Race Report: Mooseman Half Ironman.

I was looking back at my last couple of posts and realised that I'd promised a fuller explanation of the RV, black cat and costume. Here goes:

You've all read a dozen race reports from me now, so I really don't want to give you a blow by blow account. How about a chapter book?
On the Nature of Stress
My folks called me the other night and expressed some concern about my stress levels. "You do this for a hobby, Mary?" "After Ironman, will you take up something that's less stressful?" I realised that because this blog is about my Ironman training, all you've heard about is how tough the training is, how much time it takes and how exhausted I am. Well, all that is true, but perhaps this example will put some other things in perspective.

On Thursday night, at about 10:30 pm, I received an extremely disturbing e-mail from work work. Naturally, I spent way too much time lying awake stressing about it. I was concerned too that it'd ruin my entire weekend. However, when I was drinking coffee with a friend on Tuesday morning, I realised that I hadn't thought a jot about work during my four days away. Not one single moment. I spent the weekend in a little bubble of happiness and simple pleasures - physical exertion, food, drink, laughs with friends. Does it get any better? This triathlon hobby is a critical and effective stress reliever for me and has been an important part of whatever sanity I still have left. So yes, I may suffer some crying jags over the training, or have permanent bags under my eyes from early morning workouts, but please don't ever mistake triathlon as the *source* of my stress.

Warming up to the Idea of Racing
So - all that being said, I wasn't really looking forward to racing. I simply couldn't be bothered with the wetsuit and having to swim and cycling slowly and blah blah blah. I started feeling more enthusiastic as I watched all these amazing Team Zers cross the finish line in their first International distance triathlon or overcoming all sorts of challenges to finish under their own steam. The excitement and pride of others helped build my enthusiasm. So, thanks guys!

Not Quite Gliding
Although I found the water quite nice and warm, I did have to get out to go back to the tent to get a second pair of goggles and that short stint in the cold wind froze me to my core. The swim itself was very physical, including a couple of kicks square in the face. Did anyone see the blue streak I left behind me as I elbowed other women out of my path? Occasionally I managed some beautiful gliding, but all in all the swim was far more choppy and disrupted than I wanted. However, it was about 2 mins faster than previous attempts, so something's working!

Adventures on Two Wheels
I was shivering uncontrollably for the first few miles of the bike, but somewhere around ... oh, I dunno ... mile 20, I started feeling the love and enjoying myself. I've done this course twice before, so it was irritating to be going so slowly, but I knew it was the right thing to do. Zone 2 baby! The big excitements came around mile 40 when I was honked at by some idiot in an RV. So, I took the advice of my coach and owned my lane. For about three miles, I sauntered and stretched and wiggled my ass (losing a water bottle in the process, but it was totally worth it!) out in the middle of the lane. I even slowed to window shop at an ironworks. Of course, I was in Zone 4 the entire time, but what fun!

Then later a nice couple in a car were swinging safely wide around me when I saw a black cat wandering out into the path of their car. I called out and reached out my arm so they slowed and the little kitty dashed back to where he came from. How many brownie points did I earn for that?

Mostly I stayed in low Z3 for the ride. I intended to stay in Z2, but all the back pedaling and resting didn't help much. Still, I definitely felt stronger on the second loop and fresh by the time I finished. I even negative splitted, which I'm really pleased about.

Who Knew?
So it seems that running has become my strength. Or at least I've learned how to hold enough in reserve on the bike to ensure a good run. I wanted to keep the race as light as possible, so I donned a grass skirt and lei and took off at my usual Z2 clip. I ran/walked until mile 10 and then picked it up for the last three miles. It wasn't all that long ago when I could only pick it up for the last half mile, so I know I'm making progress. All in all, I felt great on the run and stronger as the run went on. I loved seeing all my peeps, receiving high fives (including one that nearly knocked me off my feet, thanks Luke!) and especially seeing Doug and Jackie who was guiding him on his first half-Ironman. Doug, you're the man! I also had the mixed pleasure of seeing Mark on the run. It was great to be able to stop for a quick kiss, but Mark obviously wasn't doing well and it was distressing to see him walking.

Wearing the outfit was quite liberating. I got so many wonderful and fun comments from volunteers, fellow athletes and photographers. Let's see ... I heard "aloha Hawaii girl," "wiggle girl," "You're the best dressed one out here," "You totally make me want to run" and a special musical accompanyment from both the barbership quartet and the bongo drummers near the turn around.

When I am an Old Woman, I Shall Wear Purple.
Anyone know this poem? The closing lines are:

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old and start to wear purple.

So the race officials were challenging people to 'bust a mooooooove' on the finish line. People were doing the worm, or a little disco or moon walking (Es, you were awesome!). I offhandledly joked about doing a striptease and somehow the idea stuck with my team mates who reminded me all around the course and a pre-race correspondent asked me if when I'm 90 I'd regret not doing it? Bastard. Long story short, my fried brain managed to do some approximation of a striptease (only one item of clothing came off, M&D!) and I felt totally embarassed and am sure I helped start the petition to disinvite Team Z from ever coming back to Mooseman. But when I'm 90, I'll look back on those few seconds with affection, I'm sure. It will take those 49 years to get over the mortification though.

The Finish is Only the Start
As with all Team Z events, we all hung around for the bitter end, drinking Mai Tais, grilling hot dogs and screaming whenever we saw anyone arrive in the finishing chute. If that person was a Team Zer, the noise was deafening. And when Doug and Jackie finished, even the announcer was drowned out.

As the race wound down, we got to chat with a lot of the volunteers and race officials. One guy was very friendly and we were chattting about how great it was to see the big boobed man at the finish of the second loop. When he puckered up, I gave him a quick kiss, at which point I realised that *he* was the big boobed man! Cool! I'm never washing these lips again.

In Retrospect
I loved the race. I loved the weekend. I love having peeps. I love pushing myself to the limits of my physical and emotional capacity and resting happy afterwards. I love meeting new people (including some fair dinkum New Yorkers who talked nineteen to the dozen!) and seeing the happiness on others' faces that I know has been on my face in the past. Rich and Janet, you are an inspiration to me.

And in the end, I came within a minute of my previous best Mooseman time and took 22 minutes off my best Mooseman half marathon time. Negative splitting both the bike and the run is really encouraging for Placid and now I feel as though I can concentrate on the finer planning for the race.

6.5 weeks to go.