Ironman 70.3 Lake Stevens - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Swimming is not my strong point so I was fairly satisfied with what I did. Positioned myself on the outside but towards the front. As soon as the horn sounded the guy in front of me kicked off of my chest which knocked the wind out of me. Combining that with the fact that I forgot to "burp" my wetsuit (letting water in to relieve some of the constriction) led to me feeling a bit short of breath early on. I switched to breast after a couple hundred meters to adjust the wetsuit and was able to calm down and get into the swim. I kept off the cable so that when the fish in the later waves caught up I wouldn't be in their way (at this point I also prefer smooth water.)

Remember to burp the wetsuit and be sure to get some warmup in.

After realizing that nature was calling while I was exiting the water I spotted a porta-john and decided to go for it. I was an overall PITA. Anyhow, I jogged to my spot which was a mile away from the water and took my time to make sure I didn't forget anything.

Take more time to brush stones off my feet before putting socks on, this would come back to haunt me during the run.

My bike started off a little rough. I was still a tiny bit dizzy coming off of the swim and upon exiting transition I ran up to the line and mounted the bike and clipped in successfully. Then I decided to get out of the saddle and power up to speed quickly. . .bad idea. My left knee came up too far and hit the elbow pad on my aerobar. This knocked my wheel off to the side and caused me to lose control. I thought I had it back but was wrong, I went down on my right side at about 15 mph right in front of the whole crowd. My seat post cage shattered and water bottles and spare kit went flying. A huge thanks to the kind soul who jumped out and helped me off to the side and helped me gather my gear and bike! I had a bit of road rash up and down my right side and a bad pain in my hip but wasn't about to stop. I shoved my spare kit in my back pocket stuck the bottles in whatever cages they fit in and with a few words of encouragement from the crowd I was off. (After the race I took a look at my rear derailer which was bent to hell, but didn't miss a shift the entire ride! Thank god.)

Being my first 1/2 Iron distance I decided to err on the side of caution and take a comfortable pace and see how my body felt after the wreck. I just tried not to get dismayed at the faster people passing me and to just concentrate on racing my race and passing who I could and attacking the hills that I could. For nutrition I kept on schedule with a sip of Perpeteum followed by a swig of water every 15 minutes and a Endurolite every 20 minutes. I took water whenever I thought of it but it probably wasn't enough, I was tossing 1/2 bottles at each aid station to pick up new ones. Again, this would haunt me.

Go harder! I had more in me and am capable of much more. Drink more in heat such as that, I knew on the beginning of the second loop that the run would be rough.

T2 went well aside from the fact that it'd become so hot that the Perpetuem we'd frozen in my fuel belt had not only melted but was now piping hot.

Nothing.

My god it was hot. I just didn't have the opportunity to train in heat like there was on race day. The two biggest factors on my having a poor run was the shot my hip took during the wreck and the fact that I have trouble taking in Gatorade during runs. I thought a mix of shotblocks at aid stations mixed with endurolites, perpeteum and water would be enough. Wrong. I need to be able to drink sports drinks to get the electrolites I need.

The run started good, I kept the pace down (under ideal conditions I feel capable of running 8 min miles off the bike) and walked the first couple aid stations while taking in nutrition. At mile 3 or 4 I stopped in the porta-john which must have been 120+ degrees. I overheated and had a hard time cooling down again. Being a bigger athlete (6'4" 190 lbs) heat is my enemy. The legs and motor were willing, but side stitches crept up during the end of the first loop and kept me from running for too long on the second loop. I was actually able to run more up the hills than down because the pain was unbearable on the way down. After realizing somewhere towards the end of the first loop that I wasn't going to be in the 5 hour range I decided to take it easier on the second.

Harden up and keep running. Race a cooler race??

LOL. . .drink a bit of water and wait for my wife and father-in-law to finish.


Heat and the wreck. I felt my conditioning was spot on and should have been in the 5 hour range. Being my first 1/2 distance I must say that I'm still happy to have just finished but it's still killing me that I didn't perform up to my expectations.


Everything was spot-on except for the lack of sponges and fruit on the run course. The volunteers were great and there was a lot of locals spraying water on people who wanted it (THANK YOU!) The course was spectator friendly which made it nice to pass your loved ones often.