Beach2Battleship Iron Distance Triathlon - Triathlon

This was a great swim for me. I felt strong and comfortable the entire time. There was a little bit of contact most of the way but nothing too bad. The sun coming up to the right was beautiful, but a little distracting. My feet got a little cold even with the booties on but I am very glad that I bought them the day before the race! My watch said 1:22 when I got out of the water.

Absolutely nothing!

Wetsuit strippers are the best. Someone even unzipped my suit for me as soon as I got out of the water. Some people were leaving their wetsuits on for the run to T1 because of the cold, but I decided to just risk it. It was freezing when my suit came off! It had probably warmed up a degree or two from the start!! I had shoes stashed for the run as it was 400 yards on rough pavement. I spent a little extra time in the hot showers because it felt so good. The timing mats were just past the showers. And, much to my surprise and joy, they were handing out warming blankets! That made a huge difference in my comfort!
I thought that I hurried once I got to the changing tent, but my time surely does not reflect that. According to my watch, I was actually there about 10 minutes. The tent was so crowded it took me a while to find a spot to change. I dried off the best I could and put on so many clothes it was ridiculous. Most people I saw were completely changing so I saved some time by leaving my tri suit on. I have never seen so many naked buts and boobs in one place!!

Be faster.

As this was my first full, I wasn't sure how much to push. I kept telling myself to slow down on the first half. I could have gone harder. I did stop at SN and again thought I hurried, but was there for almost 10 minutes. I took off my tights, jacket and fleece jersey, and put on an unlined long sleeve jersey. My hands (with full gloves and hand warmers) warmed up at about mile 20. I threw out the hand warmers at the second aid station. My feet warmed up just before SN. I stopped twice to pee during the first half on the side of the road so that took another few minutes.

Push harder as I feel like I could have gone faster without it affecting my run.

Handed off bike to volunteer and called out my number. Someone handed me my bag. I took off my leg warmers and changed shoes. Went and used the real bathroom, where I realized I still had on my bike jersey. I had already tied and knotted my bag shut, but a nice volunteer took my bag and my jersey and took care of it for me.

When I left the convention center I felt great! I saw Tom just outside cheering me on! I fell into a groove easily and just started ticking off the miles. I did tell myself to slow down a few times as I was afraid that I was going too fast. I wasn't sure what to expect as my longest run up to now had been 19 miles. The first lap was great but I was beginning to feel tired. About mile 20, my right hip really started to hurt and it was hard to run. That is where I started walking more than planned. I added another short period of walking during each of my run intervals. I was able to keep going that way and finish. At about mile 22 I realized that I was going to finish. Not only finish, but finish under my goal time. That helped me to try to ignore the pain in my hip and keep going!
My plan was a gel every 3 miles. I kept this up through mile 15. When I hit mile 18, the thought of another gel was just not appetizing. My stomach was not upset or anything, I just did not want another gel! I switched to Coke and Mt. Dew, which I had at a few aid stations, but I didn't like the carbonation. I tried one cup of chicken broth but it didn't do anything for me. I tried pretzels and they were fabulous! So, I switched to water and pretzels at each aid station until the end. It worked very well for me.

Nothing. I feel like this was a well-executed run given that much of it was uncharted territory!

Wrapped up in a heat blanket and put on my PJ bottoms to keep warm. Tom was right there at the finish line waiting for me and cheering for me. His smiling face and the pride he had for me were the best things of the day.
I was a little disappointed that I waited about 25 minutes and still no pizza.