Patriot Half Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I almost completely missed my wave!!
I thought I was the 7th wave of the 1/2 Ironman, but it was actually the 7th wave overall.
I was standing around shooting the shit with the guys when I looked down and saw my wave in the water ready to start! I ran down, jumped the rope barrier, ran over the timing mat and ran into the water right as the gun went off!

Oh well, at least I didn't get a chance to get too nervous!

definitely need to work on my sighting. I was WAY off course to the right on the first leg out.
I'm sure my swim was significantly more than 1.2! I got things straightened out fine for the rest of the swim though, and finished in approximately the time I was hoping for.

I started in the back of the pack, right in the middle. I would get closer to the left side next time. I think this would help with my tendency to drift right.

I decided ahead of time that this being my first half ironman, I would take my time in the transitions and make sure I was completely ready. so the transition was a bit slow.

maybe I'd hurry up a bit more, but I'm ok with how T1 went. T2 on the other hand....

Good ride. I definitely conserved energy for the run. I'm confident that I could have done at least 10-15 minutes faster, but I'm OK with the approach I took.

nothing.

I was surprised when I saw how long my T2 time was. Like T1, I try to fly through, but I didn't really putz around either. Unlike past triathlons, I used traditional laces and not lock laces or yanks, so shoe tying probably cost me 30 seconds. Other than that, I can't put a finger on what caused my transition to be so long. Oh well.


I guess I would hurry up!!

extremely HOT and HUMID run! From what I saw, the run field was completely destroyed. after about the halfway mark, I saw more people walking than running.

My run:
I ran the first 3 or 4 miles normally, but somewhere around the 4th mile I started walking the water stops for about 20 seconds to drink and dump water on my head.
It went on like that for every water stop. drink, dump, go until 7 miles or so. then I started adding in some extra walking, mostly the hills. I figured it would be better to walk the hills and preserve my energy for running terrain that wouldn't spike my heart rate.

It was definitely a mentally challenging run. I thought it would never end. I just took it mile by mile and pushed through. I was pleasantly surprised at my 2:07:36 time. I felt like I was much slower than that!

My timing chip was digging into my ankle and causing some bleeding. I tried to adjust it several times but to no avail. Finally I took it off my ankle and put it around my wrist with the intent to put it back on my ankle in the last half mile. Of course I forgot about it and had a timing fiasco at the finish! The timing people were great though. They figured it all out and logged my correct time.

I would either not wear a hat, or make sure to wear the proper hat.
The running hat I wore was not breathable enough, and caused my head to overheat. I didn't figure this out until mile nine or so. At that point, I ditched it and felt much better for the last few miles.

walk around for 10 mins or so with water and cold rags, and then took a dip!


nothing really. maybe a little trepidation on the bike because I didn't want to fry myself for the run.
The heat and hat issues I mentioned on the run certainly had an effect.


I really enjoyed this race. I'm definitely planning on doing it again next year to try to improve my time!
My only suggestion to the organizers would be to have the DJ bring a PA down to the swim start.
Nobody could hear anything the announcer dude was saying!