Mission Accomplished

Friends,
Please do not associate this quote with the most inane man who ever presided over the United States! My endurance event is indeed over with no residual issues other than a mild but painful sunburn on my back, multiple blisters on my feet and a post-race high. Indeed, I have been waiting for that infamous "delayed-onset muscle soreness" to kick in, but so far, so good and it is now 3 days post-race. My focus on the race was to finish it and so indeed this mission was accomplished. I was able to drive myself home 90 minutes after the race and bask in the endorphins.

It is the logistics that overshadow the training on the days prior to a race such as a half-ironman (in this case, 72.3 miles). A poor plan for hydration, nutrition and pain management can sabotage even the best preparatory (physical) training for a long race, especially for a novice such as myself. I had read in "The Runners Body" that runners do not die of hypernatremia (too much sodium in the blood) but that there were several well-documented cases of runners dying of the opposite, hyponatremia, due to excessive hydration. The night prior to the event, I attended a seminar which emphasized hydration and salt intake. While the presenter advised that nobody should change their plans the night prior to a race, I found the practical advice on salt intake invaluable.

The weather on race day was predicted to be sunny, 90F and humid after noon-- about the time I would start the last leg, a 13.1 mile run, the half-marathon. Up until the seminar, my formal nutrition plan only included adequate sugar replacement for energy (to replete "glycogen stores") on the bike segment and relying on the aid stations to determine what I would take in for hydration and sodium intake. That night, my revised nutrition plan formally included salt and fluid intake. Given the environmental conditions for the race, I also decided to revise my goal time for the run. (Indeed, Ms. Superego was booted out of the race planning that very night. She had entertained a goal pace of 9 minutes/mile.)

The swim was great fun in its entirety and the 58- mile biking segment became a grind only at the very end. As for the dreaded run, the goals were maintained-- to never walk, to keep at a 9:15 pace between aid stations, to stop at every single aid station and to focus on hydration, salt tablets and pretzels. Due to the nutrition plan, potty runs and chatting with the friendliest of volunteers at the aid stations, my ultimate running pace seemed tortoise-like-- 11 min/mile-- but to me, it was the ideal ending for a long run and a long race. I cried running down the finishing chute!