Beach to Battleship HIM - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

water was chilly, but comfortable. i decided against booties (probably because i got so nice and warm lying in the sun before the race) and i didn't miss them. after the start i got going pretty good, and was kind of surprised when i found i was already turning. i figured there must be more than half the course left -but then i saw the finish and thought i must have zoned out or something. jumped out of the water and got some help with taking my wetsuit off. jogged over to T1 and tried to make sure all my gear found its way into the gear bag. i was really happy with the swim - thanks in a large part to the current.

nothing! this swim is great.

just awful. i am never very good at transitions though. this does include about 400m of running from swim exit to t1.

practice transitions during training.

i took a gel at 15mins in, and an energy bar 45mins later, another bar an hour after that and a gu 30mins after that. i think my nutrition worked out well, i never got light headed or anything. bottle exchange was pretty fun, even though i dropped the bottle the first time. at the turn around i averaged 21mph, then hit some wind and the HR went up, but i managed to keep it in z3 for the most part. around mile 30 mile arms started to get a bit stiff and around 45 my butt started to get sore - on my long rides this year ive never been down in the drops for so long so i think i just need to get used to that more. at mile 50 i was really ready for the bike to end, and then mile 53 on the odometer comes by and i see a sign that says mile 50, and i was really frustrated - but a little while later i saw the bridge and was relieved. the bike odometer read 56.5 at the end, so i guess the mile marker was just off a little.

they read my number wrong at first and i got directed to the wrong rack, then managed to find my rack eventually. they werent really ready for people to use the changing tent but i did anyway - i needed to get out of my tri shorts, i dont like running in those things. eventually got changed and got going.

took mile 1 easy and then decided to step it up a little, took in soda at mile 1 and mile 2 (i thought the caffeine would be good), then i had to go #2, so i took a longer break at mile 5. walked through most aid stations. i felt pretty good, and didnt want to push myself until the way home in case i blew up. at the turn around i had a moment where i thought - really only half way?? then i just started looking at people in front of me and chasing them down. this worked until about 4miles out when i couldnt really see people in front of me. at this point i started trying to calculate how fast i would have to go to break 5, and worked on keeping that goal in my head. each mile after this got worse, started feeling blisters about 3miles out (and they got real bad in the last mile). im glad the course was out and back so i could see where i was, and how much was left. at 1mile left i was sore, my feet hurt and there was the bridge, and i double checked my watch and did some fuzzy math in my head (couldnt think to well at this point i guess) and realized that i would need to finish strong and then decided its only another couple minutes. i sucked it up and finished strong, was really happy when i did break 5, i wasnt sure my math worked out.
rough mile splits: 7:54, 7:09, 7:22, 7:22, 8:40, 7:19, 7:20, 7:29, 7:31, 7:45, 7:45, 7:15, 7:35.

pizza and gatoraide.


happy with my performance, maybe i could have worked the bike a little more on the way out. definitely should have gotten on the water taxi earlier, but i wanted to stick around to get my award. my bike needs work, and my transitions (219th on T2!) - it would have sucked to not break 5 because i spent too long in transition.