Big Kahuna Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Gun goes off, and we charge. It’s mighty cold (59F) and does not feel good on my face. Between the shock of the cold, and the run from the beach, I’m having a hard time getting in my groove. Eventually I find it, and start swimming easily – though I can’t see the buoy as it is nearly ½ mile away! Face and arms go numb from the cold. Must keep swimming. I start to wonder why I’m doing this, and wonder how I could possibly do an Ironman. My progress to the first buoy seems soooo slow – the downside to an out and back swim, I guess. It would have been nice to have more than 2 buoys out there to break up the swim. Had more contact with swimmers that I had anticipated. Some guy from the previous wave was zig-zagging his way through the course, and swim right into my side, grabbing at my back. I had several people grab at my feet, or not sight and swim right into me (I felt my feet make contact with something other than a hand or arm once). Finally the beach – and crowds – came into view. Hooray!! I swam at far as I could then got up and hauled ass. Tearing off my cap, goggles, and suit as quickly as I could. Up the beach, then off course to grab my sandals (with my mom trying to get me to stay for pics! HA!), then jogged up the sidewalk to T1.

Got to T1 and saw big tubs of water – not sure what they were for, but I dunked my feet in anyways! As usual, had a heck of a time getting my wetsuit off (I blame it on my well-muscled calves from trail running!). Struggled with my socks, then with my gloves (I like comfort), then ran out.

Put gloves on bike.

The bike started right at the base of a small incline over a bridge. Not big, but the mount line was right where the road started to go up, and the photographers were at the top. It was nice having all of the intersections managed by cops – and I tried to thank as many as I could. Finally got out to Hwy 1. Man, it was packed out there. This is the biggest race I’ve done – at the start they said there were 1,100 people – and it was evident on the bike course. At times, it was impossible not to be in draft zones, and I was afraid of USAT officials giving me a time penalty. I also saw a few people who looked like they were drafting on purpose. Grrrr. Some of the rollers were bigger than I had remembered, but I realized that I was also going faster than when I had previewed the course, and not stopping either. The flat section seemed to go on for too long. Around mile 18, my bubble of “I’m doing great!” popped when I was passed by a guy on a mountain bike, with fat nobly tires, toe-clips, and aero-bars! He was one heck of a biker! Got passed by a LOT of people – but men 35+ had all started in later waves, so it was to be expected. At the turn around, I check my watch, I was a good 10-15 minutes ahead of my predicted time (6:10-6:15). Hmmmm… was 6:00 in reach? I tried to keep a hard effort, but I could tell I’d pushed a bit too hard on some of the rollers, and hadn’t been eating or drinking much. Scarfed down some Shot Bloks, and continued on. They kick in, and I was able to pick things back up. Saw the sign marking 40 miles, and was so relieved. I knew I’d be back at T2 in under an hour. Checked the watch again, it was only 2:56 into the race. Yeah, 6:00 was gonna happen… but then I realized that if I held my pace, and turned in a good run, I could get 5:45. Hmmmm… Flew through town and into T2. I caught my parents by surprise, since I was 20+ minutes ahead of the times I’d told them.

Quick. Changed shoes, grabbed everything and ran like I was being chased.

The run didn’t start out quite as bad as I had expected. I was moving around 9:40-10:00 pace, but felt OK. I knew I’d have to push it to 9:00 if I was going to go for 5:45. Blew through the first AS, grabbed some shot bloks at the second. Stopped at 2 AS to get a refill on my water bottle – which the volunteers were great about. Out to the tiki statue, turned around, and headed back. Began picking up the pace, and passing lots of people. I was really flying the last 3 miles, getting in some 8:20s. Back into town, around a corner, and onto the beach. Ugh! As soon as I hit the dry sand, I felt like my pace dropped to 15:00. Nooooo! Ran along the hard pack until the finish chute – and back to the dry sand. Saw my Dad and sister – and heard them cheering. Crossing the mat ~10 yards from the finish, I see the official clock: 5:54:48 (my wave was 10 minutes after the start). Oh so close! So hard to do a finish sprint in sand! I passed under it just as it ticked over to 5:55 (5:45 for me)!

Wandering through the thick sand.