Lynne Galiatsatos – Patriot’s Half – Saturday, September 10, 2016

WARNING – this is long – like my race . I did Eagleman as my first 70.3 in 2014. I was so fortunate that while hot, it wasn’t the ‘typical’ Eagleman heat, the water was totally flat, and I was the first wave after the pros, so I had plenty of time to finish. I followed that with Diamondman. Since I am a back of packer I asked about cutoff and was assured that if I got on the run I could finish, that wasn’t the case. HOT race. My first DNF, not a pretty picture. 2015 was a recovery/regroup year deferring races, minimal training etc. I had signed on for Challenge AC 70.3 then WTC took over and wouldn’t transfer the registrations, which with my lack of training was probably a good thing. By the end of 2015 I was ready to get back to training and tackle another 70.3 to prove that Eagleman wasn’t a fluke. I knew there were some of key things I needed to do if there was any chance of success: 1. Lose weight 2. Strengthen my core 3. Commit to training I signed on with Triathlean and started that core, weight loss portion in November. Sessions were twice a week through May and then once a week through summer. I definitely can tell a difference in not just core, but upper body and overall strength. Simple things like being able to pull myself out of the pool and not having to walk over to the steps. It’s the small things that make me happy. Weight loss by race day just at 20 pounds. For training I knew that I needed a coach so I went back to RipIt. We worked out a good training and race plan with the ultimate goal of Patriots being my A race and all races leading up were going to be training days. In addition I had some great training partners this year – Lisa & Lucy. Thanks to them I was able to get some bike miles outside. I still did a few long, long rides on the trainer. By race day I was at peace knowing that everything that was in my control had been done. I’d practiced my nutrition, I’d put in the miles, I’d lost weight. All that was left was out of my control. The race 8:35:38 (AG 2/2) Distance PR as the race is actually 72.3 miles The race site said there was an 8:00 hour cutoff which I knew would be a lofty goal, but if I could get my run down it was achievable. I raced at Colonial Beach in July which is the same group. I asked the race director how strict they were on the cutoff and he said as long as you were on the run by 12:30 he wouldn’t pull. I followed up with an email to confirm. After Diamondman I was taking no chances. I was pretty sure I could hit those cutoffs, so some of the pressure was off. I still wanted to get to 8 hours or close, but the heat gods just weren’t on my side. When asked why 72.3 miles – the race director said that in order to keep the race on the weekend they like, which coincides with the county fair, they had to reroute to avoid the fair, thus 2 additional miles. Swim 57:17 (AG 1/2) The swim was in the James River. The water wasn’t too rough. I expected to feel a faster return trip as we were with the current, but honestly didn’t feel much difference. It was slower than I expected and I’ve heard others say the same. My wave went off at 7:12 and the Olympic waves were to start at 7:30. I half jokingly said that some of the Olympics would pass me. Well I was right. That was the first time during the day that I started with my mantra for the day – my race, my pace. Worst part of the swim – I’ve washed my kit three times and I think it might be just about clean. T1 5:58 It was about .2 mile from swim exit to transition. That and some adjustments to my transition area I think contributed to the long transition. I’d been training without using socks for the bike but I think I offset any advantage of not dealing with wet feet and socks by dealing with the cooler I brought. Since I knew it was going to be hot and I’d be on the bike for 4 hours, I packed my race water belt with 4 bottles in a 2 gallon ziplock and put that in a small cooler on ice. The cooler was sweating and leaking a bit had formed a puddle on my transition mat. So I had to drain water, rearrange. And well, 5:58 later I was on the bike. Bike 3:57:27 (AG 2/2) My goal for the bike was to be under 4:00. Success. Since the race was supposed to be mostly flat, I did a couple training rides on eastern shore and saw significant improvement in my endurance and speed. I chicked at least two guys and a couple women younger than me. Success. The most important thing was to be done with swim and bike in 5 hours from last swim wave in order to beat the cutoff. Success. The bike route was visually nice and well supported. Many of the roads were rough – think chip/seal roads from HoCo. In addition, there was the bike/run trail that ran along a good portion of the route and locals didn’t seem to think the racers should be on the road. There were some rollers, false flats, and one ‘hill’ that went over a river. T1 3:17 Nothing much to say here except my run water was still cold so my cooler strategy was a success. Run 3:31:37 (AG 2/2) Ah the run. . I loved the run course, totally flat and at least 70-80% shaded trail on crushed limestone. This is where I really wanted to take off time from Eagleman. I know training runs do not translate to race runs for this distance; however, I was really REALLY hoping I could at least get my average pace down to 15 since my long training runs had been hitting 14 or under and shorter runs under 13. The heat is not my friend. My plan was to start out walking 6 minutes and then switch to a 1:1 run:walk and try to maintain that. I’ve seen a lot of progress in my run in training and had high hopes but the plan failed so I adjusted. I walked, and walked, and walked some more. Got ice at the aid stations which I used to soak my towel (from Eagleman as a reminder I could do this). Physically I felt great, until I ran and then the air was just too heavy. I told myself after mile 7 I was going to try the 1:1 again. I was able to get a couple miles in and had averages under 14.5, but just couldn’t maintain. I did pass a couple people so that was good. Fortunately when Lisa’s husband, who was out taking pictures and being super-sherpa, caught me at about mile 9 I was in one of the my segments and got some great pictures. Way better than the race pics. Average pace 16:03 (a PR from Eagleman’s 16:15) The finish – I did it. As usual, most of the food was gone, the beer truck was shutting down, the awards were packed away, most of the rest of the people were back at hotels, home all showered and fresh. But I did it. I finished. And the race director dug my 2nd place award out of the truck. And it’s a nice award. I finished in a very happy place. I knew I had done everything to prepare and executed to the best of my ability on that day. For now long course tri is done for me. Next year I’m going back to short course, maybe do Rock Hall Sprint and Olympic for a different type of challenge and continue to work on my run. My A race goal for next year – my first marathon. A thought for you other back of packers….stick with it. Don’t be discouraged by reports from other members who are very fast and consider a 8-9 minute run pace a slow day. I know it’s hard. When I read a report that says a 5.5-6.5 hour 70.3 race was slow, I laugh. If we could all be that fast where would the challenge be? I’ve decided it’s not just about weight and training and age, there’s some genetics thrown in there that keep me from ever being that fast. And I’m good with that and you should be too. Enjoy the day. Be happy you can actually get out there and do these crazy things. We can continue to challenge ourselves to get a bit farther from the back of the pack, always striving to finish knowing we’ve done our best. Nutrition Pre race Large Dunkin Donut coffee with cream and sugar. Yep real sugar and cream. Plain bagel and peanut butter Banana T1 – Gu gel with caffeine Bike 3 bottles Tailwind, ½ bottle Gatorade. Run 7 10 oz bottles tailwind, 1 water. I carried individual servings of Tailwind to replenish my water bottles. I need to get a better refill strategy as I lost time pouring from the ziplock into the bottles. Water at aid stations Applesauce Uncrustable If you stayed with this to the end, sorry it was so long, but as I said at the beginning it’s like my race – long. Thank you for reading.