Beach to Battleship HIM - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

This swim wasn't what I was expecting in the least. We had done the YMCA sprint back in September on the same course minus 400 meters. That swim including the run to transition took me 26 minutes without a wetsuit. So I went into this race planning for about 30 minutes. Needless to say I was shocked when I saw my swim time.

I managed to get myself in the front of the group close to the dock. This wasn't what I had planned on doing! The current just kind of made it that way. I then resigned myself to the inevitable beating that was about to come. And it did. I got punched, kicked and lord knows what else for a short time right at the start. I managed to escape the washing machine and get my goggles cleared of the water that they had acquired in the melee.

By the time I hit the first turn buoy it felt like I had been swimming for an eternity and was getting a little worried. If that was only 400 meters then the rest of this swim is going to take forever. Luckily one I made the turn things seemed to move a little quicker. The wind was causing some decent chop in the main channel and it seemed better after the turn.

Before much longer I was surprised to see the dock up ahead. Got to a ladder and found a couple of wetsuit strippers. This being the first race that I had this experience it was kind of a comedy of errors. I was trying to get my arms out and both strippers were tugging as well. Anyway, they finally got me to follow their instructions and it was over with in a flash. Ran through the freshwater shower and hit the timing mat.

Keep swimming with the masters group. Hopefully it will payoff.

Made the run from the timing mat into the transition area which was about 300 yards. My feet were numb so the run wasn't too painful but it wasn't comfortable either. I was wishing for my swim booties!

Took the time to dry off and put on a dry jersey over my tri top. Decided against my arm warmers and gloves since I was feeling pretty warm. Put on socks and shoes. Stuffed everything back into the transition bag and ran to the mount line.

I was hoping for a much faster transition but without having done one with so many steps I think I was being a little over optimistic.

Not too much.

I should have known this was going to be a tough bike when I lost a bottle right after making the first turn. I stopped and ran back a few yards to recover it since it was my nutrition bottle. Once I got going things felt pretty good except for the constant headwind on the way out to 140. I was probably averaging 18 mph during that stretch on Military Cutoff Rd. Once I got to 140 I was able to pick up the pace a little bit and hit the first hour at a 19.5 overall. That was about the time that I got to 421 and found that headwind again.

Slowed down again and started to eat some fig newtons. Finally made it to the turn around and my glutes and lower back were not happy at all. I spent the rest of the ride on Blueberry Road just trying to stayed stretched and as loose as possible. I was looking forward to the run at the point just so I could get in a different position. Once I made it back to 421 I picked the pace up again with the help of the tailwind.

Finished with a 19.5 average speed so I wasn't too far off my goal of 20 mph. I'm not so sure that it was a good idea though since I think I payed for it in the run a little bit. I was also not used to the constant effort level that riding flat requires. I train on hills and never have really long stretches that are flat. I think the constant pedaling was what was killing my glutes and back.

Maybe pull the effort back a little bit. Do some extending sessions on the trainer in aero position to try to adapt to the flat ride.

Once again slower than I had anticipated. I didn't have too much trouble finding my bag location. I can't really remember what all I did during the time.

I'm sure that I could have been more efficient and saved a decent amount of time.

I went into the race a little worried about the run. I have had a good run training volume this year and was hoping that I could put in a good run leg. But I also knew that I could blow up if I pushed the bike too much.

I started out faster than I wanted but I wasn't too concerned since the effort felt appropriate and I knew that I would keep dialing it back to my target pace once I got everything feeling like it was supposed to. The second and third miles were a few seconds per mile faster than target but not much and I was feeling great. The section down Water St was amazing. The crowd energy was awesome and I ate it up!

At the mile 3 water stop I accidentally grabbed HEED instead of water so I went ahead and drank it even though I don't care for it. In fact I find it pretty nasty!

By about mile 4 I started to feel some indigestion coming on. I'm going to blame the HEED! But in reality I'm not sure where it came from. But it hit hard and I had to take my first walk break. Things just weren't sitting right in my stomach and everything I took in just seemed to make it worse. So I stopped taking in all nutrition after the mile 5 rest stop which I knew wasn't the ideal thing to do but I couldn't think of anything else to do.

I was able to run up until probably mile 8 before I needed another walk break. I knew that I was quickly running out of energy without taking on any calories. And by this time the ball of my right foot was in some significant pain and I couldn't figure out why! After that point I used a run/walk strategy until I crested the last bridge and finished strong. My stomach seemed to get a little better and I started taking in Pepsi at mile 10 which helped get me going a little better.

I knew that I was going to be close to beating my goal of sub 6 so once I got to the top of the last bridge I knew that I could finish it out running. I passed several people on the run into the park and was able to finish with a smile on my face.

Ease back on the bike some. Work on nutrition more. And I finally figured out why my foot was in so much pain after I finally got back to the condo. I had worn through the covering on my orthodic!

Walked around and drank water and chocolate milk. Waited with the parents for my wife to finish. Got to cheer her on coming through the line. She did awesome out there and better than she though she would. I was glad to see her finish so well. A camera man filming for PPD got a shot of me cheering her on. Maybe I'll be famous!


I knew that bike my bike training was lacking this year. I just didn't have to volume that I needed to be able to race this the way I wanted to.


What a great race. It is kind of a pain having to worry about all the logistics of separate transition areas but they do a great job keeping things organized. I'm considering coming back for the full next year but I'm going to wait for the soreness to subside before I make any rash decisions!