Patriot Half Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Swimming is the area where I have the most to gain, but at the same time putting in tons of time at the pool doesn't translate to huge time gains on race day for me.

Our wave was pretty packed and I took a few elbows and kicks during the first third of the swim. After we rounded the first corner buoy I began to settle in.

Some racers from the wave behind us caught me, and I tried to get a draft off a few of them, but I was only able to hang for a minute or so on each.

I came out of the water feeling good and wasn't tired. I know I could have pushed a bit more, but that would have been detrimental to the rest of the race.

Nothing really. Over time and doing more volume my swim will improve, but I've only been at it for about 18 months now.

Pretty solid transition for me. No real issues.

The bike was where I was supposed to make up the time difference from the swim, and for the most part, I did.

My first lap was great, and I hit my target wattage of 265 and was averaging 24.4 mph. I was going through liquids a little faster than expected, so I decided to get another bottle of water at a bottle exchange. I had about 18 miles to go, and I had 1/2 bottle of water left.

I had already done one bottle exchange fine, but the 2nd one didn't go as planned. I'm not exactly sure what happened - it may have been that the volunteer held the bottle a bit too long or I just turned a bit too much to my right to get the bottle. Either way, before I knew it I was on the ground, sliding on my left side. My shoulder landed first, along with my left hip and forearm. I also got some nice rash on my lats and left side. My areobars took the brunt of the force on the bike - I'm glad they're aluminum!

I jumped back up adrenaline kicking in, checked the bike, grabbed the bottle that had been handed to me, and started off. 100 yards down the road, I realized I didn't have my sunglasses - u-turn, and back for the glasses. A volunteer squirted my shoulder and arm where I landed, and I was back on my way again. I was upset at my carelessness and regretting the decision to stop for the water, as I probably would have been fine on 1/2 a bottle for the remainder of the bike.

A few hundred yards down the road I looked down once I'd gotten a little settled and noticed that the bottle I had was cracked and only about 1/4 full. In a stupid act of frustration I grabbed the bottle, had the remaining water and threw it down. Bad move! Right behind me was the one motorcycle with a referee.

At this point I could have gotten more upset and pushed even harder to try to make up the penalty time. However, I realized I had about 18 miles to go and no liquids left. I decided to dial the wattage down to around 240 and not get that upset.

As a result of my stupidity, my second lap ended up around 1:13 as compared to my first lap of 1:08. Time after the fall, getting my glasses, and slowing down to not kill my run were all costly. In hindsight, I gained nothing by deciding to get the bottle at the exchange. I ended up with no water, some serious road rash, and a 4 minute penalty.

I came in averaging 255 watts on the bike, definitely lower than I'm capable of.

Not be so darn stupid!

Overall, another pretty good transition. I quickly put socks on slipped on my Kinvaras, and grabbed my hat, gels, and race belt.

My goal was to be around 1:30 on the run. However, my left hip was really starting to hurt and it was quite sunny. I was able to hit my target paces for the first few miles, and I was getting two cups of water at each aid station. About 1 1/2 to drink and the rest on me.

Heading into the run I was in 6th place overall.

The sun did a number on me and some of the hills seemed a bit bigger than expected. I was passed by two runners on the course and didn't pass anyone.

I kept looking at my splits and was realizing that I was slowly loosing time. My left hip was hurting and I just kept thinking of finishing and getting some food and sitting in the shade with a cool drink.

I simply need a bigger and longer running base. It's coming, but a year from now (if I keep up with running in the 40-50 mpw range) I should be able to do better on this course.

Got a few cold towels and ice and saw the EMT's about my crash. They treated my road rash and checked me for more serious injuries. Everything checked out OK. Then I waited for Colin to come in.

We headed over to transition, and it was only then that I realized that I had hit my head when I fell. There were only a few small scratches on the outside of the helmet, but several large cracks inside - I guess it did its job - RIP MR. aero helmet!


Crashing certainly didn't help. If the crash didn't happen I may have been very close to my 4:30 goal time.

In the future I'll definitely be a bit more conservative when getting on-course bottles.


The race began about 15-20 minutes late due to people still in registration.

Overall, I feel pretty good about my effort during the race. Crashing is never fun, especially in a race. I used some poor judgement and had to pay for my foolishness. Without the 4 minute penalty, my time was 4:33 and I was in 8th overall. Without the crash my bike time would have been faster and my run probably would have been as well, but I'll never really know.

I'll simply have to preform better and make better decisions in my next race if I want to race to my potential.

This race was the one-year anniversary of my first triathlon. I did the sprint that coincides with the half last year. Now, if I can make those same gains in my next year, I'll be quite happy!