EnduraSport Half - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Felt like there was a little bit of chop when we were heading in on the last leg of the triangle, but not too bad.... just a bit of rolling around. Went pretty well. I was swimming strong and was getting quite a bit of contact with others, even though there were only 100 racers. Early on had someone elbow me on the right side of my goggle... thank god for goggles! But I couldn't see too well after.... and too stubborn to stop and fiddle with the goggle and loose time.

Nada.

Felt I could have done better, but an improvement over my normal.

Trim more off the legs of my wetsuit since I can't shrink my heels/feet!

Tried to start off easy, as I was immediately reminded of how NOT flat this course is. You immediately start with a nice climb out of transition to get you HR up. There are a few flat sections, but also a decent amount of up & down. There was very LITTLE support out on the course. All the turns were right turns and most had a police/fire person there. BUT... there was one intersection with a traffic light that racers went straight through... lots of traffic... and NOBODY there! Ok, fine, but the RD should at least warn the racers of this HAZARD in the briefing. And do you really need police at right turns, marked with cones and plenty of shoulder space when they could be more useful at the traffic light?? So... I nearly got turned into a hood ornament there b/c bike brakes just don't work so well in wet conditions. Was extra cautious the rest of the ride. Could feel myself fading a bit on the hills during the last loop, but held it together.

Stay away from teeny tiny races that aren't well staffed??

Yeah!

Ummmm... move a wee bit faster? really, though, I'd say <1 min is good. of course being a small race and tiny transition area makes it easier.

I felt like I was in a pretty good position, likely in contention for an AG award so I knew I needed to have a solid run. Felt pretty good off the bike and settled into a good pace. Immediately downed my Shot Bloks since I knew I hadn't eaten enough on the bike (as usual). Very nice to have something to chew on since I was STARVING! Hit the first hill and just took it easy running up. Wasn't paying good attention to the runners coming towards me so I wasn't sure of my placing. Hit the turn around and noticed the woman I had passed on the bike was <100 yards behind me. Cripes!! She looked pretty strong so I knew there would be NO slacking off. On the return leg I counted familiar looking runners and it looked like I might just be 2nd woman. Really?? 1st place was looking very strong and had at least a 7 min lead on me, no way would I catch her. I didn't look at my watch so I had no idea what kind of pace I was running other than fast and I was beginning to feel it by 8 miles. Ugh. Can I keep this up? Definitely had to push really hard to keep from slowing down, but thankfully the last mile is pretty much flat. Took a few peeks behind me as I went and couldn't see anyone... good thing too b/c I wouldn't be able to out-sprint anyone if they tried passing.

3rd F finished 42 seconds behind me and I never saw her coming... didn't even perceive her as a threat b/c she had been so far behind at the last turn-around. But she was running so fast had it been a longer course she would have passed me. She ran a 1:25:21 - the fastest run (faster than all the guys and relays!). Damn! And I thought I was running fast.

Nada. Best HIM run ever and not a flat course either. In fact, second fastest run after the NJ full marathon.

Chatted with the 1st F. A woman in her 50s who has done 6 IMs. Amazing! She really rocked that course. Then grabbed a drink and went to get cleaned up.


Hills?


Nice course, but lack of police/volunteers to ensure racer safety on bike course.

Took 21:44 off of last years time. Swim was ~5 min faster (no wetsuit last year though), bike was ~7.5 min faster and almost 9 min off the run. Despite wearing a wetsuit, my T1 time was faster too. Of course, I really only did 1 month of swim/bike training for last years race.