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 Swim
Comments: This went very well - this is the fastest I've ever swam, so the course may have been a bit short. Bumping wasn't bad at all, and I managed to sight well the whole way and stay close to the buoy line (so close that I had a head-on collision on the way out with someone on their way back in). The way out was into the sun, so it was a bit trickier but the buoys were big and only 150m apart, so it worked out. What would you do differently?: Nothing really, exceeded all expectations and enjoyed it. Way better than my swim in my first sprint race three months ago, since I can bilateral breathe now and did a lot of open water workouts and sighting practice.  Transition 1
Comments: Took my time, feeling like I was forgetting things but turned out I had it all covered in the way I had set up. Could have run up to transition from the beach, but felt I needed to settle down some. What would you do differently?: Probably nothing.  Bike
Comments: This was awesome. First race on my eBay Felt B2, and this bike is fantastic. After getting my HR too high early, settled down and kept a strong pace for the whole distance. Loved the last stretch with a slight tailwind and rollers that made for very fast downhills. This exceeded all expectations and was my favorite part of the race. Great course, volunteers, and traffic control. What would you do differently?: Ditch the bar-mount bottle due to all the liquid that splashes out and gets everything sticky. Figure out why I got cramping in the bottom outer part of my right foot, which I felt for the rest of the day, including the run. Learn how to make turns without braking so much. Transition 2
Comments: Just jumped off at the dismount line and walked my bike back, again trying to settle down a bit. Changed into running gear quickly, but decided not to take my run nutrition along and live off the course because I was afraid it would fall out of my tri jersey pockets. This was a screw up - always make your decisions before the race and stick to them, if there is any question, answer it before race day. This was affected by the late switch to the longer distance. What would you do differently?: Get a fuel belt and bring my own nutrition. 13 miles on one gel, gatorade, and water was a bad plan.  Run
Comments: When I went from 10k to half marathon, I knew this would be a struggle, since my longest training run was 8 miles. I decided before the race I would run the outbound, and run-walk the inbound. I made it most of the way out before breaking mentally and starting the run-walk about a mile early. Running will always be my worst leg, so although I was disappointed that I didn't run as much as I should have, my overall pace was about what I expected given the circumstances, and I avoided getting hurt. And I left a lot of room for improvement for the next time. What would you do differently?: Stick to my plan and not cave mentally. Get a fuel belt. Stay off concrete, since my knees are less than perfect and the path here left me feeling it this morning. Post race
Warm down: Awesome slip-and-slide just over the finish line, that was great. Otherwise, got my medal (really nice and hefty, more than I expected) sat down and talked to my wife and son for about 15 minutes, then got my stuff and headed home to watch my recording of the Giants opener. What limited your ability to perform faster: Not trained up for the run, bad job on run nutrition. On the other hand, I was thrilled with my bike and swim, and the bike nutrition was right on despite the sudden switch up to this distance. Event comments: What a great event - lots of competitors but laid back and well organized. A big event without much hype, in a nice area and three great courses. I was beyond pleased with the entire day. Last updated: 2010-09-08 12:00 AM
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United States
Without Limits
85F / 29C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 230/531
Age Group = M40-44
Age Group Rank = 33/42
After happening into triathlon early this year, I set my goals to be completing a sprint race in the spring and an Olympic race in the fall. I decided to go with the beginner 20 week, 3x balanced plan, tweaked a bit to do different combinations on days with multiple workouts. The plan started March 20, and it went great - didn't miss a workout, stayed healthy, lost 60 lbs, and felt great. After completing the final brick two days before the 9/11 race, I felt like the whole six months had been awesome and I was really looking forward to finishing it with a very strong race. About an hour later, I found out that the race had been at best postponed due to the terrible Boulder fire. I decided to look and see what else was available this weekend since I had been training towards it all year, and saw that Harvest Moon was on Sunday. After thinking it over for an hour, I decided my swim was definitely ready, my bike almost certainly ready, and I could try to get through the run. So on Sunday morning, I set out to complete what would become a somewhat accidental journey from the couch to half ironman in six months.
Got up at 5:15, had my standard Sunday pre-workout breakfast of a power bagel with nutella/almond butter and a chocolate protein monster, and headed out in the pre-packed jeep for the 45 minute drive. Just set up my transition area, stretched, got the wetsuit on and went down for the pre-race meeting and start.