TOUGHMAN Alabama - Triathlon

The category start is definitely preferable to beach mass starts that I've done for shorter course races.

Overall I was very happy with my swim. Since my previous race experience were sprints, I had to really work on pacing my swim and think about it as a warm-up for the bike portion.

I would probably stay closer to the buoys on the way out to the turns. I opted to swim out wide to avoid traffic, but that may have cost me some time.

I had an ok transition. It was a short 100 yard run from the boat ramp into T1. Put on helmet, glasses, dried feet, put on socks, shoes, and loaded extra nutrition into my pockets.

Learn to cycle without socks. I think I spent the most time trying to get sand, pebbles and grass off my feet. Also, I put all my stuff on top of my towel, so when I went to grab it, I had to re-arrange everything. Those two items cost me time.

I stuck to my race plan of keeping my heart rate in zone 3/4 and never going anaerobic zone 5 on any segments or hills. Maintained my nutrition plan of eating 100 calories and taking an electrolyte capsule every 30 minutes. Drank close to 80 oz of sports drink.

I had the luxury of recon and riding the course two weeks before, so I knew where all the hills were and how hard I could hit it. I probably could have pushed it a little more on the descents and flats.

The yankz laces made putting on shoes really quick.

spend less time digging the trash from my pockets.

Since it was really hot, I stopped at every aide station to get water, ice and towels. Many people were walking. Up to mile 10, I was doing great. Hitting my planned race pace of 9-9:30min/mile and feeling great.

At about 9.75 miles, I started to feel a little cramping coming on in both of my calves, so I slowed down a little, shifted my foots strike to be more mid foot and kept going. Almost exactly at the mile 10 marker, both of calves locked up and I collapsed on the run course. I sat up and with my hands had to pull my feet up to free/loosen my calves. I sat on the ground for about 5 minutes stretching before trying to get up. I felt bad telling all the concerned racers, race volunteers and police that I was going to be ok and I didn't want a ride.

I was pretty upset by the cramps and my mind shifted from hitting my finishing goal of 6 hours to can I finish?

I walked for about 2 miles and then decided that I would try to run until I started to feel the cramps coming on. I was able to figure out a pace/cadence that I could handle and I was able to run my way to the finish.

More run training, more electrolyte capsules more hydration. After doing some reading. There doesn't seem to be any scientific evidence to support a relation to cramps and mineral imbalance. There does seem to be science to suggest that muscle fatigue causes cramps.

some stretching, relaxing and eating


The calf cramps on the run caused me to walk 2 miles which really impacted my run time.


Overall it was a great race. Team Magic puts on amazing events and they did a fantastic job. I entered this race because I had won a free admission, but I was not fully trained to do more than survive a HIM distance event.