5430 Long Course Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Pretty uneventful swim. Lined up in front on the outside. Drilled it for the first few hundred meters and then settled in. Not too much jostling compared to recent races. Got to the first bouy and didn't have a decent set of feet to get on so I started sighting on every 8th pull. Started catching the previous wave at the second turn and after that it seemed like the course was littered with people to swim through. After the final turn bouy it was like rush hour traffic. Swam all the way in until my hand hit ground, stood up, hit my watch and saw my lap split at 34:40. I was happy with that cuz I was really shooting for a sub 35 minute swim.

Not much I'm happy with my first sub 35 minute half iron swim. Although the official split includes the run up to transition.

As I was heading up to T1 someone bumped me and I thought "Dude the freaking swim is over give me some space!" Then I realized it was DickDime. Got to transition, ran straight to my bike (small personal victory in itself), stripped wetsuit to ankles, grabbed glasses and helmet while I was down there, stood up and put helmet on while I was kicking off the wetsuit, and jammed outta T1. Went super smooth.

Nothing, nada, zip, zilch!

Just after transition I passed my good buddy Mark Dillard. He looked great despite having run over 34 miles the day before (totally nuts!) Pressed on and Dime passed me at the first hill. My first instinct was to press forward and stay the legal 3 bike lengths behind him and hold steady until my heart rate came down. He was stomping hard and I said to myself that I really need to just race my own race. So I settled down and let him go. I had a hard time getting into a groove and felt like I wasn't capable of throwing down the watts I normally push for this distance. I'm not sure why but I'm speculating that it has something to do with how much training I did leading up to this race and not being fully recovered. I also raced and won the short Splash & Dash on Thursday night so that may have contributed to my fatigue. Either way this was not a break out performance for me on the bike. I wanted a sub 2:18 and ended up with a 2:21. I'm a little disappointed, but I'll get over it. Lesson learned. Not an "A" race. When I get to Clearwater I will be firing on all cylinders.

Arrive with fresher legs.

Went smoothly ran straight to my spot, got my gear, and got out.

Can't complain. T2 Went well.

I knew this course was not as fast as the Kansas 70.3 run course so I prepared myself for a slower split. I did however feel a lot better on the run than on the bike. I just found a rhythm and stuck to it. Kept my turn-over high and did everything I could to stay focused. I honestly thought about nothing else but running as I hard as I my body would allow. I passed my mate Steve (Breckview) near the end of lap 1, held out my hand, and got the low 5. Shortly after that I felt a huge rock in my shoe and stopped to pick it out. I lifted my heel up and my hamstring immediately seized. I let out a yelp, dropped my leg and just ran with the rock in there. It did not hurt at all when I was running. The second lap was good. I was able to push harder than the first. Managed to get my HR a little higher. By the final few miles I was definitely at the max of my ability.

I'm happy with my run.

Jumped in the Rez and stretched my messed up hammy.


Fatigue


This race hurt. It hurt a lot more than Kansas, and I was 8 seconds slower here. But here's the weird thing... my sense of accomplishment, my satisfaction with the performance, and just the overall feeling I get from this race is higher than any previous HIM/70.3 I think it's because I was hurting and wanted to hurt more. I wanted to know that when I finished I gave everything I could possibly give. That despite placings, pr's, or long-time rivals I was able to push myself to a level that's more spiritual than it is physical. Sounds cheeseball but I'm writing this 2 days later and still feel the same way. I'm sad to see Barry is not putting this race on next year. If you've read any of my previous race reports I always talked about this race or that race being in my top 5 or top 10. 5430 Long Course is my #1 favorite race and now it's gone :( Oh well I still got the Pikes Peak Marathon this weekend! See you guys at 14,00 feet :)