Pigman Triathlon - Long Course - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I got in the water and I felt good. I'm not sure what else to say about it, I just had a rhythm for the whole swim. For a while I was just following all the swimmers because I never saw any buoys. After a while I realized I was way off course and had to head back over to the course. Coming up on the first turn buoy I saw the light from the safety boat. All I could think was "the buoy has got to be close then!" got me pretty excited I was a third done.

I made that first turn and everything cleared up. The fog just was gone and you could see the whole way, which was a ways. I was going nice and easy the whole time. When somebody came past me I would jump behind them and draft for a little while. I even cut down on my breathing knowing that as long as I saw people on both sides of me I was going in the right direction.

As I made it to the second turn I knew it was almost over. I started to get concerned because I almost could feel my legs cramping. Probably because I hadn't had nutrition for over an hour with the delay. I started to power with my arms on the way in. Coming into the last 50 yards I remembered how flat the shore was so I knew I could swim pretty far up before I needed to get up. A lot of people got up as soon as possible and I passed them because of that. Got out and saw my time on my watch and was shocked. I thought I really blew the swim open, I guess not.

Go harder. Possibly wear wetsuit to help go faster? Was worried about getting hot and having trouble breathing.

Came running up and saw that a lot of people were walking! I thought this was a race? Helped me put it into perspective that just being able to do the whole thing is quite an accomplishment for anybody so I should feel lucky I'm out here.

5th fastest T1 of the whole race. I should go pro in T1s. I do really well.

If I could put my flask on my bike so I don't have to put it on in T1 would help out a lot.

I had a few things to keep in mind for the bike:
Eat, eat eat.
Start out easy, negative split.
Easy on the hills, watch for wind.
Drink lots and eat.
Save it for the run!

I know I'm a runner, I need to play my strengths. I get out of the water and I just want to take off, I really was prepared mentally though today. I got out on the bike and kept it very casual. The wind wasn't even a factor at all. I remember at about mile 3 I started thinking about how I had school the next day and I had to make myself focus on the moment. Drinking lots and lots. I made it a goal to get through a bottle between each bottle feed. I was so hungry getting out of the water I actually started my nutrition early, I'm glad I did too.

I made my way to the first bottle feed and got ready. Never done this before, should be interesting. Prepared ahead of time and emptied one of my bottles into my aero drink so I could just toss the bottle and replace it. Throwing bottles has never been so fun! Grabbed the bottles and kept going, whew nice job.

Next up, the hills. I made a note to take every hill easy so that I could hit the last hill with some energy. I kept my cadence up and made the hills without any effort. I was a little concerned about whether I was shifting up enough once I got to the top of hills to pick up speed though. Passed Tim on the first set of hills, he started about 10 minutes ahead of me.

As we came near the second bottle feed we hit some loose gravel I wasn't ready for. Almost went over. After the bottle feed though, I had a car get on the road right in-front of me and drop to about 18 mph. Now, I was going about 20-21 at this point so I was a little worried he was slowing me down. As we came up to an intersection the volunteers tried to wave the car along but he came to a stop! Two other riders and I had to try and avoid this guy and sure enough he sped off right when we tried to go around him. Then one of the cyclists passed me on my right. This got me a little frustrated and I took the next hill pretty hard. Had to settle myself back down so I could focus on my plan.

The rest of the bike went pretty smooth after this. Stuck with my plan, ate my food. At the third bottle feed I dropped one bottle and almost crashed because of it but kept going. I passed John Little on the bike and gave him a hard time about not going hard. He said it was snack time so I sped off. As we neared the last ten miles I started to realize how much I had drank, I really needed to pee. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't make myself pee on the bike. I'm sure everyone behind me thought I was weird. With about five miles left I started to feel my legs.

The last hill killed! I though I had saved enough for it but it was still tough. Once you got to the top of it you still had to climb up into the park. Luckily there was an aid station cheering us on there so I took off with excitement to finish the bike.

I need more bike miles. Still young, just got to be patient. Maybe learn to pee on the bike.

Hardest part of the race for me. I want to hit transition hard but I know what lies ahead of me, half-marathon. I got everything off and just grabbed everything and ran. Put stuff on as I went. Finished with top 25 T2. Had fastest T1 and T2 for age group!

Nothing, went well.

Game Time! This is what you've been saving up for the last 3:20! I started out fast, faster than I wanted but it felt good. I was running 7:15 along with everyone else. Already I could feel the heat starting to pound on me. I had seen Garret, Adam and Wes out on the run but not Sarah. I was worried where she was.

When I got to the first mile I put some ice in my suit. HEAVEN! It felt so good that my legs got a little back in them to go. I started picking people off right away. As we neared the exit of the park I started thinking about what Mia told me to do to keep cool. As I got to the aid station I grabbed some ice in my hands and went. This felt amazing! I suggest it to everyone! We made our way down the big hill. I told myself that once I got to the bottom I would kick it into high gear so I took my last easy breath as I made my way down.

Along the way I saw Sarah walking so I donated some of my ice to her and told her to start running with me. She picked it up a little bit but I had already kicked it up as well and was gone. A little ways ahead I found Wes as well. Gave him a few of my ice pieces and kept on going. I made it a goal to wish everyone good luck as I went by, we needed it out here!

I checked my watch and it was reading 7:40s. Uh oh, I need to be doing 7:10s so I kicked it up. Right when I started dropping to 7:20s I could feel my legs ready to cramp up. I tried to do a little stretching as I ran but I felt like my legs were taunting me, "Yeah do that one more time...." so I had to stop and settle for my 7:40s pace. Each aid station I grabbed some ice for my suit and hands. I also took some heed which helped with my legs the further we went.

The heat never got to me. Holding the ice was probably the best choice I made on the run. I saw Garret running the other way with Adam right behind. Daniela wasn't too far behind them so I got a little excited that I was right behind them. I made my way to the turn around and headed on back. The whole run was easy for me. I didn't feel tired at all. I basically had to settle for the speed my legs would allow me to go without cramping. The further I went the faster I could go. As I made it to the big hill I ran into a guy who was at-least 65. We chatted a little before we hit the hill and took it head on together. We grabbed another guy on the way up so the three of us fought it for a while. All I told myself in my head as I approached the hill was "Benton St, Benton St" because that is what I do my hill workouts on and it is quite a hill. About halfway up the hill I broke away from the other two and I felt good. With two miles to go I was almost there! The older gentlemen passed me at the aid station so I just kept an eye on him. I turned back to find our other guy and he was gone. I was on my own the rest of the way.

Right before the last aid station I had a realization, I hadn't peed! I couldn't hold it back anymore and it just all came out. Luckily it was about 50 yards away from an aid station so they didn't see, would have been awkward....As I was coming into the last mile a girl on the side was cheering me on and said, "Nice job, looking good" so I felt inclined to reply, "Thanks, I've been working out." I thought I was pretty funny with that. As I got to the end I passed a team runner and made him pick up the pace and run with me. Once he got going we never stopped. Soon we were running 7:30, then 7:00, all of the sudden I look at my watch and were going 6:20! It was an incredible feeling! I took off with about 50 yards left probably going sub 6:00 to finish strong!

I'm not sure what caused my leg cramping. I would have liked that to not happen.

Massage! XS Energy Drinks! So nice to finally stop moving! I had to keep walking before they took off my time chip because I didn't want to cramp up. Afterwards I basically found some shade to cool off.


Experience and a little more nutrition.


Race was set up very well. Everything cleared out very quick. I would have liked to see them try and have something for the spectators to keep them occupied while we were out racing but that was very minor.