Musselman Half-Iron Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

As I told a few people before the race. "The bigger the waves the bigger the advantage. ;) I loved this swim!! The water was thigh deep to start and watching the first wave go off I noticed about 1/2 of the people were walking the first few minutes. When the horn went off for our wave I started to dolphin and definitely left people behind. I started to swim when the water got to be about waste deep and I could see mussels on the rocks. The waves were big and it was tough to sight but I was holding a pretty good line by sighting off a hotel roof and knowing I had to be way to the right of that. There was a lot of seaweed floating around and I got a few nice pieces stuck on my goggles and had one that must have caught my strap because it was tickling my foot the whole swim. About 1/2 way into the 1st leg I hit a huge mass of seaweed floating. It mush have been 15' in diameter. I just kept swimming figuring that it can't go on for long and maybe it will freak the guy out who was drafting off me. Part way through the weeds I felt this slimy bump on my face and just saw the white belly of a large dead fish! Oh gross!!! I could actually smell the damn thing! I was out of the weeds shortly after that but God that was gross. I was breathing like I always do, every stroke to my left side. The waves were coming in from the left but managed to get through the leg without taking in any water. When I rounded the first buoy I had already passed some of the 1st wave and when I looked up to sight the buoy all I could see was pink caps. I decided to go a little wide to get out of the mass of bodies going in all different directions. When I finally did see the buoy I noticed a farm with 3 large fields on the mountain directly above the last buoy. PERFECT!!!! I swam a few extra yards by swimming to the outside but avoided a lot of people doing breaststroke just to sight the buoy. I had my own water out where I was and a great mark to sight so I set the cruise control and swam. I did take some water in on this leg from the waves filling up my little breathing pocket. When I rounded the buoy going to the 3rd leg I saw 1 pink cap in front of me. The waves were to my back on this leg and it was like surfing. I could feel a wave come behind me and I would swim hard to ride the wave then relax until the next one came. This leg went by very fast. I swam until I could see the sand bottom and then stood to jog a bit. I did a few dolphins, swam a bit, jogged a bit, a few more dolphins, jogged, walked, tried to swim then finally just walked and jogged until I got to the beach.

Nothing except avoid big dead fish!

T1 could have been faster. My wetsuit stuck on my ankles which cost a few seconds. Other than that things went pretty smooth, just not fast.

Practice transitions, especially getting into shoes on the bike. I wish my coach would have me work on this more. :)

The ride was nice. It may have been a little too conservative looking at my HR data but I was pleased with it. I started off with my NeverReach full, in hindsight I should have only filled it with 1 bottle and used the water stations to refill. I carried an extra 3 lbs up the hills into a headwind, blond moment! Anyway, it felt good to be on the bike and my legs felt great. The headwind going out was brutal. I passed one guy with a NeverReach and made a friendly comment as I went by. I got passed by Erik Grimm who ended up 2nd overall, he was moving!! I don't know who the next guy was that passed me but I was hanging a few hundred yards behind him until this tractor trailer went by and he shot out in the middle of the road to catch his draft. Obviously he didn't see the 2 cars that were behind the truck that had to swerve to miss him. I was still in shock that anyone would do that when I realized that the few hundred yards turned into at least a 1/2 mile. WOW!! Oh well, life is too short to be pulling stunts like that. The rest of the ride I was all alone. Except for Mike (mtimofeeff) that kept popping up with a camera. He was a riot and got some great shots of the race. I was keeping my HR in check. I actually wanted to be in the mid 150's for the race, I was there for the time I was in the headwinds but it dropped way down when I had a tailwind. The tailwind felt a lot like flying! I was cruising at 35 mph and my HR was in the 130's. In hindsight I probably should have pushed this a little more but I was comfortable. I was taking in a hit of gel every 20 minutes and constantly sipping from the NeverReach. Last year I ran out at 45 miles or so and I wanted to be better hydrated this year. This year I ran out before the 30 mile mark, I used the aid stations and refilled on the fly. I love the NeverReach!! Hydration was good, nutrition was good, everything was going well. I went by a few horse and buggies and waved to the kids in the windows and said hello as I went by. How many races come equipped with Mennonites? That was a treat! The ride along the west side of Cayuga Lake was slow! The wind coming off the lake was relentless and I saw 14 and 15 mph a few times. I had a good climb going over to Seneca Lake then downhill and through Sampson State Park. The road in the park was a bit rough but it really didn't slow me down much. I passed the lead swimmer out of the water going through this section, he didn't look so hot and was not very talkative. I had a tailwind home and took advantage of it. When I got to the last turn before transition I took my feet out of my shoes. Jumped off me bike at the dismount line taking care not to get my feet caught in the spokes. ;) Overall nutritionally I took in 1 cliff bar, about 96 oz of water, 20 oz of Gatorade and 6 gels.

Probably push a little harder. I was moving pretty good but my HR data shows I wasn't working hard enough.

The flasks dumped out of my fuel belt and I decided to leave one gel flask behind. I had 6 gels loaded in the other flask and had 20 oz of Gatorade in 2 flasks. I took some time putting socks on getting my race belt on and hat on. Overall, for me, not bad.

Practice transitions. :)

My legs felt great coming off the bike. My back was a little tight but I knew that would loosen up. It was great to see my coach, Kevin (t3coach1), on my way out of T2. He looked pretty psyched and told me something about fast feet and steady pace. I heard steady pace and set the cruise control for 7:25. The volunteers and fans on the course were great! They were out there in the pouring rain with umbrellas turning inside out handing out water. I had to take a sponge from one of the kids, it cracked me up he was handing out sponges when everyone was soaked from head to toe. One boy had such a good sales pitch for Heed that I almost took some. YUK!! A few guys passed me and I congratulated them and low fived each one but there was no way I'm going to try to keep up with any runners. I made comments to all the volunteers and thanked them for being out there. I was having a blast. When I got to the 10 mile mark I looked back and didn't see anyone. I picked up the pace just a bit and kept checking every few minutes just to see if anyone was closing. At the 1 mile mark there was someone about a 1/4 mile behind me. It didn't look like he was running too fast but I picked it up anyhow. Each time I checked he was the same distance away and I cruised in the last 1/2 mile to the finish. I was surprised to see 4:39 on my watch. I PR'd the race on a day that the conditions were anything but ideal. It was great to see my son Matt coming into the final stretch. Kevin, my coach, and Marmadaddy with his kids were at the finish. I was psyched and extremely pleased with the race.

To actually enjoy a 1/2 IM and have as much fun as I did the whole day I can't say that I would do anything differently. Looking at my HR data I know I could have pushed a lot harder and been more competitive but then I may have tripped over the finish line and had a finish that you only see on TV! :)

ICE BATH!!!!!!!!!! OH YEA!!!!! Walked over to the ART therapists and hed them work me over a bit. Had some fruit and ice cream. I started to get cold and went back to the dorm to change.


Nothing other than pushing myself a little harder. This race gave me a lot of confidence going into IMKY training.


This has got to be one of the best races in the country. Jeff Henderson does a phenomenal job at making this race the best. There are as many volunteers as participants and the variety of food at the aid stations is incredible. You would think you were at an Ironman event only better!!