Gulf Coast Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

It was a little disconcerting to see a guy in the wave before mine go down and for Medical to be called. I didn't know what was going on, and feared the worse. Heart attack or whatever. I saw that he was breathing and although in pain, his injury was not life-threatening. Apparently he popped his shoulder doing warm-ups. Hope he is okay.

This was a PR, but I just can't seem to maintain decent form and go 2 strokes per breath. The swells certainly didn't help, but I need to maintain form and not breath every stroke if I want to chop time off of the swim. But, it was a fun swim...

I have Fred Flinstone feet so I do not like running barefoot. The transition run is somewhat lengthy so I stashed a pair of shoes in the chute. Not sure if it's legal, but I saw a bunch of people do it, and I've done it before and no one has said anything.

I took my time to rinse & dry my feet off and popped a couple of endurolytes. This slowed me down, but I have come to the conclusion that saving 30 seconds at the expense of possibly forgetting something is not worth it. I need to practice transition during a long brick work-out.

I was afraid I was going to get a drafting penalty; I heard the ref's motorcycle downshift right next to me, but they realized I was on the guy's wheel for only a few seconds before I overtook him. No penalty and the ref made the right call. It was frustrating to see some Relay Bikers ride in a slipstream peloton; but I did not see too much drafting. My hydration was water - good hand-offs with the volunteers (THANK YOU!) and infinit clyesdale blend...

My bike is pretty strong, my run is weak. I tried to be conservative on the bike to save myself for the run. It didn't make that much of a difference. If I pushed a little bit harder, I could've gone sub 2:40. No major complaints. Felt pretty good coming off the bike. The shoulders were a bit sore. Not too bad.

Saw the wife while I was just getting off the bike. It was great to hear her encouragement. Changed my socks, hydrated, did a gel, put on my shoes. The nasty part of the race was just beginning. Forgot my endurolytes... that was a big no-no.
Kept my Fuel Belt (accelerade) in a soft-sided cooler. It was nice to have somewhat cold nutrition. I think future races - I'll keep powder and mix with water I get on the course. Not sure.

I had my endurolytes in a pill box in my bento bag on my bike. I took several on the bike without much of a problem. I forgot to get it and bring it with me on the run. Next time I'm going to get an additional baggie or pill box of endurolytes and put them on top of my shoes so I know to bring them on the run. Very annoyed with myself for a rookie mistake.

I am just not a good runner. I can maybe do a 2:10 on a half marathon alone, but in the heat and after the bike, my body just does not respond on the run. Not sure if it's nutrition or lack of condition or the heat or what, but it's extremely frustrating to be respectable on 2/3 of the race only to struggle so much on the most important part of the race.
I'm thinking not taking the endurolytes and the heat contributed to my tough time. I think I did 1 gel coming out of T2 and a gel at around mile 6. But with the accelerade (24 oz total) I thought I was getting enough nutrition. Apparently not.

If I want to break 6, I have to improve my run. I can't control the heat, I can't control the lack of shade. I can control how much I prepare for a race, and how serious I am the days leading up to it. Upon reflection, initially a few beers seemed harmless on Thurs & Fri (I was on vacation after all) but I think it translated into a performance that I was capable of exceeding. I'm not going to beat myself up over it, but I won't forget it come Sept 27th in Augusta.

Light stretching. Found a chair in some shade and took off my soaking wet socks and recovered. Pizza was gone by the time I hit the tent.


The heat & forgetting my endurolytes. That coupled with maybe not being as well rested as I should've been.



Any race would be a failure with out all of the volunteers. Thank you for supporting us. I am grateful and think you all were great! The beach was beautiful, the bike course was very good. The run course was decent. I would do this again fo' sho'.

I am certainly proud of doing my 3rd Half IM in 12 month period (Fl Half May '08/ Miami-Man Nov '08 / GCT May'09) and I do this for fun and don't want to lose sight of a great accomplishment. Am I beating myself up for missing a time goal or being a little slow? A little bit. We spend a lot of time doing this sport, and we all want to do it well. I'll break 6 next time...