Ironman 70.3 Mooseman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The plan was to utilize the swim to practice some drafting techniques for Lake Placid next month. Overall I think I was successful. After the initial shock from the cold water temps I was able to find someone in my age group that was my same pace and draft off of them for about 60% of the swim. The result was a swim pace that matched my training paces. The only difference was that I felt FRESH coming out of the water.

I would try to do more pre-swim warmups in the water, maybe 5-10 minutes of light freestyle.

This was a difficult transition for me. After coming out of the water and getting my suit stripped off by the volunteer staff I headed straight for the warming tent. The swim had cooled my core temp down to the point where I found it difficult to stand up straight and was slightly disoriented. Looks like I need to put on some more body fat!

After warming up a little bit I was able to get changed to my bike gear and head out relatively quickly.

I should probably invest in a full-sleeve wetsuit. For races with water this cold this really is the safe and smart way to go.

This was probably the most difficult bike course I've been on to date. Each of the two loops had 5 consecutive miles of treacherous climbing, finishing with a .3 mile climb up a serious hill. The first time around I was able to get up without any tears, but the second time around I only made it up 75% of the last hill. Oddly enough my walking pace was faster than those biking up the hill. There were also a couple of tough climbs on 3A east of the lake. I was flagged for a drafting penalty on the first loop. I was passed by another biker who decided to nearly cut me off and then stop pedaling causing me to either slam on my brakes (to get the required 4 bike lengths distance) or (the more instinctual action) swerve around him immediately and pass him back to avoid a crash. I took the 4:00 penalty as a time to get some good nutrition and fluids down and stretch out a bit.

I definitely would take the first loop of two a lot easier. It's hard to anticipate how you're body will feel the second time around, better to be safe than sorry!

No major issues here. I had to remove my rear bike water bottles to make it easier to rack my bike. I took down a pair of endurolyte capsules and some water before heading out on the run.

The first two miles of the run felt great. After the gruesome bike I was surprised how good my legs and glutes felt. I quickly noticed a searing pain my left foot developing on my second smallest toe (pinky toe neighbor?). I thought that I might have some sand in my shoe and/or sock that was causing a lot of heat and pain. I stopped to check it out and found nothing unusual. I later noticed that my pinky toe nail was rubbing on the neighbor toe causing a blister! OUCH! The rest of the run was more of a game to see how far I could run before I felt the pain in my toes. My legs felt GREAT, but my feet were crying! I walked about 25% of the first 10k and about 75% of the last 10k as the pain became almost unbearable.

Pedicure. Gotta make sure I'm prepped for the run prior to the race.

After the race I did a bit of walking, some really deep stretching and used the foam roller extensively.


Not tapering the week before race, rather biking 50 miles a week before and swimming 2 miles three days before hurt, but that wasn't the plan this time around.


This was a great race. Very well organized and supported. The course is very difficult but it is certainly doable! Overall I learned a lot of good tips and tricks to take advantage of in Lake Placid next month.