Swim was really rough and lots of bumping, kicking, grabbing knees and elbows. No blows to the head which was good. It was like swimming in a wave pool. I felt like I put forth a good effort, but the slow time was a considerable surprise even with the couple hundred yard jog to the timing mat. It would have been great if the race had started in the morning.

I need more swim time to improve my pace. Having the pool be 100 miles away and only 2 swims a week isn't gona make me uber fast even as I clean up my form some.

Ok so T1 was wierd for me. You could not have anything touching the ground except for 1 tire of your bike. Everything else had to be like in your bag hanging from your bike. So this was slower than if I had had my stuff lying out on a towel. I was a little slow here. When I went to put on my race belt, the race number ripped out on one side and I had to figure out how to jurry rig it so it wouldn't come out the rest of the way. It took a minute to get the sand off my feet, socks on, shoes on, glasses on, watches on, etc. And then you had to put your gogles, cap and wetsuit into the plastic bag which of course also ripped, so I had to tie it good around the middle so I didn't lose anything. Shrug Oh well, I was then off.

Well I may have tried to make the race number more secure somehow on the belt before setting up. There may have been a more efficent way to set up my stuff somehow so I could get it out better and well the torn race number and torn plastic bag were not really anticipated.

The road was just wet aa wet can be. The wind was moderate, but harassing. The turns were slick. As I was about the 1400 ish person to start the race, I ended up passing alot of folks on the bike. I tried really hard to not get in a drafting call situation. I made danm sure that my infinit did not eject ever again in the ride. This was a risk when crossing the plywood covered cattle bar crossing areas. The downhills on curvs were a bit iffy for me. I have not ridding down steap grades on curvy wet routs very often. There was one bad hill. It was on a downhill with a 35 mph corner to the left than back to the right. As I was passing someone on well probably slightly faster than my skill level the guy to my right started drifting out towards me like past the half way part of the lane so much so that on the sharpest part of the curve I was forced onto the wet paint double line. This had happend to the guy in front of me as he passed the guy too so one guy on my right drifting left, one guy on the left out in front trying to slow down and reenter the right side of the double yellow and me coming inbetween them hitting the wet paint on the sharp corner. Well my heart stopped for a second, but I held a line across the paint and then back onto the right side of the road as soon as I could. Man that was scary.

Aside from all that, the bike was great. My last HIM was much hillier, but it was also a 16.5 mph effort. Today was a 19 ish mph effort and running steady the entire race. My effort up hills was good, down hills was good, it was as fast as I could have hoped for and more.

Number one, on a wet surface, be more cautious on the hills with curves and aware, more aware that other folks may act erradically in front of you as weahter conditions worsen.

Ok so I won't be ejecting waterbottles anymore that have my 1000 calories in them. Much respect for the speedbump and cattle guards, lesson learned.

Well, if I knew it was going to rain, I may have put on a waterproff jersey, possibly waterproof gloves. However, as I was putting enough effort into the ride my core temp didn't drop (hindsight is 20/20). This was a 50/50 could have gone either way with it, it would have been fine either way.

This bike course would have rocked if it were dry.

Ok so I found my spot pretty well, got the bike up there. But I was completely drenched with totally numb fingers and feet. I was clumbsy getting my helmet off, it took several tries (darn little slippery plastic clasp) wet socks did not go into shoes well at all and my numb fingers did not help very much. The whole thing was awkward without feeling in my hands and took way too long. then I had to put everything into the bag before heading out on the run.

Well, if I had a waterproff jersey and gloves on, a towel in the transition bag, a pair of dry socks I wouldn't have had numb hands and could have managed the shoes better, probably.

I started out with the deadish leggs, just kind of getting going again and resolving myself to another couple hours of soggy feet. I started to loosen up around 1.5 miles and settle into a pace. I think I got some feeling back in my feet around mile 2 to 2.5. Although I did not drink anything for the last 20 to 25 minutes of the bike, my sides were threatening to camp up, so I did not eat or drink anything for 3 miles or so. I finally decided to hit the bathroom at mile 4 because I just needed to, probably a 1 minute stop max. I had hit a gu at mile 3 and then felt like I could drink a few ounces of water without risk of exploding or cramping. I settled in and just kind of went by percieved effort in the high 2 low 3 zone area. I kept fluids to a minimum and hit a total of 4 gu's one every 30 min ish followed by 2-4 ounces of water. I was not sure if I could hold the pace after riding the bike so hot, but I was good through the first 6.5 miles for the first lap. At around mile 7 a guy in my age group passed me and was in sight for the next 5 miles. I didn't have the energy to run him down and just stayed on my pace. I looked at my watch, although I could bearly make anything that small out in my fogged glasses and it said 54 ish minutes for the first 6.5 miles. Hey I was doing alright. I just kept at that percieved effort and wanted to just make it to mile 9 without drifting off pace too much as then mentally I am one lap around the block (4.5 miles at my house) from home. I visualize the last 4.5 miles by landmarks around my block. Just before mile 10 I hit my last gu and got my last few onuces of water. From mile 10 on I started pushing high zone 3 low zone 4, hoping to be able to hold it. Same deal with puddles and weaving around folks the entire time. Mile 11, holding with percieved effort pretty hard but holding. In the last 2.5 miles I caught up to the guy in my age group who had passed me at mile 7. I knew he would try to catch me when he saw I was in his age group, but I gave him no chance. I passed another 4 guys in my age group and when I saw mile 12 I knew it was time to not slow down. I mentally geared myself up for the final mile and inched my speed up here, not too much we are still out 1.5 miles. At around .75 miles out I went into strong zone 4 (percieved effort and HR maxing at 177) and just brought it home. I was not entirely sure I could hold the effort, but, there was the finish line and I held the effort all the way across it. Phew held the steady swim, strong bike and strong run and under my hoped for time by 17 ish minues. (1 hour faster than first him 8 months ago on this easier but wetter course) They put a thermal blanket on everyone crossing the line and it was a good thing, after I stopped working and started walking I was getting very cold fast.

That 13.1 miles was faster than my open half mary pace of 8:40 a year previously and faster than my full mary pace 6 months ago. I was extremely pleased, only thing I would change is the weather.

Kept my blanket close around me, got 1 water, 1 soda, 2 slices of pizza, then looked for my wife and dry clothes for 20 minutes before finding her. I had told her I would finish 9pm ish and finished at 8:47. She tends to run late for everything. I finally found her, got my nice dry warm clothes, came back got another soda, a gator aid and a couple of taco's. And then crazily singed up for IM cour de lane (however you spell it) for 2010 !!!!


Ok well, I need to improve the swim, am working on building facilities to work on that. I need to not lose the waterbottle with my nutrition in it! I need to figure out how to do transitions better, perhapse practicing after icing my hands or somehting to get them numb. And that is about it. I ran at my ability level in all three events. Only time and training will improve my times. Well and weather conditions.


Overall realy good organization, awsome vollunteers, have never seen better. Wonderful water, gator aid, gel, etc support, never seen better. The course itself was awsome, I would totaly love to come back and do it wihtout the rain some day. The late start which invites wind, poor access to the starting point (unless you purchase your $$ shuttle ticket from them) rain and funky wave starts were negatives for me. Starting around slot 1400 on the swim and ending up at 441 overal meant I had to pass alot of folks. The late start makes them have the screwy wave order. It caused more congestion than was needed through the entire course. From the very start of the swim to the very end of the run there were folks that I was passing. I mean it felt good to be moving up in the ranks so to speak, but it meant alot of positioning and moving around folks. I don't think that it physically slowed me down much, it just meant there was no time to settle into a position in the pack at your pace and just hold for a while. But, very well run.