Kinetic Half - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Felt pretty good on the swim. This was my first time using a wetsuit in a race, and it chaffed the back of my neck pretty badly. Next time I'll know to buy some body glide and put it on my neck.

We had to run down a gravel road from the transition area to the bike start, so I put my shoes on in T1 rather than having them clipped on the bike. When I put on my Garmin, I realized I had forgotten to turn it on before the race started, so it didn't finish picking up the satellites until I was out on the road. Then, it also wasn't set for auto multisport. At first, I figured I'd just wait and start it on the run, but then I went ahead and turned on the auto multisport and started it. By the time I decided to do that, I had already ridden 3 miles.

Remember to turn on the Garmin and get it set up before the race.

I wasn't sure how to pace myself, since this was my first HIM. There were a few times that I got passed, where I would normally have passed them back after a minute or two, but this time I just let them go.

I should have pushed the bike a little harder. I had a little bit too much left over at the end of the race.

I accidentally ran past my row, so I had to turn around and backtrack a little. Then, I had trouble racking my bike, because of my aero water bottle was in the way. I also decided to put on socks, which I don't normally wear. But, I figured this race was long enough, I better go ahead and wear them.

Figure out how to rack the bike better, with the water bottle in the way.

Most of the morning it was overcast, but the sun came out during my second lap of the run, and it was really hot. When the race started, it was 96% humidity but cool, but by the time it ended, it was over 80 degrees. I had a good pace on the first 4 miles of the first lap, and then I decided to slow it down a little on the second lap, and my plan was to pick it back up on the third lap, but unfortunately the heat really slowed me down. I didn't pick it up again until the final mile.

Maybe I should have kept up the intensity on the second and third lap, but it would have been hard with the heat.

Walked around a little bit, and then got in the lake to cool off.


The heat on the run, and my inexperience knowing how to pace myself for this distance.


I thought this went really well for my first HIM. I enjoyed it, and had a good race.