TryCharleston Half - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The time includes a run (and a fall -- see below) to T1, but yeah, I swam slow. That was pretty much the plan from the start. My swim training has been, um, 'minimalist', lately. So I decided to take it easy. Another problem that I'm facing this year is that starting with the open athletes, I've got nobody to use for a draft. I get left out there in no-man's land on the swim. Motivation to get faster, I suppose.

Train.

On the way to T1 I fell down and my left calf threatened to cramp. (I'm not really sure whether I slipped or the incipient cramp caused me to fall.) I grabbed the calf and squeezed then remembered what my massage therapist showed me to stop the cramping and quickly tried it. Maybe coincidence, but it worked. In T1, while pulling my legs out of the wetsuit, it threatened again, but I was able to stop it again. It did slow me down, though. My bike was very close to the bike start, so I opted to put my shoes on in T1.

Nothing specific. Just move more quickly. Even with a poor T1 I was near the pointy end in times, so OK, I guess.

I got off to a bad start -- I failed to negotiate well around a big bump about 2 miles outside of T1 and ejected the water bottle on my bars. Ugh. I slammed on the brakes and whoa! The back tire slid around quite a bit. I ended up in the ditch, but still upright. I walked back to get the bottle and continued. Lost about 90 seconds there. No biggie, but annoying.

I was alone for a while, then some dudes blew past me, triggering waves of self-doubt until I realized that they were the leaders of the sprint race. I was largely alone for quite a while, passing the occasional uber-swimming AGer who can't bike and I was passed by one very fast open cyclist who apparently was even slower than me in the water. Then a little over half way a group of fast AGers caught me from behind. What a mess. At least two of them were drafting blatantly, and the group as a whole was frequently surging and slowing down. I quickly got tired of that and decided I was better off burning a match to get clear of them. Up until then I had been doing a good job of keeping the power quite low, but I turned it up then. It happened to coincide with the super-rough section, so I enjoyed the cobblestone experience at relatively high speed for a while. Once back to Hwy 17, I eased back up until the finish. Two of the guys from that group (I think the two that weren't drafting) caught me again. I passed them on the run. ;-)

More long rides. OK, OK, more biking period.

OK. Could have gone harder.

Miles 1- 10 were pretty good. I lost my watch before the race (and whoever picked it up apparently did not turn it in to lost and found -- thanks for that...), so I had no idea about splits, but it felt sub-7 and given the ultimate results, must have been. Nobody was passing me and I was moving up. Until...

At mile 10 my left calf finally made good on its threats from earlier in the day and cramped up with full fury. I had to stop for a couple of minutes until it quit. From then on it cramped again at least 4 times. Even when the cramps subsided, running was extremely painful. This wasn't a nutrition issue. I did a good job of taking in nutrition and electrolytes. This was a fitness issue. I just was not recovered fully from the Palmetto Half, and that fact made itself apparent.

In the end, I'm pleased with this race. It was never going to be a super race for me -- my training was aimed at the Palmetto Half, not this race. But in my HIMs last year, I was aiming to go sub-5 both times and circumstances ruined that goal each time, so I am thrilled with the result. I finally got the bogeyman of sub-5 out of the way. Now I can worry about something else, like going 4:30. ;-)