Persona Oliver Half Iron - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I wasn't as freaked out about the swim this time and just decided I would stay calm and do my best to get through it. Had major issues sighting. A couple of times I was ushered back onto course by the kayakers. About half way between the 2nd and 3rd buoy I started getting passed by the 3rd wave green caps. That was scary. Lost both earplugs, which typically would have been tragic, but somehow it didn't bother me. Swallowed quite a bit of water along the way.. but just kept swimming. Was able to stay in freestyle all of the way and didn't have to resort to sidestroke or breaststroke like in the past, but there was a woman in front of me doing breast stroke without putting her head in and she stayed in front of me the entire time. Keeping my head out may have been faster so at least I wasn't weaving so much. I was second to last in my age group...

I can't swim fast, but I know I can swim faster than this. Need to work on open water swimming and sighting. Should probably rejoin the "masters" class at the Y, which is more like lessons.

First race with wetsuit strippers. That was fun! It was a long run barefoot to the transition area. Wondered if I needed a long sleeve shirt, arm warmers or a jacket, but decided to go without. Good decision.

Not much, everything seemed laid out well. Could have ran a bit faster from the water to transition.

Felt really good on the bike. Once I got out of the water, I knew I would finish the race. I decided to wear my red Sheebeast top, which I've worn before in races, stuffed the pockets full of Hammer gel flasks, powerbars and clif shots. About 2 miles into the ride everything came flying out of one of the pockets! Was a bit concerned but was glad to have the other pocket full. Then about 5 minutes later everything went flying out of it. Realized that in the past I've used gel packets in that jersey and not flasks, which were apparently too slippery to stay in the pockets. Felt bad about littering on the course and that other racers had to dodge all of that. Was able to pick up gels and hammer bars at aid stations luckily. Really enjoyed the ride and found myself smiling a lot. Played leap frog with a number of people but generally passed people. There was only one real hill, which was short. Ate a total of 2 gels, maybe 3, a hammer bar and 2 bottles of perpetuem. Was able to stay in aero most of the time. Began to realize that I may be able to hit 3 hours on the bike and that became a goal. Original bike goal was 3.5 hours. Then started dreaming of breaking 6 hours total. This became my mission for the rest of the race. Oh there was a truck blasting music at several points on the course with a little boy dancing every time I went by. That made me smile. At about 5 miles to the finish I was playing leapfrog with a tall blond strong older woman and she said in a friendly tone, "Almost done, eh" and I was smiling in agreement and then simultaneously we both remembered.. "except just a little run.." "Details" she said. :)

I had to stop completely at one of the aid stations to restock gels and bars. Grabbed a gatorade and tried pouring it in my aerodrink without taking off the lid. That was stupid. I had hammer gel and perpetuem and gatorade all over everything during the whole ride and was so sticky. Does this happen to anyone else? Besides that, I think this effort was just right for me. Much faster than I expected!

This seemed fine. Put two hammer gel packets in my pocket. When I started running out of transition I almost went down. I've heard people talk about this, but I've never really experienced it so much, my legs really were like noodles for a minute or so!

Probably didn't need both a visor and sunglasses. It was overcast. It was sort of automatic to put them both on.

Had to stop at the first outhouse out of transition and had to wait maybe a minute or two, may have overhydrated a bit on the bike, but better than the opposite. First mile my calves were pretty tight, but then felt good for the next 5 or 6 miles. Was surprised at my pace. First mile was under 8 minutes then averaging 8:15 or so until the half way mark. Need to download Garmin stats. Ate a gel at the half way turnaround. Started feeling a bit tired at this point. Mainly my legs were just heavy. It was really nice having all of the people around and aid stations everywhere. Tummy felt good the whole way, no cramping, nothing. Tried to push it the last mile or so and finally cresting the final hill when I saw that I had two minutes to reach my goal of 6 hours!

Probably could have paced myself a bit. Started out too fast and pace slowed in the second half.

Walked back to transition. Loaded up my bike and showered at the community center. Post race lunch with Jerry and then watched the awards.


My swimming sucks.. as usual. Besides that though I'm super happy!


This was my first half ironman. I think the cool weather and lower elevation were to my advantage. It was really inspiring to see so many people out doing their best and amazing to see the high quality top athletes. Proud of myself for accomplishing this and excited to try again and try to do better!