Today being Mothers day, I wanted to take this opportunity to acknowledge someone. Without them none of this would all be possible. Of course its my mom, Jody Oltman!
Mom I want to say thank you for all the support you have given me, not over the last couple years with my training and races, but everything you have done for me my entire life Without you none of this would be possible, and I just want to say Thank You, and I love you.
Thank you for supporting me in my journey to not only become an Ironman, but adapt to a completely different lifestyle than what I been accustomed to pretty much my entire life. With every race and training day you have been supporting me and encouraging me. Even though I am sure there have been times you have been skeptical when I have signed up for some of these races (and really I am sure everyone has including myself at one point or another) you have never shown it. It hasn't always been easy, but knowing that support is there helps keep me motivated.
You are an amazing mom and for that I love you! I hope you have a great Mothers day!!
This last weekend I packed up my gear and made my way east to Kemah, TX
for the Kemah Triathlon. Kemah is a nice little town about halfway between Houston, and Galveston.
It sits right on Galveston
bay, has a nice boardwalk area, and has a great set up for putting on a pretty
unique race. It was my first time doing this race, and I can tell you it
probably won’t be my last. But without further adieu I will breakdown the race
for all of you that care (and you must since you are reading this, or you at
least do a pretty good job of faking it).
Swim
I had mentioned this prior, but I was pretty excited for
this race just for the simple fact it had such a unique swim start to it. They started
loading up the 800 athletes competing in the Olympic distance division onto a huge
paddleboat at 5 am. By 6 am we were departing the boardwalk area for our nice
little (almost)mile trip out into the bay. Once out there it was going to be a
mad rush to basically jump off the boat and start swimming your ass the (almost)mile
back to shore.
Once we got out to the swim area, the pro’s got to go first.
They were given a 5 minute head start and then it was going to be the mad rush
all of us were expecting. Once it was time one of the volunteers in charge threw
the doors open to the front deck area and starting shouting at the top of her
lungs “GO GO GO”, then after that it was “LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT”. I was having
a hard time figuring out whether I was getting ready to start a race or if I
was arriving at my first day of boot camp. Regardless I had to keep moving.
I walked up to the edge of the boat, took a quick look down
to make sure I wasn’t going to land on anyone and jumped off. In past races
where we have had to jump off piers or other objects into the water, I have
always obliged with a cannonball, but given the current circumstances, I
figured that might not be the best idea. Once in the water I started swimming as
fast as I could to try and clear the boat, to make sure I didn’t end up a trampoline
for someone behind me.
I have done quite a few races before with many different
types of swim starts. And I must say this was actually the most intense one I
had ever done. I am not going to lie, it was a lot of fun, but I am not sure I
would recommend it to someone who is doing their first race.
As you can imagine, the water a mile off shore tends to be a
little bit more choppy than the water you see coming into land when you are
standing on the beach. This day there were some moderate winds which made the
water even choppier resulting in a somewhat difficult swim. It took quite a bit
to sight and make sure you stayed on course as you had to deal with the wind
and current pushing you off. But the most difficult part I found was trying to
get into a breathing rhythm. This was a challenge because multiple times when I
would turn to breathe a wave would crash down on my face just as I was taking a
breath. I think during the course of the swim I ended up swallowing a couple
pints of seawater. Eventually I was able to time the waves a little better to
avoid that, and before long I could see the shore right in front of me.
Swim time (.93 mile) – 32:30. This was a touch slower than I
was hoping for. Based off my swim in Galveston
I was hoping to be able to hit shore right about 30 minutes. Given the
conditions of the wind and surf though, it could only be expected that swim
time were going to be a tad slower than normal. So I am not too disappointed
all things considered.
Bike
I know these past couple races have been along the coast
area. And I know with that comes the expectation you are going to have to deal
with some wind. It still doesn’t make it any easier though when you are pedaling
into it. For the second straight race we hit the bike course going directly
into a head wind, and a decent one at that. I remember what happened in Galveston to my legs and
so I wanted to make sure I was able to conserve them as best as I could. It was
frustrating to say the least. I was not going near as fast as I hoped and as I
continued to look at my watch I noticed it was not going to be a good ride and
I might not even finish the race under my goal which made me even more
frustrated.
This course was pretty much a straight out and back course
so I was able to get into aero position and try to hammer down as much as you
could. I looked at my watch when I hit the turnaround point, and saw it took my
just about 46 minutes to make it halfway. This did not make me happy one bit.
But I knew that pedaling into a headwind on the way out, meant I was going to
have a tailwind on the way back.
I took advantage of this the best I could. Once I hit the
turnaround I dropped to my lowest gear and started cranking it out as much as I
could. With the tailwind I was flying. I was passing people left and right, and
I think the whole way back I only got passed by 3 other athletes. I was making
up a lot of time and it was definitely making me happy knowing I was going to
be able to salvage my bike time overall.
Bike time (24.85 miles) 1:19:54/19.1mph avg. Considering the
headwind we had to deal with on the way out, and hitting the turnaround at around
46 minutes I was fairly pleased with this result. I worked hard to make up some
time on the way back, but still left enough in my legs that I felt like I
should be able to handle the run pretty well. I had made up enough time on the
way back to put me into position to meet my overall goal so I was happy about
that. I keep pushing and training to try and be able to hold a 20mph pace
during one of these races. I still have some work to do, but I think I am
trending in the right direction for sure.
Run-
Even with dealing with the wind I came off the bike feeling
pretty good. I was able to get into a rhythm early and was holding down a
pretty good pace. Most of the run course was pretty scenic as it took you
through some of the nearby neighborhoods and then proceeded to take you onto
the boardwalk and along the seawall. I was able to fall in behind a couple
runners and pace off them and things were going along pretty well. The toughest
part of the run was about mile 4. From mile 4 to just past mile 5 the course
took you over a bridge that went over a waterway. Any of you that have been
along the coast before know these bridges are pretty steep as they have to be
high enough to accommodate certain sizes of boats beneath them. This was brutal
on the legs. Not only did you have to climb it on the way across but once you
came down the other side you had to turn around and go back across it on the
way back to the finish line. I wanted so bad to just walk both times going up
in, but I dug deep and pushed myself to keep running. After getting across the
bridge(the second time) it was only about a mile to the finish and flat the
entire way. I came across the last turn and kicked it in to sprint down the
finishers chute. After I crossed the finish line I quickly looked at my watch
and was happy to see I beat my goal by going sub 3 hours overall.
Run time (6.2 miles) 54:30/ 8:47 minute/mile pace. Overall I
was very pleased with this run. I was sub 9 minutes and aside from the bridge I
felt pretty darn good the entire time. The week leading up to the race I had a
couple of the best runs I have had to date so I was pretty confident that as
long as I didn’t fry my legs on the bike the run was going to be fine.
Overall time 2:52:08 – I had a goal coming into the race of
3 hours or less, and I accomplished that. There were times on the bike where it
didn’t look like that was going to be possible. But I was able to stay focused
and keep pushing to put myself in position to make it happen. All things
considered I felt like it was a solid race. I don’t feel like I left much time
out on the course. But at the same time I also know I am just beginning break
into another level of what I can do. If I keep working and putting forth the
effort and increasing the intensity I know I can continue to make strides.
In this race I finished in the top half of my age group. 28
out of 62. This race is a premier race for this area so it draws a lot of good
competition. I don’t know if I will ever get to the point where I am competing
for a place on the podium or not, in fact I highly doubt it, but I will keep working to try and find out.
So now I am about 5 weeks out from Half Ironman Kansas. Its time to get
back to work.
