Soma Half Iron Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman


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Tempe, Arizona
United States
The Red Rock Company
78F / 26C
Sunny
Total Time = 7h 43m 9s
Overall Rank = 594/616
Age Group = 40-45
Age Group Rank = 117/121
Pre-race routine:

Only had about four hours sleep the night before the race. Thats never happened. Awoke at 2:45am after having a fitful night, ate my Quiznos Sandwich and protein bar. Walked the dog for about 30 min and rode the bike about a mile around the area. PAack the car and left for Tempe, wanted to get there by 5:15.

Saw alot of BT'ers Lisa, Kerri, Rick, Bryan, Kim, Ryan, Dean and a few others. Was able to set up Transitions fairly quick and wondered around a bit more. Miss the church service, potty break, but all was good. Gotta send shout out to Ryan, Andy, Tanya, and Jerry 'Big Bird' for cheering me on at the finish line..

Transistion closed and I headed to my start group. Felt really good about this race and more so than not, just wanted to get it over with.. Mother nature was so kind to all of us. The sun stayed behind the clouds until the last 5 miles of my ride and she kept the tempture done to high 70's.

Swim
  • 47m 23s
  • 1931 meters
  • 02m 27s / 100 meters
Comments:

Beat my time by 6min Rock-n-roll....

Started the swim a little to fast. Not because I was nervous but because I wanted to get to the far side of the course, only go kick 2 or three times and only went off course 4 compared to 20 last year. Stayed with the swim plan and even got to the yellow buoy heading back west 3 min ahead of schedule. Swim swim swim felt really good then I got rape by stronger swimmers and had to breaststroke for about 2 minutes and lost mentalness. Was able to swim the south side of the course fairly easy and got out at time 47min according to my watch. Totally forgot that the timing mat was outside of the bike entrance, so officially my swim was 50 min but I will use my actual swim time of 47.

What would you do differently?:

Still need to be more aggressive and trust my strength.
Transition 1
  • 06m 36s
Comments:

Walked into transition alittle loopy but focused. was good got everything off/on and waddled out of T1
fairly quick but I gotta start running after the swim


What would you do differently?:

Need to run into and out of transitions
Bike
  • 3h 16m 59s
  • 56 miles
  • 17.06 mile/hr
Comments:

Frist of all let me start by saying that I missed my goal time by 2mins becasue I drop both my chain and garmin twice heading up Lakeshore, and those of you who know Lakeshore it isnt easy to start riding again....

Back to the race... Started the bike. Felt cold and my legs stayed pretty cold for the first 25 miles.. that was weird.. Lap 1 62min it didnt feel that fast and i was really happy with it. 2nd and third lap got progressivly slower. Started getting cramps right around mile 30 and they stayed with me throw out the rest of the race. It felt like everyone passed me on the bike and it was alittle discouraging until the end. I wasnt sweating at all andthat made me little nervouse, however I dump full water bottle on my head and body at each water zone. Felt really good after the ride All in all I was happy with alot faster ride than last year.

God I hate Running!!!
What would you do differently?:

Nothing, I am really happy with the first 40 miles of my bike. Now i know when I hit the Oylmpic course I can ride so much faster..

After writing this I just remember that I didnt take my salt tablets during the entire race. darn-it
Transition 2
  • 04m 43s
Comments:

Got into T1 feeling OK, change over was good but I was really dreading the run.
What would you do differently?:

Still need to run into and out of Transition.. but why? I had 13.1 miles of running, why wold I want to run an extra 200 meters?
Run
  • 3h 27m 27s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 15m 50s  min/mile
Comments:

Started off the run feeling better than I thought. 11 min mile for the first and 12 min for the second mile. Was really happy. Right around 3.5mile I felt the strain painful strain in my left achillis. I have been nursing this achillies for the past 6months and Im straining it again. Mile 4 through the rest of the race I was only able to run 100 meters and have to walk the rest. Geez, I think everyone and there mother pasted me. By the end of the race my achillies was swollen to the size of my calf. Really wanted to finish in under 7hrs but I would have had to have a great run, for me, in order to do it. Still with walking as much as I did and all of the cramping I was having I only missed my run goal time by 22 minutes... Damn.
What would you do differently?:

Need to heal from the achillies injury before I can reach my run gaol. But I hate running anyways so Bite me...
Post race
Warm down:

Waddled across the finish line, look and found my wife and friends, grabed a bottle of water, waited for the rest of the BT'ers to finish..

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Cramps @ mile 30 on the bike and strained achillies on the run.

Event comments:

All-n-all this was a great race. I beat my time in both the swim and bike and know I coud have done so much better in the run. But it is what it is... Bike; nutrition only four gu's all day, I finish my Infinit in both bottles but dumped my thrid to replaced it with water. Wow, tasted so good.... Run stayed with 8oz of XOOD and switched between water and coke, it actually kept me focused and happy.

My wife who was/is due in November was there with our daughter. With all that walking around it must have triggered something becuase later that night we ended up at the Hospital to give birth to our second daughter 7 hours later... So the day after SOMA my daughter was born. Boy Im tired..

This will be my last 70.3 HIM. I like the Olympic distance better.



Profile Album


Last updated: 2009-04-05 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:47:23 | 1931 meters | 02m 27s / 100meters
Age Group: 113/121
Overall: 567/616
Performance: Good
Suit: Long John Blue Seventy
Course: The swim takes place in a man-made lake that is very calm. Retangle shape
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 71F / 22C Current:
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting:
Waves: Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 06:36
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Average Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: No
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed:
Biking
03:16:59 | 56 miles | 17.06 mile/hr
Age Group: 116/121
Overall: 584/616
Performance: Good
Wind: None
Course: 3 laps aorund a Crazy U-Turn course thoughout Tempe
Road: Smooth  Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Average Hills: Good
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 04:43
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
03:27:27 | 13.1 miles | 15m 50s  min/mile
Age Group: 118/121
Overall: 593/616
Performance: Bad
Course: 2 loops around Tempe Town Lake.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5] 4