Muncie Endurathon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Wow, I thought I was taking it easy in the water, and felt real relaxed, had to pick up the stroke to catch up to my feet I chased for the majority of the swim otherwise, after the initial mess, I had feet to follow and cruised. Seemed to get quite choppy the further we got down the course, probably from the incoming storms.

Time included a good hill run after exiting the water. I had 34:58 on my watch when I exited the water. And I stopped and smiled for the wife and camera :)

No wetsuits! That ruled!



Nothing

Assigned rack spot, with plenty of room! Made it nice as no late comers would cover your gear up or push your stuff around. Race officials check transition throughout race to assure your stuff is in the right spot, if not time penalty's would be assessed.

After clipping in and setting out on this ride with rain pouring down, a huge lightning bolt hit across the lake. Wow, they did say we were on our own and after driving the course yesterday I knew there were few if any spots to seek shelter. The rains were pretty relentless and just brutal at times, so bad that I was shocked I didn't have a contact wash out of my eye, and at times could only keep one eye open and watch the white line as I couldn't see a thing. I noticed the sky flashing, but tried to ignore it the best I could as I don't care for T-storms, especially while on a bike. It rained basically the entire time, either good and steady, or heavy with big time wind gust. Glad I didn't have a disc wheel, that would've been interesting. Stayed on the aero bars for the basically the entire ride, except to stand up and stretch on a couple occasions, or when grabbing some calories, swapping bottles out etc.

Besides maybe two rough miles (which was about normal for most Michigan roads), an athlete couldn't ask for an overall nicer course to ride. The roads were in excellent condition and were closed to traffic, which was AWESOME! I really enjoyed it even though the weather was less then ideal, which would be the understatement of the year!

Didn't understand the aid stations as no one offered Hammer Gels, not sure if I was suppose to yell for them, but I had my own and along with a Cliff Bar, did fine on nutrition. (1 bar, 3 gels, 3 melted endurolytes)



Nothing, it took awhile to get my HR down 8-10 miles, but it came down and I was real happy with it, and can't believe I broke 20 mph on my first HIM and I took it easy the last couple of miles as planned.

Bike computer was messed up, think it became water logged so I didn't really know how far I was or avg speed. Time for a new bike computer.

Okay, the rain had slowed and basically stopped when I arrived in T2, so I knew I had a dry pair of socks, top, hat, belt and running shoes in a garbage bag, nice and dry. So I took the time to change it all up. Never ran long in my tri top, so I didn't want to chance some nasty chafing or nip issues, so I went with the Sporthill top I like for long runs. I tried to smile for the camera again here.

With my feet nice and dry, and exiting T2, another downpour came soaking all my wonderful dryness. Felt great off the bike, this is a real nice course with some rolling hills, but nothing major. I felt great til mile 5 or so, and the sun had come out really warming things up quickly and turning it into a soupy humid mess from all the rain that had fallen. I walked briefly at every water stop to get a few ounces of water, I alternated the even mile stops with either a Hammer Gel or Endurolytes, which worked great. By mile 10 or 11, the icy wet towels were simply awesome to just rub over my head and neck. Besides the aid stations, I walked on a few occasions in the last 4 miles, but not for long.

Article in the Muncie paper, stated temps rose to 86 with a heat index of 92 during the run.

I've only ran one road half mary, and it was a stand alone at 1:58, so doing another half mary under 2:04 was great after having done the swim and bike so well.

My last few long runs were pretty flat overall, should've done more time with a few more hills. Pack a few good flavored gels in my shorts, most of the aid stations only had one flavor of Hammer Gel, banana, vanilla (both terrible IMHO, and Orange which I tolerated). I really like, rasberry, expreso, or chocolate, which they had none, of course I did get an apple cinnamon which was rather tasty.

Never ran so long with such wet feet. I thought I'd have some major issues, but everything worked out. Not sure how much further I could've run, as having wet feet for so long was starting to cause troubles for my right foot, as it's 2/3 a size smaller then the left and never fits bike or run shoes real well. I ended up with a real small blister along the bottom of my foot.

Kissed the wife, who endured a terrible day to watch me race! Walked around, chatted with Amy and her hubby. Had some liquids, gel and then grabbed a sandwich from the food tent, along with some pasta salad, and an ice cream bar.

Wish I could've waited around for Curegirl and hubby, but the wife was spent from this long day. After eating we didn't waste any time and headed for home.


For my first HIM, and hoping to break 6 hours, with a secret fantasy of 5:45, I couldn't have asked for more, and have no complaints at all. Sub 5:31, was never on the radar!

Have to thank the wife and kids for dealing with me and supporting me, and of course all the great Michigan (among other states) BT'ers that I've had the awesome chance to train with and keep me motivated. They all rule.


I was real happy to have made Muncie my first HIM. 600 participants on a great course. Volunteers were out there in the bad weather and were all great!

I thought they could've used more porta potties, and I really don't care for the swim time including a run up a hill, why not have near the beach (they were running it off of portable batteries). Whats the deal of having only one flavor of gel at the aid stations, a minimum of two would at least give someone a shot at finding something they may like. These are minor gripes that wouldn't keep me from going back. I hope to race Muncie again in the future.