Patriot Half Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

As this is the only split I can do reasonably well, I enjoyed it a lot. It was great to be out there, loved it.

I did not swim as fast as I could have because (as usual) I needed to keep gas in the tank for the run. I've been doing Masters Swimming for a few months now, and there is absolutely zero doubt that it has made swimming much easier - while spending less time in the pool.

I got out of the water and felt as if I had done absolutely nothing. I think I passed people from at least 4 different waves.

Nothing. Keep on going to Masters Swim.

Not such a great transition. I wanted to feel settled and comfortable for the ride (i.e. not socks not chafing etc) so I took time to clean my feet off, dry them, and put socks on. Also, I had trouble getting my cycling jersey on over my wet body - hopefully there is no video of my contortionist attempt at fixing this unfortunate situation. Also, on the way out of transition I was a bit freaked because I could feel the plantars wart in my left foot more than I had expected. Fortunately this turned out to be a lesser problem.

Maybe bring a tub of water to get my feet clean. Get some spray-on socks? (hey, any inventors out there!!?)

Not too happy with the bike. I should have done at least 17.5 mph, but that would have made my running capacity questionable. So it was the right thing to do. I need to work on the bike - a lot, and that's what I plan on doing the rest of the summer.

I just remember crossing the mat and thinking, "Yikes. I have to do a 1/2 marathon now, and I've never run more than 8 miles, and I can't run to save my life".

I just told myself I am not a wussbag, will not complain, will not allow negative thoughts into my head, and I will push through until the end - no matter what.

The only thing that could stop me was some kind of injury or doing something stupid, like not hydrating.

So, my plan was simple: take it one mile at a time, put ice in my hat at every mile, pour water over my head, drink 1 water + 1 heed at every stop. Which is exactly what I did - with a few GU gels thrown in. Near the end I popped some Sports Beans. Oh yeah. Sports candy. What could be better for the last 2 miles?

I felt pretty good doing a 9:1 run/walk for the first 6 miles and was averaging under 11 to 12 mins/mile doing this (please, folks, do not laugh!) Then my legs started having trouble moving, and the run changed to a weird shuffle/spastic/geriatric/hobo type motion by the end. I had plenty of cardio capacity. My legs could not do the physical stuff required to run, and I can feel that in my sore legs today!

There were some negative people out on the course, but I just took Mav's advice and ignored them.

One thing I did to get myself moving again was tell someone else to keep on moving... at which point I would look like a bit of an asshole if I didn't keep on moving too :-)

The volunteers were awesome and gave great encouragement. Thank-you!

Around 3 hours for a 1/2 marathon. That's funny!

I just need to keep on working at running. It gets better and better, and I've come to terms that all I can do, is what I can do... so I'll just keep on doing that :-) Therefore, my run sucked (compared to everyone else), but I'm scoring it "good".

It was GREAT to see all my friends at the finish! Thanks for waiting an extra 1.5 hours for me to roll in ;-) It meant a lot to me.

My legs were shot. I ate about 5 of those corn bread halves at the finish line.


Running.


This was a great race. Thanks to Sun Multisport for supporting back of the packers like me. Volunteers were awesome - thanks! Well organized. Great venue. Great course. I hope to do it again next year.