MooseMan Triathlon Festival - Half Iron Distance - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Oh my God I can swim!!!!!!!!!!!! Woo freaking hoooo!!!

My ideal goal was to do the swim in 40 minutes, so when I saw my time I was ecstatic. At the Timberman half last August I was nearly DFL in my age group for the swim, and survived it with a lot of back, breast, and sidestroke to rest and catch my breath. Today I did nothing but freestyle, I had plenty of people around to draft off of, and I did not red line my breathing/heart rate or panic at any point. I felt smooth, relaxed, and it was actually fun. Guess all that time in the pool this winter paid off!

A little slower than I would have liked mainly because of the logistics of trying to get shoes and socks on while balancing on a small plastic bag so as to not soak my socks in the water and mud.

Again, comparing this to Timberman last August - averaged 18 mph there, and my goal for today was 19. Went out fast, probably too fast, on the first loop. Halfway through the first loop I was averaging over 20.3 mph, but things settled down after that. I think I did more passing than being passed, especially up the hills. By 45 I felt like I was struggling a bit more, but just tried to keep spinning. I started having my shifting problems during the first loop - if I was on the small chain ring while climbing, the chain would jump around on the cassette - pretty annoying when trying to get up some of these hills. It showered off and on, just enough to cover everything with dirt and grit and keep the road wet.

Saw Kathy and Emily part way through the second loop, still cheering enthusiastically. Thanks guys!

Definitely drank enough - ended up stopping at an aid station to use the portapotty around mile 30. I tried to go on the bike but it just wasn't happening. Some things you just can't force. Burned about a minute on this stop. Worked my way through an 8 scoop bottle of perpetuem during the ride.

Took a little extra time to change socks, which was worth it since my socks were soaked from the ride. Of course, about three steps away from my rack I stepped in some muck and sank right in, feeling water pouring into my running shoe. Sheesh.

At Timberman last year I blew up on the run and ended up walking the hills and all the aid stations, so I was hoping that today would be much better, which turned out to be for the most part. I didn't walk at all, and didn't stop at any aid stations.

Started on the run feeling pretty good except for some lower back pain - guess I pushed a little hard on some of those hills on the bike. I knew I had a very good shot of my 5:30 goal at this point, so I started out at a steady pace without pushing it too much. First mile was right around 7:30. Started having to pee again - there were people running into the bushes but I held out for the open portapotty during mile 2. Burned 45 seconds or so on this stop. Started having some intestinal cramping which would become more and more of an issue as the first loop wore on, and my miles started getting slower. I didn't eat or drink anything as I was feeling kind of sick and I was hoping things would settle down down south, but no luck. Had to make an emergency stop around mile 7-8 which ate another 2-3 minutes. Still, my overall goal time was still very reachable, so I kept a steady pace. Actually, if you take away the bathroom breaks, I had a pretty even split for the first and second loops, and without the breaks I would have run sub-8 minute miles.

Saw Max, Lynne, and Todd a few times out on the run. My wife and daughters were there when I came in off the bike and were a nice pick me up at the beginning of the second loop.

Not sure about this one - maybe the perpetuem didn't agree with me today? I really hope I can figure this one out before LP.

Had some food, then hung around to see Lynne, Todd, and Max finish. Saw Jorge, too. Nice to meet and see BTers.


As usual Keith put on an unbelievably great race, with so many enthusiastic volunteers, especially for such crappy weather.

I am very happy with how today turned out. Set a new half-iron PR by over 35 minutes. I had a great swim which has seriously boosted my confidence for LP. Even though my run ended up being a bit slower than I would have liked, I did not feel totally dead afterward, and again this race really boosted my confidence.

The tale of the tape:
Mooseman 6/06 Timberman 8/05
Swim 37:49 45:39
T1 3:00 4:00
Bike 2:53:58 3:02:22
T2 2:14 2:17
Run 1:46:18 2:04:25
Total 5:23:18 5:58:43

What a great day. Bring on IMLP!