Savageman HIM - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

For almost the first time ever, I can say that I had a "good" triathlon swim. When my wave started, I was able to hold with the main pack for quite a while, and actually managed to draft for about 1/4 to 1/3 of the race. This was especially good because, for the first 1/3 of the swim or so, we were swimming straight into the sun and the only way I could really see the course is by following the guys in front of me. Once I rounded the bouy (the turtle, I think), I could see much better. The pack started to pull ahead by then, but I wasn't worried because I felt like I was having a good swim. In training, I breathe bilaterally, but during the race I almost exclusively breath to my right side because I drift left when breathing left. Anyway, the swim remained remarkably uneventful for me (which is a good thing!) until I got near the swan. At that point, I was a little confused about exactly where to go, and had to pull up to really see where the course was. In wasn't sighting per se, I could see where everything was while swimming, I just didn't know which one to head towards. Once I figured it out, I was on my way, and only lost a few seconds. I then swam to the end and left the water (always my least favorite part of triathlon).

So, either my swim has greatly improved due to the 225,000 yards of swimming I've put in this year, or the swim was a teeny bit short. Swimming with a wetsuit helps me a lot, but I can barely sprint at a 1:45. Given that my AG placing is still near the bottom and that most of my wave beat me out of the water, I'm thinking its more the latter than the former. Note, I'm not complaining about a short swim! :)

Not too much that I can think of. Get clarification of the course, maybe.

My T1 was slow, but it was deliberately slow. The morning had been cold, so I left my shirt off during the swim to keep in dry. When I got back to transition, I stripped the wetsuit off and then dried off pretty well. By doing so, I avoided having to use the bag drop. I knew it was going to be a long bike ride, so I made sure I was going to be comfortable.

24th in Age group, 165th of males, 191 overall

Not much.

Ah, the Savageman bike. What to say without cursing? :-)

Call me nuts, but I had a great time on the bike course. My goal was to ride it comfortably hard in order to have enough left in my legs for the run, and I succeeded at that. The first 18 miles are so are almost all downhill, and I tried to be conservative and let my HR settle from the swim. When I headed into Westernport, I knew what was coming. In a practice run I had made it up the wall 1/2 times, so knew how I wanted to approach it. The massive hill before the wall, I took SUPER duper easy, and just spun up it as best I could while zig zagging the way up. Then, I almost got knocked over by a spectator who wasn't paying attention, right before I started the wall. Man would I have had choice words for him if he had bumped me. Anyway, I dodged Mr. Oblivious, then hammered up the wall as best I could. Right at the top I questioned whether I'd make it, but kept hammering and earned my brick. My HR maxed out at 179 at that point. Of course, then you've got to ride up the mountain. It took a while to settle, but it finally did. For the rest of the ride, I just tried to get up the hills as fast as I could, and zig-zagged when I needed to. I tried to make up some speed on the downhills, but also wanted to let my legs and HR get a bit of a break too. Otto Lane was tough, and Killer Miller was truly hellish, but I made it up. The crowd support at the wall and Killer Miller were terrific. After Maynard Ridge, I knew I was in the clear, and started stretching my legs out for the run.

I drank 2 bottles of Gatorade, 1.5 bottles of (nasty!) Heed and roughly 1.5 bottles of water. I tried to drink roughly 1 bottle of sport drink an hour, and chug the water at the aid stations. At the first aid station after the wall, the volunteer wasn't ready with the Heed, so I had to loop back around, but only lost a few seconds. I ate half a bag of GU chomps at 1 hour, and the other half at 1:30. I had a gel at 2:30, and an S!Cap at roughly 3:15.

I took 102 out of 328 males, and I was 90th overall up big Savage Mountain with a time of 42:16 (that's 10.1 mph!).

I can't say too much. I possibly could have pushed a little harder near the end (after about mile 46 or so), but I wanted to save the legs for the run. I definitely would NOT have changed out my 12-25 cassetee.... :-)

Not a bad T1 for me. I took a little bit of extra time to change my socks, after the squish squish squish of Eagleman. Overall, I think it was a good decision, since the second pair of socks were soaked by the end of my run.

Can't think of much. I'd like to be faster in transition, but don't worry about it too much.

My main goal for this race was to have a good run split, as I wanted to be able to know what if felt like to bang out a run on dead legs. Mission accomplished! I wanted to try to hold 8 min miles for as long as I could, and was able to do so for about half the run. My main focus was to keep my HR in the 150's, as I've found that as long as I keep my HR down I can run forever. It spiked quite a bit (171) when I ran up firetower the first time, but settled back down when I hit the downhills. I was able to see B at the halfway point, and actually stopped for a kiss. I then headed out for the second lap, and couldn't help but notice I was going a bit slower than the first lap. Oh well. I did try to bomb the first downhill on the second lap to "make up" some time, and I think it helped some. But when I made it to Firetower the second time, I actually did walk up about 0.2 miles of it, since I was basically going at walking speed anyway and I though the HR rest would be beneficial. After I crested Firetower, I pushed hard until the finish. I was getting near the "spent" point, but knew I was almost done.

During the run, I drank when I needed to, which was mainly a cup or two of water at each aid station. I had a few cups of Heed, but I find it pretty nasty so didn't drink much of it.

During the run, I saw JoshK 3 times (and spoke to him twice) and Tim twice (yelled to him once, wasn't sure it was him the first time). Maybe it's just me, but I enjoy seeing people you know out there with you.

I was the 27th male to finish.

Maybe push a little harder at then end, though that's much easier to say sitting here on my couch that it would have been out there!

I grabbed a Gatorade and water, and headed right for the grass near the finish. B was there waiting, so I just chilled and relaxed with her. I really wanted to wait to see JoshK and Tim finish (read Josh's RR to see why). After JoshK finished, I went to grab some food since I was starving, and just missed Tim. Perfectly bad timing. But after eating we met up with Tim, who was talking to PennState and Tasr. It was good to put some faces with the avatars! B and I then went to check on JoshK, who seemed to be feeling better. We then headed home, as it was a 3+ (and very smelly) car trip home.


Basically, the fact that this wasn't an "A" race for me, and my taper consisted of moving my planned workouts for the week and weekend to earlier in the week. But even with a taper, I don't think my fitness or leg strength would have allowed me to go much faster on this course. I maybe could have shaved off about 3-5 min, but that's about all with where I'm at right now.


When I previewed the bike course with some BT buds, I said this race would probably be a "one and done" kind of race for me. I completely take that back. The scenery, the spectators, volunteers, and everything else made this an awesome event, and one I'd definitely do again. I'd also recommend it - with the caveat that you should be a strong cyclist before really attempting.

I thought the shwag was good - I loved that we got a tech T and arm warmers. One minor quibble is the lack of a finisher's medal. I know most people say they don't care and it helps keeps costs down (a major plus!), but I just love having a medal to show for the efforts. I guess I'll have to settle for a brick with my name on it. :-)

The post race food was great. I'm a southern boy at heart, so pulled pork it just about the best post race food I can imagine. Couple that with ice cream, and you've got a winner.

I loved signs all over the bike and run course. Each and every one made me chuckle.

Finally, the volunteers, especially the hottie that did my body marking, where all excellent.