Musselman Half Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Waves started building up as the swim progressed; when Lisa started her swim 1hr after me, the waves were big enough to cause problems, but wasn't too bad for me.
I didn't push it all that much during this swim, but it felt good. I handled the waves (small, but still waves) well - something that would have, and did, cause me major problems at other races last year.

Work harder, and become a better swimmer. I could feel myself moving better at times when I really focused on form. It's hard during the race though since I also had to think about sighting and trying to draft and everything else that you think about.
I just don't think I pushed hard enough or really worked on this swim.

Good transition, although could have been faster getting the wetsuit off. Stumbled slightly when tried to hop on my bike (shoes clipped in ahead-of-time), and got a couple "OOHH's" as people were probably worried I'd spill. But I got moving OK.

Not much. 11 of 25 in my AG on this transition - I'll take it!!

This was simply horrendous. I lost my motivation. I mean like totally gone. I wanted to stop, I didn't know why I was out there. I just wanted to quit. I seriously thought about hanging it up when I got back to T2. I thought myself crazy for even dreaming I'd be able to do an ironman.
I spent a LOT of time up out of the aerobars, pedaling very very easy. I don't have HR data since the HRM wasn't picking up for a lot of the ride, but I was in very low Z1 for most of the ride.
The only people I passed were folks on mountain bikes.

Not give up. Simply unacceptable. I think I wasn't mentally prepared for this race. Also, I need lots more TITS.
I feel like ever since I got the cervelo I've been much slower on the bike. I don't understand it.

Good T2. Even got a "nice dismount" from a spectator at the dismount line. Could have been faster; took me a second to gather myself after my disaster on the bike.

Not much - 10 out of 25 in my age group - now if I could only place that high in the swim/bike/run!!!

The first 2 miles, I collected myself after my meltdown on the bike. Fortunately these were flat miles - mile 1 in ~9:00, mile 2 in 10:09.
After that, I got back into the zone. I had to walk some of the uphill parts of mile 3, which took 12:09, and then I was REALLY in the zone. My stomach was a little unsettled after the bike, and I wanted to throw up near the beginning, but somewhere in here things felt much better. I wanted to redeem myself. I was passed by two people the whole run - one super-fit woman around mile 3, who was gone before I could blink, and another 21 year old guy earlier around mile 2 - I caught him later at mile 11 and finished 2m45sec ahead of him.
I got a big mental boost around mile 4-5, when I passed 2 people in my age group. I took mile 4 at 10:20 and mile 5 at 11:02 (uphill). At each aid station, I drank water, poured some on my head, and kept a wet sponge on my neck inside my tri top the whole time. I think it was a good idea to stick to the water, and then started on the coke at mile 11, even though I didn't really need it, I figured the extra burst wouldn't hurt.
It was hot, and the locals had sprinklers going and would spray us if we wanted them to - they were great.
On mile 4, I also heard a lady walking by say to her friend, 'can you imagine these people have already swum like a mile and biked like 50 miles?'. That really made me feel good. THAT IS MOTIVATION RIGHT THERE. From this point onward, I was passing people left and right. It was COOL.
Mile 6 was 10:37, and mile 7 (steep uphill) at 13:45. After this I knew it was largely downhill, and felt great. I kept it in Zone2 for mile 8, taking 10:27, and then took it up to Z3 according to plan. Got through mile 9 in 9:40, mile 10 in 9:54, and mile 11 in 9:39. Throughout the run I was actually happy - I got a lot of "wow, you're still smiling, way to go!!" comments from spectators and aid station volunteers. I then took it up a notch for mile 12, but needed a longer-than-usual aid station stop and so took 10:08 for that mile. When there was 1.1miles left I really took it up the final notch, and got through the last 1.1mi in less than 8:34 - probably 8:15-8:20, I didn't stop my watch for a while. Not bad - ~7:30m/m pace for that last bit!!

Overal HR data:
Time in Zone1: 25:53
Time in Zone2: 1:15:12
Time in Zone3: 26:40
Time in Zone4: 5:42
Time in Zone5: 1:50

Mile 1: ~8:45 (avgHR 168, maxHR 170)
Mile 2: 10:09 (avgHR 163, maxHR 170)
Mile 3: 12:09 (avgHR 165, maxHR 175)
Mile 4: 10:20 (avgHR 167, maxHR 177)
Mile 5: 11:02 (avgHR 170, maxHR 181)
Mile 6: 10:37 (avgHR 172, maxHR 177)
Mile 7: 13:45 (avgHR 168, maxHR 178)
Mile 8: 10:27 (avgHR 168, maxHR 179)
Mile 9: 9:40 (avgHR 171, maxHR 183)
Mile 10: 9:54 (avgHR 177, maxHR 184)
Mile 11: 9:39 (avgHR 179, maxHR 188)
Mile 12: 10:08 (avgHR 181, maxHR 187)
Mile 13.1: ~8:15 (7:30m/m) (avgHR 187, maxHR 199)

Not a whole lot. By far this is one of my best AG ranks - 16 out of 25. I'm quite happy with that, although it was possible only because I went so easy on the bike.

Laid down, Lisa got me some ice in medical gloves to put on my head, and poured cold water on me. I never saw so many people in the medical tent - in fact, never saw such a big medical tent! It was HOT!!


mental focus and motivation

OVERALL SUMMARY:
- clearly limited by mental meltdown on the bike.
- need lots more bike miles
- bad swim also - just didn't push enough, I think
- good run - highest AG placing EVER
- actually placed higher in my AG than at Devilman in May (mainly because 4 people DNFed on the run)


This is far and above the best run and best organized race I've ever done. It was just awesome. I highly recommend it. There were 3 bands/groups playing on the run course, locals were great, it was just miles ahead of anything else.