Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Pretty uneventful swim. The rain stopped as I walked to the start! YES! Got in the chute, said Hi to Jeff P. there was about 100 other people in the wave. Put my toes on the waters edge, horn went off, and I took off. No fighting/jocking for position at all, which surprised me. I took a outside position and held it until about 400m, then hugged the buoys. The only 2 times I had to fight my position was a.) about 5mins in, some guy was riding my back, literally, arms slapping my butt! I just kicked harder and he backed off. What was strange is there was no one to either side of me, just behind/on top of me. About 5 mins later some dude decided to b-line it 90degs across the swim to a buoy, so that was annoying. Oh, and I burped about 1/2 through the swim, and I think I threw up a little... That was weird, never had that happen. In the end, nailed my expected swim time of sub 34min.

Nothing, I think I could have gone faster, but I was pretty happy with my time, effort, strategy.

OK T1 time. It was a super long area, so I had a long run in. But when I got to my bike, Jeremy and Craig were there cheering me on. That was a great surprise and a big boost. I ripped off my wetsuit pretty easily, put on my compression sucks and had some difficulty getting the strap loose on my bike shoe. They mocked me for taking so long in T1 and offered me a sandwich as I sat there struggling. Finely got situated, told them I would see them in an hour and a half (YEAH RIGHT!) and took off

Maybe have the shoes on the bike, but the rain in the morning foiled that plan.

Great bike, except for people who dont know how to stay to the right. Passed a lot of people, and was never passed by anyone behind me. Maintained my expected race pace for the most part. Needed only 1 extra water at a feeding station. I did a good job of keeping my heart low while still pushing the pace. Nailed my nutrition plan (1/2 bag of Sport beans 15miles in, 1 cliff bar for the middle 35miles, the remainder of the sport beans about 5 miles out, 3 potassium pills throughout the bike). Uneventful bike for me, which is good. Saw a lot of people with flats. I did draft a firetruck, as I rode down M-63, right next to the ref, but didnt get a penalty since I could not pass the fire truck on either side, and I was traveling faster (About 26mph) at that time then the truck (20mph). I looked at the ref and he (she?) shrugged his/her shoulders. OK then.

I could have pushed harder in some of the areas where I was only going 21mph. I should have averaged over 23mph and been around 2:24, but I am happy with my effort.

Lost a bottle dismounting, and get yelled at by a course marshall to pick it up otherwise he would give me an abandonment penalty. Ok, so I did. Ran in to T2 and missed my rack, that sucked. Went to put on my running sucks and they were soaking wet... thats not good. Got my shoes on, and when on my way. Once again, it was a long run from the bike in to my spot. But shorter from the rack to run out.

Not missed my rack, and wished for dry socks. I actually fumbled around in my bag looking for my spare set of socks, but couldnt find them, so I lost some time there.

Lets just say the first 2.5 miles I was feeling great. Then, disaster hit: Not my calves (the compression socks worked great), no muscles cramps (potassium pills worked great), not my heart rate, but my hip. This is my right hip that has quit on me for the last 2 months during my training runs. The difference being the hip typically quit at mile 8. Today, it quit at mile 2.5. I dont think I went to hard on the bike, because I have gone harder in training and the hip still took longer to hurt. I have never had hip problems before, so this is new to me and I will have to get it checked out. After mile 2.5 I would run to the water station, walk through ,get stuff to drink, then stretch. This would be my routine for the remainder of the race. I shoved cups of ice in my shorts and put it against my hip to dull the pain. People commented that I sound like Santa Claus with his bells! The only time I walked other then through the water stations was on the last hill about 2 miles from the finish. I saw Jeremy and Craig a few times, and they pushed me, especially for the last 1.1 miles. I ran that last 1.1 as hard as I could knowing the pain could not get worse and I wanted to finish strong. I ended up sprinting the final 50m against some dude, who beat me by a step! Oh well, at least I didnt give up and he wasnt in my age group. Found Jeremy and Craig, found my wonderful wife Kristen and our dog Caesar, and thanked them for all the support!

STRETCH, STRETCH, and STRETCH more during training. Thats probably why I have hip pains. I need to improve my flexibility and stretching in my hips. I also need to run longer and more often, with a more gradual increase in running distance.

My run time should have been around 1:45 or ~8:10min/miles if I had a good hip. My fitness was there, my motivation was there, my mind was there, just not my right hip!

Walk around and get ice on my hip. It was warm outside, and I kept moving to cool down. Did some simple stretches for my calves and back.

Surprisingly, 1 and 2 days after the race, I feel great. I am not that sore (except for the hip), and I am moving around fine.


My hip, thats all. Nutrition was perfect, compression sucks kept my calves fresh, potassium pills kept my muscles going, my heart rate was low enough to push the run.


Logistically, you have to plan ahead of time for parking, setting up T1, waiting before your wave, etc. But Overall, great race and I will be doing it again next year to get my revenge on the run course.