Miami Man 1/2 Iron Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The swim was tight in the beginning as always. The water was BEAUTIFUL - not super clear, but just the right temp. I didn't have a wetsuit, but this was my favorite swim (1st in fresh water). A few guys caught up on their second lap, but it wasn't too much of a problem. I think I need new goggles as this did actually contribute to difficulty spotting. The places I was spotting were far away and no real distinguishing features to pick out. We were also spotting into the sun a good portion of the race. I definitely got off course for a bit. I guess a wetsuit would have been nice. I'm usually in the top third of my age group :-/ oh well...

wetsuit (prob not). new goggles. practice spotting - NOT at the beach...you can always find a distinctive hotel...but i was choosing 'pointy or rounded tree.' in reality, my time was better than the pool...so i'm happy.

well...oops. i wanted my family to be able to find me, so i kept my cell with me on latitude (a program in google maps)...thought at least they'd feel like they knew what i was doing, lol. so i spent time here turning on gps and making sure it was working. i also put knee socks on my arms in case it was chilly. um, just a little too much dilly dally.

it was not cold enough to need the socks - ditch them. maybe try to mess with the phone while on the bike? clip shoes into bike?? i'm not there yet, lol.

i have to be honest, when i got on the bike, i started talking to the wind. i heard the winds can get strong down there, especially later in the day. so i said "wind, we are friends. we are friends." and so on...and i swear, the wind had to have helped me today. my bike/run paces were a first for me! i heard from several people to be sure you drink enough...i'm not sure why because don't we always do that when we train? but anyway, i certainly focused on it...and it was all good for the bike and run!

biking is my weakest relative to my age group, so i would like to improve...but for where i currently am, today was a great ride for me...and just a BEAUTIFUL day!

to be honest, i've never practiced taking my feet out of the shoes on the bike, but 2 things led to me trying/doing this today. first, the last half a mile are in the park...you aren't going so fast or passing anyone. so i felt less like i would come to a screeching halt...maybe i had time to play with my shoes? the other thing was that, just months ago, i was riding in my running shoes (before i had bike shoes). even THEN, when i got off the bike, i was so unstable that people in the crowd backed up! ha! so now, i've ridden 56 fast miles, and i have unstable (plastic bottom - slippery) shoes on, and one foot will remain dangerously clipped in - no thanks! so i thought it would actually be safer to take my feet out and ride on my shoes and have feet to put down. also, i took by gloves off on the bike :)

i guess it worked. i was done racking my bike staring at my transition area for a mine like "uh, what am i forgetting...that was too fast"

again, great weather! i lost pace the last four miles due to some definite rest room needs. i would have considered the woods, but i was wearing a one piece! and i wanted to ensure sub-6 hr at this point!

buy a not one piece suit for these long races ;)

found the rest room...stretched...ate...sat around.

OH, and got my foot eaten by ants when i was packing up my transition area! SOOO lucky it didn't happen during race. in the future, look around your transition for ant piles - those things attack when angry.


nothing...i was more than pleased with today!


i'm local to miami area, and the attitude around most of miami is that people will pay to do stuff here just because it is miami. even some races have this attitude...yo can tell by the crappy food afterwards, lack of liquid/food during, minimal photographers taking crappy photos, etc. THIS race is NOT like that. the emails communication was GREAT! the volunteers well informed! bike aid stations fantastic last minute hand offs! a cop and volunteer at every road intersection. water stations on the run were unbeatable as well. the course is AWESOME. the time of year is perfect. this race is a MUST MUST MUST!!!