Musselman Half-Iron Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Started in the middle back of the wave with marmadaddy. We were going to try and stick together and draft off each other, but with a bunch of identical looking people all around. I got into a pretty good rhythm and really felt kind of good for most of the swim. I didn't think I was moving along at a sub 2:00/100 pace. From the 2nd to the 4th buoy I found a set of feet to follow, but after that I kept getting cut off and never found them again. Upon entering the canal, the water warmed up and it got somewhat weedy. Worried about taking in too much water as I don't think that would have been too healthy.

After exiting the water I was surprised to see 40 minutes on my watch. I thought it would have been closer to 45. Lost a few seconds clearing fogged goggles a couple of times. Fortunately I never really wandered off course.

Swimming is not my forte and I probably wont ever have it be.

Didn't seem like it was this long, with Mike pushing me along I thought it would have been quicker.

Move faster!

Took off with Mike and felt pretty good for the first 15 miles or so. Nice steady pace keeping the effort reasonable. After turning off of 96 heading east, I seemed to struggle with the 4 or 5 miles of slight up hill. Mike passed me about here and I wouldn't see him again until the run. At the 2nd aid station I wanted to hit the porto potty, but there was not one there. Made it to the 3rd one and took care of business. Then up the hill and head back over to Seneca lake.
Made up what I thought was some pretty good time down the hill and into Sampson park and along the lake back to Geneva. But I don't think it was as good as I thought.
For the early part of the ride I bounced back and forth with this lady with an ADK Tri Club jersey on and after we left 96 I didn't see her again until the last 10 miles she came up on me and we bounced back and forth the rest of the way in. So she was either really pushing the last part of the ride or I really fell back.
Coming in off the bike Connie was there cheering me on with our friend (and personal photographer) Micheale. That at least put a smile on my face!

Other than not riding enough this spring and summer, I don't know why this ride was so bad. Maybe having the 11/23's instead of the 12/27's? Wasn't that hilly of a course. I seemed to be fighting the wind, but so was everyone else.
I think some of my problem was using the PT instead of the Garmin. Not knowing my pace I think gave me a false sense of how my ride was going. But I am not sure I had much more in the legs anyways.
Before this race next year, several 500 plus mile months are going to be mandatory!

Probably sat too long staring at the watch and the bike time. Plus once I got to the exit, Bob (rstocks) reminded me I didn't have my race number! Thanks Bob! So back I went to get it!

Too many to list!

When I finally got out of transition I felt pretty good. Stopped and gave Connie a sweaty kiss and I was off. The first 4 or 5 miles clicked by pretty quick and I felt pretty good. I was running about 9:30 pace, hitting the aid stations and grabbing a drink of water and a cold sponge. I had my fuel belt with Gatorade. Caught Mike somewhere around mile 7 just before the long gravel road up the hill. Walked a bit with him and then was off again. The rest of the race down kind of clicked by, but my time at the aid stations increased and some of the smaller up hills became walk breaks.
Mike caught back up to me with about 3 to go and tried to drag me along. I stayed with him until the next aid station (2nd from the last) and that is when the right calf and achilles started to cramp. My first inclination was to take it easy and not injure it, but decide the HTFU and try and run it in, which is probably the only thing that kept it under a 11 minute pace. Felt pretty cruddy when I crossed the finish line, but I wasn't terribly disappointed with this run.
Despite how slow the bike was, I felt spent when I started running and the first 2/3rds of the run went fairly well.
The other fun thing on the run was Connie and Micheale. Micheale lives in Geneva and knows it well. 4 or 5 times over the course of the run they would pop up, cameras ready. That always put a smile on my face!

Obviously I would have liked to ran the whole distance, but I am not disappointed. My run fitness is all that kept this from being a total disaster.

Sat in the kiddie pools with Dudley and Mike. Knowing now that I had 596 other sweaty bodies in there before me makes me wonder if I should get a shot or something!


I was supposed to be doing LP next week. Due to life (mostly work) getting in the way this spring I dropped that and signed up for this race. I knew I wasn't prepared for a fast race, but I feel I played the cards dealt me as best as I could this year. All of the work things that got in the way are positive. Some personal distractions the last couple of weeks may have had me distracted, but I doubt anything in the past 2 weeks impacted this race much.
I finished, I had a ball, and I didn't wind up in the med tent. Add in the fun of racing with some good friends, seeing them meet their goals, plus meeting new friends is what this is all about.

There will be other chances and other races, but the memories of each race are unique, regardless of the finishing time.


Nice race run by good people that know what they are doing.