swim group talk about their training days and races, I couldn't resist. I decided I just wasn't having enough fun. So about 3 weeks or so ago, I decided to go for it, and signed up for the Half Ironman down at Lake Anna. I had done this race last year, and I remembered the terrain as rolling on the bike, and hilly on the run. However, I also remembered having a lot of fun, and the timing of the race worked for me. Better yet, two of my friends (Larry Hevner and Gabrielle Burch) agreed to sign up and do the race too, so I knew I'd be in good company.

I had been pretty good about keeping to my training schedule (swimming 3 days a week; running 3-4 days a week; biking 3 days a week; lifting once a week). However, I had pulled some muscles in my lower back a couple of months ago, and while I'm pretty well recovered from that (finally), my longest ride since then had been just over 2 hours. And my longest run had been 7 or 8 miles. I spoke with my coach (Ken Mierke), and modified my training schedule to get in a few long rides (with short runs after) and a couple of long runs, but I was still concerned that I was undertrained. But, I figured I'd make it through the bike somehow, and knew I could always walk part of the run if I needed to.

The week before the race, I started to get worried about the weather. I hadn't done any poor weather riding at all and earlier in the week there were predictions of rain, and the weatherpeople didn't seem to really know when it would end. Also, I don't deal with very high heat and humidity very well. Luckily, as the weekend drew closer, predictions were for a beautiful Saturday, and that's exactly what we got. It was probably about 60 degrees at the start of the race, and probably high 70s or 80 with pretty low humidity by the finish -- perfect :-)

My other worry about the race was that, given the status of my training, I thought my goal should be to complete the race without worries of being competitive. Last year, I was the only Athena at the race (so I won!!!!). This year, the field was larger...the last list I saw had 4 people registered. I tried pretty hard to not think about being competitive, but didn't completely succeed.

Lake Anna is a beautiful lake, about a half hour southwest of Fredericksburg. I remembered the nice swim from last year. This year, like last year, the water temperature was in the low 80s, so no wetsuits allowed. This was just fine with me, since I hadn't practiced with mine in nearly a year. Also, it would eliminate my worries of chafing and the need for profligate use of BodyGlide. The swim was a mass start from a beach, and I did a pretty good job of seeding myself near the rear. The start was a bit violent, but things sorted themselves out in 300 or 400 meters. After that, I was able to get in a groove and cruise. Knowing that I hadn't really been training for this race for very long, I was very careful not to go out too hard and trash myself for the rest of the race. I think the swim was a bit short, because I came out of the water in 31 minutes and change. I would guess that my 1500 meter pace is about that, and everyone I spoke to had unusually fast times. I came out of the water feeling happy and relaxed.

The bike course at Lake Anna starts in the park, and then proceeds out to local roads that are for the most part lightly trafficked. IMHO, the hardest part of the course is the part in the park. You start out from transition, and immediately hit a moderately steep hill, that goes mostly up for about a half mile. Then you do a little side loop with the first half straight down and the second half straight up. It's mostly uphill to the park entrance, and then turns gently rolling. I live in Fauquier County, and pretty much all the riding I've done this year has been on the rolling (or in some cases just plain hilly) terrain near my house. So this terrain felt moderate to me, and I was riding stronger than I thought I would. I had thought I'd probably complete the bike in about 3:30, given the pace of my training rides. So you can imagine my surprise/delight when I finished the first lap of the 2-loop bike in about 1:35 and still felt strong. I wound up even splitting the bike, and completed it in 3:10 or 3:11, and was having a decidedly good time!

Once off the bike, I took my time transitioning to the run, and started out for the first of two loops. The run course is entirely within the park, and is on the same path as the bike with a turnaround just before the park entrance. My three greatest weaknesses in this sport are what I call the three H's: heat, humidity, and hills! I've been seeking lots of hills in my training, and was hoping it would pay off for this run, which is pretty hilly. I had a walk-run plan in mind, that I did a pretty good job of sticking to. I was shooting for a 2:30 half marathon, and actually finished in about 2:31, which was close enough for me, and resulted in my 6:21 finish. This was a PR for me. I took second in the Athena division (the winner came in about 8 minutes ahead of me) and got a really nice award plaque!

Larry and Gabrielle also had strong showings, and I admire their ability and willingness to do a half (and do it well!) on short notice. I know a number of RATS talked about going down to race, but unfortunately I didn't get to meet any of them at the race! I'm guessing people may have taken off after the race, given the long lag between the initial finishes and the award ceremony. Congratulations to everyone who raced today, and best of luck at Reston tomorrow!