Vineman Ironman 70.3 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Swim was great. Was bumped a few times, but nothing outrageous.

As this was my first half IM, I was a little unsure about my stamina. Could have pushed harder though in retrospect.

Bad T1. Mis-located my bike rack, had too much trouble getting the wetsuit off my ankles, then stuffing everything into a bag to be transported to T2--the bag tore.

Everything!!

Had a great bike--took off like I was doing an Olympic, though. Passed tons of people. Was averaging over 21 until about mile 30 or so, then thought I ought to ease up a little to save something for the run.

Take more nutrition during the bike. Check that my cadence computer was working BEFORE the start.

Bit of a long run into the rack area. Most everything here went as planned.

Nothing.

As I started the run, I knew I was entering new territory! Although not empty, the tank was definately in the red!! Because I had started to develop achilles pain ten days before the race, I had cut out all running at that point--this was to prove to be soewhat problematic as well.
I had planned to use the run-walk method here, and had been practicing it for several months. However, my lack of enough nutrition during the bike, my missing several run workouts, and the warming of the air were starting to play havoc. Additionally, I developed a painful blister at mile five, that started bleeding arounf mile 8-9 or so. I had a million reasons to walk lots more, but the incessant beeping of my Garmin kept me pretty loyal to my run segments--thank goodness.

Practice better nutrition on the bike. Not so many hill repeats prior to the race.

Was glad to finish. Wife said I looked much better than I did in my last marathon (I guess that is a good thing!). Was great to get something to eat/drink and site in a chair.


Lack of proper nutrition, and not enough runs leading up to the event.


Very enjoyable race. It was a good first half IM, and a real mental challenge in the end!