Persona Oliver Half Iron - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

A good start to this one - very little jostling around. They stage this start with 3 waves so there isn't a huge crush in the water. Managed to catch some feet for a little while and dropped on and off them throughout the swim. Coming out of the water I was a bit surprised at how slow I was, but it seems that the course was a little long - many people had the same comment. Overall a good swim - wasn't fatigued which I always consider a success!

I always wonder if I should go harder on the swim - but I figure the energy is better saved for the run...

This race has a weird transition - about a 500m run from the lake to T1. Got the suit off pretty quickly (no thanks to the rather ineffective stripper - thanks for trying though). Long run to T1, then pretty quick to get on the bike.

Take off my wetsuit myself? Learn how to run faster? Actually turn on and start my Garmin?

Spent the whole bike consciously trying to go slower than I wanted to. It's hard since this is such a fast course.
Overall I thought I managed my nutrition really well - downing the right amount of Carbo-Pro/EFS + elete drops on time. Had a little trouble sometimes drinking in aero and had to sit up to get it down. Finished 2 bottles in two hours and had a gel + water in the last 20 minutes.
I retrospect I probably went too fast overall on the bike - see run comments...

Get a better mount for my Garmin to monitor HR and speed. Perhaps try and go even slower...

Slapped on a little extra sunscreen - it was getting really hot at this point... uh oh.

Ouch! Started badly with a side stitch right out of T2 - I was going a little too fast I guess. Probably drank too much water at the end of the bike too. The stitch didn't go away until around 6 km when I started walking aid stations - need to remember to slow down and the stitch will pass - my thinking always gets a little stupid on the run though. Didn't start drinking and managing the heat early enough - by 5 km I was starting to overheat rather badly. Started walking aid stations and putting a wet sponge in my hat as well as alternating cups of cola and water. Had some extra electrolytes (elete drops) a few times. Developed a wicked blister by about 14km and I think the last 2 km of this run were the hardest I've ever had on a run - a lot of people were walking at that point and it was hard to not join them. The Garmin measured the course at ~21.8 km - that last "km" took FOREVER!

My lack of long run training (no runs over 1:15 since March due to a combination of injury and illness) really hurt me. I definitely need to pay more attention to heat management as well as going even slower on the bike.

After tentatively negotiating the stairs to the beach I soaked my legs in the lake for a while. Meandered over to the post-race BBQ with the wife and kid and had a burger. I'm usually ravenous after half's but didn't have much appetite today - too much heat I think. My legs have never hurt that much in my life... until Ironman Canada I guess...


Getting injured in April and not running for 3 weeks really set back my run training.


Immediately after the race I was pretty disappointed with my overall result (though the bike time was awesome!) but given the heat (~30 on course - my first time exercising in weather hotter than 23 degrees this year!) and run training this went rather well I think. Looking forward to next year!