Kinetic Half - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I felt really good in the swim. My goals were to try and stay on the path, and just keep good form. The water was super smooth, and a lot warmer than I was expecting. The sun was a little blinding on the way in, but I made it to the beach just fine.

Nothing, was very happy with my performance given my lack of training. Heck, I'd probably be super happy with this time even if I had trained more.

Not used to wetsuits and I was a little worried about getting it off based on my practice runs with a dry wetsuit at home, but with a little water, the wetsuit slid right off. Transitions are always slow for me, and I was in no hurry either. Made sure I had everything I needed and made sure I didn't throw my stuff all over my spot in the transition. Helmet on, and off to the longest bike ride I've ever ridden.

There's lots of room for improvement, but I was fine with taking a nice slow transition.

My longest rides before this were 2 48mile rides. The first one hurt, the second one hurt less. My first goal for this ride was to just race my own race, and not burn myself out too much. My second goal was to try and nail down my nutrition as I'm really preparing for B2B Full in October. I accomplished my first goal, although I really think I could have pushed a little harder. I for the most part followed my nutrition plan, although I dropped one of my gel packets. Lucky for me, I didn't really need it.

I really think I can push a little harder on the bike, but as you will read, it's probably a good thing that I didn't push much harder than I did.

Took my sweet time. Was a little nervous about the run coming up, so I took it easy and made sure I had everything I needed.

Nothing at all

My injury that had limited my training was a knee problem that usually flares up after 3-5 miles, so I had a plan to run slow, keep my impact to a minimum, and walk the aid stations but hopefully run the entire course. It was a 3 loop course, and the first lap felt great. Early on in the second lap I decided to take 1 min walk and stretch just to keep everything loose. Finished my stretch and started running again. About a mile later I started getting some muscle cramps both in my left quad and in my right calf.

I took another break to stretch and everything was fine for about another mile. From this point on, the race turned into a struggle against cramps. I took in water and/or Gatorade at every rest stop and stretched when needed. This turned into walking the up hills, as that was the main activator of my cramps, and running the down hills.

As I started the last lap, I started getting more cramps in my other calf, and soon started cramping in my groin, which was a first for me. I was a little over a mile from being done and I decided to give it one last long walk, and a good stretch because I really wanted to run the last mile to the finish line, but alas, the cramps were having no part of it. I did manage to run the last .5 miles or so, luckily because it was downhill.

I guess I need to develop a hydration plan. I am always hydrated in my normal routine, and made sure I was really hydrated two days out, but apparently I didn't hydrate enough during the actual race. One thing I was extremely happy about is that my knee injury didn't flare up, so the run wasn't a complete bust.

Sat down and relaxed taking in lots of cold water. I happened to be sitting right outside the massage tent, so it was easy to convince myself to spend a few bucks to loosen my muscles. All and all I was really happy with finishing, even though it wasn't the best performance.


Hydration and maybe overall flexibility. Need to research some more on preparation to keep myself from cramping. I think I can push a little harder on the bike, and I need to do some more run training before B2B.