Ironman 70.3 Branson - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

This was my first running start, and I was afraid I would catch a lot of water in my googles. Fortunately this didn't happen. I was in the front line so I had a straight shot into the water. I immediately had clear water and settled into a very comfortable pace. I started catching previous wave very quickly and spent a lot of time navigating that traffic. I kept my eyes on another guy from my wave and tried to follow him for the whole swim. I got a bit off line toward the end of the swim, but corrected my problem quickly.

Not much. I felt great during the swim and swam strong. I need to find a better way to get through slower traffic from previous waves. My goal for next year is to be under 30 minutes for all HIM swims.

There was a steep hill directly out of transition so I walked up that to catch my breath and gather my bearings. Once on flat ground I ran to my bike which I founder easier than my last race. I packed the bag for to be taken to the finish since this the transitions were far apart from eachother. I made sure that everything was packed well and that added and extra :30 to a minute

I started out great passing people left and right. The course was very difficult and start going uphill almost immediately after leaving transition. I was feeling strong and holding a great pace for the course. I was passed by the fast bikers but felt like I was holding my own well.

Things started to go bad about 2/3rds of the way through the bike. The hills began to get significantly harder and I had to coast most of the downhills to rest. I spent a good deal of time dry heaving up the hills and got passed by a lot of the people I had passed way earlier in the bike.

I had nothing left by the time we hit mile 50. Although the last 6ish miles were downhill I could still barely push the pace. My mind hit a bad point then and I spent the last part of the bike convincing myself not to quit.

Not go out so hard on the bike. I cooked myself and had nothing left for the end of the bike.

I was very tired and needed to catch my breath. My wife was right outside transition by my spot and asked me how I was doing. I told her how bad I felt but that I was going to finish one way or another.

Nothing

This was not a fun run for me. I took a bathroom break right out of transition and soon after began to walk. At this time it became how to figure out how to get to the finish line. I walked more than I ran, but tried to run when I could. There was tons of people walking throughout the hot, humid course. Another race report reference, "Zombie Walk", and I couldn't agree more. I had leg spasms and stomach cramps off and on throughout the whole run. The crowd support was great and really helped push me along. My wife also found me 4 or 5 times on the course, her support was amazing. I saved a little bit of energy so I could run across the finish line with my arms up.

Go easier on the bike so I had energy to run.

Got in the ice cold fountain for around 10 minutes.


My major mistake was going out too hard on the bike. Had I paced myself better I think I could have gone 20 minutes faster my having a slower bike and much faster run.


This was a great race that was run very well for being the first year. I look foward to doing it next year.