Gulf Coast Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

From what the top male pro and other experienced Iron distance triathletes said, this was the worst swim conditions they'd ever seen. We started with the buoys to our left, and the current was going into the buoys. So instead of starting near the buoys and getting pushed into the middle of the rectangle, I started about 50 yds outside the buoy line. I started slow as to not jack my heart rate up. Within the first 100 yds, I took a serious elbow right to the temple. It gave me a headache for the next 5 minutes or so. As I made my way to the first turn buoy, I noticed that for some reason I wasn't being pushed in by the current like everyone else was. So when it was time to turn, I had to swim in towards the buoy. My navigation for this swim was horrible. I think it was due to a combination of horrible sighting conditions and a lack of sighting skill on my part. So I just battled through the rest of the swim and finally made it to shore. I probably ended swimming more like 1.6 miles instead of 1.2. That's how much I was zig-zagging.

#1, try not to get elbowed in the head. Sight better, no matter what the conditions. Then again, some things are out of your control.

For some reason, I was drained after the swim. I had no desire to run to my bike. My cap and goggles came off quickly. This was my first race with a wetsuit, but it wasn't my first time using it. Of course, the zipper was stuck. I had the flap pulled back, and was tugging down on the cord, but it wouldn't break loose. Thankfully there was another athlete under the showers that was nice enough to undo it for me. This was the main reason for my horrible T1 time.

Work that zipper 100 times and put grease on it before the race to make sure it doesn't get stuck.

I knew the cycling was going to be my strength in this race. I had done a bike focus in my training, at the expense of running. My legs felt pretty weak at the beginning of the bike because all the blood was still in my upper body from the swim. After about 5 miles though, I finally felt warmed up and settled in for the ride. It was mostly uneventful, besides the bridge climb and decent being fun. I knew I had to run after, so I didn't push the bike nearly as hard as I could have. My goal was to go under 3 hours, and I was well on my way to doing that, so I really just pedaled whatever speed felt comfortable. I was very pleased at the end of the bike and was confident that I didn't overdo it.

(Spoiler alert) Since I ended up having a bad run anyway, I would've pushed the bike as hard as I could have. Otherwise, the bike went perfectly.

Standard T2. Probably could've been a little quicker, but wanted to double check that I didn't forget anything.

Nothing.

The run was the undoing of my race. I had done long bricks in training and felt completely fine. I don't know what happened in this race. I was okay at best through the first 5k. After that, I struggled until the finish line. I walked through nearly every aid station. I walked sometimes in between aid stations. I even stopped to stretch a few times. It wasn't an issue of nutrition or energy or fitness (I believe). I just had nothing left in my legs. They were completely fatigued. It hurt more to walk than it did to run, but running hurt pretty bad too. I added on about 52 minutes to my stand alone half marathon. All I could do to keep myself moving forward was to think about the finish line and all the people waiting there for me.

RUN MORE MILES DURING TRAINING. Simple as that I think. And do more long bricks. I know a lot of people will disagree with that, but that's what I'm going to do. Just so there is no question as to how I will when I get to the run.

Really didn't do a warm down.


Lack of run training and the swim conditions.


Overall I am happy I finished the race. All my time in the saddle was validated with a bike split I can be proud of. I need to just let the run be a big lesson and come back next year stronger and faster.