Spring Bassman Half Distance Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Got in about 10 minutes before my wave and splashed around a bit. The water was warmer than the air. My wave was all men 40 and over, we started 2 minutes after the female wave, with the 30 and unders and relayers in the wave after us. I never found feet to draft off of as the field was small and opened up quickly. Only had issues at a few of the turning bouys as people crashed together. Was able to breathe bilaterally for the majority, had no big sprint but on the second loop I tried to go harder. Anticipated a swim over 40 minutes due to the cold and my lack of speed in the pool was pleased to see sub-40 as I came out.

I think I could have tried to go more aggressive on the second loop - I felt good and was very awake after being sluggish waiting around for 2 hours.

I take an inordinate amount of time in T1 every time - still much faster than my last 70.3 transition. I put on a under armor base layer and a bike jersey. Sunglasses, helmet, gloves, socks (I usually skip these) and then my shoes. Was a 200 or so meter run with the bike to the mounting area.

HTFU - I am glad I wore what I did - I practiced this transition at home and I felt confident I would whip it through in 4 1/2 minutes but it did not correlate in the race.

I planned to go hard on the bike and only look at HR - only watched cadence and HR. Planned to keep cadence at 78 but decided to go steady at a high gear instead - focus was on consistency and taking nutrition at scheduled times. Ate a bonk breaker immediately after T1, took a stinker waffle every 20 minutes on the bike (ate 6), drank 8 ounces of perpetuem/double Gu "super mix" every 25 minutes - knocked down both 24 ounce bottles and started into my water bottle.

Nutrition test worked fine - I was able to maintain steady cadence/HR while pushing same power throughout. Could I have gone harder - yes - but as my run suffered I imagine it would have been even worse. Coming off the bike I had passed a bunch of the guys in my age group. My cornering is a weakness that I need to work on.

200 meter run back to transition after the bike course. Took helmet/gloves/bike jersey off and put sneakers on. I tried something different in this race - speed laces will not fit in my sneakers so I had them pre-tied and had a shoe horn - had them on quick enough. Considered taking off the thermal shirt as the sun was now out, regretfully left it on. Threw on tri top and number belt, grabbed my water bottle and ran out.

I need to practice transitions I give away too much time in these.

My plan was 9 minute miles, keep it steady and avoid imploding. Like a complete ass I came out of T2 fired up and was chugging along thinking I was on plan when I looked at my watch and said "holy %&*$" slow down!" Took it down a notch for the second mile but again when I didn't look at the watch my pace would speed up. I started feeling bad at mile 3 cramps in weird places (upper part of crotch) ... kept running but did not feel good at all - I was grabbing sports drink at every mile but my legs were getting tight. Had a SunRype fruit bar in my number belt - high in potassium - ate it and almost immediately my cramps subsided - THANKS SunRype! At mile 6 I started to suffer from over heating - stripped off my tri top and thermal and tossed the thermal, put the tri top back on ... but I was now overheated and in HR zone 4 without even pushing at all. Diced to do next 2 miles with run 5 minutes walk 1 minute see if I could get my legs back. Tried to run mile 9 solid but my mind and body were now in a fight and my sole driving force was now sub-6 hour finish. Sufferfest from here to finish with run/walk the whole way - glad some people were out there to give encouragement but it was terrible being passed by over 30 people on the run because my wheels fell off.

I have trained my run to the point that this should not happen and doesn't on runs ... I guess more bricks are in order. Maybe more nutrition on the bike - and I must keep to my plan for pacing once the run actually starts.

Chatted with a few people at the finish, walked around to make sure my legs didn't cramp. Broke down my transition, grabbed a plate of food and loaded up for the 3+ hour ride home.


My run sucked - I should be able to do this run at least 10 minutes faster and maybe shave a few more minutes off the transitions.


I want to do this one again ... I need to beat the run ...