Mooseman Triathlon Festival - Half Iron Distance - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The rain started just before the swim. Definitely not my best swim. However, the course seemed extremely long. The water actually got pretty choppy the deeper we got out and I was pretty surprised about that. I had a hard time getting into it during the swim and I think I could have focused on giving a stronger pull on my strokes. However, I did go a little easier than normal knowing the bike course I had ahead of me.

The course was a little deceiving. The buoys shifted out wider as it went out and back, which I didn't realize before hand. If I had known, I would have started out more to the right.

I had a good spot in transition so I was pretty happy about that. I got my wetsuit off very quickly and was really happy to do so. However, I'm not sure if my breath hit my sunglasses when I was putting them on, but as soon as I put them on, they were completely fogged. As a result I took them off and ran with them in my hand for a while. The transition was very muddy and I actually had a hard time keeping my bike upright. I actually bumped into a volunteer by accident with it. Oops! Besides that, things went well. I had my gloves setup on my aero bars and I was able to get them on smoothly on the bike so that was good.

Not have foggy sunglasses. Besides that, things went pretty well.

Avg Power: 247

Pretty happy with my bike split. My goal was to average 20 mph and I came in just under that. I'm really glad I went and did the course the weekend before because I would not have done nearly as well on it if I hadn't. I pushed on the hills pretty good, but did my best not to over do it. The hill section on the first loop was really tough (saw a lot of people walking it on my second loop through), but I battled through it. I actually felt it was easier on the second time around, which is a very good sign on my pacing. I was shooting for 275 watts average, but since there was a speed limit on the big downhill session (yes, you read that right), I did a nice brake on the long downhill section, which dropped my power output and cadence.
My nutrition went pretty well. I took a GU about minutes into the bike and was drinking about 4-6 ounces of GU 2 O every 15 minutes. I had half a Cliff bar at the 1 hour mark of the ride and the other half at the 2 hour mark. I took 3 other GUs during the ride, one of which just about 2 miles from the end of the ride.
Considering all the hills, I'm pretty happy with this. Oh yeah, let's not forget that it was raining the entire time and sometimes it felt like needles hitting you. That couldn't have helped too much although I was able to avoid most of the puddles.

Work on my climbing. I'm happy with the job I did on the hills, but I still think there is room for improvement. I think I'm finally ready to say that the bike is my favorite of the 3 disciplines.

Had a good T2. I did put a plastic bag of my shoes, socks, and hat in anticipation of all the rain so I think that helped. My feet were a little muddy from running the transition area, but I got my socks and shoes on quite quickly.

Not too most, I guess hope for dryer conditions. Oh yeah, I did knock a bottle off when dismounting so I would like to try to avoid that in the future if possible.

My run didn't go as well as I had hoped. I was shooting for about a 7:10 pace so I was about 30 seconds off, which is disappointing. I did implement the run/walk method and I'm REALLY glad I did. I did 9:40 of running with 20 seconds of power walking. I started out pretty well and did the first 2 to 3 segments (the 10 min blocks) at my goal pace. However, my left shin was really hurting right from the start, which I'm surprised about because I've never had pain there before. Nonetheless, I was able to shake it after about 25 minutes or so. I did start to cramp during the 3rd segment. I was able to battle through that cramp, but did have to walk one of the hills due to my quads threatening to spasm, especially my right one. I figured I would be better served to not try to push through that cause it could really ruin me. I slowed down by pace after that for a while, but I got a bad cramp on the second loop. I did some extra walking to get it out, but just couldn't get rid of it. However, I pushed hard at the end and the cramp didn't get any worse. I felt my nutrition was pretty good on the run as well. I switched between Gatorade and water at each water stop (every mile). I took 1 GU at a little before the half way point of the run. Looking back on it, I wish I had tried to push through it or picked it up a little earlier, but not much I can do about it now. That is over a 5 min faster run split than I did on my last HIM so I'd say that's some pretty good improvement. Nonetheless, I need to improve my run.

I think my goal pace may have been a little too aggressive after such a tough bike course and probably resulted in the cramping. I think I also could have pushed a little harder on the second loop, but the cramping scarred me too much. I'm going to continue to focus on my run and get faster! However, I'm definitely becoming a big believer in the run walk method.

Didn't do too much to warm down. I felt soo much better than I did when I finished my last HIM. I'm not sure if that means I didn't go hard enough, but I think it shows how much I fitness is continuing to improve. Did do some stretching and waited in the massage line after getting something to eat for about 15 minutes, but it wasn't moving very fast and my fam wanted to get going so I passed on it.


Gigantic hills definitely slowed my down on the bike and cramping on the run.


First off, I was really happy we got the race in. It did rain the entire race, but I was nervous they were going to have to cancel it due to the weather, especially after they canceled the swim in the Olympic distance race the day before. My goal was to come in under 5 hours, which I did not do, but considering the conditions, I'm pretty happy as it was a really tough course. I'm disappointed with my swim and run times, but it's all good as I'm still getting faster. I really liked this race and had an awesome weekend even with the rough weather.